Flour proved a bit more of a challenge. On hard floor, the vacuum collected enough flour from a 50g spillage in a single pass to register 50g on my scales afterwards, although close inspection showed it wasn’t entirely perfect, with some flour still left over. A few subsequent passes on the Boost setting removed the rest effectively. There’s a 0.7-litre bin, which is a good size for a cordless vacuum cleaner. You can empty it in-situ, pointing the vacuum’s bin down and opening the ejection flap. Or you can remove the bin from the body completely, which lets you pull out the rear filter for cleaning and thoroughly clean out the bin.

Perfect for homes with pets. The Flexology wand bends so you can reach, store and charge anywhere. Go handheld to easily clean stairs, sofas and in the car. Easy to use with an LED Smart Display showing battery life, suction level and selected floor type. Anti-Allergen Complete Seal captures and traps dust and allergens. Although the Shark IZ420UKT superficially looks like its predecessor, the Shark IZ320UKT, this new model retains the best features of the old cleaner and adds some new ones into the mix. Enjoy up to 120 minutes run-time† with this twin battery model, charging the removable batteries wherever suits you. There’s no on-body storage for these tools, although Shark does throw in an accessory bag for you to keep everything in.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. You get two batteries in the box, plus a charger that can take both batteries, so you can keep them both topped up all of the time. If you prefer, you can just charge the battery in the vacuum’s body by plugging in the power cable at the rear. I started off by measuring the Shark ICZ300UKT’s raw performance in AirWatts (AW), which is a combination of suction power and airflow. On Eco mode, I measured a result of 35.65AW, which is similar to a lot of handheld models; 56.98AW on Standard is similar to your average cordless; and 175.24AW on Turbo is a lot of power for really tough jobs. 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. The Shark cordless vacuum cleaner IZ320UKT has everything you'd need from a vacuum cleaner Credit: Shark Pros:

I’ve reviewed the top-of-the-range model with dual batteries and the pet tool, but there are three other versions that have the same basic features: IZ320UK (dual batteries, no pet tool), IZ300UKT (single battery and pet tool) and the IZ300UK (single battery and no pet tool). Design and features 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.Flexology wand: Clean under furniture with ease thanks to this clever design - you can bend the wand up to 90 degrees and vacuum as normal. Pull the floor head off and you can easily clean close up or even around the ceiling, with the Shark IZ320UKT nicely balanced. There are three power modes to choose from (Eco, Standard and Boost), plus you can choose between carpet and hard floor modes, which adjust the speed of the floor head.

Anti-hair wrap: Like other models, this one is equipped with Shark’s special guard that stops hairs from getting tangled in the brush head. There’s a large 0.6-litre bin on this model, which should see you around an average house without having to be emptied. It’s easy enough to pull out, and opens at both ends to make it easy to clear dust and to clean. There’s a large 0.7-litre bin on this model, which has an eject button to push open the flap at the front. As long as the Shark IZ420UKT was pushed into a bin, I could easily empty it without spilling dust everywhere. With its 4.58kg weight, the Shark IZ320UKT sits about in the middle of the cordless pile, balancing weight against power. I found it very easy to move around, with the floor head dashing around carpets and hard floors, and the LED headlights helping in darker areas.Keeping the Shark emptied and clean is simple, too, with one button that releases the collection bin and filter unit from the device and a second button to open the trap door on the bottom to empty it. The filters can all be rinsed in running water and, since the vacuum also comes with Shark’s Anti Hair Wrap tech, you don’t need to worry about detangling regularly, either. This hasn’t transferred across to the pet tool, unfortunately, which gathered quite a bit of tangled hair during our testing. Performance is excellent, with Standard mode cleaning a path through my spilt rice grains, with nothing dropping out at the end. I measured the Shark IZ320UKT at 71.2dB (Eco), 75.4dB (Standard) and 76.8dB (Boost). That’s about average for a cordless vacuum cleaner with this much power. Designed for homes with pets. Easily clean under furniture, up high and in the car. Transform into a handheld vacuum to clean stairs, soft furnishings and hard-to-reach places with 4 attachments including a Motorised Pet Tool. Flexology bends to reach and clean under low-lying furniture and folds for compact, freestanding storage at the touch of a button. The screen is also used to show the current power mode (Eco, Standard or Boost) and, if you have the floor head attached, the floor mode (carpet or hard floor).