Hoover HF9 cordless vacuum cleaner review

When a model is so massive it turns into the widespread noun for the merchandise it makes, you understand it’s a giant deal. However Hoover isn’t essentially the vacuum cleaner market chief anymore, due to Dyson.

Nevertheless it has taken a leaf out of Dyson’s e book in creating cordless, bagless cleaners of its personal. I’ve been hoovering my manner round my flat for a couple of months utilizing the Hoover HF9, a strong vac that’s moderately priced however has a couple of quirks.

Design and construct

• Mains charged
• Stands upright by itself
• Simple to scrub

The perfect factor concerning the design of the Hoover HF9 is it could arise by itself, not like many cordless vacuums that it’s essential to lay on the ground or lean on a bit of furnishings everytime you take a break from vacuuming.

It type of appears like an extended mechanical human leg with a little bit foot on the backside to maintain it upright – if that’s not too bizarre a picture.

Its upstanding kind helped lots when storing the in any other case giant machine simply in a nook of my small flat as an alternative of getting to prop it up in a cabinet. Nevertheless, it comes with a wall mount, if you could find a discreet spot to hold it up.

I used to be stunned to learn within the HF9’s handbook that you just’re solely meant to face the Hoover upright momentarily, and that storage ought to be all the time by wall mount. however I’ve not discovered any cause to not retailer it freestanding.  

The crimson, gray, and steel design of the unit I examined is inoffensive, and it additionally is available in a blue model.

The design is effectively thought out and straightforwardly modular, with two connection factors within the shaft. The upper launch is for simpler emptying of the mud container or attaching one of many included cleansing instruments to make use of the vacuum as a cordless handheld for stairs, sofas or within the automobile.

Henry Burrell / Foundry

A decrease foot launch swap allows you to connect the identical instruments to succeed in as much as clear issues like cobwebs or get mud on the highest of skirting boards.

It feels sturdy and premium when in common use, with the pinnacle turning simply with the essentially one-handed operation to get below low obstacles like sofas and cupboards and to whizz round sharp corners.

There are even cute little headlights that genuinely assist, significantly on hardwood flooring, to be sure to’ve bought all of the mud in darkish corners of a room.

The simply detachable battery could be charged individually from the Hoover or when related to the unit. I discovered the mud container a little bit small, and needed to empty the Hoover after two or three full circuits of my six-room flat, however it’s very straightforward to launch and dump its contents straight right into a bin.

The curler is a single brush design and could be simply launched to scrub by taking off the highest of the pinnacle and coming out the curler.

Henry Burrell / Foundry

Efficiency

• Three suction modes
• Can’t seize cussed ingrained fibres
• Usually received’t activate except plugged in first

I discovered the HF9 completely highly effective sufficient for many mud and grime round my flat. It has three modes – onerous flooring, carpet, and turbo.

One swap cycles between onerous and carpet, and you’ll flip turbo on when utilizing both. Switching to carpet knocks a couple of minutes off the remaining battery life counter on the show, whereas turning on turbo mode suggests you’ll solely get about 12 minutes of use on a full cost.

The battery takes three and a half hours to cost from empty.

Henry Burrell / Foundry

You’ll be able to maintain it with both hand to push round, working all of the buttons simply inside attain of your thumb. It’s good and easy.

The Hoover lacks a tender brush for hardwood flooring however I didn’t see any harm to mine, and the turbo mode is sweet for giving heavy carpets an excellent spring clear. Once I caught the tassels of a rug within the head, the unit quicky turned off and it was straightforward to disentangle.

That’s right down to the anti-twist design on the HF9’s head, which ensures cables, string and most significantly hair don’t stay wrapped round it. It really works exceptionally effectively.

My largest challenge with the Hoover is it couldn’t get artificial fluff fibres out of my low-pile bed room carpet. I had a cover that annoyingly shed some white insulation in gentle, fluffy clouds, which was then trodden into the carpet.

Henry Burrell / Foundry

Regardless of repeat runs and the intense use of turbo mode, the HF9 couldn’t seize these fibres, which means I needed to get down on my fingers and knees and choose scores of items of white fluff out of the carpet. I’m undecided if it’s because the curler solely has one line of comparatively quick bristles, however regardless of the cause, it was supremely annoying and – for my use – a cause to not purchase the factor.

One other irritating flaw is that if I saved the Hoover unplugged – however nonetheless with an excellent quantity of cost left – it usually received’t activate. The primary few instances it occurred I believed the battery had run down, however on plugging it into the mains charger I noticed it all the time had over 70% left, and would solely activate after it had been plugged in a couple of minutes.

It’s by no means good to depart lithium-ion batteries always charging because it wears down the general capability of the cell a lot quicker than common use and charging. Due to this, I’m postpone recommending the HF9 wholeheartedly, together with its lack of ability to slurp up cussed fluff in carpets.

Value and availability

The Hoover HF9 mannequin I examined has an RRP of £379 and it’s at the moment accessible at this value from Currys and Amazon UK. Nevertheless, on the time of writing, the perfect value is £295 direct from Hoover.

You’ll be able to register the product upon buy to make the most of Hoover’s 5 yr producer guarantee.

The HF9 shouldn’t be accessible within the US.

Verdict

The Hoover HF9 is a well-priced cordless vacuum cleaner that’s nice for hardwood flooring and common mud round the home on carpets and rugs. It’s additionally versatile, with two included cleansing instruments and a handheld mode. Plus, it could arise by itself.

However in my testing it couldn’t seize cussed fibres that had been trodden into pretty low pile carpet, and the unit repeatedly didn’t activate even when it had a cost, prompting me to plug it in to wake it up.

It’s a disgrace as a result of it’s a good vacuum, however these two issues are sufficient for me to knock off a few stars in our ranking.

For vacuum cleaner suggestions and to see our high picks, take a look at our round-up of the perfect vacuum cleaners we’ve examined.