The Best Shark Robot Vacuum
Shark's robot vacuum checks most of the boxes that you'd expect from a machine of this price range. It provides reliable cleaning performance and an easy-to use mobile application. It also creates precise home maps.
It also provides Matrix Clean navigation, a system that makes two passes that go back and forth, before moving side to side for complete coverage. And its base is bagless, unlike many other robot vacuums.
1. Roborock S4
This is a fantastic robot vacuum for flooring that is not in use that has a large dirt container that can pick up debris. The app lets you control cleaning and docking. Its intelligent pathing is highly efficient. The app also gives you a convenient cleaning overview including a map of where the S4 has been cleaned, the cleaning duration, and battery life.
Its maximum suction of 2,000Pa is high enough to lift an AA battery off the floor. It also rivals the suction of larger vacuums. The S4's side brush and combo brush are located closer to the front of the machine than other Roborock models. This may be to prevent the possibility of clogging.
The S4's advanced mapping system can map a house up to four levels deep. It will also remember the areas that it has already vacuumed. This makes it simple to design a cleaning schedule, without having to manually move robots between rooms. You can even mark off zones that are not allowed to enter, which will stop the S4 from entering these areas during a cleaning session.
It was able to clean an entire floor of our house with ease, and was very efficient on bare floors. It had a difficult to remove dog hair. This is a common problem with robotic vacuums. Only 8.5% was captured in the dustbin. The rest was clumped around the brushes and the suction inlet.
In comparison to other Shark vacuums in the market, in comparison to other Shark vacuums, the S4 is noticeably more compact and lighter, which improves maneuverability. It can turn more quickly and avoid obstacles that bog down other robots. Additionally, its low-profile design makes it easier to get under furniture. It also has improved climbability to traverse flooring transitions and various levels of flooring. It can even reach the lowest point of the stairs and is an excellent choice for homes with multiple levels. The app lets you set a timer and includes the ability to control your vacuum manually. It can also return to its charging base to recharge between cleaning cycles. It has a large 5200 mAh battery that is expected to last for 150 minutes or 2691 square feet of space between charges in normal mode.
2. Shark Easy Robot Self-Emptying
This Shark robot vacuum is an excellent choice for pet owners searching for a device that is easy to use and smart. The self-emptying bagless base of this model is a great feature, especially when compared to other vacuums that use disposable dirtbags for their bases. Simply detach the bin and then empty it into a trash can; this may be messy, but it also saves you money on new bags.
The bin itself is quite large, which means that the EZ Robot is capable of handling a good amount of debris. It's also a great performer on clean floors, but it struggles with dirt that has been embedded on carpets with a low pile. It also has decent navigation capabilities and a compact dock footprint.
The EZ Robot may not be as effective as the Roborock S4, but it is still a great choice for those who are looking for a robot that will perform well and is reasonably priced. It's well-built and comes with a variety of automation features. It also boasts outstanding cleaning capabilities, both on bare floors as well as carpets with a lot of pile. Its maintenance requirements are very high, and its recurring costs are high.
The Shark robot comes with a unique feature: it will instantly resume the same place it left off when it returns to the docking station. This is an extremely useful feature particularly if you own a large home.
The IQ XL also comes with many other useful features. These include the ability to schedule your entire home cleaning remotely and review cleaning reports via the SharkClean App. You can also use voice commands through Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant to begin and stop cleaning sessions. Its row-by-row cleaning mode is a major benefit, too - it will clean your entire home in neat rows instead of a back-and-forth snake pattern like many other robots.
The IQ XL has a major disadvantage that is that it can't climb over obstacles like power cords. It may think they are solid barriers and therefore not try to climb over them. It's also not as quick or effective at navigating rooms that are stuffed with pet hair, which can make its brushes tangled and slow it down.
3. Shark AI Robot
This is a great robotic vacuum from Shark, offering a good combination of features. It comes with a self-emptying base that holds up to 30 days of debris and it combines the capabilities of a robot vacuum and a mop. It also comes with a precise matrix grid cleaning mode and advanced home integration with support for Alexa and Google Assistant. It is possible to schedule it to clean, turn on it at any time or create virtual boundaries to stop the robot from entering rooms with rug or other items that are fragile.
The Shark AI Robot does a good job cleaning bare floors. It is able to remove debris effortlessly, like rice. However it has a tough time clearing larger bulky debris from low-pile carpet and is not capable of moving around furniture. It is in a do not disturb feature which allows you to use it at home without interrupting your daily routine.
It also makes use of LiDAR to identify your home. This lets it locate and navigate around obstructions more precisely than units that rely on gyroscopes alone or an infrared sensors. This makes it less likely to collide with fragile objects and optimize dirt pickup on different surfaces. The LiDAR system also works faster than gyroscopes. This can cause the robot to slow down and lose control when it comes into contact with uneven surfaces.
Other features include the remote control, automated mopping, and a variety of vacuum modes. It is able to recharge and charge itself while it is working. Its biggest flaw is that it only maps out one floor. If you have two floors, it's required to be manually carried to those areas and then programed to get more info repeat.
It can also be loud, particularly when in mopping mode. It also has many components which need to be cleaned or changed frequently, which adds to its recurring cost. Fortunately, the base self-empty feature reduces certain expenses, and is compatible with bagless filters, which lowers its annual costs.
4. Shark ION Robot RV700 series
The Shark ION Robot RV700 Series fulfills all the requirements you would expect from a mid-range robotic vacuum, including solid cleaning performance and a superb mobile app that can create accurate home maps. The bagless base removes the need for new dust bags each year. In our cleaning performance test it was able to remove 97.8 percent of the debris from hardwood floors and low-pile carpeting however it was not as effective on carpets with high piles. Its maneuverability makes it easy to navigate through furniture and even climb onto high-pile flooring. It can also easily go over objects such as rug fringes and electrical cords without getting stuck.
The bristles with high-tensile in a helix pattern are durable enough to manage and untangle long hair, string and other fibers. The brushroll also has an adjustable side that can be used if it encounters an obstacle. Its thin design lets it glide over furniture and proximity sensors monitor and adjust to obstacles. The app allows you to schedule cleaning times or trigger the machine using one button press. It has a moderate sound level, but can be slowed down using the do-not disturb mode or a custom scheduling.
The RV700 is a bit more manual than the Roborock S4 and iRobot Roomba J7+ that is to be expected from a self-emptying model. It is better-built and easier to maintain, and charges faster and clears more debris on the floors, including carpets with high pile. Its navigation system can create virtual boundaries and detect obstacles, making it the best choice for "set it and forget it" robotic cleaners.
The RV700 Series does not have a cliff-sensor to stop it from falling down the stairs. This could be a problem those who live in taller houses. Additionally, it can't mop and vacuum simultaneously and requires you to switch between two modes in its application. However the RV700 Series is a less expensive alternative to the more advanced Roborock and iRobot models that have self-emptying and cliff detection capabilities. The most attractive feature is that it can be emptied and recharged while docked at its base, which makes it an ideal option for those who don't want to deal with the hassle of emptying the onboard dustbin after every use.