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Lastly, we found it didn’t quite live up to its anti-wrap claims compared with other similar models. Despite that, it gives a good thorough clean of all floors – just be mindful if there’s lots of people with long hair in your household, as you’ll likely have to do a bit of untangling yourself. Voucher codes Overall, the look and feel of the vacuum is a winning formula for Shark in my eyes. Sure, it's never going to be as pretty as a Dyson, but it's sleek and compact, and the colourway works really well. Using the Shark Stratos As with most vacuum cleaners, this model has two filters. The main filter is easy to get out, but the HEPA filter is a little fiddly. Both filters can be washed to keep them working at optimal efficiency. Performance
I ran my carpet test to start with, placing a teaspoon of flour on the ground. Running the Shark IZ320UKT through the middle I got a clean collection of the dust on Standard power. Next, I ran the vacuum through the top on Eco mode and the bottom on Boost. There’s little to tell between the two, and it’s impressive that the Shark IZ320UKT can clean so well on its lowest setting. Overall, this is a superb performance, surpassing the abilities of the more expensive Dyson models, including the V15 Detect and the V11 Outsize. I put the Shark ICZ160UKT through the usual set of tests, first of which assesses suction. Starting on standard power, I measured the vacuum as having a 25-inch water lift capability, delivering airflow of 14.63 cubic feet, which I worked out as a useful 43-airwatts. Upping power to boost, water lift increased to 61 inches and airflow to 22.22 cubic feet, which I worked out at a powerful 159.46 airwatts. READ NEXT: The best robot vacuum cleaners to buy today Shark Anti Hair Wrap with Flexology IZ201UKC review: Should you buy it?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. I put the Shark IZ320UKT through my raw performance tests, measuring suction power in airwatts (AW), which uses a combination of airflow and suction. On Eco power, the vacuum runs at a basic 37.33AW, moving to 61.40AW on standard, which is about average for cordless cleaners. On Boost mode, the vacuum manages a huge 199.79AW; few cordless vacuum cleaners are this powerful, bar the Dyson V15 Detect, which manages an even higher 280.93AW. Emptying the bin is easy, as it can be completely removed from the vacuum’s body Performance – One of the most powerful cordless vacuum cleaners around Shark is well known for making hugely flexible vacuum cleaners, and this continues through to its cordless models. As with previous Shark cordless vacuum cleaners, the IZ251UKT has Shark’s Flexology technology. This enables the wand to fold over in half, letting the vacuum stand up by itself so that you can easily wheel it into a cupboard for storage. It’s a shame the IZ251UKT isn’t able to stand up unaided when fully extended; the weight of the battery and bin tilt it over.
Shark quotes battery life at up to 60 minutes per battery running on Eco mode without a powered tool. I tested with a powered tool and found that it lasted 61m 28s on Eco power, 33m 58s on Standard and an impressive 17m 58s minutes on Boost. Recharge time is four hours for both batteries. And unlike the Dyson, the display doesn't work while the vacuum is charging. So you have to rely on three less precise indicator lights on the battery to know when it's fully charged. Battery life is quoted at 60 minutes, although this is on Eco mode with a non-motorised tool. The floor head shaves off a few minutes. Switch to Standard mode, and you’ll get over 30 minutes of run-time, while I found that Turbo mode pushed this down to just over 10 minutes in my tests.I then combed cat hair into the carpet and ran over it using the standard power setting. Again, everything was collected with ease. It didn’t carry its perfect performance over to the flour test, but it still did a decent job. On hard floor, I measured 44g of a 50g spill making it into the collection bin. However, apart from a small residue near the start of our pass, it certainly didn’t leave 6g of flour behind. I suspect most of the missing flour was lining the tubes or caught in the floor head and would work its way into the bin eventually as I performed other cleaning tasks. For this model, Shark has redesigned the controls. There’s now an LCD screen that shows battery life as a percentage. This is far better than the old display, where you’d get a set of lights to indicate the rough level of charge remaining; but it isn’t as good as the Dyson V15 Detect, which shows you battery life in minutes. Related: Best cordless vacuum cleaner Design – Brilliantly flexible, this is a vacuum that can go where you need it go 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.
The Shark makes a lot of noise, so it's not a good choice if you tend to vacuum while others are asleep or working from home - even if they're on the other side of the house.
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. This vacuum cleaner comes in about average for noise, at 67.5dB on Eco, 72.6dB on Standard and 75.6dB on Turbo. You can clearly hear the Shark ICZ300UKT and can’t really hold conversations over it, but it isn’t so loud as to be annoying.
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. I finished off the test using Eco mode at the bottom of the mess and Turbo at the top. As you can see, the vacuum performed well in Eco mode, although it left a trace of dust behind; for smaller spills, this lower power mode will do the job. While raw power tells us a bit about a vacuum cleaner, real-world performance will largely come down to the quality of the accessories. Fortunately, Shark didn’t let me down. 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.However, the battery life isn’t anything particularly out of the ordinary. Shark quotes it at 40 minutes, although this is without the motorised floor head attached. In our tests, we found it lasted 22mins 34secs when tested on carpet with the motorised head attached, falling to 16mins 10secs in Boost mode. 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. On the plus side, Shark’s articulated “Flexology” elbow does make cleaning under low furniture very easy indeed, allowing you to stand up and swing the cleaning head underneath your cupboards and sofas from a standing position, without having to get down on your hands and knees.
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