The main part of the vacuum sits just above the floorhead with a hose that connects it to the handle and wand, in a design that’s more akin to a plug-in upright vacuum. The Powered Lift-Away mode converts this into a convenient portable vacuum, but it’s not a small handheld vacuum like you’ll get with some cordless stick vacuums and it still requires two hands to use it. Most use the brand's 'Lift-Away' design, which places the main motor unit and dustbin within a removable canister module that can be lifted free of its floorhead and wand and carried around in one hand, enabling you to clean hard-to-reach areas with greater ease than the more traditionally-configured Dyson.

Cordless Dysons offer a compelling and rare blend of powerful cleaning performance, lightweight design, and good ergonomics.And when cleaning other surfaces such as sofas, you can rest it on the seat while you vacuum, making it a much easier task. The floorhead can glide seamlessly between floor types and controls on the handle allow you to select hard floor or carpet as well as adjusting between one of the three power levels.

If you find upright vacuums a tad too big and bulky for your needs, Shark also offers an array of corded stick models. We were pleased to note very good pick-up with the vacuum collecting all the dirt in its path, whether dust, hair, or larger debris. And though it’s a tad bulkier than we’ve come to expect from a cordless vacuum, we admit, functionality is far more important than form so we can forgive the somewhat clunky appearance. While Shark's self-cleaning heads have become slightly more effective in collecting hair as they've iterated upon the initial design, some strands still tend to get wrapped around the main roller.An Odor Neutralizer Technology pod is inserted into the top of the vacuum head to keep it smelling fresh, and an LED headlight lets you see dirt and dust in dark corners. When testing the vacuum, we never came close to running down the battery when vacuuming our 1,600sq ft / 150sq m home, and we’d often end a vacuuming session with about 40% of battery left. As we’ve mentioned, in Clean Sense IQ mode, the vacuum senses how much dirt is on the floor and boosts the suction power as necessary to pick up dirt and debris, so the battery level might run down faster based on how often the vacuum needs to ‘boost.