Shark PowerDetect Cordless Stick Vacuum (IP1255) Review

The Features That Justify the Price

Dirt Detect — It Tells You When You're Done

his is the headline. There's a sensor up in the duct reading the air as debris passes through, and when the floor is dirtier than normal it ramps the suction up. As the floor comes clean, it eases back down, which saves battery. And you don't have to guess about any of it: the lights on the head glow purple while there's still dirt down there and turn white when it's clean. There's a matching ring up on the vacuum. You keep passing until they go white. That's the feature I'd point to first.

Edge Detect

There are sensors on both sides of the head. When you run up against a wall or baseboard, it ramps the suction up to pull in the edge dirt. You can see it kick in as you get close. It doesn't make the corner perfect — I'll come back to that — but along a wall it does real work.

Floor Detect

There are sensors on both sides of the head. When you run up against a wall or baseboard, it ramps the suction up to pull in the edge dirt. You can see it kick in as you get close. It doesn't make the corner perfect — I'll coA sensor under the head reads whether you're on carpet or hard surface and sets the brush-roll speed for you: slower on hardwood so it isn't slinging debris around, faster on carpet so it digs in. Going from hard floor to carpet it changed over on its own and I could hear the suction come up. No buttons, no thinking.me back to that — but along a wall it does real work.

The Dust Bin

This might not sound like a big deal, but it's one of the most important things on the machine. There's a cone-shaped filter inside the bin, and the whole chamber is shaped so dirt and debris go past it and drop into the bin instead of packing onto it. When a bin design lets debris cake onto that screen, you lose airflow and then you lose suction, and it happens faster than you'd think. When I emptied this one after a big mess, that cone filter was clean. That's what keeps the suction constant from the start of a room to the end of it.

Cleaning Performance: What It Actually Picks Up

Hard Floors

This is where it scored a 9 and where it's happiest. Big mess with kitty litter, long hair and Cheerios — it went right through it, and it didn't spray the kitty litter around the room, which cheaper machines will do. It also picks up going backwards, so the pull stroke isn't wasted. The one thing it couldn't do was get a corner perfectly clean; it left a little in there.

Carpet

The carpet is good but it's the softer of the two scores. It's a little harder to push and pull on carpet — not extremely hard, just noticeable. This vacuum is really designed for a home with a lot of hard floors, and it does fine on the carpet you've got. Keep passing until the lights turn white; on carpet they take a little longer to get there.

Long Hair

Amazing, and that's the word I used. You can watch it draw hair straight in, and there was no hair wrap at all — not on the rollers and not around the cone filter in the bin. There's a comb hidden back on the main roller doing part of that work. If long hair is what usually beats your vacuum, this is the part of the review to reread.

The Nozzle and the Modes

The head uses two rollers: a soft one that pulls in large debris and chunks, and a standard roller behind it. The small soft roller pops out with a button so you can wash it or cut hair off — just let it dry fully before it goes back. The main roller stays in, but the head opens up if you get a clog.

For modes you get Detect, Eco and Max, and you cycle them with the trigger. You don't have to hold anything — turn it on and it runs. There's a good display up top with a battery bar graph so you know exactly what's left.

The One Thing I'd Change

That mode button is the trigger, and it sits right where your finger naturally rests. More than once I changed modes mid-clean without meaning to. It's something you get used to, but I'd rather have it back behind the handle where you'd have to reach for it. That's my main complaint on an otherwise excellent machine.

Weight, Storage and Maintenance

It's a little on the heavy side, and that's the trade for the big battery and the sensors. On hard floors it moves real easy; on carpet you feel it. It doesn't stand up on its own — press the button and it folds over on itself, which is how it stores in a closet and also how you get it flat under furniture at a 90-degree angle. It runs about two feet to the bend and 44 inches overall.

Maintenance is easy. Press the button, rotate the bin assembly out, and there are two small reusable filters plus a HEPA behind them. You can blow the HEPA off a time or two but eventually it gets replaced. One thing most people won't know: the dirt-detection sensor lives up in the duct, so wipe that off once in a while or it can't read what's going past it. Everything here pushes and clicks without much force.

Is It Worth It?

For a large home with pets, kids, big messes, and a mix of rugs, carpet and hard floors — yes. You're paying for sensors that actually do something: it finds the dirt, it tells you when you're done, it handles the edges and the floor type on its own, and the bin design means the suction you start with is the suction you finish with. It's heavier than a basic cordless and it favors hard floors. If those aren't dealbreakers, this is an easy recommendation. Check the live price on the button before you decide.