The more my family has grown, the more I’ve started to hate carpets. Dogs are awesome, but good grief they don’t half make a mess, and, as anyone with children will know, they are also amazing but give the likes of carpet some hammer.
I got so fed up with how the carpet was looking in the front room that I ripped it up and replaced it with a laminate floor to make it easier to clean. No matter how many times I wiped my spaniel Dexter’s paws, it felt like the muck gradually made its way into the carpet.
I was getting quite disheartened with how the carpets upstairs were starting to look and longing for hard floors there too. That was until I tried out this absolute beast of a home appliance – Shark’s Carpet Xpert HairPro Pet. Priced at £349.99 it’s more expensive than past models, but is targeted at homes struggling with pet hair, smells and general dirt that manifests in carpets.
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After reading bold claims like it removes “three times more pet hair than any upright carpet cleaner” and it “instantly removes stains and odours with 20 times more stain striking power”, I couldn’t wait to give it a try. But did it live up to them? I put it to the test…
Pros:
- Transforms carpets
- Built in StainStriker is a great addition
- Amazing at deal with dog hair
- Dry function works well
Cons:
- Tank needs emptying frequently
- StainStriker hose can get a bit annoying
First impressions
Getting it out of the box it looks like a vacuum cleaner really just a bit heavier. It comes with five attachments for the StainStriker tube, plus a bottle of StainStriker & CarpetXpert cleaning formula.
Setup is fairly straightforward, with a good old instruction manual walking you through it, or if you’re tech-savvy it comes with a QR code you can scan to watch ‘how to’ videos. The tube is simple enough to attached while filling up the tanks is fairly self-explanatory – just be sure to put the right liquid in each compartment and plug it in then you’re good to go.
How did it fare with pet hair?
The Carpet Xpert comes with lots of bold claims and I was slightly dubious before trying it out. As I’m sure many dog owners can relate, you think you’ve heard it all before – I’ve lost count of how many vacuum cleaners I’ve gone through that make similar claims and actually don’t live up to the hype.
But this is different, so very different. I was staggered, disgusted and amazed all in one when I first went to empty the dirty water tank. A giant clump of hair (I’ll spare you the picture as it’s a bit gross) had collected in the filter section surrounded by filthy water.
I vacuum the carpets regularly and was pretty mortified to discover how much dog hair was nestled in there, but equally impressed at how easily the Shark had whipped it out. This carried on each time I emptied the tank, and I couldn’t believe how much hair must have been lurking deep in the floor that even a powerful vacuum hadn’t been budging.
Cleaning the carpets
In terms of overall cleaning, it left the carpets sparkling. In areas with less wear they looked virtually like new, while heavy traffic areas were greatly improved, albeit not perfect. It’s incredibly satisfying to use and I found myself whizzing about all over the place with it, marvelling at the lovely clean streaks it left in its wake.
How does it work?
Getting started is pretty simple, you just press the bottom section down with your foot like you would a vacuum cleaner, then power it up. ‘Deep clean’ flashes up on the display as it gets to work wetting the carpets with the solution while it pulls up all the hair and dirt up.
Once you’ve gone over it, you then press a button to switch it to dry mode and make a few passes over the area you’ve just cleaned. I found it did a really good job of getting lots of the water out of the carpet, though do be mindful that it does stay slightly damp for a while until it fully dries.
What about the StainStriker?
This particular model comes with a built in StainStriker, which is basically a long hose with various attachments that’s perfect for tackling things like stubborn stains, or cleaning the sofa or stairs.
A couple of patches on the carpet had some stains that were too engrained for the main part of the machine to fully tackle. So I swapped to the StainStriker, and after giving them a good scrub, I was delighted to see it had worked and they totally vanished.
It’s effectively a smaller, handheld cleaner that’s great for tackling stubborn stains on carpets or giving the likes of the sofa or car seats a clean. You simply select the most appropriate attachment for the job at hand, give the area a spray, a good scrub and then suction the dirty liquid back out. It’s incredibly satisfying to use and a handy addition so you can clean more than just carpets.
What’s not so great?
There was one overriding annoyance I found while using the cleaner – the hose. The design to wrap it around the machine isn’t foolproof and the hose kept falling off while I was manoeuvring the overall machine.
After a couple of times it got annoying, so I just disconnected it while using the main part of the machine, then put it back on when I wanted the StainStriker attachment. The tank also isn’t the biggest, so don’t expect to do the whole house in one go, you do have to top it up with water and the cleaning solution quite frequently, as well as emptying the dirty water tank.
What other carpet cleaners are out there?
Another big brand in the cleaning appliance world is Vax, with its Platinum Power Max Pet-Design a bit cheaper at £179.99, though it doesn’t have the StainStriker attachment function.
The Bissell SpotClean Pet Cleaner (£109 on Amazon) is a compact cleaner that has lots of positive reviews, including one satisfied buyer who said: “I bought this for pet stain removal
I used it on my sofa too and was amazed how good it came up. For a small cleaner it’s great.”
If you don’t want to shell out a big lump sum and would prefer to rent a carpet cleaner then many supermarkets, including several Asda and Tesco stores, have Rug Doctors for hire.
Overall
The Shark promises a great deal and boy does it deliver. The best thing I can say about it is it really is a machine that can genuinely cope with pet hair without constantly clogging up, while it breathed a whole new lease of life into my carpets.
What I really love is how it not only gets really deep into them to whip the muck away, but it doesn’t leave them soaking afterwards – a problem I’ve found in the past. The added advantage of having the machine rather than renting one means I’ll now be able to keep on top of it and keep them looking nice and fresh.
There are a couple of minor quibbles like the size of the tank, but it’s not something that would put me off buying. If you were doing a really large area, say an office or a large room, it would probably get annoying but it’s nothing major for an average-sized house.
The product is a new release and has eight reviews on the Shark website to date – all of which have awarded the full five stars. A couple of examples include: “I ordered the Shark carpet cleaner a few weeks ago & I’ve cleaned every carpet in the house! Very quick and easy! It’s brought the carpets up like new.”
Another said: “This is my first time using Shark products and I’m blown away. This is the best carpet cleaner I have used, it really does the work of cleaning without leaving your carpets soaked for days.” The Shark Carpet Xpert HairPro Pet can be picked up for £349.99 directly from Shark or Amazon.
