Best Shark robot vacuums of 2025, tested: The only 3 to eye on Black Friday
Read our full Shark Matrix Plus 2-in-1 review.
The Matrix Plus 2-in-1 is one of Shark’s two main competitors for anyone who wants a robot vacuum that can clean. Price is the obvious factor that might sway you to go with this one over my favorite Shark hybrid, the new PowerDetect NeverTouch Pro – the self-draining version of the Shark Matrix Plus 2-in-1 can almost always be found on sale while the PowerDetect rarely drops below $899.99 (if you can find it on sale).
Your expected level of automation from your Shark’s cleaning pad will also play a big role in choosing between these Sharks. If your home is mostly carpeted and only a few rooms need cleaning, such as a bathroom and kitchen only, you may not mind having to physically attach the mop pad or fill the water tank to activate cleaning mode. The price difference may also be significant enough to convince you that having to manually wash the mop pad after each pass isn’t such a big deal. Alternatively, the expensive PowerDetect NeverTouch Pro washes and dries its own mop pad and fills its own water tank.
Coming back to floor type, the Matrix Plus probably wouldn’t be the best choice for homes with a thick carpet situation, as the robot requires you to manually highlight rugs or carpets in the app and can’t vacuum when the water tank is attached.
Shark became relevant again in the robot vacuum game when it introduced its Matrix cleaning mode in 2022. I first experienced it while testing the Shark Matrix Plus 2-in-1 and was particularly impressed by the simplicity and reliability of its spot cleaning. Although the Shark Matrix Plus 2-in-1 has since been surpassed as the most sophisticated Shark hybrid, its combination of affordability, simple mapping, and meticulous cleaning makes it a top choice.
Shark’s Matrix mode better cleans rooms or areas selected in the app by scanning the target area from multiple angles to vacuum or clean anything that might have been missed on the first pass. During regular vacuuming, Matrix mode cleans carpets 30% deeper than older RV Shark models, and while cleaning, the cleaning pad vibrates 1,000 times per second to do a little more work on larger spills requiring extra wiping or lightly dried stains.
In my testing, I saw the Matrix Plus 2-in-1 successfully remove crumbs near the kitchen counter, cat litter in my bathroom, and minor drops on hardwood or tile floors multiple times — messes that the similarly priced Roombas I tested couldn’t conquer in a single pass.
