
Shark - AI Ultra RV2502AE
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Reddit Reviews:
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Based on 1 year's data from Mar 17, 2026 How it works
Liked most:
9
2
"I’ve seen on the camera the poor guy making multiple trips to self empty while in one room but it’s cut the hair buildup tenfold."
"picks up tons of hair ... and has really good rollers that don’t get stuck on hair."
"I’ve seen on the camera the poor guy making multiple trips to self empty while in one room but it’s cut the hair buildup tenfold."
15
2
"I’ve seen on the camera the poor guy making multiple trips to self empty while in one room but it’s cut the hair buildup tenfold."
"splurge for the self emptying because if you have to empty it every time you're less likely to use it. We only have to empty ours like once a month and I have a 14mo and a 3yo who drop crumbs everywhere. ... we have a Shark with a large self emptying bin and that thing is great for the price point."
"the only robot vacuum that didn’t clog or burn out was the self emptying shark one. ... it’s been going three years strong."
17
0
"I’ve seen on the camera the poor guy making multiple trips to self empty while in one room but it’s cut the hair buildup tenfold."
"splurge for the self emptying because if you have to empty it every time you're less likely to use it. We only have to empty ours like once a month and I have a 14mo and a 3yo who drop crumbs everywhere. ... we have a Shark with a large self emptying bin and that thing is great for the price point."
"It saved me so much anxiety and time because I was constantly fighting to make my floors feel clean. ... Now I just have to spot clean and vacuum the corners where the robot can’t reach."
7
0
"the only robot vacuum that didn’t clog or burn out was the self emptying shark one. ... it’s been going three years strong."
"the only robot vacuum that didn’t clog or burn out was the self emptying shark one ... it’s been going three years strong."
"The Shark has a never-stuck option so once it is stuck and you untangle it, then it remembers and will not get stuck again."
1
0
"it is also so much smarter than the older cheaper brand I had that would constantly get stuck and just bounce around the rooms willy-nilly. This one maps it out and covers all the floor space efficiently."
Disliked most:
4
1
"If it doesn't get run at least once a day, the roller brush will get clogged."
3
2
"Oh yeah, the 30 day bin does not apply to shepherd and husky owners in any way shape or form!!"
"I’ve seen on the camera the poor guy making multiple trips to self empty while in one room"
3 heavily shedding pets here (2 dogs, 1 cat) and several humans with long hair. I like Shark for the sole reason because of the bagless autoempty base station. We would fill up a bag like once or twice a week. I ain't buying that many bags. Bagless or GTFO. Shark RV2520AE lasted 2 years of running \*every single day\* before .. .meeting with an untimely demise - I don't blame Shark. I replaced with Shark RV2820AE- It is better than the RV2520, and in 3 weeks, it has only gotten stuck on a sock once so far. The older 2520 got stuck at least once or twice every day, sometimes more. Shark App is slow, but once you get the house set up, and the schedule.. it's set it and forget it. It just runs. And it has been slowly getting less bad As for Shark - if you can get it on sale, it's really not a bad buy.
I have been there, done that with robot vacuums and long haired cats! Definitely DO NOT get a Roomba, corporate issues aside they just never worked well for me, even the “pet” models. I would suggest finding a robot vac with the following: * self-emptying base, specifically one that can empty mid-cycle then continue cleaning * rubber brushes, I’ve had mine for almost two years and only have to scrape the brushes about once per month, a serious improvement over weekly or even daily cleaning needed for other vacuums * mapping/sensing, preferably LIDAR; you don’t want a vacuum that will just bounce around edges, find one that can properly map your home and clean it efficiently. * app controlled; this goes with the mapping, so you can schedule the cleanings or just remote start small sections I rave about it often, I have a Shark self-emptying robot and I absolutely LOVE it. It was expensive, but it’s made life so much easier by keeping the floors clean. It handles cat hair (3 cats originally) as well as kitty litter with no issues. It also has a smart map, and I can label the rooms so if I just need to clean the hallway and foyer I can do that easily. My robot is the RV2502, which is vacuum-only. Costco sells the most recent model which is vacuum + mop and I really, REALLY wish I had an excuse to upgrade because being able to mop around the litter box automatically would be a huge benefit.
I have a Shark robot vacuum with the auto-emptying feature. The auto-empty is a HUGE part of making this work smoothly. The Shark is also much smarter than previous brands (iRobot and EcoVacs) that I tried. I've had mine for over a year and absolutely love it. I have used it with both wood floors and carpet, and 1-3 cats (2 of them with long hair that shed A LOT) and it easily keeps up with all of that. It's also good at avoiding most hazards like cords and cat toys. Costco usually has a recent model of the Shark robot on sale, I've sent a few people there for it. Looks like right now they have a vacuum + mop combo for $479, and you should be able to just not use the mop function if you don't want to. The Shark app is pretty decent, it will map your home and allow you to label rooms and track robot status. You can schedule whole-house cleaning through the app, or do manual cleaning for individual rooms. My only complaint is that I can't schedule individual room cleanings, I have a couple spaces that need daily vacuuming vs every few days for the whole house. Edit - it also has voice control available through Alexa and Google, but I haven't tried that as I use AppleHome which doesn't integrate with Shark.
I have a Shark self-emptying model that's done amazingly well with up to 3 (long haired, highly shedding) cats on both hard flooring and carpet. I got mine from Amazon a couple years ago, but Costco has the newest model on sale. It's smart enough to map the house and you can name the rooms, and with the HA plugin you can do some advanced scheduling beyond just "run" that the Shark app offers. In my case, 1-2 rooms always end up worse than the others, so I run those more often and will schedule them with HA once I get that finished.
I have had both roomba and shark. Roomba needed a lot of maintenance. The good news is that it is completely rebuildable. Bad news, I know that because I changed our every part in that darn machine. My shark is more durable. Yes, I've changed our parts, but they are normal parts like filters and side brushes. I have yet to replace the motor or battery. My sister has an eufy. She has poor quality carpet, and the suction power has damaged her carpet. So... it is a powerful vacuum if your carpet can handle it. Robot vacuums are usually beat priced on black Friday. You might get lucky with Prime Day this year.
I have the Shark AI Ultra self emptying. It does not mop. It isn't a replacement for full vacuuming, but it does make the job much easier. I suffer from dust mite allergies, so I know it does a good job. However, I think it is important to point out to new robot vacuum users that you still need to do a weekly full vacuum regardless of how many times per week you want to run your bot
Just bought our first Robo Vacs, Ecovacs Deebot x11 for main floor ($900~). Shark AI Ultra Vac only for top floor with carpet ($250). We just threw them in the mix without making anything ready for them so we can test their strengths or lack thereof. Both are stellar for their price point. Both work well in darkness for their price point. Both avoid obstacles like pros.. as per their price point. While Shark is doing exactly what we want it to do, vaccum carpet and bathrooms everyday. Ecovacs vac+mop has been stellar! First few rounds felt like streakleftover fest. But, by 3rd day, floors were squeaky clean. First 2 days was all about tweaking and trying to customize everything. By 3rd, I went autopilot mode and let it do its thing. It’s working quietly at night too. We have a toddler so lot of small pieces on floor. We find everything as it is the morning or through out the day. I read a lot and I assume that the higher you go in price, the less chance of making errors in choosing the right Robo cleaner. Good luck and go for it 👍🏼🙏🏼
They always say avoid but never give actual reasons. I have a Shark Ultra AI, works great, zero issues.
I have the shark ai ultra for 2 weeks and it's been good so far. I also didn't want to go with a mop version starting out. The shark does a good job, I was surprised how well it did, actually, bc I was skeptical that a robot vac could be strong enough.we have a long haired cat and a large shedding dog in those rooms full time and a German shepherd is in there sometimes, too. It has made a huge difference in the daily cleanliness, beforehand there were tumbleweeds of fluff everywhere along with the occasional scattering of cat litter and regular human dirt that we track around. Idk if it's better than the others , but I'm very happy with it.
Robot vacuum was life changing. 4 big dogs and a cat. shark AI with self empty bin. It amazes me just how much filth this thing picks up. I manually clean once a week, have a bissel pet vacuum that seems to work fine for places the robot can’t go
I just bought a shark self emptying vacuum/mop robot about a month ago. Haven't had it during heavy shedding, so can't state how it works for that. I run it a few times a week for light maintenance on hard floors. So far I like it better than my old roomba. The roller on the bottom so far has not been getting clogged up with hair, and the self emptying feature is great. In the short amount of time I've had it, i've been really happy it. Hopefully i can say the same in a couple of years.
We have the Roomba j7+ We did a fair amount of research before getting it and watched YT videos comparing all the different makes and models and this was highly rated for pet hair. It’s pretty good - but like others have said you do have to spend time cleaning the hair out of the wheels which is an annoying and dirty job and also I find that I don’t run it very often because the sound makes my dog bark so I have to only run it when the dog isn’t in the house, which isn’t that often (of course, I could try to get the dog used to it, but I haven’t taken the time to do that) As an alternative to a robot we also recently bought the Shark Auto Detect and we are loving it! It’s cordless and really lightweight. It’s so easy to maneuver picks up tons of hair and has really good rollers that don’t get stuck on hair. I actually was looking forward to vacuuming today, which is crazy. I never thought I would say that!
Shark has an app where you can control the robot from, but you don’t have to pay for it.