Lite and easy to use and has good suction. However, with a full charge, the batter battery life is less than five minutes. You need to continually turn off the vacuum to achieve anything near acceptable battery life.

Consumer Reports was my first stop before purchasing this. They're a great first step before purchasing something you have no experience with. This is a CR top pick. Vacuum Wars is also good resource.Short take:Truly powerful suction. Sophisticated external design. Ergonomically excellent. Here’s the important part: as long as the filter is removed and cleaned *frequently* and the tank is emptied more frequently than you would with a larger vac, expect reliable long term performance. The filter is very small and not as forgiving about being cleaned compared to larger vacs with larger filters. Filter removal and cleaning is easy, ~1-2 minute process. Great product. After ~15 months of usage, very happy customer.Long take:Probably stating the obvious, this is a great product in its swim lane but it won't replace a more capable vac with a larger ingress point, larger tank and more power. This is first and foremost a supplemental cleaning device for short duration vacuuming of small, light and dry debris. That said, I’ve found that it has enough performance overlap with larger and more powerful vacs to dramatically reduce the need for a larger vac.I like that it can be staged just about anywhere without drawing attention to itself. It's a design I'd expect from a Scandinavian or German design studio. It doesn't look like a science project or a Fisher Price child's toy as so many cordless hand vacs do.The motor is surprisingly powerful and more than up to the task of what this seems to be designed for. You'll get a confidence inspiring palm slap when testing it with your hand.Ergonomically, it's nearly perfect. It's long enough to reach the floor without having to stoop as much as you would with many other handheld vacs. Very comfortable to use. With the ~6 inch crevice tool attached, you’ll have additional reach for both floors and ceilings.Given the dock, it’s always ready to go. No preparation required. The dock is a tip back design which saves some vertical space. It measures 15” tall when docked. It fit easily underneath my kitchen countertop cabinets. The accessories mount single file behind the vac which keeps the front profile low. It mounts quickly and easily in the dock. No issues aligning with the charging contacts in the dock. It drops into place every time.The passageway into the collection tank measures approximately 1/4" x 1". Although this seems large enough for a variety of debris, my experience is that it has trouble pulling in solid objects larger and heavier than a pea.It does well with refrigerator debris - small onion skin remnants, packaging remnants, crumbs, coffee and pepper grounds, etc. It’s great for pet food crumbs and fur on hard floors, table and counter top debris, and window sills. It has the reach and slim size to work well in drawers and cabinets. It’s also great for debris on and around stove tops. It did a fair job with spider webs. I'd guess that it would be great for cat litter as well.It’s a decent basic car vac for anything within its reach. For detailing and to remove ground in debris, a more powerful and corded hose vac with a crevice tool and other attachments is a better choice. A corded vac will also provide unlimited run time. Most cordless hand vacs seem to have run times of about 9-15 minutes at high power which won’t be enough for some to get the job done.It might be the ultimate stairs vac. Light, one hand to use, the other to brace yourself as you move up the stairs. No cord to trip on or hose to manage. Good for everyone but great for people that might be a bit unsteady on their feet. The pet hair attachment exceeded my expectations on a thinly carpeted stairway and was almost as effective as using a powered beater brush. It did a great job of removing embedded dog fur from the stairs.Good insect capture device too - confirmed once with a large slow moving gnat on a wall and later with a medium sized cockroach on my garage floor. Note that large cockroaches might not make it through the intake into the tank but the suction will be enough to keep it attached to the intake until you dispose of it.Good bathroom vac. Stray hairs, nail clippings, small pieces of packaging, etc. I tried vacuuming single sheets of single ply TP. It pulled one sheet in easily, two stacked sheets pretty well but with three stacked sheets I had to help push it in. They did go in though. If you try this, remove the TP immediately after. The TP will block the filter intake and block air flow to the motor and exhaust.Photoshop alert: The advertised picture of this pulling in a raging torrent of cereal from about 3 inches off of a counter top was almost certainly created in Shark’s art department. It’s more than up to the task of vacuuming the cereal but you’ll have to be closer. To be fair, vacs rapidly lose suction power with distance. Even an inch can mean dramatically reduced suction. I'm not sure my 12 gallon, 5.5 horsepower shop vac would be able to do what the advertised picture shows.If vacuuming hair and pet fur on cloth and carpets is the primary battle, a more powerful corded vac with a hose attachment and beater brush is a better choice. Or a cordless handheld with a powered beater brush. For short duration clean ups, the WV201 and pet tool attachment works surprisingly well.Shark sells another cordless model called the Shark UltraCyclone Pet Pro Plus. I purchased this for a family member and can attest to its effectiveness with pet fur, hair and general debris. Compared to the WV201 wandvac, it’s larger, doesn’t have quite as much suction and does not have a user replaceable battery. That said, it has a surprisingly powerful motorized (not suction powered) anti-tangle beater brush attachment which is highly effective at what it’s designed for. The UltraCyclone is usually about about 20 dollars less than the WV201. With the motorized anti-tangle brush doing most of the work agitating and releasing debris, having a lot of suction isn’t as important. Two others to consider based on good reviews are the Bissell Pet Hair Eraser Handheld Vacuum and the Black+Decker 20V Max Dustbuster AdvancedClean+ Handheld Pet Vacuum.Frequent emptying of the tank will be required for optimal performance. I'd suggest emptying it after every use. Hold it over a trash can, release the access door and gently tap out the debris. Best to visually check the interior when doing this. Occasionally things like a small leaf or piece of plastic will hang and have to be pulled out. ~10-15 seconds from start to finish. Note that the tank door doesn’t always spring open fully. A light push or tap will be required when this happens. The tank door is removable which allows for easier cleaning.The filter should be cleaned frequently, significantly more so than larger vacs with larger tanks and filters which are more forgiving about the frequency of cleaning. I usually remove the filter and tap it out over a sink after 3-4 tanks. Doing so is quick and easy, ~1-2 minutes from start to finish. I occasionally take it outside along with another filter from another vacuum and blow out the filters and vacuums with compressed air. If you don’t have a compressor, a can of compressed air works just about as well and is useful for many other things.The filter that ships with this Shark is HEPA compliant. This is unusual for cordless hand vacs. The Vacuum Wars site did roundup of 15 cordless hand vacs in 2021. Only four did well with the HEPA test. This was one of the four that did well. HEPA compliance means that it will filter 99.97% of debris down to 0.30 microns. For reference, a human hair is roughly 70.00 microns thick and there are 25,400.00 microns per inch. I consider HEPA filtration to be a baseline requirement for residential vacuum cleaners. Given that I frequently use this in my kitchen, it’s good to know that the nearly invisible debris that HEPA filters catch is not spewing into food products, tableware, glassware, etc. If you are sensitive to airborne allergens and dust, HEPA filtration is important.Use caution when buying third party replacement filters within Amazon. Definitely read through the advertising and specs before purchasing. There are quite a few third party options but not all mention HEPA filtration. As of this writing, Shark charges $15.95 for one filter in its website. Unknown what the shipping charges are if any. Reference filter model # XHFWV200. Shark’s Amazon store front currently charges $24.95 for one filter. Third party suppliers sell multi-packs for far less. The least expensive I found was 8 for $15.95 or about $2.00 per. The only downside is that it’s almost impossible to know if third party filters from mystery suppliers are manufactured to the same performance/filtration specs as the original.Against Shark usage recommendations, I tried vacuuming small 13 mm steel screws I happened to spill but it wouldn’t pick them up. Curious but I guess the screws are heavy relative to their size. Not enough surface area for the vac to catch them I suppose.Among the ‘DO NOTS’ in the manual, Shark cautions end-users that this should not be used for drywall dust, fireplace ash, screws, nails, glass shards, etc. I’d add finely ground powders such as flour, talcum powder, baby powder, etc. Finely ground powders and ash will become impacted in the filter media and cut off airflow to the motor. When this happens, the motor can overheat. If finely ground powders and fireplace ash need to be vacuumed on a regular basis, an ash vac or shop vac with the appropriate filtration should be used. These are somewhat generic warnings given that most indoor residential vacuums should not be used for these things. That said, you can probably get away with vacuuming very small amounts of powders if the filter is removed immediately after, tapped out or blown out. Maybe even washed given that the filters are washable. Regardless, not recommended for this or any indoor residential vac.I read an Amazon review that said this was loud. Compared to other vacs I've used over the years, this seems to be marginally quieter than others I’ve used. I'm unfairly comparing this to larger vacs for the most part. Perhaps high-end vacs from companies such as Miele offer truly quiet vacs but I can't say from experience. Vacs are just loud. The only household vac I've used that was nearly silent was a whole-house model with the canister permanently mounted and isolated in the basement and a network of hose ports for an electric beater brush attachment installed around the house.Nitpick: The exhaust ports are side mounted and can stir up dust when working in tight spaces. A hose vac is a better choice for this type of cleaning. On the upside, this will reach into areas that many other hand vacs will not. Perhaps future revs of this vac will baffle or re-route the exhaust ports in such a way to mitigate this. Not an issue ~95% of the time.The instructions say to turn it on immediately after purchase and let it run until the battery is depleted. After doing so, it should be docked until it is fully charged. I didn't find anything in the manual about having to condition the battery more than once after unpacking it. It probably wouldn't hurt to do so once in a while but maybe not necessary. If you’re experiencing run time issues and have ruled out a clogged or highly restricted filter, it wouldn’t hurt to turn it on, let it run until depleted and then put it in the dock and try again after it’s fully charged.It should be docked at all times when not in use. Shark customer service says a charge is good for 9+ minutes. A video review I watched seems to confirm a run time of about 9.5 minutes. I haven't measured but experience with many other battery powered devices points in the direction of advertised info being somewhat optimistic or measured in a laboratory-like environment under ideal conditions with a new battery. Maybe not tested at all and calculated based on the motor’s power draw and battery specs. Probably best to assume that a charge is good for ~90% of advertised in real-world conditions. Li batteries lose capacity over time with charge cycles so a year or two in, expect less. If the battery fails out of the warranty period, Shark sells replacements. There are also third-party options.Note that among the customer reviews in Amazon, you’ll read two types of complaints about the battery life for this vac. One has to do with battery life of only about 8-10 minutes. This is normal. Shark says this will provide 9+ minutes of run time so the estimated 8-10 minute complaint is a non-issue.The other type of complaint has to do with the vac powering itself down very quickly after turning it on. I have this model and the WV403BR. It’s likely that the WV201 has a thermistor or logic circuitry that will shut it down if airflow is reduced to a point where the motor starts to overheat. This is why it's important to empty the tank and clean the filter frequently. Doing so will keep airflow optimal. I’ll speculate that the end-users in question were not cleaning the filters as frequently as needed. It could also be that they don’t know how to remove the filters to clean them. Or maybe the filter reached the end of its service life and needs to be replaced. The filter is mounted in a small housing which slides into a recessed area. It’s not visible when installed. Very little will kill a vac motor more quickly than blocking or greatly restricting the air flow necessary to keep vac motors within the thermal limits of their design.If and when the battery needs to be replaced, it’s easy to do. The battery is user replaceable but unlike the Shark WV403BR wandvac which is very similar to the WV201, this does not have a pinch-to-release battery design. Instead, it has slots which will require a small pry tool. I’d recommend an automotive pry tool for plastics and delicate surfaces. They’re cheap and useful. They’re made from ABS (I think) and won’t gouge plastics. You can also use a flat head screwdriver but it’s likely to leave small gouges. If using a screwdriver, I’d suggest using a flathead (aka slotted) screwdriver that measures at least 3/8” wide along the blade. The battery release slots are 1/2” inch long.Very useful product. Definitely recommended. In my experience, it's become one of those products that I wouldn't want to be without. Max convenience, time saving and high performing. Nice work Shark.Lastly, avoid the shameless mystery companies that were quick to copy or closely emulate the design and sell at less cost. Shark is a well established brand at this point and is backed by solid and responsive customer service.

I own three. You can clean your entire house in minutes if you're capable of bending a little. This product, however, can sometimes turn itself off soon after you start it; or you may have to turn it off and on to get it restarted. Just be patient; this is the shark's personality. Finally, if you see a fly at the window, just let the shark take care of it. I have sucked up hundreds.

I do like this vacuum! I just recently saw someone else share it and noticed theirs had a holder for the attachment parts and mine does not. I saw there was another review stating the same thing. This is actually my second one cuz my first one quit working after a couple months and shark was quick to replace it after a phone call. Neither one had the attachment holder with it in the back. I keep the attachments in a drawer which is not a big deal but annoying that it doesn’t have it when it should.

Did not like the fact that this item was shipped to us without the base plate on the charger which holds the accessories. Tried multiple times to have seller send missing part to us, to no avail. The product itself is a great replacement for another brand of wand vac we had which was difficult to charge.

This is great for spot cleaning crumbs, dog hair etc from my hard floors, table tops and my sons play pen. However the battery does die quickly so I have to turn it off and on while I move from one area to another to make it last long enough. Probably no more than 10 minutes.Suction is very good but when you put on the long extension attachment I feel it's not as strong. I like that it's light weight, easy to clean the bin and has useful attachments.

I use this for quick pick-ups . Great for my car—gets in tight places.I want several! Just doesn’t last very long. Definitely quick pick-ups, little jobs

Lite and easy to use and has good suction. However, with a full charge, the batter battery life is less than five minutes. You need to continually turn off the vacuum to achieve anything near acceptable battery life.

We wanted a simple lightweight vacuum for infrequent use only to pick up small amounts of crumbs, xmas tree needles, drywall from drilling holes to hang stuff on walls, etc, to replace an old Dustbuster. This is working great. I was happy to sacrifice the extra features now available (like a rotating nozzle) and a larger dustbin capacity for a lighter weight product, as I have issues with my hands. Easy to use and ergonomic. Even the dustbin is easy to empty, possibly too easy if you inadvertently slide the slider.Suction could be slightly higher, but I didn't have any issues getting it to pick up a variety of stuff. It even comes with a couple attachments. The charging station is handy, although it requires a flat surface with a decent amount of height near an outlet. Our old Dustbuster had a wall mount so it was in our pantry, although it was a bit clunky as you needed to plug & unplug the charger, plus ensure it sat just right on the mount so it wouldn't fall down. The Shark vacuum + charging station was too tall to even place on a pantry shelf adjacent to the wall with an outlet. So it ended up under the sink.This wouldn't be a good choice if you wanted to vacuum an entire couch or stairs or such, but for small jobs, it's awesome. We're happy with the purchase.

When I was in Canada I purchased one through Amazon.ca and the quality of the product was Crazy-Amazing. Now moved to the US and I found something similar at Costco Wholesale, it was a catastrophe, the succion was so poor and weak, and you had to press 4x times in order to activate it. Long story short, I returned it and bough another one from Amazon.com (US), it works definitely better than the Costco one. But, it's less performant than the one I had in Canada. So I will give it a 4 star. It works okay I would say, but it's not the strongest vacuum pression I've seen in my life. It's a good gadget to have if you are in the rush and want to clean quickly your room.