Robot vacuums are ideal for people who want a truly hands-free cleaning experience, and this Shark model is a great pick. It acts as both a vacuum and a mop, picking up debris and leaving floors shiny, and it comes with a helpful app that you can use to set up cleaning schedules, activate different modes, and more. Notably, this vacuum is quieter than many others, and the dust cap is fairly large, so you won’t need to refill it often. On the downside, the hair it picks up sometimes gets stuck in the filter and needs to be removed by hand; you also have to rinse the filter every few months or else it’ll lose suction power.
It’s lightweight and easy to maneuver and the only hiccup we found is that it doesn’t stand up on its own unless you put it into its wall-mounted caddy. They now offer multiple power levels, more powerful and longer-lasting batteries and innovative attachments that may just put your full-size vacuum out of business. As a fan of Shark vacuum cleaners (especially their stick vacuums), I was really looking forward to trying the cordless Shark Hydrovac Pro XL. Overall, it’s shark cordless a nice, lightweight floor cleaner and it’s really easy to use; I was able to start cleaning without consulting the manual. The headlights on the motorhead are a nice touch to help see dirty spots on darker floors (or dust on lighter floors), as are the washable foam filters. While the Shark is mostly comparable to the Tineco iFloor 3, it’s pricier (at most retailers) yet it felt a little less sturdy, it was a little louder, and it left my floor a little wetter.
Some upright models automatically adjust the height of the nozzle to accommodate different flooring types while others need to be manually adjusted. They usually come with an onboard hose, wands and attachments for cleaning above the floor or into tight spaces. Uprights usually provide the best cleaning performance on deep-pile carpets. This machine left my hard floors cleaner and drier than any other mop vac I tested, and it runs for 40 minutes on a single charge (twice as long as the Floor One S5 Combo).
Straightforward and simple, the Shark WandVac can be used as a stick vacuum or in handheld mode. In our review testing we found it extremely easy to empty, too – although with a smaller than usual dust canister, you’ll find yourself having to do this often. On test, it offered powerful suction that dyson robot vacuum whipped away discarded biscuit crumbs, ground-in dirt, cereal and cat biscuits almost instantly. However, we found the larger size made the vacuum cumbersome to use in handheld mode. Performance is top-notch but it’s also the most expensive vacuum we’ve tested, putting it out of reach of some.
The V15 also comes with an LCD screen that displays the remaining runtime, and when used on Auto mode the cleaner conserves the battery by adjusting the suction power to suit the floor type and the amount of dust automatically. Over a span of several months, we have tested 38 Shark vacuums in a variety of settings. We’ve tested every vacuum for its effectiveness on hard floors and carpeting, maneuverability, ease of setting up and emptying, noise level, and overall value. Of all the Shark vacuums we tested, the Shark IZ462H Vertex Ultra Lightweight Cordless Stick Vacuum really stood out for its smooth maneuverability, helpful features, and powerful suction. For a lower-budget alternative, though, the Shark NV151 Navigator Swivel Pro Complete Upright Vacuum offers strong suction and a larger-than-average dust cap, making it another solid pick.
After months of use, we found it to be best at deep cleaning carpets (it’s great with pet hair!), as long as you have a smaller handheld vacuum to get into tight crevices. Simple to use, during testing it collected fine dust from hard floors and carpets with ease, although for larger debris, we found it required several sweeps to scoop up all of the mess. The dust canister is smaller than average, so will need to be emptied more frequently, but we found it was easy to empty. It has a decent warranty, and its battery and many of its parts are replaceable.