Shark ION F80 Cord-Free MultiFlex Vacuum: TOP Vacuum Cleaner (2024)

You get 80 minutes of continuous running with the two batteries provided. Thanks to the extra battery, you can keep one on charge as you work for an even longer cleaning session.

A unique feature of this vacuum is the Shark Ion F80 Multiflex technology, which gives you a better reach under furniture. The vacuum has stable freestanding features and offers a compact storage.

Shark MulltiFlex Technology Gives You a Better Reach Under Furniture Via: Amazon.com

The “Duroclean” technology provided with this vacuum cleaner in combination with the Shark Multiflex wand helps to make picking up of dust and debris from carpets and hard floors more efficient. You get a powerhead with two motorized brush rolls with this vacuum cleaner.

Shark Ion F80: Key Features

Design

You Can Easily Detach the Batteries and Charge Them Separately Via: Amazon.com

The Shark Ion stick vacuum cleaner is designed with a lot of thought for the convenience of the end-user. One of the most outstanding features is the removable batteries, with an added spare battery.

The fact that you can charge one battery while you use the other one for running the vacuum cleaner is a great feature. The batteries are easily detachable is also a convenient design feature.

The other outstanding design feature of the Shark F80 vacuum cleaner is its signature DuoClean technology. The technology involves two efficient brush rolls – one for carpets and another meant for hard floors.

DuoClean Technology Gets Your Carpets and Hard Floors Equally Clean Via: Amazon.com

The controls of the Shark Ion cordless vacuum are within reach of your thumbs as you hold the handle. This feature helps to give you better control of the machine as you work. The experience is further enhanced with the ION Boost control, which allows you to adjust the suction power midway when you switch from carpets to hard flooring or vice-versa.

Weight

The dry weight of the Shark Ion F80 lightweight cordless stick vacuum is 8.2 lbs, which is exceptionally light for an upright vacuum – almost half the weight of other similar models. This feature makes it attractive to people of all age groups. It is particularly convenient for use in multi-level homes and use by people with mobility issues.

You can detach the Shark MultiFLEX wand to use for cleaning high areas. In this mode, the weight you hold in your hand will only be about three to four pounds. The attention to weight reduction with this vacuum puts it at a definite advantage compared to many other brands and models.

Air Filtration

In a bid to reduce the weight of the Shark Ion F80 Multiflex vacuum cleaner, the manufacturer seems to have compromised on the filter system. This vacuum cleaner does not have HEPA filtration, which comes as a significant drawback to the model. The vacuum uses a two-filter system with one filter at the pre-motor stage and the other at the exhaust.

The filters are washable, and the frequency of washing depends on how often you use the vacuum. You will find that you need to wash the pre-motor filter more frequently than the one at the exhaust.

You will most likely find that you need to wash the pre-motor filter once a month. The manufacturer recommends cleaning the exhaust filter once in nine months.

Battery

You will get two batteries and one charging dock out of the box with the Shark F80. The convenient feature of this vacuum is that you can charge one battery while using the other. It is also possible to buy additional batteries even further to enhance the usage.

Having easily removable multiple batteries significantly improves the runtime compared to other similar vacuum models in the market. The batteries are Lithium-ion rechargeable batteries which are a notably superior type of rechargeable battery that are used today to run rechargeable devices.

DuoClean Brush Rolls

The brush roll design of the Shark Ion stick vacuum deserves a special mention. What makes the brush rolls of this vacuum unique is the DuoClean technology that this vacuum cleaner uses. The system involves using separate brush rolls – one for carpets and the other for hard flooring.

The conventional way of dealing with carpets and hard floors is by adjusting the suction. However, you cannot get the maximum efficiency by only varying the suction of the vacuum. Shark’s DuoClean technology solves this problem.

The gist to this technology is that each brush roll is specially designed for maximum efficient cleaning of the surface that it is intended for, be it hard flooring or carpets. 

Moreover, the cleaner heads of the Shark Ion F80 Multiflex vacuum cleaner have removable lids, making for easy cleaning. The brush roll on the Shark F80 can be easily detached and dismantled, which helps in removing pet and human hair.

There is an additional brush wall on the floor brush roll that helps to contain dust and debris within the range of the brush.

Dust bin

The dust bin of the Shark F80 is another area impacted by Shark’s attempts to create a lighter machine. The dust bin has a maximum capacity of only 0.3 dry quarts or 0.09 gallons.

The capacity of the dust bin is small compared to other similar models. If you are cleaning an apartment of about 1,200 square feet, you would probably need to empty it once, or even twice if vacuuming hasn’t been done for a few days.

In retrospect, you would probably be changing the dust bin each time you change a battery. However, the overall experience is much more convenient than dealing with cumbersome corded vacuums.

Attachments

The attachments of the Shark F80 are quite basic. You get an upholstery tool that’s good for picking up hair and dust from furniture. The extended wand provides enough reach for you to clean the ceiling or a ceiling fan.

Although some other models include specialized motorized brushes for cleaning stairs and upholstery, you don’t get any such provision with the Shark F80. We could consider this as an area of development for this model.

Performance on Carpets

When tested on carpets for picking up oats and almonds from carpeting, the vacuum performed satisfactorily. When sprinkled on carpets, oats tend to get entangled with the carpet fibers.

During the test, the Shark Ion stick vacuum picked up the almonds quickly and most of the oats. However, a second pass was required to pick up the oats, and the vacuum picked up most of them in the second pass.

Of course, this is an extreme situation, and typically, you aren't likely to encounter this type of debris daily. Hence, we can conclude that the Shark F80 performs well on carpets.

Performance on Hard Floors

While Good with Carpets, the F80 Performs Well on Hard Floors, as Well Via: Amazon.com

Although hard floors are easier to clean than carpeting, you still need an efficient machine to get the job done to your satisfaction. So, let’s take a look at how the Shark F80 fares on hard floors.

The Shark F80, as we mentioned earlier, has a specialized brush roll for hard floors. In a test, when we sprinkled oats on a tiled floor, the vacuum picked up 99% of the debris, but a bit remained in the grout between the tiles.

We also tested the vacuum with other debris as coffee grounds sprinkled on hard floors, and the machine performed satisfactorily.

We then sprinkled oats around a cabinet base to test how the machine picks up around corners. In this case, also, it was able to pick up about 99% of the debris.

Alternative Models That You Can Consider

To make this review complete, here are three alternative cordless vacuum options, if you are unable to buy a Shark F80 vacuum cleaner:

Shark Ion P50 Powered Lift-Away Cordless Upright

The Shark Ion P50 Via: Amazon.com

Here is another upright cordless vacuum cleaner by Shark with a powerful cleaning capacity for keeping your entire home free of dust. With a runtime of 50 minutes, you can probably manage to cover the whole house in one charge. However, if you find that you need more time, then you can keep the extra battery fully charged and handy.

This vacuum cleaner has powerful suction and is efficient in picking up debris, dirt, and pet hair.

The powered lift-away feature of the Shark Ion P50 includes three modes – upright vacuum mode, stick vacuum mode, and handheld vacuum mode:
Upright Mode

The Stick Mode is Light and Easy Via: Amazon.com

With the upright vacuum mode, you can deep clean carpets and floors. In this mode, the vacuum picks up dust, debris, and pet and human hair quite efficiently.
Stick Vacuum Mode

Clean Under Furniture Effortlessly Via: Amazon.com

The stick vacuum mode enables you to remove the canister to reach underneath furniture and other such hard-to-reach areas quickly for thorough cleaning.

Handheld Mode

Clean Delicate Items with Ease Via: Amazon.com

In this mode, you can hold the canister in one hand and do vacuuming with the other. That way, you get a maneuverable, handheld vacuum to reach remote locations like tight corners and car interiors.

The Shark Ion P50 has an enhanced dust cup capacity. Compared to the Shark F80, the capacity is almost double.

Another advanced feature of the Shark P50 is the Anti-Allergen Complete Seal Technology which is backed up by a HEPA filter. The manufacturer claims that this filtration system traps up to 99% of the particles as small as 0.3 microns. This is good news for allergy sufferers if the vacuum performs according to these claims.

Like the Shark F80, the P50 also uses DuoClean Technology which involves using a single powerhead, but two separate brush rolls, one for carpets and the other for hard floors.

Shark Navigator UV810 DuoClean Cordless Stick Vacuum

The Shark Navigator UV810 Via: Amazon.com

Here’s another option by Shark, the Shark Navigator UV810 DuoClean. As the name suggests, this vacuum cleaner also has DuoClean technology. It is a bagless vacuum, and according to each Shark UV810 review, this vacuum works well both on carpets and hard floors.

You may find that this cordless stick vacuum from Shark works smart and looks smart as well with sleek lines and a choice of two colors, red and grey. The Shark Navigator UV810 is Shark’s first upright model to use DuoClean technology.

DuroClean technology involves using a single motorhead with two separate brush rolls, one for carpets and the other for hard floors. The brush roll for carpets contains a bristle brush designed to dig up debris embedded in the carpet fibers. The hard floor's brush roll has a soft brush that picks up larger particles and gives the floor a polished appearance.

Another cool feature of the Shark Navigator UV810 is the LED headlights. According to some customers, they were amazed at the additional debris that showed up with the help of the LEDs.

The LED Headlights Show Up Additional Debris Via: Amazon.com

You will also find the detachable canister to be quite convenient. “Powered Lift-Away” technology enables you to detach the canister and hold it, but the brush roll continues to get power and spins. That way, you can do deep cleaning in hard-to-reach areas without reducing the suction.

Like many other Shark models, the Shark Navigator UV810 uses Anti-Allergen Complete Seal technology with a High-Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filter. This filter ensures that 99.9% of particulate matter gets retained in the vacuum, and it traps particles as small as 0.3 microns. Thus, the machine keeps dust and allergens within, preventing them from getting discharged back into the air.

Fingertip controls add to the user experience, where you easily power on and off, or toggle between hard floor and carpet modes.

And finally, as the name “navigator” suggests, this Shark vacuum has “Advanced Swivel Steering” technology which you could consider as power steering in the world of vacuum cleaners.

Shark NV803 DuoClean Cordless Stick Vacuum

The Shark NV803 Via: Amazon.com

Coming to our final alternative to the Shark Ion F80, we have the Shark NV803. This model from Shark ushers in a few innovations as well as cool features that should make your vacuuming sessions less of a tedious chore.

The Shark NV803 Makes Vacuuming a Less Tedious Chore Via: Amazon.com

The Shark NV803 DuoClean includes the innovative “Powered Lift-Away” technology that converts the machine into an upright and canister vacuum in a jiffy. With the push of a button, you can detach the bin from the frame, but still have the hose attached. The added advantage is that the brush roll still has power, so it continues to roll and do its job with no loss of suction.

This model also uses the DuoClean system, which consists of two separate brush rolls and a single motorhead. You get a bristled roller head for deep cleaning carpets and a soft brush roller head for hard floors.

At 14.5 pounds, the Shark NV803 is lighter than many of the other models by Shark. The company has patented its technology, which you are not likely to find with other brands. This technology aims at maximum efficiency and ease of use in a vacuum cleaner.

The dirt bin of this Shark Ion cordless vacuum easily detaches by pressing the latch on the handle. The bin has two doors located on the bottom and the top respectively. At 0.9 dry quarts, this vacuum has a smaller capacity than other models. Hence, you will find yourself having to empty the dirt bin more frequently—a notable downside, but perhaps one that you can learn to live with.

Coming to the filtration system of the Shark NV803, with this model, you get a couple of washable filters in the pre-motor stage and a HEPA filter which exists in the post-motor stage. According to Shark’s recommendations, you need to wash your pre-motor filters every three months. Shark says the HEPA filter is also washable, and you can wash it every nine months.

Other notable features also mentioned in many other Shark NV803 include “Advanced Swivel Steering” technology which gives you perfect control when you have to maneuver around furniture and other obstacles that may be lying around. 

And lastly, we shouldn’t forget to mention the LED headlights on the motorhead. It helps you track down dirt and debris in poorly-lit areas, and is particularly useful for locating human hair and pet hair.

The LED Headlights Are a Useful Feature

Conclusion

Since we discussed what to look for in a vacuum cleaner, you can now take a look at some specific models. However, it can get confusing, given the flood of different brands and models in the market. So, we highlighted the Shark Ion F80 lightweight cordless stick vacuum, a vacuum cleaner that we consider to be among the best vacuum cleaners in the world. 

To make our review more comprehensive, we included three alternative models. You may feel more comfortable with those models so, perhaps you would like to settle for one of those instead.

Whatever the case, this Shark Ion F80 review should help you to get a better insight into cordless vacuums in general and the Shark F80 in particular. We hope that you will ultimately get a suitable cordless vacuum cleaner for your home.