Shark - APEX DuoClean Pet Stick Vacuum - Forest Mist Blue

I was very skeptical about spending this much on a vacuum. But I am so tired of picking up hair between my toes when I walk on the carpet! We have dark carpet so it is very hard to see unless the hair is clumped. Plus having to cut my hair out of the spin brush is just so time consuming. My first use actually picked up my hair into the dust barrel (photo). Sure I did have some wrapped around the brush( it was minimal, maybe what i clean out of my hair brush weekly). I have long hair, it’s expected, but it was so easy to cut the strands and remove them compared to the traditional upright vacuums. Probably the only down side was my hand got a bit cramped with trying to drive it around, it is a bit heavy, however even though the design is skimpy it is powerful and versatile and has solved my hair problem.

This is a fantastic vacuum! A better value than Dyson and sucks up every cat hair! The hand vac ability is extremely useful for stairs and furniture. I prefer a plug in vs a charged unit. I'd get it again!

Definitely removes dust and debris on hard wood floors. Strong suction when it comes to carpet!

Works absolutely amazing! However, after so much usage, the belt actually melted through the side of the vacuum and i only bought it in august 2020

I’ve been using this Shark Apex for about a month now, and I have to say it does a really nice job of picking up a lot of dust, dirt, and debris. I like its small form factor and the general lightness as a unit, about 5 lbs for the handheld vacuum motor and 5 lbs for the motorized floor/carpet assembly. I’m also a big fan of the way it easily disassembles and empties for cleaning with few easy-to-press release buttons. That said, one thing my old canister vacuum has as an advantage over the Shark is that it was much less fatiguing to handle for whole house cleaning (more than 30 minutes) because most of the weight was in the canister and sitting on the floor, whereas when using the Shark Apex, you’re handling most of the weight in your hand. I thought it was a neat idea that the unit is modular, and you can attach any of the nozzles to directly to the handheld unit without the wand to use like a dust buster. While it works fine in terms of cleaning, you’re pretty much manipulating all the weight of the vacuum directly by hand, so it ends up not feeling as easy as it looks, especially with the motorized roller attached (10 lbs total!). The various nozzles and attachments give you a variety of options to suit each cleanup job: an upholstery brush for couches and chairs, snap-on bristle brush for dusting, crevice tool for nooks and crannies, and a precision duster for tight and tiny spaces. However, unlike most canister vacuums, there’s no clever built-in storage compartment for these accessories, since that would have added weight and bulk to the unit, so you do need to find a separate place to keep these when not in use. The other thing I had to get used to was that the vacuum can’t stand up on its own when the motor is attached to the top of the wand/floor assembly. Despite all the product images showing the vacuum fully assembled and upright, it does not stand on its own because it is too top heavy. You have to unmount the motor from the extension tube every time you want to step away, otherwise it will topple over. Fortunately, there’s a storage hook on the lower front of the wand to hang the motor for this purpose. This is also how you will put away the unit for storage. The extra step is not necessarily a bad thing, but different than what I’m used to. I did like that there are cord hooks on the side to manage the ample 30 ft cord, as it is neither retractable nor removable. The vacuum works great on carpets. It really pulls out dust and dirt from deep in the pile, and you can tell by looking in the canister afterward just how fine of particles it’s picking up. One thing that I didn’t expect was that when using it in ‘Setting 2’ for carpeting, the faster brush speed actually propels the unit forward, so in a sense it’s easier to push since you can exert less effort. Except when you pull the vacuum back towards yourself, it requires more effort to overcome the forward propulsion of the rollers. It has a silicone bumper in the front, so you don’t make marks or dents if you bump into furniture. The dual brush design is novel to me, and I think the soft brushes do a good job wiping up dust that electrostatic-ly clings to hard floors. It’s almost like a light polish for your floors. The main feature I was looking forward to is the self-cleaning roller which unravels long hair on its own, so you don’t have to cut and rip wrapped hair off the brush. So far, it seems to be working as I haven’t had to do so. Occasionally, I’ll check the rollers and a few strands of hair will be wrapped around the brush, though the manual indicates this is normal and that as hair accumulates the Zero-M technology clears it over time. I don’t have pets, so I can’t comment on how this would perform with pet hair. The LED lights on the unit were a nice feature because it illuminates the dust and debris right in front of the vacuum both on the roller (headlights) and when using the unit as a handheld vac (spot light). There are just areas and corners of rooms that aren’t well lit and the extra light helps me see all the dust that I might otherwise miss. The only other thing I felt could have been improved is the maneuverability of the motorized roller assembly. When pushing it around, the joint where it attaches to the extension tube does articulate, but sometimes the wheels don’t respond fluidly to directional changes as they are fixed in a linear orientation and don’t swivel to move in the direction you’re turning. This puts a little extra pressure on my wrist, which is already handling a fair amount of weight and adds to the ease of fatigue when using the vacuum over long sessions. I also thought it was a tad loud, but this is hard to avoid with powerful suction. Overall, the cleaning ability, suction power, and small modular form factor are very good. Hair doesn’t stay tangled in the rollers, and it can pull a lot dust/dirt out of carpeting. However, the vacuum is a bit loud, can feel weighty as a handheld unit and maneuverability as a floor vacuum isn’t always super smooth leading to fatigue over longer cleaning sessions.

I was interested to test this vacuum out as I already own a Shark DuoClean NV801 which is a similar but older model. I vacuum a 2,650 square foot home about once a week. First impressions: it is not as easy to pause as with a standard, upright vacuum that will lock into place. With this one you would need to either lean it up against something or stop and put the canister into the storage position (see photos). It's not the end of the world and probably unavoidable with this form factor. I missed not having a place to attach the provided accessories but you can get these separately if necessary. I was able to complete my task without it being a huge problem but had to think ahead a little more. Now some positives! The cleaning power is just as good as my other Shark vacuum which I was concerned about before testing. It can switch between hard floors and carpet quickly and was actually better at handling area rugs. For instance, we have a long runner in a hallway and I previously had to just use the hose to dab away but with the Rocket, I could put it in the slower brush roll gear and it did an excellent job on the rug. My wife even commented how good it looked (finally!) The Zero-M feature is excellent. I previously had to stop about half way in and clean a mass of hair off the roller with the other Shark vacuum. With the Rocket, I think I saw just a single hair which would probably have been dealt with automatically. I compared the brush roller housings on the the Rocket and the earlier model I own and Shark appear to have really reworked it for the better! An advantage of a stick vacuum like this is that it can get under furniture very easily and I noticed I could really get under and vacuum more than with my upright, which gets close but is prevented from going further by the canister. If you have lots of furniture to vacuum under, this type of vacuum cleaner might be more beneficial in the long run. My wife commented that this vacuum made less scuff marks on the hardwood floors. It was certainly easier to push around than I was expecting. The vacuum also came with a hose and nozzle, as well as an attachment to remove pet hair from furniture. It was possible to detach the canister from the stick and just attach to the brush roll which worked well for doing the stairs. You can also just detach the canister and either add an attachment or suck up debris as is, which was useful when I did not have an attachment to hand. The cord is plenty long and extended as far as my other Shark vacuum does although it seemed to go a few inches further because of the stick form-factor. The canister is a little clumsy compared to the upright vacuum I also own. I like being able to just hold the canister over the garbage can and press a button to dump the debris but with this one, it sort of splits in half so you need to be over a larger garbage can or you might miss. I did first time but at least the vacuum was ready to go again to pick up the small amount I spilled. I only had to empty the canister the same amount as my other vacuum so that was also a nice suprise. All in all, a quite impressive stick vacuum and the Zero-M technology to deal with hair is something I would want on any future vacuum purchase as well. It does an excellent job on both carpets and hardwood floors and is very quick and easy to use around the house, upstairs, downstairs and the stairs themselves!

The self-cleaning Zero-M technology works very well. I’ve spent 25 years cutting my wife’s long hair out of various vacuum brush bars and I can’t believe how well this works. I have an upright vacuum with more suction power and a larger tank but now I prefer using the Shark Apex stick vac because I no longer need to cut hair from the brushroll every month and it is much easier to switch between cleaning modes. There is an undocumented fourth “stair cleaning” configuration with this stick vac. You can attach the handheld vacuum directly to the motorized floor nozzle. It is a no-brainer and works great. The width of the floor nozzle is perfect for stairs. (photo attached) The rotation of the brushroll / soft roller helps pull the vacuum forward which makes this fourth config really easy to use on stairs. I also use this config to clean our cat furniture. Attached is a collage that shows my accessory storage solution. I store the crevice tool and the multi-tool in a draw-string bag I had on hand from another product. I hang the bag and the precision duster on the upper cord storage hook. You can also see the soft roller comb and the brushroll comb located under the brushroll garage lid. The LED lights, the swivel steering and the ease of switching between cleaning configurations make this stick-vac a pleasure to use. It is extremely easy to access the filters, brushrolls and soft roller for cleaning/maintenance. I really wish they would have included the optional wall mount, my only gripe with this great stick-vac. Pros: - Zero-M technology really works. The bristle guards keep hair from wrapping tightly while the two combs separate hair from the brushroll and sends it directly to the dust cup. Amazing! - Very easy to switch between configurations, upright, above-floor with wand and above-floor with handheld. Photo attached of a fourth mode that works best for stairs. The handheld vacuum connects directly to the motorized floor nozzle. - The swivel steering feature is really easy to maneuver in tight spaces. - The motorized floor nozzle is less than 3” high so it fits under low furniture like beds. - LED lights on both the handheld vacuum and motorized floor nozzle. - Two cleaning modes, floor (brushes spin slower) and carpet (brushes spin faster). - Includes a 5” crevice tool, pet multi-tool and a precision duster. - Very easy to remove and empty the dust cup. - The power cord is 30 feet long. - No tools required to access the filters, brushrolls and soft roller. Easy to open panels and tabs to perform maintenance. Cons: - Storing the handheld vacuum on the hook at the bottom of the wand is awkward. I don’t have room to store it laying down while in the upright mode. I could purchase the optional wall mount but $20 ($13 + tax + shipping) for a piece of plastic is expensive for something that should have been included. - There is no onboard storage for the three accessories. You can purchase the optional plastic storage clip to store two accessories, but it would have been a nice touch to include this item.

The Shark APEX Corded Stick Vac comes to you well packaged. You receive the vacuum, motorized floor nozzle, wand, 5” crevice tool, pet multi-tool and precision duster. It all snaps together easily. You can use it as a regular vacuum using the vacuum, floor nozzle and wand. The floor nozzle has duo clean. This is both a standard bristle brush and brushroll. The brushroll does very well at picking up pet hair. I really like this feature! I also like the LED lights that illuminate the surface you are cleaning. There are also filters to trap particles in the exhaust. You can clean these filters. The suction is decent and compares to many other vacuums. The dirt reservoir fills fairly fast and needs to be emptied. To empty you press to levers on the bottom to remove the reservoir and bring it to your garbage. Press another lever and the bottom of the reservoir opens. This was very easy to do. It cleaned all surface well. I used the vacuum first on the floor. I have pile carpet, Berber carpet and tile flooring. There are two speeds. The slower (first) speed is for hard services like tile, hardwood or small carpets. The fast speed is for carpet flooring. The vacuum works well on all surfaces. The floor nozzle pivots well making it easy to maneuver around obstacles. I made the mistake of using the fast speed on the small doormat and it pulls the carpet towards you. Using the slower speed works much better. I really like that I do not need to change any heads to do the different surfaces. This makes vacuuming easy and a little faster to complete. Based on the material in the dirt reservoir, it appears to clean the surfaces well. I have a dog and the brushroll work very well at picking up the dog hair. The vacuum is a little heavy (4.6 lbs.) as you hold this in your hand while vacuuming. Not excessively heavy but you will notice this after using it for a while. You can use the vacuum, crevice tool, duster and pet multi-tool for a variety of other activities. I used them to clean upholstery and my car. I used the crevice tool on the stairs. The duster tool to do some dusting. The pet multi-tool to clean some upholstery. And all of the tools to clean my vehicle. It is very easy to switch to the various tools. And it does a good job! For storage, you remove the vacuum from the wand and there is a slot for it to slide on to the bottom of the wand. Then just wrap the cord around the provided onboard hook. This allows it to be stored upright. Conclusion: This vacuum works very well! It is very versatile with the various attachments. It is easy to change the configuration as everything easily connects/disconnects. I especially like the brushroll feature as I have a pet and this works very well on pet hair. I also really like that I can vacuum various surfaces easily by doing nothing other than changing the speed. The floor nozzle pivots well to easily vacuum around obstacles. It deserves five stars.