If you struggle with mobility or carrying a heavy vacuum around for a long period of time, this might be a big help for you. It’s positioned to the side of the extension wand, so can be removed without having to take off any attachments. Its cleaning ability is superb, and it’s great value for money, particularly if you can catch it at a discount.

This is undoubtedly more effective on upholstery covered in pet hair than the standard oval funnel but it’s also useful for those without pets when tackling smaller areas such as stairs or car carpets. The battery life will suffice for smaller homes or those who are embarking on 30-minute cleaning sessions, and the lightweight design means that the business of vacuuming is really no trouble at all. Sign up to our newsletter for style and decor inspiration, house makeovers, project advice and more. For one, it has a five-year warranty compared to the three that comes with other models from the brand. Meanwhile, the Shark Anti Hair Wrap IZ202UK is another well-respected brand that demands your attention if you're not sold on either of the other two models mentioned above, especially as it comes with Anti Hair Wrap tech.With double the suction power of some of its most popular competitors, combined with an impressive battery life of 30 minutes, the HF9 cordless vacuum is the ultimate home cleaning appliance. When I caught the tassels of a rug in the head, the unit quickly turned off and it was easy to disentangle.

The fact it can stand up on its own or be grabbed from the wall mount is also absolutely ideal for the open-plan situation I have on my hands too. This is comparably less than the Stratos (which has a max run time of 60 minutes) but is also reflected in the RRP.Luckily that's far from being the case with the HF9, which was as capable on hard floors as it was on my carpet.

Being a cordless model, the Hoover HF9 is reasonably compact in design and doesn’t weigh too much either at 3. It’s easy to switch between the different modes: there’s hard floor mode, when the brush bar spins at lower speed to clean delicate surfaces, and carpet mode, when the brush bar spins at higher speed to lift up dirt from beneath the surface. The 31 minutes it lasted in our test is an improvement over the Hoover HF500 and the Vax Blade 5 but it falls behind models from Shark and the super long-lasting Henry Quick.If you live with four-legged companions, you'll probably want to opt for the Hoover Cordless HF9 Pet version instead, which features a motorised mini turbo pets brush, for getting up dog hairs and any stubborn messes. If you’re not that strong or you’re more likely to use it as a handheld device, you might be better off looking for another option.