Customer Ratings & Reviews

Overall the vacuum does a good job. However, I have 5 dogs that shed a good big just coming in and out of the house. I have a shark robot as well so this one is for random hair and for quick pick ups in-between the robots work hours lol. I do like the ease on carpet, pushing and pulling. Most of my flooring is hardwood. My cons, the hair does get stuck at the roller. I have to clean it out frequently. It also gets stuck at the filter. Other than that so far its been pretty good.

Initial Impressions: The Shark PowerDetect is a metal and plastic monument to minimalist industrial design. The Handheld Vacuum, minus the MultiFLEX Wand and nozzle, looks like sci-fi gun straight out of Buzz Lightyear. Attaching the MultiFLEX Wand to the Handheld Vacuum transforms the Shark into a Gundam rail gun. I would look perfectly natural with this thing strapped to my back at a Halloween party. On the other hand, the Dock and Charging Post are aesthetically unpleasant. Cleaning performance is good. It has the typical Shark multi-roller technology that you find in all modern Shark vacuums. The PowerDetect uses an automatic variable speed to auto-adjust to detected dirt level and floor type. The handheld vacuum automatically empties into the Dock’s reservoir. Emptying an independent dustbin is so much easier, and cleaner, than previous bagless vacuums I have owned. Setup: The PowerDetect packing material is 100% recyclable cardboard and not so recyclable plastic bags. All of which was kept to a minimum. There is a quick start guide in the box which includes a QR code to the full user’s manual. Assembly is simple snap and click. It uses the same buttons and push levers that you will find on most modern Sharks. However, unlike previous Shark vacuums, I found some of the buttons and levers in odd places that interfere with the clean ergonomics of my previous Shark Vacuums. For example, the thumb switch that releases the MultiFLEX Wand from the floor nozzle requires me to bend over and pull the wand up while pushing the floor nozzle down with either my foot or another hand. This left me feeling off balance during the procedure. The filters are pre-installed in the Handheld Vacuum and the Dock. The unit comes with two multi-function wand attachments. One is a narrow nozzle with a slip-on brush. The other is a pet hair removal nozzle with a removable matching brush. There is a single peg on the Dock’s base for one attachment. The PowerDetect comes with an add-on plastic part with an additional peg for the other nozzle attachment. Honestly, the addition peg looks more like a cheap afterthought than something designed to be part of the Dock. The Quick Start Guide will get you where you need to go but it is not a substitute for reading the Instruction Manual. Cleaning and performance: Cleaning and performance are “different” than any other vacuum I have used. First, the vacuum has three operating modes. Eco, Detect Mode, and Boost. Eco is low power, least amount of suction mode. This is good for hardwood, cement, and tile floors. Boost is full power, high suction mode best used for heavy dirt, high traffic areas, and rugs. Detect Mode is variable an automatic variable speed mode. Detect mode literally detects floor types and dirt level. The PowerDetect automatically activated Boost Mode on my carpets and then reduced to Eco mode when I moved from the carpet to my hardwood floors. The PowerDetect also shifted between Eco and Boost as it detected heavy areas with increased dust and pet hair and edges. There are two lights on the front of the Nozzle and two on the rear. The lights do an excellent job of highlighting dirt, dust, hair, and other debris. As soon as I could see the dirt in the lights the PowerDetect would change its power mode to address the challenge. It was pretty cool. I was able to replicate this experience on my medium pile carpet, hardwood floors, basement cement floors, and multiple low pile carpets, under and around cabinets, under tables and other furniture, and in spaces where lighting was a challenge. The PowerDetect did a great job with the exception of two carpets that cover my basement media room. My basement carpets have a grain. Like wood has a grain. All of the fibers in the carpet line up in perfect rows like a corn field. Vacuum with the grain and all is good. Vacuum against the grain the PowerDetects digs itself a hole which stops all forward and backward movements. This happened again and again. It did not matter what the power mode was. Nor did it matter if I used a heavy or lite touch on the handle. The solution was to pick the nozzle off the floor and reposition myself to align with the grain. I could still vacuum under my futon because I could still push the vacuum at a slight angle to the grain. But, perpendicular to the grain and I’m forced to pick up the PowerDetect, reposition, and start again. The MultiFLEX Wand: The MultiFLEX Wand has a few neat features. First, the two nozzles that ship with the PowerDetect are interchangeable with the floor nozzle. They also attached directly to the Handheld Vacuum. Second, the MultiFLEX Wand folds in half. This is useful for cleaning under deep furniture like beds, couches, and futons. However, the joint at the MultiFLEX Wand’s hinge and the joint at the floor nozzle lock up preventing much more than simple back and forth motions. The PowerDetect becomes inflexible and forces me to move side to side with my motions instead of allowing the vacuum to move around me. Third, I can store the stick vacuum freestanding. The MultiFLEX Wand will fold 180 degress to allow the Hand Vacuum to rest just above the vacuum nozzle. Thus, it will stand freely in perfect balance. This means I can store the PowerDetect upright, temporarily, anyplace in my home without worrying about it sliding off a wall or laying in the middle of the floor. Dock: Aesthetics have that “don’t spend a cent on aesthetics” look. This wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t for the little misses. For example, the PowerDetect literally hangs from the charging post. It is obvious that the original intent was for the floor nozzle to rest on the floor. The Dock’s thin, plastic, flimsy is molded to support the floor nozzle wheels while the floor nozzle rests on the floor. This creates two issues. First, the charging post leans over slightly when the PowerDetect is in the dock due to the weight of the PowerDetect. The lean is more obvious on a carpet than on a hard surface. This is because the Dock’s flimsy base flexs more on carpet than on a hard surface. Second, the handheld vacuum can be detached from the MultiFLEX Wand hanging from the charging post. Unfortunately, you have to remove the MultiFLEX Wand from the charging post to reattach the Handheld Vacuum to the MultiFLEX Wand. Then replace the PowerDetect in the charging post. The Dock charges the Handheld Vacuum’s removable battery when the Handheld Vacuum is hanging from the Charging post. The Handheld Vacuum’s dustbin is also automatically emptied when placed into the charging post. The charging post has a manual switch that will flip the auto discharge mechanism from auto empty to do not empty, or night mode. My recommendation is to leave the unit in Night Mode until you need to empty the PowerDetect. Otherwise, the Dock will auto empty the PowerDetect every time the PowerDetect is docked, plugged in, or your home recovers from a power outage. The Dock’s Dustbin is a large, hollow box. There are no filters, fancy airflow raceways, or other fancy mechanisms. The Dustbin lifts away easily. The bottom of the dustbin releases with the press of a button. Be sure to hold this over your trash bin, outdoors, because everything comes out all at once when the door drops open. Odor Neutralizer Cartridge: The Dock has a spot for an Odor Neutralizer Cartridge. The Odor Neutralizer Cartridge freshens the exhaust air when the PowerDetect auto empties into the waste bin. It smells like Irish Spring soap. The Odor Neutralizer Cartridge has three odor intensity settings. I found this unique and novel. It beats smelling sour vacuum exhaust. Conclusion: It is a solid middle of the road product. It cleans well. The variable suction and vacuum nozzle lights are fantastic. I like the auto empty feature. I like that the PowerDetect can be stored upright in the Dock or folded over to free stand in a closet. I love the easily removable, long lasting, rechargeable battery. And the Irish Spring scent is pretty cool. But there are little things with the build quality that bother me but do not interfere with the operation, or my experience, with the PowerDetect. The MultiFLEX Wand becomes frustrating to use for under furniture cleaning. The Edge Detect feature, that I did not discuss, is hit or miss depending on the dirt level. And the floor nozzle keeps getting trapped on my low pile basement carpets. There is more to like than not with the PowerDetect. For this reason, I recommend this product.

TL;DR - One of the best cordless stick vacuums I've used, even compared to other leading brands I've owned that cost more. The only thing keeping it from the 5th star is the lack of a smaller powered brush head for sofas and the difficulty in vacuuming on thick/heavy pile carpet, mostly due to the strong suction power. If I could give it 4.5 stars, I would. I've used the Shark PowerDetect Clean & Empty for about a week and vacuumed both carpet, tile and hardwood flooring. The power brush head does a great job of vacuuming up hair and other debris in both directions, and I find the lights on both sides of the brush head convenient. The battery lasts long enough for me to do a quick vacuum on high power for about 1500 square feet of floor area. The auto-empty function works very well and the new process where it empties the bin in two cycles works well to clear almost all of the hair and dust from the bin, although there still is a fine layer of dust left in the cup after. I appreciate the ease of use in emptying the collection bin in the base and it's nice not to have to purchase bags to refill. The design of the bin will make it easy to wash out with the garden hose outside when the time comes to clean it. Overall, this is a great cordless stick vacuum with some innovative features and design that makes quick work of fast cleanup tasks while having the battery stamina to power through a whole-house vacuum session.

I have used a Shark cordless vacuum for several years and it is still going strong, with original battery. So, I was really looking forward to trying this new model out. Very easy to put together. The base does take up a tad bit of floor space. Thoughtful design and seems sturdily built Replaceable battery. Charging is simple as you just drop into the base, however the only indicator of charging is a little light on the battery. Would have been nice to have a better indicator. The unit is a tad top heavy but moving from hand to hand helps. Power on/off is a button on top of the handle. You have a choice of ecco, auto and power modes which are changed by pulling the trigger (seems to me these functions should be switched?). Each increases suction but reduces run time. Using auto mode, I got around 32 minutes vacuuming carpet and edges only and got 45 minutes “mixed” (carpet/hard floor). These times are consistent with my current shark, but this has a much more powerful motor and enhanced “duo” floor attachment. There is a battery indicator on the top of the handle, but it is four little ‘corners” indicating 100%, 75%, 50% and less than 25%. Why not have a timer? Seems like a big miss to me. Dirt indicator light on handle and on floor attachment is nice. I thought this may be just a gimmick, but it indicated “dirty” areas (purple light) exactly where our walk patterns are, whether hard floor or carpet – it was kind of eerie. Also, when it encounters these “dirt” areas it increases its suction. After going over these areas a couple of times the indicator light goes white – except for a couple of carpet spots where I probably need to shampoo the carpet. I did have problems using the vacuum on some of my area and throw rugs. It just wouldn’t move easily or tended to suck up the rug, even using ecco mode. However, if I tried moving vacuum in opposite direction it seem to be much easier to move? After vacuuming our main bathrooms tile floor, I used a light I have that shows any dirt. The floor was virtually spotless. Vacuum head has LED lights. I don’t vacuum in the dark but its great to be able to see under beds, etc. Another great added feature is edge cleaning. When running along the edge of a wall it senses this and turns vacuum power to the edge that is along the wall. It works on either side and indicates if “dirty” area (purple) or clean (white). I also use robot vacuums as well as other manufacturers cordless vacuums and none of these cleaned the edges like this unit does. It occasionally got a little confused if running a long a door, etc. but overall, this worked great and was the most impressive part of vacuum for me. Multi-flex wand allows you to bend the long extension to 90% to allow easy use under beds/cabinets, etc To empty you drop the unit onto the base and it opens the little “door” on the vacuum and sucks out the dirt into the base dust bin. I had to try to “dock” the unit a few times and press down hard to get it to empty. There is a lot of play when docking I would have preferred a more tactful/solid connection feeling to docking. It is very loud when emptying but there is a “switch” on the base to not empty (just charge), which is nice. You can empty the handle yourself which is good as I like to clean the handles dust bin with compressed air from time to time. The bagless design on vacuum and base is nice. But the base dirt bin is not clear so there is no way to know how full it is. Another design miss for me. Filter is easily accessed within the handle and cleaned using soap/water. 2 un-powered secondary attachments – dust crevice and a pet multi tool. The attachments can be used without the wand, allowing close-up vacuuming. Odor neutralizing “puck” that screws into base to stop odors. 5-year warranty on vacuum Overall, this is a nice step up from my current Shark and while not perfect in some design details it does clean very well, and I would recommend it.

I've had the Shark PowerDetect for about 3 weeks now. I'm still trying to get used to it. I'm not in love with it but I like it so far. I'm used to having a corded vacuum and the suction always being super good. I have 3 little dogs and 1 lg dog of which 2 of them shed quite a bit. The vacuum seems to pick up pretty good on the middle setting and even the low setting in the lighter areas. But I really love the high setting because that's what I'm used to. I also don't like having to slow down my speed to make sue everything gets picked up. But now the auto empty is the bomb and it being cordless is pretty awesome. Everytime I go around something I reach to move the cord and it's not there. That's really handy. So I think I just have to give it a little more time and hopefully it will grow on me a little more.

This cordless vacuum is the best I've ever used. Does a tremendous job and is extremely easy to use. The suction is so powerful that it can be a little difficult to push over carpets, but it deep cleans like no other. The only con is the battery only lasts about 20 minutes. I recommend buying spare batteries to combat this.

Vacuum works really well on bare floors & low pile carpet. A little bit loud but not a deal breaker. I do wish you could adjust the pwer rather than it being automatic. Battery time is definitely better than my last Shark cordless vacuum.

Made well had a lottle difficult figuring out all the uses. Love the light weight and a very generous battery life.

It is lite weight with an easy transaction from hard floors to carpet. Honestly picks up better than I thought it would.

This is a very good vacuum, I love the Flexibility and the portability. The auto sense function is great, and works well and helps preserve the battery life. This is a no brainer for anyone that has pets and stairs. This is also great for under furniture. The Auto clean base station is great but the way attachments are added to the base is cheaply done and wonky. For the price there should be a motorized pet brush included.

4.5 Stars Works well. Big difference in suction, quality and ease of use than previously owned lesser ($200) brand. I like the storage stand that automatically sucks out the unit's reservoir! no mess no hassle. Running on high full time reduces battery life, so for mother in law cleaning, I need to do a recharge to finish... Other then that it works really good!

This is a great daily use vacuum to have on hand for those small messes that inevitably occur throughout the day. Pros-convenient charging stand, self cleans each time (can turn this function off as well), good suction power, continuous running with 1 press, attachments included, light detects messes, suctions while moving forward AND backward. Cons: have to manually push head down to put in cleaning/driving position, still feel like the suction of similar Dyson product is stronger.

I use this along with my Dyson V15. The main reason this is great over the Dyson V15 in everyday use, is that you don't have to switch the heads. Dyson requires a different head for the carpet vs the hard floors. With the Shark, it handles both automatically. I will say that the build quality is not up to the Dyson V15. Not that it's cheap, it's just that Dyson V15 feels for substantial. The Shark does a great job with picking up everything from the carpet. I like to check to see if I use the Dyson V15 (with the carpet head) just after using the Shark to see if the Dyson V15 can pick up something the Shark missed. Nope. The Shark got it all. Overall, it's a solid vacuum, just don't expect it to feel as solid as a Dyson V15. But then again it's much cheaper.

I got the Shark - Power Detect to replace my constantly broken and failing Dyson stick vaccum. I wanted it for the auto-empty system and it's versatility. I have had it a month and have been impressed with it so far. It's easy to set up and has great features for about 200 dollars less than a dyson. My review of it, so far so good.

Great vacuum! So powerful I have to keep pulling my kids nerf darts out of it. Picks up everything! Automatically adjusts to surface and dirt ammount. Super convenient and easy to use.

Lightweight but still powerful. Self dumping works well.

I'm loving this vacuum! We just got new hardwood floors and at first I bought the shark detect but then I returned it and got this one instead because this one has more sucking power and better for pets. I love that it changes speed while you're vacuuming in the instance that you have more debris on the floor. The only thing I don't like is the button to change. The functions is right on the underside of the handle and sometimes I accidentally push it. If you are looking for a stick vac then I think you will be happy with this one.

Its a great vaccuum i have a german shepherd her hair gets caught in the bar . But it sucks great.

having to replace it due to the beater bar broke! Prior to that worked great

Excellent power and suction that picks up the tiniest of particles and pet hair. I vacuumed with my old stick vacuum and then used the Shark. It picked up a full container after the other top contender!!