The Shark EZ Robot Self-Empty AV911S is a robot vacuum with an external dustbin. It's well-built, quite maneuverable, and offers superb battery performance. Cleaning performance on bare floors is good, and it does a great job of sucking up debris on high-pile carpet too. That said, its overall performance on low-pile carpet is mediocre, especially when sucking up fine debris like baking soda from this surface. Many parts need to be regularly cleaned or replaced, so recurring costs are high.
The Shark AV911S is okay for bare floors. It clears pet hair and small debris like rice without an issue, though it struggles somewhat with bulky material like cereal. It feels well-built, has a long battery life, and offers a fairly wide range of automation features, including its self-emptying dustbin. Unfortunately, many parts need regular cleaning. Recurring costs are also high, with many components needing periodic replacing. Also, while it can do a good job of maneuvering itself, it can sometimes identify objects like electrical cords as obstacles to be avoided.
The Shark AV911S is mediocre for cleaning low-pile carpets. It has no issue clearing pet hair and large debris like sand, but it might take an extra pass to remove fine material like baking soda from this surface type. While it feels sturdily built, it's demanding in regular maintenance requirements, with many parts that need regular cleaning. Recurring costs are also high since many components need periodic replacing, too.
The Shark AV911S is a decent choice for cleaning high-pile carpet. It doesn't have any trouble maneuvering on this surface type, though rug tassels can occasionally get caught in its brushroll. It does a fantastic job of sucking up pet hair from this surface type and delivers very good overall performance when cleaning both fine and large debris like baking soda or sand. It comes with a broad range of automation features, including its self-emptying function. However, many parts need to be cleaned or even replaced regularly, so recurring costs are high.
The Shark AV911S is great for sucking up pet hair. It has no issue sucking up pet hair on a wide range of surface types, from bare floors to high-pile carpet. It also has a removable brushroll, making it easier to remove any tangled hair wraps. It has a long battery life, though this can vary depending on settings and usage patterns. That said, it's demanding in terms of regular maintenance and has high recurring costs. It also lacks a HEPA filter to trap allergens as it cleans.
The Shark AV911S is a robot vacuum and therefore isn't designed to clean stairs.
The Shark AV911S is a robot vacuum and therefore isn't designed to clean the inside of your car.
The Shark AV911S is well-built. It's similar in design to other Shark robot vacuums, like the Shark AI Robot, with a matte-finish hard plastic body and twin drive wheels with rubber treads. Conversely, its hard plastic dirt compartment feels a little flimsy and could break if you drop it. It's easy to assemble out-of-the-box, requiring that you snap its two side brushes into place and place the self-emptying dock station on the including mat. Note that the manufacturer recommends only placing the mat on carpets, as it can slip around on bare floors.
The Shark AV911S is quite hard to maintain as it has many parts that require regular maintenance. Luckily, most parts are easy to access.
The Shark AV911S has many recurring costs.
Note: At the time of this review, no replacement parts for this vacuum are listed on Shark's website.
The Shark AV911S is very easy to store. The vacuum itself isn't very big, and its external dustbin is much shorter than that of the iRobot Roomba i7+.
The Shark AV911S' range is limited only by its remaining battery life. That said, it can't climb or descend stairs.
The Shark AV911S is impressively portable. It's slightly lighter than alternatives like the iRobot Roomba i7+, though it lacks a carrying handle to make it easier to pick up and lift from room to room.
The Shark AV911S offers superb battery performance. In its high-power 'Max' power mode, it supplies roughly 70 minutes of cleaning time. You can stretch it to over 140 minutes if it's run in 'Eco' mode. Unfortunately, the vacuum doesn't remember the power setting it was set to on previous cleaning sessions, so you have to make that adjustment manually every time. Like the Shark AI Robot, a set of indicator lights on the top surface of the vacuum give you a rough estimate of how much charge is remaining.
The Shark AV911S has a couple of quality-of-life features. There are three suction power modes: 'Normal', which is the default mode that you can only change once the vacuum is up and running, the more energy-efficient 'Eco' mode, and the high-power 'Max' mode.
The Shark AV911S has a pair of side brushes that move debris from the outside edges of the vacuum into the path of its main brushroll.
The Shark AV911S delivers good performance on bare floors. It clears pet hair and small debris like rice without any issue. That said, unlike the yeedi vac station, it struggles somewhat with bulky material like cereal.
Note: All testing was completed when the dirt compartment was empty, with the data for the 0.25L and 0.75L tests being copied from the 0L test. Since this vacuum automatically empties its internal dirt compartment when docked after completing its job, it doesn't lose suction performance.
The Shark AV911S delivers okay performance on low-pile carpet. It has no trouble sucking up pet hair and clears most larger debris like sand. However, it has a hard time cleaning finer debris like baking soda from this surface type.
Note: All testing was completed when the dirt compartment was empty, with the data for the 0.25L and 0.75L tests being copied from the 0L test. Since this vacuum automatically empties its internal dirt compartment when docked after completing its job, it doesn't lose suction performance.
The Shark AV911S delivers impressive performance on high-pile carpet. It sucks up pet hair without an issue and does a great job when it comes to clearing larger debris like sand. Even though it might take an extra pass to fully clear finer debris like baking soda from this surface type, its performance in this respect is still good.
Note: All testing was completed when the dirt compartment was empty, with the data for the 0.25L and 0.75L tests being copied from the 0L test. Since this vacuum automatically empties its internal dirt compartment when docked after completing its job, it doesn't lose suction performance.
The Shark AV911S has good maneuverability. It cleans in an efficient, organized pattern and can even return to areas that require more cleaning. It's also small enough to clean under most couches and tables. It can clean most rugs, though tassels can get caught in its brushroll on some rare occasions. Unfortunately, it struggles with low-lying obstructions like electrical cords, which the vacuum may identify as obstacles to avoid.
The Shark AV911S has excellent automation features. One of its most notable features is its self-emptying capability, which does reduce hands-on maintenance requirements. It requires a 2.4ghz Wi-Fi connection to control the vacuum via the SharkClean companion app. You can use the app to change the vacuum's suction power mode, command it to clean or return to its dock, schedule cleaning sessions, check cleaning history and charge status, update the vacuum's firmware, or enable push notifications. It can also be connected to Alexa or Google Home devices if you'd prefer using voice commands to control the vacuum. All that said, the app itself isn't intuitive and may freeze intermittently. There aren't any physical boundary strips included with the vacuum, and you can't set up virtual no-go zones through the companion app, unlike the Shark AI Robot. You can use the vacuum without an internet connection, but this results in a serious loss of overall functionality.
The Shark AV911S is only available in one color variant: Gray; you can see its label here.
Let us know if you come across another variant of the Shark AV911S, and we'll update our review.
The Shark AV911S is a fairly versatile robot vacuum. Like the iRobot Roomba i7+, it has an external dustbin mounted to its docking station, so you don't need to empty the vacuum manually whenever it gets full. It delivers good performance on bare floors and does an impressive job of cleaning high-pile carpets. However, it has demanding maintenance requirements and incurs high recurring costs, even by the standards of other robot vacuums.
If you're looking for alternatives, take a look at our list of recommendations of the best robot vacuums, the best robot vacuums for carpet, and the best robot vacuums for pet hair.
The iRobot Roomba i3+ EVO and Shark EZ Robot Self-Empty AV911S each have advantages, meaning one may suit you better than the other, depending on your needs. The iRobot has a larger external dustbin mounted to its base station, feels better-built, has fewer parts that require periodic maintenance, maneuvers itself more effectively, and delivers superior performance on bare floors. It also charges much faster, though it doesn't last as long as the Shark on a single charge. The Shark also outperforms the iRobot on carpeted floors, especially with pet hair, and incurs fewer recurring costs.
The Shark EZ Robot Self-Empty AV911S is slightly better than the Shark IQ Robot RV1001. The EZ has an automatic dirt disposal feature, charges a lot faster, gets caught on rug tassels less frequently, and delivers better overall cleaning performance on low and high-pile carpets. Conversely, the RV1001 struggles less with bulky material, like cereal, on bare floors, incurs fewer recurring costs, and is easier to maintain.
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, maneuvers over tasseled rugs with less difficulty, and delivers better cleaning performance on bare floors and low and high-pile carpet. Meanwhile, the AV992 has fewer parts that need regular cleaning and incurs lower recurring costs.
The iRobot Roomba i7+ is slightly better than the Shark EZ Robot Self-Empty AV911S. The iRobot feels better built, is easier to maintain, delivers slightly better performance on low-pile carpet, maneuvers itself more efficiently, and allows you to set up virtual boundary lines through its companion app. Its external dustbin has a larger total capacity than that of the Shark too. Meanwhile, the Shark incurs fewer recurring costs, clears more debris on bare floors and high-pile carpet, and has a considerably longer maximum battery life, though the iRobot does charge a lot faster.
The yeedi vac station is better than the Shark EZ Robot Self-Empty AV911S. The yeedi feels better-built, is less demanding in terms of maintenance, delivers a wider range of automation features, including virtual boundary markers, is more maneuverable, and performs better on bare floors. Meanwhile, the Shark clears debris more effectively on low-pile carpet and takes less time to recharge, though its maximum battery life is slightly shorter.
The Shark EZ Robot Self-Empty AV911S and Shark AI Robot both have advantages, meaning one may suit you better depending on your own needs. The EZ has a much greater dirt compartment capacity because of its external dustbin and delivers superior performance on low and high-pile carpet, especially when dealing with pet hair. Meanwhile, the AI incurs fewer recurring costs, has fewer parts that need regular cleaning, and maneuvers over obstructions like electrical cords with less difficulty. In addition, you can use its companion app to set up virtual boundary lines that the AI won't cross.
The Shark EZ Robot Self-Empty AV911S is better for more use cases than the iRobot Roomba 694. The Shark has a self-emptying feature that lets it dump any accumulated debris from its internal dustbin into an external dirt compartment mounted on its charging station. The Shark does a better job maneuvering itself and clears more debris on carpeted floors. However, the iRobot feels better-built, has fewer parts that need regular cleaning, and incurs lower recurring costs.
The Shark EZ Robot Self-Empty AV911S is better than the Shark ION Robot 2020 for most uses. The EZ delivers better performance on bare floors and carpets, maneuvers itself with less difficulty, and has a broader range of automation features. Its external dustbin also gives it a larger, more effective debris capacity. However, the ION has fewer parts that need periodic replacing or maintenance and has a longer maximum battery life, though it does take notably longer to recharge than the EZ.
The Shark EZ Robot Self-Empty AV911S is better than the eufy RoboVac 11S. The Shark is better-built, has a larger dirt capacity thanks to its large external dustbin, delivers superior performance on all surface types, and maneuvers itself more effectively. Conversely, the eufy is easier to maintain and incurs fewer recurring costs.