Another downside for me was the machine’s reach under furniture. The bulk of its body means the floorhead doesn’t fit far under a bed, for example, and we all know the pet hair makes its way there as well. Having to swap to using the hose plus attachment or hose, handle and attachment combo makes the job take longer. Hoover Upright 300 Pets on carpets, hard flooring and upholstery Carpets and rugs Performance at the highest power level is solid, with very little vibration from that motor and noise levels that are no worse than, say, a beefy hair dryer at full tilt. Suction power is also really good at the top setting, although it does drop away on those other lower settings. These are handy for delicate areas around ornaments and suchlike, but we got most value from the maximum setting. READ NEXT: These are the best robot vacuum cleaners to buy today Hoover H-Upright 300 review: Should I buy it? Aside from the ability to stand up on its own accord, which makes it a hit with us for starters, the Hoover H-Free 300 looks pretty good overall. Our test model came with a red anodized finish on the aluminium main tube, while the colour scheme overall is a blend of red, dark grey and silver, topped with the iconic Hoover logo on the main body.

In the box, Hoover has provided a good range of tools. There’s the floor brush, as mentioned, plus a 2-in-1 crevice tool with brush, an upholstery brush that has a clip-on hard brush, and a mini-motorised pet tool, which is great for use on sofas and stairs. For those without furry friends, there is a non-pet version of this cleaner available (the HF322HM 001) that comes minus this tool. Second, the labelling on the device is a bit unclear. In the grand scheme of things it probably doesn’t really matter if you open or close the top vent when you’re cleaning short pile carpet and you can adjust as you see fit, but having a carpet setting that isn’t for all types of carpet is confusing. It’s a reasonably solid job for the price but the slightly more expensive Dyson Small Ball Allergy did a better job. Although it suffered the same ploughing problems with larger particles on hard floor, it was near perfect when it came to carpet, and was better with flour on all surfaces. If you have a lot of hard floor, the Shark DuoClean with Lift-Away NV702UK has both a brush and a soft roller in its floor head, so can capture anything from hard floor, even Cheerios. To use the hose and attachments, you have to disconnect the hose from the floor head. This is easily unclipped and then also needs to be freed from a retaining clip. Attachments connect on to the end of the hose or, if you want extra reach, you can release the handle from the main body and use it as an extension.

The Hoover H-Upright 300 cleans well and won’t break the bank, but it’s better on carpet than hard floor

If yours is a home with lots of carpet or has a 50/50 type of split between that and hard flooring, and you share your space with small or large pets, it’s a yes. This is a solidly built and good looking upright that’s thoughtfully designed for ease of use and convenience. Both I and the cats would have preferred a little less noise in action ideally, but it’s a value for money choice for all fans of upright vacuums and those looking for the best vacuum cleaner for pet hair. About this review, and our reviewer

With the brush switched off the cleaner relies on vacuum suction alone, but performance suffers in this mode when cleaning hard floors. However, it’s worth noting that you don’t get the extra bit of agitation for more stubborn dirt that you get from a soft roller on vacuums such as the Shark DuoClean with Lift-Away NV702UK. Controls are easy to use on this Hoover vacuum cleaner. You squeeze the trigger to turn the vacuum on and squeeze it again to power it off. This kind of design is less tiring to use than models that require you to keep the trigger depressed throughout cleaning.While the Hoover H-Upright 300 Pets might appear to be just another vacuum cleaner with a power cable I think Hoover has done a great job with this model. It takes mere seconds to pull out of the box, something helped by its weight of just 5.2kg. Most of it has been put together for you, so after scrutinizing the manual for a couple more seconds the design is suitably simple that you can be powering up in about, well, two minutes.

I was particularly fond of the collection bin on this model. It releases easily and emptying it is a simple job: a latch opens the door at the bottom and most dirt and dust simply drops out. In front of the power button there’s another that lets you engage or disengage the brush in the cleaning head. This can be used in conjunction with the white slider switch on the top of the cleaning head, which is marked as Carpet one way and Hard Floor the other. Simply slide it across to change the cleaning mode, and disengage the spinning brushes if you’re cleaning something like a laminate floor. Initially I’d tend to forget to do this, but practice makes perfect. Not everyone needs a top-of-line, do everything cordless vacuum cleaner. For some, a cheaper, less powerful model will likely fulfil most needs. Step forward the Hoover H-Free 300 (HF322PT), then: a well-priced cordless cleaner with a removable battery, pet tools and a great range of accessories.The collection bin has a generous 1.5-litre capacity and is easily released from the chassis for emptying. It also contains the filters, which are washable in water and rated to the HEPA H13 standard.

The true mark of any vacuum cleaner is its ability to clean well. I start my tests by measuring the power in AirWatts of each mode. I measured the cleaner at 29.13AW on Low power, 64.47AW on Medium power and 118.66AW on Turbo. The Medium and Turbo speeds are similar to the Dyson V11 Outsize’s results on Eco and Medium power settings, and then the Dyson has a Turbo mode that more than doubles the power. First, the model I reviewed doesn’t come with many accessories. I’d recommend you opt for the Pet model, which comes with a better attachment for handheld jobs and doesn’t cost much more. Plug in the wand and there are lights on the motorised floor brush, so you can see clearly where you’ve cleaned and where you need to clean.I also struggled with moving the vacuum from hard floor onto rugs or door mats. The front of the device is quite low to the ground and it struggled with even small changes in elevation, crumpling and pushing away the rug rather than climbing up the edge. I didn’t find the Hoover H-Free 300 too loud, either, coming in at 67.9dB on Low, 69.5dB on Medium and 74.9 on Turbo. That makes this one of the quietest cordless vacuum cleaners I’ve tested. At the rear, there’s a Power Control touch-sensitive button that you tap to run through the Power mode. With non-powered tools, there are three power modes: Low, Medium and Turbo; add a motorised brush and you just get Medium and Turbo modes. To complicate matters slightly, there’s also a suction regulator. This is a slider that either covers or opens a grille on the top of the floor head, which helps reduce the amount of suction. This is useful if you find the head is hard to move on long-pile carpet or rugs.