Vacuum Cleaner for Pet Hair on Rug and Tile Floors?

[Edward Morrison]

Last year I ended up buying a Hoover Linx cordless stick vac and the Bissell Pet Hair Eraser hand vac, as I was so frustrated with our old Miele White Star. Both are decent for day-to-day touch-ups, but my Miele has now totally bitten the dust (good riddance!) and I need to buy a new vac this week.

As much as I'd prefer an upright vac, I use my hose and attachments all the time to vacuum my very textured adobe walls, furniture, crevices, lampshades, etc., etc.

I've spent a lot of time this morning searching ConsumerReports and GetCleaningDone. But, every time I check out the customer reviews there are always complaints that the rollers still get bound up with hair and have to be continually cut off. Or that the vacuums are falling apart! I found one that seemed to work well . . . as long as you got down on your hands and knees and used an attachment to get it up. I've been doing that for years with my Miele White Star and am so done with that! For a vacuum that expensive (back then it was close to $500), shame on them!

Is there a vacuum out there that actually really works with pet hair on rugs and tile/non-carpeted floors? I need recommendations and ones NOT to buy quickly, please. Help!

 

[bigbabyblues]

We have a Kirby that is about 16 years old and still going strong. However, with two Shelties in the house, we sweep the hard floors with a broom first and then vacuum because the amount of hair is ridiculous.

 

[davper]

Any vacuum with a revolving brush will need to have the hair cut from it. There is no getting around that.

I am using the Shark Rocket and it constantly needs to be cleaned. Hair gets clogged up in the flexible hose portion of the vac and wraps around the spinning brush.

 

[iivye]

We have a Dyson Animal Stick vacuum and love it. The battery only lasts about 20 minutes when you use the extra sucking setting but it doesn't take long to charge. I agree with the previous poster; I still have to occasionally cut thread and hair from the roller but it's usually my long hair and not the dog's.

 

[Jason_V]

We have a Dyson Animal Stick vacuum and love it. The battery only lasts about 20 minutes when you use the extra sucking setting but it doesn't take long to charge. I agree with the previous poster; I still have to occasionally cut thread and hair from the roller but it's usually my long hair and not the dog's.

I've been looking for something I can use on the carpet, the wood floors and the stairs with two dogs. They don't shed, but they are so low to the ground they track EVERYTHING into the house whether they intend to or not. The stairs are problematic since the suction on my Bissell hose attachment is for crap. Thank you for the suggestion!

 

[pigletto]

We have a Dyson Animal Stick vacuum and love it. The battery only lasts about 20 minutes when you use the extra sucking setting but it doesn't take long to charge. I agree with the previous poster; I still have to occasionally cut thread and hair from the roller but it's usually my long hair and not the dog's.

This. I actually don’t have one, but have two Labrador retrievers and battle hair every day. I have the full size Dyson animal but everyone is recommending the stick version for every day touch ups. Everyone I know who has one raves about how easy it is. It’s not cheap, but I plan to invest in one soon. We just bought a house with a narrow carpeted stairway. I’m not lugging my full size corded Dyson up that every day.
When you have two 80 pound Labs, you find yourself engaged in a lot of vacuum cleaner discussions.

 

[DCLPrincess]

I'm not sure what kind of pets you have but I have 2 cats, one of which is long haired. I have an Oreck and love it. It works better than any other vacuum I've ever had and I don't have frequent problems with hair getting stuck on the roller. I personally don't like canister or battery ones because I feel like I don't get enough power. I also dislike bagless, the hair goes everywhere when you empty it.

 

[DisneyHardin]

We have both a regular Dyson and the pet version of the stick vac. The regular does okay on the non-carpeted floors, but the stick does better. We have 3 cats that shed a lot, so we at least touch up vacuum almost everyday.

 

[DLgal]

Three words. Shark Navigatior Liftaway. These are the absolute BEST vacuums on the market. Hands down. I have owned one for 8 years now and the suction is unreal. It was the ONLY one that would pick up ALL the labrador hair when we had a dog. I tried a Dyson Animal once and returned it 2 weeks later (awful, awful vacuum that would not pick up anything on carpet).

I have recommended the Shark Navigator or Rotator liftaway to countless people and they have all been very pleased. Shark stands behind these and the 5 year warranty is real. I had my hose rip just beyond the 5 year mark and reached out to them and they sent me a new one, no questions asked.

I love being able to convert it into a canister vac for cleaning stairs and inside the car. I love that the filters are washable, as is the dust canister. I take it outside twice a year and just hose it down. It's like having a brand new, clean vacuum.

I also have a Shark Rocket corded vacuum for cleaning under beds that I love for the tile floors, but the suction on carpet isn't the best. You can use the Navigator on all floor types. In 8 years, I have never once had to cut hair out of the roller brush. It goes right into the dust canister (I have a lot of thick,medium length hair that sheds a LOT).

 

[Hank Scorpio]

I have a robot vacuum and love it for pet hair. Plus it does it by itself in the middle of the night. About 2 years ago we bought the DeeBot N79. It has been running strong ever since. I didn't realize how dusty and bad my hard floors were until i started emptying the thing out every day.

 

[Rvillediser]

Another vote for the Shark Navigator. Ours is a little over 2 years old. It's gone from moving out of one house into another (tons of cleaning). We also have 2 labs (tons of hair) and were vacuum every other day. And the price couldn't have been better (cheap). We are now remodeling our kitchen and are vacuuming every day!!

 

[Tompson999]

We have a Kirby that is about 16 years old and still going strong.

16 years???

Three words. Shark Navigatior Liftaway. These are the absolute BEST vacuums on the market. Hands down. I have owned one for 8 years now and the suction is unreal. It was the ONLY one that would pick up ALL the labrador hair when we had a dog. I tried a Dyson Animal once and returned it 2 weeks later (awful, awful vacuum that would not pick up anything on carpet).

You talking about model Shark navigator lift-away nv356e? This vacuum cleaner one of the best for allergy sufferers.

 

[DLgal]

16 years???



You talking about model Shark navigator lift-away nv356e? View attachment 396019 This vacuum cleaner one of the best for allergy sufferers.

No, not the professional one. We had that one too, but the one I like best is purple. We got rid of the professional one because it was too heavy and awkward and had a hose attachment that was always coming unattached from the roller brush section. The one I have had since 2010 is the NV 360. Amazing vacuum.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

We have the Dyson Ball one. Yeah it does require cutting the hair out (which is actually a lot of my hair wrapped around it and then the cat's fur is second) but the suction is just so great compared to much cheaper vaccums. It's not necessarily my favorite thing to do cutting the hair but for the amazing suction power I'll deal with it. It did come with a stair attachment that you could use for furniture as well that is better at not catching the hair/fur around it but it's not good for large areas. I love the ball for going around corners and tight spaces. Much easier to maneuver compared to my older non-ball vaccum.

 

[wenrob]

Any vacuum with a revolving brush will need to have the hair cut from it. There is no getting around that.

I am using the Shark Rocket and it constantly needs to be cleaned. Hair gets clogged up in the flexible hose portion of the vac and wraps around the spinning brush.

I have a Bissell Pet Hair Eraser. It doesn’t have bristles on the “brush” so doesn’t get hair wrapped around it. It’s excellent on my thick downstairs carpets. My Shark Lift Away cannot handle my downstairs carpet+insane shedding from my dog+two girls with long, thick hair. I keep it upstairs where the carpet isn’t near as thick but have to cut hair from the roller after every use.

Generally I take my Dustbuster to the edges and corners of rooms with hard floors then finish up with a broom. I haven’t found a vacuum yet that is able to do a very good job on hard surface floors which is why I ripped out the Pergo in this house and put in carpet. The Shark does an okay job when I need to do more than just dust bunnies and general upkeep but I still find myself finishing with a broom.

 

[Klayfish]

How timely. We have 3 large dogs, one of which sheds so much I can't believe she isn't bald. Our current vacuum is a bagless upright Kenmore model. I think we paid $60 for it 5 or 6 years ago. Frankly it works great. I'll fill the canister twice easily. However, it's pretty beat up...the front wheels are literally held on by packing tape. I'm simply not going to spend $300 on a vacuum, just not in my DNA. So I'm looking for a good bargain replacement. Our house is all carpet upstairs (I hate hardwood in any spot beyond a kitchen/dining room) and engineered hardwood downstairs except for the family room which is carpet. Therefore, we need a vacuum that can handle both.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

How timely. We have 3 large dogs, one of which sheds so much I can't believe she isn't bald. Our current vacuum is a bagless upright Kenmore model. I think we paid $60 for it 5 or 6 years ago. Frankly it works great. I'll fill the canister twice easily. However, it's pretty beat up...the front wheels are literally held on by packing tape. I'm simply not going to spend $300 on a vacuum, just not in my DNA. So I'm looking for a good bargain replacement. Our house is all carpet upstairs (I hate hardwood in any spot beyond a kitchen/dining room) and engineered hardwood downstairs except for the family room which is carpet. Therefore, we need a vacuum that can handle both.

Ordinarily we would be the same way not wanting to spend a lot of money but when we moved into our house we just got tired of the Bissell we had not doing that great. My mom had gotten us a Panasonic one and it crapped out after a few uses (she took it back and got her money back). That's when we started looking into other ones.

The Dyson wasn't inexpensive but we had gotten it when it came with multiple attachments included rather than buying separately (other than the one or two that it came with). They also send e-mails on occasion regarding taking in the Dyson to an authorized repair facility for a check up for free (my dad was able to do that with his Hoover too back in the day). Our Dyson has 2 settings one for carpet and one for more delicate surfaces like tile (in all bathrooms and laundry room) and hardwood (in our case engineered hardwood in the main level in certain spots). First time using the Dyson after using the Bissell on the same spot on the carpet for comparison and we decided it was money well spent this time.

That said we do have a Bissell deep cleaner (it was a wedding gift from my husband's grandmother who noticed us really eyeing it) and we've been happy with it.

*Not trying to convince you to get a Dyson just sharing our experience as we are just like you in not normally wanting to spend a lot of money on things.

 

[Searc]

Three words. Shark Navigatior Liftaway. These are the absolute BEST vacuums on the market. Hands down. I have owned one for 8 years now and the suction is unreal. It was the ONLY one that would pick up ALL the labrador hair when we had a dog. I tried a Dyson Animal once and returned it 2 weeks later (awful, awful vacuum that would not pick up anything on carpet).

I have recommended the Shark Navigator or Rotator liftaway to countless people and they have all been very pleased. Shark stands behind these and the 5 year warranty is real. I had my hose rip just beyond the 5 year mark and reached out to them and they sent me a new one, no questions asked.

I love being able to convert it into a canister vac for cleaning stairs and inside the car. I love that the filters are washable, as is the dust canister. I take it outside twice a year and just hose it down. It's like having a brand new, clean vacuum.

I also have a Shark Rocket corded vacuum for cleaning under beds that I love for the tile floors, but the suction on carpet isn't the best. You can use the Navigator on all floor types. In 8 years, I have never once had to cut hair out of the roller brush. It goes right into the dust canister (I have a lot of thick,medium length hair that sheds a LOT).

We bought a Shark Navigator Liftaway at Costco a few days ago to replace my 12 year old Dyson Animal. I LOVED my Dyson and was so sad when it started dying. But this new vacuum? The amount of stuff it took out of the carpet that had been vacuumed the day before with my Dyson was unbelievable.

 

[firefly_ris]

For many years I kept buying $65 - $100 vacuums and then they would last about 3 years. I was getting sick of it. I had 2 dogs (one of them very high shedding, he has since passed away) and one lower shedding but still decent amount dog, plus multiple foster cats and foster dogs, plus 3 kids. All of my homes had mostly hardwood flooring with area rugs, with the exception of my current home that has wall-to-wall on the 2nd floor (which I hope to get rid of eventually but not in the cards for a while). Anyway, in 2011, I had a Shark Infinity, which I actually really liked, but the belt would come off every other vacuum (and I vacuum every other day, to this day)... so that was getting extremely annoying. I had really liked that one otherwise and I think I bought it at Bed Bath & Beyond for $150. Anyway, I demoted it to the basement since I didn't need to vacuum down there as frequently. I ended up getting a refurbished Dyson Animal (DC17) on Overstock, I think it was like $315 at the time. Anyway I still have it now and use it every other day for the entire house, area rugs, floors, tile, wall to wall. I recently had to have the hose replaced at a vacuum repair shop for $25. The guy that owns the shop told me he felt like the Animals started going downhill in the last couple of years but that my older DC17 model was one of the better ones. So 8 years so far, we'll see how long it goes I guess. And I vacuum up all sorts of crap I'm not supposed to like drywall dust and hay from the rabbit cage, etc. I just make sure I clean it out really well once a month or so to keep the suction good. My parents have a central vac system that they installed when they built their house in 1989 and still use now. That worked well too, and I grew up with Collies so shed city.

 

[shoney]

I love the oreck uprights. Lite weight and work well. The oreck hand held is great for stairs and small
Places. I’m on my second one in 27 years. They are pretty cheap now compared to many years ago