It’s taken me a while to get there, but I’m finally a convert to battery powered appliances. I’ve long been an advocate of cordless tools, but larger high-drain appliances such as vacuum cleaners and lawnmowers I wasn’t so sure about. Earlier this year I saw the light when I bought a LawnMaster battery powered lawn mower, finding everything about the experience revelatory. And now, inevitably, I’ve reached the same position with vacuum cleaners.

For the last 10-15 years or so we’ve had Dysons. I always thought they were the proper business, and we still have an upright and a cylinder versions of their Animal range. But, as they got older, I found them to be heavy, cumbersome and perhaps not as good as I’d convinced myself that they were. Specifically, the “Animal” claim was always doing a lot of heavy lifting, and I spent as much time unwrapping border collie fur and the wife’s long hair from the head unit as I did actually vacuuming.

But, the biggest problem with them was how much hassle they were to drag around the house, unplugging and plugging them back it, painful to clean the stairs, and storing them was just a downright pain in the backside. So, I started looking into battery powered vacuums several years ago. I head a lot of good things about many different brands. My sister swears by G-tech, for example. But more and more I heard a lot of good things about Shark. I’ve had several in my Amazon Wishlist for a long time, tracking their prices and reading the reviews. I’d almost got to the point where I was ready to commit.

And then, Shark brought out a new model. The Shark Stratos Pet Pro. It immediately made me sit up and take note, and I kept a close eye on the reviews coming in and the price, which at RRP is eye-watering. If I was going to spend that much on a cleaner, I wanted to be sure it was right. I hoped to get a deal during the Black Friday sales, but seeing the stock levels convinced me that it was unlikely to happenbut a refresh one evening of my Wishlist saw it not only back in stock but on a great offer. As the stock level plummeted while I looked, I dived in and placed my order.

The vacuum actually arrived on the Friday of Black Friday, and I set the camera rolling while I unboxed it and set it up for the first time. Much of the focus of my reviews is on how easy something is to use and set up, and a product like a vacuum can often come with so many attachments and bits that you’re never sure where to start. There’s certainly plenty of bits inside the Shark’s box, but it’s very straightforward.

You get the vacuum body, housing the motor, dust box, handle and where you connect the battery. You get two 60-minute batteries (one if you go for the single battery version, obviously), and a dual dock battery charger. There’s multiple heads for different activities, such as general cleaning, the stairs, upholstery and dusting, with a canvas bag to store them all in. There’s a central section that connects the body to your chosen head, which you will use in general floor cleaning but remove if you want to use the vacuum as a handheld device for cleaning stairs. You also get a purifier device in a sealed can that you fit to the main vacuum head, which you can definitely smell (in a pleasant way) when you’re vacuuming.

The vacuum has so many attachments and articulations that it could be in danger of being too complicated, but in reality it all works very well. There’s quick release buttons on the heads, on the main body to release the central section, and to fold the whole thing into a compact store mode. The dust bin releases very easily and is really straightforward to empty.

A note on the dust bin is that it does have a small capacity and you will likely be needing to empty it more regularly than you would with a regular vacuum, but the offset is that it is very easy to empty.

In operation the Shark Stratos is a delight to use. It really is lovely to use. Not only because you’re unencumbered by cables, but because it’s weighted really well. I wouldn’t say it’s a lightweight device, but the weight is nicely balanced and the way the head articulates will see you galloping around the house. I’m not saying it’s perfect, but it’s better than anything I’ve used before. The weight is mainly in the body of the vacuum, where you hold it, which means that you can’t let it stand up on its own like you would with a traditional upright vacuumit’ll simply fall over. It’ll stand up when you take the dust bin off to empty, but it won’t stand up in any other circumstance unless you fold it down into its store-away mode.

But aside from that, I can’t stress enough how quickly you clean your house. I hadn’t quite realised how much of the vacuuming experience was taken up with dealing with the cables. Without them you sprint around, you really do. And the main head unit is brilliant. It is so low it gets under every cupboard and sideboard in the house. It has a headlight on it which really does a good job of showing the way forward, and there’s a lightbar that indicates how much power is being used. The vacuum adapts to different surfaces and workloads by reducing or increasing the power needed. It works really well. We’ve got a mixture of carpets, tiles and parquet flooring and it goes from one to another so smoothly.

On the main body you’ll find the power button (which there seems to about a 1 second delay before the power kicks in making you want to press it again) and a button for switching into eco mode. To be totally honest, the only scenario I would ever use eco mode is when I’d cleaning mats/rugs that would otherwise be sucked into the cleaner if it was at full tilt.

Which leads me onto perhaps the most important thing. Battery life. I specifically went for the twin battery version, as I would with any power tool, as it gives you the option to charge one battery while continuing to operate the device. Shark’s stated 120 minute battery life across both batteries is based on using eco mode. Well, I live with a border collie and a wife with 3ft long hair.eco mode isn’t an option. I’m going to be using it at full power, all of the time. In the real world, how does the battery fare?

On the first time I used the Shark, having fully charged the batteries, I did a complete clean of the house, top to bottom including stairs, cleaned the sofas, used the dust attachment and did all of the picture rails, skirtings, sideboards.anything that I could vacuum I vacuumed. With both batteries the Shark flew through everything with plenty of charge left to spare. I had my stopwatch running the entire time, pausing the clock every time I stopped to empty the dust bin (four times in total across the entire house) and completed a total clean of the house.which really doesn’t happen very often. The Shark still had 20% left in the second battery. I kept going though as I wanted to see exactly how long the battery lasted. It took an age for that last 20% to deplete, and when it did I had been vacuuming for a total of 44 minutes 28 seconds. This was using a mixture of the heads, but primarily the main powered head.

Now, 44 minutes doesn’t actually sound very much does it? It’s a lot less than the manufacturers claims, but that is against using eco mode. In reality, 44 minutes vacuuming is a long time. We have a decent sized 3 bedroomed detached house, with added border collie. It’s a reasonable challenge for a cordless vacuum, but the Shark has taken it impressively in its stride. Without cables to deal with you’ll find you really will fly around your house.

Is it flawless? No, it’s not. As I say, with the dust bin in place the vacuum won’t stand upright on its own. And the dust bin is small so you’ll be emptying it regularly. I question whether the single battery version would clean much but the smallest of properties. It’s also very expensive, even on offer. But, on the right deal, it soon starts to make sense. With the twin batteries it’s extremely capable. It cleans really well, gets into awkward places, is quite quiet in comparison to vacuums I’ve previously used, the dust bin is easy to clean, it all folds away into a very compact form and is easy to store, the batteries are charged off-machine, which means you don’t need to store it close to a power supply to keep it charged. It’s very agile and incredibly versatile. You’re effectively getting an upright vacuum and a handheld vacuum in one, so you can do the stairs or the car very easily. It also comes with a 5-year warranty (2 for the batteries).

Is it worth the money? There’s no denying that it’s expensive, but would I buy it again? Yes, I’m sure that I would.