Review: Shark DuoClean Vs Dyson V6

*Gifted Products

I am a clean freak, I can happily admit this although since having children I’ve had to let things slide a little… ok, a lot more. I now find cleaning to be a task that has to be planned, that takes the whole week and that has to be pretty quick. Long gone are the days where I spent an entire day cleaning my home from top to bottom and even though I don’t miss spending my days doing this I do miss how clean my home was each week.

Dyson V6

So, when the cordless vacuum was introduced a few years back I jumped on the bandwagon and bought my own. At the time. Dyson was the name most people were drawn to. The adverts sucked me in, the vacuum promised so much and it all seemed to be a cleaning revolution, a vacuum you could use without restrictions. And to begin with, it was… but once the novelty wore off I began to notice some niggles with my Dyson V6.

Even though they assured you that 20 minutes battery life was long enough to vacuum the average family home I have found it really isn’t and this has to be the biggest issue for me. I have a 4-bed house with the rooms being spread across 3 floors. At the time of purchase, I had one child but we now have two and we also have a dog and a cat which add to the mess. Do you know how frustrating it is to manage a couple of bedrooms, one flight of stairs, an en-suite and then halfway through a third bedroom your vacuum dies? Now if you are happy just to do your house bit by bit then this is fine. Just go downstairs, plug it in and wait for it all to charge up again. However, if you have visitors coming over you are in a bit of a pickle. This is where I wished I’d kept my old vacuum in the cupboard as a back-up because I have been caught out so many times. Also, if you forget to charge it after each use you will end up cursing yourself when the power goes after 3 minutes use.

Another bugbear with this vacuum is the fact you have to hold the button to keep it on all the damn time. How would somebody with arthritis cope with this feature if I struggle to keep it going all the time? It doesn’t make the chore very enjoyable. Neither does emptying the dust compartment. I don’t particularly enjoy having to touch what I have just vacuumed up…

I think the only thing this vacuum has going for it is the fact it is light and easy to lift upstairs. It is definitely perfect for those quick clean moments, like a dustbuster used to be, but if you want a deep clean it just isn’t worth the money.

Shark DuoClean

When Shark asked me to review their cordless DuoClean I jumped at the chance. I’d been secretly lusting after one after seeing their advert. With 2 batteries, 5x more suction than a G-tech Air Ram, Flexology technology and ease of use I just knew it would be the best vacuum for my home.

 

Assembly

The Shark DuoClean is so simple to assemble and suss out. Each section on the hose is clearly marked, the release buttons are easy to locate and the attachments glide on smoothly.

Look

The overall look is really sleek and stylish. I love the orange metallic effect, it gives it a premium feel. Yes, it may look much larger and bulkier than the Dyson but don’t let this put you off…

Features and Use

The Flexology technology has to be one of the best features of this vacuum. The bendy hose within the main shaft allows the vacuum to bend, twist and get to all those hard to reach areas. It enables the floor nozzle to manoeuvre around the home really easily and effortlessly. This feature also allows for easy storage. The top half of the vacuum folds over to become more compact…

The DuoClean is so named because of the dual brushes found in the floor nozzle. The soft brush on the front pulls in the larger particles whilst the brush behind cleans and directs the debris to the suction channel. What makes it even better, is the smart response technology which means this vacuum knows what floor type it is on. The Dyson doesn’t have this feature at all and only has the one roller to cover all floor types. Just watch out when you go from wood/laminate floor to a rug because it just takes off! It has a max power button but I’m not entirely sure when I would need to use this because it is just powerful enough on the normal setting.

What else do I love about the Shark in comparison to the Dyson?! The batteries. The Shark comes with 2 battery packs which means you can be charging one whilst the other is in use and then just swap them over once your first 22 minutes is up. I now have 44 minutes running time which means I can clean my house all at once!

It comes with four attachments which means you can cover all areas of your home. The dusting brush for hard surfaces, the crevice tool for the edges and corners, the anti-allergen dust brush which is perfect for your blinds and the upholstery tool which is great for pet hair (one of my biggest issues). It also converts to a handheld vacuum for use on the stairs, sofa, pet bedding and so on.

The DuoClean also has headlights! (I know, swish eh?!) The lights basically allow you to see how dirty your house actually is! When you have dark areas behind doors, under the sofa, in tight corners these lights will help you to see where you need to go. It’s such a strange but useful feature, who’d have thought?!

As for emptying this vacuum? Well let’s just say there’s no more pulling the rubbish out of the compartment.

As you can see, the reason it is easier is because there are two compartments for the debris. The top one collects all the hair and anything that could cause everything to twist and tangle. Then the bottom part collects the dust. All just simply falls out into the bin.

Don’t just take my word for it, see it for yourself…

Overall Thoughts

If you hadn’t already guessed I am slightly in love with this vacuum! It has made light work of my cleaning, it has really surprised me in how much it has collected in such a short space of time and also scared me because I thought my home was already pretty clean! It is just effortless to use, it glides over all the surfaces and can reach where the Dyson never could. I would honestly recommend this vacuum to everyone.

*I received the Shark DuoClean in exchange for this review. As always all thoughts are honest and my own. For further information please refer to my disclosure page.

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