This isn’t so much of an issue when you’re using the tube and floor-head to support the cleaner. Lifting it up to clean anything above the floor, or even moving from room to room, does require quite a feat of wrist strength. Getting those high cobwebs with the extension tube and tool attached is definitely a two-handed operation. A 25-minute battery provides more than enough power for many routine cleaning tasks around the living room, bedroom or even your car. With the floor-head attached directly to the body, it is possible to leap up the stairs gazelle-like without fear of coming a cropper on a trailing cable. In addition a handheld pole provides an extra-long reach for ceilings corners so you don't miss a spot.

The FD22L comes with only two attachments. The standard vacuum brush head and an accompanying tool. There are no specials tools for pet hair, upholstery cleaning or large/small dusters. Using the upholstery tools on the stairs produced a much better result, albeit taking a while longer than with the larger floor-head. The action of agitating the tool against the carpet shifts a fair bit of debris – but again, you need some arm strength to do it. The tool complement is complete with an extension tube and a basic, but again very serviceable, crevice tool. It’s fairly long, suitably narrow and quite robust. That said, the tool clips are positioned on the cleaner body rather than on the tools, which makes dismantling awkward. The brush tool was a real favourite, being large enough to clean a good-sized area and with bristles soft enough for a variety of tasks.

Hoover is the latest brand to join the pistol-grip cordless vacuum cleaner revolution with the affordable Freedom FD22G. This lightweight handheld combines extension tube and power brush-head for floors, and some neat tools for up-close detail cleaning. Clean all corners of your home with three included attachments. A floor nozzle with a rotating brush bar cleans deep into the fibres of your carpet. A 2-in-1 dusting brush and upholstery tool is perfect for cleaning delicate fabrics, and a crevice tool helps you clean difficult to reach areas. The cable-free Hoover Freedom Cordless Vacuumis a practical and powerful cleaner for carpets and hard floors. A clever detachable head design makes it easy to carry and effective for cleaning anywhere from the inside of your home to the interior of your car.

The day was saved to an extent by the crevice tool and a good dual-purpose upholstery and cleaning brush. Both are a decent size, and with the airflow condensed into a smaller area, both provide reasonable suction. If you have the wrist strength and energy to manoeuvre the Hoover Freedom, it’s actually quite handy for stairs. The low suction power and lethargic brush bar didn’t really stand much of a chance with pet hair embedded into a nylon test carpet. The results were very poor.

Unfortunately, the combination of limited cleaning ability and our coarse stair carpet with embedded pet hair was a challenge too far for the Freedom, and its struggled to clean efficiently. Red highlighted clips beneath release the bin flap and battery. Since the charger plugs into the cleaner handle, having a removable battery is all but pointless, as you can’t charge a “spare” battery while using the machine anyway. The other important feature to consider here is the materials the battery is made from. Lithium is the modern battery of choice. It’s much lighter than the older lead-acid batteries and its lifespan is significantly longer too – you should experience (close to) a lossless battery performance. Once the charging cable is connected, the light on top flashed red and blue. From a completely flat battery, it turned blue to indicate it was fully charged some five-and-a-half hours to six later. Given the 20-minute run time. The device’s charging time is a little disappointing. Charging from empty-to-full takes 8 hours. That said, charging time is an area where you can expect budget devices to cut corners. If this is a deal-breaker, fear not, more expensive cordless vacuums boast faster charge times.

This is a good few minutes shy of the similar Vax SlimVac or, indeed, Hoover’s own claimed run-time. However, there’s certainly a little more suction power on offer than the Vax – and a more efficient floor-head – so we’re happy to lose that 4 minutes. In either hand, the one thing we can guarantee after 20+ minutes of cleaning is wrist-ache and a few areas of soreness where plastic has been digging into your hand. The brush bar spins relatively lethargically, but that does mean it doesn’t rob you of too much run-time. We managed a little over 21 minutes of cleaning with the brush bar engaged.When buying partner items like this one, your contract of sale will be with our Range Plus Partner instead of us. I’m not sure the cleaning results are worth the pain, either. Suction appears to be a little better than the SlimVac, but when spread across the larger floor-head it’s still rather asthmatic. Although this happened less frequently with the Hoover than on the Vax, it was often enough to suggest that this cleaner is far from pet-friendly. Its cleaning power on carpets and hard floors is equally limited, however, and its disappointing build quality and poor ergonomics make it an ongoing challenge to use. Technical specifications for HOOVER Freedom FD22G Cordless Vacuum Cleaner - Silver & Grey OVERVIEW Type