Shark Launches AquaReach: A Wet/Dry Floor Mop With a Wand — I Bought Both Models and Tested Them
Shark Launches AquaReach: A Wet/Dry Floor Mop With a Wand
Wet/Dry Floor Mop News
Shark says AquaReach is the first vacuum-and-mop that cleans beyond the floor. Here is what the press release claims, and what the two machines actually did on my floors.
Both AquaReach models on my test floor. I bought them with my own money.On August 18 Shark announced the AquaReach, and the pitch is simple: a cordless wet/dry floor mop that vacuums and mops at the same time, plus a hose and wand that pull off the back so the same suction and cleaning spray can go up a cabinet front, along a windowsill, or behind a toilet. Shark calls it the first vacuum-and-mop system designed to clean more than your floors, and on that point they are right. In ten years of testing these machines I have never seen one with a hose.
There are two models. The standard AquaReach (WD551) comes with a self-cleaning dock and the Stain Scrubber tool. The AquaReach Pro (WD563) adds a dock that rinses the brushroll and then dries it with heated air, a longer-running battery, and a second attachment Shark calls the Detailer Mop. Both are on Shark’s site now, with more colors and retailers coming.
Shark AquaReach Claims: What the Press Release Promises
The press release leans on the cleaning hacks people post online — towels wrapped around mops, microfiber taped to a broom — as proof that floor cleaners were leaving a gap above the floor. AquaReach is Shark’s answer. The floor head runs a brushroll, a jet of solution and suction all at once. When you need to go higher, a foot lever redirects the suction to the wand, and a trigger on the wand sprays solution. Shark says the Stain Scrubber removes stuck-on messes twice as fast as the floor nozzle, and the Pro’s heated dock kills 99.9 percent of bacteria on the roller.
Same big mess I make for every wet/dry mop test.How the Shark AquaReach Performed in Real-World Testing
I bought both units, unboxed them, made the same big mess I make for every wet/dry mop — hair, dry cereal, dirt, ranch dressing — and ran them through my normal three-month scoring. Nobody at Shark sent me anything, and nobody paid for this.
As a floor mop, it is okay. Not great, not bad. It picked up the big mess in a few passes and did a good job along the wall. It is a heavy machine, it is loud, and the clean-water tank is small enough that I ran out mid-job. Long hair wrapped the roller — there is no comb on this brushroll the way there is on the Tineco and Dreame mops — and it left wet hair on the floor. My Long Hair Pickup score reflects that.
The wand is real, and it is the whole reason to buy this. Flip the lever, pull the wand, and you have suction plus a spray trigger on a stick long enough that I was not bending over. It reached around the side of my toilet that has honestly never been cleaned. Pressed hard with the Stain Scrubber, it lifted a sticky floor stain the roller had skated over. That part works.
Where the marketing gets ahead of the machine: Shark shows it wiping cabinet fronts and tile walls. It does reach them and it does suck up most of the mess, but it does not wipe — the surface is left damp, and my kitchen cabinets came out too wet for my liking. If you clean those spots carefully, plan on still going over them with a rag. And you will keep finding little jobs for maintenance: wash the dirty-tank filter every single time, because food particles you cannot see will grow mold on it.
The wand is the whole reason this machine exists.Shark AquaReach vs AquaReach Pro Scores: Is It Worth It?
Both machines earned my Just A Dad Approved sticker. The standard AquaReach scored 7.8 out of 10. The AquaReach Pro scored 7.9 — the heated drying dock is worth the bump, because on the standard model you pull the roller off and set it out to dry after every wash or it will smell. Neither one is the best wet/dry floor mop I have tested, and both sit in the Mid-Range tier. You are paying for the hose and the wand. The full scorecards, spec sheets and my test videos are on both review pages.
Dad’s Take
Shark built something new here, and it is very well engineered — I did not find a weak point in the machine. But ask yourself one question before you buy: where would you use the wand? If you have a toilet, a tile wall or a cabinet you would hit with it every week, this is the only floor mop that can do it, and I would get the Pro for the drying dock. If you cannot answer that question, skip both and get a plain wet/dry floor mop that cleans a little better for less money.
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