Reviews

The Shark Powered Lift-Away True Pet Bagless Vacuum

Back in February, I took part in the AO.com Valentine’s gifting challenge with Franca from A Moment with Franca. She chose to send me a Handheld Dyson to help make cleaning my car much easier. I loved it. So when AO.com got back in touch to see if I would like to try out another vacuum, I jumped at the chance. Yes, I have hit that age where new household appliances make me happy.

I have had my current vacuum for around 4 years now, and whilst I thought it still does a pretty decent job of my carpets, I was interested to see how it fared against the Shark Powered Lift-Away True Pet Bagless Vacuum.

Even though I don’t have pets, I do have a messy daughter and a regular stream of children coming and going. In fact, Olivia has just had a sleepover with 7 of her friends, and it seemed the perfect time to put the Shark to the test.

Shark-Powered Lift-Away True Pet Bagless Vacuum

Weighing at 6.3kg, the Shark is lighter and a lot narrower than my current vacuum. This is definitely a plus for me as my house is only small and storage space is pretty minimal right now. With the ability to switch between carpets and hard flooring at the flooring at the flick of the button, I was looking forward to being able to vacuum my whole house at once. The Shark Powered Lift-Away True Pet comes with a removable (Lift-Away) cylinder, LED headlights and advanced swivel steering for 3 in 1 cleaning.

After I had stopped fawning over how impressive it sounded, it was time to put it into action.

Coming in separate parts, I was worried about putting it together, but following the instructions, it literally slotted into place in mere seconds, and I was ready to go. It really was a lot smaller than I imagined but good things come in small packages, am I right?

A place for everything

One of my favourite features is having somewhere on the vacuum for all the attachments to sit securely and a place to store the cord. Having had a vacuum in days gone by which had none of this, I love to see it on vacuums as I have a tendency to put things somewhere safe, and we all know how that ends up, don’t we? With the Shark, you get a pet power brush for use on hard floors, an upholstery tool and a 2 in 1 duster crevice tool.

Because of all the different functions, I love love, love that all you need to do is press a button. And each button is labelled, too! Want to use the wand for dust bunnies in high-up corners? Press the ‘release wand‘ button. Want to remove the cylinder to reach under furniture? Press the ‘lift away’ button. It really is that easy. But enough about what it CAN do, you want to know if it DOES do it!

Cleaning my carpets with the Shark Powered Lift-Away True Pet Bagless Vacuum

First Impressions:  A little awkward and clunky (if you know what I mean). But that was just me. It took me a whole room to get used to it, especially the swivel base. Whilst I loved it, I did find it took a little getting used to. But by the time I had navigated myself around the circular coffee table, I was sold!

The vacuum makes different sounds when on the carpet to hard flooring. This was great in letting me know when I needed to switch surfaces. I wouldn’t say it was whisper-quiet; it wasn’t overly noisy, either. The Shark glided over both surfaces with ease, but I could definitely feel the suction on my carpets. It seemed to grab them and not let go. This did make for slightly harder vacuuming, but as I pushed it around my rooms, you could feel and see its power in the carpets. I would rather it feel slightly heavier to use on carpets, having seen the dirt it picked up.

One thing I always neglect is my ceilings. I can see the dust accumulating, but the Shark made it so easy to clear that away. With the press of a button, the wand was released, the tool attached, and off I went ‘dusting’ my ceilings!

The LED lights so cool, too. Look at the images below!

I couldn’t fully test out using the Shark under my furniture as my beds and sofa are too low to the ground, but I love that it is so easy to do this. You press the ‘lift away’ button, remove the cylinder, and away you go. It literally clips on and clips right back off again. Really easy.

Just as quick and simple to do is emptying it, too.

I noticed that just giving my house the once over quickly picked up so much more than my current vacuum and filled around 1/3 of the tank. Mostly dust, too. I was shocked (and slightly disgusted) at how much we were walking on, and it had only been less than 48 hours since I last vacuumed, too! Since that initial first time, my carpets have felt and even looked so much cleaner.

So when I emptied it, I pressed the button under the handle where it says ‘dust cap release’. After removing it, I pressed the button on the bottom of the tank, and it released the base, emptying straight into the bin. Done, dusted, and it really is that easy.

It’s safe to say that now, I wouldn’t swap it for the world! I am sold and can see the Shark Powered Lift-Away True Pet Bagless Vacuum being one of my most favourite appliances ever. If it could make me a coffee, it would be number 1, but alas, it can’t! No more lugging my heavy vacuum downstairs for me now, I can just grab the Shark and done, clean carpets in a jiffy!

The Shark Powered Lift-Away True Pet Bagless Vacuum is currently on offer from £299 to £199 at AO.com. 

*Disclaimer: I was provided with the vacuum cleaner mentioned for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own based upon using the appliance.*