The HF9 came with an instruction leaflet but we didn’t find it particularly helpful. It was one of those Ikea-style universal ones where all of the instructions were in picture form, so some of it was difficult to interpret. And althought it was straightforward enough to assemble without said instructions, for troubleshooting we would have preferred more information. Hoover suggests that you call them when there is an error flashing on the LED display. Finally, there’s the flour on carpet test. Here, the Hoover HF9 also performed magnificently. It collected the entire spill in terms of weight, and I couldn’t see any remaining particles when I inspected it, either. At 0.7l the collection bin isn’t enormous but it’s a significantly more useful size than the 0.45l bin that comes with the Hoover HF500. This should be enough to clean a house without having to empty part way through, unless your house is particularly large or filthy. The first thing I noticed about the HF9 when putting it to the test is that it was noticeably lighter than the Shark Stratos (3.4kg compared to 4.07kg). If you struggle with mobility or carrying a heavy vacuum around for a long period of time, this might be a big help for you.

The other consideration is that using 'Boost' mode on this vacuum means that battery life goes down to 12 minutes. It's a useful mode to have and one that I enjoy using in especially hair-prone areas, but make sure not to have it turned to 'Boost' all of the time if you're conscious of using up the battery. Care and maintenance Another frustrating flaw is if I stored the Hoover unplugged – but still with a good amount of charge left – it often won’t turn on. The first few times it happened I thought the battery had run down, but on plugging it into the mains charger I saw it always had over 70% left, and would only turn on after it had been plugged in a few minutes. If there’s one thing that’s slightly disappointing, it’s the battery life. As you can see from the chart below, some vacuum cleaners at this kind of price come with enough power to clean for an hour on their lightest settings. With no Economy setting on this vacuum, there’s no option to reduce the suction down to eke out a few more minutes.

The HF9 has a run time of up to 30 minutes – which is quite standard across the industry – although our device offered 33 minutes when fully charged. After doing the floors and the upholstery on a small flat, and then vacuuming the floors for a second time, we only used about 20 minutes of charge – this, we felt, was a pretty decent result. There are devices on the market that offer significantly longer suction time though. Take the Cheerios on hard floor test out of the equation, however, and the rest of the results are technically perfect. There were some elements left behind on a single pass, but not enough to register more than 1g of weight on my kitchen scales. Hoover advises empting the bin after every use and it makes this pretty easy. All you have to do is press a button on the front and the base will open to empty the bin. The opening of the bin is quite small so the contents don’t go everywhere like some models are prone to do.

However, it can also stand up on its own, which makes it doubly useful on a practical level. Overall, plenty of suction and portability makes it the perfect cord-free vacuum cleaner, especially if you want the benefit of anti-tangle technology that can help with any pet hair issues you might have. Hoover HF9 cordless vacuum review: alternatives to consider I didn’t have particularly high hopes for the hard floor Cheerio test. The HF9 doesn’t have a soft roller, which is the usual path to performing well in this test. However, to its credit, Hoover’s floor head designers have built two funnels into the front of the head, which allowed the suction to capture some of the Cheerios and let them pass underneath.The side-loading of the suction pipe has its pros and cons. Yes, you can empty it without removing attachments, but it means fluff and dirt needs to pass through a tight u-bend as it transitions from the upward pipe to the bottom of the collection bin. It’s never good to leave lithium-ion batteries constantly charging as it wears down the overall capacity of the cell much faster than regular use and charging. Because of this, I am put off recommending the HF9 wholeheartedly, along with its inability to slurp up stubborn fluff in carpets. Price and availability In use, the system is clear, informative and simple to use. It doesn’t detect carpet or switch power modes automatically but it’s easy enough to do this manually. We usually vacuum once a week, and sometimes more if needed. To test the HF9, we allowed a full week to let the dust settle so there was plenty to clean. The light on the front of the suction head showed us exactly where the dust was while the wheels made manoeuvring the device easy. The suction head was also able to twist sideways to get into tight spots, which we thought was a great feature.