Shark Apex. All Other Vacuums Suck.

It’s 2018 and we’re at the pinnacle of engineering. Cars can drive themselves, buildings scrape the lowest parts of our atmosphere. Phones, a mini super computer in your pocket, convert Night into Day. And despite all this amazing tech a product can still suck you in far exceeding your expectations.

The Shark Apex has taken damn near everything that annoyed you with Vacuums and fixed it (except for having to vacuum). It’s so damn good Dyson has given up on its corded vacs – the only way they’ll top it is with a robot vacuum that cleans stairs.

Maneuverability

Dyson’s biggest claim to fame is its ball. This is where the engine lives and allows it to turn on a dime. Its iconic design is functional and it used to be that no other vacuum could compete with its finesse. Until the Apex. The old Shark Rotators maneuvered fine but not with the sharpness of the Dyson. The Apex? Just as good. Making the ball seem a little silly now…

In fact, while the ball may be Dyson’s biggest claim to fame, it has become its biggest set back. Jamming everything in that ball leaves no room for clever features. Its limitations are obvious because Dyson is now dropping the iconic design in its newest products.

Design & Features

While not new to the Apex, it‘s surprising how often Lift Away comes in handy. Any time you need to hit that hard to reach spot, the vacuum pulls apart into a series of well thought out sections that increase reach, slim the profile, and decrease weight. Dyson hasn’t been this innovative since… the ball.

Another incredible feat of engineering is how thin the head of the vacuum is. Like a mouse compressing its body, it can fit almost anywhere. Take, for example, the inferior Dyson Ball design.

It has a huge hump where the head connects to the ball preventing you from getting under (most) spaces. Not the Shark. The Apex compresses its body like a mouse able to fit under well… practically anywhere.

Suction

Outstanding. It picks up way more than the Cinetic. One (of the many) annoyance with the Cinetic Ball were crumbs left behind on hardwood floors and bigger objects on plush carpet. Because the spring loaded head that “dynamically changes floor height” it does more pushing of junk around than it does sucking it up. Not an issue with the Apex. Its ingenious multi brush system replaces the plate at the front of the vacuum head with a rotating soft brush to create a functional grab on the first thing it touches. Shark makes the upper lip of the vacuum head from rubber preventing heavy hits to your trim AND superior suction in the recessed edges of your carpet. How has no one thought of this before? Better yet this new head design, dubbed Zero-M, eliminates hair tangling in the brush roll – and wow does it work well. Snipping my fiancee’s hair out of the Dyson was a weekly task – not anymore with the Apex.

Price

Dyson’s come with a hefty luxury tax due to the name. Their retail model and in-mall stores require big marketing budgets that you’re paying for. Shark has built its reputation in the last several years and remains half the price of Dyson.

The Future

Dyson had to make a lot of sacrifices for its dying ball design. They’re abandoning the ball with their latest cordless vacuums and for good reason. I am not endorsed by Shark but would recommend their vacuum to anyone in the market for a new vacuum or those replacing their Dyson.

Cordless technology and robot vacuums are the way of the future and it’s fantastic that Shark and Dyson aggressively improve cordless suction and battery tech. But we’re not there yet. In the same way big brooding desktop computers attached to an outlet are more powerful than their battery driven laptop brethren, so too is a vacuum tethered to the wall. Someday we‘ll live in a time where a wireless vacuum performs with no discernible difference – but for now there exists the Shark Apex, the best vacuum you can buy for the money, waiting in your closet, ready to clean your floors.