Customer Ratings & Reviews

SET-UP Initial configuration was straightforward and relatively pain-free. Using Shark’s instructions, I chose an iOS device to initially configure my vacuum. A word of note: use SharkClean to search for the necessary app in either the Google Play store or the Apple App Store and not Shark Robot. I was surprised to find how many apps (mostly games) must be weeded through to find the correct Shark app. The Ion Vacuum can only use Wi-Fi on the 2.4GHz band. Prior to configuring the device, you must make sure your Android or iOS device is not connected to your 5GHz Wi-Fi, if so equipped. Like I stated earlier, initial configuration wasn’t error free, but went without much fuss. The errors that I encountered were easily fixed by restarting the SharkClean app. Just when it appeared the Ion failed to configure correctly, restarting the app magically fixed all issues and reported that the vacuum was properly set-up and ready to use. USE I find the actual performance of the vacuum a mixed bag. The Ion does a good job at cleaning up loose debris off my hardwood floors. The long, spinning side brushes help bring anything on the floor or along a wall under the vacuum where the bottom roller can sweep it up into the .1 gallon dust cup. The Ion never failed to remove any debris from the hardwood floors that it encountered. However, its performance on carpets and rugs is quite different. I am not nearly impressed. I have a mix of surfaces in my house. Hardwood floors, tile, short nap carpet, short nap rugs, and a long nap, dare I say “shag” style rug. Once the little vacuum encounters some form of soft flooring, it really seems to be drug down. The vacuum seems to labor quite a bit when sweeping anything other than hard floors. My carpets and short nap rugs never really give any issues to my other vacuums (even cordless ones), but the Shark sounds like it’s a lot of work it to clean those surfaces. Those long, rotating brushes that work so well to sweep along the walls and in the middle of the hardwoods are next to useless on any form of soft material. The brushes are so long, that any little bit of resistance just folds them up as they spin around, making them useless on carpets and rugs. However, to be fair to Shark, the vacuum has never given an error of failed to truck right along while sweeping my carpets and rugs. It has never given up and has even managed to sweep my shag style rug. Something that my big upright can’t do. Lastly, I am in no way a fan of the Shark mapping algorithms. I have never owned a robot vacuum before, but anticipated some form of cleaning protocol for the little Ion. If there is one, I haven’t witnessed it. The vacuum seems to just randomly truck along until it bumps into something and then spins to another direction, wash, rinse, repeat. I was expecting some form of logic or method to its cleaning regimen, but I have yet to see it. There are still areas of my 1st floor that the vacuum has not touched and other areas its been over several times. The vacuum does come with “BotBoundry” tape to keep it confined to a smaller area. This would, without doubt, increase its cleaning effectiveness. But who really wants a bunch of black, magnetic tape stuck all around their house? While it is a solution to help contain the vacuum to a desired cleaning area, it is just not a practical or elegant solution. SOFTWARE This is a huge let down for me. I have found little else useful about the SharkClean app other than telling the Ion to start cleaning and return to the dock. All other functions seem useless. I have tried the different modes for the Ion (Eco, Normal, Max). There appears to be no discernible difference in performance. The vacuum doesn’t decrease or increase its suction and the vacuum runs the same amount of time, no matter what setting it is on. Registering the product via the SharkClean app has proven impossible. Thinking it was just a glitch with the iOS app, I tried to register the product with my Android phone. Both the iOS and Android app appear to work until the very last step and both fail. I get an invalid model number error and an invalid serial number error every time. Thinking it was my inability to type, I even tried to register using the QR code on the bottom of the vacuum. It didn’t work. Furthermore, make sure you remember your password when you create your Shark account. It is an exercise in frustration to reset your credentials. Shark claims the vacuum is compatible with voice assistants. For some reason, mine is not. I have enabled the SharkClean app in my Amazon Alexa app and linked the accounts. However, I have been unsuccessful at getting Alexa to communicate with my Ion. Alexa keeps giving me a communications error and refers me to SharkClean.com to troubleshoot. I tried that, but the results have been the same. No luck. I don’t really find this a deal breaker, as it is just icing on the cake. I can always use the SharkClean app to start and stop the Ion. CONCLUSION The little vacuum has picked up quite a bit of stuff off my floors. I am pleased with its performance on my hardwoods and tile. Once going, it goes about its business and doesn’t give much fuss. Even without moving chairs and barstools, the Ion has never gotten stuck or in a situation it couldn’t find its way out of. My wife thinks it is loud when I use it in the evening, but nothing a couple of clicks on the TV remote can’t solve (I don’t think it’s too loud). My cleaning cycles have ranged from 60 – 90 minutes and then the vacuum returns to the dock for recharging (Recharging from 0% takes about 3 hours). While I like the performance on hard surfaces, I’m not as impressed on carpets and rugs. However, as I mentioned earlier, the Ion may sound like it is laboring, but it still goes about its business without intervention. However, the cleaning area is greatly reduced on carpets and rugs. Those long brushes work great on hard surfaces, but are useless on even the shortest of carpet. In the end, I want to really like and recommend this product. I had high hopes for it, as my other Shark vacuums have been outstanding. Both the Android and iOS apps are very buggy. The vacuum doesn’t seem to have any form of self-learning mapping logic built in. It just appears to go until it bumps into something and then spins around going in that direction until the next obstacle. As of now, this vacuum and its software seem like beta units. I am only going to give it 3 stars. However, I would give it 4 stars if Shark can get the bugs worked out of the software and the user experience.

My wife and I have a Romba. We bought my mother in law this shark due to the Breyer price. She loved it so much we also bought this for my wife’s grandmother. The shark and Romba both do a great job, but the shark is way quicker. My wife and wish we would have bought this.

Love love love this robot vacuum! I’ve only had it for about a month- but it seems to be doing the job. It’s easy to clean- and charges nicely. I don’t think I could live without a robot vacuum anymore. I’ve really been missing out. I definitely recommend.

For the price is good, but the navigation system is just dumb, is hit and miss, with no order at all.

Does the job, cleans well but the phone app lacks a lot. Rather just press the actual Button on the vac

I love my vacum robot . Was a first time for me to use a vacum robot and im happy with mine. I will recommend

Bought this for some friends for Christmas, they love it! Comes with strips to teach it where it can and cannot go!

Pretty good unit for the price, seems to pick up a lot of dust/dirt/etc.

Does a good job for maintaining the amount of dog hair. Bare floors works better of course. I'm happy with it.

My vacuum just died and I bought it 15 mos ago. Besides that disappointment I was incredibly unhappy with the vacuum overall - poor coverage and random cleaning pattern, plus it didn't sense going off an uneven floor and down a step.

Awesome I might buy another one for my family it's just a great machine

Hard to figure out how to dock correctly and how to power on

It cleans carpets real good but wood floors it not so great.

be careful if you have a dog who likes to poop on the floor. The robot can't eat poop very good so it smears all over the carpet and leaves poop trails wherever you go and then you will say "gross look at all this poop!"

The greatest purchase I have ever made. Just download the app set a time for it to run and go. I was shocked when I went to clean it and saw the amount of stuff it was able to pick up. I am so happy I took a chance and bought it.

Keeps up with my dog hair very easily! Just remember to clean it out daily for optimal performance.

Not best but good enough. Still highly recommend iRobot.

Bought this for my parents Christmas present. Can't wait to help them get it set up and running.

I really do like this model, but I am going to upgrade soon.

It is the best thing everrr! Buy it and save some time! I programmed the app on my cellphone and even if I'm not home I can it cleaning... highly recommended