The Stratos did leave a line of flour behind the motor head, where the fins on the roller seemed to funnel the flour without offering enough agitation or suction to lift it all up. This amounted to 4% of the flour on that first pass, although that’s still way above average. It was happily collected by subsequent passes made at a different angle. Featured in a striking charcoal grey and copper finish, the IZ400UKT from Shark is the perfect vacuum cleaner for busy homes. Dimensions & Weight Depth

And to give reassurance to allergy sufferers, Shark’s Anti-Allergen Complete Seal captures and traps 99.9%*** of dust and allergens inside the vacuum, so they won’t be released into the air. Compared to many cordless vacuum cleaners, what you get with the Shark Stratos Anti Hair Wrap Plus Pet Pro IZ400UKT is relatively sparse. Don’t worry, though – on the whole, Shark has simply pared the box’s contents down to the absolute essentials, without losing anything important. It comes with the main dual-purpose floor head, a crevice tool and a smaller “pet” tool. It’s horrible having to detangle and cut out all the hair that’s caught in your vacuum brush-roll, but Shark’s improved Anti-Hair Wrap Plus Technology helps to keep it clear so you don’t have to get out the scissors. The unique bristle guard and comb removes long, short and pet hair as you clean – so that’s one less job for you to do. This model is also equipped with Clean Sense IQ technology. Automatically sensing the debris you can’t see, this clever function adjusts the power to clean up to 50% more dirt. An intelligent indicator in the floorhead illuminates the suction power, which increases to meet the demand of the task at hand and decreases again when the dirt is gone. The Shark Stratos Anti Hair Wrap Plus Pet Pro Cordless Vacuum IZ420UKT marks a big change in design and strategy for the vacuum cleaner company, introducing a host of new features, including a new floor head, an Anti-Odour pod and automatic power modes. It’s a triumph of power, features and design.

The Shark Stratos Anti Hair Wrap Plus Pet Pro IZ400UKT comes heartily recommended. It’s a terrific cleaner at a good price. Its performance in our tests rivals that of vastly more expensive models, and I love the fact that you don’t need to switch the floor head over when moving from one surface to another. Experience a revolutionary cordless cleaner with the IZ400UKT from Shark. Featuring Anti Hair Wrap Plus and Clean Sense IQ, this model from the Stratos collection of vacuums will transform your cleaning routine. Shark Technology

Featuring LED lights in the floorhead, you can illuminate dark areas, so nothing is missed. This model also includes a washable HEPA filter and an Anti-Allergen Complete Seal which traps 99.9% of dirt and allergens inside the machine, keeping the air you breathe clean.READ NEXT: The best Shark vacuum cleaners to buy Shark Stratos Anti Hair Wrap Plus Pet Pro IZ400UKT review: What’s it like to use?

As you can see from our chart above, this isn’t as powerful as Dyson’s latest Gen5detect, and it falls behind the power of the cordless upright ICZ300UKT, though it is more powerful than the Hoover HF9. There’s a large 0.7-litre bin on this model, which has an eject button to push open the flap at the front. As long as the Shark IZ420UKT was pushed into a bin, I could easily empty it without spilling dust everywhere. If you’ve got a pet, then you’ll know that their hair, fur, fluff, floof, whatever you want to call it, gets everywhere. And if you can spot the fuzz on your sofas, stairs and armchairs, then what about all the bits of dander and loose hair you can’t see in your carpets and rugs but know is still there? There are also selectable Eco and Boost modes available if you want to take control. Eco can be useful for delicate items, such as vacuuming a keyboard, while the Boost mode is a good choice for when there’s a lot of mess to deal with. What’s more, Anti-Odour technology protects against bad odours inside the vacuum. Simply insert the dial into the floorhead and rotate it to select an intensity setting. Guard against dust cup odours with Shark. Additional FeaturesIf money is no object then the Dyson Gen5detect remains a superior option, but not to the extent that it’s worth paying almost twice the price. Its battery lasts a bit longer and it comes with a few more bells and whistles, but you’re definitely not getting twice the vacuum. This performance even beats the Dyson Gen5detect, which left more Cheerios behind on a single pass across hard floor, although it, too, didn’t struggle to collect the remainder on a second pass. Thanks to the Lithium-Ion battery, you’ll get up to 60 minutes of power – plenty of time to clean a typical home from top to bottom. The battery takes just 3.5 hours to charge on or off the vacuum, so this cleaner will always be ready when you need it.