A lightweight cordless stick cleaner

Verdict

An extremely lightweight vacuum cleaner, the Hoover HF2 Pet is easy for quick grab-and-go jobs. I found it easy to use, and I appreciate its Anti-Twist tech that stops hair from getting tangled. For smaller jobs, it does well, but I found that this vacuum cleaner struggled on the tougher tests and has a more limited suction range. That all means that this is a good secondary vacuum cleaner, but you’ll ideally want to pair it with a powerful plug-in model for deep cleaning or buy a more powerful cordless model for whole-house cleaning.

Introduction

As useful as a cordless vacuum cleaner is, many are large, bulky and heavy. If you’ve already got a plug-in vacuum cleaner and just want a lighter, smaller vacuum for more occasional jobs, then the compact Hoover HF2 Pet could be for you.

Weighing just 2.4kg, this vacuum cleaner is easy to move around, but the relatively small bin will need regular emptying.

Design and Features

• Clever eject mechanism
• Lightweight and easy to hold
• Anti-twist floor head

Filling out Hoover’s line-up of recent vacuum cleaners, including the impressive Hoover HF4, the HF2 is the smallest cordless vacuum in the range.

There are two versions of this, the HF2 Pet that I have on review, which comes with a mini pet tool, and the HF2 Home which has a crevice tool only. For versatility, regardless of pet ownership, I’d pay the extra £10 for the Pet edition, bar Hoover discounting the standard version.

Although a stick vacuum cleaner, the Hoover HF2 Pet has a long, thin main unit. Combined with the wand and floor head, the entire vacuum cleaner weighs just 2.4kg, which makes it one of the lightest available.

That’s good news if you struggle to deal with a regular cordless cleaner, or you just want something more nimble for tackling spot jobs.

The lightweight design also makes this vacuum cleaner a pleasure to use on pretty much any surface, and I found it easy to push around.

Alongside the aforementioned crevice tool and motorised pet tool, there’s a floor head designed for use on hard floors and carpets alike. It’s one of Hoover’s Anti-twist models, designed not to get tangled with hair.

It also has a set of LEDs at the front, which will highlight where you’re vacuuming. I found it handy for dealing with under sofas or in the corners of the room where the light doesn’t reach very well.

There’s a simple wall mount in the box, which just lets the HF2 hang on the wall. This mount doesn’t provide power, so the power cable has to be plugged into the vacuum either directly, or you can remove the handle, power controls and battery as an all-in-one unit, and charge this separately.

Also in the box are a crevice tool and a mini motorised pet tool. There’s no dusting tool or upholstery tool on this model.

Controls are very simple on this vacuum cleaner: there’s a button to turn the HF2 on or off, and a button to cycle between the three power modes: Standard is the default, then there’s a low-power Eco mode and a high-power Turbo mode.

Battery life is only roughly indicated by the three LEDs on the handle, which extinguish one at a time.

There’s only a 0.3-litre bin on this vacuum cleaner, which is similar in size to the bins on many robot vacuum cleaners. To try and help reduce the number of times you have to empty it, there’s a handle on the front. Pump the HF2, as though it were a shotgun, and Hoover says dust is compacted, allowing a litre of dust to be stored.

When the bin is empty, just pop open the front and give a pump to eject the dust out. That then gives access to the filter, which pulls out and can be rinsed when dirty.

Performance

• Mid-level range of suction power
• Doesn’t get tangled
• Struggles with deeper spills

I tested the Hoover HF2 Pet’s suction power at the handle in all three modes, quoting the results in AirWatts, which combines suction lift with airflow to give a true comparison between cleaners.

On Eco the vacuum cleaner registered a very light 23AW, which is enough for some delicate jobs; the 46AW measured on standard power is a touch lower than on the competition, suggesting this cleaner may struggle with bigger jobs; while the maximum of 95AW on Turbo is closer to the mid-range level larger cordless cleaners.

How does this power translate into suction? Well, to show that, I line up a row of rice next to a tape measure and then place the crevice tool at the end to see how far the suction reaches.

With the Hoover HF2 Pet, I only managed to pick up rice grains from a distance of 1cm. That will mean that some manual jobs, such as vacuuming dust out of a drawer or wardrobe will be slower or harder than with a cleaner that has more power.

With tasks on the floor, it’s the combination of floor head agitation and suction that combine to show how good or bad a vacuum cleaner really is. To test this, I have some real-world tests, starting with my carpet test, where I add 20g of flour to my test carpet.

Giving the HF2 a pass forwards and backwards through the middle of the mess on its medium power setting, I found that there was a relatively clean-looking strip, but some dust remained.

I then tackled the remaining mess using the higher power mode until the carpet looked clean, which took several swipes. At the end of this test, I found that the cleaner had collected 70.1% of the spill in its bin, which is a little behind the pace.

I then moved on to the difficult edge test, where I added 10g of flour to the carpet tiles, right up to the skirting board. Running the cleaner along the skirting board several times, I found that it left a lot of mess behind that the floor head couldn’t touch. As a result, I measured that only 73.8% of the spill was collected. The rest of this job would have to be completed with the crevice tool.

Next, I added 20g of rice to the hard floor. Initially, the HF2 managed to collect everything, but stopping the cleaner saw a lot of rice fall back out onto the floor. Even after a second go, I found that 93.2% of the dirt was collected. Again, I had to finish the job with a tool.

Moving on to the pet hair test, I added cat hair to my carpet. Here, I found that the HF2 managed to collect everything with ease.

Next, I added human hair to the carpet, and found that the HF2 collected it and didn’t get any caught around its floor head.

Battery life was 31m on the lowest power setting, 18m 8s on the mid-level power setting, and 8m 44s on the highest level of power. Given that I needed a high level of power quite often, this vacuum feels more like a secondary cleaner than something for cleaning the entire house.

I measured sound between 66.2dB and 69.3dB, which shows that the HF2 is relatively quite for a cordless cleaner.

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