Shark calls its folding extension wand “Flexology”, and it’s worth giving a name to. A button on the wand releases a catch that lets the wand flex at knee height. This can be used to slide the floor head under low furniture, or to fold it right over to reduce the height of the device to 680mm for storage – a state in which it can also support itself in an upright position. There’s a battery attached to the base of the handle, which can be removed easily. The port for the supplied charging cable is on the end, and you can charge it while connected to or separated from the rest of the equipment. There are three LEDs on the side of the battery that show whether the battery has full charge, medium charge or low charge. If the last light starts to flash, it’s an indication it’s nearly empty. Reach, store and charge anywhere with Flexology. This flexible wand bends to easily clean under low-lying furniture without heavy lifting. Fold down for compact, freestanding storage at the touch of a button. Moving down to the floor head, you can finally see where the main change between the IZ201UK and the IZ202UK has happened. Whereas the previous model used Shark’s dual roller system to house both a fluffy roller and a brush bar, the IZ202UK has a single brush bar. It’s a sophisticated roller, though, with both bristles and stiff fins interspersed along its length. It also has an anti-hair wrap system to stop long hair getting tangled along its length.

The main unit looks identical to that of its predecessor, the Shark IZ201UK, which is still available at some retailers but costs a little more. The controls are extremely simple, with a three-way thumb switch on the top that takes it through its three modes: off, hard floor and carpet. There’s also a trigger loop for your index finger, which you pull to engage the Max boost mode. Flour proved a bit more of a challenge. On hard floor, the vacuum collected enough flour from a 50g spillage in a single pass to register 50g on my scales afterwards, although close inspection showed it wasn’t entirely perfect, with some flour still left over. A few subsequent passes on the Boost setting removed the rest effectively. It comes with just two accessories: a crevice tool and a two-in-one upholstery nozzle and dusting brush. Lots of premium cordless vacuums come with several more accessories, including a mini turbo brush - which is handy for giving awkward spots a thorough clean. Our flour spillage test is tougher and I was conscious that this vacuum doesn’t have the strongest suction, but perhaps the brush and fin combo on the brush bar helped here, because it performed very well.At first glance, you’d hardly notice that the Shark Anti Hair Wrap Cordless Vacuum IZ202UK is any different to Shark’s more expensive cordless models. It has a similar design, with the vacuum engine and collection bin combined into a handheld unit at the top, separated from the floor head by an articulated extension wand. It’s 270 x 1,190 x 170mm (WHD) in size and weighs 4.7kg. Anyone who has a cat or dog in the home knows how often you find pet hair everywhere. This Shark stand vacuum is here to help. Thanks to the improved Anti Hair Technology, the vacuum removes hair of all lengths and origins from your upholstery and surfaces. It also easily transforms into a smaller, handheld device which can be used on stairs, in the car, or on furniture. Shark’s Anti-Allergen Complete Seal traps 99% of dust and dander to keep the home allergen free. Long Battery Life

With a single motorised Anti Hair Wrap brush-roll, this lightweight, flexible cordless vacuum cleaner is perfect for homes with long, short and pet hair. Because the Shark Anti Hair Wrap Cordless Vacuum IZ202UK is relatively unsophisticated, it’s also straightforward to use. The three-way switch on the top of the unit is easily accessible and well labelled, and pulling the trigger below to get a boost is intuitive. With the one floor head capable of cleaning both hard floor and carpet, there’s no switching needed. It's somewhat quieter in eco mode, but both the floor head and motor are still notably louder than some other cordless vacuums we've trialled. Spoiler alert: I shouldn’t have worried. Shark has left plenty of space at the front to allow larger particles through, and although it doesn’t trap them quite as well as the best fluffy rollers, it performed surprisingly well.

Long Battery Life

If there’s one element I didn’t particularly like it’s the position of the power indicator lights on the battery. During operation these are well out of sight, so there’s no at-a-glance guide to how much power you have left without rotating the vacuum around to see the lights.