The Multi-Surface Pet Tool worked a treat on my cat’s fine hairs that in summer end up pretty much everywhere. The one area that I found it tricky to pick up shark canister vacuum from was our grey sofa in a velvety fabric. However, I flicked the brush on the tool down to replace the nozzle and it helped to pick it up to be sucked up.
The suction is more powerful than you would expect, and it does a good job of picking up debris on bare floors and low-pile carpet. At one time, you’d get started only to find your battery died in a matter of shark canister vacuum minutes. The only other option was a corded handheld vacuum cleaner, which limited your reach. Today’s handheld vacuums can last up to 30 minutes without the gradual decline in use seen with previous models.
The W1 is useful for cleaning up tight against baseboards and in cramped areas. We used the crevice tool and picked up chili flakes that were right up tight against our wall. We have not found any specifications that indicate run time for the ION W1. As a result we fully charged our W1, turned it on, and used a stopwatch to record the total run time. We have seen some owner comments online suggesting they get about 10 minutes of run time so this seems to be about right.
However, it is notably larger and heavier, and it doesn’t come with a pet hair tool. Despite all its benefits and being one of the best Shark handheld vacuums, the WV201 is not without its drawbacks. Clean tight spaces and in the car with the Duster Crevice Tool and use the Multi-Surface Tool for upholstery, carpets, and pet hair. Maintenance is also simple with a washable dust bin and filter. The Shark Handheld 15.6 Volt Hand Vacuum is the best hand vacuum I have ever used.
On the downside, the dust canister is rather small and it does not come with a motorized tool which can be helpful when dealing with ground-in debris and pet hair. The best cordless handheld vacuum at a budget-friendly price that we’ve tested is the BISSELL AeroSlim/TurboSlim. It’s clearly of a different category than the Shark UltraCyclone Pet Pro+ and Black+Decker dustbuster Hand Vacuum, with a highly compact body a little smaller than a shark pet hair vacuum two-liter bottle of soda. This makes it remarkably portable, but the flip side is a small, weak suction motor that struggles with lifting heavier debris and a tiny dirt compartment that fills quickly. Bulky debris can also clog its suction nozzle or fall back out of the dustbin if it’s overfilled. In our tests it easily picked up cereal, dust, sand, and other common messes, and it’s strong enough to pick up pet hair without special tools.
The CH951 also features cyclonic suction for powerful cleaning and its filter is washable. The motorised head picks up pet hair well – just make sure to regularly detangle the beater bar. But, because of its short battery life on max, we wouldn’t use this for cleaning the car. For home use though, it’s well designed, easy to place on the charging base and has clear and easily accessible controls. It can only run for a little over 10 minutes on a single charge, which isn’t very long, even by the standards of other handheld models, and takes over three hours to recharge. Even worse, its battery isn’t designed for replacement, so you can’t swap in a new pack if the current unit’s performance degrades over time.