Shark, AZ910UK

Product Information

For a big and rather bulky upright (weighing in at just under 7kg), the Shark gets really close to edges and performs exceptionally well on carpets. The enhanced Pet Power tool now features an air-turbo powered brush bar with the same, very effective Anti-Tangle blades as the DuoClean floor-head. We’re not a big fan of air-powered tools – preferring motorised ones instead – since they tend to slow down when the air is restricted and can be noisy.

Let’s start with the Anti Hair Wrap brush bar. This feature uses a special bristle guard to remove hair, which is useful for homes with pets. It’s not perfect – some hair may still get caught – but it makes brush roll maintenance much easier. It’s a shame the tool is suction-powered rather than motorised, as this reduces the power and makes it quite noisy. Still, it’s great to have a rotating brush bar in a smaller tool for cleaning tight spaces, even if you don’t have pets. With its grey and rose gold colour scheme, the AZ910UKT is an attractive vacuum with a sturdy construction. It’s also streamlined for an upright model, with the hose, power cord, and tools neatly stored. The weight reflects this solid construction, though, as it’s on the heavy side at 6.77kg. This isn’t much more than the 6.5kg of the Shark NZ801UKT, but it’s worth taking into consideration, particularly for elderly people or anyone looking for a lightweight vacuum. It also uses DuoClean technology, which means the front soft roller of the floor head is there to collect the really fine dust, we found this to be on a par to nearly all the other upright corded models from Shark.If you need to swap the main head for one of the tools, they can be attached and removed with ease. Just pull them on and off as required. In terms of dust capacity, the AZ910UKT has a meagre 0.84 litre maximum. For context, the Hoover Breeze Evo has a whopping 3 litre dirt canister. There are even cordless vacuums with similar capacities to the AZ910UKT, so be prepared to empty it often. The hose is 1.6m in length, which is the same as the larger AZ950, but I do also miss the massive 2.15m hose that you got with the NV602 and NV702. Cleaning Power As such, the Shark more than exceeded expectation, removing everything from dog hair to sand (Alison lives near the beach) on pet bedding, hard floors and carpets.

Finally, a note about hair tangles. Even after cleaning the trouble areas (in front of the hallway mirror and in the bedroom), the DuoClean head remained tangle-free. Moreover, the easy-to-empty collection bin was full of hair that would have otherwise been left for me to untangle and cut away from the brush head of a regular vacuum cleaner. Shark AZ910UK review conclusion And, if you carry out some basic maintenance, there aren’t any ongoing costs. The guarantee covers you for five years, so it should last you long enough to balance out the initial outlay.

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A brush-roll indicator on the left side of the DuoClean floor head will tell you if the brush-rolls are spinning as they should. Green is good while red indicates a jam. The dust collection/motor section fits well on the stairs and removing the wand means that close work is effortless. Using the same configuration also works wonders for the car too.

Do be aware though that the Lift-Away can be a bit unstable when left to stand up by itself and it does occasionally topple over. However, Alison also found that other vacuums she tested with a lift-away function – the Hoover H-Lift 700 and the Vax Air-Lift Steerable Pet Max – also had this problem.

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You may find the Lift Away rather cumbersome or difficult to use if you have arthritis or mobility issues Lift Away: Shark's Lift Away feature means you can detach the canister from the wand, transforming it into a portable, handheld vacuum unit. This allows you to get to those high and hard-to-reach places and vacuum the stairs with ease. Anti-hair wrap technology is designed as a continual maintenance system and if you run the vacuum over hard floor for a couple of minutes it will untangle the hair” This is easy to accomplish as you switch between rooms and means that you'll be able to move seamlessly from floor type to floor type without changing heads. Along with the pet tool, the AZ910UKT also comes with an upholstery tool and a 2-in-1 duster crevice tool. The bristles on this tool aren’t too stiff, so it’s more useful for dusting than removing muddy paw prints or stubborn dirt.

As seems to be the norm with upright Shark vacuum cleaners, this model has an 8m cord. It’s not the best length out there, but it is also far from the worst. Firstly, you have the model number. This ends in either UK or UKT, and the T stands for True Pet. What this means is that it comes with an additional attachment in the form of the pet tool thats great on furnishings including dog beds. Unlike the heavy-duty (and more expensive) SEBO X7 ePower, for example, the Shark's suction power also wasn't so overwhelming as to pull rugs or mats up with it. This is due to the carpet setting itself, which maintains the brush bar speed and overall power of the vacuum cleaner, while venting some of the suction away through an opening in the handle. As such, both were left looking spotless after cleaning. How well does the Shark AZ910UK vacuum hard floors? Tested by Mumsnet: Read our full Shark vacuum cleaner for pet hair: Shark Stratos Anti Hair Wrap Plus Pet Pro Cordless Vacuum review Key specs

How easy is the Shark AZ910UK to keep clean?

Unfortunately, the cleaning radius is limited by the 8 metre power cord. It’s not the shortest we’ve seen, but it does require a fair amount of plug swapping when cleaning a large home. There are certainly better models out there if you have lots of laminate floors in your home, though these do tend to be cylinder style vacuums or cordless vacuums such as Dyson V10 or Dyson V11. Now on to the testing I have a Shark Wandvac which I love and use every day, sometimes two or three times a day as it is so convenient and light (we have 2 DC and 2 Ddogs so it gets messy)" - LadyCleathStuart Our verdict