Those looking for a full suite of attachments should consider the Dyson Ball Animal. This comes with a great selection of tools, a larger collection bin and a longer cord. It’s heavier, though, and costs more. If you’re looking for a workhorse of a vacuum cleaner then a corded upright like the Hoover HL5 ought to be an attractive option, as long as it can perform the cleaning jobs it’s supposed to. To find out, I put it through our usual suite of tests. Another downside for me was the machine’s reach under furniture. The bulk of its body means the floorhead doesn’t fit far under a bed, for example, and we all know the pet hair makes its way there as well. Having to swap to using the hose plus attachment or hose, handle and attachment combo makes the job take longer. Hoover Upright 300 Pets on carpets, hard flooring and upholstery Carpets and rugs

Once you’ve finished cleaning, the bin lifts out of the cleaner, and you can flip open the bottom to empty dirt quite easily. There’s one filter here and a another in the cleaner, both of which should be cleaned with water to maintain maximum suction. Performance First, I started with the carpet test, sprinkling a teaspoon of flour onto the floor. Giving the H-Upright 300 a single sweep through the mess, with the head set to carpet mode, I found that it left a trace of the mess behind. To start with, I put the Hoover H-Upright 300 through my raw power tests, measuring its suction in AirWatts. I recorded a score of 185.9AW, which is lower than many other plug-in cleaners, which usually come in around 200+. However, in context, this cleaner is still more powerful than most cordless models on their maximum setting. Take it from me, as a veteran vacuum cleaner unboxer, that some are a tad time-consuming. Lots of parts wrapped in plastic and assembly instructions with pictures only. This vacuum, on the other hand, only needed its handle slotting in and the two attachments to be put in their place on the machine and it was ready to go. Tools on board and therefore always to hand is great, and also scoring points from me is the fact that the instructions have clear words as well as drawings. And much as I like cordless machines, being able to plug in and start rather than wait for a battery to charge has a lot to be said for it.In general use I found the Hoover manoeuvrable and able to reach reasonably far under low furniture, and front-mounted LED lighting helps you see where problem areas lurk, even if they’re well shaded. The only complaint I have is the control buttons are down on the main unit, which left me having to reach down awkwardly to switch between carpet and hard floor modes and to turn the vacuum on or off. Cleaning performance is also determined by the tools included with a cleaner. Lower suction power can often be negated with the use of decent tools that agitate dirt. To test this out, I ran my normal cleaning tests. There are three control buttons at knee height on the main unit, which is slightly awkward if you’re tall, and a three-way switch on the handle. The buttons switch the device on and off, flip it between its carpet and hard floor modes, and release the extension wand. The switch on the handle controls the suction power between Max, Min and somewhere between the two. It’s a little less powerful than the competition, although I found using the hard floorhead more than made up for this on short-pile carpet. If you want something cheap but good, then this is a neat option. I have the standard model here, but it’s also available as the H-Upright 300 Pet Edition with a mini-motorised tool. Both versions are available in blue or red. Design and features On the brush bar is a manual slider: keep it closed for more suction on hard floors; or open to make the cleaner easier to push on carpet.

With the brush switched off the cleaner relies on vacuum suction alone, but performance suffers in this mode when cleaning hard floors. However, it’s worth noting that you don’t get the extra bit of agitation for more stubborn dirt that you get from a soft roller on vacuums such as the Shark DuoClean with Lift-Away NV702UK. If yours is a home with lots of carpet or has a 50/50 type of split between that and hard flooring, and you share your space with small or large pets, it’s a yes. This is a solidly built and good looking upright that’s thoughtfully designed for ease of use and convenience. Both I and the cats would have preferred a little less noise in action ideally, but it’s a value for money choice for all fans of upright vacuums and those looking for the best vacuum cleaner for pet hair. About this review, and our reviewer I was pleasantly surprised by how it performed in the same test on short-pile carpet, however. Here, the angle of the base of the floor head and the powerful suction combined to compress the Cheerios into the carpet enough for the floor head to climb over them and, once underneath, they didn’t stand a chance. A single pass left a few crumbs behind but not enough to register as a full gram on my kitchen scales. One other thing to note is that the turbine-drive doesn’t have the same anti-tangle system as the floor head. As a result, I found it started collecting hair almost immediately. And it’s a bit fiddly to clean out, too, because removing the brush bar involves freeing it from its belt drive. The Hoover H-Upright 300 is a fairly basic model, with a single rotating brush in its floor head. You can switch this on and off, depending on the surface you’re cleaning; Hoover recommends you switch it off when cleaning floors and deep pile rugs.

Opt for ease of use with a classic stand up vacuum

To use the hose and attachments, you have to disconnect the hose from the floor head. This is easily unclipped and then also needs to be freed from a retaining clip. Attachments connect on to the end of the hose or, if you want extra reach, you can release the handle from the main body and use it as an extension. At least the dust collection bin is easy to remove and empty. A handle and thumb button on the top release it from the main unit, while a second button near the base opens a trap door to let the contents drop out. Plus, all the filters can be rinsed in clean running water. Hoover HL5 review: How well does it clean? The collection bin can hold 1.4L of dust and debris. That’s slightly less than the 1.8L of the Dyson Ball Animal but still beats the capacity of most cordless models, including the Shark ICZ300UKT cordless upright, which only holds 0.6 litres. To complicate matters slightly, there’s also a suction regulator. This is a slider that either covers or opens a grille on the top of the floor head, which helps reduce the amount of suction. This is useful if you find the head is hard to move on long-pile carpet or rugs.

It isn’t a particularly long wand, although I still had just enough reach to get to the top of the rafters in my test lab. Actually, it sounds more complicated than it is. Nevertheless, the power and performance is great, with the attachments well designed for getting into awkward places where pet and human hair tends to get. More straightforward carpet and hard floor vacuuming duties are a cinch though, with the lightweight and agile design making the Hoover H-Upright 300 Pets a joy to use. The wheels are great too and, thankfully, don't mark if you’ve got a prized wood floor. A more difficult test is my carpet tile test, where I sprinkle flour right up to the skirting board. With the H-Upright 300 set to hard floor mode, it left a trace amount of dust behind, as you can see from the images below. My only minor gripe thus far is with the anodised finished on the aluminium tube, which forms the upright that joins the handle to the machine. It’s been so designed to let you use the attachments for specific cleaning duties but suffers as a result. This has already got some scratches on it, just from daily use, so how this will look in time might take the otherwise solid shine off this vacuum. That’s a minor cosmetic point though.I was particularly fond of the collection bin on this model. It releases easily and emptying it is a simple job: a latch opens the door at the bottom and most dirt and dust simply drops out. Where it can’t compete is against the battery power of the Shark cordless upright. This has much stronger suction in its most powerful setting.