We tested the new Shark Cordless Detect Pro, and those dusty corners will be no match for it

We got the chance to try out the newest Shark cordless vacuum, which is being showcased by the company at this year's IFA Berlin. The Shark Cordless Detect Pro is an attempt to make cleaning corners, edges, areas of low light, and other tricky spots easier, with a self-emptying canister that stops emptying your vacuum from being a daily chore.

We played around with the vacuum while it was being shown off, seeing firsthand how it handles various types of debris on floors. Though we didn't have as much time with the unit as we'd like, you can find our first impressions below, and head over to our best vacuums for home for more comparison. For news from the show, take a look at our IFA23 predictions.

Shark Cordless Detect Pro: At a glance

The Shark Cordless Detect Pro is the latest entry into the brand's floorcare line-up, offering great suction, intelligent dirt detection, and added convenience features. It's ultra-lightweight for less fatigue while using, and it even reacts to its surroundings.

Shark actually promises 50% better dirt pickup, which is primarily down to its intelligent EdgeDetect feature. This concentrates suction where it's most needed, indicated by LED lights on the side of the head closest to the corner or edge. FloorDetect also means it can tell whether its working on carpet or hard floors.

Katya Carman, Head of Product Development at Shark, said: “Our mission is to positively impact people’s lives – so we set out to solve consumer pain points that consumers didn’t even know they had – making time-consuming household chores even easier with reduced exposure to dust, less time spent manually emptying your dust cup while maintaining the same great cleaning power consumers expect and love from Shark."

The Shark Cordless Detect Pro is available to order now from the Shark website, with a US price tag of $349.

Shark Cordless Detect Pro: key specs

Shark Cordless Detect Pro: Performance

There are a few new features for the Detect Pro, but also a lot of old favorites. The multi-surface brush tool and Anti Hair Wrap Technology are popular for a reason, and rest assured they've not gone anywhere.

Sadly we didn't get to see how it coped with carpets, but the vacuum performed superbly on hard floors covered in debris such as cereal, sprinkles, and general muck you'll always find on a conference hall floor.

EdgeDetect: Edge Detect is a neat little feature that moves the strongest suction to where it's needed on the vacuum's head, meaning that those mucky corners and edges of your floor are much easier to keep clean. The LED light on top indicates what's happening, and it's all automatic.

Auto-emptying: As soon as you've finished cleaning (or the vacuum is full), you can dock the Detect Pro. After a few seconds, the contents of your canister - in our case, a bunch of Cheerios and other debris - will be sucked into the base.

This is as strangely satisfying as it sounds, but more practically, means you can get more use out of your svelte cordless vac before you need to deal with the mess of emptying. It also means that you get 340x less dust exposure, and you can safely wait 45 days before emptying the contents of the base.

Early verdict

We were super-impressed by the Shark Cordless Detect Pro, which felt incredibly lightweight and easy to use, coping with changes in direction with no effort and sucking up even large pieces of cereal. The auto-empty function is welcome but doesn't quite make up for the tiny size of the canister on board.

Still, you can't argue with 45 days off from messy emptying, and the ultra-slim design and additional features mean the Detect Pro is something we'd recommend for most users who are in a position to splurge.