Shark PowerDetect NeverTouch Pro Review: The Base Does More Than the Robot

RTINGS found the robot very effective on hard floors across its debris types, and the edge system that blows puffs of air along walls worked well there. On carpet its lab saw cereal and rice come up while fine debris pressed into the pile stayed behind. Pet hair on low-pile carpet came up only where it sat on top of the fibers, which RTINGS puts down to too little agitation from the brushroll.

Vacuum Wars measured slightly above-average airflow at maximum power and average deep-cleaning and crevice scores. Its flattened pet-hair test on carpet recovered 86% of the hair, a result it rates above average. The two labs use different hair tests. Read together, the robot lifts hair that lies flat on the surface and leaves hair that has been worked into low pile.

PowerDetect raises power when the robot senses a carpet, an edge or more debris, and there is no manual suction setting, so the strength of a run is the robot's decision. That makes hardwood and tile its natural ground, with a rug or two on mixed floors crossed on the way.

After a run the robot docks, and the base pulls its debris into a bagless bin Shark rates for 60 days, refills the robot's water tank from a clean tank rated for 30 days, then washes and air-dries the mop pad. SharkNinja's product page sums that up as maintenance-free cleaning for up to a month.

The maintenance table in the owner's guide for the series gives cleaning or replacement intervals for the base bin, a pre-motor filter, a post-motor HEPA filter, the ramp, the odor cartridge, the clean and grey water tanks, the mop pad, the sensors and charging contacts, and the side brush. Even with the base washing the pad after every wet run, the guide recommends a washing machine or a new pad every three months. RTINGS counted four filters in the base and found the number of parts tedious to keep clean, though none is hard to reach, and its lab rates the running costs as very high.

The wash uses cold water and the drying uses unheated air, which both labs point out, and Vacuum Wars adds that the wash tray cannot be removed and does not clean itself. The robot's onboard bin holds 0.3 quarts, a little more than half the Roborock Qrevo's by the same lab's account, so the robot leans on the base to finish a large home. Emptying into the base peaked at 70.7 dBA in that test, louder than the robot at work.

A bagless bin saves buying bags and puts you closer to the dust when you tip it out, and the lab warns that emptying it can still release a cloud, whatever the HEPA filter does while the base runs.

The single pad sits in a frame that moves back and forth, which Shark calls Sonic Mopping. It reaches up to an inch past the body along edges, lifts when the robot senses carpet, and can be left at the base for a vacuum-only pass, then collected again for the hard floors, as Vacuum Wars describes the pad-drop routine.

Vacuum Wars' dried-stain test gave it 116 against a current average of about 101. RTINGS called its stain removal mediocre, saw little difference between Shark's VacMop cleaner and plain water, and noticed that the base does not wet the pad before a job. The robot wiggles in place on the floor to soak it instead, which leaves a damp patch near the base, a poor start on hardwood with gaps in its finish.

The robot maps with 360-degree LiDAR and watches the floor ahead with a 3D sensor, which the owner's guide describes as two line lasers and an infrared camera with a 100-degree horizontal view.

In RTINGS' tests it ran into most obstacles, more often on carpet than on bare floor. Thin items such as charging cables and socks were the worst risk, because the robot drove over them and could jam the brushroll. Vacuum Wars scored its avoidance 14 out of 22, right on its average. Either way, cables and socks come off the floor before a run.

NeverStuck, the system that lets the robot raise itself, did better in the same lab. It climbed thresholds up to 1 inch high (best with the mop pad removed) and freed itself from tasseled rugs and chair legs. The LiDAR turret makes the robot tall, though, and the lowest gap it cleared there was 4.1 inches, so low TV stands and sofas stay out of reach.

Shark rates the battery at up to two hours in dry mode on hard floors. Vacuum Wars found its area covered per charge among the worst it has recorded at this price, partly because the robot navigates slowly. It recharges and resumes, so a large home still gets finished, later in the day.

The SharkClean app handles schedules and no-go zones, and the robot answers to Alexa and Google Assistant. In its September 2026 update, Vacuum Wars lists what the app still lacks: maps for more than one floor, adjustable water levels, per-room settings, mop zones, carpet boost and a live view of the robot's progress. RTINGS adds that you cannot start the base's emptying or mop wash by hand. The robot joins 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi only, according to the owner's guide.

SharkNinja's product page lists a three-year limited warranty, while the owner's guide for the series prints a one-year limited warranty. Ask the seller which term your purchase carries and keep the receipt.

Of the 327 owner reviews on SharkNinja's store, 154 give five stars and 71 give one star, for an average of 3.5. Best Buy's 393 reviews average 4.1, and its automated summary of them reports praise for the emptying and refilling alongside complaints that the navigation is inconsistent.