Verdict
Well-priced and packed with clever features, the Shark PowerDetect UV Reveal RV3000XEUK automatically spots areas that need extra mopping and vacuuming, cleaning thoroughly. With its smart, bag-free docking station, the main features are fantastic. Edge performance could be better, and I’d like an anti-tangle brush, and the app needs work, as it’s very basic and a bit behind the times. If you can live with the restrictions, you won’t get a better overall clean.
Shark’s recent history in robot vacuum cleaners has been mixed to say the least: decent hardware marred by a very basic app. With the Shark PowerDetect UV Reveal RV3000XEUK, things are starting to turn in the company’s favour with a far more powerful robot that does things the competition can’t.
It’s still a shame about the app, but does the overall package overcome the limitations? Read on to find out more.
The Shark PowerDetect UV Reveal RV3000XEUK is clearly a Shark robot vacuum cleaner, and it looks very similar to its predecessor, the Shark PowerDetect NeverTouch Pro 2-in-1, from the outside, although there are some upgrades that I’ll go through.
There’s a fixed LiDAR dome on top, which makes this robot a little taller than the competition (it’s 136mm tall), so it can’t get under as much furniture as the slimmer competition. Running the cleaner around, it wouldn’t go under a sofa, for example.
Things start to become different when you look closely. At the front is the StainDetect sensor array, which includes a camera, a spotlight and a UV light. The latter is unique amongst robot vacuum cleaners and is used by the robot to highlight hidden stains, automatically focusing its mopping and vacuuming on these areas.
Of course, the camera is also used to spot and avoid common obstacles, such as cables and pet mess.
Flip the robot over, and the layout underneath is similar to Shark’s previous efforts. There’s a brush bar, a side brush (this needs to be installed), and a HyperSonic mopping cloth (this vibrates to agitate dirt) that can also swing out to get close to the edges of rooms.
There’s a large bin that pulls out with a washable filter inside. This will need cleaning regularly to maintain suction performance.
General day-to-day maintenance is handled by the docking station. Unlike most of the competition, the 1.5-litre bin doesn’t take bags, so there are no consumables. When full, you just take the bin out and empty it.
To maintain performance, there are two more filters to wash, but I’d rather take these than have to buy bags.
Mopping is handled by the two water tanks: a 1.18-litre one for dirty water, and a 2.74-litre clean tank, which should be topped up with detergent (Shark provides and recommends its own hard floor cleaner). Water is heated to 85°C for cleaning, and 80°C air is used to dry the mop.
There are shortcuts to start and stop a vacuuming or mopping session, but for full control you need to use the Shark Clean app.
Shark Clean is rather basic and a bit frustrating to use. Once the Shark PowerDetect UV Reveal RV3000XEUK is connected, it performs a mapping run, but there’s no live update to show how it’s getting on.
Once finished, the app guesses where you want rooms, and then I could split or merge them, and add no-go zones. There’s no option to add furniture to the map to act as a quick-select zone.
Shark then asks if you want to perform a carpet detection run. With this, you select the rooms that have carpet or rugs, and let the robot check their location. I’m not sure why it doesn’t just detect rugs and carpets as it cleans.
Once done, the cleaning options are basic, some with good reason, others because the features just aren’t there.
Cleaning options include cleaning everywhere, rooms of your choice or a spot option. The spot option isn’t that useful, as it’s limited to a pre-defined box that you drag where you want it, with no option to select an area.
That’s a shame. In my house, I like to vacuum where I prepare food, but the area is long and thin, and not covered by the spot cleaning area.
Cleaning options vary by the mode selected. Choose to clean everywhere, and you can pick between vacuum, mop, and vacuum and mop. Choose a room or spot, and there’s no vacuum and mop option.
There’s no choice to choose how many passes you’d like to make, just the vacuum power for vacuuming, and the stain detection and mopping level for the mopping function. However, this actually makes sense. As well as the UV and camera-powered stain detection, the Shark PowerDetect UV Reveal RV3000XEUK has dirt detection, automatically recognising areas of high dust, and focusing on them more. In that regard, you don’t need to control the number of passes, as the robot should focus on those areas that need it more.
For vacuum only, the mopping bracket is dropped off at the docking station. Once reattached, the Shark PowerDetect UV Reveal RV3000XEUK can lift its rear off the floor to avoid wetting even deep-pile carpets.
While the app may get in the way, the vacuuming performance is excellent. Spreading some flour liberally around, I was impressed by how the Shark PowerDetect UV Reveal RV3000XEUK works. When it finds areas of mess, the robot focuses on them, making sure everything’s gone, and returning to the area, covering it in different directions.
The Shark PowerDetect UV Reveal RV3000XEUK is so thorough, and it didn’t leave a trace of mess behind, easily competing with the most powerful vacuums, such as the Roborock Saros 20.
Edge performance wasn’t quite as good as I’d hoped. The fixed side brush can’t get into corners, or to the edge of rooms, as well as a swing-out brush.
I also found that the roller got tangled with hair, which is a shame: Shark came up with the first anti-tangle brush, so I’d like to see it do better here.
Navigation is excellent. Thanks to the cameras, the Shark PowerDetect UV Reveal RV3000XEUK avoided shoes, cables and fake pet mess, and it climbs over obstacles well.
Overall, the vacuuming performance shows that you don’t need to set how many passes you want, as the direct detection lets the Shark PowerDetect UV Reveal RV3000XEUK thoroughly clean.
Battery life is also excellent: enough power to thoroughly clean the floor of an average home, with power left for spot jobs.
I had an initial issue with mopping, as the Shark PowerDetect UV Reveal RV3000XEUK ignored my hard floor area and wouldn’t mop it. I think it’s because I ran the robot in my test lab, and my test hard floor is in the middle of some carpet, which confused the robot. I regenerated the map, and didn’t run carpet detection, and it worked the next time.
I also moved the robot to a home environment, and didn’t have any problems with floor detection.
Mopping performance is excellent thanks to those sensors, but you have to give the Shark PowerDetect UV Reveal RV3000XEUK time. With my floors, the initial pass over was quite quick and I didn’t think that my tougher messes were going to get wiped up, but the robot returned to the spots.
When it found particularly bad messes (a ketchup spill, for example), it would sit on the them slowly rotating, then the robot would come back again. Going out once, my hard floor was spruced up with just a little bit of ketchup left behind; a second run cleared up everything.
That’s hugely impressive, particularly as the system is fully automatic.
The Shark PowerDetect UV Reveal RV3000XEUK is a combination of the brilliant and the not-so-good. The very basic app needs work, even to introduce basic features, such as resizable spot-cleaning boxes.
App aside, the actual hardware is mostly brilliant. I’d like anti-tangle and better edge cleaning, but the dirt detection abilities let this robot vacuum brilliantly and mopping is absolutely brilliant.
When we publish our reviews, you can rest assured that they are the result of “living with” long term tests.
Robot cleaners usually live within an ecosystem, or a range of products that – supposedly – all work in harmony. And they are designed to offer a range of different cleaning options. Therefore, it’s impossible to use a robo cleaner for a week and deliver a verdict.
Because we’re testing smart home kit all day, everyday, we know what matters and how a particular smart cleaning machine compares to alternatives that you might also be considering.
Our reviews are comprehensive, objective and fair and, of course, we are never paid directly to review a device.
Read our guide on how we test robot vacuum cleaners to learn more.
