Shark's robovac ticks many of the boxes you'd expect from a machine of this price range. It provides reliable cleaning performance, as well as an easy to use mobile app. It also provides precise home maps.
It also provides Matrix Clean navigation, a system that makes two passes back and forth, before moving from side to side for total coverage. Its base is bagless unlike many other robot vacuums.
1. Roborock S4
This is an excellent robot vacuum for flooring that is not in use that comes with a huge dirt container and is able to remove debris. The app lets you manage cleaning and docking. Its intelligent pathing is highly efficient. The app also provides an easy overview of cleaning, including an image of where the S4 has cleaned, cleaning duration, and battery life.
Its maximum suction of 2,000Pa is enough to lift an AA battery off the floor. It also rivals the suction of larger vacuums. With 19CFM, the S4's side and combination brush is more to the front than in other Roborock models, which could be an effort to reduce the amount of clogging.
The S4's advanced mapping system can map a home up to four levels deep. It will also remember the areas that it has already cleaned. This makes it easy to create a cleaning schedule, without having to manually move robots around rooms. You can mark certain areas as "no-go zones" to deter the S4 from cleaning those areas.
It was able to clean an entire level of our home easily and was extremely effective on floors that were not paved. It had a difficult cleaning up dog hair. This is a common problem with robotic vacuums. It only 8.5% was captured in the dustbin. The remainder was clumped around the brushes and the suction intake.
Comparatively to other Shark vacuums in the market, the S4 is noticeably more compact and lighter, which increases maneuverability. It is able to make more precise turns and avoid obstacles that slow down other robots. Additionally, its low profile design makes it easier to squeeze under furniture. It has improved climbing capabilities to navigate flooring transitions and different flooring levels. It is able to get to the bottom of stairs and is a great option for larger homes that have multiple floors. The app lets you set a timer, and also includes an automatic vacuum control. It can also return to its charging base to recharge between cleaning cycles. It comes with a large battery of 5200 mAh, which can last for up to 150 minutes in normal mode or 2691 square feet between charges.
2. Shark Easy Robot Self-Emptying
This Shark robot vacuum is an excellent choice for pet owners who need an easy-to-use, smart machine. Its self-emptying bagless base is a wonderful feature, especially when compared to other vacuums that utilize disposable dirt bags in their bases. It is easy to remove the bin and then empty it into a trash can; this may be messy, but it will save you money on bags to replace.
The bin is large, meaning that the EZ Robot can handle a large amount of dirt. It's also a great performer on clean floors, but it does struggle somewhat with dirt that has been embedded on carpets with a low pile. It has excellent navigation capabilities and has a small footprint.
While the EZ Robot isn't as good as the Roborock S4, it's still a solid option for people who want a good-performing, budget-friendly robot. It's built well, comes with a wide range of automation features, and has impressive cleaning performance on both carpet and floors with high pile. Its maintenance requirements are high and its ongoing costs are high.
This Shark robot has another excellent feature: it will automatically resume where it left off after it returns to the docking station. This is a great feature particularly if you live in a large home.
The IQ XL also comes with various other useful features. These include the ability to schedule your entire home cleaning remotely and review cleaning reports through the SharkClean App. You can also initiate clean, stop and restart cleaning sessions using voice control via Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant. The row-by-row cleaning feature is a huge benefit as it will clean your entire home in neat rows, not a snake-like pattern that is back-andforth like many other robots.
The IQ XL has a major disadvantage that is that it can't climb over obstacles like power cords. It may consider them to be solid barriers and not attempt to climb over them. It's also not as efficient or fast at navigating a space when it's full of pet hair. This can cause tangles on the brushes and slow it.
3. Shark AI Robot
This is a great robot vacuum from Shark that offers a combination of features. It has a base that can store up to 30 days of debris, and it combines the cleaning power of a robot mop and a vacuum cleaner. It offers a matrix grid cleaning mode, and it features advanced smart home integration that can work with Alexa and Google Assistant. It is possible to schedule it to clean, activate it on demand, or set virtual boundaries to block the robot from entering rooms that contain delicate items or rugs.
The Shark AI Robot carries out an impressive job of cleaning floors, removing debris like rice easily. It has a hard time removing large, bulky debris from carpets with low pile and is unable to maneuver around large furniture. It comes with a do not disturb feature so you can use it at home without interrupting your routine.
Another benefit is that it utilizes LiDAR technology to map your home which allows it to detect and navigate obstacles more precisely than those that rely on gyroscopes or infrared sensors. This helps it avoid hitting delicate objects, and optimize dirt collection on different surfaces. The LiDAR system also performs more quickly than gyroscopes, which can cause the robot slow down and lose control when it comes into contact with uneven surfaces.
It comes with a variety of other features, such as an automatic mopping feature, a remote and various vacuum modes. It is able to charge and recharge itself while working. The biggest issue is that it only maps out one floor. If you have two floors, it's required to be manually moved to those areas, and then programmed to repeat.
It can also be quite loud especially when in mopping mode. It also has a lot of parts that must be changed or cleaned regularly, which increases its recurring cost. Fortunately, the self-empty feature helps cut down on some of these expenses and is compatible with bagless filters, which further reduces the annual cost.
4. Shark ION Robot RV700 series
The Shark ION Robot RV700 Series ticks off all the boxes that you'd expect from a mid-range robotic vacuum. It has a reliable cleaning performance, a fantastic mobile application that creates accurate maps of your home, as well as a outstanding cleaning performance. It also has a bagless base that means no annual purchase of replacement dust bags. In our cleaning performance test it was able to remove 97.8 percent of the debris from carpeting with low pile and hardwood floors although it wasn't as effective on high-pile carpeting. Its maneuverability makes it easy to maneuver around furniture and climb onto high-pile flooring. It can also pass over things like electrical cords and rug fringes without getting stuck.
Its helix-pattern high-tensile bristles are strong enough to handle and untangle long hair, string and other fibers, and its brushroll has a retractable edge that can be used when it comes across obstacles. Its slim design lets it coast underneath furniture, and proximity sensors assess and adapt to surrounding obstacles. The app lets you schedule cleanings and trigger the machine with the press of a button. Its noise levels are average, but it is possible to reduce the noise by using a do not disturb mode or a custom scheduling.
The RV700 is more manual than the Roborock S4 or iRobot Roomba j7+. This is to be anticipated from an item that doesn't self-empty. It is more durable and is easier to maintain, and charges faster and removes more debris from both bare floors and carpets with high pile. Its navigation system can also create virtual boundaries, and also detect and avoid obstacles which makes it the ideal pick for "set it and forget it" robotic cleaners.
The RV700 Series doesn't have a cliff sensor that prevents it from falling down a flight of stairs, which can be a problem for those living in taller homes. It's also not able to vacuum and mop simultaneously and requires users to switch between two modes in its application. The RV700 Series offers a cheaper alternative to more sophisticated Roborock and iRobot robots that have self-emptying capabilities as well as cliff detection. Its most appealing feature is the fact that it can be recharged and emptied when docked at its base. This makes it a perfect option for those who do not want to empty the onboard dustbin each time they use it.
