The Best Shark Robot Vacuum
Shark's robo-vac ticks most of the boxes you'd expect from a midrange machine. It offers a reliable cleaning performance and an easy-to use mobile application. It also produces accurate home maps.
It also has Matrix Clean Navigation, a system that performs two passes in a row, before moving to the side for full coverage. Its base is unbagged, which is different from other robot vacuums.
1. Roborock S4
This is an excellent robot vacuum for flooring that is not in use that comes with a huge dirt container that can remove debris. The app lets you control cleaning and docking. Its intelligent pathing is extremely efficient. The app provides you with an overview of the cleaning process, with a map showing where the S4 was cleaned, the cleaning time and battery life.
Its maximum suction of 2,000Pa is high enough to lift an AA battery off the floor and rivals the suction of larger vacuums. With 19CFM the S4's side as well as combo brush is situated more to the front than in other Roborock models, which may be a way to cut down on clogging.
The S4's advanced mapping system can map a home up to four levels deep and keep track of the areas it has already cleaned. This makes it easy to create a cleaning schedule and not have to manually move robots around rooms. You can designate certain areas as "no-go zones" to stop the S4 from cleaning those areas.
It was able to clean the entire floor of our house easily, and was very efficient on bare floors. However, it struggled with picking up dog hair that is a typical problem for many robotic vacuums. Only 8.5% of the dog hair it picked up was collected in the dustbin and much of the rest was clumped around the suction intake and brushes.
Comparatively to other Shark vacuums In comparison to other Shark vacuums, the S4 is significantly smaller and lighter, which improves maneuverability. It can make tighter turns and avoid obstacles that bog down other robots, and its low profile design makes it easier to squeeze under furniture. It has improved climbing capabilities for navigating flooring transitions as well as different flooring levels. It can reach down to the bottom of the stairs and is a great choice for homes with multiple levels. The app allows you to set a timer, and comes with an automatic vacuum control. It can also return to its charging base to recharge between cleaning cycles. It is equipped with a 5200 mAh battery, which is designed to last for 150 minutes or 2691 square feet of space between charges in normal mode.
2. Shark EZ Robot Self-Empty
This Shark robot vacuum is a great choice for pet owners who need an easy-to-use, smart machine. The self-emptying bagless base is a huge convenience particularly when compared to competitors that use disposable dirt bags for their bases. You simply detach the bin and then empty it into the trash can. This may be messy, but it also saves you money on new bags.
The bin itself is also quite large, which means the EZ Robot is capable of handling a good amount of debris. It's also a good performer on clean floors, but it has some issues with dirt that has been embedded on carpets with low pile. It also has good navigation capabilities and a small dock footprint.
The EZ Robot may not be as efficient as Roborock S4, but it is still a great choice for those looking for a machine that can perform well and is priced reasonably. It's well-built and has various automation features. It also has an impressive cleaning capability on floors that are bare and carpets with a high pile. However its maintenance requirements are a challenge and it has high recurring costs.
Another fantastic feature of the Shark robot is its capability to recharge and resume automatically where it left off when it returns to its docking station after an entire cleaning session. This is a great option, especially in the case of a large home.
The IQ XL also comes with a variety of other useful features. This includes the ability to schedule entire-home cleanings remotely and review cleaning reports via the SharkClean App. You can also control the device using voice via Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant to start or stop cleaning sessions. The row-by -row mode is a major plus. It cleans your home in neat rows, rather than an in-between snake pattern, as other robots do.
The biggest drawback of the IQ XL is its inability to scale obstacles like power cords, which it may identify as solid barriers and avoid climbing over. It's not as fast or efficient in navigating the room when it's stuffed with pet hair, which can cause brushes to get caught and slow it down.
3. Shark AI Robot
This is a great robotic vacuum from Shark that offers a combination of features. It comes with a base that can hold up to 30 days of debris, and it also combines the cleaning power of an automated mop and a vacuum cleaner. It offers a matrix grid cleaning mode, and it features advanced smart home integration that works with Alexa and Google Assistant. You can program it to clean, turn on it on demand or create virtual boundaries to stop the robot from entering rooms that contain fragile items or rugs.
The Shark AI Robot does a good job cleaning bare floors. It can pick up dirt with ease, like rice. However, it has a hard time clearing larger bulky debris from low-pile carpet and does a poor job of maneuvering around large furniture. It does come with a do-not-disturb mode, which means you can program it to work when you're at home, and it won't disrupt your daily routine.
Another positive is that it uses LiDAR technology to map your home, allowing it to detect and navigate obstacles more precisely than those that rely on gyroscopes and sensors. This makes it less likely to collide with delicate objects and also optimize dirt pickup on various surfaces. The LiDAR system is also faster than gyroscopes that can cause the robots to slow down or lose control when they come across uneven surfaces.
It comes with a variety of other features, including a remote, automatic mopping and a variety of vacuum modes. It can charge and recharge itself while working. The main drawback is that it will only map out the floor of your home therefore if you have two stories, it will be necessary to manually move it to those areas on the first run and then program it to repeat.
Another issue is that it can be quite loud, particularly in mopping mode. It also has a lot of parts which need to be changed or cleaned regularly, which increases its cost per year. Fortunately, the self-empty feature helps cut down on certain expenses, and it's compatible with bagless filters, which reduces the annual cost.
4. Shark ION Robot RV700 Series
The Shark ION Robot RV700 Series ticks all the boxes you would expect from a mid-range robot vacuum, offering solid cleaning capabilities and a fantastic mobile app that can create accurate home maps. The bagless base removes the need for dust bags to replace every year. In our cleaning performance test, it was able to remove 97.8% of debris from carpeting with low pile and hardwood floors although it wasn't as effective on carpets with high piles. Its maneuverability is sturdy, and it can easily move through furniture, climb onto carpeting with high pile, and traverse objects such as electrical cords and rug tassels without getting stuck.
The bristles that are high-tensile and in the helix pattern are sturdy enough to untangle and manage long hair, string, and other fibers. The brushroll has an adjustable side which can be used in the event that it comes across an obstacle. Its thin design allows it to coast underneath furniture and proximity sensors detect and adapt to surrounding obstacles. The app lets you schedule cleaning times or trigger the machine with the press of a button. It is quiet at a moderate level, but can be slowed down using the do-not disturb mode or custom scheduling.
The RV700 is a little more manual than the Roborock S4 or iRobot Roomba J7+. This is to be anticipated from a model that does not self-empty. It is nevertheless more durable and simpler to maintain. It is faster in charging and removes more debris from high-pile and floors that are bare. Its navigation system is able to create virtual boundaries and recognize and avoid obstacles making it the ideal pick for "set it and forget it" robotic cleaners.
The RV700 Series doesn't have a the cliff sensor, which prevents it from falling down the stairs, which could be a problem for people living in taller homes. It's not able to mop and vacuum simultaneously and you'll need to change between modes in the app. The RV700 Series robot vacuum cleaner offers a cheaper alternative to more advanced Roborock and iRobot robots that have self-emptying features and cliff detection. Its most appealing feature is that it can be emptied and recharged while docked at its base, making it an ideal choice for those who do not want to go through the inconvenience of emptying the dustbin each time they use it.