Shark IF250UK cordless vacuum cleaner review

Cordless vacuum cleaners have become synonymous with some of the big brands like Dyson, but Shark is an alternative you may not think of immediately that’s offering a top end product without having to spend as much money.

With a unique design, good battery life and very impressive cleaning performance, you should consider the Shark IF250UK when looking for your next vacuum cleaner.

Below you’ll find our full review of the Shark IF250UK. We’ll also reference some features that you can only get on the Shark IF250UKT, which is a different product with Shark’s TruePet mode but we’ll make it clear when we’re talking about that variant.

Shark IF250UK vacuum cleaner price and availability 

This version of Shark’s flagship vacuum has been available since around August 2017, so you should now be able to find it from a series of retailers in your home market.

As for the price, we’ve found it has an RRP of £449.99 (around $640, AU$800) but it only seems to be on sale in the UK and not available in the US or Australia.

We’ve also seen the price drop down at various retailers too with it costing £319.99 at one stage in the UK. You may find the price fluctuates a little higher or lower than that when you come to buy the vacuum from Shark though.

Design

One of the biggest highlights of this vacuum cleaner is the design. It’s a little bulkier and heavier than some of its competitors products, but it’s manageable and you won’t find it too much of a stress to carry around.

At the top of the vacuum cleaner is the housing for the battery (this is a cordless cleaner after all) and all the tech involved here. The top section can easily be disconnected from the main cleaner so you can get to hard to reach places or add extra attachments to get to those awkward places within your home.

There’s then the main body of the vacuum cleaner that’s long enough for taller users but also won’t be cumbersome if you’re a little shorter.

We found it offered great reach when in the upright position, but with Shark’s Flexology technology it’s also capable of a lot more movement than you initially expect.

About a third of way down from the top is a hinge that allows you to bend the cleaner down allowing you to slide this under a sofa or other furniture to fully clean without moving everything about.

We found this was easy to set up, but it also means you often need to have the cleaner laid horizontally on the floor and often that’s as much effort as moving the furniture you’re trying to clean under. To start the Flexology features you’ll want to press the button on the top, which at first was a touch stiff, but it allows you to push the vacuum down so you can lay it flat to the floor.

When you’re done, you can pull the cleaner back up to an upright position and it’ll click back into place for you to continue cleaning with it in the normal position. This is a particular highlight of the Shark vacuum, and is one of the reasons we’d recommend it if you have awkward furniture that means you need a manoeuvrable cleaner.

The cleaning head at the bottom of the vacuum isn’t too big like it can be on some competing products, and one particularly useful feature is it has headlights. It lights the way under your furniture so you can get a clear look at what you’re cleaning up and whether you’ve got everything.

To activate the cleaner you’ll be pressing buttons on the top. That means it’s easy to navigate between carpet and hardwood floors, as well as the normal or maximum power settings.

Overall, the design of the IF250UK is close to the pinnacle of coreless cleaner technology and while it may not be as light or as small as some of the competition we still like the design (especially the headlights) for its ease of use and Flexology tech.