At a look
Professional’s Score
Professionals
- Slim, versatile design
- Anti-odour tech
- Highly effective cleansing
Cons
- Inconsistent battery life
- Heavy
- Often ‘locks’ upright
Our Verdict
The Shark Stratos cordless is a wonderful various to a Dyson with a couple of additional tips up its sleeve, together with a hinged wand and anti-odour tech constructed into the pinnacle. We simply want we might belief the battery life a bit extra.
Value When Reviewed
$499.99
Finest Costs At this time: Shark Stratos cordless vacuum
$448.00
Stratos is the most recent premium vacuum vary from Shark, with each corded and cordless fashions which might be pitched as options to the ever-popular Dysons.
I’ve been testing the corporate’s top-end cordless model, which to present it its full identify is the Shark Stratos Anti Hair Wrap Plus Pet Professional Cordless Vacuum. That’s a little bit of a mouthful, so we’ll stick to ‘Stratos’ for now.
With costs ranging from $499/£449, that is an costly vacuum, nevertheless it nonetheless undercuts the top-end fashions from rivals like Dyson and Samsung, regardless of providing related options like an LED floorhead and good grime sensor. Even higher, the anti-odour tech constructed into the pinnacle is a welcome countermeasure to the musty odor all of us recognise from vacuuming carpets.
Design & construct
- Slim however heavy
- Versatile physique bends to scrub below furnishings
- LED lights construct into the pinnacle
On a easy stage, the Shark Stratos appears to be like so much like most different cordless stick vacuums, together with current Dyson fashions. It’s an extended, skinny design with a clear plastic mud compartment that sits on the high close to the set off and deal with.
Dominic Preston / Foundry
Whereas it’s slim, the Stratos is surprisingly heavy at round 4kg (9lbs), comfortably greater than most of its rivals. Thankfully it doesn’t really feel that means, helped by the truth that a lot of its weight is in the principle cleaner head, so it’s not top-heavy.
It additionally helps that while you’re not cleansing the vacuum can collapse right down to a form that’s a lot simpler to hold. That is because of a hinge midway down the wand, and has the additional benefit of creating the Stratos cordless a lot simpler to retailer.
The hinge has one other benefit too. You should use it whereas cleansing to mean you can angle the vacuum higher to succeed in below sofas and different furnishings with out having to crouch down your self.
Dominic Preston / Foundry
That is additionally while you’ll recognize the LED lights constructed into the principle cleansing head, which illuminate the ground forward, revealing mud and dirt you won’t in any other case spot.
If I’ve a gripe with the Stratos’s design, it’s a comparatively minor one. It’s a little bit too straightforward to lock the vacuum into an upright place, at which level the angle now not works for vacuuming. This solely takes a couple of seconds to repair by clicking the pinnacle again down, however occurs to me a number of instances each cleansing session, and does get on my nerves.
Equipment & options
- As much as 4 included cleansing instruments
- Anti-odour tech holds off smells
- ‘Clear Sense IQ’ mud detection
By default, within the UK the Stratos ships with simply two instruments: the principle multi-surface cleansing head plus a skinny, plastic crevice instrument for reaching as much as ceiling corners and the like. For ease, they ship with a small black tote bag too, which you should use to retailer the spare head and charger when not in use.
Unhelpfully, the add-ins differ by market, so within the US the common mannequin additionally embrace an anti-allergen brush head instrument.
Dominic Preston / Foundry
Within the UK there are two different variations you should purchase although. The primary is the ‘Pet Professional’ improve, which throws in a pet hair cleansing head. Improve once more to the double battery mannequin and also you get (you guessed it) a second battery, a dual-battery charging dock, and that anti-allergen brush discovered with the US mannequin.
Most individuals will possible be comfortable sufficient with the essential setup, which is easy however handles most eventualities. I don’t have a pet myself to check it with, however I think about the pet hair instrument will probably be a worthy improve for individuals who do at solely £30 extra.
Dominic Preston / Foundry
As for the double battery mannequin, that’s undoubtedly a luxurious possibility for individuals who aren’t constant about charging. That mentioned, I’ve had my gripes with the battery – extra on that later – so in the event you can afford the £549 asking value, it’s price contemplating.
As for the vacuum itself, it additionally packs in a few additional options you won’t be used to. The headline is Shark’s anti-odour tech. This basically consists of a small cartridge of perfume that slots into the principle cleansing head, together with a management dial to set the depth.
Dominic Preston / Foundry
As you vacuum, it releases a refined perfume that masks and combats the smells that the vacuum itself kicks up out of your flooring – and particularly carpet. Don’t fear although, it’s delicate, extra like a automotive air freshener than somebody blasting your home with cleansing spray.
The draw back in fact is that every cartridge is finite. Shark says they need to final round six months, and replacements can be found straight from the corporate at $14.99/£14.99 for a pair.
It’s delicate, extra like a automotive air freshener than somebody blasting your home with cleansing spray.
The opposite edge you get from the Stratos is what Shark calls ‘Clear Sense IQ’. It is a fancy identify for tech just like some Dysons, with a sensor embedded within the cleansing head that detects how a lot mud and dirt there may be at any given time to let you know the way soiled the spot you’re engaged on actually is.
Dominic Preston / Foundry
Shark’s execution sees a bar alongside the cleansing head mild up, with extra mild the dirtier the realm is. You’ll additionally hear the vacuum itself kick into increased gear when there’s extra work to be finished.
In actuality this doesn’t change issues an excessive amount of for the tip person, nevertheless it’s useful to have the vacuum modulate its depth based mostly on how a lot there may be to scrub. At instances, it serves as a helpful trace on when to maneuver on from the spot you’re cleansing, as it will probably reveal an space that appears clear really isn’t fairly completed.
Efficiency
- Highly effective cleansing and suction
- 0.7l bin capability
- Inconsistent battery life
In order that’s the bells and whistles out of the best way. In relation to precise cleansing the Stratos impresses, with sufficient suction energy to deal with any every day cleansing with ease.
My flat is a mixture of carpets and laborious wooden floors, and luckily the default cleansing head right here is designed to deal with each, so there’s no want to change forwards and backwards. I didn’t discover a lot that it couldn’t clear, fortunately selecting up hair, crumbs, mud, and all kinds of different grime from each surfaces.
Dominic Preston / Foundry
Shark boasts that the pinnacle is designed to keep away from trapping hair, and up to now this seems to be true – my final vacuum would typically wrap coils of my girlfriend’s lengthy hair across the brush head, however a couple of weeks in there’s not a single hair trapped contained in the Stratos.
I’ve principally cleaned utilizing the default mode, the place the Clear Sense IQ adjusts power robotically. If you happen to desire although, a single button push can cycle by way of the eco and high-power modes, relying in your circumstance.
Dominic Preston / Foundry
As for the mud bin, the 0.7l capability isn’t the most important round, however presents sufficient area that I can clear my two-bed flat a couple of instances over earlier than needing to empty it – a course of that’s straightforward sufficient, with a single button flick to pop the bin open.
The battery indicator is unreliable – I’ve had it show 50% cost solely to die minutes later.
Then there’s battery – maybe my greatest annoyance with the Stratos. Shark claims the vacuum delivers 60 minutes of cleansing, and remaining battery is indicated with a useful share indicator on a show by the deal with.
Dominic Preston / Foundry
I’ve discovered that the battery dies sooner than Shark estimates it ought to, and specifically the cost appears to run down surprisingly quickly when the vacuum isn’t in use, so you’ll be able to’t belief it would have cost while you seize it from the cabinet. Simply as annoyingly, the battery indicator is unreliable – I’ve had it show 50% cost solely to die minutes later.
That’s why I’m glad to have been testing the highest mannequin, with a second battery, as a result of the choice to rapidly click on in a brand new cell – which takes simply seconds – alleviates this concern virtually totally. With out that possibility, the inconsistent battery expertise would grate way more.
Value & availability
The Shark Stratos cordless is out there now from Shark, or from retailers together with Amazon in all places, Finest Purchase and Walmart within the US, or Currys and John Lewis within the UK.
At $499/£449 for the essential mannequin – rising to £549 within the UK for the model with an additional battery and all of the equipment – the Shark Stratos is on the higher finish of the cordless vacuum market, in the identical area as some Dyson and Samsung choices.
Dominic Preston / Foundry
Nonetheless, it runs a little bit cheaper than these manufacturers’ high fashions, the Dyson V15 Detect and Samsung Bespoke Jet, whereas matching them on energy and plenty of core options (besides the Samsung’s self-emptying bin). It’s additionally usually decreased from full-price, making it even higher worth.
Try our rating of the very best vacuums we’ve reviewed to learn how it compares to these and different choices.
Verdict
The Shark Stratos cordless is a formidable premium possibility that holds its personal in opposition to the large boys of the market, whereas delivering some distinctive benefits like its resistance to tangled hair, the added flexibility of its hinged design, and the intelligent anti-odour tech.
The most important draw back is the flaky battery, which is each shorter than marketed and troublesome to foretell. The choice to sizzling swap to a second battery helps so much, nevertheless it’s a reasonably important added expense, and one which isn’t even an possibility for US patrons.
Which means the Stratos might nonetheless go well with these in smaller properties, or anybody who can afford the second battery. However if in case you have plenty of area to hoover in a single go, you could be higher off with a extra dependable various.