Shark Anti Hair Wrap Cordless Vacuum IZ202UK review: ideal for smaller homes

Shark Anti Hair Wrap Cordless Vacuum IZ202UK two-minute review

The Shark Anti Hair Wrap Cordless Vacuum is one of the most budget-friendly cordless vacuums on offer from Shark. And as such, it lacks the longer run times and some of the features that you’ll get if you spend more money, but whether that matters or not will entirely depend on your home and how you intend to use it.

Now, don’t get me wrong, it might not be as feature-rich as the very best Shark vacuum cleaners, but it still has its fair share of handy additions. These include anti hair wrap technology to stop hair tangling around the brush roll, and a flexible wand that bends in the middle for better reach under furniture.

On test it proved to be ideal for lighter daily cleans, picking up most of the surface debris from all floor types. However in busy, high-traffic homes, you’ll need to back it up with one of the best vacuum cleaners that can achieve a deeper clean every now and then. It's best for floors, unless you invest in some extra accessories to increase the handheld cleaning options. Read on for my full Shark Anti Hair Wrap Cordless Vacuum IZ202UK review. 

Shark Anti Hair Wrap Cordless Vacuum IZ202UK review: price & availability

• Shark Anti Hair Wrap Cordless Vacuum IZ202UK list price: £249.99
• Shark Anti Hair Wrap Cordless Pet Vacuum IZ202UKT list price: £279.99

The Shark Anti Hair Wrap Cordless Vacuum IZ202UK is the lowest priced cordless vacuum you can buy from Shark in the UK. The list price is £249.99, or £279.99 if you opt for the version with the added pet hair tool. At the time of writing it was on offer with £50 off, so there are deals to be had.

There's no equivalent in the US at time of writing, although the Shark Pet Cordless Stick Vacuum IX141H is very similar, and that costs $259.99.

Should you require a second battery, it’ll set you back £79.99. There are also various compatible tools available to purchase separately, which means you can create a package that’s tailored to your needs.

Not only is it the most budget-friendly Shark cordless vacuum, the Shark Anti Hair Wrap cordless vacuum is also very reasonably priced in the context of the rest of the market. It sits towards the lower end of TechRadar's budget price bracket for vacuum cleaners. In comparison, the cheapest cordless model from competitor brand Dyson is the Dyson V8, which is an older model and costs from £329.

Major shopping events like the Black Friday sales are often a good time to look for a discounted appliance. 

• Value for money score: 5 out of 5

Shark Anti Hair Wrap Cordless Vacuum IZ202UK specs

Shark Anti Hair Wrap Cordless Vacuum IZ202UK review: design

• 0.7 litre dust capacity
• Anti hair wrap floorhead
• Removable battery

The Shark Anti Hair Wrap Cordless Vacuum IZ202UK is a bagless rechargeable vacuum. As is typical for this style of vacuum, it can be used as an upright for cleaning floors, and by removing the wand and floorhead, it converts to a handheld for cleaning all sorts of other surfaces.

It comes with a crevice tool for awkward, hard-to-reach areas and an upholstery tool for picking up debris from your sofas and chairs. Neither can be stored on the vacuum though, so if you want to convert between floors and handheld cleaning, you'll have to remember to take them with you. Depending on which version you buy, there may also be a mini motorized pet tool. This is for use in handheld mode and is designed for effective removal of pet hair from upholstery or pets' beds.

Although it's one of Shark's more basic, affordable models, it still includes some of the brand's most popular features (head to TechRadar's guide to the Shark vacuum cleaner technologies for a jargon-buster). In floor cleaning mode, the Flexology (called 'MultiFLEX' in the US) feature is a clever design that allows the wand to bend in the middle. This might sound a bit strange, but it means that you can easily reach the floorhead beneath furniture, without having to squat down or lean your own body at awkward angles.

When the wand was used as normal, I noticed that where it bends for the Flexology feature, it felt a bit wobbly and not totally solid, despite being fully clicked back into position. This didn’t affect the use, but at the same time, I was aware of that slight wobble.

The floorhead includes LED headlights as well as Shark’s signature anti hair wrap technology (just referred to as a self-cleaning brush roll in the US). This means that hair shouldn’t ever get tangled around the brush rolls. If you’ve ever had to spend time diligently cutting hair from a vacuum cleaner floorhead, will come as a welcome feature.

When vacuuming, there’s a slider on the handle to switch between carpet and hard floor modes, and also a boost trigger that increases the suction to the maximum power. You do have to keep the trigger depressed for the for the entire time that you want the stronger suction, though, which can get a little wearing.

The battery level is indicated by three lights; they’re all illuminated when the battery is full and each one goes out as the battery level decreases. The final light flashes for around a minute before it completely runs out of juice. Shark claims it has a run time of up to 40 minutes.

The battery can be removed for charging, or the cable can be plugged in while it’s attached to the vacuum. This means it’s easy to charge wherever is most convenient for you, and I like that you’re not obliged to charge it in a docking station.

As well as the option to disassemble it to make it compact to store, you can also make use of the bendable wand. With the Flexology button pressed, the wand can be bent in half, so that it’s freestanding, but at half the height. This makes it much easier to store, particularly if you have limited space.

The Shark Anti Hair Wrap cordless vacuum has an anti-allergen complete seal that, claims Shark, will trap 99.9% of dust and allergens inside the vacuum. The filters are washable and easily accessible when the 0.7 liter dust cup is removed.

The size of the vacuum is chunkier than some budget-friendly cordless vacuums, which can often seem a little insubstantial. Its measurements are 119 x 27 x 17cm (H x W x D). At 4.7kg it’s neither the lightest nor the heaviest you’ll come across.

• Design score: 4 out of 5

Shark Anti Hair Wrap Cordless Vacuum IZ202UK review: performance

• Best for lighter cleans
• Good pet hair pick up
• Lack of accessories limits its handheld usefulness

On carpeted floors and rugs, in the standard carpet mode, the Shark Anti Hair Wrap Cordless Vacuum IZ202UK picked up the surface dirt, but judging by what was in the dust cup, it didn’t seem to suck up the deeper, more ground-in fine dust. In my two bedroom home with no children or pets, I don’t need much more from a vacuum. But in busier households this level of suction won’t be enough.

When vacuuming hard floors using the hard floor setting, it picked up all visible dust and debris from day-to-day life. And when I sprinkled flour onto wood floors, it did a pretty decent job of collecting it all, but I noticed as I pulled it backwards, it dragged a small pile of flour back with it. This was easily sucked up by going over it again from a different angle, so it wasn’t too problematic.

Another thing I noticed was that the flour that had settled into the grooves between the floorboards wasn’t removed until I went back over it in boost mode. Similarly, on the uneven slate tile in my kitchen, it didn’t always achieve the most thorough clean. I found I had to keep switching to boost mode to get the best result, which suggests that the general hard floor mode is geared towards lighter cleans.

I did a test at the edges of the room, using a combination of flour and oats, to check the Shark's ability to suck up the debris that always seems to collect against the baseboards/skirting boards. It managed to pick up the majority of the spill but left a very thin line of flour right in the corner, and even in boost mode it wasn’t removed. Thankfully this was easily collected by attaching the crevice tool.

The easiest way to tackle stairs is to attach the floorhead directly to the handheld unit. With this setup stairs were a breeze to clean.

Not one hair became tangled around the brush roll during my tests, so the anti hair wrap technology seemed to be doing the trick. And the bendable wand does give better reach under low furniture such as sofas or beds, although I found I didn’t have as much control when maneuvering it in this mode. Nevertheless, the ease with which I could reach under furniture made me far more diligent about vacuuming these areas. The LED headlights do a decent job of illuminating dingy areas, but are nowhere near the laser illumination that features on Dyson's premium models, like the Gen5detect. 

While the version I reviewed isn't an official 'Pet' model, the only difference between my testing model and the Pet version is the addition of a small handheld pet tool – the main machine is the same. So I wanted to test it out to see how the main vacuum handles pet hair. 

I took it to a house with several dogs and used it on carpets and hard floors. The pet hair removal was better than anticipated; it’s not as good as a corded, plug-in model with superior suction, but still removed the majority of hair from the carpet with a couple of sweeps. I’d argue it’s ideal for a quick light everyday spruce up, but if you’ve got shedding pets, you’ll probably need to pair it with a more robust plug-in model for the deeper cleans. (Head to TechRadar's guide to the best vacuums for pet hair for some recommendations.)

Overall maneuverability on floors is good, and it turns corners with ease. However, it doesn't have the 360-degree rotation of something like a Dyson vacuum. When moving this vacuum about in tight spaces, I found that I tended to bring it to quite an upright angle, which made the floorhead lock back into its parked position. This meant I had to keep putting my foot on it to release it again, which was frustrating.

The handle also isn’t the most comfortable I’ve used. It’s fine for short bursts, but when using for longer stints, it felt uncomfortable to me. Keep in mind, though, that this is very subjective. Likewise, when using it for longer periods it felt quite heavy, but was fine for dashing around a couple of rooms at a time.

While the Shark Anti Hair Wrap cordless vacuum can provide a bit of a spruce-up of your car, I found that the tools provided are not sufficient for a thorough clean of my car's interior. I managed to clean the mats using the main floorhead but it was too big to efficiently clean all areas of the carpet underneath.

The upholstery tool is small and the angle was awkward, so cleaning the seats was a real chore, but the crevice nozzle was useful for reaching into awkward gaps, like down the sides of seats. However I could have done with a dusting brush for the hard surfaces. In short, if you want to use it in your car, you’ll need to invest in extra accessories.

In the house, the crevice tool is a good length for reaching into awkward spots, but I found the upholstery tool quite small, Consequently vacuuming my sofas and headboard was slow going and, like in the car, I missed having a dusting brush.

It’s also worth noting that when using the hand tools the suction appears to be the same regardless of which floor mode it’s set to, which means you just have one suction mode and the boost mode.

When emptying out the dirt, you can remove the dirt cup and then press a button to release the dust directly into your bin. It’s pretty straightforward, although the first few times, I found the bin tricky to replace on the body of the vacuum. It has to be clicked in at a specific angle, which you get used to, but it certainly took me a few tries before I got the knack.

In use it didn’t seem like a particularly noisy vacuum to me. On carpets it maxed out my noise meter at 80dB, which went up to 84dB when switched to boost mode. The noise on hard floor varies somewhat depending on the exact floor surface, but it is quieter at 70-77dB. In boost mode it was the same sound level as on carpet.

• Performance score: 3.5 out of 5

Shark IZ202UK review: battery life

When vacuuming carpet, with the boost trigger continually pulled in, it vacuumed for 19 minutes before the battery gave up. That's pretty respectable, given it was on the maximum suction for the entire time. I also timed the battery when vacuuming hard floors in the standard hard floor mode and it lasted 36 minutes, which was more than enough to get round all the hard floors in my house. A full recharge took about 20 minutes longer than the three hours suggested in the instruction manual.

Those are decent battery life times. Today's premium models will last up to a full hour, but obviously you're paying for that improvement, and there's often a pay-off in terms of extra weight too, which is something to look out for. 

One big benefit with the Shark IZ202UK is that if you need longer runtimes, it's possible to buy an extra battery and swap it in mid-clean. 

• Battery life score: 3.5 out of 5

Should you buy the Shark Anti Hair Wrap Cordless Vacuum IZ202UK?

Buy it if…

Don't buy it if…

How I tested the Shark Anti Hair Wrap Cordless Vacuum IZ202UK

I used the Shark Anti Hair Wrap Cordless Vacuum IZ202UK in my own home for a week. I tried it out on a variety of floor types, from carpet to area rugs, wood floors, and tile.

I also used it as a handheld vacuum to spruce up sofas and to clean my car. During use I assessed the tools and accessories to see how practical they are in real life scenarios.

I monitored the battery, to see how long it lasted. And in addition to assessing manoeuvrability and comfort, I paid attention to the overall ease of use, such as emptying out the dirt and maintaining the filters.

I’ve tested dozens of vacuums during my career testing and reviewing household appliances, so I know what makes a good vacuum and what annoying niggles to look out for.

Read more about how we test

First reviewed July 2024