Shark Stratos Pet Pro Upright Vacuum NZ860UKT review: a plug-in vacuum that provides a thorough clean

Shark Stratos Pet Pro Upright Vacuum NZ860UKT two-minute review

The Shark Stratos Pet Pro Upright Vacuum NZ860UKT (or Shark Stratos XL Pet Pro Powered Lift-Away with Odour Neutraliser Technology AZ913, in Australia) is part of the Stratos range that promises the brand’s best ever hair pick-up. It’s a range of vacuums made for homes with pets, and this model is the most affordable plug-in upright vacuum in the range.

Not only does this vacuum offer excellent hair pick-up, but also its anti hair wrap rollers ensure the floorhead doesn’t get clogged with hair. What’s more, it features an anti-odour cartridge that’s supposed to eliminate bad smells inside the vacuum.

On test it proved it was up to the task with good pick-up on all floor types. There are three settings to choose from and each one worked well on its designated floor type. And, importantly, when I used it in a house full of dogs, it sucked up all the hair and none of it clogged the rollers.

The downsides are that it’s a tad bulky and heavy, plus its eight metre power cord can, at times, feel a bit short. That said, it’s great on carpets and removes pet hair with ease. So if you have pets and you’re battling the fur, this could be the best vacuum cleaner for you.

Shark Stratos Pet Pro Upright Vacuum NZ860UKT review: specs

Shark Stratos Pet Pro Upright Vacuum NZ860UKT review: price & availability

• List price: £299.99 / AU$649.99
• Availability: UK, Australia

The Shark Stratos Pet Pro Anti Hair Wrap Plus Anti-Odour Upright Vacuum, to give it its full name, is available in the UK for £299.99. It’s the cheapest upright vacuum in the Shark Stratos range.

In Australia, it’s called the Shark Stratos XL Pet Pro Powered Lift-Away with Odour Neutraliser Technology AZ913, and it has a list price of AU$649.99. 

The Shark Stratos range is available in the US, starting at $399 for the Shark Stratos Upright Vacuum, its cheapest upright. However, since the US version is almost double the wattage of the UK version, it should be considered a very different model to that reviewed here.

It offers great value for money in comparison with the rest of the Shark Stratos range, but also the wider vacuum cleaner market. It’s worth noting, though, that the most affordable Dyson Ball is around £20 cheaper.

The replacement odour cartridges cost £14.99 for a pack of two and have to be replaced every six months, so there is an ongoing cost to keeping the anti-odour technology functioning.

There are other optional accessories available, such as a car detail kit for cleaning your car interior. This is reasonably priced, at £24.99.

• Value for money score: 5 out of 5

Shark Stratos Pet Pro Upright Vacuum NZ860UKT review: design

• Flexible configurations allow essential reach under furniture
• Dual roller floorhead for effective pick-up
• Three floor settings to choose from

Initial setup for the Shark Stratos Pet Pro Upright Vacuum NZ860UKT isn’t difficult; in fact it’s very intuitive and I barely glanced at the manual. The parts all click securely into position and the process helps you to understand how they can also be removed for the different configurations.

As part of the initial setup, there’s an odour puck to install in the floorhead. It’s easy enough to get into position and offers adjustable odour levels. The anti-odour system is designed to stop bad smells building up inside the vacuum, which can be a particular problem in homes with pets.

Shark claims the Stratos range provides the best pet hair pick-up the brand has to offer. Additionally, the anti hair-wrap design of the brush-rolls should stop all that hair getting clogged in the floorhead.

In comparison to a lot of the cordless stick vacuums that we’re used to seeing, this vacuum is bulky and heavy. The dimensions are 117 x 28 x 26cm / 46 x 11 x 10 inches (H x W x D) and it weighs in at 6.7kg / 14.8lbs.

This isn’t the most beautiful or streamlined vacuum, and it’s certainly not going to win any prizes in the looks department. But it’s important to remember that when it comes to vacuums, functionality and performance are far more important.

This vacuum includes several notable design features. Firstly, the floorhead houses dual motorised brush-rolls, which work in tandem to help it to efficiently clean all floor types.

The high efficiency filters are designed to seal in 99.9% of dust and allergens. They’re all easily accessible and they’re washable. They only need replacing every 2.5 – 3 years so the ongoing maintenance costs are very minimal.

The dust cup has a max fill line and the see-through plastic makes it easy to check whether it needs emptying. Debris is released from the base at the press of a button, so it simply has to be held above a bin before the button is pressed.

It comes with a crevice tool for getting into tight spaces. There’s what Shark describes as a multi-surface tool, which is an upholstery tool with a removable brush so it can also be used for dusting. Finally, the turbo pet brush is a small turbo brush for deeper cleaning of upholstery or pet beds.

I would prefer that the small tools clicked into the handle, rather than simply pushing into place. And it is mildly annoying that there’s only space to store two at a time on the slots at the back of the vacuum. Inevitably I’ll need the one I chose to leave behind.

While I would suggest that the powered lift-away feature is unhelpfully named, it is an incredibly useful design feature. At the press of a button, it allows you to detach the main pod of the vacuum from the wand, handle, and floorhead.

In practice this means the bulk of the vacuum is removed and therefore the slim wand and floorhead can easily slide under low furniture. You can also remove the floorhead in this mode and attach one of the smaller tools to reach overhead or into hard-to-reach spots.

Commonly, vacuums come with adjustable suction levels, but this model doesn’t. On the handle, below the main on/off button, you’ll find a slider control that allows you to select one of three floor types. These are; thick carpet and area rug, carpet and low pile, or hard floor.

Another feature that’s common on vacuums these days is headlights on the front of the floorhead. However, on this vacuum the headlights double as indicator lights to alert you about problems such as a blockage in the pipes. When they flash or turn red, you can consult the manual to troubleshoot the issue.

• Design score: 4.5 out of 5

Shark Stratos Pet Pro Upright Vacuum NZ860UKT review: performance

• Excellent pet hair pick-up
• Easy reach under furniture
• Not too noisy

For hard floor cleaning on the hard floor setting the Shark Stratos Pet Pro Upright Vacuum was, as I expected, very efficient. And when I purposely sprinkled oats and flour right at the edge of the room, next to baseboards/ skirting boards, it efficiently sucked everything up on the first pass. This worth noting. as it’s something not all vacuums manage well.

On my long pile area rug I used the thick carpet/ area rug setting and it worked a treat. Despite the rug having been vacuumed only three days previous by one of the best robot vacuums, the Shark lifted an embarrassing amount of both fine dust and thicker fluff from it. Once vacuumed the rug looked refreshed and the pile was lifted.

Shorter pile carpets were cleaned thoroughly and effectively. I could see from the dust cup that deeper fine dust was removed from the carpet, in addition to the more visible debris that sat on top.

The powered lift-away feature is not only useful but it’s actually quite necessary. The design and shape of the vacuum means that when fully assembled the bulk of the dust canister stops it from being able to reach under furniture such as my sofa or bed.

In the powered lift-away mode, the Shark reaches under furniture with ease. The hose is very springy, though, so I noticed I had to keep the main vacuum pod quite close to the wand. However, if you’re carrying the pod in one hand and vacuuming with the other, it works brilliantly.

I also found that the powered lift-away mode was the most convenient way to vacuum stairs. It’s easiest if you remove the wand from the equation and attach the handle directly to the floorhead.

Since I don’t have pets, I took the Shark Stratos Pet Pro Upright Vacuum to a home with six dogs. The owner already uses a Shark upright; the Shark Anti Hair Wrap Upright Vacuum Cleaner with Powered Lift-Away NZ850UK. She noted a particular short pile carpet that the dog fur seems to stick to like Velcro and that her current Shark struggles to remove.

When I went over the problem carpet with this model, it removed all the dog fur in one quick and easy sweep. I also used the small pet tool on a problematic kitchen mat and again, it removed all the fur and dirt. She was mightily impressed and could immediately tell that this model was more effective at removing pet fur than her current Shark.

I’m quite sensitive to artificial air fresheners and the like, so I switched the anti-odour cartridge to the lowest level. And after vacuuming rooms it left them with a pleasant, but not overpowering, fresh and clean scent.

When vacuuming at the house with several dogs, I turned it up to maximum to combat the pet odours and it definitely proved its worth here. None of the pet odours lingered inside the dust cup after emptying, which was a relief when I brought it back to my own home.

As a point of comparison, on the same day, I took along a second vacuum to test its pet hair suction. That model did not have an anti-odour cartridge and every time I used it during the following week, I could smell stale pet hair smells, which confirmed to me that the anti-odour cartridge in this Shark Stratos was definitely having a positive impact.

Shark claims that its anti hair wrap technology means you won’t get any hair wrapped around the brush-roll. I have long hair and usually some of that ends up tangled around the brush roller of any vacuum I own. However, despite regular checks, not one of my hairs tangled around the brushes.

I was expecting it to get clogged when vacuuming up pet hair. But yet again, it lived up to its claims and the brush-roll stayed fur-free. That said, I noticed that the dust cup filled up very quickly in this house, much quicker than in my own. So if you’re battling a lot of pet hair, this could quickly become a frustration.

I have no complaints with regard to the comfort of the handle and certainly didn’t experience any discomfort in use. However, the general weight and bulk of the vacuum does mean it’s a bit of an arm workout, particularly if you vacuum several rooms in one go.

Similarly, vacuuming overhead in powered lift-away mode, for example sucking up cobwebs from the ceiling, can also lead to arm ache pretty quickly. In general though, most people don’t do these kinds of tasks for more than a few minutes at a time, so it’s not too much of an issue.

The overall bulk of the vacuum sitting just above the floorhead is a design that affects the manoeuvrability at times. It doesn’t always manoeuvre swiftly and smoothly around tight corners or furniture legs, and I definitely found that I bumped into things a bit more than I would with other, slimmer vacuums, though I’m sure you’ll get used to it over time.

Regardless of the floor type and setting, the noise level was pretty constant at around 76dB. For a vacuum that’s not too bad at all and it didn’t feel loud in use.

Emptying is easy. The dust cup lifts away from the vacuum and then at the press of a button, it releases the dirt via a flap at the base. The filters are easily accessible and washable.

• Performance score: 5 out of 5

Should you buy the Shark Stratos Pet Pro Upright Vacuum NZ860UKT?

Buy it if…

Don’t buy it if…

How I tested the Shark Stratos Pet Pro Upright Vacuum NZ860UKT

It’s no exaggeration to say that I’ve tested and reviewed hundreds of vacuums in my career and it doesn’t take me long to spot the good and the bad points of a vacuum.

I used this vacuum in my own home to vacuum wood floor, tiled floor, carpets and area rugs. I also used the smaller tools to vacuum upholstery, shelving and reach cobwebs from the ceiling.

I also set up tests to assess its ability to collect dust from the edges of a room. However, I don’t have pets and since it claims to be adept at collecting pet hair, I took it to a house with six dogs for a real test of its pet hair pick-up.

All the time I was using it, I made note of the comfort, manoeuvrability, and any issues I encountered. I checked how easy the filters are to access and clean, as well as any other general maintenance.

Read more about how we test

First reviewed July 2024