Shark PowerDetect NeverTouch Pro RV2800ZEUK Review

Verdict

An upgrade in technology, the Shark PowerDetect NeverTouch Pro Robot Vacuum and Mop RV2800ZEUK can lift itself over objects, and has sensors to detect dirt and stains, so that these areas can be tackled with more power.

When it works, it’s very powerful, but I had some issues with navigation, and the app is far too basic, lacking control over power levels and only providing a basic spot-cleaning option. At this point, the product feels as though it needs a few software updates and a fresh app before it can compete with same-priced competition.

Introduction

I’d only just finished packing away the Shark Matrix Plus 2-in-1 Self-Empty Robot Vaccum cleaner (the company’s first to launch in the UK), when the newer, more powerful Shark PowerDetect NeverTouch Pro Robot Vacuum and Mop RV2800ZEUK arrived.

Smart dust detection and object avoidance, along with the ability to lift its rear in the air to avoid wetting carpet or clearing obstacles, show that this is, technologically, a big step forward. A super basic app lets the side down.

Design and Features

• Auto-empty, self-cleaning dock
• Clever lift-up design
• Can drop its mopping cloth off for vacuum-only mode

Shark certainly knows how to accelerate the development of its products. Its previous robot vacuum cleaner, the Shark Matrix Plus, was a decent budget offering that lacked many of the features of its competitors; the Shark PowerDetect NeverTouch Pro Robot Vacuum and Mop RV2800ZEUK is a radical upgrade.

There are three versions of the PowerDetect robot available. I’ve got the NeverTouch Pro (£799.99), which comes with the self-empty, self-refill and self-cleaning dock; there’s then the standard NeverTouch (RV2800YEUK, £699.99), which self-empties and self-refills the mopping tank, but doesn’t automatically clean the mopping pad; and there’s the PowerDetect Self-Empty (RV2820VEUK, £499), which just has a self-empty bin.

The Pro option is the most convenient, although the price means that this model competes with the high-end competition, such as the Eufy X8 Pro and the Roborock Qrevo S.

With the NeverTouch Pro, the large docking station has two water tanks: one for clean water and one for dirty water, after the mopping pad has been cleaned. Shark doesn’t state how big the tanks are, but does say that there’s enough clean water to last for 30 days.

There’s also a dust bin inside the station. As is usual for Shark, this bin is bagless, and it holds up to 2 litres of dirt and debris, which Shark says is enough for 60 days of dust. New to this model is the anti-odour cartridge, which is also available on the Shark PowerDetect Clean & Empty IP3251UKT cordless cleaner.

As the station empties the robot’s bin, the anti-odour cartridge releases a clean smell, neutralising any bad smells. It’s a nice touch and gives a fresh reminder that your home is clean.

As there are no bags, the docking station has two washable filters inside that you’ll need to rinse out with fresh water.

There’s another filter inside the robot’s small 0.3-litre bin, which should also be cleaned regularly to keep suction power to a maximum.

Flip the robot over, and there’s a single side sweeper brush, and a combination floor roller that has rubber fins and bristles. It’s been designed to avoid getting tangled with pet hair. There’s then a mopping bracket, which slides from side-to-side to agitate and remove dirt.

It can even be dropped off automatically in the docking station when the robot is in vacuum only mode, so the Shark PowerDetect NeverTouch Pro Robot Vacuum and Mop RV2800ZEUK can tackle deep pile carpets without the danger of wetting them.

Control of the robot is via the Shark Clean app, which is very basic compared to the competition. When the robot is first connected, the app asks to perform a mapping run. This is relatively quick, thanks to the LiDAR sensor on top, but the app doesn’t show the map, it just shows an animation of the robot moving around.

Once completed, the app then asks to perform a second run to detect hard floors and carpets. Quite why the two can’t be done at the same time is beyond me.

Once completed, the map is shown on the screen, and I could edit it to split or merge rooms, or draw no-go zones where I didn’t want the robot to go. There’s no option to set no-mop zones; instead, the robot will only mop areas it has detected as hard floor.

Most robot vacuum cleaners have several cleaning options, but the Shark PowerDetect NeverTouch Pro Robot Vacuum and Mop RV2800ZEUK is very basic. There’s a choice to clean your entire Home, Rooms of your choice or Spot.

That sounds normal, but the options are more limited here than with rivals, particularly for Spot cleaning. I’d expect to be able to draw a box (or two) on the map where I wanted the robot to clean, but instead, there’s a small box that can’t be resized. That’s hugely limiting. For example, with the Trusted Reviews Home Technology Lab, the box isn’t big enough to cover the entire area in front of the sink, so I had to do it in two goes.

Cleaning options are also very basic. With a full-home or spot clean, I could select to vacuum or mop, but not vacuum and mop; when selecting the rooms option, I could choose to vacuum, mop or use the Deep option, which vacuums carpets first, with the mop bracket left behind, and then vacuums and mops hard floor areas.

I’m not sure why this option isn’t available when the whole house is selected; I could select every room in my house individually and have the option, so it’s not as though the robot can’t handle the choice.

There’s also no control over the level of suction power or the amount of water to use, or the number of passes to use. That’s because the Shark PowerDetect NeverTouch Pro Robot Vacuum and Mop RV2800ZEUK is designed to use its PowerDetect Sensors to work out when an area is particularly dirty, and then cover it in greater detail with more power. I’m all for ease, but there are times when it’s nice to override the settings and choose exactly the type of clean that you want.

Scheduling is also super basic: I could set one schedule per day to clean the entire house and that was it.

The Shark PowerDetect NeverTouch Pro Robot Vacuum and Mop RV2800ZEUK does have some clever tricks. First, when the mopping bracket is attached, the robot can lift its rear up in the air to avoid wetting carpets and traversing even deep pile carpets and rugs. The robot doesn’t vacuum while it’s doing this, so it’s a navigation trick only.

Lifting is also an option when a threshold is detected, with the robot rearing up to avoid getting trapped. That does work well, and I found that this robot easily got over my test high threshold.

A sensor at the front is used to spot and avoid obstacles, although it’s not a camera and doesn’t have the AI capabilities to avoid pet mess, and the like. For everyday cleaning, the sensors mean that the robot is nimble enough to skirt around a busy home; if you want to avoid potentially messy situations, a robot with a camera, such as the Roborock Qrevo Slim, makes more sense.

Performance

• Takes some odd navigation decisions
• Powerful mopping
• Capable of deep cleaning, but can miss some areas

The idea with the Shark PowerDetect NeverTouch Pro Robot Vacuum and Mop RV2800ZEUK is that it intelligently moves around your home, only mopping hard floors and vacuuming hard floors and carpets.

That’s the idea, but the first time that I set the robot up and created a map, I had some issues. There are two hard floor areas in the lab, one by the kitchen and a second area by the oven testing area. The Shark PowerDetect NeverTouch Pro Robot Vacuum and Mop RV2800ZEUK would move to the second area, but ignored the hard floor by the kitchen. In the end, I moved the dock and created a new map and it all worked, but I couldn’t figure out why there was an issue in the first place.

My first test was the carpet test, adding a teaspoon of flour to the test carpet. With the robot’s Dirt Detect sensors, the robot should move in a figure of eight pattern, and increase suction. I found that this worked to a degree, but only in some areas. The result after one cleaning run, was that there was still quite a bit of dust left behind.

I repeated the test, and this time everything was gone. So, the Shark PowerDetect NeverTouch Pro Robot Vacuum and Mop RV2800ZEUK is capable of deep cleaning but it might need a couple of runs to get the dirtiest area.

Next, I tackled the same kind of spill on the hard floor, using the option to vacuum and mop at the same time. Here, the robot excelled, removing all of the dust.

I then moved to my edge test, sprinkling flour right up to the kitchen plinth. Here, the robot has two tricks. Edge Detect uses blasts of air to dislodge dirt, and Wet Edge Detect sticks the mopping pad out to get into the edge.

The result was good, but not exceptional: I found that there was still a thin line of dust left behind. The Roborock Qrevo Slim did a better job, with a dedicated cleaning arm for edge performance.

I then moved to my stains, with the Shark PowerDetect NeverTouch Pro Robot Vacuum and Mop RV2800ZEUK using its Stain Mode to detect dirty areas and increase the number of cleaning passes. It certainly did do this, skirting backwards and forwards over the hard floor, with its mop pad scrubbing away.

With my coffee stain, the robot easily removed the mess, quickly cleaning the floor.

Moving to the red wine stain, this dried-on mess was also removed quickly. So far, so good, but these stains are generally easy to remove.

The tougher ketchup test can often pose problems, but the multiple passes made by the Shark robot ensured that every bit of mess was removed with ease.

That was also true of my dried-on mud test: the solids where vacuumed up, and the ground-in stain mopped away.

My only real complaint is that the floor was quite wet. That’s not an issue on the laminate floor I use for testing, but if you’ve got wood floors, there’s no way to dial down the amount of water used.

At the end of cleaning, the robot went back to its dock, cleaned up its mopping pad and sucked out dirt.

I measured the Shark PowerDetect NeverTouch Pro Robot Vacuum and Mop RV2800ZEUK at a quiet 59.3dB, so it’s easy to be in the same room as the robot as it goes about its business.

Battery life is quoted at 110 minutes, although this is when the robot is using its lowest suction mode. As suction varies based on the level of dirt detected, real battery life will below this. In my lab, which has a bigger floor area than most homes, I found that the battery was enough for two cleans.

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