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). Getting back to the price component of value, while the Stratos Cordless is expensive, competing models by Dyson, Samsung, and others are at the same price point if not higher. When comparing the Stratos Cordless to the Vertex, what’s interesting is that despite their very similar weight and size, Shark is able to deliver so much more performance with this new model. In comparison, the Stratos Cordless had more airflow at both the base and the head. It also had significantly more suction power at the base as well as a higher score with the unsealed suction test at the head.
As I mentioned above, in order to engage the wet mopping function on a Crosswave, you need to keep your finger on a trigger. And if you just want a decent vacuum that can suck up wet and dry messes and also occasionally work as a mop, or if you prefer to do a vacuum-only pass before mopping, this might not be an issue. But if you want something that will continuously mop and vacuum, you may find the trigger annoying.
The best uprights have extra-strong suction and swappable brush heads (a motorized cleaner to agitate and lift dirt and debris from deep within carpets, and a soft parquet brush for delicate hardwood flooring). They feature useful hose attachment tools for cleaning stairs, sofas, bookshelves, and tight corners. Plug-in upright vacuums are powerful, versatile, reliable, and capable of cleaning every inch of your home—from thick rugs to hardwood floors.
But, the latter are more lightweight and maneuverable, and are often cordless and more convenient for anyone living in a small space or with lots of stairs. In our tests, this Shark stick vacuum had great run time and was comfortable to hold, easy to use and very maneuverable. The battery can be charged separately, though we wish it had a light to alert you when charging is complete. Nice extras that we didn’t see on other stick vacuums included a capsule to neutralize odors and a wand that flexes in the center to reach under low furniture.
Ryobi’s three-year warranty on this model is longer than the coverage on most other stick vacuums, including Dyson’s. In suction and airflow, the Ryobi 18V One+ HP vacuum performs almost as well as its most powerful competitors. We tried it on rugs, bare floors, car seats, and upholstery, and it did an excellent job of picking up all kinds of debris. In our baking-soda cleaning test, this shark cordless Ryobi model extracted 96% of the debris—nearly as much as the Dyson V12 Detect Slim picked up. Designed to deep-clean rugs and carpet, the V12’s Motorbar cleaner head has tooth-like rubber vanes that, Dyson claims, automatically clear wrapped hair during cleaning. In our testing, the head readily captured 6-inch strands of hair, but the brush was less effective with 18-inch-long hair.
Like its upright sibling, the Stratos Cordless has Shark’s new Odor Neutralizer technology. The system leverages a round cartridge in the main cleaning head, which is intended to freshen the air while the vacuum is in use. Shark claims a maximum of one hour of cleaning time before needing to charge its battery. For comparison, irobot vacuum cleaner the Dyson V12 cordless is rated at a slightly higher 63 minutes of cleaning time in its lowest setting. We will get into Clean Sense IQ a bit more in our features section below. We did want to note that after using Stratos Cordless we think to maximize cleaning time IQ mode is the best setting to use for day-to-day cleaning.
This vacuum is just what you need if your home finds itself with a lot of hair balls from pets and humans. The patented tangle-free brushroll prevents hair from wrapping shark cordless itself inside the vacuum. Like the newer models, it has a HEPA filter and self-cleans with the push of a button when put back on the included charging dock.