Hoover SmartWash vs Shark CarpetXpert (EX201)

Analysis

A thorough examination of the differences between the SmartWash and the EX201 in six different categories.

The SmartWash has higher tested suction at the base (at a port near the vacuum motor) and the hose (where the carpet cleaner extracts moisture in spot cleaning mode) but the Shark has higher tested suction at the nozzle (where the carpet cleaner extracts moisture in upright mode).

Winner: Tie

The table above lists the number of passes it took to completely clean each stain.

A score greater than 10, though, indicates that a stain wasn’t completely cleaned during testing (we ended testing after 10 passes). The higher the number, the darker the stain that was left behind.

For example, both models completely cleaned the juice stain – the SmartWash did so in 2 passes and the Shark did so in 3 passes.

Neither model completely cleaned the tomato sauce stain though (both models have a score >10 for tomato sauce). The Shark left behind a darker stain (score of 12) than the SmartWash (score of 11).

Adding up the total number of passes it took to clean each stain and accounting for the lightness (or darkness, if you will) of any remaining stains after 10 passes, the total “stain score” for the SmartWash was 54. The total score for the Shark was 49.

The Shark has a lower total score so…

Winner: Shark EX201

EXTRA NOTE
We do want to note here that the SmartWash did not cooperate well with our upright stain test. It would sometimes not properly dispense soap and water on the forward push because we push forward very slowly in our upright stain test, and the SmartWash requires you to push it forward relatively fast for it to work properly. That being said, we did re-test it at a faster push speed and it still performed much the same way (cleaned up stains just about as fast) as it did during our original test.

After our stain test we measured the moisture level of the carpet that was cleaned.

The reading for the Shark was slightly lower (dryer) than the reading for the SmartWash so…

Winner: Shark EX201

The SmartWash has much larger water tanks and it uses less water to clean (per sq. ft. of coverage), so it can cover a much larger area than the Shark before you need to refill its clean water tank or empty its dirty water tank.

Winner: SmartWash

The Shark’s dirty water tank has more parts to clean. It has a hard plastic filter and a soft foam filter. The SmartWash tank only has one hard plastic filter you have to clean.

The SmartWash has more brushrolls you have to clean though – it has two brushrolls vs only one for the Shark. It is very easy to remove the brushrolls of both models for cleaning.

Winner: Tie

The Shark’s design is optimized for spot cleaning. It has a hose that stores on the cleaner itself and at the end of the hose is an integrated spot cleaning tool.

The SmartWash features a more traditional design. You have to open a port on the front of the cleaner to connect a hose (that stores separately in a bag), and you have to connect a tool to that hose every time you use it to spot clean (the tool isn’t semi-permanently attached to the hose like it is on the Shark).

Because of its unique design, it’s much easier to transition between upright cleaning and spot cleaning with the Shark.

The Shark also performed better cleaning up stains in our spot cleaning test.

Winner: Shark EX201

Verdict

Our bottom line recommendations.

We generally recommend the Shark EX201 over the SmartWash because it performed better in both of our stain cleaning tests (our upright stain test and our spot cleaning stain test). It also left carpet dryer after cleaning and it’s generally easier to use.