Shark IQ Robot (RV1001AE) Review | Self-Emptying Robot Vacuum
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Accessories and parts
HEPA filter include in Shark IQ, two side spinning brushes, 9 foot roll boundary tape and built-in station.
Product Description
Forget about vacuuming for up to a month. The Shark IQ Robot Self-Empty XL combines the convenience of a self-empty base + IQ Navigation total home mapping for complete, efficient cleaning with the performance of Shark suction and self-cleaning brushroll. After each cleaning session, your robot vacuum automatically empties into the bag less base, which holds up to a month of dirt and debris. When charging is complete, both blue lights will illuminate steadily. It may take up to 6 hours to fully charge your robot.
Product Dimensions
The Shark IQ is 38.9X 26.3 X 49.6 inches
Product Size
The Shark IQ is 13.23 pounds
Pros
Cleaning performance on floor
types
We tested the Shark IQ on three different floor
types.
Hardwood floors
On hardwood
floors, the Shark IQ did a great job on all debris types scoring a 98% overall, the IQ did
leave a small collection of debris in the middle of the
area after cleaning, which could have been a navigation issue rather than a
problem with cleaning.
Low pile carpets
On low pile
carpets, the IQ results were less than impressive. It struggled
to clean up each debris time leaving some of each type behind after cleaning
for a score
of 74%.
High pile carpets
On high pile
carpets, the IQ did a better job on all types. It did more
zigzagging across the middle before sticking to the edges of the testing lane.
The final score for high pile carpets was a 90% which is
a respectable score for robot vacuums.
Self-emptying dustbin
One of the
major highlight features on the shark IQ is the self-emptying dustbin. This comparable feature can
only be seen on robot vacuums with much higher price tags such as the Roomba
S9+ and Roomba I7+.
When the Shark
IQ completes a cleaning cycle, it will automatically
navigate back to the charging base. Once there it will connect to a
suction back on the docking station, which sucks out the contents of the
onboard dustbin and into the larger dustbin on the station itself. According to
the Shark, the docking station can hold 30 loads of debris.
On-board mapping
The IQ also
includes a navigation feature called onward mapping, which uses a
camera to scan the room and help the robot learn the space and avoid obstacles
to make sure the entire room is cleaned.
Room select & App control
After spaces
are mapped, you can use the room select feature to send
the IQ to a specific room in your home. You can even connect the Shark App to an AI
device like Amazon Alexa to make the IQ even more convenient. The
Shark IQ has a clean button and a dock button on top allowing you to start a
cleaning cycle and send the robot back to its base.
Smart Navigation
The Shark IQ’s navigation is a bit of a mixed
back.
Straighter Lines
On the plus
side it tends to navigate in a straighter lines compared
to other robot vacuums that bounce and zigzag.
Cons
Cleaning performance against
larger debris
One thing we
noticed with the dustbin on the robot got clogged several times and caused problems with
the auto empty function. Cereal seemed to be the main issue related
to clogging.
Onboard dustbin
In addition, the
onward dustbin is only 0.16 liters meaning
it fills up quickly.
Boundary Strips
However, we
were not impressed with the boundary markers. The included
boundary tape can be used to block off an area, but the thick black strip is a bit
of an eyesore, especially
when compared to other robot vacuums that offer infrared virtual barriers or
digital keep-out zones.
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The overall
value of the Shark IQ is great with several advanced features that offer an
improvement over previous Shark models. Highlights are the onboard mapping and room select, Wifi connectivity,
App control, and of course the self-emptying dustbin. Drawbacks
are the
boundary strips, clogging and the onboard dustbin, particularly
with large debris and some less than stellar debris pickup at least in our low
pile carpet test.