Shark's robot-vac checks all 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 accurate 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 the majority of robot vacuums.
1. Roborock S4
This is a top-notch robot vacuum for floors that are not clean that can take up debris and has a massive dirt compartment. The smart pathing system works well, and the app lets you to manage cleaning and docking. The app provides you with an overview of cleaning, including the map that shows where the S4 was cleaned, as well as cleaning time and battery life.
Its maximum suction of 2,000Pa is enough to lift an AA battery off the floor and rivals those of full-sized vacuums. The side brush and combo brush are closer to the front of the machine than the other Roborock models. This could be to help reduce the possibility of clogging.
The S4's advanced navigation system is able to digitally map a house up to four levels and will remember the areas it's cleaned, making it easy to set up cleaning schedules without the need to manually move the robot around rooms. You can also mark zones that are not allowed to enter, which will block the S4 from entering those spaces during a cleaning cycle.
It was able clean an entire floor of our home with ease, and was very efficient on floors with no carpets. It had a hard to remove dog hair. This is a typical problem with robotic vacuums. The only 8.5 percent of the dog hair it picked up was captured in the dustbin, and the majority was clumped in the brushes and suction inlet.
In comparison to other Shark vacuums, the S4 is noticeably smaller and lighter, which increases maneuverability. It is able to make more precise turns and avoid obstacles that slow down other robots. Its low-profile design makes it easier to get under furniture. It has improved climbing capabilities for navigating flooring transitions as well as different flooring heights. It can reach the bottom of the stairs and is a great choice for homes with multiple levels. The application lets you set a schedule and also has an automatic control for vacuuming. It can also automatically return to its charging base to recharge between cleaning cycles. It is equipped with the largest battery, 5200 mAh, which can run for 150 minutes in standard mode or 2691 square foot between charges.
2. Shark Easy Robot Self-Empty
This Shark robot vacuum is a great choice for pet owners searching for a machine that's easy to use and smart. The self-emptying bagless base is a huge convenience particularly when compared to competitors that use disposable dirt bags for their bases. It is possible to empty the bin over a trashcan by simply removing it. It can be messy, but you save money on bags to replace.
vacuum and mop combo is large, which means that the EZ Robot can handle a large amount of debris. It also performs well on bare floors. However, it has a difficult time with dirt embedded in low pile carpet. It also has decent navigation capabilities and a small footprint for the dock.
The EZ Robot may not be as efficient as Roborock S4, but it is still a great choice for those who are looking for a robot that can perform well and is affordable. It is well-built and offers various automation features. It also has an impressive cleaning performance for floors with no carpet as well as carpets with a lot of pile. Its maintenance requirements are very high and the recurring expenses are very high.
Another excellent feature of this Shark robot is its capability to recharge and then resume where it was when it returns to its docking station following a full cleaning session. This is a very handy feature particularly if you own a large home.
The IQ XL is also equipped with a variety of useful features, such as the ability to remotely schedule home cleaning and review reports via the SharkClean app. You can also begin, stop and resume cleaning sessions with voice control via Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant. The row-by-row cleaning feature is a big plus and it also is able to clean your entire house 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 climb over obstacles like power cords. It could think they are solid barriers and not attempt to climb over them. It's not as fast or efficient at maneuvering a room when it's filled with pet hair, which could tangle its brushes and slow it down.
3. Shark AI Robot
This is a great robotic vacuum from Shark and offers a great combination of features. It comes with a base that can hold up to 30 days' worth of debris, and it blends the cleaning power both of an automated vacuum cleaner and a mop. It comes with a matrix grid cleaning mode, and is equipped with advanced smart home integration that can work with Alexa and Google Assistant. You can schedule it to clean, turn on it on demand or set virtual boundaries to block the robot from entering rooms with fragile items or rugs.
The Shark AI Robot carries out an impressive task of cleaning floors, picking up debris like rice effortlessly. However it has a difficult to remove larger, bulky debris off carpets in low pile and does a poor job of moving around furniture. It is in a do not disturb mode so you can use it at home without interrupting your routine.
It also uses LiDAR to map your home. This lets it identify and navigate obstacles more precisely than devices that rely on gyroscopes alone or an infrared sensors. This allows it to avoid hitting delicate objects, and also optimize dirt collection on different surfaces. The LiDAR system is also more efficient than gyroscopes that can cause the robots to slow down or lose control when they encounter uneven surfaces.
Other features include a remote control, automatic mopping, and a variety of vacuum modes. It is able to recharge and charge itself while it is working. Its biggest drawback is that it can only map out one floor of your house If you have two stories, it will be necessary to manually move it to those areas at the beginning of the run, and then program it to repeat.
Another negative is that it could be a little noisy, especially in mopping mode. It also has a lot of parts which need to be changed or cleaned regularly, adding to its cost per year. Fortunately, the base self-empty feature cuts down on 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 ticks all the boxes you would expect from a mid-range robot vacuum, offering solid cleaning performance and a great mobile app that can create accurate home maps. It also has a bagless base that means no annual purchase of dust bags to replace. In our cleaning test, it was able remove 97.8 percent of the debris from hardwood and low-pile flooring, but it was not as effective on high-pile. Its maneuverability is sturdy and it can navigate around furniture, climb onto carpets with high pile and climb over objects like electrical cords and rug tassels without getting stuck.
The bristles with a helix-pattern pattern are durable enough to manage and untangle long hair strings, other fibers and the like The brushroll also has an edge that retracts and can be utilized when it comes across obstacles. Its thin design allows it to slide under furniture and proximity sensors allow it to adapt and analyze the presence of obstacles. It can be set to begin cleaning with a press of a button or scheduled for a daily schedule through the app. It has a moderate sound level, however it can be reduced by using the do-not disturb mode or custom scheduling.
The RV700 is more manual than the Roborock S4 or iRobot Roomba j7+. This is to be anticipated from the fact that it does not self-empty. It's nevertheless more durable and simpler to maintain. It charges faster and gets rid of more debris from both high-pile and bare floors. Its navigation system is able to create virtual boundaries, recognize obstacles and avoid them, and also create virtual boundaries. This makes it the ideal choice for robotic cleaners that you can "set and forget".
The RV700 Series doesn't have a the cliff sensor, which prevents it from falling down stairs, which may be a problem for people living in taller homes. It also can't vacuum and mop at the same time and requires you to switch between the two modes available in the app. The RV700 Series offers a cheaper alternative to the more advanced Roborock and iRobot robots that come with self-emptying capabilities and cliff detection. Its primary selling point is the fact that it can be recharged and emptied while docked at its base. This makes it a perfect option for those who don't need to empty the dustbin each time they use it.
