Shark Premium Handheld Vacuum WV270UK Review
The most powerful handheld vacuum cleaner
Verdict
An improvement over the already-excellent original, the Shark Premium Handheld Vacuum WV270UK offers more power and longer battery life. For those smaller jobs where you need a grab-and-go cleaner, this is a great choice at a superb price. The option of a motorised pet tool would be nice, but that’s a minor complaint against an otherwise outstanding product.
Pros
- Powerful
- Decent battery life
- Neat charging dock
Cons
- No motorised tools
Availability
- UKRRP: £179.99
Key Features
- TypeThis is a handheld vacuum cleaner, designed for smaller jobs
- Battery lifeExpect up to 15 minutes of runtime on the standard power setting, and just over 10 minutes on the highest setting
Introduction
Small handheld vacs are a great way to clean up small messes, but some can struggle to deal with more sizeable debris or larger areas. Not so with the Shark Premium Handheld Vacuum WV270UK, the new version of Shark’s classic handheld. Delivering more power, via two selectable modes, and a decent 15-minute runtime, this is a compact vacuum cleaner with the power to compete with a full-sized model.
Design and Features
- Grab-and-go stick design
- A little energetic in emptying
- Storage for tools on charging dock
The Shark Premium Handheld Vacuum WV270UK sports a similar design to the older, Shark WV251UK: a stick cleaner whose long handle you grab and point at any dirt you want to suck up. I found it well balanced and easy to carry around: at just 650g, it’s something that I barely noticed in the hand.
Although the vacuum can be used without attachments, Shark provides two additional tools in the box: a crevice tool with a flip-down brush for dusting, and an upholstery tool for cleaning soft furnishings.
Both tools can be clipped into the charging dock. This is handy, saving you from loosing tools around the house. There’s no motorised pet tool, of the type you get with the pet version of the Hoover H-Handy 700, however
Like the original, this vacuum cleaner does have a removable battery, although the dock can only charge one battery installed in the vacuum cleaner. That’s similar to the WV201UK; the WV251UK drops storage space for an accessory in favour of a charging slot for a second battery.
Is that a problem? Well, not necessarily. The battery life of the WV270UK is more than sufficient for its intended purpose, so I didn’t feel the need for a second battery.
It comes with a small 0.1-litre bin, which doesn’t sound particularly big. It’s actually roomy enough for the types of jobs for which the WV270UK is built. Once full, an eject button will fling the bin outward in a slightly energetic manner: ensure the vacuum is well positioned over a bin before doing so.
Inside the bin is the filter housing, which can be popped open so that the filter can be removed for cleaning.
This model has two power modes, a standard and higher-power boost mode, which adds a little more flexibility to the original model that offered only one power mode.
Performance
- Excellent battery life
- Very powerful
I started out by measuring the Shark WV270UK’s raw power in AirWatts (AW), which is a measure of suction and airflow, indicating a vacuum cleaner’s true efficiency. On standard power I measured it at 48AW, which is slightly higher than the WV251UK’s 42AW; on high power, power jumps to 75AW. The latter is similar to the regular power modes of many cordless stick cleaners, and more powerful than the Hoover H-Handy 700, which has a single power mode.
This level of power makes the WV270UK a super-capable cleaner. It’s useful for small jobs, such as picking up spilt food. I tested the model by picking up rice on a counter: the WV251UK cleared up everything, with the boost mode making the job faster.
I also performed my normal set of carpet tests, sprinkling a teaspoon of flour onto carpet. As you can see from the results, there was a clean sweep through the centre of the test patch using the WV270UK on its standard power setting. The only issue is that the cleaning surface area is small, so big spills will take a while to clear.
Next, I tried the upholstery brush on cat hair combed into the carpet. Again, everything was removed in a single sweep.
However, some of the fluff was collected on the upholstery brush itself; it’s nothing that I couldn’t fix by vacuuming it out at the end of cleaning.
Battery life on standard power was just over 15 minutes in my tests, while it lasts for 10mins 38secs on the highest power setting. That’s almost double the standard battery life of the original, which is impressive.
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Should you buy it?
If you need a powerful grab-and-go vacuum cleaner for smaller jobs, then this is the most powerful model I’ve tested.
If you need a cleaner with a motorised tool, for getting a lot of pet hair off a sofa, for example, look elsewhere.
Final Thoughts
A clear upgrade on the original, the Shark WV270UK delivers more power, greater flexibility and longer battery life. If you need a handy grab-and-go vacuum for small jobs, then this is currently the most powerful model I’ve tested. Check out alternatives in my guide to the best cordless vacuum cleaners.
How we test
We test every vacuum cleaner we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use industry standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.
Find out more about how we test in our ethics policy.
Used as our main vacuum cleaner for the review period
Tested for at least a week
Tested using tools to measure actual suction performance
Tested with real-world dirt in real-world situations for fair comparisons with other vacuum cleaners
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FAQs
Up to 15 minutes on the standard power setting, which is enough to pick up most mess.
It comes with a combination crevice tool/brush and an upholstery tool in the box.
Yes, it does – although you can only charge one battery at a time.
Full specs
Jargon buster
AirWatt
A rating of how powerful a vacuum cleaner is. AirWatts combines suction power with airflow to give one score, where the higher the number is better.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
