Hoover HF4 Hydro Cordless Vacuum Cleaner review: handy mop and vac combo

Lots of homes, including my own, have a variety of floor coverings ranging from carpets through to laminated wood and tiles. The new Hoover HF4 Hydro Cordless Vacuum Cleaner is designed with that scenario in mind. It features regular cordless vacuuming functionality, which is supplemented by a mopping head that can gently clean hard surfaces using water from a small on-board tank.

I hadn’t thought about getting a hard floor cleaner prior to fitting laminate to the entire downstairs area of my house. Now though, I think I’d find it hard to do without one, which is why I spent a decent amount of time picking through the best hard floor cleaner guide prior to buying one. The new Hoover HF4 Hydro Cordless Vacuum Cleaner offers a neat twist in that I can vacuum with it and then also delicately wash down my wood flooring using its mopping attachment.

If you’re more concerned about just vacuum cleaning rather than tackling hard floor mopping, the best cordless vacuum cleaner guide or the best Dyson cordless vacuum cleaners guide are good places to explore. There’s also the best robot vacuum guide for good measure too.

Hoover HF4 Hydro Cordless Vacuum Cleaner review: Price and availability

The Hoover Cordless Vacuum Cleaner with Anti Hair Wrap, Black - HF4 Hydro, to give the appliance its full product description is available directly from Hoover as well as other online outlets including Amazon. It’s available now and has a RRP of £299, although has already been discounted down to £229. This model comes with the Hydro Mop accessories.

However, there’s a Hoover Cordless Vacuum Cleaner With Anti Hair Wrap, Blue - HF4 Hydro Pet edition, which comes with a RRP of £319 and currently discounted down to £239 from Hoover, which is aimed more at folks with pet hair to deal with.

Hoover HF4 Hydro Cordless Vacuum Cleaner review: Is it any good?

Alongside having the benefit of mopping capability, the Hoover HF4 Hydro Cordless Vacuum Cleaner packs in a solid specification. There’s no power cord either, which means the freedom to roam and it’s also lightweight at just 2.6kg with the battery on-board. I do like the compact design of this vacuum too, with dimensions of just 111cm high by 26cm wide by 17cm deep meaning it’s easy to store away after use.

Running the Hoover HF4 Hydro Cordless in Eco mode will deliver an uptime of around 60 minutes, although during standard operation that drops to 30 minutes. The charging time is just 3.5 hours though, so the Hoover HF4 Hydro Cordless can be back in business after an overnight 'rejuice'. That said, there’s a Turbo mode, which gets through a full battery in just 15 minutes.

There’s everything needed inside the box, from the vacuum itself through to the combination of two cleaning heads. The Hydro floorhead assembly features a removable but quite small water tank, which can be topped up easily enough when hard floor cleaning is taking place. There are also two sets of mops, both of which are machine washable.

As you’d expect, there’s a removable battery pack, charging adapter plus a smattering of tools, including a crevice and 2-in1 tool for tackling tight spots. A wall mount and manual complete the package.

Hoover HF4 Hydro Cordless Vacuum Cleaner review: Performance

Curiously, I couldn’t find any information in relation to the motor capabilities of the Hoover HF4 Hydro Cordless Vacuum Cleaner. So, in a decidedly non-scientific way I can say that it performs as expected and feels no better or worse than other cordless stick appliances I’ve tried. The three power modes, Eco, Standard and Turbo do what their names suggest and while the latter is potent, I did find it sapped battery life as per Hoover’s runtime estimates.

Eco mode feels a little bit lacklustre too, so unsurprisingly I tried the Hoover HF4 Hydro Cordless Vacuum Cleaner on its Standard setting for most of the time. On that front, it’s a perfectly competent machine, feeling nicely balanced to hold and low on overall weight. The supplied cleaning head and accessories work well too. There are anti-tangle rollers, which did a good job of handling the balls of hair and fluff frequently encountered on my hard floor areas.

Moving to the mopping head side of things and the Hoover HF4 Hydro Cordless Vacuum Cleaner is an even more pleasant surprise. Getting ready for mopping duties is simple and straightforward. I unclipped the standard head and slotted in the mopping one, clicking it into place. There’s a small water tank contained on the top of the head, which can be filled by either unclipping it and running under a tap or leaving it in situ and filling it with a jug.

Mopping commences once the appliance is powered up and there’s a handy foot button on the top of the head, which controls the amount of water being dispensed through the three mop heads. This is colour coded so it’s easy to control, which is always a bonus for someone like me who has moisture sensitive wood flooring. 

I found the design of the mopping head to be excellent as it has a triangular one at the front that gets right into corners. Meanwhile, the rotating pair of rollers immediately behind do a great job of loosening and lifting dirt without being too aggressive while they do it.

Naturally, these mops will deteriorate after time, so they can be machine washed, and Hoover has also supplied a spare set inside the box too. Overall, the mopping head was impressive and although the water tank isn’t very big, it’s fine for coping with the job in hand.

Hoover HF4 Hydro Cordless Vacuum Cleaner review: Verdict

The Hoover HF4 Hydro Cordless Vacuum Cleaner is a great appliance, which is perfect if, like me, you’ve got a variety of floor surfaces to deal with. It’s compact and light, but there’s also enough runtime to get the job done in one go, just as long as it’s not being run at full tilt. There are other variations on this theme out there, but Hoover’s innovative mopping head puts it out in front for me.

Hoover HF4 Hydro Cordless Vacuum Cleaner review: Alternatives to consider

There’s lots of choice if a hard floor cleaner is all that’s required, with the likes of the Eufy MACH V1 Ultra, the Bissell Crosswave Cordless Max or the Vax ONEPWR Glide all fitting the bill. One of the most expensive mop and vac machines is currently the Dyson V15s Detect Submarine, but that's pretty good too. However, anyone wanting a cordless vacuum would do well to have a look at the likes of Hoover’s H-Upright 300 Pets model and the recent Hoover HF9 Cordless Vacuum.

Non-Hoover fans might prefer the Tower VL100 Optimum Cordless 3-in-1 vacuum cleaner or the Dyson V15 Detect Absolute. Meanwhile, the Gtech AirRAM Platinum, which is another very decent stick solution. Another big brand name model is the Shark Anti Hair Wrap IZ202UK, which features excellent Anti Hair Wrap tech. This uses a series of prongs to prevent long hair and threads from wrapping around the cleaning roller.