Take it from me, as a veteran vacuum cleaner unboxer, that some are a tad time-consuming. Lots of parts wrapped in plastic and assembly instructions with pictures only. This vacuum, on the other hand, only needed its handle slotting in and the two attachments to be put in their place on the machine and it was ready to go. Tools on board and therefore always to hand is great, and also scoring points from me is the fact that the instructions have clear words as well as drawings. And much as I like cordless machines, being able to plug in and start rather than wait for a battery to charge has a lot to be said for it. Actually, it sounds more complicated than it is. Nevertheless, the power and performance is great, with the attachments well designed for getting into awkward places where pet and human hair tends to get. More straightforward carpet and hard floor vacuuming duties are a cinch though, with the lightweight and agile design making the Hoover H-Upright 300 Pets a joy to use. The wheels are great too and, thankfully, don't mark if you’ve got a prized wood floor. It’s a reasonably solid job for the price but the slightly more expensive Dyson Small Ball Allergy did a better job. Although it suffered the same ploughing problems with larger particles on hard floor, it was near perfect when it came to carpet, and was better with flour on all surfaces. If you have a lot of hard floor, the Shark DuoClean with Lift-Away NV702UK has both a brush and a soft roller in its floor head, so can capture anything from hard floor, even Cheerios.

There are three control buttons at knee height on the main unit, which is slightly awkward if you’re tall, and a three-way switch on the handle. The buttons switch the device on and off, flip it between its carpet and hard floor modes, and release the extension wand. The switch on the handle controls the suction power between Max, Min and somewhere between the two. Those looking for a full suite of attachments should consider the Dyson Ball Animal. This comes with a great selection of tools, a larger collection bin and a longer cord. It’s heavier, though, and costs more. My only minor gripe thus far is with the anodised finished on the aluminium tube, which forms the upright that joins the handle to the machine. It’s been so designed to let you use the attachments for specific cleaning duties but suffers as a result. This has already got some scratches on it, just from daily use, so how this will look in time might take the otherwise solid shine off this vacuum. That’s a minor cosmetic point though.

Opt for ease of use with a classic stand up vacuum

To use the hose and attachments, you have to disconnect the hose from the floor head. This is easily unclipped and then also needs to be freed from a retaining clip. Attachments connect on to the end of the hose or, if you want extra reach, you can release the handle from the main body and use it as an extension. I’ve got no complaints so far about the performance of the Hoover H-Upright 300 Pets, which further appeals thanks to its washable H13 HEPA filter that traps those pesky allergens. Interestingly, the power button is part of the main body of the vacuum, which you reach down to press. It’s a variation on having a power button on the handle, but at least there’s no turning it off by accident mid-vacuum. There’s a tendency for vacuum cleaner manufacturers to make ever more expensive and complicated cleaners. The Hoover H-Upright 300 offers a tonic to that formula: it’s a cheaper, lighter upright cleaner that gets all of the basics right.

READ NEXT: These are the best robot vacuum cleaners to buy today Hoover H-Upright 300 review: Should I buy it? There’s a reason upright vacuum cleaners are such a popular choice – this classic style does it all, with a lightweight, easy-to-manoeuvre design and exceptional cleaning power. From the HL5 to the best-selling Upright 300, there’s an upright vacuum for everyone. Our upright vacuum cleaners promise high-performance cleaning on all floor types. Whether you want to deep clean your carpet or tidy a hardwood floor, a versatile stand up Hoover will get the job done. Our upright vacuums also come with push and lift capabilities and instant release wands, allowing portability for all your above-floor cleaning needs, such as sofas and stairs. We know how frustrating it can be to get hair caught in your vacuum, which is why we’ve introduced ANTI-TWIST™ technology to our upright vacuums. ANTI-TWIST™ means you don’t need to worry about hair getting tangled; our tech automatically removed it from the brushbar. The vacuum can operate in a number of modes. There’s the basic upright mode, with the floor head, vacuum unit, wand and handle all connected together. Alternatively, each element can be detached and used interchangeably.

The Hoover H-Upright 300 cleans well and won’t break the bank, but it’s better on carpet than hard floor

Cleaning performance is also determined by the tools included with a cleaner. Lower suction power can often be negated with the use of decent tools that agitate dirt. To test this out, I ran my normal cleaning tests. This means you can use the handle and hose for handheld jobs, add the wand if you need a little extra reach, and detach the vacuum unit from the floor head to more easily carry it around when cleaning the stairs. Hoover HL5 review: What’s it like to use? With the brush switched off the cleaner relies on vacuum suction alone, but performance suffers in this mode when cleaning hard floors. However, it’s worth noting that you don’t get the extra bit of agitation for more stubborn dirt that you get from a soft roller on vacuums such as the Shark DuoClean with Lift-Away NV702UK.

Once you’ve finished cleaning, the bin lifts out of the cleaner, and you can flip open the bottom to empty dirt quite easily. There’s one filter here and a another in the cleaner, both of which should be cleaned with water to maintain maximum suction. Performance First, I started with the carpet test, sprinkling a teaspoon of flour onto the floor. Giving the H-Upright 300 a single sweep through the mess, with the head set to carpet mode, I found that it left a trace of the mess behind. To complicate matters slightly, there’s also a suction regulator. This is a slider that either covers or opens a grille on the top of the floor head, which helps reduce the amount of suction. This is useful if you find the head is hard to move on long-pile carpet or rugs.First, the model I reviewed doesn’t come with many accessories. I’d recommend you opt for the Pet model, which comes with a better attachment for handheld jobs and doesn’t cost much more. To start with, I put the Hoover H-Upright 300 through my raw power tests, measuring its suction in AirWatts. I recorded a score of 185.9AW, which is lower than many other plug-in cleaners, which usually come in around 200+. However, in context, this cleaner is still more powerful than most cordless models on their maximum setting. The Hoover H-Upright 300 is a fairly basic model, with a single rotating brush in its floor head. You can switch this on and off, depending on the surface you’re cleaning; Hoover recommends you switch it off when cleaning floors and deep pile rugs.

It converts into its various functions easily and feels very well built. The main unit is easy to lift away from the floor head with the help of your foot, and the 2m extension hose isn’t as tight and cumbersome as I’ve found on some other rivals, particularly the Dyson Ball Animal. The design is eye-catching, thanks mainly to some blue anodised surfaces on the tubing and a blend of blue and grey plastic on the main body. Build quality is also very respectable too, with chunky plastic used on most of the heavy duty components. The hoses look to be respectable too, although how they’ll fare over time is always hard to predict when you’ve only been using a machine for a few weeks. The collection bin has a generous 1.5-litre capacity and is easily released from the chassis for emptying. It also contains the filters, which are washable in water and rated to the HEPA H13 standard. I also struggled with moving the vacuum from hard floor onto rugs or door mats. The front of the device is quite low to the ground and it struggled with even small changes in elevation, crumpling and pushing away the rug rather than climbing up the edge. While the Hoover H-Upright 300 Pets might appear to be just another vacuum cleaner with a power cable I think Hoover has done a great job with this model. It takes mere seconds to pull out of the box, something helped by its weight of just 5.2kg. Most of it has been put together for you, so after scrutinizing the manual for a couple more seconds the design is suitably simple that you can be powering up in about, well, two minutes.If yours is a home with lots of carpet or has a 50/50 type of split between that and hard flooring, and you share your space with small or large pets, it’s a yes. This is a solidly built and good looking upright that’s thoughtfully designed for ease of use and convenience. Both I and the cats would have preferred a little less noise in action ideally, but it’s a value for money choice for all fans of upright vacuums and those looking for the best vacuum cleaner for pet hair. About this review, and our reviewer On the brush bar is a manual slider: keep it closed for more suction on hard floors; or open to make the cleaner easier to push on carpet. In front of the power button there’s another that lets you engage or disengage the brush in the cleaning head. This can be used in conjunction with the white slider switch on the top of the cleaning head, which is marked as Carpet one way and Hard Floor the other. Simply slide it across to change the cleaning mode, and disengage the spinning brushes if you’re cleaning something like a laminate floor. Initially I’d tend to forget to do this, but practice makes perfect. The collection bin can hold 1.4L of dust and debris. That’s slightly less than the 1.8L of the Dyson Ball Animal but still beats the capacity of most cordless models, including the Shark ICZ300UKT cordless upright, which only holds 0.6 litres.