I reviewed the Shark Stratos NZ860UKT, although there’s also the NZ860UK available, which is identical but doesn’t ship with the mini pet tool. Design and features The Shark Stratos Pet Pro Anti Hair Wrap Plus Anti-Odour Upright Vacuum NZ860UKT is an upgrade over last year’s Shark NZ850UKT in more ways than one. With a new Anti-Odour pod and redesigned floor head, this is a far superior product to last year’s cleaner and officially the best overall upright vacuum cleaner that I’ve reviewed. The big difference is that, unlike most vacuum cleaners, there’s no need to flip it upside down on a regular basis and get the scissors to the hair which is wrapped around the brush roller. I can’t imagine there’s anyone on this planet or otherwise, who would actually look forward to this grubby little task.

Yes! Make sure your house is clean throughout the term by signing up with Student Beans. Once you have registered, you will get a Shark voucher code for 10% off every time! If you are currently a graduate, you can still take advantage of the scheme! What is a Shark bundle? Controls are placed on top of the handle, with an on/off button and a slider to select the mode: hard floor, carpet, and deep pile. The slider adjusts the speed of the floor head but also opens a vent to help the vacuum cleaner move around more easily. It works, and this is one of the most nimble upright vacuum cleaners I have tested. Once you’ve released the bin, though, emptying is simple. There’s a handle on the top and a button on the front to release a trap door in the bottom, which allows the dirt to fall out with minimal further encouragement. Shark’s anti-tangle floor head works wonders at keeping the rollers free of hair, too. For me, this is one of Shark’s best features, and this is a big plus for Shark vs Dyson when it comes to the fact that Shark releases new corded hoovers as well as cordless models. Dyson still offers their corded hoovers, but if you want their newer features you have to go for their newer cordless models, as they’re no longer developing new corded vacuum cleaners.We were told that this new feature will also help to preserve the battery life since you'll be using a suction power level that is most suitable for the floor type, which is unlikely to be on Max.

Yes! Whether you want to upgrade your machine or you have misplaced it, there are hundreds of Shark parts on sale. You can find it easily by choosing your model and the range includes crevice tools, brushes, filters and much more. Is it possible to pay monthly with Shark? It’s also a bit of a fiddle to remember how to release all the various bits and bobs. Where the wand meets the top of the main unit, there are no fewer than five different buttons and release catches to separate everything, from the hose to the collection bin. It’s all well labelled, but I still found myself having to pause and think about which blue catch to press to release the collection bin. The reason they refer to this as “Anti Allergen” is that there are various allergens (pollen probably the most obvious one) that are filtered out, so by having a complete seal these allergens won’t be dragged out from being embedded in carpet fibres for example, where presumably they weren’t doing much harm, and being pumped in the air to be inhaled. In testing, the Shark ICZ300UKT performed extremely well. The soft roller is by far the best tool vacuum cleaners have at their disposal for collecting larger particles, because they trap them without crushing and guide them gently towards the suction tube. On both carpet and hard floor, the Shark gathered all 26g of a 26g Cheerio spill in a faultless, virtuoso performance. The small thing is a little sharp comb-type gismo that catches and cuts hairs before they can get tightly wound around the roller, and then the cut strands are simply hoovered up, perfect! Like I say, it’s a small thing, it may even seem to be a very obvious thing, but that’s the thing about the best inventions, they make so much sense that you can’t believe that they weren’t always a thing.

The Shark ICZ300UKT is a brilliant cordless vacuum cleaner that’s capable of a whole-house clean

It’s really lightweight, it’s incredibly easy to use, it takes very little effort to maneuver. It’s fast and easy to empty the waste container, the filter is easy to get at and to empty, it has fantastic suction power, amazing overall cleaning ability, on both hard floors and carpets (our home is roughly an equal mix, hard floors downstairs, carpets upstairs). Importantly, Lift-Away mode is easy to activate, with the cylinder lifting off effortlessly. With a total weight of 6.7kg, the NZ860UKT isn’t light, but Lift-Away does make it more nimble. This model also has Shark’s Lift-Away design, which means you can detach the main unit from the floor head and carry it to areas that might otherwise be difficult to reach with a full-size vacuum. The wand releases from the main unit, so you can add attachments and reach into awkward places, and you can also remove the wand from the handle if you need to just use the 1.46m hose for jobs like upholstery cleaning.

Another of Shark’s recent flagship features, this involved a pair of brush rolls instead of the usual one, and combines a standard hard bristle roller with a soft brush roll. The other recent innovation that Shark has brought to this model is the screen and control panel on the top of the handle, which debuted on the Shark IZ300UKT. This is mostly to display how much battery capacity you have left, shown as a percentage that decreases in increments of 10%. It isn’t as accurate as the battery gauge on the Dyson V15 Detect or V11 Outsize, but you get more information than on most cordless models. I make no apologies for wearing out jokes that weren’t even funny the first time, I’m a dad, it’s my job. This is one of the really impressive features of this corded hoover, the main part of the vacuum cleaner when you remove the wand & brush head is very small and lightweight, so it becomes an incredibly powerful handheld almost instantly. There are purpose-built handhelds that are a bit smaller and lighter than this, but not much, and they wouldn’t come close to the cleaning power of the Shark Stratos. Another dad joke coming… This isn’t a tool for motorised pets, they don’t tend to have much hair, it is of course a motorised tool for dealing with pet hair, and it’s another great feature. OK Shark aren’t the only vacuum cleaner brand to have this feature, but I do particularly like their pet tool. For me it’s just the perfect size for stairs, and it turns the Shark Stratos into a very powerful handheld (when you remove the wand) for hoovering cars, sofas and so on.

If this Shark vacuum is at the top of it's game, I want one

Another very small thing which is actually very important, the Anti Allergen Complete Seal feature is exactly what it sounds like. There’s a HEPA filter which filters out all the microscopic miscreants (dust, dust mites, dust mite feces, pollen, pet dander), and that’s great, but on bagless hoovers the filter is part of the hoover and isn’t part of the hoover bag (as there isn’t one) so it’s only going to work if there’s a perfect seal around the filter. Warranties are included in the price and Shark vacuums get 5 years, cordless hoovers 2 years and steam mops 12 months. Make sure you register your device, as on occasion you can claim an extended warranty for 1 month free of charge. Can I buy spare parts at Shark? For pets, I do think this is a great hoover. The pet tool is a stonking little thing, so good for purging the sofa and carpets of pet hair, and for cars too in theory although to be honest, I’m not someone who regularly hoovers their car. Shh, don’t tell anyone, OK you can tell my wife she already knows ;-).