‘I found it to be light to carry around and super handy, as well as space-saving’
As a pet owner, I was on the lookout for something to freshen up my furniture and carpet. Having recently been a convert to a cordless vacuum, I was mindful of looking for a spot and carpet cleaner that ticked that box too, but that actually worked.
Having previously owned an older Shark spot cleaner, I wanted something that wasn’t as fiddly to use, without the many water compartments to switch, fill up, and clean. I stumbled across the Shark StainForce Cordless Stain-Destroying Spot Cleaner.
After seeing how impressed some social media users were with it, I splashed £169.99 on it with my own, earned money, but it’s now cut to £70.99 in the Currys sale. In one clean, the carpet in my hallway and sofa cushion (that had been muddied by a pet paw) came up much fresher.
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Setting the Shark StainForce up was relatively easy. I struggled a bit at attaching two main parts of it, only because I didn’t want to press too hard and break something, but with a gentle push, it clicked into place.
It comes with a handy charging disc and cord, which felt very high-tech, like I was charging a tech gadget not a household cleaner. Using it to clean is really easy – you spray the solution, then scrub the area with the head to loosen the stain and then use the StainForce to suction it up.
Shark StainForce
The Shark StainForce helps tackle stains from mud, pets, and spills.
- Easy and light to carry around
- When used shortly after a stain or mark, it did the job
- It stores easily
- Fiddly to take apart
- Tackling long-term deep stains on thicker fabrics is trickier
The brush got a bit clogged up, more than I thought it would, which I’d say was one of my negatives. I also think as the areas I cleaned were newer marks/stains, I’m not sure it’d clean an older stain deeply enough to completely remove it.
I also only tried it on wet stains so I still need to give it a go on a dry stain. It comes with two cleaning heads and I only used the larger one. The caddy is really space-saving, which I love and easy to carry around. It has a self-cleaning setting too which can be used to clean the StainForce.
Some of the other products I had considered, if shoppers wanted to do their own looking around, included the Karcher SE 2 Spot Care Carpet Cleaner from Argos, which is priced at £100. It’s corded though, with a 6.3-metre reach and a 0.8-litre dirty water tank capacity. It comes with an upholstery nozzle, spot brush and cleaning solution.
Otherwise, I had scoured the VAX website too and they have plenty of options. The VAX SpotWash Max Pet-Design – is currently massively reduced to £149.99, down from £229.99. Its array of cleaning tools is impressive – shoppers will get a Messy Clean Up Tool, a Crevice Tool and the Wide Path Tool, so there’s plenty of versatility. It also comes with three 750ml bottles of cleaning solutions.
On the Shark website, there are a lot of reviews too, just over 100 so far about the StainForce, and while some common themes that chime with my own experience come up – ease to use, light to carry around etc. – there are some other findings too.
Like one five-star reviewer who agreed it wasn’t too noisy as they said: “Some people have commented that it is noisy, but this is negligible as you only use it for a minute or two and so this is a moot point. It is easy to empty and clean. I have recommended it to friends and family.”
Another also pointed out: “The only negative thing I could say is that the solutions are only available from Shark but I think they’ll work out cost-effective.” But in summary, I can’t recommend the Shark StainForce highly enough, it’s a compact cleaner with clout.
