Shark Stratos Upright Vacuum review: a powerful vacuum cleaner for busy homes

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I attended the motorboat of the Shark Stratos Upright Vacuum successful autumn 2022, wherever it was introduced among different cordless and corded instrumentality companions. Having taken them each for a rotation astir the room, putting them to task connected immoderate scattered oats and fluff, it was the upright exemplary that caught my eye, fixed its size, powerfulness and charismatic greenish hue.

Shark is renowned for creating immoderate of the best vacuum cleaners around, with its models delivering for quality, innovation and power. Having enjoyed decades of occurrence successful the US, the marque present has planetary recognition. Dedicated to processing premium household appliances, from vacuum cleaners to steam mops, aerial purifiers and adjacent immoderate of the champion hairsbreadth dryers, Shark appears to beryllium delivering what customers want.

Shark Stratos is the brand's astir precocious scope of vacuum cleaners. Shark's says these models present the champion ever hairsbreadth pickup, combining the Shark's signature DuoClean floorhead and caller Anti Hair Wrap Plus. Some models successful the range, specified arsenic the Shark Stratos Upright Vacuum, adjacent diagnostic revolutionary anti-odor technology, which leaves your location and vac smelling fresher aft a clean.

On trial I recovered that determination was a batch to emotion astir this vacuum cleaner. Its power, hairsbreadth and debris pickup, and particulate cupful capableness were each precise impressive. However, I did consciousness a small tethered to the mains with lone an 8m cord, and though emptying the particulate cupful was easy, I did request to scope wrong it to escaped trapped fluff.

Shark Stratos Upright Vacuum reappraisal terms & availability

• List price: $429/£399
• Available successful US & UK

Known arsenic the Shark Stratos Upright Vacuum successful the US and Shark Stratos Anti Hair Wrap Plus Anti-Odour Upright Vacuum [NZ860UK] successful the UK, this vacuum is disposable either nonstop from Shark oregon done resellers for prices successful the portion of $429/£400. In the US, you'll find it from Best Buy (opens successful caller tab), Target (opens successful caller tab) and Walmart (opens successful caller tab), portion successful the UK caput to Amazon (opens successful caller tab), Argos (opens successful caller tab) and John Lewis (opens successful caller tab).

Its terms is connected a par with different ranges successful the Shark collection. If you person pets past opt for the Shark Stratos Upright Vacuum with TruePet for $499.80 successful the US (opens successful caller tab), oregon prime up the Shark Stratos Pet Pro Anti Hair Wrap Plus Anti-Odour Upright Vacuum [NZ860UKT] for £429.99 successful the UK (opens successful caller tab). Both models travel with a dedicated favored hairsbreadth removal tool. 

Other vacuum cleaners successful the Shark Stratos scope see a cordless stick and corded instrumentality cleaner.

• Price: 5/5

The specs of our Shark Stratos Upright Vacuum reappraisal unit

• Price: £399/ $429
• Dust cup: 0.28 gallon / 1.3L
• No. of speeds: 3
• Hose length:  5ft / 1.5m
• Cord length: 26.2ft / 8m
• Weight: 17.2lbs / 6.7kg

These specs are the aforesaid for US and UK Shark Stratos Upright Vacuum models.

Shark Stratos Upright Vacuum reappraisal design

• Floorhead glides implicit carpets and hard floors
• Odor tech successful floorhead releases a pleasant smell
• Easily transforms betwixt an upright to portable vacuum

The wide plan of this upright vacuum is super-impressive. It comes with a fig of features I've travel to admit astir Shark vacuums implicit the years, alongside a mates of caller things that are unsocial to the Stratos range.

The archetypal is Shark's signature DuoClean floorhead, made up of 2 motorized brush-rolls successful the unit. It glides satisfyingly crossed carpet and hard floors, picking up each mode of ungraded and debris. The Anti Hair Wrap Plus tech besides means the vacuum picks up immoderate hairsbreadth from floors, without it ever becoming tangled astir the brushwood rolls.

One of the caller features that's worthy of notation is the anti-odor technology. Although not thing I've paid overmuch attraction to earlier having tested this vacuum, it surely volition beryllium now. An anti-odor dial tin beryllium inserted into the floorhead of this cleaner, with the dial rotated to prime an odor intensity. The purpose is to halt immoderate particulate cupful odors filling the air; and I did announcement a much pleasant odor pursuing a league of vacuuming. Note that the dial isn't disposable successful an array of smells, with the oversea breeze-type odor the lone 1 presently available. Sharks recommends replacing the cartridges each six months, with replacement cartridges available for £14.99 (2 pack) (opens successful caller tab) nonstop from Shark. At the clip of writing, we couldn't find replacements successful the US.

The floorhead present is besides location to different signature Shark feature: LED lighting. Helping to illuminate particulate and assistance airy up lower-lit areas of the home, specified arsenic the hallway, these lights are some functional and stylish.

In use, the Shark Stratos vacuum performed brilliantly for cleaning floors. However, it's beauteous dense astatine 17.2lbs / 6.7kg, which made it tricky to cleanable the stairs. Fortunately, you tin detach the main portion from the floorhead and connect the wand to usage it successful its Powered Lift-Away mode. This makes it easier to cleanable nether furniture, which isn't truthful casual successful its upright form.

With the floorhead detached, I besides gave the crevice and multi-surface tools a whirl. The crevice instrumentality was bully for reaching into the corners of the ceiling and cleaning on the apical of the skirting, whereas the multi-surface instrumentality was large for removing biscuit crumbs from the sofa and bed. Usefully, there's retention abstraction for some of these tools astatine the rear of the upright vacuum.

More generally, a slider power connected the grip allows you to take betwixt 3 level settings: hard floors, low-pile carpets and thick-pile carpets oregon country rugs. The powerfulness fastener is besides connected the handle.

The 8m powerfulness cablegram wraps astir the broadside of the vacuum connected 2 hooks; 1 is adjacent to the handle, portion different sits adjacent to the basal of the particulate cup. The particulate cupful offers a decent 1.3-liter capacity, which meant I didn't person to bare it aft each cleaning session, and emptying is simply a elemental substance of pressing the "dust cupful release" button.

This upright vacuum besides has an anti-allergen implicit seal, which captures and traps 99.9% of particulate and allergens wrong the vacuum. Although this is hard to test, my hubby oregon I did announcement that we didn't commencement sneezing and endure watering eyes portion this vacuum was successful usage – thing that we tin beryllium delicate to – truthful we'll instrumentality that arsenic a win.

• Design: 4.5/5

Shark Stratos Upright Vacuum reappraisal performance

• Impressive vacuuming
• Easy to alteration into a portable vac
• Love the odor emitted

I've been utilizing the Shark Stratos Upright Vacuum arsenic my main cleaner successful my three-bedroom location for the past month. The crushed level has ceramic level tiles successful the kitchen, positive woody floors and rugs elsewhere; the archetypal level is chiefly carpeted. With a toddler, and beingness successful general, this upright vacuum has surely been challenged implicit the past period of testing.

On the hard floors, the Shark Stratos performed well, picking up atom crispies from the level successful a azygous pass. I kept it connected the hard level setting, and the cleaner worked perfectly. Our room level is besides location to a rag rug, which I rapidly learnt was champion avoided with this vac; passing implicit it with the Shark Stratos, the cleaner would simply commencement to suck it up. However, astir vacuum cleaners conflict connected this rug, truthful it wasn't a problem.

Transitioning betwixt the hard floors and the different rugs was seamless. I'm a large instrumentality of the DuoClean floorhead – a pugnacious 1 to bushed successful my opinion. While it performed perfectly good connected rugs with the hard level setting, for a deeper cleanable I'd power to the carpet / low-pile mounting – and I could soon spot fluff bunnies doing circles successful the transparent particulate cup.

With the floors cleaned, I adjacent moved onto the cobwebs successful the country of the sitting room. I transformed the Shark Stratos Upright Vacuum into its Powered Lift-Away mode and attached the crevice tool. While I managed to scope up into the corners of the room, it did beryllium a spot of a agelong with the 5ft /1.5m hose successful our play spot with precocious ceilings.

While the main portion was removed from the level caput successful Powered Lift-Away mode, I attached the floorhead to the grip to vacuum the stairs. I had the Shark Stratos Upright Vacuum plugged successful not acold from the bottommost of the stairs, truthful I was assured that I'd person capable scope to cleanable to the apical of the 13-step staircase – and truthful the 26.2ft / 8m powerfulness cablegram proved sufficient. It wasn't arsenic casual to vacuum the stairs arsenic it was utilizing 1 of the best cordless vacuums, for example, it was surely much manageable successful this much portable vacuum mode than arsenic an upright vacuum due to the fact that the value was much balanced.

On the archetypal floor, vacuuming carpets, the Shark Stratos Upright Vacuum excelled. Upright vacuum cleaners are known for being much almighty than cordless and handheld units, and this Shark vacuum cemented this information further. I acceptable it connected "thick carpet / country rug" and moved the vac back-and-forth astir the level until each (reachable) areas had been vacuumed. By the clip I'd finished, the particulate cupful was astir afloat – which was truthful satisfying – and my location smelt truthful overmuch fresher.

This method of vacuuming my location was repeated each 3 to 4 days passim the investigating play of the Shark Stratos Upright Vacuum. 

Thankfully, I ne'er needed to bare the particulate cupful mid-clean. Although the 0.28 gallon / 1.3 liter isn't the largest I've seen, it's inactive beauteous generous and proved capable capableness for cleaning my full home. A flimsy niggle was with regards to emptying, wherever debris (mainly fluff) would go wedged astatine the apical of the particulate cup, requiring maine to scope my manus wrong to escaped it – which isn't a precise pleasant job.

In presumption of different maintenance, the particulate cupful volition payment from a hitch cleanable wrong each present and past to support it looking, and smelling, fresh. The filters volition besides request to beryllium rinsed; these tin beryllium accessed aft releasing the particulate cup. Thankfully, the Anti Hair Wrap Plus tech means the 1 occupation you won't person to bash is untangling immoderate hairsbreadth astir the brushwood bars.

For noise, this vacuum cleaner measured betwixt 81dB - 100dB depending upon the mode (portable oregon upright) it's in, which is large considering the bulk of vacuum cleaners thin to person a sound level speechmaking of astir 80dB.

• Performance: 4.5/5

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Shark Stratos Upright Vacuum review: besides consider

If you privation a Shark vacuum but not an upright, present are a mates much options to consider...

How I tested the Shark Stratos Upright Vacuum

• I utilized the Shark Stratos Upright Vacuum arsenic my main vac for 1 month
• It was utilized to vacuum the floors, stairs and harder-to-reach areas

I've been utilizing the Shark Stratos Upright Vacuum arsenic and erstwhile it's been needed for astir 1 month. It's been my main vac, though I've besides been reviewing the DreameTech L10s Ultra (a robot vacuum) astatine the aforesaid time.

The Shark Stratos Upright Vacuum has been utilized three-to-four times a week to  deep cleanable the carpets, stairs and into high-up areas astir my three-bed home. I've utilized each the cardinal features of the upright vacuum including the DuoClean floorhead, Powered Lift-Away mode, and each 3 levels of suction. I emptied the particulate cupful respective times passim the duration of the review, with the bulk of the postulation being wool fluff from the carpets.

I've been actively reviewing vacuum cleaners for 3 years, though my acquisition moving with location appliances extends past a decade. My lessons implicit the years person taught maine what's important successful a vacuum cleaner, and what are the champion features to have.

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First reviewed January 2023