The 9 best vacuums for pet hair in 2024, tested by editors

Table Of Content

• Best self-emptying vacuum for pet hair: Shark Wandvac Cordless Self-Empty System + HEPA
• IRIS USA Cordless Handheld Vacuum Cleaner
• Best Upgrade Stick Vacuum
• The Best Vacuum Attachments for Cleaning Up Pet Hair
• The best basic robot vacuum for people with pets: Eufy RoboVac 11S Max
• Best Bagless Canister for Pet Hair
• Kenmore Pet Friendly Pop-N-Go Canister Vacuum

It comes with a fluffy cleaner head for buffing hard floors, a built-in hair-removing comb to keep long hairs from tangling around the brush roll, and a crevice tool for upholstery. Like many other models from the brand, Bissell's Pet Hair Eraser Turbo Plus did not disappoint our testers — in fact, it's one of the best Bissell vacuums we've ever tested in our Lab. It earned good scores for its ease of use and powerful suction, but our favorite feature is the mess-free dust cup's easy-to-empty, hands-free design, with a hair spooling system inside the canister that makes it easier to empty.

Best self-emptying vacuum for pet hair: Shark Wandvac Cordless Self-Empty System + HEPA

It has great suction power ideal for sucking up pet hair, as well as an auto-increase suction feature that that allows the vacuum to deep clean. Large wheels help the vacuum navigate carpets and door ledges, while built-in sensors help it avoid falling down your stairs or bumping into objects. For those who prefer a bagged vacuum that keeps pet hair and dander sealed after cleaning, there's the Pet-Friendly Pop-N-Go canister vacuum from Kenmore, a Cleaning and Organizing Award-winner.

IRIS USA Cordless Handheld Vacuum Cleaner

We tested both corded and cordless models, so you'll be able to shop both kinds in our list above. Cordless vacuums are great because you don't have to worry about tripping on or getting tangled in wires, but they often have short battery lives that might not be sufficient for cleaning the entirety of large homes in one go. After lab testing, we took these vacuums home to see how the held up over the course of three months. We check in after the first and third month, during which we evaluated how the vacuums held up and if they improved our cleaning routines. We also liked the Shark Navigator's extendable hose for added flexibility as you clean. According to the manufacturer, the hose extends up to 12 feet, so you’ll be able to clean staircases, overhead shelves, and more with ease.

Best Upgrade Stick Vacuum

This smart robot vacuum uses lasers to navigate around your home, making detailed maps and avoiding obstacles, and you can easily set up areas to avoid, label specific rooms, and schedule automatic cleanings. The vacuum also features a touch-and-release button on the outside of the dustbin so you won’t get pet dander and dust all over your hands. A fully sealed filtration system, sometimes called an anti-allergen seal, is another common feature on pet vacuums. This means the components of the vacuum are tightly sealed so fine particles can’t escape back into your home once they’ve been sucked up. Both the Q5 and the Q5+ were considerably quieter than other robot vacuums with similar cleaning performance. The noise of some louder bots made all the animals in our test house skedaddle.

The Best Vacuum Attachments for Cleaning Up Pet Hair

Finally, we reviewed each vacuum based on its noise level, ease of use, portability, and overall value. Based on these insights, we tallied up the vacuums’ individual scores to determine the top vacuums for pet hair. We wished there was a way to empty the device without removing the filter, since this allows some of the particles it captured to escape back into the air. Keep this in mind, especially if you want a vacuum cleaner that seals debris off once captured.

Neumann recommends purchasing a vacuum with an automated brush roll, which spins while vacuuming to pick up pet hair on carpets quickly. On the other hand, no-spin brushes only rotate as you manually push your vacuum along the floor. Neumann says that automated brush rolls help you clean fabric more efficiently, but they can be too harsh for hardwood or tile floors.

Carolyn Forté has tested and reviewed hundreds of vacuum cleaners, carpet cleaners, mops and other major (and minor) home appliances for over 40 years. She is an active member of the ASTM Committee on vacuum cleaners and chairman of the consumer information sub-committee. When you first launch the S8 Pro Ultra, it maps out your space going room by room. Each subsequent voyage can be set to automatic mode where the vacuum will traverse each room, or you can instruct it to go to whatever room you desire for it to clean.

In addition to picking up all of the pet hair on all of the surfaces we tested — while remaining free of pet hair tangles — the vacuum picked up almost all of the other materials on carpeting, hardwood, and furniture. The only substance it seemed to have any difficulty with was flour, but it still picked up at least 90% of the flour on each surface. The powerful Dyson Outsize Cordless Vacuum excels at picking up pet hair, has up to 60 minutes of run time, and features a large dustbin for longer, uninterrupted cleans.

The best vacuums for pet hair

The Best Upright Vacuum We Tested Effortlessly Sucks Up Pet Hair and Crumbs — and It's on Sale - PEOPLE

The Best Upright Vacuum We Tested Effortlessly Sucks Up Pet Hair and Crumbs — and It's on Sale.

Posted: Sun, 28 Apr 2024 11:00:00 GMT [source]

With its motorized brush and extendable crevice tool, this handheld vac cleans up pet fur in a snap, especially on upholstery. Another filter you might want to look for when shopping for vacuums is a pre-filter, which can trap larger pieces of pet hair, while the HEPA filter deals with the smaller particles, says Neumann. Zeynep Mehmetoglu, the marketing and brand management director at Maid Bright, a professional house cleaning service, recommends Dyson vacuums for pet hair and general household needs.

To clean hardwood floors, you can attach the bare floor brush hands-free using a foot pedal — though one tester found that the compartment doesn't open all the way each time, so you may have to nudge it a bit to get the brush out. We found its Pet PowerMate tool to be great for cleaning hair from upholstered furniture and carpets, and it can be stored along with all other tools right on the vacuum. The Dyson Outsize+ Cordless Vacuum is the upgraded version of our pick for Best Upgrade Stick, the Dyson15 Detect. It too illuminates particles that are often overlooked and left behind by vacuum cleaners.

It is user-friendly and intuitive, it learns your floor plan in a single mapping session, and it can store multiple maps for different levels of your home in both 2D and 3D. Via the app, you can turn on auto-boost mode—good for fur-covered carpets—and schedule cleaning sessions. Compatible with Alexa and Google Home, Roborock’s app generally responds well to voice commands, too. The suction hasn’t diminished, and the vacuum has withstood being dropped and knocked over.