Quietest Robot Vacuum for Pet Hair: Tested in 2023
Finding the most suitable, quietest robot vacuum for pet hair can be daunting. Pet hairs are notoriously tricky to remove. The simple reason is that every time you step on it, the pressure embeds the hair deeper, making it difficult to vacuum up later.
Besides, vacuuming pet hair is a hassle because it entangles the brush and eventually jams the vacuum. After testing the performances of the 15 top rated robot vacuum for pet hair, 7 models stood out in terms of their quietness and performance level.
The test involved each robot vacuuming pet hair, cat litter, and cereal dirt off carpets and regular hard floors. To score these robot vacuum cleaners on the ease of use, the intelligence of the app, and the ability to navigate, it was necessary to test each of them at home.
Our testing approach shows that these seven robot vacuums score highly on all relevant floor cleaning tasks in a home environment and especially when it comes to pet hair removal.
1. iLife V3s Pro (Best for low-cost robot cleaning)
SPECIFICATIONS
Overall Cleaning Performance: 97
Overall Pet Hair Score: 99.5
Bin capacity: 600 mL
Compatibility with Smart Home: Nil
Size: 11.8 x 11.8 x 3 inches
Weight: 4.5 pounds
REASONS TO PURCHASE
+ Excellent pet hair cleaning performance
+ Quiet, with an average sound level of 65 dB
+ An impressive performance on a hard floor
+ Affordable price
REASONS NOT TO PURCHASE
– Audible (but not loud) during cleaning operations
– Not suitable for thick or high-pile carpets
– The cleaning pattern is erratic
STAR RATING: 4.5*
The fact that the best cheap robot vacuum available can also be one of the best for dealing with pet hair is a win-win situation for the average user.
Not lacking in fancy tech features like smartphone control, the iLife V3s Pro is a very efficient and cost-effective floor cleaner, especially concerning pet hair. It can collect 99% of pet fur from carpets and 100% from hardwood. Its performance in this regard is close to perfection.
With a 3-inch suction opening, the iLife V3s Pro sets itself apart from other robot vacuums that instead have a brush roll for removing dirt from the floor. Its 3-inch suction makes for effective cleanings like picking up dog hairs and easier maintenance with less time spent removing hair from a brush roll.
The iLife Pro’s performance is even more evident on tiles and hardwood floors and works equally fine on thinner rug carpets. Expect the skipping of some areas during cleaning; this is due to its random cleaning pattern.
But that’s no cause for alarm, as the cleaner comes equipped with arrow buttons on the remotes to guide it back to any areas it skips. Giving this little fellow some supervision during cleaning will benefit your floors immensely. Of course, this hardworking little cleaner is no substitute for your standard mop stick and bucket.
2. Roborock S4 Max – Best for overall cleaning performance
SPECIFICATIONS
Overall cleaning performance: 96.3
Overall pet hair score: 94
Bin capacity: 460 ml
Compatibility with Smart Home: Alexa, Google Assistant
Size: 13.5 inches x 3.8 inches
Weight: 4.9 pounds
REASONS TO PURCHASE
+ Quick mapping
+ Superb cleaner
+ Quiet vacuuming
+ Very quiet, with an average sound level of 60.6 dB
REASONS NOT TO PURCHASE
– Lack of targeted cleaning features
STAR RATING: 4*
Appropriately, the Roborock S4 Max makes our top pick for the best robot vacuum for cleaning up after pets. Besides its ability to pick up pet hair, this Wi-Fi connection-compatible robot vacuum offers much more.
It comes with the capacity to map your home’s layout accurately and stores up to four maps. It could instantly clean up one room, multiple rooms, the entire floor, or follow a schedule.
It is possible to customize up to three passes in one room in the Roborock S4 Max app. Each other feature supports no-go zones to keep it from bumping into your pet’s food bowl.
Its built-in sensor will increase vacuum suction on carpeted floors when it detects hair, ensuring complete removal of hair from your pet’s favorite sunspots in the living room rug carpet. The Roborock S4 Max vacuum scores an average of 96.38% of cat litter on hardwood and carpet.
The user can also use the nifty and intelligent Alexa or Google Assistant to issue instructions to the Roborock S4 Max vacuum.
A glitch became obvious during tests on the Roborock S4 Max vacuum. Roborock is colorblind to dark-colored carpets, so it will skip them when cleaning. However, rectifying this problem is simple. It will require cutting and pasting paper covers over the clip sensors on Roborock cliff sensors. Roborock does not notify users of this issue or mail them any of these covers.
3. iRobot Roomba s9+ (Best self-emptying robot vacuum)
SPECIFICATIONS
Overall cleaning performance: 96.3
Overall pet hair score: 98
Bin capacity: 454.6 mL
Compatibility with Smart Home: Alexa, Google Assistant
Size: 12.3 x 12.3 x 3.5 inches
Weight: 8.2 pounds
REASONS TO PURCHASE
+ Outstanding design
+ Mapping is quick and easy.
+ The mapping controls in the app are simple to use.
+ Quiet, with an average sound level of 65 dB
REASONS NOT TO PURCHASE
– Expensive
– Need to buy replacement disposal bags
STAR RATING: 4*
As a home user willing to spend top dollar for a robot vacuum, the Robot Roomba S9 deserves your consideration.
Its outstanding performance matches its hefty price tag, mainly cleaning pet hair. It comes in with a score of 98% on average pet hair pickup across hardwood and carpet floors
An outstanding feature of the Roomba S9 is its emptying base. It automatically triggers the emptying of the onboard dustbin when its job is complete or it is full.
This handy feature of the Roomba S9 saves valuable time during cleaning and prevents vacuumed dirt and hairs from returning to the home while emptying the bin. When the bag fills up, and it’s time to dispose of its contents, the disposable bag inside its base neatly closes up, preventing dust and dirt from escaping.
The prevention of dust and dirt recirculation in your home is just one of the many thoughtful and unique futures of the Roomba S9. Through a Wi-Fi connection, this robot vacuum can receive commands from the accompanying app to execute targeted cleaning tasks in specific corners and areas of your room, like the dining table area, while ignoring others.
The control and command features of the app allow for scheduled cleaning of specific regions in your home; for example, you could instruct it to clean up the dining room at 7 p.m. every morning.
The complexity and extent of its control features are ample. For instance, on your way to the gym, you can instruct the Roomba S9 vacuum cleaner to start cleaning and, on your return, to continue cleaning or stop and return to its base. It’s a feature that will be good for your puppies if they’re scared by vacuum cleaners.
4. Neato D9 (Best cleaning reach)
SPECIFICATIONS
Overall cleaning performance: 92.79
Overall pet hair score: 87.25
Bin capacity: 700 mL
Compatibility with Smart Home: Alexa, Google Assistant
Size: 12.71 in x 13.22 in x 3.99 in
Weight: 8 pounds
REASONS TO PURCHASE
+ Outstanding cleaning performance
+ Quick mapping
+ Appealing design
REASONS NOT TO PURCHASE
– Restricts cleaning to one section at a time
– Bulky map divisions
– Quiet, with an average sound level of 65 dB
STAR RATING: 3*
The Neato D9 vacuum cleaner certainly earns its place as a reputable robot vacuum cleaner by clocking in at a score of 92.79% overall performance. It outperforms the Roomba i13+ and j7+ in picking up over 87% of dog hair on carpet and hardwood floors.
The Neato D9 vacuum operates fast and quietly, making it even more appealing. With its dustbin carefully hidden in its lid panel, accessing it is simpler and more convenient but can be surprising for a first-time user.
The dust bag design prevents debris from falling out while removing it. The Neato D9 ultra-performance filter doubles up as a door for the dustbin. This sleek design safely traps 99.5% of dust particles and allergens under wraps.
Its battery life is also a notable feature of this robot. It comes in at 200 minutes, meaning it can clean close to 1600 square feet of the floor surface.
The only downside in our course of testing was its app mapping performance. It needed help marking out zones on the floor plan to distinguish between separate rooms. This obvious limitation means it can only clean a section of the house at a time or the entire home, a grim prospect indeed.
For most people, who don’t mind breaking their house cleaning into manageable zones, the Neato D9 is an undeniably solid option worth considering.
5. iRobot Roomba i7+ (Top choice for daily cleaning)
SPECIFICATIONS
Overall cleaning performance: 90.4
Overall pet hair score: 90.5
Bin capacity: 379 mL
Compatibility with Smart Home: Alexa, Google Assistant
Size: 13.3 x 3.7 inches
Weight: 7.4 pounds
REASONS TO PURCHASE
+ Great navigation
+ Capable of cleaning just one room at a time
+ Easy to empty Clean base
+ Quick cleaner
+ Extremely quiet, with an average sound level of 62 decibels.
REASONS NOT TO PURCHASE
– Cleaning could be more thorough.
STAR RATING: 3.5*
The iRobot Roomba i7+ enjoys the distinction of being the first self-emptying vacuum cleaner. The base is robust and can suck up all pet hair and dirt from the floor surface, although it is loud during operation. The dust and debris inside can’t easily escape, thanks to a disposable vacuum bag inside the clean base.
Connecting through Wi-Fi, the iRobot Roomba i7+ can accurately map home zones and even support geo-fencing and area-specific cleaning. Based on the season, such as during the summer, the iRobot Roomba i7+ can recommend cleaning.
Due to its geofencing features, it will start cleaning upon detecting that your phone has left home. However, there is an option to pause the cleaning and resume it on your return to the house.
Its gentle navigation sets it apart from the rumble of the S9 Plus, as does its price. The navigation is so soft that it does not upset your pet’s food bowls while vacuuming around them. Of course, the downside to its less aggressive cleaning having slight limitations is a 90.5% average pickup rate for your pet’s hair.
6. Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid (Excellent for pet hair on hardwood floors)
SPECIFICATIONS
Overall cleaning performance: 92.39
Overall pet hair score: 94.75
Bin capacity: 400 mL
Compatibility with Smart Home: Alexa, Google Assist
Size: 13.58 x 13.58 x 3.83 inches
Weight: 7.72 pounds
REASONS TO PURCHASE
+ Both vacuums and mops
+ The removal of pet fur from hardwood floors received a perfect score
+ Automatically increases suction on dirty surfaces.
+ Quiet, with an average sound level of 67.1 dB at full power
REASONS NOT TO PURCHASE
– Poor mapping ability
– Mopping controls are not distinct
– Pricey for the features it provides
STAR RATING: 3*
The Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid vacuum cleaner ranks among the top performers for pet hair removal from hardwood floors, with a 100% average score for best pick up from hardwood floors. It could be a low performer on carpet surfaces, given its comparatively low average pickup score of 89.5%.
On the flip side, it enjoys the unique status of being the only robot vacuum for pet hair that doubles as a mop. While the Roborock S4 Max could pick up pet hair with an average score of 85.8%, it is possible to use it as a mop.
During our testing, the Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid lacked helpful features for dividing up rooms when mopping and mapping function controls. Of course, most users will find the Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid’s apparent cleaning limitations tolerable.
According to our testing results, setting up and running its four-level suction power is simple and easy, even for people with limited technical skills.
7. iRobot Roomba j7+ (Best for pet poop!)
SPECIFICATIONS
Overall cleaning performance: 91.81
Overall Pet Hair Score: 82.5
Smart Home Compatibility: Alexa & Google Assistant
Bin Size: Up to 60 days
Size: 13.3 x 3.4 inches
Weight: 7.5 pounds
REASONS TO PURCHASE
+ Excellent obstacle avoidance
+ Can learn from onboard cleaning data
+ It is simple to create no-go zones.
+ Unobtrusive Clean Base Redesign
+ Very quiet, with an average sound level of 62 decibels.
REASONS NOT TO PURCHASE
– Average score for pet hair pickup on carpet
STAR RATING: 4.5*
With the iRobot Roomba j7+, there is no messing up of your room with pet poop during cleaning. The iRobot Roomba j7+, although scoring a modest 82.5% pickup rate for pet hair, knows to avoid bumping into items in your home needlessly while doing business.
By deploying obstacle avoidance technology, it can recognize objects, such as cable stockings and shoes, and things around them and avoid them.
Its manufacturers are so confident in the robot’s intelligence that they introduced the “poop” acronym for Pet Owners’ Office Official Promise to replace any iRobot Roomba j7+ that falls short of avoiding pet solid waste.
Moreover, by applying the latest innovative technology, this robot vacuum can learn and update its cleaning methods by drawing from a database of its previous cleaning operations.
Generally, cleaning performance is good when handling large pieces of kitty litter and cereal. It came in with a decent average cleaning score of 91.81% during our test.
With the iRobot Roomba j7+ compact cleaning dust bag that stores up to 60 days of dust, your days of dashing to empty a robot vacuum’s dust bag between its cleaning rounds are over. And thanks to the intelligence of the iRobot Roomba j7+, it can adequately handle any accidental spills in your home.
How to pick the quietest robot vacuum for pet hair
These are a few factors to consider when investing in a robot vacuum for your home. The first step is counting the number of pets in your house, how often and how many hairs they will shed, and how long or short those hairs are. Will the robot vacuum cleaner also perform other cleaning tasks like mopping?
The next factor is considering the cost of the robot vacuum cleaner. Avoid jumping on the cheapest product available, like the iLife vs3 Pro. The iLife vs3 Pro can get the job done but with limited advanced functions such as geo-fencing, zone mapping, and Wi-Fi connectivity.
Is there anyone suffering from allergies in your home? If there is, then there is a need to opt for a self-emptying robot vacuum.
Features to Look For When Buying a Robot Vacuum
1. Multiple floors
Buy a robot vacuum that can store maps for more than one floor if you would benefit from this feature.
2. Mapping
The mapping feature helps the robot vacuum create a map of your home and avoid randomly stumbling into obstacles when cleaning.
3. Geo-fencing (no-go zones)
The feature limits or restricts the robot to specific zones, thus preventing it from knocking over food bowls or going to delicate surfaces.
4. Wi-Fi connectivity
This feature allows users to enjoy remote access to their robot cleaners.
5. Self-emptying
The self-emptying feature, which allows the robot vacuum to empty itself into a larger bin in the charging base, can be a bonus for those with allergies.
6. Scheduling
Users can use this feature to schedule a daily, weekly, or monthly cleaning for their home area.
7. Dust capacity
The larger the vacuum’s dustbin capacity, the less frequently the dustbin requires emptying.
8. Targeted rooms
In contrast to geo-fencing, this feature allows for scheduling specific areas for cleaning.
9. Remote control
It is the default connection option for robot vacuums without Wi-Fi connectivity.
10. Battery life
Consider that a robot vacuum with a charging base can always recharge itself, as opposed to one with a cable that needs your intervention.
How much is an adequate budget for a robot vacuum cleaner?
There’s no need to put a hole in your pocket to get a quiet robot vacuum cleaner for pet hair.
The bright side of buying a robot vacuum cleaner is its broad and accommodating price range, which is friendly to most people’s budget, starting from as little as $150 to a pocket-busting $1400.
All it takes is to assess your needs, check your current finances, use the tips in this article, and do a little more research if necessary.
At this point, your choices are based on solid facts and should be a reliable guide in deciding what is best for your home and vacuuming requirements.
