The Best Shark Robot Vacuum
Shark's robo-vac ticks most of the features you'd expect from a midrange machine. It's reliable in its cleaning capabilities, an easy-to-use mobile app and produces precise home maps.
It also offers Matrix Clean navigation, a system that makes two passes back and forth, before moving side to side for complete coverage. Its base is bagless unlike many other robot vacuums.
1. Roborock S4
This is a top-notch robot vacuum designed for floors with no floor that can take up debris and has a large dirt storage. The app lets you manage cleaning and docking. Its smart pathing is highly efficient. The app provides you with an overview of cleaning, including a map showing where the S4 was cleaned, cleaning time and battery life.
The S4's maximum suction is 2,000Pa, which is similar to full-sized vacuums. The side brush and combo brush are located closer to the front of the machine than other Roborock models. This could be to reduce the possibility of clogging.
The S4's advanced mapping system can map a home up to four levels deep. It can also remember the areas that it has already vacuumed. This makes it simple to design a cleaning schedule, without having to manually move robots around rooms. You can also mark off zones as no-go zones which will stop the S4 from entering those areas during a cleaning cycle.
It was able of cleaning all levels of our home easily and was very efficient on bare flooring. However, it was not successful in collecting dog hair which is a common issue for robotic vacuums. Only 8.5% of the dog hair it picked up was actually kept in the dustbin and much of the rest was clumped in the suction inlet and brushes.
The S4 is smaller and lighter than other Shark vacuums. This makes it easier to maneuver. It can turn more quickly and avoid obstacles that slow down other robots. Additionally, its low-profile design makes it easier to get under furniture. It also has a better ability to traverse flooring transitions and various heights of flooring. It can reach down to the lowest point of the stairs and is a great choice for homes with multiple levels. The application allows you to set a schedule and also has the ability to control your vacuum manually. It is also able to return to its charging station to recharge automatically between cleaning cycles. It comes with an enormous battery of 5200 mAh. It can run for 150 minutes in normal mode, or 2691 square feet between charges.
2. Shark EZ Robot Self-Emptying
This Shark robot vacuum is a fantastic choice for pet owners searching for a machine that is easy to use and smart. The self-emptying bagless base of this model is a fantastic convenience, especially compared to other vacuums that utilize disposable dirt bags in their bases. You simply detach the bin and then empty it over the trash can. This could be messy, but it also saves you money on replacement bags.
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 good performer on clean floors, but it struggles with dirt that has been embedded on carpets with low pile. It has good navigational capabilities and a small footprint.
While the EZ Robot isn't as good as the Roborock S4, it's still an excellent option for those who want a good-performing and budget-friendly robot. It is well-built and offers various automation features. It also boasts an impressive cleaning performance on floors that are bare and carpets with high pile. However its maintenance requirements are high and it has significant recurring costs.
Another fantastic feature of the Shark robot is its capability to recharge and automatically resume where it left off when it returns to its docking station following the full cleaning. This is a fantastic option, especially if your home is large.
The IQ XL also comes with a variety of other useful features. This includes the ability to schedule entire-home cleanings remotely and view cleaning reports using the SharkClean App. Robot Vacuum Mops can also use voice control via Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant to begin or stop cleaning sessions. The row-by-row cleaning mode of the robot is a big plus and it also cleans your entire home in neat rows rather than a snake-like pattern that is back-andforth like many other robots.
The IQ XL has a major drawback in that it cannot overcome obstacles like power cords. It may think they are solid barriers and fail to climb over them. It's also not as quick or efficient in navigating rooms that are stuffed with pet hair, which can tangle its brushes and slow it down.
3. Shark AI Robot
This is a reliable robotic vacuum from Shark, offering a good combination of features. It has a base that can store up to 30 days of debris, and it blends the cleaning power of a robot vacuum cleaner and a mop. It also offers a precise matrix grid cleaning mode and advanced home integration with support for Alexa and Google Assistant. You can set it up to clean on a schedule or on demand or create virtual boundaries to block it from entering rooms that may have fragile items or rugs.
The Shark AI Robot carries out an excellent job of cleaning bare floors, picking up debris like rice easily. However, it has a hard to remove larger, bulky debris off carpets in low pile and isn't capable of maneuvering around 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 advantage is that it utilizes LiDAR technology to map out your home which allows it to detect and navigate obstacles more precisely than units that rely solely on gyroscopes and sensors. This allows it to avoid hitting delicate objects, and also optimize dirt collection on various surfaces. The LiDAR system also works faster than gyroscopes. This could cause the robot to slow down and lose control when it comes into contact with uneven surfaces.
It comes with a variety of other features, including the ability to control mopping with a remote, an automatic system, and multiple vacuum modes. It is able to charge and recharge while it's working. Its biggest disadvantage is that it can only draw out only one floor of your house therefore if you have two stories, it will be necessary to manually carry it to the two floors during the first run, and then program it to repeat.
Another drawback is that it can be quite loud, particularly in mopping mode. It also has a lot of parts which need to be cleaned or replaced frequently, which adds to the cost of maintenance. The base self-empty function assists in reducing the cost of these items. It's also compatible with a bagless filter that can further reduce the cost annually.
4. Shark ION Robot RV700 series
The Shark ION Robot RV700 Series ticks off all the boxes that you would expect from a midrange robotic vacuum. It offers dependable cleaning performance, a great mobile application that creates precise maps of your home, and a excellent cleaning performance. The bagless base makes it unnecessary to purchase replacement dust bags every year. In our test of cleaning performance it was able remove 97.8% of debris from carpeting with low pile and hardwood floors, though it wasn't as effective on carpets with high piles. Its maneuverability is sturdy, and it can easily maneuver through furniture, climb onto high-pile carpeting and go over objects like rug tassels and electrical cords without getting stuck.
The bristles with high-tensile in the helix pattern are sturdy enough to untangle and manage long hair, string, and other fibers. The brushroll also features a retractable side that can be used if it comes across an obstacle. Its thin design allows it to coast underneath furniture, and proximity sensors assess and adjust to obstacles. The app lets you schedule cleanings and trigger the machine with the press of a button. The noise levels are moderate however, it can be slowed down with a do-not-disturb feature or a custom-designed 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. However, it still feels more durable and is easier to maintain, charges faster and removes more debris from floors that are not bare and carpets with high pile. Its navigation system can create virtual boundaries, and also detect obstacles making it the ideal choice for "set it and forget it" robotic cleaners.
The RV700 Series does not have an incline sensor that could prevent it from falling down the stairs. This could be a problem those who live in taller houses. It also can't vacuum and mop simultaneously and requires you to switch between two modes available in the application. The RV700 Series offers a cheaper alternative to more advanced Roborock and iRobot robots with self-emptying capabilities as well as cliff detection. Its most appealing feature is that it can be used to empty and recharged while at its base, which makes it an ideal option for those who don't want to deal with the burden of emptying the dustbin after each use.