Shark Stratos Cordless Vacuum Review

This vacuum feels well-built. Similar to many other cordless stick vacuums, it's made mainly from plastic, though it's of a higher grade than most. Like the Shark Stratos UltraLight, its wand is made from nonmagnetic metal. However, unlike the UltraLight, you can fold the cordless model's wand in half. The hinges for this mechanism feel pretty sturdy and are covered with textured plastic trim pieces. In addition, the Stratos Cordless' floorhead is made of a denser plastic than its corded sibling. Unfortunately, its dirt compartment is somewhat fragile.

This vacuum is decently easy to maintain.

• Dirt compartment: The dirt compartment can be easily removed by pressing the release button. Its design is far better than that of the Shark Stratos UltraLight, with a debris entry point at the top rather than the side, so debris doesn't spill back down the wand when it's filled. You can empty it over a trash bin by pressing the door release latch.
• Brushroll: The floorhead features twin brushrolls. The primary brushroll, which uses a set of angled fins meant to trap pet hair, is non-removable, and despite the advertised claim of it being self-cleaning, pet hair can still get stuck in the mechanism. Thankfully, a portion of it will start to clear away as you use the vacuum. Regardless, manually cleaning it can take a bit of time, and some small solid debris can accumulate within the floorhead. You'll need to use a coin, flat-head screwdriver, or some other flat object to twist open the locks that hold the brush guard in place. Make sure not to lose the brush guard, as it's necessary for the vacuum to operate. If you want a Shark vacuum with a removable brushroll to clean out tangled pet hair or stuck-on debris, the Shark Cordless Pro is worth a look.
• Soft roller: The soft roller is very easy to remove from its slot. Its smooth surface makes it easy to clean. You should wash it with cold water as needed.
• Pre-motor filters: The foam and felt pre-motor filters sit in a housing at the top of the dirt compartment, and you can only access it after you remove the dustbin. From there, you can just take them out. No maintenance interval is specified, but you need to clean similar filters in other Shark vacuums once a month.
• Post-motor filter: You can find the post-motor filter in its housing within the main body of the vacuum, and it's only accessible after you've removed the dirt compartment. Much like the pre-motor filters, no maintenance interval is given, but the HEPA filters in other Shark vacuums require cleaning every month.
• Sensors: The dirt sensors for the CleanIQ automatic power adjustment system are found inside the upper wand, with their location labeled with a set of 'IQ' logos. You should regularly wipe them down with a clean cloth for the dirt detection system to work properly.

Any part you wash with water must be left to dry for at least 24 hours before reinstalling it.

Note: While there are no specific maintenance instruction requirements for the odor-neutralizing cartridge, it's important to note to only use the vacuum if a cartridge is inserted in the floorhead, even if it's completely depleted.

This vacuum incurs few recurring costs.

• Pre-motor filters: No replacement interval is given for the foam and felt pre-motor filters, but they're very similar in design to other Shark filters that need replacing every two and a half to three years. You can find a new set here.
• Post-motor filter: No replacement interval is given for the post-motor HEPA filter, but it's similar to other Shark filters that need replacing every two and a half to three years. A replacement can be purchased here.
• Odor neutralizer cartridge: A single cartridge will work for six months. You can buy a replacement here.

This vacuum's dimensions are almost identical to those of the Shark Vertex Pro Lightweight, with a MultiFLEX wand that folds in half to reduce its vertical footprint. While there isn't any onboard storage for its included attachments, it still doesn't take up that much space.

The dirt compartment is well-sized. It's on the bigger end of the scale for a cordless stick vacuum, being larger than alternatives like the Dyson V11 and only marginally smaller than that of the Samsung Jet 90 Complete. It's made of clear plastic, so you can quickly tell how full it is at a glance.

• Shark Stratos body
• MultiFLEX Wand
• Vacuum head/Floor nozzle
• Brushroll cover
• Dirt compartment
• Soft roller
• Anti-Allergen Dusting Brush
• Combination crevice tool/soft bristle brush
• Pre-motor foam filter
• Pre-motor felt filter
• Odor neutralizing cartridge
• HEPA filter
• Power adapter
• Battery
• Quick Start guide

Since this is a cordless vacuum, its range is limited only by the remaining battery life and the room left in its dirt compartment.

This vacuum is pretty portable. At just under nine pounds, it's considerably heavier than other cordless stick vacuums like the Dyson V15 Detect. However, its weight is well-distributed, and even though its motor unit and dirt compartment are fairly large, it doesn't feel too heavy when held in your hand.

The battery performance is decent. When the vacuum is set to its most powerful 'Boost' suction mode with its wand and vacuum head attached, it supplies a little over 10 minutes of runtime. Using it as a hand vacuum in its most energy-efficient 'ECO' mode increases its runtime to roughly an hour, which aligns with the manufacturer's advertised battery life. The LED display shows a percentage estimate of the remaining battery life, so you won't run out of charge unexpectedly.

The Shark Stratos has a few quality-of-life features. There are three suction power settings: the energy-saving 'ECO' mode, the high-power 'Boost' mode, and the default 'Clean Sense IQ' mode, which uses the infrared sensors inside the wand to detect dirt and automatically modulate the vacuum's suction power between those two other settings depending on the quantity of dirt being sucked up. An LED strip on the floorhead serves as a visual indicator of how clean the floor is. Unfortunately, there's no way of changing the brushroll height or shutting it off. There's also a headlight mounted inside the vacuum head to illuminate dark areas. There's also an odor-neutralizing cartridge mounted in the floorhead, and you can adjust its intensity by twisting the cartridge in its slot; do note that it can become overwhelming if you leave it at its highest intensity level.

This vacuum has a couple of tools and brushes. It has an Anti-Allergen Dust Brush for cleaning fine debris from delicate surfaces or cleaning ceiling fans, a crevice tool, and a slide-on soft-bristle brush. Note that the vacuum's connection point is rectangular in shape, which is somewhat unusual as far as vacuums go.

You can use this vacuum as a handheld by removing its wand and floorhead.

This vacuum does a great job of dealing with messes on hard floors. Its twin-roller head does a good job of collecting a wide mix of debris, from fine material like sand to bulkier debris like cereal, in a single pass. Unfortunately, a small amount of debris can get caught in the floorhead instead of being sucked into the dustbin, and it could spill back out once you shut the vacuum off.

This vacuum's debris pickup performance on high-pile carpet is good. The Clean Sense IQ system does a good job of responding to large amounts of debris, quickly boosting suction to match the required load. While it clears away the large debris like cereal on this surface type as well as medium-sized material like rice, you'll need to make another pass to deal with finer debris embedded deep into carpet fibers. Its asymmetrical floorhead can also cause it to drag around a small amount of debris on the left side of its cleaning head.

This vacuum performs well on low-pile carpet. It clears away the majority of large debris like cereal and medium-sized debris like rice, though it can push some debris to the very edges of its head rather than suck them up. It'll also take more than one pass to fully clear away fine debris like sand embedded deep within carpet fibers.

This vacuum does a good job of cleaning pet hair on low-pile carpet. It can clear away the majority of hair within a single back-and-forth pass, though you'll likely need to make an extra pass to deal with more deeply embedded short strands.

This vacuum's real-world suction performance is reasonably good. Its twin-roller floorhead diffuses its suction over a larger area than most alternatives with single-roller floorheads. However, it still exerts enough force to draw away debris deep within carpet fibers and most cracks and crevices.

As Shark's flagship cordless stick vacuum, it'll come as no surprise that the Stratos' airflow performance is fairly good as far as cordless vacuums are concerned. It doesn't move as much air as the best models from other brands, like the Dyson V15 Detect, but it still delivers sufficient airflow performance to easily lift away most kinds of solid debris.

This vacuum isn't too loud. It's a little louder than alternatives like the Dyson V11, with the sound of its operation crowding out nearby normal conversation. However, it's unlikely to be too disruptive if you use it in a partially enclosed room.

The Shark Stratos is impressively maneuverable. Like its predecessor, the Shark Vertex Pro Lightweight, it has a flexible wand that allows you to clean under tables and couches without crouching too deeply. It takes some getting used to this design, but cleaning under furniture becomes a lot more comfortable once you do. Its pivoting head also makes it easy to maneuver in between obstacles. It's easy to reconfigure into a handheld vacuum and attach any of the included accessories. However, the lack of a turbo brush or even a wide aperture upholstery nozzle means that cleaning cloth furniture is a slow process. There's also no onboard tool storage, so you'll have to set down its two included attachments somewhere else as you clean. Since there isn't a brushroll on/off switch or floorhead height adjustment, it can occasionally get stuck on rugs and some tassels.

This vacuum is decently effective when cleaning furniture with its crevice tool. The tool does a good job of handling hair, but its narrow nozzle size makes cleaning large areas pretty impractical. This vacuum would perform better in this regard if, like the Shark Stratos UltraLight, it came with a miniature turbo brush tool. Since the dirt-detecting sensors are found inside the upper part of the wand, the 'Clean Sense IQ' system still works when you use the vacuum handheld. It does help increase its suction when passing over an area with a lot of hair. However, the system can also cause the vacuum to shut off automatically, as it may perceive a brief moment of full contact between the suction inlet and contact surface to be a blockage.

This vacuum is quite effective in trapping fine allergens. While its onboard HEPA filter and allergen-sealed construction ensure most fine particles won't escape from the dustbin while cleaning, a small number of lightweight allergens can be blown forward from its floorhead.

The Shark Stratos does a great job of cleaning crevices. Its secondary soft roller helps dig into shallow and medium-depth cracks and dig out any lightweight debris. While its Clean Sense IQ feature won't increase its suction power when passing over perpendicular crevices, it does recognize debris when moving the vacuum parallel to them. Still, you can use the crevice tool to clear out any deeper cracks.

This vacuum has no impact on stains.

This vacuum isn't designed to deal with liquid spills.

This vacuum has no automation capabilities.

This vacuum has no companion software.