The Shark ION Robot Vacuum is the Shark Manufacturer’s answer to the Roomba by iRobot. Shark is well known for their great vacuum’s and the suction of this robot is strong, but it does have some downfalls. Taking it out of the box was as easy as the set up got.
The Shark App is used for the entire setup of the Shark ION Robot Vacuum. The setup video has step-by-step instructions to connect to your wireless network, but after many attempts we were unable to connect to our wireless network. After research online, we found that other users had similar problems with no resolution.
Our issue, along with others, seemed to be with the connection with a Netgear Nighthawk Router (which is the router I have). I have not tried connecting using another router as of yet, but I will update this post as soon as I try it to let you know. My own personal opinion is that if this was a known issue there should have been an update to the app to resolve this problem. Alas, after several months there still are no solutions.
Even though I could not connect my Shark ION Robot to my home network, I was still able to use the device manually by pressing the clean button. With a full battery the robot runs for about 2 1/2 hours before the battery is almost dead. The base where the vacuum charges does a great job at charging. The robot eventually finds its way back to the base when it’s job has been completed (but it does take some time for it to find its way).
As mentioned early on in this review, other than the issues stated with the connecting and trouble finding the charging base, the vaccuum actually does clean well. Every time I have run it, it finds animal fur that almost makes up an animal of itself. Even though the light colored carpet is not showing this dark fur, it somehow picks it up in the cracks and crevices.
The bumper on the vacuum is very delicate when it hits a boundary and it makes a partial turn to find its way around. While it is running, the robot does disperse typical vacuum noise, and may even be a bit louder.
The dirt tray is easy to empty and the filter is easy to take out and clean, which is definitely a plus when the vacuum picks up as much dirt as this one does.
The Shark vacuum also includes a magnetic boundary strip. These strips can be set up for areas where you do not want the vacuum to run. For instance you may not want it to run where there are stairs.
If you can connect it to the app, you do have options to set up a schedule for the vacuum to run along with the status of the vacuum. In addition to all these built-in features, this device is supposed to work with Amazon Alexa and having commands such as “Hey Alexa, Run Vacuum”.
What we liked:
- The cleaning / picking up dirt does do a great job.
- The filter is easy to clean and the dirt tray is easily accessible.
- The robot runs smoothly and delicately bumps into obstacles with out damaging surfaces to make its way around.
- The battery charges well and the length of the charge lasts about 3 hours of running time.
What we disliked:
- The setup is difficult for someone with no technology background.
- The connection to a home network can be a difficult task (possibly depending on the router) – This will be updated to let you, the consumer know.
- Struggles when done to find the charging base.
- Without the app or connection to your network there isn’t a way to set up a schedule or run remotely.
The Shark ION Robot Vacuum is an average vacuum. It has strong suction, but fails in other areas. There are definitely positives about this vacuum, after-all it is a Shark product and if Shark does anything it puts out great vacuums which coincides with its reputation.
Having a lot of background experience in technology I was very disappointed, not only that I could not get the robot to connect to my home network, but that after multiple months Shark did not put out an update to fix this problem (if the type of router is not compatible with the connection).
The battery is a robust battery and has a long running time on a full battery (about 2 1/2 – 3 hours of running time). The battery from completely dead to fully charged takes anywhere from 4-5 hours. The base makes it easy for the robot to slide on to and while charging you can take off the dirt bin and clean that and the filter out, while the body of the vacuum can still be charging.
I really would like to review the app, but not being able to connect to my home network I am unable to at this time, but as previously stated, will update this as soon as I have the opportunity to try and connect to another router. Overall this vacuum is nice for the price, but if you were looking for a super dependable, technology enriched robot vacuum, you might want to spend the extra money and look at the Roombas.
Check Prices on Amazon: The Shark ION Robot RV871R Vacuum
RV871R Shark ION
The Shark Vacuum is a good deal if you are not looking to spend an over abundance of money on a self propelled robot. This is a lower level vacuum that will give you good results in the aspect of sweeping up dirt and fur off floors. However it falls short when advanced technology comes into play. You have a vacuum that runs a long time and does not take a full day to charge, but one where you can't set a schedule because the robot cannot be connected to the home network giving you the ability to set that guidance. In the same breath you can also no longer communicate with the robot remotely and if you want the vacuum to run, you have to manually go up to the Shark and physical tap "Clean".
This vacuum will clean your house, but there are better models out there from Shark and other manufacturers if you want to go a little deeper in your pockets. This post will be updated, score and review upon trial of connecting to a different router other than the Netgear Nighthawk.
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Setup
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