The Best Shark Robot Vacuum
Shark's robot-vac checks all of the boxes you'd expect from a midrange machine. It offers a reliable cleaning capability and an easy to use mobile app. It also creates precise home maps.
It also offers 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 an excellent robot vacuum designed for floors with no floor that collects debris and has a huge dirt compartment. The app lets you manage cleaning and docking. Its smart pathing feature is very effective. The app also provides an easy overview of your cleaning needs, which includes a map of where the S4 has been cleaned, 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 those of full-sized vacuums. The side brush and combo brush are located closer to the front of the machine than other Roborock models. This may be to reduce the chance of clogging.
The S4's advanced mapping system can map a home up to four levels deep. It will also keep track of the areas it has already cleaned. This makes it easy to design a cleaning schedule without the need to manually move robots around rooms. You can designate certain areas as "no-go zones" to stop the S4 from cleaning these areas.
It was able clean all floors of our house with ease, and was very efficient on floors that were not. It had a difficult cleaning up dog hair. This is a typical issue with robotic vacuums. It only 8.5 percent was gathered in the dustbin. The rest was clumped around the brushes and the suction inlet.
Compared to other Shark vacuums, the S4 is noticeably smaller and lighter, which increases maneuverability. It can make tighter turns and avoid obstacles that bog down other robots. Its low profile design makes it easier to fit under furniture. It also has improved climbing capabilities to traverse flooring transitions and various heights of flooring. It can easily reach the bottom of stairs and is a great option for homes with a lot of floors. The app allows you to set a schedule, and comes with an automatic vacuum control. It is also able to return to its charging station to recharge automatically between cleaning cycles. It is equipped with a 5200 mAh battery that is expected to last for 150 minutes or 2691 square feet between charges in standard mode.
2. Shark EZ Robot Self-Emptying
This Shark robot vacuum is an excellent option for pet owners who need an easy-to-use, smart machine. The self-emptying bagless base is a major plus particularly when compared to competitors that use disposable dirt bags for their bases. You can empty the bin in a trashcan by simply removing it. It can be messy, but you save money on bags to replace.
The bin itself is quite large, which means that the EZ Robot is capable of taking care of a lot of debris. It's also a great performer on floors that are clean, although it does struggle somewhat with dirt that has been embedded on low-pile carpet. 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 option for those looking for a robot that can perform well and is reasonably priced. It's well-built, has many automation options, and offers outstanding cleaning performance on carpet and floors with high pile. Its maintenance requirements are very high and the recurring expenses are very high.
Another great feature of this Shark robot is its capability to recharge and then resume where it left off when it returns to its docking station following a full cleaning session. This is a great feature, especially if you have a large home.
The IQ XL is also equipped with a range of useful features, like the ability to remotely schedule whole-home cleans and review cleaning reports via the SharkClean app. You can also use voice commands via Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant to begin, stop, and resume cleaning sessions. The row-by-row feature is a major plus. It makes your home clean in neat rows, not an in-between snake pattern like other robots do.
The IQ XL's biggest drawback is its inability to get over obstacles like power cords, which it might detect as solid barriers to avoid climbing over. It's also less effective or efficient in navigating space if it's stuffed with pet hair. This can cause tangles on the brushes and slow it.
3. Shark AI Robot
This is a reliable robotic vacuum from Shark that offers a solid combination of features. It comes with a self-emptying base that can store up to 30 days of debris. It combine the cleaning power of both an automatic vacuum and a mop. It offers a matrix grid cleaning mode, and has advanced smart home integration that works with Alexa and Google Assistant. You can set it up to clean on a schedule, activate on demand, or set virtual boundaries to keep it from entering rooms that contain rugs or fragile items.
The Shark AI Robot does a great job cleaning floors with no carpet. It is able to remove debris effortlessly, like rice. However it has a tough cleaning larger bulky debris off carpets in low pile and does a poor job of maneuvering around large furniture. It is in a"do not disturb" mode which allows you to use it at home without it interrupting your daily routine.
Another benefit is that it makes use of LiDAR technology to map out your home, allowing it to detect and navigate obstacles more precisely than devices that rely on gyroscopes or infrared sensors. This allows it to avoid collisions with fragile objects and optimize dirt pickup on various surfaces. The LiDAR system also operates faster than gyroscopes, which can cause the robot to slow down and lose control when it encounters uneven surfaces.
It has a fair number of other options, including the ability to control mopping with a remote, an automatic system, and multiple vacuum modes. It is able to recharge and charge while working. The biggest issue is that it only maps only one floor. If you have two floors, it's required to be manually transported to those areas and then programed to repeat.
It can also be a bit loud especially when it is in mopping mode. It also has many parts which need to be cleaned or replaced regularly, which increases the cost of maintenance. Fortunately, the self-empty feature cuts down on the costs associated with these items and is compatible with bagless filters, which further lowers its annual costs.
4. Shark ION Robot RV700 Series
The Shark ION Robot RV700 Series is a complete package that meets all the criteria you would expect from a mid-range robot vacuum, offering reliable cleaning performance and a superb mobile app that produces accurate home maps. It also comes with a bagless basis that means no annual purchase of replacement dust bags. In our test of cleaning it was able to eliminate 97.8 percent of the debris from hardwood and low-pile flooring, but it was not as efficient with high-pile carpeting. Its maneuverability makes it simple to maneuver between furniture and onto flooring with high pile. It can also traverse over objects like electrical cords and rug fringes without getting stuck.
The bristles with a helix-pattern pattern are sturdy enough to manage and untangle long hair, string and other fibers, and its brushroll has an edge that retracts and can be used when it comes across obstacles. Its slim design permits it to glide under furniture and proximity sensors allow it to adapt and analyze the presence of obstacles. It can be set to begin cleaning with a click of a button or scheduled on a daily basis by using the app. It has a moderate sound level, however it can be slowed down using the do-not Best self empty robot vacuum disturb mode or the custom scheduling.
The RV700 is a bit more manual than the Roborock S4 or iRobot Roomba j7+. This is to be expected from an item that doesn't self-empty. However, it still feels better-built and easier to maintain, and charges faster and gets rid of more debris on both bare floors and high-pile carpeting. Its navigation system can create virtual boundaries and detect obstacles making it the ideal 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 vacuum and mop simultaneously and requires you to switch between the two modes in its application. The RV700 Series 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 empty and recharged while at its base, making it an ideal option for those who don't want to deal with the inconvenience of emptying the dustbin each time they use it.