At home, we needed to use it on its highest setting for maximum effectiveness, so the battery didn’t last as long as it did when lab testing. Weighing less than 6 pounds—about as much as the Dyson V12 Detect Slim and considerably less than the Ryobi 18V One+ HP vacuum—the DS4095 feels almost buoyant to use. The Outsize Plus has a wider brush and an even larger bin than the V15 Detect, but its motor is slightly less powerful. In our testing, we found that the Fluffy head picked up larger debris that the Motorbar head tended to snowplow. The Fluffy head swallowed everything we presented it with, aside from a large mound of Cheerios (which it choked on) and a huge cockroach (which got stuck in the brush housing).
The brush head is much larger too, so it’s more difficult to quickly maneuver it in small rooms. Shark has a diverse lineup of vacuums, and their naming convention can sometimes be confusing. Overall, both Shark and Dyson vacuums perform well in our tests and we have recommended them both often. Read on to see the differences between them that we’ve found through testing and brand research and that you should know before choosing. We don’t recommend any mini handheld vacs because our picks are better performers, similarly priced (or less expensive), and more versatile. However, if you have hand or wrist issues, one of these lighter hand vacs might be a good alternative.
The effective cleaner makes it easy to clean up messes and has a long battery life as well. Kibble spilled on the hard floor was no match for this vacuum, though it proved to be more difficult to pick up on the carpet. Oddly enough, we actually didn’t even see the attachments—they’re stored separately—until later on in our testing, which should give you an idea of how well this handheld vacuum shark pet vacuum works on its own. Overall, the best Shark vacuum for pet hair is the ZU62 Navigator Zero-M Self-Cleaning Brushroll Pet Pro Upright Vacuum. Though it’s billed for pet owners, it’s got enough suction power for everyone’s cleaning needs and could certainly function as your home’s main vacuum. The beauty of this vacuum is that it’s only 3 pounds, making it easy to carry all around your house.
Keep your hard floors and carpets tidy without lifting a finger — this intelligent robot vacuum does it for you. Built-in sensors help it navigate around furniture, avoid staircases and pick up dirt on multiple surfaces. Tap into your Google Smart Home or Alexa to give voice commands, or use the connected app to create a cleaning schedule that’ll shark pet vacuum run when you aren’t home. Best of all, you can get this powerful little device for $90 off right now. If you prefer a lightweight, easy-to-store device over a hefty upright vacuum, you’ll love the Shark Vertex. For $71 off, it packs a powerful punch with a 60-minute battery life and the same dual brush roll design of Shark’s full-size vacuums.
We do think the canister is best used from the ground, rather than trying to carry it while also maneuvering the extension wand, but that’s a personal preference. The Shark Navigator Lift-Away Deluxe Upright Vacuum has absolutely sailed through multiple rounds of our testing, proving to be efficient, powerful, and reliable—exactly what an upright vacuum should be. In fact, it’s currently our favorite overall vacuum (out of more than 300 tested vacuums), and it’s even earned a spot in the personal vacuum collection of one of our editors—she’s been using it regularly for four years. While price is greatly determined by the type of vacuum you buy, you can find Shark vacuums we love for $75 to $400, with most models costing around $180. Considering you can usually find these powerhouses on sale, Shark’s vacuums are a great find and highly competitive with options from other well-known brands, including Dyson.
It took switching to a different stick vac for me to realize some of Dyson’s perks. While we can’t include them all in this article, the following are some notable models that didn’t quite make our best-of cut. It has just one level of suction, which proved to be totally sufficient for our needs, pulling in hair and raisins in our lab. In fact, it even “grabbed” the high chair cover we had on for testing, so be aware that this handheld machine means business (and maybe be extra careful around loose fabric like curtains and tablecloths). But overall, this is a trusty cleaning machine that’s made cleaning easier and faster for me. After roughly a year of regular usage, it’s still a beast of a vacuum, in all the right ways.
That means we can tell you not just how well they cope with everyday cleaning, but how well they cope with tougher tasks and unexpected messes. And because we’ve used them for long stretches of real-world cleaning we can tell you whether they need too-frequent trips to the trash or whether the manufacturer’s battery life claims are overly optimistic. If your home is almost entirely made up of hard flooring, a good vacuum for hardwood flooring, like the Dyson Omni-Glide Vacuum might be a worthwhile investment for you. On the other hand, shark handheld vacuum if you live in a fully carpeted home, the Bissell 1984 AirRam Cordless Vacuum would be a great (and much more affordable) option. We tested the Shark Wandvac head-to-head with the Dyson V8 cordless vacuum in our lab, and the Shark Wandvac performed just as well, if not better, than the Dyson (and it’s about half the price). We looked for batteries that charged within four hours or less, and we considered it a plus if a vacuum’s run time exceeded 30 minutes and its battery could also work in a variety of tools from the same company.