Verdict
It’s light, easy to use and has a neat charging dock, but the Shark Navigator Freestyle SV1106 is a single use cleaner in that it can only vacuum floors. With short battery life and long charge times, this is a niche cleaner that won’t suit everyone.
Pros
- Light
- Simple to use
- Neat charging dock
Cons
- Vacuums floors only
- Short battery life
- Long charge times
Availability
- UKunavailable
- USARRP: $179
- Europeunavailable
- Canadaunavailable
- Australiaunavailable
Key Features
- TypeThis is an upright cordless vacuum cleaner that doesn’t come with any accessories outside of the motorised floor brush.
- Battery lifeYou’ll get a maximum of 17 minutes out of a charge, after which it takes between four and seven hours to recharge.
Introduction
Most cordless vacuum cleaners are fairly expensive and come with multiple accessories. But if you’re simply looking for added convenience for vacuuming floors, then the Shark Navigator Freestyle SV1106 could be for you. This vacuum cleaner is a cordless upright cleaner that has no accessories, bar the motorised floor brush.
It’s light and easy to use, but performance lags behind the best cordless cleaners, and the lack of versatility will put some people off.
Design and features
- Very light
- Easy to use
- Neat foot control
Rather than trying to do every job, the Shark Navigator Freestyle SV1106 is a simple cordless upright vacuum cleaner built for floors (hard and carpet) only. There’s just one bit of assembly required: screw the handle into the body – and that’s it.
Shark provides a floor dock in the box, which charges the vacuum cleaner. It’s a neat design: you simply place the vacuum onto it once you’re done vacuuming, and it will recharge ready for the next use.
Keeping with the simplicity, the Shark Navigator Freestyle SV1106 is super-easy to use. There’s a single button that you tap with your foot to turn on the cleaner in Carpet mode. Tap it again to switch to Bare Floor mode, and then again to turn it off.
Once on, tilt the vacuum cleaner’s body back and it turns on the rotating brush bar. Then, it’s as simple as pushing the vacuum cleaner around. Thanks to its 3.4kg weight, this cleaner is easy to push around.
Many cordless vacuum cleaners have small dust cups, but the Shark Navigator Freestyle SV1106 has a relatively big 0.16 gallon (0.64-quart) unit. This can be removed from the vacuum’s body, and both ends can be opened up for easy emptying and cleaning.
With no other accessories, nor a wand or hose in the box, the Shark Navigator Freestyle SV1106 can’t do any other jobs. As such, you’ll still need a regular vacuum cleaner for tackling stairs, couches or for getting into tight gaps.
Performance
- Short battery life
- So-so dust collection
- Long charge times
The lack of a hose meant I couldn’t gauge the raw vacuum performance of this cleaner, so I moved directly to my real-world tests. I started with the carpet test, sprinkling a teaspoon of flour onto the floor. I then gave the vacuum cleaner a pass through, forward and backward.
As you can see from the results, the cleaner didn’t do particularly well. Although it lifted most of the dirt from the central portion of the swipe, there was plenty of dust remaining on either side.
It took quite a few swipes, moving the vacuum at different angles, to get all of the dust collected.
It was a similar story when it came to the edge test, where I sprinkle a teaspoon of flour up against the skirting board on carpet tiles. Here, a single pass forward and back left a lot of mess behind, right up against the edge. Even moving the cleaner at different angles couldn’t lift it all: a crevice tool would be have been super-useful here.
For the hard floor test, I sprinkled a teaspoon of rice onto the floor. A pass through the middle was sufficient to pick up some of the mess, but it didn’t leave a clean path through the middle. Again, it took quite a few sweeps to get everything.
The vacuum performed better in the pet hair test. Giving the cleaner a pass over cat hair combed into the carpet, I found that the Shark Navigator Freestyle SV1106 managed to suck out all of the hair this time.
Nevertheless, it still took a lot longer to clean up with this vacuum cleaner than using something more powerful, such as the Roborock H7. This wouldn’t necessarily be much of an issue, but for the Shark’s short battery life.
In Carpet mode, the Shark Navigator Freestyle SV1106 will last for up to 12 minutes; in Bare Floor mode it will last for around 17 minutes. This isn’t a huge amount of time for cleaning, particularly when it takes four to seven hours to recharge the cleaner fully.
In terms of noise, I measured the vacuum at 73.2dB, which is about middle of the pack for cordless vacuum cleaners: not too loud, but not the quietest either.
You might like…
Best Offers
Should you buy it?
If you just want a simple upright cleaner that you can grab and go for cleaning a specific area, then the Shark Navigator will do the job – but nothing else.
If you need versatility and the option to tackle different areas and surfaces, Shark’s cordless isn’t for you. Neither is it a good choice if you need longer run-times.
Final thoughts
To give the Shark Navigator Freestyle SV1106 its due, it has a large dust cup, it’s cheap and easy to use. It isn’t a particularly good performer, and a short battery life means that it won’t necessarily make it round a large area either. For those just requiring a simple grab-and-go upright to keep a room or entryway tidy it might suit, but the lack of accessories means you can’t do anything else. The Shark WandVac System may make more sense; otherwise, check out my guide to the best cordless vacuum cleaners for other choices.
How we test
We test every vacuum cleaner we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use industry standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always reveal what we find. We never accept money to review a product.
FAQs
This model comes with a floor head, with which you can’t use any other accessories.
Via the floor dock included in the box. Simply plug this in and drop the vacuum cleaner into it.
Specs
Jargon buster
AirWatt
A rating of how powerful a vacuum cleaner is. AirWatts combines suction power with airflow to give one score, where the higher the number is better.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.