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I have not seen many reviews for the Shark AI XL but I picked one up anyway so want to share some thoughts on it. Hope this helps someone else looking to make the same purchase.
Mapping
The floor that the vacuum is on is just under 1500 sqft with some weird angles and room layouts. The vacuum took about 45 minutes to map the floor plan and it did a fantastic job, no complaints at all with the accuracy of the map.
Performance While Cleaning
The vacuum did a great job cleaning, it covered every part of the floor (the rooms are all carpeted so it was easy to see where it went). It couldn't complete the whole floor on one battery but not a big deal. It only got stuck once, in an area where I expected it to get stuck and the "no go" zones in the app took care of that.
Self-Empty Bin
This is a really nice feature to have and is the main reason I purchased this over some of the other vacuum options. We have a dog and the larger bin is a necessity. The bin also doesn't require a bag which is a plus. I have not had any issue with it completely emptying the onboard bin in the vacuum after each clean.
Noise
The few reviews I have seen on this vacuum say it's noisy. I guess I don't have another vacuum to compare it to, but it's not loud enough to be distracting while it's running.
App and Features
The app layout and experience is weird, but it works. One of the biggest disappointments with this app/vacuum is that I cannot set up and schedule cleanings by room. I work from home and the ability to clean certain parts before I start work for the day would be really nice.
Overall
With the mapping features and self-empty bin it's a great vacuum for the price. I was able to pick it up for just under $400 so it's hard to justify the jump to a Roomba or other vacuum. The scheduling limitations are annoying but, at this price, I think I'll live with it. Overall, it cleans the floor and doesn't get stuck every run like my five year old random path Shark vacuum does. That alone was worth the upgrade.
Hi,
Here's my quick review of the Shark AI Ultra. I haven't seen any reviews for this robot and the Eufy L60, so here we go.
Why Did I Buy this Robot?
I bought this robot for three reasons:
It was on sale - 599 CAD -> 399 CAD
I wanted a self-empty bin.
It has LIDAR.
Unboxing
Nothing out of the ordinary - robot/charger/base station.
Setup
The initial setup was fine, here are some highlights:
The initial connection went fine.
You need an account to use the app (ugh)
The LIDAR mapping was... ok (and this is where the app woes start):
The robot goes around and scans your house. It's a little slower than my L60, but whatever.
While you do get a map of your house, you do not get room mapping - you have to manually set up rooms using the map editor. This is annoying, especially since you can only use rectangles to mark rooms. This gets awkward with hallways, as the rectangles can only get so small.
No-go zones suffer the same issue - you can only make rectangle no-go zones, and they can only get so small. WHY? EDIT - apparently, if you zoom closer on the map, you can make the zones smaller.
Using the Bot
It's.... fine. It does the robot vacuum things fine, but anything beyond the basics and you'll have to thinker a bit.
The suction seems fine.
The self-empty bin works perfectly. What I really like about Shark's implementation, especially when compared to literally any other brand - is that it's bagless. That's right - no extra bag-buying bullshit. Out of all the other brands, Shark gets its right? Why did we ever need a bag to begin with (I think we know the answer to this, wink)?
The robot seems to go line-by-line when cleaning a room. Classic LIDAR stuff. It's fine.
The app. The app is terrible:
When you go pick individual rooms to clean, my family room is always selected. Why? I want to select individual rooms, why are you selecting one for me? Why?
The scheduling is sooo limited - why can't I choose specific room cleaning schedules? Why can't I choose the robot's power level? WHY CAN'T I HAVE MORE THAN ONE SCHEDULE? WHY CAN I, AND I AM QUOTING THE APP, only run the robot "once each day"? HUH?
Despite having all the mapping and the tracking and the fancy technology, the robot can't show me where it is during a clean. It can't show me what it cleaned. WHY? Is it missing some important tech that my eufy L60, which is 200$ cheaper, has?
Beyond the self-empty bin... It doesn't have much else going for it. It's not a bad robot - it does the core robot vacuum things fine. It's simply a lesser experience compared to other brands. I think that is fine - it's a budget LIDAR robot with an awesome self-empty bin. In fact, it is probably one of the best implementation of a self-empty bin, because it doesn't make you feel like a sucker, buying & putting a bag into a box. Is there anything near this price that has LIDAR and self-empty?
Hopefully, the app gets an upgrade down the line. It's my core complaint and it should be fixable. Please.
EDIT:
The robot actually does have a history of cleaning, along with a map of its coverage! Pleasant surprise :)
You can schedule things out through home assistant, though I would need to test that. Still, this feature should be included with the native app IMO.
Conclusion
While the app lacks a couple of "cool" features that other brands might have, I think Shark beats them in what you ultimately want out of a robot: it cleans your house and gets out of your way. Whatever other features brands may have, you'll be happy knowing you're not the sucker buying bags for your self-empty station.
Let me know if I missed anything, thanks.
We just got this Shark robot vacuum from Best Buy, never dabbled with robot vacuums before, it’s a model RV2500 or a RV2500S, I’m not sure which one. The Setup went well, we were able to connect it to wifi just fine and everything, it’s giving me the option to explore and create a map, but it’s not actually doing anything or moving when I click the button to have it go explore? It is only 40% charged and still charging currently, maybe we should let it charge fully first? Any tips?