Today, our focus is on the Shark PowerDetect NeverTouch Pro, which is Shark’s first robot vacuum with automatic mop washing and refilling. We bought one and evaluated it for several weeks and found that although it’s packed with some innovative features (maybe one of Shark’s best yet), it does have some significant drawbacks. In this Shark PowerDetect NeverTouch Pro review, we’ll go over the features, pros, and cons to help you decide whether it’s right for your situation.
We’ll also reveal whether it made the Vacuum Wars Top 20 Robot Vacuum list.
Shark PowerDetect NeverTouch Pro
Vacuum Wars Stars 3.36
The Shark PowerDetect NeverTouch Pro is engineered for up to 30 days of hands-free maintenance via a 60-day-capacity HEPA self-emptying bin and a 30-day water-tank auto-refill system. It features “5 Intelligent Cleaning Technologies” including DirtDetect (boosts suction on high-debris areas), StainDetect (multiple mop passes on stains), EdgeDetect (blasts air at edges and extends the mop pad up to one inch), and lifts itself across thresholds and keeps the mop pad off carpets for full-home coverage. Built for pet-friendly homes, the base captures and traps 99.97% of allergens down to 0.3 microns and uses Odor Neutralizer technology alongside antimicrobial mopping pads to resist bacteria and mold. Obstacle avoidance is handled by an advanced 3D sensor and 360° LiDAR system, and via app control you can schedule cleanings, define no-go zones, create maps and target specific spots. See additional info
Variations
The Shark PowerDetect Nevertouch Pro comes in two different colors (white and black), and there are some option choices in the PowerDetect lineup that you need to be aware of, mostly to do with the auto-empty bin options.
You can get the most expensive version, the NeverTouch Pro, which has an auto-empty bin that washes, dries, and refills the mop tank. Or you can get the NeverTouch non-Pro version, which has auto-empty and auto-refill but not the mop washing. They also have a version that just has an auto-empty bin with no mop functionality at all.
Hardware
As far as hardware, the NeverTouch Pro uses a single main brush and a single side brush. It doesn’t have an extendable side brush, but it does have EdgeDetect, a unique feature that blows air to the side when vacuuming edges to move debris into its path.
Pros
Performance
Its general performance was good. For example, it had decent power numbers, like slightly above-average airflow on max power.
However, its carpet deep-cleaning scores and crevice pickup scores were average.
The NeverTouch Pro was also good at its main job of picking up debris on the surfaces of hard floors and carpets, where it picked up everything we threw at it with no issues. It even did well with our new flattened pet hair pickup evaluation on carpets, where it picked up 86% of the hair, which is above average.
Mopping Performance
Another pro was that it generally had good mopping performance. The Shark PowerDetect NeverTouch Pro uses a single mop pad, which moves back and forth as it mops for agitation.
The mop pad also automatically extends for better coverage and lifts up automatically in a unique way when it senses carpets. This gives it the ability to vacuum and mop houses with a mixture of hard floors and carpets in the same run.
In addition, the NeverTouch Pro has pad-drop functionality, where it leaves the pad at its base when vacuuming carpets and returns to pick up the pad when it’s time to vacuum and mop hard floors.
As far as mopping ability, in our dried stain mop evaluation, it was better than average, achieving a score of 116, where the average is currently about 101.
See also: How Vacuum Wars Tests Robot Vacuum Mops
Auto-Empty Dock Features
The big story with the Shark NeverTouch Pro is that it has a dock that washes its mop pad—which, as noted earlier, is a first for Shark. To do this, it uses a mechanism that moves back and forth to clean the mop pad, and then it dries the mop pad with a blower and refills its mop tank with just water or a water solution mix.
All in all, the basic functionality of the bin and the mop washing station was good. It’s also worth noting that the bin is bagless instead of bagged.
And like many of its competitors. It also uses Shark’s unique odor-neutralizing cartridges, but I’m not sure if it’s a pro or not.
Obstacle Avoidance
All the Shark PowerDetects have front-mounted obstacle avoidance sensors, which is a huge pro.
They use 3D structured light and lasers to recognize and avoid obstacles, and the NeverTouch Pro did decently with this in our evaluation. It got 14 out of 22 possible points, which is right at the average number—so it’s not great, but not terrible at avoiding objects.
The PowerDetect NeverTouch Pro’s obstacle avoidance has some other unique features, like NeverMiss Technology, which senses dirt and stains in order to give them more attention. It also has NeverStuck Technology, a pretty significant threshold-crossing ability. Shark claims it can cross thresholds up to 38 mm high, which is right in line with the new Roborock at 40 mm.
Cons
Performance
As far as performance, its battery life was not great. Its official battery life is lower than average, and in our various battery evaluations, it had below-average efficiency in our square-foot-per-charge calculations. In fact, these were some of the worst battery scores we’ve seen, especially in this price range.
Some of that was due to its slow navigation, which, although it was decent at coverage, was below average with navigation efficiency—including a slower-than-average vacuum and mop time.
Bin Issues
The Shark PowerDetect NeverTouch Pro’s bin was fine but missing a number of features that have begun to be taken for granted. For example, the water was not heated when washing the mop pads. The air was also not heated for drying, the interior tray was not removable, and it was not self-cleaning.
Software
There has been a lot of discussion about how comparatively bad Shark apps are to the rest of the industry, and that didn’t change much with the NeverTouch Pro. It still has much less than its competitors in terms of app features.
For example, it doesn’t have multi-level maps, adjustable water levels, clean-along-floor direction, individual room settings, mop zones, or carpet boost features. Plus, you can’t see the robot vacuum’s progress live. It’s just an out-of-date app.
Shark PowerDetect Nevertouch Pro Review: Conclusion and Recommendation
So, how did the Shark NeverTouch Pro do when all the scores and features were added up? Well, its final Vacuum Wars score was higher than average. It only just made the Vacuum Wars Top 20 Robot Vacuum list, coming in at number 20, which is a pretty low rank for a flagship robot vacuum. And we don’t expect it to hang around in that spot for long. Overall, the NeverTouch Pro is a good product worth consideration, especially if you don’t need any of the missing features.
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