Shark PowerDetect AZ4002 Review

One feature we didn't expect to appreciate nearly as much as we do is Shark's powered Lift-Away design that lets you lift the dust bin off of the cleaner head and wand, transforming the machine into one that resembles a canister vacuum. Why is this important? This seemingly minor option lets us push the cleaner head deep underneath sofas, tables, and chairs, a task that most uprights cannot do because the dustbins get in the way.

Performance Comparison

Carpet Performance

Carpet performance is a key focus for upright vacuums, as many families depend on them for deep cleaning rugs and carpets lining the rooms in their homes. While some models perform well on hardwood floors, their primary role remains tackling carpeted surfaces. Our testing starts with low pile carpets, which are more common, and extends to high pile options, including plush and shaggy rugs.

High Pile Low Pile

We use a diverse range of debris sizes to reflect the variety of messes families encounter at home. Recently, we expanded our testing area to capture performance details that a single pass over carpet might miss. Additionally, we standardize the cleaning pace to mirror a typical household routine. Every aspect of our testing is designed to replicate real-world use, ensuring upright vacuums perform as expected in everyday conditions.

Low Pile

The Shark PowerDetect collected a whopping 96% of our debris, a stellar result that's significantly better than our average collection rate for this test.

The DuoClean brush roller is one of my favorite brush roller systems because its soft front roller with a tall head gate rolls right over the top of large debris (like Cheerios) with ease. Plowing is not a problem with this floor nozzle!

While this machine did a truly excellent job, I noticed an odd issue: Some sand built up on the foam filter, which I could see when I lifted the dustbin off to empty it. Filters regularly collect dust and must be cleaned, but larger sand particles don't usually build up on these filters, even with our stress tests. Consequently, I wouldn't recommend this machine to anyone with a beach house, despite the excellent overall performance.

High Pile

Considering the premium price of this vacuum — and that it uses the newest Shark technologies — I was disappointed by the performance on the shaggy carpet, only averaging 44% pick-up.

It seems as if the DuoClean brush roller bristle and fin design doesn't have enough thump to effectively agitate the long thick carpet fibers . . . or the wider two-roller system makes it harder to get a good suction seal going to suck up deeply embedded sand.

Overall Carpet Cleaning Performance

The tradeoff we seem to get with this double brush roller cleaner head is outstanding performance on relatively shallow floors but mediocre performance on thick rugs.

If you primarily have tightly woven carpets and rugs, this machine will likely excel and could even make you smile as you vacuum up your first big mess. However, sand may be a problem. The older version of this company's premium upright, the Shark Stratos, has a similar brush roller design. It captured 97% of the debris in the same low pile test. Not all the material made it up to the dustbin in 24 seconds, but the sand did not accumulate on the filter, making it better for beach and desert-area homes or those with kids and sandboxes.

Hardwood Performance

Since hard surfaces are easier to clean, there has been a rise in the number of vinyl and hardwood floors making up most of the house layout. Many people now seek vacuums that can handle different surfaces as they switch between rooms. For example, if you have a big area rug in your open-plan living room and kitchen, using a flexible vacuum that can transition from rug to hard floor could mean you never have to use a broom again.

To see how each vacuum tackles our hard floor challenges, we start by spreading a mix of different-sized debris over a large area of hardwood. Using the same materials for our hardwood tests as we use on our carpet tests, we can better isolate how a vacuum performs on each surface, revealing reliable insights rather than experiential guesswork.

Cleaning Performance

The PowerDetect collected 95% of our test debris on a hardwood floor, another outstanding performance, just barely lower than the Stratos.

When I ran this machine over the material, it performed like a dream and only took a single pass to collect it all! It was so easy, with no plowing at all. However, not all of the material made it into the dustbin. There was a clump of material in the hose that attached to the dustbin, and I discovered sand in the filter again.

Before Testing After Testing

On my second test trial run, it collected 97% without material in the hose area, so I gave it one more run, which again collected 97% of the material. Each time, however, I found sand on the filter when I lifted the dustbin to collect and weigh the material. I'm unsure why the sand is collecting on the filter, but the debris and floor detection features adjust suction power automatically. It's possible that the machine might have changed suction characteristics before the 24-second time limit, leaving heavy debris in the hose.

Crevice

We designed a new crevice test to determine which vacuums perform best in transition areas between flooring types and on tile floors with deep grout lines. These tricky spots often trap dirt that goes unnoticed until the rest of the house is clean, revealing debris left behind in the gaps and leaving you feel unaccomplished to not get every inch of your house clean.

The PowerDetect AZ4002 sucked up 89% of the sand in our crevice test, turning in the best score among all the upright vacuums I tested. It only left behind two little clumps deep in the crevice, and if I had moved the floor nozzle at a slightly different angle near the end of the test, I might have been able to get it all. If you have any deep transition spots between floor types in your household, there is a great chance you won't need to use a crevice tool to clean it out!

Edges

Not all vacuums are created equal when it comes to cleaning along walls. Some excel at this task, while others might have difficulty reaching debris on the sides or just ahead of the floor nozzle. We spread coffee grounds beside a wall to test their edge skills and observed the results with parallel and head-on movements.

This model cleaned up all the coffee grounds in both the head-on and parallel passes — whoosh, all gone in an instant, and I loved it!

Overall Hardwood Cleaning Performance

While the PowerDetect didn't collect the most material in all three hard floor tests individually, its combined scores connected together pushed it to the top of our charts for overall hardwood performance.

While its performance on low pile carpet and hardwood floors is truly excellent, I want to highlight how nice it is to have this vacuum auto-detect the flooring type and adjust suction and brush roller speed automatically. I'll cover this more in our ease of use section, but I must give Shark props where they're due. For households with a combination of relatively shallow or hard surface flooring types, this machine has the potential to make vacuuming low rugs and hardwood more of a pleasure than a chore. If not for my experience finding sand in the filter, this model might have edged out the Stratos for our Best Overall Editor's Choice award. Meanwhile, if you need a budget option, the Eureka QuickShift OmniVerse NEU801BL impressed me with how much material it could collect on hardwood while costing half as much as the top Shark upright vacuums.

Pet Hair

This part is for pet owners dealing with constant shedding. To help you find the most effective vacuums, we rigorously test each model on both low and high pile carpets. These tests reveal how well each vacuum tackles stubborn pet hair, making it easier to choose one that keeps your home fur-free.

Our pet hair stress test replicates real-world challenges by using a mix of dog hair from various breeds and an added gram of long hair extensions to simulate human shedding. We spread it across a 13-square-foot carpet section and press it in with a heavy wheel to mimic the stubborn, tangled mess that builds up with foot traffic—just like pet owners experience at home.

Before Testing After Testing

Visually, it looked like this model was able to completely clean the carpet, but upon closer inspection and weighing the results, I could see that some of the long hair wrapped around the brush roller, pinning some pet hair with it.

While this model was good with pet hair, the Shark Rotator LA502 collected 12% more, earning our Best for People with Pets Top Pick award. The Dyson Ball Animal 3 Extra came in a close second, and its anti-tangle brush roller system actually self-cleaned itself of our long hair extensions, making it the best vacuum we tested for households with long hair challenges.

Filtration & Suction

We test a vacuum's filtration to see how effectively it traps dust and allergens, helping you choose models that improve indoor air quality. We also measure suction power to evaluate each vacuum's ability to remove dirt and debris from various surfaces, which is key to overall cleaning performance. By assessing both factors, we hit on two very important factors to find the most efficient and reliable vacuums.

Filtration

The Dylos sensors are designed to recognize particles ranging from small (0.5-2.5 microns) to large (>2.5 microns), both of which are prevalent in flour and represent a range of small particle types that could be in your home. For pet owners, pet dander is usually the size of a single micron. For those allergic to pollen, those can range from 10 to 100 microns, depending on the type.

We did not notice any notable spike from the room's baseline, indicating excellent filtration performance and a suction path that effectively lifts particles into the tube without spraying. An excellent air quality if flagged by Dylos as any spiked recording below a count of 75. Based on our testing, the Detect effectively contained these potentially harmful particles, preventing any health concerns related to poor air quality when using this vacuum.

Suction

We measure suction at the cleaner head rather than the intake tube because that's where it matters most during vacuuming. While suction at the intake tube affects hand-tool performance, our approach focuses on the power delivered directly to the floor for more relevant results.

I measured 572 pascals of suction from the PowerDetect, the same as the Rotator and slightly better than the 547 pascals I recorded with the Stratos. These measurements were well above average, and only the Dyson Ball Animal beat these measurements, producing an astounding 2389 pascals. To put this in perspective, all of these vacuums tended to produce above-average scores in most collection metrics I tested — which is what I expect and usually experience from vacuums that create these strong suction measurements.

Ease of Use

We evaluate maneuverability, maintenance, and handtool attachments separately to assess each vacuum's overall ease of use. Maneuverability is tested by how easily the vacuum moves across various surfaces and tight spaces, ensuring it's comfortable for users to navigate around furniture and obstacles.

For maintenance, we look at how simple it is to clean and maintain the vacuum, including emptying the bin, washing filters, and accessing components. Lastly, we examine the handtool attachments, testing their functionality, convenience, and how well they perform in different cleaning scenarios, such as upholstery. Each of these factors is considered individually to provide a comprehensive view of how the vacuum fits into your daily routine.

Maneuverability

The large floor nozzle was not easy to wind between the tighter cones, but it swivels well. I experienced a bit of a hiccup getting it up onto my bamboo test mat, but it transitioned smoothly from hard floors to most low-profile rugs. The floor detect mode transitions seamlessly between flooring types, which I appreciated because it's sometimes hard to remember to manually change modes (which most other vacuums require). The floor detection feature alone might make the PowerDetect worth your investment if you have variable flooring.

Typical Reach Powered Lift-Away Reach

One possible issue you might want to know about is that I sometimes felt like this machine was running away from me due to the strong suction and powerful brush roller. I only experienced this on some low pile rugs — and not all — but I can see this vacuum as being difficult to control for weaker people or aging adults who happen to have a carpet type where the powered brush roller gets full traction.

Maintenance

While I can enjoy a good whole-house cleaning session, I don't like cleaning appliances themselves. Vacuums shouldn't be a hassle to maintain, so to help you understand what kind of work you might get yourself into after you clean your floors, we evaluate and rank how easy it is to maintain each vacuum over time.

I particularly appreciated the large 1.9-liter dustbin, which let me clean longer before emptying it. The front soft roller easily pops out for cleaning, but the main brush roller isn't removable. Fortunately, it doesn't have plastic barriers across the bottom, so it's easier to cut wrapped hair away than on many other upright vacuums I've tested.

What about the Odor Neutralizer Technology cartridges that Shark includes to guard against bad odors inside your vacuum? If you frequently clean your vacuum and live in a relatively dry environment, I'm not sure these will add any tangible benefit. If you have experienced stinky vacuums in the past or live in relatively humid environments where microbes or mold thrive, these cartridges might be useful to you.

Upholstery & Attachments

Since vacuums are frequently used to clean furniture, pet beds, and dust, we examine included hand tool attachments. I like how easy it is to lift the handle from the wand and use it to quickly reach into a nook to nab a cobweb or some errant bit of debris in a spot hard for the floor nozzle to reach.

To test upholstery performance specifically, I apply coffee grounds to a throw pillow and utilize the appropriate attachment to clean it. For this test, I chose the suction-powered HairPro Self Cleaning Pet Power Brush, which sucked up all the coffee grounds and hardly left a streak. This mighty little brush was really powerful, and I believe it'll work well on most upholstery, pet beds, and even carpeted stairs.

Should You Buy the Shark PowerDetect?

The Shark PowerDetect AZ4002 is particularly good at cleaning hardwood floors and collecting dust and debris in crevices and along walls. It's also stellar on low pile carpet while doing a solid job on matted pet hair. The Lift-Away feature is handy for reaching under furniture and vacuuming around obstacles and near nooks and crannies in the home and even in cars. While it's a bit heavy, the biggest possible red flag we noted was its tendency to collect sand on its foam filter underneath the dustbin, making maintenance a bit more work.

What Other Upright Vacuums Should You Consider?