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Robot vacuums used to be a novelty. Not anymore. It seems like every tech manufacturer is making their own version of a robot floor cleaner, and the devices themselves range from simple vacuum-only bots, to multi-purpose self cleaning marvels. I’m Erin TGC and I’ve reviewed probably about 30 vacuums in my time as a tech writer. The latest robot vacuum to cross my floor is the Shark AI Self Empty XL robot Vacuum. In this review I'll take a look at how well it cleans, what you get and what you don't with this device, I'll dig into the technology and special features, and tell you if I can recommend it for you and your smart home.
What do you get with the Shark AI Self Empty XL robot Vacuum
The Shark AI Self Empty XL robot Vacuum. This is a vacuum only robot with a self emptying base and charging station. The key differentiator of this base station seems to be that it's bagless. While pretty much every other robot vacuum with a base station that I have reviewed in the last few years uses a sealed vacuum bag to trap dirt and dust, making disposal clean and easy, shark has chosen to go bagless.
While some may feel this is unsanitary, going bagless has a couple of advantages, according to Shark: You don't need to shell out extra cash for brand-specific bags, and you don't have to worry about running out of them.
What’s in the box?
It’s pretty straightforward; you get the robot vacuum, the self emptying base and charging station, and two corner brushes which you will simply need to click into place.
The Shark AI Self Empty XL robot Vacuum Will use its technology including lasers to draw a detailed map of your home’s floor plan. This bot can only handle one floorplan, or one storey at a time.
With a floor plan drawn your next step will be to label the rooms and or set up some cleaning zones; you can designate high traffic areas by the door, or the busy kitchen work triangle as areas which might need additional attention.
Setting a schedule is quite easy. The app makes it simple to choose a time you'd like your home cleaned and which days you want it to do so.
If you're just looking inside the app, it's not immediately obvious that you have voice control at all. Nor does the shark website spell it out very well. The way I discovered I had voice control is when I opened my Google home app and saw a prompt to connect shark clean to google home. With a couple of taps, and logging into my Shark account to link it I was able to ask Google to send my Shark out to clean…
Now let’s get to the nitty gritty… literally. How well does this Shark AI clean?
I put all my vacuums through the same tests; I get them to sweep up finer things like flour or sugar, middle sized bits like rice or oatmeal and bigger cracker pieces, on both carpet and hard floors.
I was actually impressed at how well it picked up all my debris challenges, and what it might miss on one pass, it usually gets on the next.
It cleans in straight deliberate patterns and it seems really effective.
SharkClean app will helpfully estimate the time it will take for it to clean your spaces. As one example, I asked it to clean my hallway and primary bath, and it gave me an estimation of about 35 minutes and it did it in just under that time. Ditto for another clean I tried; it estimated 30 minutes and did it in about 27 minutes.
The robot will keep cleaning until its onboard dustbin is full, then it will head back to home base to empty itself, then resume where it left off.
Looking at the dustbin, it seems fairly large and Shark says it will hold up to 60 days worth of dirt. My testing was merely two weeks, and I can say… it still had lots of room when I emptied it.
Shark tells me The base station filters and dustbin can be cleaned with cold water only. The filter in the robot is not washable
Overall this is a pretty capable bot. It’s an uncomplicated vacuum, yet it has mapping and AI smarts which creates a virtual floorplan map of your home nearly instantly. It cleans surprisinly well on both carpets, rugs and hard floors. It’s also easy to schedule, and organize cleanings for specific rooms, or high traffic areas, thanks to the AI mapping.
I don’t mind the bagless dustbin, since it means no shelling out extra dollars for bags, and it holds quite a bit of dirt and dust.
Downsides? Well, some folks might want that sealed bag for dirt. This bot does only handle one floorplan for mapping. Overall thought I can definitely recommend the Shark AI Self Empty XL robot Vacuum for your home.
It sells for $649USD, but I have not seen Canadian pricing and availability yet.