I have never actually seen a cat or a dog shedding hair on the floor. It is not as if you can see the hair falling off. Yet, when you start sweeping the floor with a broom, the pet hair is there. It accumulates almost unseen underneath furniture, on carpets and in the corners of a room. Unless you want to go chasing after pet hair every day of your life, then you might want to automate the process by getting a robotic vacuum cleaner that can handle pet hair problems.
Introduction
You might get most of the pet hair and dander by manually sweeping and vacuuming the house every week. However, doing it every day becomes an annoying chore and takes the fun out of having pets in the house. Pets shed hair every day, so get a home gadget that can pick it up every day. A robotic vacuum cleaner might be the smart gadget to get for a cleaner, healthier, hairless home.
Which is the best robotic vacuum cleaner to buy for keeping pet hair and allergens under control? The most important criteria to consider are tangle-free brushes, strong suction power, a large dust bin and HEPA filtration. Other features such as a mop attachment or UV sterilization are nice, but not essential.
The price point of the robot vacuum is also an important consideration. I have researched and collected examples of robotic vacuum cleaners for pet hair and pet owners that range from lower-priced to high-end models.
What are pet allergens?
Pet allergens are basically harmless proteins that are present in the saliva, urine and dead skin cells (dander) of cats and dogs. Pet owners with over-sensitive immune systems might have allergic reactions when coming in contact with pet hair and dander. A robotic vacuum cleaner can reduce the amount of hair and dander on the floor. Nevertheless, it does not solve the basic immune overreaction.
What is a HEPA filter?
HEPA is short for ‘high-efficiency particulate air’. The HEPA filter is an essential feature of a robotic pet hair vacuum cleaner, since it is very efficient at trapping and removing pet dander from hard floors and carpets. The vacuum cleaner expels filtered air back into the room, while the dander and fine dust is trapped.
Good Robot Vacuum For Pet Owners
There are many models available today that could be used for automatically removing pet hair from the floors and carpets of your home.
For example, you might take a look at the iRobot Roomba 694. It is one of the older Roomba models, yet it does have Wi-Fi connectivity, and it can work with an Alexa device for voice controlled cleaning. It seems like the Roomba 694 gets a good score when it comes to picking up pet hair (check price on Amazon).
Another bestseller for pet owners is the Eufy BoostIQ RoboVac 11S, seeing as it gets a high score for cleaning up hair. The RoboVac 11S has BoostIQ technology, which should increase suction power when it needs to pick up a few extra fur balls. However, this model has neither Wi-Fi connectivity nor voice control abilities. Nevertheless, you do not really need all those smart features for getting rid of pet hair. You just need a robotic vacuum cleaner that has good suction, and does not skulk around the house like a stray cat, beeping at everything. Click here for current pricing on Amazon.
If you want one of those fancy self-emptying robotic vacuum cleaners, then you might consider buying the iRobot Roomba j7+ robot vacuum. Similar to a trained pet, it empties itself into its own litter box. In the case of the robot, the litter box is the clean base automatic dirt disposal station with its enclosed bag system that might hold up to 60 days of waste. Moreover, the iRobot Roomba j7+ uses advanced technology and navigation to detect and avoid obstacles in its way, such as pet poop. Shop now on Amazon.
Cheap Robot Vacuum For Pet Hair
The ILIFE V3s has a low height of only 3 inches, which makes it ideal to find fur balls underneath beds and sofas. It can both vacuum and dry mop, but the removable mopping attachment might be unnecessary for getting rid of pet hair.
The V3s has two dual side brushes which sweep the hair and dirt towards the central suction port. There is no rotating brush in the center. Still, it is easier to remove tangled hair from side brushes than from a rotating brush. However, without a rotating brush, this robot vacuum loses the raw brushing power for cleaning carpets effectively. The ILIFE V3s is better at sweeping pet hair from hard floors such as wood, laminate or smooth tile.
This vacuum cleaning robot has a 0.3-liter dust bin, which might be big enough for one cleaning run. However, the more important part for pet owners is the filtration. The V3s has a HEPA filter which traps and removes very small dust particles and animal dander from the vacuumed air. This reduces the chances of allergic reactions due to allergens collecting on the floor. The robot vacuum is shipped with an extra HEPA filter, but you can buy more and replace it every month, depending on how many pets are shedding in the house.
The V3s is powered by a lithium-ion battery. This gives it a cleaning run time of about 100 minutes. The robotic vacuum is shipped with a charging dock, power adapter and remote control. It is rare to find a cheap robot vacuum that includes a remote control.
The ILIFE V3s is a cheap but popular robot vacuum for daily maintenance of pet hair and dander. However, it is not recommended for cleaning carpets due to its lack of a rotating brush. It has the best cleaning results when used on hardwood floors.
Please note that there is an updated version of the V3s available: the ILIFE V3s Pro. You may learn more about it at Amazon.
Best Value Robot Vacuum For Pet Hair
The Roomba 860 is more powerful than the Roomba 650. It also has rubber tread brushes which are more likely to remain tangle-free, which reduces brush maintenance to a minimum. The Roomba 860 has a more efficient filter than the 650 model: as a result, it is better at reducing allergens. However, the filter is still not a true HEPA filter.
I might pay extra to get the Roomba 860 instead of the Roomba 650. The Roomba 860 has tangle-free extractors, a longer-lasting lithium-ion battery and a more efficient filter. Overall, it should provide better value for money.
Mid-Priced Robot Vacuum For Pet Hair
The Neato Botvac D80 has a D-shape design, which increases its ability to get right into corners to sweep out pet hair with its single side brush. It also has a large combo brush which combines bristles and rubber treads for sweeping up pet hair. This combo brush is almost 50% wider than the brushes installed on most other robotic vacuum cleaners.
The Botvac D80 has a powerful suction system which vacuums pet hair into its large dust bin with a 0.7-liter capacity. It can hold twice as much hair and fur as the ILIFE V3s! The dust bin has a high-performance filter for trapping very fine particles that might aggravate allergies.
All in all, the Neato Botvac D80 keeps pet hair and allergens under control with its wide combo brush, good suction, large dust bin and high-performance filter.
High-End Robot Vacuum For Pet Hair
The Bobsweep Pethair is a robot vacuum and mop combination. It sweeps and vacuums pet hair from the floor, but it can also mop the floor afterward with its detachable microfiber mopping cloth.
It has a single side brush, a wide main brush and a large 1-liter dust bin. This robotic vacuum cleaner can cram a lot of pet hair into its dust bin! The Pethair robotic vacuum also has a UV light for sterilizing floor surfaces.
The Bobsweep Pethair would not deserve its name if it did not have a high-efficiency filter. Its HEPA filter removes pet dander from the vacuumed air. The robot vacuum is shipped with two extra HEPA filters.
The Bobsweep Pethair seems to live up to its name of being one of the best robotic vacuum cleaners for pet owners. Its wide brush, large dust bin and HEPA filter makes it good at getting rid of pet hair.
Redundant Robot Vacuum For Pet Hair
The iRobot Roomba 650 was probably the best-selling Roomba vacuum robot of the past decade or so. Unfortunately, it appears that it is no longer easy to find and buy online, unless you are willing to purchase a renewed unit.
The Roomba 650 has a single side brush for sweeping the edges of walls and corners where pet hair likes to hide. It has a low 3.6-inch profile, so it can clean underneath furniture such as beds where dust bunnies breed.
It has two counter-rotating brushes for sweeping hard floors and brushing carpets. However, the brushes need regular maintenance to remove tangled hair from bristles and rollers. The Roomba 650 has sufficient suction to vacuum pet hair into its dust bin, but it does not have a high-efficiency filter.
It is hard to go wrong with the Roomba 650. Nevertheless, its lack of a high-efficiency filter might be a disadvantage when it comes to vacuuming away pet hair.
Conclusion
The vacuum cleaning robots I discussed in this article were the best for pet hair in my opinion, but they are of course not the only ones suitable for this purpose. Many popular models, such as the iRobot Roomba 650, have been surpassed by newer robotic vacuum cleaners. For instance, the Roomba e5 is a newer model that has Wi-Fi connectivity and Alexa capabilities.
Furthermore, the Roomba i7 and i7+ are also worth consideration. The Roomba i7+ is shipped with its own clean base automatic dirt disposal station that enables the vacuum robot to empty its own dust bin when full. Not to mention the Roomba i4+ EVO, which also has the ability to automatically dispose of its own dirt.
In contrast with the other iRobot vacuum cleaners, the Roomba s9 and s9+ robotic vacuum cleaners have a new shape that is similar to the Neato Botvac. The s9+ also offers the convenience of emptying its own dust bin into a dirt disposal station.
After all is said and done, it is not easy to choose the best robotic vacuum cleaner for pet hair and animal dander. I hope that I at least provided a few examples for you to ponder before making a purchase.
Photo by YoonJae Baik on Unsplash.