Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsNot perfect but better than me having to vacuum
Reviewed in the United States on December 23, 2020
First time with a robot vac. Did research and read all reviews, pros and cons and decided this was best for price. Ran for first time today and here are initial observations. Will update as I use it more. 1) this is not a plug and play item. I did have to spend time going around the house taping down extension cords, moving small items that can get knocked over, and marking where certain items of furniture are because apparently if an item moves from location it was at when robot mapped area it will get confused ( there were several reviews that mentioned that as an issue so I just went ahead and marked items that tend to be moved like a coffee table, and chairs (I used little pieces of a tape called “ gaffer tape” which is excellent because it holds well but doesn’t leave ANY residue when removed. Available on Amazon. 2) the model number used on amazon for this item is NOT the same as the model number on the robot, important because when calling tech support if you give this model # they don’t know what you’re talking about. 3) Had no problems setting up and connecting to wifi. 4) ran it on ECO mode because some of the reviews said it was better while it’s still mapping the house -will map it faster because battery lasts longer. I HAVE PETS therefore endless hair and debris and was impressed with suction at the ECO level which is the least strong suction setting. I Won’t try the other two modes until robot finished mapping. 5) there were a couple of areas where it got stuck but after a min or two it found its way out on its own, probably best not to help it unless it’s stuck for more time 6) it lasted 2 hrs and had to return to dock to empty itself twice (2nd time there was an issue described below. at times it seemed it wasn’t going to find its way back to dock but it did. 7) when it went through living room it missed area between sofa and coffee table, however, after doing the kitchen it went back to living room and found the missed area. 8) TWO BIG CONS: the previous model RV1000AE (apparently the one I bought is pretty new as of DEC 2020) has a SELF CLEANING BRUSH which is supposed to prevent long human hair wrap around the brush as was a feature I really wanted because this household has long haired humans , this model DOES NOT come with that. It has what they call a multi surface brush which is basically a regular bristle brush where my long hair got tangled and i had to tear, cut it off brush. Big bummer. ACCORDING to tech support one cannot buy the self cleaning brush to attach to this model. You would think Shark would make the bots so you could switch brushes if you wanted. Also, in the first 2 hr run an error message to empty the dust bin in the robot ( not the base) came up. While the bot and bristle brush did a great job of scraping the pet hair off the carpet, it bunched up in the dust bin and the base was not able to suck it up the 2nd time, I had to manually empty robot dust bin. Big bummer. 9) You need BOUNDARY STRIPS to keep bot out of areas you don’t want it. This model DOES NOT COME WITH THEM, whereas the previous model does. Chintzy move by Shark. OVERALL I am happy with it. I hope the problem with the dust bin clogging to the point of not self emptying will resolve itself after continuous use. I have both carpet and hardwood floors ( on which I have area rugs) and it has no problem transitioning from one to the other. Even though it’s not perfect I can now have a daily vacuuming of my house without me having to do it (I have a very bad back and knees and there is no way I could vacuum every day). As the bot is not finished mapping I haven’t tried any of the APP features-scheduling or picking a specific room to clean— I’m hoping the APP will work well because that was one of the major complaints I read in all the reviews.....the reviews I read were for the previous model because at time of purchase there was only one review for this model. As of now worth the money, it was on sale for $499 when I bought it.
12/25 update. On original review I had given it only 3 stars, now I give it 5. One of the CONS mentioned previously seems to have resolved, running it every day means less pet hair and debris so the dust bin on bot has not clogged again. still have to check brush for tangled human hair and rip/cut it off but I have to do that with normal vacs so I can live with it. Bot finished mapping house after 4.6 hrs of running ( a lot faster than what reviews had complained about). IMPORTANT, it is best to have the “CHARGE N RESUME feature on while mapping if big house, mine is 1900 sq ft, so it completes map faster. This feature does not mean the bot will re start vacuuming after it charges, it just means it will resume in area where it stopped. Final floor plan was pretty darn accurate (lot of negative reviews about the mapping being inaccurate), also found it relatively easy to create rooms. Have an iPhone 11, don’t know if type of phone was the issue for those who complained about difficulty with the feature. I do wish there was an option to create CUSTOM room labels. When creating rooms I found it’s best to zoom the floor plan when creating room lines, otherwise the named room may not correspond exactly to the actual room. This feature is a must because bot only completes 80% of house on ONE charge, then have to wait 3 hrs, so if u don’t want to wait that long to get a specific room done ....... The actual run time on ECO mode is approx 1hr40mins not 2 as previously stated, and the charge time is approx 3 hrs. The dust bin gets emptied at least once during that time. Many times bot seems to be lost- it will do 1/2 living room then go to bedroom then go back to missed area in living.. not a big deal as it gets it done. BOUNDARY STRIPS- don’t know yet if the NO GO ZONE feature in APP can replace the use of strips- for big areas maybe, but I have strips around pet water bowl and I don’t think I can make that a no go zone so I don’t have to have the strips. Will experiment with that feature as I’m not thrilled about having boundary strips in certain areas. My silly dog was initially scared of the strips and wouldn’t walk over them to get to her bed. Dog doesn’t love the bot she’s a scaredy-cat so she goes outside when in use... it only took the cat 2 runs of bot before she realized it’s harmless... hope to see her riding it some day :-) ....
I am still impressed about the amount of stuff this thing is sucking up on ECO mode, and it is not overly noisy.I can only assume the other 2 modes are suction beasts but probably a lot noisier and drain battery faster.
Though not perfect, if one is willing to spend the time for set up and understanding it’s quirks, it is definitely worth the $$$ ...I’m very happy.
