In this year’s Vacuum Wars Cordless Vacuum Awards, two of the most competitive categories were Best Cordless Vacuum for Hard Floors and Best Cordless Vacuum for Carpets. These awards are based not only on our standard surface debris pickup evaluations but also take into account crevice pickup scores, carpet deep clean assessment results, and hair management performance. To our surprise—but not without justification—the same vacuum won both categories this year: the Shark Stratos.
It’s rare for a cordless vacuum to dominate across both surface types, but the Stratos managed to pull it off thanks to a powerful combination of nozzle design and suction performance.
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The Shark Stratos marries Shark’s signature DuoClean floorhead with one of the brand’s most powerful cordless motors to date, delivering class‑leading suction that aced our tests with a perfect 100 % carpet deep‑clean score and flawless debris pickup on both hard floors and carpets. Features like Clean Sense IQ auto‑suction, anti‑hair‑wrap rollers, a removable battery with digital runtime readout, MultiFlex wand, HEPA filtration, integrated LED lights, a generous dustbin, and a built‑in odor neutralizer make it as practical as it is powerful. That compelling blend of raw performance and smart usability earned the Stratos Vacuum Wars’ 2025 awards for Best Cordless Vacuum for Hard Floors and Best Cordless Vacuum for Carpets—a rare double win in our most competitive categories. See additional info
Price as of July 18, 2025
Automations: Auto Suction Adjustment
Cleaning Heads & Attachments: Duoclean Roller | Soft Roller | Active Hair Removal | Pivoting Wand
Battery & Charging Features: Detachable Battery
Lighting & Display: LED Lights | Digital Battery Life Display
| Scores | Shark Stratos | Average Cordless Vacuum Tested |
|---|---|---|
| Vacuum Wars Overall | 4.48 | 3.3 |
| Performance | 4.36 | 3.15 |
| Hard Floor | 4.50 | 2.3 |
| Carpet | 4.80 | 3.73 |
| Features | 3.94 | 2.19 |
| Battery | 3.99 | 3.39 |
| Attachments | 0.83 | 1.68 |
| Official Battery Life: 60 Minutes |
| Handle Weight: 1640gr |
| Noise Level: 80db |
| Dust Bin Capacity: 800ml |
DuoClean Nozzle Meets Serious Suction
At the heart of the Stratos’s success is Shark’s DuoClean floor nozzle, which features a soft roller at the front and a traditional brush roll at the back. This setup has long proven effective at picking up everything from fine dust to large debris. And with the Stratos, that proven design is paired with one of Shark’s most powerful cordless motors to date.
In our unsealed suction evaluation at the floor head, the Stratos measured 0.95 kPa, significantly above the category average of 0.58 kPa.
This extra suction translated into real-world advantages across nearly every performance evaluation—especially the crevice pickup test, where the Stratos scored a perfect 20, which is almost double the average of 11.74.
Best Cordless Vacuum for Hard Floors
Hard floor performance has always been a strong point for DuoClean systems, and the Stratos is no exception. It picked up everything from superfine dust to oversized piles of debris with ease. Its ability to grab pet and human hair was so effective, it felt almost magnetized.
In our hard floor pickup evaluation, the Stratos earned a perfect 5.0 score, matched only by Shark’s higher-priced Power Detect. Considering the category average was just 3.5, the Stratos clearly outperformed most of the field.
Best Cordless Vacuum for Carpets
The same DuoClean floorhead that makes the Stratos so effective on hard floors also delivers impressive results on carpet, earning a perfect 5.0 pickup score—again, matching the performance of the more expensive Shark Power Detect.
Even more impressive was its result in the Carpet Deep Clean Test. When the Stratos was first released, it was the first Shark cordless vacuum to ever score a perfect 100%, picking up deeply embedded debris like sand with repeatable consistency. The category average is 93%, making the Stratos’s result especially noteworthy.
A Narrow Victory Over the Power Detect
It’s worth noting that the Shark Power Detect was a very close contender in both categories. The two vacuums were virtually tied in surface pickup scores. However, the Stratos had just enough of an edge—particularly in suction power and crevice performance—to claim both awards outright.
Final Thoughts
The Shark Stratos isn’t just another DuoClean cordless vacuum—it’s a high-performance machine with class-leading suction, an exceptional floorhead design, excellent hair pickup, and award-winning performance on both hard floors and carpets.
It’s no surprise that the Stratos walked away with both the Best Cordless Vacuum for Carpet and Best Cordless Vacuum for Hard Floors awards this year.
If you’re looking for a versatile cordless vacuum that doesn’t compromise on any surface type, the Shark Stratos is the one to beat.
The Results Are In!
See the full lineup of standout performers in the Vacuum Wars Best Cordless Vacuum Awards for 2025!
