The Shark IQ Robot AV992 Series is a well-built robot vacuum. It maneuvers itself decently well and has an incredible battery performance, although it recharges slowly. It delivers impressive performance on bare floors and delivers passable performance on high-pile carpet. However, it struggles with lifting away debris embedded in low-pile carpeting. This vacuum offers great automation features with its app, and while it lacks a virtual boundary-setting feature, it comes with a physical boundary strip you can use to keep it out of certain areas.
Our Verdict
The Shark IQ Robot AV992 is decent on bare floors. It's well-built, has a fantastic battery life, does a satisfactory job of maneuvering itself, and delivers great overall debris pickup performance, so long as its dustbin is empty. While it easily clears smaller debris like rice, it can struggle with bulkier material like cereal as it fills up. Unfortunately, like many robot vacuums, it also incurs high recurring costs and has many parts that require regular maintenance.
- Fantastic battery life.
- Easily sucks up rice.
- Difficult to maintain and high recurring costs.
- Bulky debris gets caught in brushroll.
The Shark IQ Robot AV992 is okay on low-pile carpets. It picks up a good amount of pet hair but struggles more with other debris, especially fine material like baking soda. While its battery performance is superb, its suction performance on low-pile carpets worsens as its dirt compartment fills up. It also incurs high recurring costs and has many parts that require regular maintenance.
- Fantastic battery life.
- Difficult to maintain and high recurring costs.
- Struggles with smaller debris.
The Shark IQ Robot AV992 is a passable choice for cleaning high-pile carpets. It's well-built, has an incredible battery performance, and does a decent job of maneuvering itself. It clears most pet hair and a good amount of debris like sand from high-pile carpets. However, it struggles more with fine material like baking soda, and its suction performance drops as its dirt compartment fills up. It also incurs several recurring costs and has many parts that require regular maintenance.
- Fantastic battery life.
- Clears most pet hair.
- Difficult to maintain and high recurring costs.
- Performance drops as dirt compartment fills.
The Shark IQ Robot AV992 is an acceptable choice for cleaning up after pets on floors. It has a self-cleaning brushroll, which will help reduce hair wraps, and it clears a good amount of pet hair from both bare floors and high-pile carpets. Unfortunately, it doesn't do as well with pet hair on low-pile carpeting. It also lacks an allergen-trapping HEPA filter.
- Good build quality.
- Self-cleaning brushroll.
- No HEPA filter.
- Difficult to maintain and high recurring costs.
The Shark IQ Robot AV992 is a robot vacuum and isn't suitable for cleaning stairs.
The Shark IQ Robot AV992 is a robot vacuum and isn't suitable for cleaning car interiors.
The Shark IQ Robot AV992 Series is a robot vacuum and isn't suitable for use in workshops.
Changelog
- Updated Jan 10, 2023: Updated text in 'Introduction' and 'Compared To Other Vacuums' boxes to reflect new debris pickup results from retests as part of Vacuum Test Bench 0.5 and Vacuum Test Bench 0.6 to improve review clarity.
- Updated Jan 06, 2023: Updated text in 'Bare Floor Performance (Hardwood, Laminate, Tiles)' and 'High-Pile Carpet Performance' boxes to reflect new debris pickup results from retests as part of Vacuum Test Bench 0.5 and Vacuum Test Bench 0.6.
- Updated Nov 25, 2022: We've changed the full product name to 'Shark IQ Robot AV992 Series' in order for the review to encompass all model variants.
- Updated Sep 23, 2022: Converted to Test Bench 0.6.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
The Shark IQ Robot AV992 comes in one color, 'Black', which we tested. You can see its label here. This vacuum is also sold as the Shark IQ Robot AV993 or the Shark IQ Robot AV970. These have similar specifications to the AV992, so we expect these variants to deliver similar performance overall.
If you come across another variant or your vacuum is different, please let us know in the comments below so we can update our review.
Popular Robot Vacuum Comparisons
The Shark IQ Robot AV992 is a fairly unremarkable mid-range robot vacuum. It has a decent set of automation capabilities, like room mapping and recharge and resume capability. It lags in performance and maneuverability compared to a similarly-priced LIDAR model like the Roborock Q5.
If you want to see other options, see our lists of the best robot vacuums, the best robot vacuums for pet hair, and the best Shark vacuums.
The iRobot Roomba i4 is better for most purposes than the Shark IQ Robot AV992. The iRobot delivers much better performance on bare floors is somewhat better on high-pile carpets as well. It automatically adjusts its head height and suction power depending on what surface type it's cleaning. On the other hand, you can set the Shark's suction power manually, unlike the iRobot.
The Shark AI Robot RV2001 and the Shark IQ Robot AV992 have different strengths, and which you prefer depends on your needs. The AI Robot has better battery performance and offers more advanced automation features, like schedule programming for individual rooms. However, the AV992 delivers much better performance on bare floors.
The Shark IQ Robot RV1001 is a better robot vacuum for most purposes than the Shark IQ Robot AV992. They're very similar in most ways, except for performance: the AV992 does a better job of handling pet hair on most surface types.
The iRobot Roomba i3 is better for most purposes than the Shark IQ Robot AV992. The Roomba is better built and has more advanced automation features. It has an automatic dirt disposal feature, so you shouldn't need to empty its small internal dustbin, and it does a much better job of maneuvering itself. On the other hand, the Shark does a significantly better job cleaning bare floors and low-pile carpeting.
The iRobot Roomba 981 is better than the Shark IQ Robot AV992 for most purposes. The iRobot delivers much better performance on bare surfaces. It has a better build quality, incurs fewer recurring costs, and is easier to maintain. It's equipped with a HEPA filter and does a better job of maneuvering itself. On the other hand, the Shark has much more advanced automation features with the inclusion of room mapping.
The Shark IQ Robot AV992 and the iRobot Roomba 694 each have advantages, so one might suit you better than the other, depending on your needs. The Shark has a longer battery life, a broader range of automation features, and superior performance on low- and high-pile carpets, especially with pet hair. However, the iRobot feels better built, incurs lower recurring costs, has fewer parts needing periodic cleaning, and recharges much faster.
The Roborock S6 is a better robot vacuum than the Shark IQ Robot AV992. The Roborock has a better performance on bare floors. It also has better build quality, has less demanding maintenance needs, and incurs fewer recurring costs. On the other hand, the Shark delivers better performance on high-pile carpets.
The Shark EZ Robot Self-Empty AV911S is better than the Shark IQ Robot AV992. The EZ has an automatic dirt disposal function, charges slightly faster while offering similar overall battery life, and maneuvers over tasseled rugs with less difficulty. Meanwhile, the AV992 has fewer parts that need regular cleaning and incurs lower recurring costs.
Test Results
The Shark IQ Robot AV992 has a good build quality. It's made of black plastic with a mostly matte finish, with glossy accents and a rubber front bumper and wheels. The dirt compartment is also made of hard black plastic but feels like it may break if dropped. Assembly is very easy since all you need to do is install the side brushes, which snap into place on the bottom of the vacuum.
Note: Unfortunately, after testing, our unit had noticeable scratches on its body and bumper.
The Shark IQ Robot AV992 has many parts that require regular maintenance; this makes it a bit difficult to maintain. Luckily, they're easy to access.
- Dust bin: The dustbin can be removed by pressing the release button near the back of the vacuum. You should empty it over a garbage can after each use. You can also pull off any hair gathered on the anti-tangle comb attached to the dustbin.
- Brushroll: The brushroll is advertised as self-cleaning, but you can also lift the brushroll cover door on the bottom of the vacuum to access it and clear away any built-up debris by hand.
- Side brushes: The side brushes can be pulled out of their sockets for cleaning. You should dust them with a dry cloth and remove any tangled hair when needed.
- Filter: The filter is located inside the dirt compartment. You can't wash it with water, but it needs regular cleaning by tapping it over a garbage can to remove excess dust and debris.
- Front wheel: Needs to be periodically removed so you can clear any debris from the wheel and its housing. It can be a bit difficult to remove, and you may need to use a tool.
- Drive wheels: The drive wheels should be dusted regularly. Be sure to rotate them in their housing as you do.
- Sensors: The sensors on the vacuum should be cleaned periodically with a dry cloth.
- Charging pads: The charging contacts under the vacuum and on the charging dock should be dusted periodically with a dry cloth.
This vacuum has several recurring costs.
- Filter: The user manual doesn't specify a replacement interval for the filter, but says it should be replaced regularly to maintain the vacuum's performance.
- Brushroll: The brushroll should be replaced whenever you notice visible wear or every six to 12 months.
- Side brushes: The side brushes should be replaced when bent or damaged.
- Front wheel: The front wheel should be replaced every 12 months.
Note: The manual indicates that you can buy replacement parts on Shark's website, but it doesn't currently have filters, side brushes or front wheels available for this particular model.
The Shark IQ Robot AV992 is incredibly easy to store. It's about the same size as the Shark IQ Robot, and it comes with a small and low-profile charging dock.
The Shark IQ Robot AV992's dirt compartment is unremarkable. It's small and needs emptying fairly often. Unfortunately, it doesn't have a max fill line or any indicator to let you know when it's full, and it's made of opaque plastic, which makes it hard to see how full of debris it is.
- Shark IQ Robot AV992 vacuum
- Dust bin
- Filter
- Brushroll
- Brushroll door
- Side brushes
- BotBoundary strip
- Charging dock
- User guide
The Shark IQ Robot AV992 has a practically unlimited range as long as it has room left in its dirt compartment and battery life remaining, but it can't go up or down stairs.
The Shark IQ Robot AV992 is impressively portable. Although it lacks a carrying handle, it's significantly lighter than some of the heavier robots we've tested, including the iRobot Roomba 981 and the Wyze Robot Vacuum.
The Shark IQ Robot AV992's battery performance is fantastic. Set to its highest suction mode, 'Max', it provides a little over an hour of continuous cleaning. On its lowest suction setting, 'Eco,' it lasts for more than two and a half hours. It recharges more quickly than the Shark IQ Robot but still takes about four hours to charge fully, which is quite long.
Conveniently, there are two lights on top of the vacuum that indicate its remaining battery life. When both lights are blue, the vacuum is fully charged. As the battery depletes, one of the lights turns off to indicate a partial charge. When it reaches low battery, the light turns red.
Battery performance can vary with real-life use, and your experience may be different.
The Shark IQ Robot AV992 has few quality-of-life features. There are three power modes, 'Eco', 'Normal', and 'Max'. The vacuum always defaults to 'Normal' mode and if you want to use another setting, you need to manually change it each time in the app. You can only change the power mode when the vacuum is running.
The Shark IQ Robot AV992 is equipped with two side brushes that help to push debris into the path of the main brushroll.
The Shark IQ Robot AV992 delivers great performance on bare floors. It's very effective in clearing away small and bulky debris when its dustbin is empty. However, its ability to clear larger debris like cereal drops significantly as the dirt compartment fills up.
The Shark IQ Robot AV992 has a middling performance on low-pile carpets. It clears a fair amount of larger debris like sand. Unfortunately, it struggles with fine debris like baking soda.
The Shark IQ Robot AV992 has okay performance on high-pile carpets. It clears away a reasonable amount of large debris like sand and fine material like baking soda, though it'll still probably need to make an extra pass or two to collect everything.
The Shark IQ Robot AV992 has decent maneuverability. It moves in long straight lines at first and then cleans by smaller sections as it approaches obstacles. It's small enough to go under low furniture and doesn't get tangled up in electric cords, although it can push or drag them around before driving over. Unfortunately, it can get caught on rug tassels.
The Shark IQ Robot AV992 has excellent automation features. It works with a companion app that allows you to check the vacuum's battery status, change the power mode, receive push notifications about its status, start and stop cleaning sessions, schedule cleaning sessions and see its cleaning history. It also allows you to control the vacuum with voice commands if you have a Google Home or Amazon Alexa device. Unlike the Shark IQ Robot, you can't use the app to direct it to a specific room in your home, but you can see a map of the area covered after each cleaning session, and you can set the vacuum to 'Recharge and Resume' so that it continues cleaning where it left off after returning to the dock to recharge. Unfortunately, the app itself isn't very intuitive.
While there's no way to set virtual boundary markers in the app, the vacuum comes with a physical 'BotBoundary' strip that you can use to keep it out of a certain area. It also has buttons on top that allow you to start and stop a cleaning session without an internet connection.
