Hands on: Shark Stratos review

This is a flash hands on review to give you the chance to see what the Shark Stratos Cordless is all about as soon as possible. Stay tuned as we'll be expanding and upgrading this hands on review very shortly with more info.

We're day two into our time at IFA 2022, and we are eagerly anticipating the launch of some more entries into the best robot vacuum cleaners, best cordless vacuum cleaners and upright vacuum cleaner categories. We are keeping our eyes open for any newness and one, in particular, that has caught my eye is the Shark Stratos.

We joined SharkNinja for breakfast this morning (Thursday 1 September) and not only did we have our hair styled with the new Shark FlexStyle, we had the opportunity to also try out the new vacuum cleaner which was sat amongst the brands already popular line of vacuum cleaners.

Stratos is the name of the new range by Shark. There are upright, corded sticks and cordless sticks with some of the best features we know and love such as Anti Hair Wrap, Duo Clean and Flexology, along with some new things to boot which promise to pick up more debris and control bad odors.

It's currently on pre-order direct from Shark UK and will be released for sale on the Shark website and with resellers sometime over the next few weeks.

Performance

We were really impressed by the new Clean Sense IQ technology, which according to Shark picks up 50% more dirt from the floor by sensing the dust you can’t see and automatically adjusts the suction power. 

This is beautifully illustrated by an intelligent indicator in the floorhead. We had some dried cereal scattered on the floor to demonstrate how effective this feature was, and we could hear the gears changing as it had to put a bit more effort in to removing the cereal form the floors surfaces than surface dust. 

(Image credit: Future)

We were told that this new feature will also help to preserve the battery life since you'll be using a suction power level that is most suitable for the floor type, which is unlikely to be on Max.

Another new addition to the Shark vacuum is the innovative Anti Odor Technology which guards against bad smells. If you've ever noticed a smell coming from your vacuum cleaner after not emptying it for some time, or you have pets, then you are going to really notice the difference when using a vacuum cleaner from the Stratos range. Although we couldn't give this feature a quick test, we have seen it and it is a little plug-type filter which resides in the floorhead. Very neat.

To play on the idea that these new vacuum cleaners are good for pet owners, Shark has enhanced the Anti Hair Wrap floorhead. It looks the same but it is supposed to deliver an even better hair pick up due to an improved grip. We could see any hair, dust or cereal left on the floor after a quick vacuum around the event stand, nor could we see any debris wrapped around the floorhead. The real test would be when we come to review it in our own home.

(Image credit: Future)

Design

To look at the Shark Stratos cordless doesn't look too dissimilar to the Shark Anti Hair Wrap Flexology IZ201UK. The floorhead is compact, the stick can fold (Flexology) and there's two power settings.

(Image credit: Future)

One noticeable difference, however, is that the Anti Odor Technology is present on the floorhead. It doesn't look at all bad and has been carefully designed. Alas, we did not take a photograph of this, and the vacuum cleaner we quickly tried out is a European version without this feature, but rest assured it doesn't detract from the overall look.

The Flexology feature means that you can fold the vacuum cleaner for easy storage, making it ideal for homes where space is a premium. Shame that the vacuum cleaner won't stand up on its own in other circumstances other storage, however.

(Image credit: Future)

Early verdict

We were really impressed by the Shark Stratos at the IFA event. It has all the good features that we know and love, and then some.

We're particularly keen to give the CleanSense IQ feature a bit more run for its money. We like that the suction is displayed in such an obvious way on the floorhead, which in turn effects the number of floorhead lights that are illuminated whilst powered on.

The Anti Odor Technology and Anti Hair Wrap Plus are features we are curious to know more about, too. There's only one way to go about this, and that's to conduct a full review.

IFA 2022 is Europe's biggest tech show, and TechRadar is in Berlin to bring you all the breaking news and announcements, plus our hands-on first impressions of the new TVs, wearables, audio devices and other gadgets on show.