Shiny Review: Airider Hovering Vacuum Cleaner

So first up I should point out that I hate doing the hoovering vacuuming, which is why I worship at the altar of robotic Roombie. But however much I may love the little robot, the fact is it can't do the corners, struggles with the edges, and requires the floor to be totally clear of valuables beforehand. Since my ancient, knackered old Dyson cylinder couldn't pick up syphilis in a Victorian brothel, another cleaner was in order. Step forward the Airider, ready and eager to fill the role with its perky, floating hovercraft-type technology.

This is a good-looking little vacuum cleaner, with smart blue styling, but it's only when you switch the power on and watch the cleaner rising regally from the floor that you feel truly impressed. It glides about the place at the slightest tug, making it far less of a hassle to move from one corner of the room to the next. It's without doubt a far easier way to move a vacuum cleaner about than the usual wheeled method.

One of the things the Roomba excels at that always eluded previous cleaners is its ability to pick up my cat's hair. He's a weird breed, with cottonwool fuzz that hides in the carpet undetected, and the airider impressed me by sucking up a fair bit of the fluff straight away. Unfortunately, this meant that the filter soon became covered in the stuff, obliging me to cut my cleaning short to clear the airways.

Emptying out the dust and debris is done by unclipping the body and sliding open an escape hatch to dump the clutter binward. It's not the easiest of procedures, and you have to shake the body a fair bit to get all the dregs out, but it's not messy like the Roomba can be, and far less dusty that my old bagless Dyson. I found it quite tricky to clear the fur off the back of the filter, and there appears to be no easy way to get at it - something I'd hope the manufacturer will address in future versions.

I have a fine head of thick dark hair that falls out in great clumps leaving the flat looking like Cousin Itt's place. The Dyson ignored any attempts to coax it into collecting the stuff and the Roomba simply wound it round its big brush, obliging me to hack the stuff every so often (oh, the fun we have round my house!). At least it picked it up, however, and I'd give the Airider full marks for effort on this front as well. It didn't manage to pick up all my moulted mane using the usual wheeled head attachment, but the smaller brush attachment managed to clear the way without any fuss. Everything else - dust, dirt, grot and the small bits of paper that mysteriously scatter themselves about my apartment - went up the suction pipe without any troubles.

In my experience, cylinders never perform as well as uprights, but for a reasonably priced cylinder, this did a very nice job of making my flat look presentable in record time. There are still a few issues that need ironing out, such as the dust hatch and the big head attachment's ambivalent attitude to long hair collection, but the hovering movement is absolutely great, and left me far less sweaty and foul-tempered than I usually am after doing the cleaning.

The Airider costs £230, will be in stores today, and has a site dedicated to it here.