I tried Hoover's reasonably priced cordless vacuum - it's a lightweight wonder for small homes

If you're hoping that the Hoover HF2 Cordless Stick Pet Vacuum has plenty of accessories to help you clean up after your favourite four-legged friends, then you're in luck. This lightweight version of one of the best cordless vacuums has more to offer than a simple crevice tool, with a pet nozzle for helping to take care of your upholstery.

I tried it out at home to see how viable it is as a budget-friendly option for homes with a mix of hard floor and carpet. Though my flat lacks a pet (not through any choice of my own), it does have a lot of human hair being shed from myself and my flatmate, along with carpet and hard floor to test out this vacuum's capabilities. I tried it out at home to see if it lived up to see how it deals with hair wrapping around the brush roll, and to see how the tools perform.

HOOVER Ultralight HF2 Cordless Stick Pet Vacuum Cleaner specs

• Capacity: 1L
• Motor power: 195W
• Weight: 2.1kg
• Dimensions: 20 x 25 x 110 cm
• Bagged or bagless: Bagged
• RRP: £239.99

Unboxing and first impressions

The box for the Hoover HF2 gives away how lightweight and slim this vacuum is, with a total height of 110cm which is shorter than my TV stand. I didn't struggle getting it up the stairs to my first-floor flat at all, and it's an easy product to unpack, with a door that opens up to reveal the various parts of the vacuum.

Inside the cardboard box, you'll find the main body of the vacuum and the two accessories (the long nozzle and the pet tool). There's no excess plastic packaging in sight, which is a win for sustainability, and you'll find a pamphlet letting you know how best to set up and use your vacuum, but it is all very self-explanatory.

Once you've fitted the handle to the stick and chosen your attachment of the moment, you're good to start operating the vacuum if it's sufficiently charged up. The theme of ease continues with operation, with the stripped back controls sitting on the slim handle. There's just one button to get the Hoover to start up, and one other button (Turbo/Eco) to change the power.

Above the light which indicates whether you've got Turbo mode turned on or not is the battery indicator. On the other vacuums I tried in my previous role as Ideal Home's Appliances Editor, I grew used to vacuums such as the Shark Stratos IZ420UKT which have the remaining battery displayed as a percentage. This switch to bars is a little less sophisticated when it comes to working out how much time you have left to clean.

First impressions of this vacuum out of the box is that it's very pleasant to hold in your hand with the slim design meaning that there's no kind of obstruction in your way and that the lightweight design makes it carrying it out a breeze.

My flat is only small (just the four rooms!) but I can imagine even if you do have more space, then carrying this vacuum up and down stairs and around rooms wouldn't be taxing at all. That's especially good if you have any accessibility needs and can't carry heavy things for any/a long period of time.

What's it like to use?

Floors

My rental flat mainly has (very old) hard flooring, so I decided first to try this vacuum's credentials on it, as it is quite a big headache in my life trying to find a vacuum that will make it look slightly less terrible.

My first thought was that getting it across my hard floors posed no problem at all, which is down to the versatile multi-floor nozzle, according to the brand. That bascially means that unlike competitors (like Dyson), you don't need to change the head of your vacuum depending on whether you're on hard floor or carpet.

While it is true that one floorhead is a lot more convenient, I'm not convinced that it's the most effective design to get a deep clean. What's great about my usual everyday vacuum, the Dyson Gen5detect, is that the hard floor head has a fluffy head to catch debris while the carpet head has brushes to get right into carpets while the suction is on.

However, it is worth remembering that the Hoover HF2 costs a lot less than my Dyson, and while the performance on hard floor didn't really match up, it was still perfectly passable. When I tried this vacuum against large debris, which involved tipping oats out onto the floor, I found that it could pick up almost everything in one pass, and it collected a fair amount of dust during everyday cleans too.

Not to keep banging on about my Dyson, but the other thing I do love about the Gen5detect is the strong green laser-style lights that illuminate all kinds of dust and other grime while I'm vacuuming, so I don't miss a single spot.

I understand why the budget in the production of the HF2 doesn't stretch quite that far, and I do quite like the alternative here, which is these blue lights on the floorhead. Sure, they aren't going to illuminate all that much more that you can't already see, but they are a nice touch and definitely go a small way.

Next up was testing out how this vacuum fared on carpet, which is fitted inside the bedrooms in my flat. I tried out the power on the standard level first, and was again shocked by just how lightweight this vacuum is. It's so easy to move with that cleaning feels like it takes far less time.

On the downside however, it did mean that the dust tank when cleaning the bedrooms filled up seriously fast. There's only one litre of space in the tank, which is a pittance when battling dust and hair, and after a clean around both bedrooms it was time to empty the tank out. If you have lots of carpeted area to cover, this might get tiresome fast.

The suction on the standard mode was perfectly passable, but incomparable to the results of my Dyson, which regularly disgusts me with the amount of dust it can pull up. I switched to Turbo mode when one of the most problem areas of my bedroom which is the rug that sits under my dressing table, and did find this to be a useful setting for getting more up but you will find the battery life gets zapped.

Small tools

So, onto the tool that gives the HF2 Pet its name: the mini version of the large floorhead. It's a perfect size for attaching in handheld mode to attack your stairs, upholstery and other furniture and my first port of call was my white console table. I have regretted picking out this table in white since the day I got it, but this little brush provided some consolation with its ability to pick out small fibres and return it to an acceptable state.

I also used this small head to clean the headboard on my bed to great effect. Though it's small, it still packs a punch suction-wise, and was capable of cleaning up bobbles and fibres from the surface nicely. It also worked very well to give my mattress a once over when it came to sheet-change day, and quickly got rid of any stray hairs. While I can't speak to how effective it is on pet hair, I was impressed by how quickly it did away with my hair.

Another plus with this Hoover is the integrated tool which sits under where you add attachments. That means that rather than having to reach for an accessory, you can get straight to cleaning up a small spillage or mess straight away, so that it functions like one of the best handheld vacuums too.

Storage and portability

Another serious plus point with this vacuum is the included wall bracket. That means that you can just pop the bracket somewhere inconspicuous and the hang this slim vacuum onto it, saving you from an unsightly appliance being left around the house. It's also another reason this vacuum is great for small space living, as for houses without a dedicated cleaning cuboard or space, you've got everything you nneed to fashion storage for this vacuum in a small nook.

Cleaning and maintenance

This vaccum loudly shouts about how effective the anti-twist floorhead is at not bundling up hair that you later have to begrudgingly cut out with a pair of scissors. After testing this vacuum over a period of weeks, I was impressed at how little hair got stuck around the brush, which is down to the spines on the brush that prevent the bunching up.

The anti-hairwrap element certainly makes maintenance a lot easier, with the only real job left to do day to day being to empty the canister out. This is done with an effective point and shoot mechanism, which is a feature I love on my regular vacuum too. No fishing around in a gross tank full of dust here!

How does it compare to other vacuums?

You've already heard my comparisons of this vacuum to my Dyson, so I think it's more appropriate to compare this to other vacuums around the same price point. The Henry Quick is a comparably priced cordless vacuum that I tested a couple of years ago and it has a fairly similar design, though it is heavier. It's also a good option if you wanted a bagged vacuum rather than a bagless one, which may be the case if you suffer with allergies or want to keep things super hygenic.

Hoover is an iconic vacuum brand, and another name in the industry that's beloved by us is Henry, who has been gracing British homes for decades now. We recently reviewed the Henry XL Plus, which has an RRP of just £179.00, with great results. With a huge 15 litre capacity, it's fair to say that it's a great option if you're looking for a large vacuum for a family home.

Should you buy the Hoover HF2 cordless vacuum cleaner?

I've had the fortunate job of reviewing and ranking appliances in my career so far, but if I wasn't in quite such a lucky position, I think that this is the perfect type of vacuum for a home like mine. I love how lightweight it is and the added accessories are a great touch for cleaning furniture and under cabinets. The main appeal for me is the price. Though the RRP is £239.00, I've only seen it thus far floating around the £150 mark, which is the maximum I'd personally want to spend on a vacuum for my flat. If you want a small, very portable vacuum for day to day cleaning, the HF2 will be a winner.