The Shark 2

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I’ve tinkered with and used a fair share of robot vacuums while bouncing from rental to rental this last decade. I’ve seen friends’ vacs get caught under bed frames and TV stands, listened to roaring motors suck up cat hair like margarita salt, and watched my own self-sufficient cleaner knock over a beloved potted plant only to smear wet dirt everywhere and get stuck on broken terracotta. To say I’ve been baffled by smart cleaning devices is an understatement.

But after a month and a half of testing, emptying, and living alongside the Shark AI Ultra 2-in-1 robot vacuum and mop, I’m happy to say that this is, by far, the best robot cleaner I’ve encountered. From its dual functionality as a vacuum and a competent mop to its smart app functionality and self-emptying base, this Shark robot is one reliable cleaning comrade.

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AI Ultra 2-in-1 Robot Vacuum & Mop with Self Emptying Base

$794.01

amazon.com

I’ve had poor experiences with robot vacuums in the past. They’ve knocked plants over, rammed into objects and startled me at work, and never seem to grasp the mapping of my living spaces. The Shark AI Ultra 2-in-1 proves how far this smart tech has come.

Setup is painless and as simple as placing its charging dock in an infrequently trafficked area, while app-control cleaning is just a few swipes away. After unboxing my robot, all I needed to do was download the SharkClean app, name my robot (I landed on Bobo), and give it time to run through my apartment to map the space out.

It only took Bobo 20 minutes to explore my 754-square-foot space, and its expedition showed the hard-to-reach places I don't want it to obstruct or try cleaning. From there, I was able to name each room and set up no-go zones–my bed, kitchen island, and living room couch. With Bobo now linked to my smartphone, I can tap which rooms I want it to spot clean and schedule a vacuum or mop routine. Alternatively, I could simply pick Bobo up, place it in a room I want to be cleaned, and manually press its "Clean" button.

I’m used to grabbing robot vacuums and tossing them into areas that need cleansing, swiftly clearing any floor debris (clothing, random pillows, boxes, etc.), and shutting the door behind them so they don't annoy me. Thankfully, the Shark AI Ultra 2-in-1 Robot Vacuum and Mop is competent enough that I can let it roam—it tracks what's around it to avoid collisions, and I’ve never seen it get stuck through my month and a half of trying it out. Even if I did have to carry it, at roughly 13 pounds, it's not a pain to place around my apartment. That might be a relief for those considering purchasing this without its self-emptying base (which can save you $250).

Bagless, self-emptying, and packaged with reusable mopping pads, this Shark vacuum-mop combo is a smart buy in the long term. No, this device doesn't have a dust bin as large as a standing vacuum, but it empties out when it detects a full bin and then keeps going until your floors are clean. It also auto-charges and always finds its charging station, saving you the hassle of manually plugging it in when the battery is low.

The AI Ultra 2-in-1 comes with two swappable heads: one with a large dedicated dust bin, the other with a water tank and a smaller dust bin. The vacuum head has a relatively large bin for suctioning dirt and debris, and it's smart enough to self-empty when full–after a certain capacity, the robot will travel to its dock, back its butt up to the port, and dump out the suction debris. It's a great feature that saves time and hassle from picking up the robot and emptying the dustbin yourself.

The mop head attachment is comprised of a small dustbin and a large water tank you fill with water and soap. The smaller dustbin fills up fairly quickly since it's sharing space with the tank, but if you usually vacuum before sweeping—as one should—it shouldn't be a problem. Once the robot is finished mopping, you can toss the pad into the hamper for machine laundering.

As a former Swiffer user, the washable mopping pads alone are a lifesaver. The self-emptying tank is also awesome—the brand says it can take up to 60 days of debris, but I find myself emptying it into my trash can before it gets full. It's a simple task that takes a few seconds, plus it's loaded with a HEPA filter that catches the smaller dust particles before going airborne through disposal.

Apartment-dwellers know what it's like to store big appliances in a tiny closet—not many of us have the space for a bucket and mop, let alone a non-stick vacuum cleaner. Thankfully, unless you live in a commercial kitchen or are dangerously prone to making big messes, the Shark two-in-one robot cleaner is an excellent replacement for a standalone mop.

This robot wheels around your apartment and shimmies its mopping pad over every surface with a thin layer of soapy water—less than a puddle but more than a wipe from a damp towel. That means it doesn't take long to dry, which is a massive timesaver. That convenience beats the hell out of carrying a soppy mop head around your living space and dropping water everywhere you go—or even finding the proper outlet for your floor steamer to reach the most square footage at once.

I’ve been letting Bobo mop once a weekend, and it's been awesome having my bare feet on clean floors without much effort from me. The mop's tank fills up with three-quarters of water and roughly one-quarter cleaning solution—a 12-ounce trial size of the latter is included in your package.

The solution is enough for approximately 1,000 square feet of cleaning, so one tank full is all I need for my living place. The water tank doesn't self-empty like, say, the Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra robot vacuum and mop (which is double the price of this Shark, by the way), but it's still capable of vacuuming and mopping simultaneously, which is a great feature.

In an ideal world, a robot cleaner is as whisper-quiet and non-intrusive as possible. While Shark, Roomba, and Roborock continue to compete in that race, I don't believe any robot cleaner can completely hide its operation, and the Shark AI Ultra is no exception. If you’re home, you’ll definitely know when this thing is on.

That may not be a problem for those who are scheduling their robot to clean while they’re out, but those of us who’d love to wake up to a spotless apartment will need some noise-canceling headphones for overnight use. That whirring noise is far too loud. Furthermore, when it's self-emptying, its dock's suction whoosh is similar to a hair dryer on high.

It's also a slight bummer that the two-in-one functionality requires swapping its parts. Because one of the robot's heads is strictly for vacuuming and the other for mopping, with a small dustbin, swapping its pieces is a frequent activity. Keeping your dock and your robot vacuum/mop in one place is satisfying, but it's frustrating to have to keep a second head nearby, especially when that head isn't exactly decorative.

Lastly, I haven't calibrated the mop feature to skip over any rugs in my apartment, but it doesn't appear that the functionality exists. If the mop scales one of my low-pile rugs, it simply mops over it. I don't mind that my rugs get a little damp since everything I own is either low-pile or a washable Ruggable, but anyone with plush, high-pile mats should keep this in mind. You’ll either have to move your thick rugs out of the way, or set up no-go zones around them, preventing robot from vacuuming over them in future cleaning cycles.

The Shark AI Ultra 2-in-1 Robot Vacuum and Mop is a space-saving ultra cleaner, with smart functionality, bagless vacuuming, and near hands-free operation. As someone who lives in a sub-1,000-square-foot apartment, this dual-cleaning robot has been a graceful presence in my otherwise disorderly life.

The ability to clean my entire living space with a few in-app taps, coupled with a large dustbin that only needs to be emptied (approximately) every 60 days, makes cleaning hassle-free. Despite its noisy whirring and cumbersome alternative head attachment, it’ll do the cleaning job with dependable results.

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