I wasn't sure about 2-in-1 cleaners — until the Shark VacMop became my new go-to for quick and easy cleanups

Tom's Guide

4 days ago

When it comes to 2-in-1 cleaning, I've always been dubious. I worry that rather than mastering one objective, it becomes average at two (blame the experience I had with a washer/dryer). But, I'm relieved to say the Shark VacMop has proven me wrong. Armed with a cleaning solution, no-touch pads and effective suction for tackling debris, it's a slimline cleaning system that (almost) does it all.
For anyone looking for a space-saving, multi-tasking vacuum cleaner for smaller spaces, it's an excellent choice. I've got two small kids, so having something to zip around, tackling the endless crumbs and spillages. has been a real timesaver. After two weeks of testing, it's become my go-to as opposed to hauling out my cord vacuum or spray mop in tandem to tackle all those messes.
In the box, you get the Shark VacMop, 6 disposable VacMop pads and Shark's multi-surface cleaning solution (enough to fill your VacMop up once). So, after some rigorous testing the all-in-one starter kit, here's what you should know before you buy.
The Shark VacMop is available through the Shark website for £99.99 in the UK and for $89.99 in the US. It's also available for $69.99 on Amazon, which is $20 cheaper.
You can buy 30 replacement cleaning heads for $26 at Amazon, making the cost just under $1 per use.
From the moment I pulled the Shark VacMop out of the box, it looked easy to assemble, and it was.
There are three parts, which are already loosely attached after unboxing. All I had to do was click into place the handle, the body, and the head. If it seems like it's giving you resistance, flip it around the other way (or maybe that was just me).
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The VacMop is fairly slimline and compact, considering it's also a vacuum. That means I can easily prop it behind a door and out of the way. Plus, it only weighs 1.5kg, so it's easy to maneuver around my home, without too many strenuous lunges and pivots.
But, while I found it a breeze to zip around with the VacMop, alternating between vacuum and mop, I would say that when it came to more stubborn stains, that's when the physical work increased. Once the cleaning solution is applied (with a quick squirt from the button on the handle), it's actually quite sticky, which adds more resistance to movement. But if you're only using it for a small-to-medium area, this is less of an issue.
Durability-wise, I'm a bit of a bulldozer when it comes to cleaning. I like to lock in and get it done, and I'll admit, sometimes that leads to me hitting into the sides a little too aggressively or getting caught up on corners.
I put the VacMop to the test with my rigorous cleaning regime and it actually held up really well. Judging by how slimline it is, I would've thought it might suffer a little from my cleaning sessions (which I'll admit are usually timed), but the head rotated with ease, and it slid around the corners with a grace that I wish I myself could have.
But the best thing (and worst thing… we'll come to this later) about the VacMop is the no-touch disposable pads. It's hard to imagine that you can mop up and vacuum up crumbs, hair, and dirt with the same flat pad. But, it was incredibly easy to click into place and even easier to press the button to release it all into the bin afterwards. A design aspect I cannot fault.
The Shark VacMop is made for hard floor cleaning. So, I tested it over two weeks in my kitchen, hallway, and bathroom, and I was pleasantly surprised. Having previously used a quick mop with removable and washable pads, I found it pushed crumbs around in front of it, or made me drag the vacuum around first. So, having the ability to effectively vacuum up the dirt and debris before running the mop over is a genius move by Shark.
There are two buttons on the handle: one for releasing cleaning solution and one for vacuuming, and I'll admit I got a bit confused about which was which. Once I got going, though, I weaved between them with ease. I was a little hesitant about the fact that a disposable pad was somehow going to act as a container for all the crumbs, but I found that they didn't escape and were easily removed as part of the pad afterwards.
I was also impressed at the VacMop's power. I tried it on a range of debris around my home, from dust to crumbs, and I was pleased with how it suctioned them up. I would say here, though, that if you have larger debris, you shouldn't expect the VacMop to do it all. It's not going to pick up the leaves your kid dragged in on the bottom of their shoe – I tried.
For testing, I wanted to make sure I had some stubborn stains to pit the VacMop against. I tried out a stubborn yogurt stain and coffee stain to see how it fared. I'm happy to report, it did the job. It took me a couple of sprays of the cleaning solution and some fairly aggressive mopping to tackle the yogurt, but it was one of the hardier stains in my home, and now it's gone. For quicker stains and any spillages, though, it tackles them quickly.
At times, I felt like I was putting in a lot of the work with the mopping, but I wouldn't say this experience is any different to other mops I've used. After all, even when I vacuum, my smartwatch thinks I'm doing a HIIT workout. What the VacMop promises to do is clean your hard floors, and it does exactly that (with a little oomph).
Battery-wise, I charged up the VacMop before my first use and while it did last a few hours of testing, it did require a charge before I was done, and that took a while. If you're planning on tackling a larger home or space, this may not do the trick.
And while the disposable pads are incredibly efficient and absorbent, they left enough cleaning solution on the floor to cover quite a wide area before I needed to spray anymore. Which, I'd love to add, also smells really nice.
What I will say about the disposable pads though, is that whilst I love them for their ease-of-use and how it only took a press of a button to remove them, I do worry about how environmentally-friendly they are.
I'll grumble about washing up my mop heads and removable pads, but ultimately, I'd rather run them through the washer than throw them away. Not just for the environment, but for the cost, which I'll get into below.
When it comes to my hard floors, I've always opted to use my Shark corded vacuum to tackle crumbs, dust, hair, and more. But, it is a lot of faff to plug it in and run around with the cord lassoing my kids' feet. I've found since testing out the VacMop, this is now what I go-to for quick and easy cleanups, but is it worth the price?
The fact that it's a vacuum and mop is the biggest selling point, and it absolutely deserves praise for how well it accomplishes both for the price. The problem is, while I might be inclined to spend £99.99, I wouldn't want to pay out for the consumables.
It's £14.99/$15.99 for 16 pads on the Shark website, which is $1 a clean. While that doesn't sound like a lot, I wouldn't leave the dirty pad on there after every spillage and stain because of the grime it holds onto. So, with every quick clean, I'm not overly happy with spending $1.
The cleaning solution for a bottle is a similar price, but I haven't run out of a full container yet. In fact, over two weeks of quick use and a full kitchen rub down, I've only used around a quarter of the fluid container.
The VacMop is a great solution for quick cleans when you want to tackle both vacuuming and mopping in one go – and it's a real timesaver. But, when it comes down to expense and sustainability, you'll need to weigh up whether it's worth the investment.
While I don't love the additional cost of the VacMop pads and cleaning solution, I'm not using it to clean my whole house, so I'm hopeful a little expense will cover a lot of small cleans. And the investment is worth it considering those pads lock away debris, rather than push it around, and scrub the floor at the same time.
I also like how lightweight it is, given there's a whole vacuum built-in, and the cordless cleaning power is incredibly convenient. I will say that pushing it around my home became a bit of a workout, especially when scrubbing in the cleaning solution, but ultimately it's not a robot vacuum, so I shouldn't expect it to do all the hard work for me.
If you're looking for a dual-purpose cleaner that'll take on the work of both your vacuum and mop, it's a great piece of kit. I really enjoyed using it and I'd be surprised if you couldn't find a place for it in your home, too.