Power player … Shark’s self-emptying cordless vacuum cleans brilliantly, but battery life falls short in larger homes. Photograph: Andy Shaw/The Guardian View image in fullscreen Power player … Shark’s self-emptying cordless vacuum cleans brilliantly, but battery life falls short in larger homes. Photograph: Andy Shaw/The Guardian The Filter Homes Review A self-emptying, frictionless marvel: Shark PowerDetect Speed Clean and Empty Pet Pro review Shark’s cordless vacuum is a whiz at cleaning hard floors and pet hair, but a disarmingly short battery life caught our reviewer off guard
The best cordless vacuum cleaners – tested
Andy Shaw Tue 28 Jul 2026 11.00 CEST Share Prefer the Guardian on Google The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more .
V acuuming rarely starts with vacuuming. First you have to clear the floor of stray socks and abandoned toys left behind by children, pets or messy partners. Then there’s the irritation of finding the vacuum’s dustbin still full of dirt, or the battery flat because someone forgot to charge it.
The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more .
The (take a deep breath – long name coming up) Shark PowerDetect Speed Clean and Empty Pet Pro cordless vacuum Ultramarine IA3241UKT certainly won’t pick up the scattered toys for you, but it has been designed to make the job of vacuuming as frictionless as possible.
Most of that is down to the self-emptying and charging station. Shark claims this will hold 45 days’ worth of dirt before needing to be emptied. Once you’ve finished vacuuming, you put the cleaner back on the stand, and a secondary vacuum in the base pulls the dirt out of the cleaner’s 0.47l collection bin and into a 2l chamber below. If you live with people who are prone to absent-mindedly leaving a vacuum stuffed to the brim after using it, it makes a real difference. The base station also charges the cleaner, so the next time you reach for it, it’s not only empty of dirt but ready to go.
View at AO How I tested View image in fullscreen On the surface … writer Andy testing on a living room rug. Photograph: Andy Shaw/The Guardian With a cordless vacuum cleaner such as this one, I start with a battery test. The device is fully charged, switched to full suction power, and left to run on a piece of short-pile carpet with the primary floor head attached until the battery runs out. I then recharge the battery and repeat the process on the lowest suction setting, which might not clean the floor as well, but is useful if you want to cover the largest area.
View image in fullscreen Dog days … the motorised pet tool was put to the test on cocker spaniel hair embedded in mats, sofas and cosy chairs. Photograph: Andy Shaw/The Guardian Next I test the suction using a vacuum meter. Powerful suction doesn’t guarantee a great vacuum cleaner, but a weak result here is often accompanied by disappointing cleaning.
Lastly, I run through a series of cleaning tests. I measure precise amounts of pet hair, cat litter and flour, depositing them on carpet and hard floor. I weigh the collection bin before and after vacuuming each type of mess, giving the device one chance to pick up whatever it can with a single forward and backward pass.
I’ve performed these tests with all the vacuum cleaners I’ve reviewed for the Filter, so I can easily compare the perf…