Shark Anti Hair Wrap Upright NZ801UKT review: rugged two-in-one upright corded vac

Our Shark Anti Hair Wrap Upright NZ801UKT review inn short form: a keenly priced upright corded vacuum cleaner with a couple of aces up its sleeve. 

Shark is a brand that’s gone from strength to strength with a roster of carpet suckers that have won a plethora of positive reviews from both users and journos alike. It's regularly name-checked whenever anyone is discussing the best vacuum cleaners. And its cordless vacuum cleaners are pretty good too. 

Where some users are dyed-in-the-wool Dysonistas or Mielemouthers who wouldn’t dream of using anything else, others have nothing but praise for the mighty Shark, even if most of its models are a bit on the, er, ugly side. 

Whether or not you like the design of its vacs, one thing’s for certain – Shark vacs are really cheap by comparison to most higher-end brands and yet, in most instances, they do the job of vacuuming just as well.

So what’s so good about this corded upright then? Well, if you don’t read on you won’t find out.

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Shark Anti Hair Wrap Upright NZ801UKT review: Design

Let’s jump straight into the two things that set this not especially pretty corded upright apart from other contenders. Firstly it feature’s Shark’s proprietary anti-tangle tech which is genuinely effective at preventing hair and cotton threads from wrapping around the roller, a common occurrence with the majority of vacuum cleaners. Secondly, it comes with Shark’s unique Lift-Away feature. When it comes time to clean shelves and stairs, or under beds and low furniture, you simply lift the whole motor and dust collector housing away from the main tube and it turns into a stick vac of sorts. Granted, the hose sticking out the back is a bit gangly but it does make using the supplied attachments a whole lot easier, even though you often have to hold the motor unit in the other hand. 

This Shark upright is bagless and at just 0.83-litre capacity, its dust collector is pretty small so it will require more frequent trips to the dustbin. Like most modern vacs, Dyson excluded, the Shark NZ801UKT comes with LED headlights which are far more useful than you might think, especially when cleaning the darker recesses of home like the hallway and the corners of a room. 

One of the worst things about corded upright vacs is that you have to manually unwind the cable every time you use them, and then wind it back on again when you’re finished. I’m sorry to report that there is no magical self winding mechanism with this model so you’re just going to have to grapple with eight metres of cable every session. But hey, there are worse things in life. 

Shark Anti Hair Wrap Upright NZ801UKT review: Performance

Despite the weight (6.5kgs), the Shark NZ801UKT is relatively easy to push around and its swivelling DuoClean floor head is a doddle to manoeuvre around furnishings. On the downside, the head is only 24cm in width so you may need to do some extra passes, especially if you live in a very big house in the country. But on the positive side, the DuoClean floor head’s twin rotating sweep system is truly excellent at lifting muck off the floor, including all remnants of pet hair. In a nutshell, the front towelling roller snatches most large detritus with ease – an excellent thing for hard floors – while its rear roller, comprised of tangle-free bristles and a rubber paddle, digs deep into carpet pile, leaving a perfectly manicured result. The handle also includes a switch for changing the action of the head between carpets and hard floors.

The Shark NZ801UKT also ships with a highly effective pet roller brush that makes short work of dog and cat hair on the sofa, pet beds and car seats (if you can be bothered to roll out an extension cord). 

Also included is an upholstery tool (good for stairs and, er, upholstery) and the obligatory crevice tool. The whole shebang comes with a five year warranty and your guarantee will be automatically recorded if bought from Shark Direct.

Shark Anti Hair Wrap Upright NZ801UKT review: Verdict

If you’re looking to keep your spend to a bare minimum, then this model is a top choice for both hard and soft floors and pretty much everything in between. Its low sub-£200 price (if bought directly from Shark), excellent performance and unique design flourishes make it a very worthy contender. However, it does come with looks only a mother could love.