What you can expect from the Shark PowerDetect UV Reveal
What testers say about the Shark PowerDetect UV Reveal
The Shark PowerDetect UV Reveal is Shark's flagship 2-in-1: it vacuums and mops with a pad that Shark scrubs with what it calls HyperSonic Mopping, extends the pad along edges, and uses a UV light to reveal dried-on stains and pet messes, which it then cleans more intensively. It navigates with lidar, recognizes obstacles with an RGB camera and lasers and lifts itself over obstacles and high thresholds. Its bagless station empties the robot for up to 60 days, refills it, washes the pad in 185 °F water and dries it with hot air. Tom's Guide names it the best robot vacuum for carpet.
In Tom's Guide's controlled test it picked up 97 percent of the cereal and all of the pet hair on carpet, and 99 percent of the cereal and 98 percent of the kitty litter on hard floor. In a home with two dogs and three teenagers it cleaned an upper floor of some 1,300 square feet in about two hours with battery to spare, in line with the three hours Shark quotes, switched smoothly between vacuuming and mopping, and its UV light turned up spills and dried dog drool nobody had noticed. The app is easy to use, and the robot works with Alexa and Google Assistant.
The weak spots: on the reviewer's deep carpet it picked up only 55 percent of the kitty litter, splitting the map into rooms in the app took several attempts, and robot and station attract dust and hair. Tom's Guide also finds the mop pad basic for a flagship, where robots with a spinning roller mop scrub harder, and the price is high. Shark publishes no suction figure. For a home with lots of carpet and pets that wants a low-maintenance, all-round cleaner, it is one of the most convincing choices.
Pros
- Leaves hard floors looking as clean as mopping them by hand Tom's Guide ↗
- Clears cereal and pet hair from both carpet and hard floors very well Tom's Guide ↗
- Finishes a full clean of a large floor with plenty of charge left Tom's Guide ↗
- Its UV light finds hidden stains, and it goes back to scrub them TechRadar ↗
- Picks up human and pet hair from rugs without any trouble TechRadar ↗
- Long battery life, so it rarely runs flat before a big home is done TechRadar ↗
- Avoided most obstacles in testing, a big step up for a Shark robot Vacuum Wars ↗
- Gets embedded grit and flattened pet hair out of carpet better than most Vacuum Wars ↗
- Bagless dock with washable filters keeps running costs down Vacuum Wars ↗
Cons
- Leaves much of the fine cat litter behind in deep carpet Tom's Guide ↗
- The robot and its dock quickly gather a coat of dust and hair Tom's Guide ↗
- Splitting a room on the map took several attempts in the app Tom's Guide ↗
- Keeps only one map, so it cannot clean more than one floor TechRadar ↗
- Uses a lot of water and can leave streaks on shiny floors TechRadar ↗
- Sometimes skips rooms or cleans a different room than the one asked TechRadar ↗
- Leaves floors very wet, and they can take a long time to dry Vacuum Wars ↗
- Taller than most robots, so it may not fit under low furniture Vacuum Wars ↗
- Manages only low door thresholds and fails on slightly taller ones Vacuum Wars ↗
Where the testers disagree
- Mopping: Tom's Guide: Leaves hard floors looking as clean as mopping them by hand · TechRadar: Its UV light finds hidden stains, and it goes back to scrub them against TechRadar: Uses a lot of water and can leave streaks on shiny floors · Vacuum Wars: Leaves floors very wet, and they can take a long time to dry
- Carpet: Vacuum Wars: Gets embedded grit and flattened pet hair out of carpet better than most against Tom's Guide: Leaves much of the fine cat litter behind in deep carpet
Each point sums up, in our words, the review of the test it names, and its link leads to that review. We do not summarize RTINGS or Wirecutter: their lists are linked above.
