Shark Matrix Robot [RV2300S, RV2310AE] Robot Vacuum Review

Build quality is good overall. In terms of overall sturdiness, it's pretty similar to most other Shark robot vacuums, with a body made from fairly dense, high-grade plastic and rubber wheels. However, its two-piece dirt compartment feels rather flimsy, which contributes to its slightly cheaper feel compared to other robot vacuums. That said, it does have a pretty upmarket appearance, with premium-looking touches like the metal-finish plastic plate covering its LIDAR sensor. It's easy to assemble out of the box, requiring only that you snap its two side brushes into place and place the self-emptying dock station on the included mat. If you want a more sturdily-built Shark vacuum, you might want to look at the Shark PowerDetect RV2820ZE.

This vacuum is quite hard to maintain as it has many parts that require regular maintenance. Luckily, most parts are easy to access.

• Dustbin: You can remove the dustbin by simply pressing the two release buttons at the back of the part and then sliding it free. The vacuum automatically dumps accumulated debris into the external dirt bin on the charging dock, but you can empty it yourself if you feel that it's necessary.
• Dustbin filter: Cleaning the internal dustbin filter and lint screen is a bit of a hassle, as both parts are attached to the dirt compartment itself, and you can't wash it under water. You should remove any stuck-on debris by hand regularly.
• Base station dustbin: The external dustbin releases from the base station pretty easily. Another button on the side opens a compartment door so you can dump out any accumulated debris. According to the manufacturer, it can hold up to roughly 45 days' worth of collected debris.
• Base station dust bin pre-motor filters: Unlike the internal filters, you can simply lift the base station filters directly from their housing. You should clean them using only cold water every two months. Make sure to let them dry for at least 24 hours before putting them back in their place.
• Base station post-motor filter: You can find the post-motor filter in the base station behind a filter door on the base station. You should rinse it with cold water every two months. Leave it to air dry completely before reinstalling it.
• Brushroll: You can access the brushroll by removing the brushroll cover, which is fairly easy and doesn't require any tools. That said, despite being advertised as self-cleaning, the brushroll is somewhat tangle-prone. You can remove any stuck-on debris or tangled hair by hand whenever necessary.
• Side brushes: You can simply pull the two side brushes from their sockets with no need to unscrew them. Check for any accumulated debris once a week and clean them as necessary, either by hand or with a dry cloth, as they tend to collect quite a bit of debris.
• Drive wheels: You should clear the drive wheels and their housings of any accumulated debris whenever necessary. Make sure to rotate the wheels to ensure full coverage.
• Front wheel: You can simply pull the front wheel from its housing, but you may need another tool to get enough leverage. Remove any accumulated dust, dirt, or hair from the wheel and the socket when necessary.
• Sensors and charging pads: You should dust the sensors and charging pads whenever you notice a buildup of debris.

This vacuum incurs high recurring costs.

• Internal filter: There isn't a specified replacement time for this filter, and since it's effectively part of a single piece with the top half of the dustbin, it's far from an easily replaceable part. While Shark does advertise the filter as being reusable, it dirties very quickly.
• Base station dust bin pre-motor filters: You should replace this filter every six to 12 months.
• Base station post-motor filter: The base station's post-motor filter has an estimated service life of six to 12 months.
• Brushroll: You should replace the brushroll every six to 12 months, depending on your usage.
• Side brushes: You should replace the side brushes if bent or damaged.

It's worth noting that there are no replacement parts currently listed listed for this vacuum on Shark's website. We'll update this review once these components are listed as being available.

The Shark Matrix Robot is relatively compact for a self-emptying robot vacuum. Its base station is a little taller than that of other Shark vacuums like the Shark EZ Robot Self-Empty, but it's still narrow enough to easily fit in a nook between furniture.

This vacuum has a very small internal dirt compartment. You'll need to empty it out at the end of almost every single cleaning job, even if it's used solely for cleaning up lightweight debris.

This vacuum comes with a bagless self-empty station. While it's advertised as having enough space for 45 days' worth of cleaning sessions, the dustbin is virtually identical in capacity to that of the Shark Matrix Plus, which has a dock with an advertised 30-day capacity. In any case, this bagless design results in more frequent emptying and a messier disposal process compared to a base station that uses higher-capacity disposable dirtbags but also lower ownership costs.

• Shark Matrix Robot
• Robot vacuum body
• Internal dust bin
• Pre-motor filter
• 1x Side brush
• Brushroll
• Brushroll guard
• Quick Start guide
• Base Station
• Self Empty Station/Charging station
• Base station dust bin
• Base station dust bin pre-motor filters (felt and foam)
• Base station dust bin post-motor filter and cover

The battery performance is superb. In its high-power 'Max' power mode, it supplies roughly 70 minutes of cleaning time. You can stretch it to over 180 minutes if it's run in 'Eco' mode. Better yet, unlike older Shark robot vacuums, the Matrix can remember the power setting it was set to on previous cleaning sessions, so you won't have to make that adjustment manually every time it starts a new session.

The Shark Matrix Robot has a couple of quality-of-life features. There are three suction power modes: 'Normal', which is the default mode that you can only change once the vacuum is up and running; the more energy-efficient 'Eco' mode; and the high-power 'Max' mode. It also offers recharge and resume functionality, which allows it to pick up a cleaning session from where it left off if it needs to go back to its base to charge its battery.

The Shark Matrix Robot delivers good hard floor pick-up performance. It can easily pick up medium and larger debris; while it can clean most fine debris, walls and corners tend to be a pain point as debris gets stuck. The vacuum also struggled to orient itself in our test space, passing over the same area multiple times before proceeding.

The Shark Matrix Robot offers decent high-pile carpet cleaning performance. Large debris like cereal and medium debris like rice are generally no problem, but finer debris like sand tends to be left behind. Corners and walls also prove challenging.

We encountered two navigation issues when testing this vacuum. First, while using our black sample carpet, the vacuum's cliff sensors would trigger, causing it to stop moving. We covered the sensors with gaffer tape to get around this issue. This isn't a solution we recommend for day-to-day use, but it's worth keeping in mind if you have a home with especially dark-colored carpets. The other issue we encountered (but don't expect to affect users) is that the vacuum couldn't position itself when we removed its dock from the testing area, resulting in many uncleaned areas. The vacuum cannot correctly map out our test space if the dock is absent.

Performance on low-pile carpets is poor. Its side brushes toss some larger debris around, and fine debris tends to remain stuck in the carpet fibers. Again, walls and corners are pain points, as the vacuum leaves some debris of all sizes behind.

The Shark Matrix Robot's pet hair pick-up performance is disappointing on low-pile carpet. It's unable to lift hair that's pressed into the carpet fibers and tends to spread it around.

Like most robot vacuums, the Shark Matrix Robot has poor suction performance at its floorhead. The suction inlet is positioned too high above the ground to generate a tight seal on bare surfaces.

The Shark Matrix Robot's airflow performance is excellent for a robot vacuum, so it shouldn't have any issues lifting away heavier debris.

This vacuum is incredibly quiet. You won't have any trouble hearing nearby conversations spoken at a normal volume, even with the vacuum running in its 'Max' mode in the same room.

This vacuum has decent overall maneuverability. While it cleans in an organized pattern, its room coverage is actually somewhat lacking, and it can miss some areas completely; you can see that in a post-session coverage map here, where the center of the room is left uncleaned. Its LIDAR sensor is also somewhat tall, and the vacuum consequently can't clean under some low-lying couches and TV stands. Still, it can climb over tasseled rugs without getting stuck too frequently, which is rare among other robot vacuums. Unfortunately, its hazard detection system is somewhat over-reactive and can perceive benign objects, like thicker rugs, as objects to avoid rather than something that it can climb.

Air filtration performance is poor. Its post-motor filter isn't HEPA-rated, and fine allergens can easily escape from not only its exhaust but also in gaps around and inside its body as well as from below its LIDAR sensor.

Due to its low suction force, the Shark Matrix Robot misses a lot of debris in crevices when compared to most manually operated vacuums, lifting only a minuscule amount of material away. Its side brush can also slightly drag debris outwards rather than driving it towards the suction inlet.

This vacuum has terrible stain-clearing performance. It doesn't have any mopping capability that would allow it to scrub away dried-on stains.

This vacuum can't clean liquid spills.

The Shark Matrix Robot has a similar set of physical automation capabilities as the cheaper Shark EZ Robot Self-Empty, which isn't a bad thing, along with the more precise mapping capability that comes with a LIDAR sensor. It's capable of self-emptying, which reduces hands-on maintenance requirements. It can also be connected to Alexa or Google Home devices if you'd prefer to use voice commands to control the vacuum. The two control buttons on top of the body allow you to use the vacuum without an internet connection. However, the overall function is pretty limited, as they only allow you to start and stop a cleaning session or send the vacuum back to its dock.

The SharkClean app is decent overall. It's fairly feature-packed, but inputs can be slow to register. You can use the app to change the vacuum's suction power mode, command it to clean or return to its dock, schedule cleaning sessions, check the cleaning history and charge status, update the vacuum's firmware, or enable push notifications. After it's mapped out your home, you can also send it to specific rooms or set up virtual boundary lines that you don't want the vacuum to cross. See a quick tour of the SharkClean app.

Upon retesting the Shark Matrix Robot, it had difficulty connecting to our Wi-Fi network. Despite entering our network password properly, the app would either state that the password was incorrect or that it couldn't connect to Wi-Fi. The network connection could only be established after resetting the vacuum and app multiple times. Users have reported similar issues using other Shark robot vacuum models on sites like Reddit.