Cleaner house, better for allergies

If you’re looking for a small cylindrical vacuum cleaner you can use for clearing up mess left by your pets, the Shark CZ5500UKT is a marvellous option.

Admittedly, this is a good-looking vacuum with a small black frame with plenty of curves and rose gold details around it. In addition, at 7.99kg, it is pretty heavy, but it’s worth noting that mass is spread across all of the vacuum’s components – the cleaner body, tools and wand. Breaking it down reveals the actual mass of the body is half the total, which we found made it relatively easy to lift. This is a wheeled pull-along vacuum that also comes with one of Shark’s DuoClean heads, like on their upright options, which means it’s good for operating on both hard floors and carpets alike, and the fact it’s got Anti Hair Wrap tech built in means this cleaner won’t be getting any hair caught in the floor head.

During testing, the CZ500UKT proved remarkably easy to push around, and with no real bulk around the wand, it’s also easy to use it basically anywhere, including underneath furniture, which is an area some cleaners struggle to get under. The fact there’s a 9 metre power cable is also handy, given how far it can allow you to go with the cleaner, too. Controls are kept within easy reach on the back of the handle, which is especially useful, and it’s easy to do more detailed jobs too, as you just pop the floor head off using the foot-powered eject button, and can use the floor and the wand in tandem for more focused jobs. There’s very little need to bend down to use the CZ500UKT, apart from to plug it in really.

You also get a good selection of tools, notably a crevice tool and brush and a mini-motorised pet tool, which is great for getting hair and the like out of stairs and furniture. These tools can also be carried on the back of the cleaner too, so they stay within easy reach. A 1.6 litre bin capacity is pretty good too, which conveniently lifts out and flips open at the front/ To go with it, there is also a pair of washable filters that will inevitably collect a load of dust and debris on your cleaning tasks.

This Shark cleaner also has plenty of raw power, with a huge 227.8AW output on standard mode, and a massive 284.42AW on Max mode, putting the CZ500UKT in line with its upright cousins. Those impressive numbers are also backed up by some pretty good real world performance in dealing with flour on carpets in a single pass, as well as with rice on a hard floor in both standard and max power modes. Of course, pet hair was removed perfectly.

Reviewer: David Ludlow

Full review: Shark CZ500UKT