Shark HydroVac WD210UK review: An effective cordless hard floor cleaner

While most households have a vacuum cleaner, hard floor cleaners such as the Shark HydroVac (WD210UK) aren’t nearly as common. However, if you regularly follow-up your vacuuming by mopping your hard floors, a device such as this one can take away some of the effort.

The Shark HydroVac is a similar size to an upright vacuum cleaner but operates cordlessly. It comes with a charging stand you can store it on.

Shark HydroVac WD210UK review: What do you get for the money?

The Shark Hydrovac is a premium cleaner at £330, but compared to the accoutrements you’d usually find in the box of a Shark vacuum cleaner, it arrives with minimal extras. The wand and handle unit arrives separated from the main body and floor head, but once you’ve popped the alloy pole into the hole on the top, it’s only a four-hour charge away from being ready to use.

The device stands 1,100mm tall and has a footprint of 280 x 240mm. You need somewhere to store it at full height, though; it doesn’t fold away and removing the handle once attached is not a trivial matter. The charging base has a footprint of 310 x 318mm, and needs to be kept within reach of a power socket.

The HydroVac weighs 3.95kg before water is added, which is significantly lighter than the similar-looking Eufy Clean Mach V1 Ultra. Otherwise, the design is similar, with a clean water tank at the top of the body and a dirty water tank and collection bin at the bottom.

The floorhead has a very similar roller, and both offer a base station for the device to sit on. This charges the battery, washes the roller so it doesn’t get smelly and collects any residual drips that might otherwise end up on your floor.

The clean water tank can hold 0.5l of water, and the dirty tank can hold 0.36l. The device also comes with 355ml of HydroVac Multi-Surface Cleaner solution. Unlike the Eufy, which has a separate detergent tank, this is added straight into the clean water as you fill it up, and is enough for a handful of refills. After that, the solution is readily available in 1l bottles from Shark, John Lewis and Argos for £15.

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Shark HydroVac WD210UK review: What’s it like to use?

Using the Shark HydroVac WD210UK is a straightforward process, with the most complicated bit being filling the clean water tank. This needs filling to a certain level with tap water, then topping up with cleaning fluid. Annoyingly it doesn’t stand flat while filling, so you have to hold it with one hand while filling with the other.

There are only two buttons on the device, one to switch it on and off and the other to engage its Freshen Mode. This mode is designed to be used on small sections of short pile carpet. Shark suggests you only use it on rugs, though, which is presumably because there will be a waterproof hard floor surface underneath it, rather than floorboards that may cause problems if they become damp.

In both modes, the roller in the floor head spins and liquid is released from the clean water tank, effectively mopping the floor. Suction then picks the dirty water back up again and deposits it in the waste tank. It leaves the floor damp, just like mopping with a wrung-out normal mop would.

Moving the device around is fairly easy with the roller providing some forward traction that almost pulls it around your floor, but not so violently that you can’t drag it back again relatively easily. It’s flexible at the ankle, and simple to move around, much like a regular vacuum cleaner.

And battery life is somewhat decent, too. During testing, a full charge lasted 29mins 17secs, which should be plenty of time to get around your hard floors, even if you have a large space to clean. During this run I had to empty the dirty water tank twice, and had to refill the clean water part way through as well.

When you’ve finished, it’s time to empty and clean the Hydrovac. A trap at the top of the dirty tank collects larger bits that have been vacuumed up. This isn’t a particularly pleasant job but it is a little easier than on the Eufy Mach V1 because it’s less fiddly.

After the dirty tank has been emptied and the unit is back on its stand, you can press the power button to start the Self-Clean Cycle. This uses some of the water and detergent mix to freshen the roller and clean the system.

When that’s finished, you can remove the cover and the roller from the floor head, and store them in the two cages at the back of the stand. This isn’t mentioned in the manual, but is a genius hidden feature, as it accelerates the drying-out process.

Shark HydroVac WD210UK review: How well does it clean?

The Shark HydroVac Cordless Hard Floor Cleaner WD210UK doesn’t make any claims to completely replace your vacuum cleaner, but it does claim to be able to operate on short pile rugs as well as hard flooring. It’s pictured on the website sucking up Cheerios (and milk), and the FAQ claims it can handle pet hair. So I tested its vacuuming ability with both these substances.

Dry Cheerios weren’t a great success as on both carpet and hard floor – the Cheerios ended up getting clogged behind the roller. The same thing happened with pet hair, with wet clumps catching behind the roller. When vacuuming dry, Shark’s vacuum cleaners make short work of this kind of stuff, so you really can’t expect this to replace your vacuum cleaner – it’s very much a secondary device solely for mopping.

To test this floor mopping ability I performed our three standard tests – a muddy footprint, a small spillage of blackcurrant cordial and a squirt of tomato ketchup. All are left to dry to make things a bit harder.

The HydroVac cut through mud instantly, with a single pass being enough to lift this basic dirt from my hard floor. Blackcurrant cordial was slightly tougher but not much. The bulk of the stain was lifted in the first pass but the concentrated dry edges stayed until I had moved the Shark over the stain three times. This is identical performance to the Eufy Clean Mach V1 Ultra. Not bad for a device that’s less than half the price.

Dry ketchup is the arch enemy of the hard floor cleaner. This took the Shark 29 passes to clean up, but it got there in the end. The Eufy took slightly fewer passes, but after twenty in its standard mode I engaged the steam cleaner. This adds a bit of extra heating power, making it better for stubborn stains than the Shark.

Shark HydroVac WD210UK review: Should I buy it?

If you’re looking for a device that’s like a vacuum cleaner but that replaces your mop and bucket, the HydroVac WD210UK is a decent choice.

The Eufy Clean Mach V1 Ultra is a more effective cleaner and comes with a steam cleaning option, but that’s £749 – more than double the price.

For an even more affordable option, however, look out for the Vax ONEPWR Glide 2 (£249). This offers a similar cleaning system for hard floor but the battery needs to be removed and placed in a charging block to recharge it, making it less convenient.

And, if you’re not too fussed about going cordless, Shark has an almost identical mains-powered model – the Shark HydroVac WD110UK – which comes without a battery, but has a 7.6m cord that gives you plenty of reach.