Shark Stratos cordless vacuum review

Price When Reviewed

$499.99

Best Prices Today: Shark Stratos cordless vacuum

Stratos is the latest premium vacuum range from Shark, with both corded and cordless models that are pitched as alternatives to the ever-popular Dysons. 

I’ve been testing the company’s top-end cordless version, which to give it its full name is the Shark Stratos Anti Hair Wrap Plus Pet Pro Cordless Vacuum. That’s a bit of a mouthful, so we’ll stick with ‘Stratos’ for now. 

With prices starting from $499/£449, this is an expensive vacuum, but it still undercuts the top-end models from rivals like Dyson and Samsung, despite offering similar features like an LED floorhead and smart dirt sensor. Even better, the anti-odour tech built into the head is a welcome countermeasure to the musty smell we all recognise from vacuuming carpets. 

Design & build 

• Slim but heavy 
• Flexible body bends to clean under furniture 
• LED lights build into the head 

On a simple level, the Shark Stratos looks a lot like most other cordless stick vacuums, including recent Dyson models. It’s a long, thin design with a transparent plastic dust compartment that sits at the top near the trigger and handle. 

While it’s slim, the Stratos is surprisingly heavy at around 4kg (9lbs), comfortably more than most of its rivals. Fortunately it doesn’t feel that way, helped by the fact that much of its weight is in the main cleaner head, so it’s not top-heavy. 

It also helps that when you’re not cleaning the vacuum can collapse down to a shape that’s much easier to carry. This is thanks to a hinge halfway down the wand, and has the added benefit of making the Stratos cordless much easier to store. 

The hinge has another advantage too. You can use it while cleaning to allow you to angle the vacuum better to reach under sofas and other furniture without having to crouch down yourself. 

This is also when you’ll appreciate the LED lights built into the main cleaning head, which illuminate the floor ahead, revealing dust and grime you might not otherwise spot. 

If I have a gripe with the Stratos’s design, it’s a relatively minor one. It’s a little too easy to lock the vacuum into an upright position, at which point the angle no longer works for vacuuming. This only takes a few seconds to fix by clicking the head back down, but happens to me several times every cleaning session, and does get on my nerves. 

Accessories & features 

• Up to four included cleaning tools 
• Anti-odour tech holds off smells 
• ‘Clean Sense IQ’ dust detection 

By default, in the UK the Stratos ships with just two tools: the main multi-surface cleaning head plus a thin, plastic crevice tool for reaching up to ceiling corners and the like. For ease, they ship with a small black tote bag too, which you can use to store the spare head and charger when not in use. 

Unhelpfully, the add-ins vary by market, so in the US the regular model also include an anti-allergen brush head tool. 

In the UK there are two other versions you can buy though. The first is the ‘Pet Pro’ upgrade, which throws in a pet hair cleaning head. Upgrade again to the double battery model and you get (you guessed it) a second battery, a dual-battery charging dock, and that anti-allergen brush found with the US model. 

Most people will likely be happy enough with the basic setup, which is simple but handles most eventualities. I don’t have a pet myself to test it with, but I imagine the pet hair tool will be a worthy upgrade for those who do at only £30 more.

As for the double battery model, that’s definitely a luxury option for those who aren’t consistent about charging. That said, I’ve had my gripes with the battery – more on that later – so if you can afford the £549 asking price, it’s worth considering. 

As for the vacuum itself, it also packs in a couple of extra features you might not be used to. The headline is Shark’s anti-odour tech. This essentially consists of a small cartridge of fragrance that slots into the main cleaning head, along with a control dial to set the intensity. 

As you vacuum, it releases a subtle fragrance that masks and combats the smells that the vacuum itself kicks up from your floor – and especially carpet. Don’t worry though, it’s delicate, more like a car air freshener than someone blasting your house with cleaning spray. 

The downside of course is that each cartridge is finite. Shark says they should last around six months, and replacements are available directly from the company at $14.99/£14.99 for a pair.  

It’s delicate, more like a car air freshener than someone blasting your house with cleaning spray. 

The other edge you get from the Stratos is what Shark calls ‘Clean Sense IQ’. This is a fancy name for tech similar to some Dysons, with a sensor embedded in the cleaning head that detects how much dust and grime there is at any given time to let you know how dirty the spot you’re working on really is. 

Shark’s execution sees a bar along the cleaning head light up, with more light the dirtier the area is. You’ll also hear the vacuum itself kick into higher gear when there’s more work to be done.  

In reality this doesn’t change things too much for the end user, but it’s handy to have the vacuum modulate its intensity based on how much there is to clean. At times, it serves as a useful hint on when to move on from the spot you’re cleaning, as it can reveal an area that looks clean actually isn’t quite finished. 

Performance 

• Powerful cleaning and suction 
• 0.7l bin capacity 
• Inconsistent battery life 

So that’s the bells and whistles out of the way. When it comes to actual cleaning the Stratos impresses, with enough suction power to handle any daily cleaning with ease. 

My flat is a mix of carpets and hard wood floors, and fortunately the default cleaning head here is designed to handle both, so there’s no need to switch back and forth. I didn’t find much that it couldn’t clean, happily picking up hair, crumbs, dust, and all sorts of other grime from both surfaces. 

Shark boasts that the head is designed to avoid trapping hair, and so far this appears to be true – my last vacuum would routinely wrap coils of my girlfriend’s long hair around the brush head, but a few weeks in there’s not a single hair trapped inside the Stratos. 

I’ve mostly cleaned using the default mode, where the Clean Sense IQ adjusts strength automatically. If you prefer though, a single button push can cycle through the eco and high-power modes, depending on your circumstance. 

As for the dust bin, the 0.7l capacity isn’t the largest around, but offers enough space that I can clean my two-bed flat a few times over before needing to empty it – a process that’s easy enough, with a single button flick to pop the bin open. 

The battery indicator is unreliable – I’ve had it display 50% charge only to die minutes later.

Then there’s battery – perhaps my biggest annoyance with the Stratos. Shark claims the vacuum delivers 60 minutes of cleaning, and remaining battery is indicated with a handy percentage indicator on a display by the handle. 

I’ve found that the battery dies faster than Shark estimates it should, and in particular the charge seems to run down surprisingly rapidly when the vacuum isn’t in use, so you can’t trust it will have charge when you grab it from the cupboard. Just as annoyingly, the battery indicator is unreliable – I’ve had it display 50% charge only to die minutes later. 

That’s why I’m glad to have been testing the top model, with a second battery, because the option to quickly click in a new cell – which takes just seconds – alleviates this issue almost entirely. Without that option, the inconsistent battery experience would grate much more. 

Price & availability 

The Shark Stratos cordless is available now from Shark, or from retailers including Amazon everywhere, Best Buy and Walmart in the US, or Currys and John Lewis in the UK. 

At $499/£449 for the basic model – rising to £549 in the UK for the version with an extra battery and all the accessories – the Shark Stratos is at the upper end of the cordless vacuum market, in the same space as some Dyson and Samsung options. 

Still, it runs a little cheaper than those brands’ top models, the Dyson V15 Detect and Samsung Bespoke Jet, while matching them on power and many core features (except the Samsung’s self-emptying bin). It’s also often reduced from full-price, making it even better value.

Check out our ranking of the best vacuums we’ve reviewed to find out how it compares to those and other options. 

Verdict 

The Shark Stratos cordless is an impressive premium option that holds its own against the big boys of the market, while delivering some unique advantages like its resistance to tangled hair, the added flexibility of its hinged design, and the clever anti-odour tech. 

The biggest downside is the flaky battery, which is both shorter than advertised and difficult to predict. The option to hot swap to a second battery helps a lot, but it’s a pretty significant added expense, and one that isn’t even an option for US buyers. 

That means the Stratos could still suit those in smaller homes, or anyone who can afford the second battery. But if you have a lot of space to vacuum in one go, you might be better off with a more reliable alternative. 

Best Prices Today: Shark Stratos cordless vacuum