Shark Stratos Upright Vacuum AZ301KT1 / AZ913UKT review

Shark Stratos Upright Vacuum: two-minute review

Launched fall 2022, the Shark Stratos Upright Vacuum is a corded, upright model from the brand's popular Stratos range. It includes 'Anti Hair Wrap Plus' – an upgraded version of Shark's detangling tech, as well as anti-odor technology, via a puck that sits in the main floorhead. These two features mean it could well be the best vacuum cleaner for anyone who has a hairy pet and doesn't want a stinky, clogged up cleaner. 

On test I found that there was a lot to love about this vacuum cleaner. Its power, hair and debris pickup were all very impressive. I also appreciated the generous dust cup capacity, although I did find fluff could get trapped in there and need to be manually retrieved. 

This vacuum has a spot in TechRadar's best upright vacuum guide and its best Shark vacuum guide. The fact that it's corded means you won't get quite the same freedom you would if you went for a cordless option, but the payoff is more suction power. I did feel like the 8m cord here could have been a bit longer, though. We've also tested out a couple of alternatives from the same range; you can read about those in our Shark Stratos Cordless review and Shark Stratos Corded stick vacuum review. Or scroll on to find out how I got on with the Shark Stratos Upright vacuum. 

Shark Stratos Upright Vacuum review price & availability

• List price: $399 / £429.99 / AU$799.99 (discounted to AU$649.99)
• In the UK, very similar model for RRP £299.99 (discounted to £229.99) 
• Launched: Fall 2022

In the UK, the Shark Stratos Pet Pro Anti Hair Wrap Plus Anti-Odour Upright Vacuum  AZ913UKT costs £429.99, which is pricey – it sits in the premium price bracket.

In the US, the Shark Stratos Upright Vacuum AZ301KT1 is $399 (mid-range price bracket). There's also a TruePet version AZ301UPG1, which is the same model but with added accessories, for an MSRP of $499.80. 

The Australian equivalent – Shark Stratos XL Pet Pro Powered Lift-Away With Odour Neutraliser Technology AZ913 is AU$799.99, but at time of updating it had been discounted to AU$649.99 on the Shark website.

Interestingly, there's another model in the UK that's almost identical: the Shark Stratos Pet Pro Anti Hair Wrap Plus Anti-Odour Upright Vacuum NZ860UKT (it even has the same name at the moment, although the brand does seem to tweak those regularly, so it might not by the time you're reading this). It's considerably cheaper, with an RRP of £299.99 but discounted to £229.99 at Shark at time of updating this review (that puts it at the bottom of our mid-range bracket). The NZ860UKT has all the same features, but weights slightly less, and has slightly lower wattage (750W vs 88W), which suggests it's less powerful than the AZ913UKT. 

Annual deals events like the Black Friday sales are often a good time to buy new home appliances, and vacuum cleaners are no exception. It's worth keeping an eye out for Shark promo codes to take the price down, too. 

Shark Stratos Upright Vacuum review: design

• Floorhead glides over carpets and hard floors
• Odor tech in floorhead releases a pleasant smell
• Easily transforms between an upright to portable vacuum

The overall design of this upright vacuum is super-impressive. It comes with a number of features I've come to appreciate about Shark vacuums over the years, alongside a couple of new things that are unique to the Stratos range.

The first is Shark's signature DuoClean floorhead, made up of two motorized brush-rolls in the unit. It glides satisfyingly across carpet and hard floors, picking up all manner of dirt and debris. The Anti Hair Wrap Plus tech also means the vacuum picks up any hair from floors, without it ever becoming tangled around the brush rolls.

One of the new features that's worthy of mention is the anti-odor technology. Although not something I've paid much attention to before having tested this vacuum, it certainly will be now. An anti-odor dial can be inserted into the floorhead of this cleaner, with the dial rotated to select an odor intensity. The aim is to stop any dust cup odors filling the air, rather than releasing an alternative scent per se; however, I did notice a more pleasant smell following a session of vacuuming. 

Note that the dial isn't available in an array of smells, with the sea breeze-type smell the only one currently available. Sharks recommends replacing the cartridges every six months, with replacement cartridges available direct from Shark. At the time of writing, we couldn't find replacements in the US.

The floorhead here is also home to another signature Shark feature: LED lighting. Helping to illuminate dust and help light up lower-lit areas of the home, such as the hallway, these lights are both functional and stylish.

In use, the Shark Stratos vacuum performed brilliantly for cleaning floors. However, it's pretty heavy at 17.2lbs / 6.7kg, which made it tricky to clean the stairs. Fortunately, you can detach the main unit from the floorhead and attach the wand to use it in its Powered Lift-Away mode. This makes it easier to clean under furniture, which isn't so easy in its upright form.

With the floorhead detached, I also gave the crevice and multi-surface tools a whirl. The crevice tool was good for reaching into the corners of the ceiling and cleaning along the top of the skirting, whereas the multi-surface tool was great for removing biscuit crumbs from the couch and bed. Usefully, there's storage space for both of these tools at the rear of the upright vacuum.

More generally, a slider switch on the handle allows you to choose between three floor settings: hard floors, low-pile carpets and thick-pile carpets or area rugs. The power button is also on the handle.

The 8m power cable wraps around the side of the vacuum on two hooks; one is next to the handle, while another sits next to the base of the dust cup. The dust cup offers a decent 1.3-liter capacity, which meant I didn't have to empty it after every cleaning session, and emptying is a simple matter of pressing the "dust cup release" button.

This upright vacuum also has an anti-allergen complete seal, which captures and traps 99.9% of dust and allergens inside the vacuum. Although this is difficult to test, my husband or I did notice that we didn't start sneezing and suffer watering eyes while this vacuum was in use – something that we can be sensitive to – so we'll take that as a win.

• Design score: 4.5 out of 5

Shark Stratos Upright Vacuum review: performance

• Impressive vacuuming
• Easy to transform into a portable vac
• Love the odor emitted

I've been using the Shark Stratos Upright Vacuum as my main cleaner in my three-bedroom home for the past month. The ground floor has ceramic floor tiles in the kitchen, plus wooden floors and rugs elsewhere; the first floor is mainly carpeted. With a toddler, and life in general, this upright vacuum has certainly been challenged over the past month of testing.

On the hard floors, the Shark Stratos performed well, picking up rice crispies from the floor in a single pass. I kept it on the hard floor setting, and the cleaner worked perfectly. Our kitchen floor is also home to a rag rug, which I quickly learnt was best avoided with this vac; passing over it with the Shark Stratos, the cleaner would simply start to suck it up. However, most vacuum cleaners struggle on this rug, so it wasn't a problem.

Transitioning between the hard floors and the other rugs was seamless. I'm a big fan of the DuoClean floorhead – a tough one to beat in my opinion. While it performed perfectly fine on rugs with the hard floor setting, for a deeper clean I'd switch to the carpet / low-pile setting – and I could soon see fluff bunnies doing circles in the transparent dust cup.

With the floors cleaned, I next moved onto the cobwebs in the corner of the sitting room. I transformed the Shark Stratos Upright Vacuum into its Powered Lift-Away mode and attached the crevice tool. While I managed to reach up into the corners of the room, it did prove a bit of a stretch with the 5ft /1.5m hose in our period property with high ceilings.

While the main unit was removed from the floor head in Powered Lift-Away mode, I attached the floorhead to the handle to vacuum the stairs. I had the Shark Stratos Upright Vacuum plugged in not far from the bottom of the stairs, so I was confident that I'd have enough reach to clean to the top of the 13-step staircase – and so the 26.2ft / 8m power cable proved sufficient. It wasn't as easy to vacuum the stairs as it was using one of the best cordless vacuums, for example, it was certainly more manageable in this more portable vacuum mode than as an upright vacuum because the weight was more balanced.

On the first floor, vacuuming carpets, the Shark Stratos Upright Vacuum excelled. Upright vacuum cleaners are known for being more powerful than cordless and handheld units, and this Shark vacuum cemented this fact further. I set it on "thick carpet / area rug" and moved the vac back-and-forth around the floor until all (reachable) areas had been vacuumed. By the time I'd finished, the dust cup was almost full – which was so satisfying – and my home smelt so much fresher.

This method of vacuuming my home was repeated every three to four days throughout the testing period of the Shark Stratos Upright Vacuum. 

Thankfully, I never needed to empty the dust cup mid-clean. Although the 0.28 gallon / 1.3 liter isn't the largest I've seen, it's still pretty generous and proved sufficient capacity for cleaning my entire home. A slight niggle was with regards to emptying, where debris (mainly fluff) would become wedged at the top of the dust cup, requiring me to reach my hand inside to free it – which isn't a very pleasant job.

In terms of other maintenance, the dust cup will benefit from a wipe clean inside every now and then to keep it looking, and smelling, fresh. The filters will also need to be rinsed; these can be accessed after releasing the dust cup. Thankfully, the Anti Hair Wrap Plus tech means the one job you won't have to do is untangling any hair around the brush bars.

For noise, this vacuum cleaner measured between 81dB - 100dB depending upon the mode (portable or upright) it's in, which is loud considering the majority of vacuum cleaners tend to have a noise level reading of around 80dB.

• Performance score: 4.5 out of 5

Should you buy the Shark Stratos Upright Vacuum?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Shark Stratos Upright Vacuum review: also consider

If you want a Shark vacuum but not an upright, here are a couple more options to consider...

Shark Stratos Cordless with Clean Sense IQ IZ862H
Part of the Stratos range, this cordless stick has a flexible head and wand that allows you to vacuum at 90-degree angles and beneath furniture without bending down. And something that the upright vacuum doesn't have is Clean Sense IQ tech, which senses how much dirt is on a floor and adjusts the suction power accordingly.

Read our full Shark Stratos Cordless with Clean Sense IQ IZ862H review

Shark Anti Hair Wrap Cordless Stick Vacuum Cleaner with PowerFins & Flexology IZ300
This Shark cordless vacuum is a powerful option that picks up dust and debris from carpet and hard floors with ease. It's simple to use with its handy accessories and Flexology tech, which allows it to reach under furniture, and also be used as a handheld cleaner.

Read our full Shark Anti Hair Wrap Cordless Stick Vacuum Cleaner with PowerFins & Flexology review

How I tested the Shark Stratos Upright Vacuum

• I used the Shark Stratos Upright Vacuum as my main vac for one month
• It was used to vacuum the floors, stairs and harder-to-reach areas

I've been using the Shark Stratos Upright Vacuum as and when it's been needed for around one month. It's been my main vac, although I've also been reviewing the DreameTech L10s Ultra (a robot vacuum) at the same time.

The Shark Stratos Upright Vacuum has been used three-to-four times a week to  deep clean the carpets, stairs and into high-up areas around my three-bed home. I've used all the key features of the upright vacuum including the DuoClean floorhead, Powered Lift-Away mode, and all three levels of suction. I emptied the dust cup several times throughout the duration of the review, with the majority of the collection being wool fluff from the carpets.

I've been actively reviewing vacuum cleaners for three years, although my experience working with home appliances extends past a decade. My lessons over the years have taught me what's important in a vacuum cleaner, and what are the best features to have.

Read more about how we test

First reviewed January 2023