This Shark Vacuum Is So Powerful, It Actually Makes You Want to Clean Your House and Car — Trust Us, We Tried It Ourselves

Men’s Journal aims to feature only the best products and services.  If you buy something via one of our links, we may earn a commission.

This story was created by Men’s Journal in partnership with Shark.

Vacuuming is a chore, but not everyone wants a robot vacuum bumping into their furniture all day. The next best thing is getting a cordless vacuum that makes you want to clean, like the new Shark Cordless PowerDetect Clean & Empty System. This lightweight yet powerful vacuum with smart features just might make you excited to use it. It’s a perfect pick for keeping the house debris-free, and it also transforms into a compact handheld for cleaning out your car — so you can say goodbye to buying a separate dust buster for those out-of-the-house jobs.

The biggest draw of the Shark PowerDetect is how fast and easy it makes your weekly cleaning routine. The DuoClean Detect nozzle unlocks detect mode, which automatically senses different floor types, areas with increased debris, and corners/wall edges and adjusts suction accordingly. You won’t be fiddling with different settings while trying to vacuum when detect mode is activated. 

Shark Cordless PowerDetect Clean & Empty System, $400 (was $500) at Shark

Detect mode also turns on a built-in LED light if you’re vacuuming in a darker place, like under furniture or in a closet. This light acts similarly to other cordless vacuums on the market that have a laser — it illuminates gunk that’s invisible to the naked eye and shows you just how dirty your floors really are. This feature is kind of gross, but it honestly made me want to vacuum more often once I realized how much dog hair was on my floors.

I found that detect mode works pretty seamlessly. The vacuum regularly kicked up the suction power when I went from hardwood floors to rugs, and I could tell that the suction ramped up when I approached the baseboards to pull in as much debris as possible from the edges, rather than shoving crumbs further into the corners. Essentially, detect mode ensures you won’t have to turn the vacuum into a handheld to clean the corners and edges of your flooring. The only downside to detect mode was that it was almost too powerful for some of the thinner rugs in my house. The more manual eco mode was better suited to the thin rugs in my home. 

The suction of the Cordless PowerDetect means business. Though Shark doesn’t specifically state what the suction power of this vacuum is measured at, it did a great job of sucking up stubborn dog hair, ground in dust and crumbs, and food messes during testing. I love that it sucks up debris on both forward and backward passes over the floor, basically cutting the time it takes to thoroughly clean an area in half compared to traditional vacuums, which typically have a harder time with larger debris when pulled backwards.

This vacuum comes complete with a self-emptying dock, which not only empties the vacuum canister automatically, but also acts as a charging station and storage. The Cordless PowerDetect vacuum has a pretty small canister (which keeps it super lightweight and easy to maneuver), but this smaller volume means it fills quicker. Instead of stopping to empty it constantly (and getting dust everywhere), the self-emptying dock empties the vacuum every time you place it on the dock. The vacuum itself has a battery life of about 70 minutes on a single charge, but since the dock acts as a charger, it’s pretty much always fully charged and ready to go.

The dock has a two-liter capacity, and Shark says it’s big enough to hold up to 45 days of crumbs, dust, and pet hair in most households. That means you’ll only need to empty the vacuum every month and a half, even with regular use. You won’t need to worry about potential odors emanating from the dock either — while testing, we left debris in the dock for about a month, and the built-in odor neutralizer ensured that nothing was smelling up the house.

The Shark Cordless PowerDetect system is a beast in the house, but it also does a great job of cleaning your car. Sure, you could use the complimentary vacuums at the car wash that leave you with half the crumbs you started with, but why would you when your home vacuum doubles as a handheld car cleaner? 

The lightweight, small canister size of this vacuum makes it an ideal pic for vacuuming your car. It’s easy to hold with one hand, and your wrist won’t get fatigued if you have a big SUV to clean. In comparison to my personal Dyson Outsize vacuum, the Shark Cordless PowerDetect is much easier to use as a car cleaner since it’s so much lighter. Even though it can hold less debris in the canister than the Dyson, the self-emptying dock basically takes care of that issue for you, since it empties itself after every use. I’ve vacuumed my entire apartment and my car right after each other, and still haven’t filled up the canister (and I have two very hairy dogs).

The included Duster Crevice Tool does a great job of getting into those hard-to-reach spots in your car — like underneath the seats. It’s long enough to get into all the cracks and crevices in a car, and small enough to use in cramped spots, like in cup holders and storage areas throughout the vehicle. 

The other tool that comes in the box is the pet multitool, which works well for getting pet hair, dirt, and other grime off of your car seats. The brush allows you to scrub at any stubborn debris to loosen it, and the strong suction power of the vacuum lifts it away. It took under 10 minutes to vacuum my entire Toyota 4Runner using the Shark Cordless PowerDetect, and unlike with car wash vacuums, I didn’t need to go over everything twice.

The Shark Cordless PowerDetect Clean & Empty System is a gem for folks who don’t have a ton of time (or desire) to clean all the time. The strong suction power and two-way suction clean up messes fast, while the self-emptying dock takes emptying the vacuum off your hands. It’s the best cleaning companion for both your home and your car, and best of all, the Clean & Empty System will only run you $500. This price point is a steal when you compare it to other comparable vacuums on the market that don’t have all the smart features and self-emptying dock that this Shark model boasts.