Hoover H-Upright 300 Pets review: a budget-friendly vac for those with furry friends

At just shy of 5kg, the Hoover H-Upright 300 Pets is celebrated as Hoover’s lightest upright yet. Yes, it is corded, which feels a bit retro in this cordless age, but with mains power in play, this compact Upright packs plenty of punch. And you’ll never face the frustrations of the battery dying before cleaning is complete. 

After happily switching my allegiances to cordless a couple of years ago, I was surprised by how well I got on with this corded vacuum, boring cable tidying notwithstanding. I tested the Hoover H-Upright 300 Pets for four weeks on all manner of floor types – namely porcelain tile, hardwood, terracotta, carpet and several rugs. 

Read on to find out how we got on, then take a look at our best vacuum cleaner guide to find out what other models we recommend.

Product spec:

• Model no: HU300UPT
• Bin capacity: 1.5L
• Hose length: 2m
• Cleaning reach: 10.6m
• Motor power: 850W
• Weight: 4.94kg
• Dimensions: H114.7cm x W30cm x D32cm
• Colour options: Red or Blue

Who will it suit?

This great vacuum for pet hair will suit those with heavily carpeted homes – and their four-legged pals!

Delivery, unboxing and set up

Delivery by DPD was simple and straightforward (and ‘free Next Working Day’ if you order by 3pm), with advance notification from the courier and the option to choose a ‘safe place’, which is always handy if you’re not home to sign.  

Upon receiving and opening the box, which is reassuringly light and compact, I was pleased to see low levels of non-recyclable packaging and, even better, precious few parts to assemble. In just four steps, which essentially involved fitting the handle and attachments, the Hoover H-Upright 300 Pets was ready to plug in and go. 

At first glance, it’s a good-looking vacuum (I tested the blue version, but you can also get it in a very smart red). It is not as solidly made as a Miele or Henry perhaps, but the Hoover H-Upright 300 Pets certainly doesn’t feel or look cheap, either. I hadn’t clocked the price at this point, so when I discovered the RRP is £199 (currently on offer at £126 from Hoover Direct), I was genuinely and pleasantly surprised. 

Performance

It is quite hard to quantify suction power for any vacuum cleaner. The 850W motor stat supplied by Hoover for this model is pretty meaningless to most people and only tells you the available power, not the actual power with which this vacuum pulls debris through the air (for that you need the Air Watts stat, but you’ll probably still be none the wiser). 

So instead of stats, I’m going to tell you the story of how my first test run with the H-Upright 300 Pets went down. With three dogs and two children (one with asthma) in residence, I run a reasonably tight ship on the vacuuming front. Or rather my Robot vacuum does. It is set to do the entire ground floor every morning, and I also have a cordless Miele (feel free to read my Miele Triflex HX1 Pro cordless vacuum review to compare), which I use most days to capture any bits the Robot has not or cannot reach. Upstairs (and the staircase) is done once or twice a week, again with the Miele cordless.  

On the day the H-Upright 300 Pets arrived, the Robot had just completed his morning run, and the upstairs had been tackled the day before. With no battery life to consider, I decided to do the entire house in one go, including cobweb level, which took just over an hour. Sure, I could ‘feel’ the vacuum had plenty of suction throughout, not least because I had to switch the slider from hard floor to carpet a few times to prevent some of our thicker rugs from buckling under the power. 

However, the real proof of the H-Upright 300 Pets’ abilities came at bin emptying time. The bin, which has a decent 1.5L capacity, was full. Just past the ‘max fill’ line in fact and, frankly, my other vacuums should have been ashamed of themselves! I was actually quite horrified by how much dirt the H-Upright 300 Pets had lifted, given how recently the house had been vacuumed. The dogs aren’t allowed upstairs (and they mainly comply with this ruling!) so either we are extremely mucky people, or the H-Upright 300 Pets is an exceptional cleaner. I’m choosing to believe the latter.

As well as collecting an astonishing amount of dirt from what I thought was a reasonably clean house, I also rated the H-Upright 300 Pets vacuum for its easy manoeuvrability. The floorhead swivels smoothly around getting right into corners, and because it’s light (compared to standard Uprights that average around 7-8kg), the back-and-forth cleaning action feels effortless. 

I love that the nozzles and pet tool are all firmly fixed aboard, so they’re ready to use. The 3-in-1 nozzle is a nifty little space-saver that essentially shifts from crevice to brush to furniture nozzle by sliding the parts about. I also found the H-Upright 300 Pets really easy to carry up our unusually narrow, steep staircase (which would never pass modern building regs), too. Plus, the slider that adjusts power on the floorhead can be operated by your foot so it’s no problem to reduce the suction on thick pile carpets, for example. 

Before you rush out to buy one, vacuuming with the H-Upright 300 Pets isn’t all plain sailing. I noticed a few niggles that continued to bug me during the subsequent weeks of testing. My main annoyance was having to get right down to floor level to disconnect the hose that is then used to attach the crevice tools. If you want to use the handle to extend the length of the crevice tools, it’s a four-step process to get all the pipes disconnected and reconnected. This is especially tedious if you switch between the floor brush and tools with frequency – for example, when doing cobwebs and skirting boards in each room.

My next beef is about the brushbar button, which switches the power brush on in the floorhead (the brushbar should be on for carpets and off for hard floors). To activate the brush, there is a button with a rug symbol on it next to the main power switch, but it was possibly faulty because sometimes it would get the brush spinning but other times it failed completely, or would only spin if I kept the button held down. As we have a mix of hard and carpeted floors throughout, this caused quite a headache and I was inclined to just leave the brush spinning at all times. 

And finally, one more gripe, regarding the cord. This isn’t specific to the H-Upright 300 Pets but it’s worth considering before you pop one in your shopping cart. Like most upright vacuums, the cord on this model is stored away by looping repeatedly through two hooks. With 8.1m of cord to unwind and wind up every time I vacuumed, I soon remembered why I converted to cordless long ago. 

Cleaning, maintenance and storage

Ease of emptying any vacuum’s waste bin can be a real deal breaker. I’ve tested vacuums that cost four times the price of this one that made me lose a fingernail every time I tried to open the bin, and weep when it came to putting the bin back together again. Happily, Hoover has clearly put a lot of thought into the bin and filter access on the H-Upright 300 Pets, because they are intuitive to use and won’t ruin your manicure in the process. 

There are two filters – pre-motor and exhaust – that need cleaning around once a month to maintain good suction, presumably depending on usage. They are both easy to access, with ‘twist here’ type arrows marked on the vacuum, so you don’t need to consult the manual every time. As both filters need to be left to dry for 24 hours before they can be reinstalled, it would be nice to get a spare set so you’re never caught short.  

Storing the H-Upright 300 Pets is also a breeze, once you’ve died of old age wrapping the cord away that is! The attachments fit neatly on board and the whole thing will easily tuck inside a 30cm-deep utility cupboard alongside your mop and broom. Or in our case, behind the dining room door. 

How does it rate online?

Looking at buyer reviews online, there are two main take-homes in the ‘pro’ camp – ‘lightweight’ and ‘easy to use’ are the most popular responses, with an impressive number of reviewers who couldn't think of anything at all to put in the ‘con’ section. 

A fair few owners call for a longer cord, and also a longer nozzle attachment. I had no issue with the cord length but then again my house has recently been rewired and the electrician went totally OTT on power sockets. I do agree that a longer crevice nozzle for getting into the corners of ceilings would be helpful on the cobweb front. Our ceilings are only 2.4m high and I had to really stretch the extending hose to reach the cornicing, so anyone with a Georgian property or barn conversion could seriously struggle.  

How does it compare with other vacuum cleaners?

Assuming you’re seeking an upright vacuum designed to deal with pet hair, the two main competitors worth checking out would be the Dyson Ball Animal and the Shark XL Upright Pet. Both are a little pricier than the Hoover H-Upright 300, but they are also heavier and bigger overall. 

One area where Hoover lets itself down is on any form of anti-hair wrapping features, which both the Dyson and Shark include. However, in my experience (with two long-haired daughters who appear to moult year-round) there is nothing that actually stops the hair wrapping tight. Removing the floorhead brush on the Hoover H-Upright 300 to clear it of hair is quite fiddly though – with three plastic screws that need a coin to turn, rather than the nice easy clips I have on my robot. 

Should I buy the Hoover H-Upright 300 Pets?

The Hoover H-Upright 300 is a popular low-budget option for pet owners and anyone who struggles with heavy cordless vacuums but doesn’t want the battery life restrictions of going cordless. I’d argue that this main’s powered model is likely to offer better and more consistent suction compared to most low-to-mid range cordless options, too. 

I found the H-Upright 300’s cleaning abilities really excellent on carpets. The suction is powerful, and the brushes work deep into short pile carpets to artfully release pet hairs. It performed exceptionally well on my flour test, removing the fine powder in seconds. The handheld pet hair tool, which has a very speedy brush inside, is brilliant on upholstery, too. Not that I would ever condone letting my dogs jump up on the sofas of course…

On hard floors there was a bit of pushing larger debris about rather than sucking them up, often requiring a slight lift of the floorhead to get the offending items closer to the brushes – think Hungry Hippo style manoeuvre. This is a common complaint with Upright vacuums though and not specific to the Hoover H-Upright 300.

Although no vacuum should be bought on a whim, the Hoover H-Upright 300 isn’t going to break the bank, so it's definitely worth a punt, and you could do a whole lot worse for your money. However, at the end of the day, it is corded and that’s the price you’ll pay for saving those pennies. 

About this review – and our reviewer

Linda Clayton is a professionally trained journalist who has specialised in home tech, interior design and fitness for more than two decades. She’s a fastidious product reviewer, design obsessive, serial renovator, and amateur runner. 

She was sent the Hoover H-Upright 300 to test in her Devon home, to find out how well it performs across various floor types and how well it copes with busy family life, and her three super-fluffy, world-class-moulting dogs. 

We are not given any compensation for our reviews, but we may be gifted the product meaning that we can test it over a greater length of time, and update our reviews if required. We also receive affiliate commission for some products bought through our site.