A few days ago I was given the Shark IZ400UK anti-hair wrap plus cordless vacuum with anti-odour technology to try out. I was pretty excited about giving it a go, because my heavy old (really old) plug-in vacuum is becoming a proper pain to lug around the house.
I live in a small semi-detached house with stairs, lots of furniture, and a fair few nooks and crannies. When it comes to cleaning, there’s no gliding effortlessly across huge living rooms like in the adverts. There’s a lot more bending, stretching and moving-things-out-of-the-way involved. Also, it’s a household with pets and kids running wild. So with all that in mind – here’s how I got on with my new Shark cleaner.
Unboxing and setting up
There’s quite a lot of kit in the box, including a charging plug, tools, and a little Shark bag to keep them in. The Shark vacuum itself only has three parts to it – a handle (with bin), long wand, and cleaner head. I was able to click it together in just a few seconds, with no dramas. I then charged it up, and was good to go…
Cleaning with the Shark IZ400UK for the first time
I pressed the power button with my thumb and the LED display lit up, showing that Clean Sense IQ mode was selected as default. You can easily change this to Eco or Boost with a quick button press:
Eco can be used for delicate items like lampshades or computer keyboards.
Boost is good for dealing with mega mess – like what’s left on the kitchen floor when the kids help themselves to a bowl of cereal.
I didn’t change any settings, because I was happy to let Clean Sense IQ do its thing for now (more details below). It’s a really light cleaner, and moved easily across my hard floors and carpets. It was also easy to lift up for high cleaning jobs like ceiling corners.
And most importantly, it did a great job of getting the floors absolutely spotless. The biggest test was dealing with dog hair under my bed (it’s his chill-out space), and it only took a couple of passes to clean it all up. Very impressive.
Clean Sense IQ. Boosts power when it senses more dirt.
Clean Sense IQ was the standout feature for me. It’s a sensor that detects the level of dirt and dust being sucked up, and adjusts the power on your machine to help you tackle dirtier areas. It means you don’t have to decide on the best settings for different parts of your home – the cleaner does the thinking for you. So, you can go from carpets to hard floors without changing a thing. It’s also an energy efficient way of cleaning, as it always uses just the right amount of power.
As you clean, you can hear Sense IQ boosting the power when needed. You can see it happening too, with a light metre on the cleaner head showing how much power’s being used. There are also lights on the front of the cleaner rhead - these really help you see individual specks of dirt in darker parts of the house.
At first I wasn’t convinced if I needed to see the Sense IQ light indicator, but it is useful. Basically, it shows you when you’ve cleaned somewhere properly and are ready to move on. Also, you’ll quickly get to know the dirtiest parts of your house – somewhere your pets enjoying lying down, for example – that you need to pay close attention to.
Trying out the tools
The Shark IZ400UK package I tried out came with a couple of extra tools. I tried them both out during my test clean:
Crevice tool. This was great for getting into all those nooks and crannies I mentioned earlier. It was really good on the stairs too, as the main head was a bit too big for the job.
Combination tool. This comes with a soft brush that was gentle enough to use on my couch and chairs. The brush pulls off, so you can also use it to clean less delicate stuff. To be honest, I didn’t really find a need for this. Maybe If I had this cleaner for longer I’d use it.
Anti-odour technology. For a fresher smelling home.
Our old corded vacuum has picked up its own unique smell over the years, and it’s not too pleasant. In fact, it makes the house smell (whiff or pong are also accurate descriptions) for a couple of hours after its been used. So I was definitely interested in trying the Shark IZ400UK’s anti-odour technology – designed to stop any bad odours getting inside the vacuum. I loved the idea of this when I read it on the box, and it works brilliantly.
The fragrance cartridge comes in a small can. Open it up, insert it into the ‘anti-odour technology’ slot in the cleaner head, then turn the dial clockwise to click it into place. This dial adjusts the amount of fragrance is released, and you can turn it toward the plus symbol if you want more.
With the anti-odour cartridge doing its thing, there was a pleasant fragrance around my home by the time I’d finished. What a difference compared to my old cleaner!
Flexology. Reaches more, easier to store.
The Shark IZ400UK bends in a fairly unique way to help you get right under furniture. It’s all thanks to Flexology – a hinge in the wand that makes it bend forward.
I gave it a try and sure enough, it does a great job of getting right under chairs. But it did feel like a bit of a faff when I knew I could just bend down do a quick pass or two under the rest of my chairs. Maybe if I had it longer I’d get into the habit of unclipping and unflexing whenever I got near a chair or table.
I actually found the Flexology feature more useful for standing the Shark IZ400UK stand upright when it was being stored and charged. It gives the cleaner a lower centre gravity, making it a lot sturdier.
Duo-clean. One head, two brush rolls.
The large cleaner head on the Shark IZ400UK contains two separate rollers.
The main roller has an anti hair wrap design to stop hair getting clogged up in the head. At the same time, Shark says it gives you its “best ever hair pick up.” There wasn’t a sign of hair in the cleaner head on my test clean, so thumbs up to that.
There’s also soft roller at the front, which I found really useful for cleaning ‘crunchable’ things like cereal and crisps. It was soft enough to roll over large pieces and suck them up, rather than breaking them down and causing more mess.
Verdict
I was really impressed with the Shark IZ400UK. I’d recommend it to anyone looking for a new cordless cleaner – especially if they’ve got pets. It’s easy to use, great at cleaning, smells lovely(!) and the bin size is decent too.
In fact, I’m struggling to think of any negatives. Although, if you decide to clean your home in Boost mode, you’ll only get around 10 minutes of battery life. Stick to the Clean Sense IQ mode and you’ll have almost half an hour of power, which should be enough to clean an average-sized house. It worked for me.
Need more advice?
If you’d like more help choosing the best cleaner for your home, check out our article on choosing a vacuum cleaner, and our in-depth floorcare buying guide. Or why not pop in-store and ask one of our colleagues for help? They’re always happy to chat.
