Shark are relative newcomers to the vacuum market, but these upstarts are hot on the heels of the stalwarts of the industry. For years, Dyson and Miele have been the go-to brands, but the best Shark vacuums can rival their performance, often for hundreds of dollars cheaper.
However, when it comes to buy a Shark, it can be a little confusing. Like any vacuum brand, Shark offer lots of similar-looking models with near-identical names. It can be tricky to tell them all apart and work out if you're getting the best model.
Thankfully, we've tested plenty of Shark vacuums over the years, so we're well-placed to help you figure out which is best for your space. Our expert testers have reviewed lots of Shark vacuums, and I've brought together their three best vacuums —cordless, pet, and robot — to make it easier to choose.
Alex is Head of eCommerce at Homes & Gardens and spends his days trawling the internet for the latest product launches and deals, as well as testing homes products in our specialised test facility. Before H&G, he worked for several other consumer magazines reviewing homes goods and garden tools.
Jaclyn was the former the US eCommerce editor at Homes & Gardens, where she specializes in a variety of homes topics from vacuums to mattresses. She tested various Shark products for H&G, including the Vertex Pro featured below.
Camryn Rabideau is a freelance writer and product reviewer who has been testing home goods like vacuums for several years. She's tested several Shark products, including the Shark AI Ultra Robot Vacuum and Shark Stratos. With two dogs and a cat, Camryn is the perfect reviewer for assessing if vacuums can take on pet hair.
Best Shark cordless
Why we love it
This isn't just the best Shark vacuum you can buy; we think this is the best cordless vacuum in the world. It has incredibly powerful suction, inhaling dust and debris with ease. It has anti-hair wrap, which will save you from the gross job of picking hair out of the vacuum, and a good runtime of 46 minutes on a hard floor and half an hour on carpet. If you're prone to allergies, it also has a washable HEPA filter and an Anti-Allergen Seal. We also love the digital LED interface (from the pre-existing Shark Vertex Lightweight) is a nice high-end feature that indicates battery percentage level, suction level, and floor type, selected via two buttons on either side of the power button. We think it's a clear improvement on its predecessor, the Shark Vertex Lightweight Cordless Stick.
Good to know
The Multi-Flex technology (read: a hinge in the middle of the vacuum) is easy to fold down the vacuum for easy storage. It's also supposed to mean you can easily clean underneath furniture. However, we found this a little tricky to use, as this makes it harder to turn the vacuum. It's a little pointless as the vacuum is so slim that's already easy to reach small spaces, and you need two hands to fold the vacuum.
Our Shark Vertex Pro Lightweight Cordless Vacuum review goes into more details
Best Shark for pet hair
Why we love it
We tested this Shark in a house with two long-haired dogs, and it easily dealt with their fur and dander. Number two on our guide to the best vacuums for pet hair, it excels on carpets and hard floors alike thanks to two hard and soft rollers. Like some other Shark vacuums, it comes with Powered Lift-away, which means you can lift the bin away from the floor head, for room to manouvre. The most exciting feature is the Odor Neutralizer Technology, a fantastic innovation which I predict could become an industry standard. This 'technology' is a simple but effective cartridge that releases a clean, light scent to cover the usual smell of hot pet fur.
Good to know
While Powered Lift-Away makes this vacuum more nimble, the whole thing weighs in a 17lbs, so it might not work for you if you have mobility issues. You should also watch out for the two different models. The AZ3000 model only includes the vacuum, but if you can find it, the AZ3002 comes with an effective motorized pet hair brush, a combination tool, a multi-angle dust brush, an anti-allergen dust brush, a handy bag for storage as well as two extra odor cartridges.
Camryn's Shark Stratos upright vacuum review has more details.
Best Shark robot vacuum
Why we love it
Number two on our rundown of the best robot vacuums, the Shark AI Ultra 2-in-1-Robot with Self-Cleaning Base is one of the easiest robot vacuums to use. Where other robot vacuums can have you playing around with setting and mapping, barely saving you time, this little gadget is self-sufficient. Thanks to LiDAR sensors, it maps your rooms quickly and accurately and gets on with the job. It also has a self-emptying base, saving you from emptying it every time it cleans. Just as with the Shark Stratos Upright, it has a unique innovation. CleanEdge technology blasts air at your baseboards, knocking dirt into the path of the vacuum. This makes it far better at edge cleaning than other robot vacuums, which often struggle with this. It has a good two-hour battery and a mop function to truly clean hard flooring. It's far, far superior to the previously reviewed Shark IQ, which we gave a good-but-not-great 80%.
Good to know
The mop function can be helpful, but you'll have to be nearby to remove the wet mop pads to stop them from getting mouldy, which isn't very convenient.
How did you choose these vacuums?
Our expert testers have trialled all of the featured vacuums. These are also the best-performing vacuums of the Shark vacuums we've test. For example, the Shark IQ robot vacuum scored 80%, which is 10% worse than the Shark AI Ultra 2-in-1, which scored 90%. In the same way, the Shark Vertex Pro Lightweight is better than the Shark Wandvac System Ultra-Lightweight Powerful Cordless Stick Vacuum, because they scored 90% and 80% respectively.
Are Shark better than Dyson?
Short answer: they can be.
Long answer: It depends on what you're looking for. We cover this in further detail in our Dyson vs Shark head to head, but here's an example. The Dyson Outsize + beat the Shark Stratos in our guide to the best vacuums for pet hair. In terms of sheer performance, it's better; it's easier to use and has better suction. However, the Dyson costs almost a thousand dollars. The Shark is half that. While we like the Dyson, I don't think its performance justifies an extra $500. If you want the very best vacuum that money can buy, go for a Dyson. If you aren't keen on dropping a grand on a vacuum, a Shark is a better alternative that's almost as good.
When's the best time to buy a Shark vacuum?
You'll find the biggest discounts around Black Friday, as retailers compete to drop their prices the furthest. However, I've noticed that there's been $130 off the Shark Stratos for the past three months, so it may not always pay off to wait.
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