If you’re looking for an easy and affordable way to keep your home clean but you don’t have a lot of time to do so, consider purchasing a robot vacuum. Just a few years ago buying a smart robot vacuum would have set you back a cool grand, but not anymore. Now you can get a solid cleaning robot vacuum for less than half that.
One robot vacuum you might consider is the Shark ION S87. This robot vacuum is unique in that it comes with the vacuum itself along with a handheld option as well. Is this robot vacuum the one of your dreams? Let’s take a deeper dive into what the Shark S87 has to offer to find out.
Two Vacuums in One
The Shark S87 robot vacuum is a bundle that includes a handheld battery-operated vacuum and a robot vacuum with a charging station. If you prefer not to have the bundle, however, you can purchase the handheld and the robot separately from one another. However, when you purchase the S87 system as a bundle, you get a charging station that allows you to charge both vacuums at the same time as opposed to using separate charging stations.
The Shark S87 isn’t the most expensive robot vacuum on the market, and it includes two vacuums in one system. Of course, this partly begs the question, how good is the performance and quality of the vacuums? Does the S87 really provide two solid vacuums in a single bundle? The short answer is that yes, both the robot vacuum and the handheld stand up on their own merit.
Features and Design
Inside the box, you’ll find our Shark robot vacuum and your Shark cordless handheld vacuum. Also included are a 2-in-1 charging station, a pet tool that works on multiple surfaces, a crevice tool, a dusting brush, and eight feet of magnetic strips which serve as boundary lines.
You can control your robot vacuum through a variety of methods. You can use the controls situated on the device itself or you can control it via the smartphone app, which is available on both Android and iOS. Additionally, the Shark S87 will integrate with your Amazon Alexa or Google Home smart assistant, so you can control it via voice commands as well.
One of the nice things about the Shark S87 is that you won’t have to spend a lot of time on setting it up. Take the robot vacuum out of the box, attach the slide-on brushes, flip the power switch to on, and set the vacuum on its charging dock. You do have to charge up the Shark S87 prior to using it for the first time.
The magnetic strip included with the vacuum can be cut up and placed into different zones throughout your home. This is perfect for areas you don’t want your robot vacuum going. You can use it to cordon off pet food or certain hallways or rooms. Basically, these strips create “no-go” zones so you don’t have to worry about picking up food and water bowls or closing doors before your robot vacuum cleans.
Your Shark S87 does have a dustbin that’s bigger than many of its competitors. At .66 quarts, it’ll hold plenty of dirt and debris as it vacuums your home. Unfortunately, it does not include visual mapping, however, it does offer its Smart Sensor Navigation.
With this type of navigation, the Shark S87 uses advanced sensitivity capabilities to navigate throughout your home while avoiding stairs, furniture, and other obstacles. Even though it may not clean every single inch of your floor on each cleaning cycle, it will keep heavily trafficked areas clear of dirt and debris.
The handheld vacuum requires no setup, and once it’s charged up is ready to use. It weighs a svelte 1.4 pounds, so you don’t have to worry about handling a heavy device as you use it throughout your home.
You’ll get three useful attachments that come along with the handheld: a soft brush for dusting purposes, a crevice tool, and a brush for cleaning up pet hair. If your pets rides in your car very often, you can use it to clean your sets as well.
After you’ve vacuumed with your handheld, all you have to do to empty it is push a button. It’s that simple. The vacuum is designed to have its inner brushes move over the filter as the canister opens. That way, the filter is cleaned each time the empty button is pressed.
Dual-Purpose Cleaner
You can clean your entire house from top to bottom with the Shark S87 robot cleaner. It will clean your floors while you use your handheld to reach hard to reach places or small messes made by the little ones. The handheld is also useful for cleaning areas like your curtains which your robot vacuum can’t clean.
Additionally, the handheld is great for your car. The pet brush, when attached to the handheld, cleans pet hair, crumbs, dust, dirt, and other small debris that gathers and gets trapped in the cracks and crevices of your car upholstery.
Suction and Power
Shark has made significant improvements to its S87 robot vacuum, claiming that it offers three times the suction power than previous Shark iterations. While the suction on the Shark S87 is strong enough to clean up everyday dirt and debris, it’s not near as powerful as your upright vacuum. It does, however, offer stronger suction power than you’ll find in other robot vacuums in the same price range. For instance, if you compare the Shark S87 to the iRobot Roomba 690, you’ll find that the S87 gives you slightly better suction power.
While the suction on the Shark S87 is solid, the battery life on this robot vacuum is not as good as you might hope. The S87 comes with a 14.4-volt lithium-ion battery boasting 2550 mAh. Even with all that power, the run-time for the Shark S87 is only one hour.
Charing time with the S87 takes about three hours, which is not as quickly as you would expect. Even other robot vacuums like the iLife A7 offer a longer run time and a shorter charging time between cleanings.
Similar to the robot vacuum, the handheld offers great suction power but doesn’t have a very long battery life. For a smaller vacuum, the suction is fantastic, but it would be handy to have a way to sacrifice a little suction power to extend the life of the battery on the vacuum. Basically, with the handheld, you’ll have just enough juice to clean your car, but not much more than that, which really leaves users wanting more.
Mobile App and Smart Home Integration
Telling your smart robot vacuum to start a cleaning cycle is a handy feature to have. If you want to start a clean, all you have to do is tell Google “Hey, Google. Tell Shark to start cleaning.” Then, your robot vacuum will start on its cycle. The Shark S87 will work either both Google and Amazon smart assistants.
Getting voice controls set up and ready to go only take a few minutes. Download the Shark Robot app from either the Android or iOS marketplaces, then add your device and/or skill to your Google Home or Alexa application. Once that’s done, just link the accounts and you’re ready to go!
The smartphone application is easy to use, user-friendly, and full of fun features. Getting the Shark S87 to connect to your wifi network is simple when done through the app. You do have to make sure your robot vacuum is turned on. If it’s not on, then it obviously cannot maintain wifi connection. As long as its on, it won’t go into sleep mode or disconnect.
Shark’s smart robot vacuum application offers controls for the vacuum itself, notifications and alerts, and scheduling capabilities. You can also view the history of your vacuum so you can look up how long it ran and when it ran if you’re not home during a cleaning cycle.
Potential Improvements
While the Shark S87 is a solid robot vacuum with powerful maximum suction, there are a few areas in which the device could improve. For instance, there is no place on the system itself for you to keep your accessories. The charging dock station does not provide a place to store them so you don’t have to keep track of them. This means you’ll have to keep your soft brush, pet brush, or crevice tool somewhere in a closet or drawer, and then remember where you stored them when you need them.
Second, the brush system could use some improving. The slide brushes only come with single prongs as opposed to the triple-pronged options that many other smart vacuums offer. That means the Shark S87 is using one prong to gather and sweep up debris instead of the three prongs that other vacuums use.
Specs
Here’s a look at some of the high-level specs that the Shark S87 has to offer.
| Height | 2.6 inches |
| Weight | 8 pounds |
| Diameter | 12.6 inches |
| Voltage | 14.4 volts |
| Cleaning area | 1000 square feet |
| Battery type | Lithium Ion |
| Battery capacity | 2550 mAh |
| Charging time | 90 minutes |
| Runtime | 60 minutes |
| Brushroll | Yes |
| Cliff sensors | Yes |
| Full bin indicator | No |
| Side brushes | 2 |
| Auto-docking | Yes |
| Noise level | 62 dB |
Pros and Cons
All smart devices have their advantages and disadvantages, and the Shark S87 is no exception. Take a look at some of the pros and cons for this smart robot vacuum.
Pros
- Affordable
- Lightweight
- Sleek
- Two vacuums in one system
- Powerful maximum suction
Cons
- No place to keep accessories with charging dock
- Battery life is not as long as expected
Is the Shark S87 Right for You?
If you’re looking for a solid and reliable robot vacuum that you can pick up at an affordable price, the Shark S87 might be the right choice for you. If offers two vacuums in one system, and both do a good job at what they’re designed to do.
The greatest benefit of the Shark S87 robot vacuum system is that it includes two vacuums. The handheld and the robot vacuum are quality vacuums that get the job done. The pair doesn’t take up a lot of room in your home and offer good features for users looking to get into the smart robot vacuum market.
While the battery life isn’t the greatest option on the market, it lasts long enough to vacuum smaller houses or apartments. On the other hand, you can start cleaning cycles with either your Google Home or Amazon Alexa smart assistant. Overall, the Shark S87 does have a few drawbacks, but it is a good option if you’re looking for an entry-level robot vacuum.
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