Shark Rocket Stick Vacuum Review

In this Shark Rocket Stick Vacuum review I’ll dive deep into the details of this handy little tool. Spoiler alert: I love this thing!

The Basics

This vacuum is fairly loaded with simple, useful features. Shark has held back from including ‘fluff’ as selling points and instead has made a great vacuum that simply gets the job done quickly and easily. There is a small assortment of heads and accessories, including:

• Bare floor head with microfiber dusting cloth
• Powered brush/roller/agitator with two speeds for low and high pile carpets or bare floors
• Use with no extension or the all metal ~3′ extension tube
• Crevice tool
• Dusting tool with articulating head
• Furniture pet hair remover
• Accessory storage bag
• Detail Kit
  • Multiple heads and extensions for reaching small spaces (this feature is amazing!)
• 30′ Power cord
• Built in cord wrap
• Store upright or hang on included wall mount

Setup and First Use

Setting up the vacuum is painless and fast. Basically just take it out of the box and start working. There is nothing to assemble with tools. The only exception would be if you want to hang the wall mount on the wall, then you’ll need to use a couple of screws. All I did to first use it was read the instructions briefly, plug it in and start cleaning.

Ease of Use and Fatigue

This thing is super easy to use. Both the brush head and bare floor head articulate to point where you want it to go. Just twist your wrist in that direction and the head pivots in that direction. I was very surprised at just how easy this was to do, especially with the bare floor head. And switching from tile to carpet and back is not an annoyance because it is just the press of a button to easily remove the current head and put on the other. It literally takes 5 seconds to do.

One concern a few reviewers on Amazon noted was that this can get a little heavy to hold up the canister/power part of the vacuum if you use it for more than a few minutes at a time. I have to disagree. I have experienced much more fatigue using a traditional upright vac due to having to force it forward and drag it backward. With the Shark Rocket Stick Vacuum I have found that I can vacuum the entire house without getting tired. This is because it is very light. If you are using the powered head on carpet, it will pull itself forward.

Heads

The two heads for this vacuum are excellent.

Bare Floor Head

The bare floor head has a large microfiber dust cloth which really help to dislodge and collect dust. The suction this head is very good and I’ve never had trouble with it not picking things up unless it is time to clean the filter. I particularly like using the stick vac and bare floor head better than a traditional upright because it does not blow away whatever it is you are trying to vacuum. With an upright the ‘exhaust’ air has to go somewhere but because it is already at floor level it is very likely you’ll blow away some, or all, of what you are vacuuming and you’ll end up chasing it a round in circles. With the Shark Rocked Stick Vacuum the exhaust air is up at waist level and is directed down and behind you so that nothing is disturbed near the immediate area you are vacuuming.

Powered Brush Head

The powered brush head is one of the best parts of this vacuum. It is compact, maneuverable, lightweight (not too light, though) and powerful. The dual speed settings are actually quite useful as well. The low speed is great for low pile carpet or area rugs. But the power comes in to play on the high speed setting. It will vibrate junk up out of carpet fibers that other vacuums simple could not get out. I am continually amazed at how great a job this does. And not only is it powerful, it is light and easy to use in lots of different situations. One place where it excels far beyond the others is on stairs. Just take off the extension tube and connect it directly to the main vac part. Now you have a compact, light, full power vacuum to use and each step. And because it is small you can use it to run lengthwise across each step. But that is not all. Due to the light weight and compact size in this configuration, you can very easily vacuum the vertical part of each step as well. This is a life saver if you have indoor pets.

A nice little additional feature of the powered brush head is that the roller inside has grooves down it so that you can get under any strings or hair that are wrapped around it and easily cut them off without needing to disassemble anything.

Attachments

As already mentioned, this vacuum comes with several nice attachments. The crevice tool is unusually long and heavy duty. I have not needed it so much for crevices but it does add a great additional extension with high flow suction focused on a small area. The brush tool is very handy simply because it has brushes, but it also articulates (bends) so that it is at an angle. This makes it easy to do the top of shelves, window sills, etc. The pet hair remover is my absolute favorite. It has two opposing strips of directional fur grabbers lining the long suction channel. What happens is that you push the head one way and it grabs fur. On the pass back the other direction the fur is scraped off by the furniture and immediately sucked up in the channel. It also has small openings on both ends so that it never gets totally sucked down and stuck in place on the furniture.

Car Detail Kit

With the small hose, two different extension tubes, the crevice tool and two brush tools, this kit will get your car looking great. There is one straight and one angled extension tube that can be used together or separately. These really make it easy to reach places like way up between the dash and windshield. The two brush head are great for either larger areas or small difficult spots such as around buttons and knobs. I was able to get every last bit of dust off of my car dash while living on a mile long dirt road. I am very impressed and recommend everyone get the upgraded Shark Rocket Stick Vaccuum with Detail Kit.

Washable Filter & Bagless Dust Canister

While this vacuum does excel beyond most others in a lot of areas, the filtration is one that isn’t at all bad but also is not game changing. There are two filters for this vacuum. The first is a large particle filter which is essential a sponge. This does a great job of trapping any debris that makes it past the vortex trap. It is also washable so you can clean it out as often as you like, but you will need to wait until it is completely dry to vacuum again. The second filter is a fine particle filter. I do not think that this is HEPA level filtration media or they would be bragging about it. Still, I never see any material coming out of the vacuum nor do I smell dust at all when I’m using it. There is a third filter that is after the motor. I actually don’t know exactly why they have included this filter, but it does have what looks like collected smoke on it so maybe this is a way to keep the lubricants or other things in the motor area from exiting and causing odor or concern.

The dust canister does a great job, though it is a bit small. If you have not vacuumed for quite some time you might get one to two rooms done before needing to empty the dust canister. I will say that since it is so extremely easy it really isn’t a big deal. Just hold the vac over a trash can and press the button to watch all of the junk fall down and out. Nothing to remove or do beyond opening the hatch. If you don’t do this before the debris rises above the midway plate the vortex separation will not function and debris will go up to the secondary separation, which is the physical filtration media. You’ll then need to wash it out because it will have gotten full of dust.

Additional Features

Shark has added a few nice touches to this vacuum that I appreciate.

Storage Bag
There is a big enough bag to hold all of the accessories so that they aren’t just a jumbled mess in your closet. There is not a place to attach any of them to the vacuum when they are not in use so this is a nice addition.

Long Cord
The 30 foot cord for the vacuum is also an upgrade over many others. Typically the cords are about 25 feet, but with holding them out of the way, etc. that ends up being more like 20. This cord allows is longer to begin with, but also isn’t ‘shortened’ by needing to be attached to the handle. A very nice little addition.

Cord Wrap
The built in cord wrap is both a blessing and a curse. It is only available if you have the vac attached to the powered brush head and the extension tube. So while it is nice to have it, you are limited to using it in only this one configuration. The issue here is that the vac does not stand on its own this way but must be leaned against the wall or hung on the wall mount.

Wall Mount
The included wall mount is a nice touch but I have not used it yet because I am a home renter rather than owner. Just know that it is available.

Shark Rocket Stick Vacuum Review – Final Thoughts

This vacuum is great overall. I would recommend it to just about everyone. The suction is great and long lasting without need of frequent filter cleanings. The accessories provide ample options to clean many different places and types of things. With the added detail kit the things you can clean grows considerably. The power of this vacuum, along with the light weight and ease of use, make this a must buy for anyone interested in this type of vacuum.

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