Shark POWERDETECT Ultra-Light Corded Stick Vacuum

For most, yes. The HZ4002 is light and easy to steer and slips under furniture without much effort. A few find it heavy on the wrists, though, or hard to push on some carpets, so that's worth weighing if your home is mostly thick carpet. It stands upright on its own between rooms.

Usually. The 30-foot cord covers whole rooms, often a whole floor, from one outlet. The downside is the cord itself: it can be stiff and hard to wrap, so putting the HZ4002 away takes more fiddling than it should. Shark's own site confirms the 30-foot length.

Often. The small dust cup is the most common complaint, because the suction fills it quickly, and in pet homes it can mean stopping to empty it once or more per room. Emptying itself is easy, since the cup lifts out and dumps cleanly, but the stops add up on a big clean.

Mostly not. With shedding dogs, hair usually doesn't wrap the self-cleaning brushroll, which is what Shark designed it for. It isn't foolproof, though, and it can still catch hair the way other vacuums do, so check the roller now and then.

Yes, and it's the feature that gets singled out most. The HZ4002 cleans carpet, rugs, tile and wood well and changes brushroll speed on its own as the floor changes, while a direction sensor shifts suction as you push or pull. The headlights also help pick out dust on the floor.

You get a Pet Power Brush, an Upholstery Tool and a Crevice Tool, and they swap on and off quickly, with the upholstery tool doing a good job on furniture. There's no clip to hold the tools on the vacuum, though, so they need a home of their own.