Shark
Cordless Pro Vacuum
About the product
Does its cleaning power make up for the 40-minute runtime?
The Shark Cordless Pro is a rechargeable handheld vacuum that’s described by Shark as lightweight, powerful and intelligent. To see if it lived up to its claims, the BestReviews Testing Lab put it to work on carpet and hard flooring to evaluate its suction, battery life, attachments and more.
While its suction was not quite as powerful as other vacuums we’ve tested, it performed well overall in our suction tests, and its slim design made it comfortable to use and maneuver both as a handheld and a floor vacuum. The Cordless Pro’s CleanSense IQ feature lets it detect dirt and increase its suction as needed without any user input, while its intuitive interface and controls made it easy to use. It only lasts up to 40 minutes on a single charge, however, making it unsuitable for big jobs.
Why we like it
Maneuverable floor nozzle
We appreciated the maneuverability of the Shark Cordless Pro’s compact, low-profile floor nozzle. It was easy to change the nozzle’s direction with a flick of a wrist, and the headlamps were a welcome extra, especially when getting into corners and on hard flooring. We also appreciated how its low height allowed it to fit under low-profile furniture.
Useful accessories
We liked the accessories included with the Shark Cordless Pro, especially the pet multitool that was ideally shaped for upholstery and could swivel for better angles in handheld mode.
Good hair pickup
The PowerFin nozzle of the Shark Cordless Pro picked up 1- and 2-inch hair fibers from both medium-pile carpet and hard flooring with no problems and showed no tangles or wraparound issues afterward.
Relatively quiet
The Shark Cordless Pro was relatively quiet, especially for a vacuum cleaner. At its lowest setting it registered only 69 decibels (which is about as loud as the average washing machine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), while on Power Boost mode it only reached 79 decibels.
What we don’t like
Mediocre battery life
The Shark Cordless Pro’s battery lasted for only 36 minutes, slightly less than the 40 minutes claimed by Shark and 30% less than other cordless Shark models we tested. It also takes three hours to fully recharge, which is less than ideal for getting big jobs done in a single day.
Mediocre large debris pickup
The Shark Cordless Pro’s floor nozzle had a little trouble picking up larger pieces of debris, such as cereal, requiring a couple of passes and care while maneuvering to avoid dropping pieces already in its roller.
The 60-second scoop
Product specifications
Dustbin Capacity: 0.72 qt | Dimensions: 11.41" L x 10.43" W x 51.18" H (with floor nozzle and wand) | Battery Life: 36 minutes (tested) | Cleaning Path Width: 10” | Weight: 8.25 lb
The Shark Cordless Pro is a compact, handheld cordless rechargeable vacuum cleaner. Its slim design and relatively light weight makes it well-suited for regular light or moderate cleaning in smaller homes and apartments. It comes with a maneuverable low-profile floor nozzle, a swiveling pet multitool with detachable brush and a crevice dusting tool with sliding brush. It's powered by a removable, rechargeable battery that lets it run for up to 40 minutes per charge.
The Cordless Pro features a couple of advanced features found on more expensive Shark vacuum models. CleanSense IQ allows the Cordless Pro to sense the amount of dirt at its floor nozzle and increase or decrease suction power as needed, while a bright LED display keeps track of the suction settings and charge level. A removable, replaceable odor-fighting cartridge helps neutralize pet and kitchen odors.
See how it compares to other products in its space — check out our reviews of the best cordless vacuums.
Price and where to buy
The Shark Cordless Pro lists at $399.99, but discounts can lower its price to $299 or less. It’s available from Amazon and other major retailers.
Setup
Setting up the Shark Cordless Pro was straightforward. The unit and its attachments and accessories came neatly packed and organized with hardboard inserts and plastic bags. Setup involved identifying the power adaptor and the odor-neutralizing cartridge before unwrapping the main unit and attachments. The unit’s battery needed charging for just over two and a half hours immediately out of the box, and the odor cartridge needed to be installed into its receptacle in the floor nozzle prior to use.
Design and PowerFin brush rolls
The Shark Cordless Pro has a rectangular, compact body with thick plastic walls and an overall sleek, streamlined look. The test unit came in white with blue accents. The dust cup, wand and most attachments connect with secure push-button latches. The Cordless Pro’s battery is on the underside of the handle and can be removed for more convenient charging. The main unit hooks onto its floor wand for storage, but we didn’t find any other places on the Cordless Pro to store other attachments.
The floor nozzle is smaller than other tested Shark floor nozzles and contains only the single PowerFin brush roller. The roller itself has a polishing surface plus the flexible debris-collecting fins united in a single unit.
After our hair tests, the PowerFin brush roll was easy to remove from the floor nozzle for cleaning. In fact, it didn’t need any cleaning at all, as there were no hairs wrapped or tangled around it.
Battery life and recharge time
The Shark Cordless Pro’s battery took three hours to charge from empty to full. It lasted 36 minutes during testing, including 20 minutes of floor-nozzle use with Clean Sense IQ active and 16 minutes of usage with various attachments. This is about on par with Shark’s 40-minute battery life claim but was not enough to thoroughly vacuum the 400 square feet of our test space.
With Clean Sense active, the LED display showed increased power use depending on the Clean Sense setting, with Power Boost naturally drawing the most power at any given moment.
Shark Cordless Pro Suction power
Carpet performance
The Shark Cordless Pro performed well overall on carpet despite an issue with large debris. It successfully removed 100% of 0.5 teaspoons of spilled sugar from medium-pile carpet in a single pass and also picked up 100% of 2-inch long faux fur fibers ground into the pile. However, it had trouble picking up and retaining 1 tablespoon of puffed cereal spilled on carpet, with individual pieces falling out whenever we pulled back on the floor nozzle. It took a few minutes to gather up all the cereal in our test without any pieces falling loose again.
Low-pile rug performance was similar to the medium-pile results. There was notable resistance from the high pile of a shag rug compared to other pile lengths as well. The Cordless Pro also tended to pick up loose throw rugs rather than vacuum them — but that at least shows its suction power.
Hard floor performance
The Shark Cordless Pro performed similarly on hard flooring as it did on carpet. It removed spilled sugar and scattered faux fur from vinyl plank flooring without incident, but it had trouble picking up and retaining the cereal as it did on carpet, needing multiple passes to gather all the pieces and scattering a few from the normal vacuuming motions. The brush roller seemed to buff and dust hard floors successfully, however.
CleanSense IQ
The Shark Cordless Pro’s CleanSense IQ feature allows it to intelligently increase suction if it senses greater amounts or sizes of dirt at its floor nozzle. It performed capably during testing, increasing the suction automatically during our particulate suction tests as well as during general cleaning especially on carpet. In fact, during general cleaning it would kick up the suction even if there was no visible dirt we could see, but we trusted its judgment and its sensors.
During testing it seldom needed to increase suction more than two levels, but the Power Boost function was easy to activate if we needed to. It always reverted to the lowest-needed setting once the excess debris was vacuumed, which helped maximize battery life.
How does it compare to other stick vacuums we tested?
The Shark Cordless Pro compared favorably to other Shark stick vacuums, having one of the most maneuverable floor nozzles of all as well as an informative display and useful attachments. However, its runtime was 30% shorter than other cordless Shark stick vacuums, making it less than ideal for large cleaning jobs. Its floor nozzle also had some difficulty picking up larger particles compared to those of other tested Shark stick vacuums.
Features and accessories
The Shark Cordless Pro includes some extra features and accessories designed to make vacuuming easier, more pleasant or more convenient.
Odor-neutralizer cartridges
The odor-neutralizer cartridges fit into a compartment in the floor nozzle. They emit a pleasant, subtle fragrance. Shark claims the cartridges actually neutralize odors, but we wondered if they merely covered odors instead. The scent was not overpowering and would be a nice extra for pet owners.
Easy-empty dust cup
The Cordless Pro’s dust cup opens with a simple latch directly into a trash receptacle without needing to be removed from the main unit. We found this highly convenient during testing as it eliminated an extra step.
LED display
The LED display of the Shark Cordless Pro showed live charge levels during use that changed depending on the CleanSense IQ setting, which we found handy to keep track of how hard the vacuum was working. The display was reasonably visible at all times and blinked once the unit began to need charging, which was another useful indicator, although we wished it also displayed an actual charge-remaining value.
HEPA filter
The Shark Cordless Pro features a HEPA filter to catch microparticles and stop them from being emitted back into the air. While we couldn’t directly test the effect of the filter on air quality, we liked the presence of a HEPA filter and appreciated that it was relatively simple to access and replace if needed.
How we tested the Shark Cordless Pro
Setup
We noted how easy or difficult it was to unpack and set up the Cordless Pro, including how it was packed in the box and how fast it took us to unbox it and get it ready to use.
Floor and surface type
We tested the Cordless Pro on both carpet and hard flooring, specifically medium-pile carpet and hardwood-style vinyl plank flooring. We also tested it on upholstery, low-pile area rugs, high-pile throw rugs and tile.
Suction
We used three separate types of debris to test the suction of the Cordless Pro: fine particles (sugar, salt or ground coffee), large particles (cereal) and hair (thread, faux fur). We spread the particles on all the floor types we used and noted how well the Cordless Pro picked up each type with its floor nozzle as well as other attachments when applicable.
Attachments
We noted the number and varieties of attachments included with the Cordless Pro and the features of each attachment. We also rated each attachment on how easy it was to attach or remove while cleaning.
Cleaning
We observed how easy or difficult it was to empty the Cordless Pro’s dust tank, including the intuitiveness of any buttons or latches, the location and cleaning of filters, and how much effort it took to wash or rinse the tank if necessary.
Battery
After charging the Cordless Pro to full, we used it nonstop until the battery died, tracking how long it took and what kinds of functions and activities drew more power. From an empty battery, we recharged it, timing how long it took to return to 100% charged.
The final verdict
While the Shark Cordless Pro’s less than 40 minutes of battery life makes it impractical for big cleaning jobs, its smart features, compact design, CleanSense IQ technology and relatively quiet motor is perfect for smaller homes and occasional jobs. Apartment dwellers, especially those with pets, will appreciate the features and convenience of the Shark Cordless Pro as long as they don’t mind its shorter battery life.