The Shark Pet/Rocket Pro Cordless is a basic cordless stick vacuum. It sits below newer, pricier, and more feature-packed Shark stick vacuums like the Shark Cordless Pet Plus, Shark Vertex Lightweight Cordless, and Shark Stratos Cordless. It's missing many features that have become commonplace on models, like those with no self-cleaning floorhead, folding wand, or bundled HEPA filter.
It’s worth noting that this vacuum has many variants, which differ in included attachments, accessories, colorways, and can even exhibit slight differences in design. You can look at the Differences Between Variants section of the review for further information.
The Shark Rocket Pro is decent for cleaning bare floors. It's not especially powerful but still manages to clear away a wide variety of debris types on hard, flat surfaces like hardwood or vinyl, though it can struggle with debris wedged in cracks and crevices. It has a relatively spacious dustbin for a stick vacuum, so you won't be emptying it too regularly.
The Shark Rocket Pro is very good on low-pile carpet. It can handle a wide variety of messes on this surface type, though it's worth noting that fine and large debris can get caught at the lint strip that runs the width of the floorhead rather than being sucked into its dustbin. Unfortunately, its floorhead is rather tangle-prone, and since its roller isn't designed for easy removal, it can be a hassle to clean.
The Shark Rocket Pro is impressively effective on high-pile carpet. It can lift away solid debris and pet hair from this surface type, though some material can get stuck near its floorhead rather than being sucked into its dustbin. While it does have different surface settings for bare floors and high-pile carpet, these settings only change the speed of its brushroll, not its height, so it's still liable to get caught up in shaggier carpeting.
The Shark Rocket Pro is a decent choice for pets. It's actually very good when clearing away pet hair on various surfaces. Still, its brushroll lacks the self-cleaning features found on newer and pricier Shark models, so pet hair can easily wrap around the roller. Worse, the roller isn't designed for removal, so cleaning it can be a hassle. Model variants not equipped with a HEPA filter also do a terrible job of sealing in allergens. Thankfully, its simple upholstery tool is very effective when cleaning shed hair on fabric furniture. It's also very quiet, which is great if your pet is sensitive to loud noises.
The Shark Rocket Pro is a great choice for cleaning stairs. While it's a little heavy for a cordless stick vacuum, it's still pretty lightweight, so you can easily pick it up and carry it up and down long staircases. It delivers good overall performance on a variety of surface types too. You can easily reconfigure it into a handheld vacuum to clean tight spots.
The Shark Rocket Pro is a decent choice for cleaning your car. Its cordless design ensures that you don't need to stay close to a power outlet to reach every inch of your car's interior, and it comes with a crevice tool and combination hard bristle brush/upholstery nozzle to deal with messes in tight corners or on seats. Unfortunately, its somewhat bottom-mounted dirt compartment can sometimes get in the way when cleaning hard-to-reach areas when using it as a handheld. Its max battery life of about 40 minutes is far from spectacular, and you can't easily swap in a new pack if you run out of charge.
The Shark Rocket Pro isn't designed for workshop use. It can handle normal household debris on bare floors just fine, but it isn't powerful enough to deal with heavy-duty debris, and using it to clean up things like wood or metal shavings is likely to damage its internals. It can't deal with liquid spills, either.
The multiple variants of this vacuum differ only in terms of regional availability, color, and floorhead design. We tested the IX141 variant, and you can see its label here.
Model Code | Included Tools | Self-Cleaning Floorhead | Color | Notes |
IX141 | Crevice tool, Upholstery nozzle, Dusting brush | No | Blue | |
IX140/IX140C | Crevice tool, Dusting brush | No | Orange | IX140C is the Canadian market designation |
IX144AMZ | Crevice tool, Dusting brush | No | Mojito green | |
IZ142 | Crevice tool, Dusting brush | Yes | Orange | |
IZ140/IZ140C | Crevice tool, Upholstery nozzle, Dusting brush | Yes | Green | IZ140C is the Canadian market designation |
Let us know in the discussions if you encounter another variant of this vacuum we missed.
The Shark Rocket Pro is a basic cordless stick vacuum. It lacks many features found on newer, pricier models, with no automatic power adjustment, no self-cleaning floorhead, a limited battery life, and no HEPA filtration. It still delivers strong overall debris-pickup performance on various surfaces and is decently maneuverable.
If you're looking for an alternative, check out our list of recommendations for the best cordless stick vacuums, the best cordless vacuums, and the best cordless vacuums for pet hair.
The Dyson V8 is better than the Shark Pet/Rocket Pro Cordless. The Dyson is easier to maintain, incurs virtually zero recurring costs, weighs less, is more maneuverable, has a wider array of attachments, and has a more powerful suction motor. Conversely, the Shark has a bigger dustbin and offers a similar 40-minute battery life while recharging in less time.
The Shark Rocket Pet Pro is better than the Shark Pet/Rocket Pro Cordless, though both vacuums are similar. The Rocket Pet Pro has all of the same features as the latter but with a self-cleaning brushroll, an allergen-trapping HEPA filter, and an easily removable and replaceable battery.
The Dyson V7 and Shark Pet/Rocket Pro Cordless each have their advantages. The Dyson is easier to maintain thanks to its removable brushroll, weighs noticeably less, is easier to maneuver, and does a better job of filtering out allergens thanks to its HEPA filter. Meanwhile, the Shark does better cleaning carpeted floors, has a larger dustbin, and has a marginally longer battery life.
The Shark Cordless Pet Plus is better than the Shark Pet/Rocket Pro Cordless. The Pet Plus is effectively an upgraded version of the Rocket Pro, with a higher-capacity, easily removable battery pack, a HEPA filter, and a self-cleaning brushroll, though both vacuums are otherwise identical.
The build quality is alright. It feels similar to similarly-designed Shark stick vacuums like the Shark Cordless Pet Plus. It’s made mostly from plastic but features an aluminum wand. It feels relatively sturdy for the most part, though its clear plastic dirt compartment is a tad fragile. Thankfully, it's very easy to take apart and reassemble, with most components attaching via easy-clip mechanisms and featuring visible latch buttons to take them apart.
This vacuum has a few components that need regular cleaning.
Any part rinsed under water should dry completely before being reinstalled in the vacuum.
Recurring costs are very low.
You can also buy a replacement lithium-ion fixed battery from Shark’s website.
It isn't a difficult vacuum to stow away when not in use. Like Shark's other stick vacuums, you can detach the main body/dustbin assembly from the wand and stow it onto a slot just above its floorhead to minimize its vertical footprint. Unfortunately, there's no rack or onboard storage for the included attachments, so you'll have to find another place to put them.
The Shark Rocket Pro has a relatively large dirt compartment for a stick vacuum. It's mounted parallel to the wand, allowing for a larger overall capacity than alternatives with vertically-oriented dustbins like the Dyson V8.
This is a cordless vacuum, so the range is limited only by the remaining battery life.
This vacuum is fairly portable. At a smidge over seven pounds, it's noticeably heavier than contemporaries like the Samsung Jet 60 but much lighter than other Shark stick vacuums like the Shark Vertex Pro Lightweight, which features a more complex dual-roller floorhead as well as a heavier folding wand.
In its 'Barefloor' surface setting with no attachments, you can expect a nearly 40-minute runtime, less than newer Shark vacuums with higher-capacity 2450 mAh battery packs. In its most-power-hungry configuration, with the 'MAX power trigger depressed, the floorhead attached and set to its faster-spinning 'Carpet' setting, battery life drops to just under 15 minutes, which doesn't give you a lot of time to deal with stubborn messes. You can keep tabs on the remaining runtime via the trio of LED indicator lights on the battery, which turn off one by one as the charge level decreases.
Unlike the pricier Shark Cordless Pet Plus, its battery isn't easily removable; instead of the press of a latch, you'll need to remove four Philips-head screws to remove the battery cover and access the pack. Thankfully, you can still buy a replacement pack if its performance degrades over time.
This vacuum has a couple of quality-of-life features. The slider on top of the grab handle allows you to switch between 'Hard Floor' and 'Carpet' modes, which decrease and increase the rotational speed of the brushroll, respectively. However, since there's no height adjustment, its floorhead can still get dogged down in thick carpeting. Pulling and holding the trigger inside the handle activates the vacuum's 'MAX' power setting for cleaning stubborn debris.
This vacuum comes with a somewhat limited attachment set. There's a crevice tool for cleaning tight corners and an upholstery nozzle with a clip-on hard-bristle brush to deal with debris on upholstery or to scrub away embedded dirt.
You can use this vacuum in a handheld configuration by detaching its wand and floorhead.
This vacuum has poor real-world suction performance. While it has the same motor as other Shark vacuums like the Shark Cordless Pet Plus, its floorhead doesn't generate as tight a seal with the ground. Regardless, its floorhead delivers sufficient surface agitation to allow it to draw up most kinds of debris, which does help offset its limited power output.
Note: The attachment point at which hose diameter is measured is D-shaped and doesn't form a perfect circle. As such, the hose diameter was measured at its widest point.
This vacuum's airflow performance is mediocre. It can't generate as much air movement as newer, pricier Shark vacuums like the Shark Stratos Cordless and has a little more difficulty dealing with heavier debris.
It's a very quiet vacuum. Even with its 'MAX' power trigger pulled and the brushroll spinning faster in its 'Carpet' surface setting, you can still hear and understand nearby conversations spoken at a relatively normal volume.
This vacuum has decent maneuverability. It's easy to adjust power and floor type settings on the go or to detach and reattach different tools. However, unlike the pricier Shark Vertex Pro Lightweight, it doesn't have a flexible wand, making cleaning under tables and chairs much easier. Its floorhead also doesn't pivot flat to clean under tables and chairs, but its bottom-mounted dustbin would get in the way even if it did. It does get stuck on carpet tassels and thick rugs, too, requiring you to turn the vacuum off to lift it free.
This vacuum does a great job of dealing with pet hair on furniture, even when used in its standard suction power setting. Its upholstery tool effectively collects pet hair on fabric, though the vacuum's relatively bulky design makes it a nuisance to use for extended periods.
Air filtration performance is poor. This model variant doesn't have a HEPA-rated post-motor filter, and particles can easily escape from its exhaust.
This vacuum does a poor job of cleaning cracks and crevices. It lacks the suction power to lift debris stuck in cracks when using its floorhead. Even using it in its higher-power 'MAX' suction mode does little to improve performance in this respect – you can see a video of the vacuum cleaning crevices in its 'MAX' power mode here and the outcome of that test here.
This vacuum has no impact on dried-on stains.
This vacuum isn't rated to suck up liquid spills.