The best robot vacuum cleaner for pet hair Shark Robot Vacuum

Shark's robo-vac ticks most of the criteria you'd expect from a mid-range machine. It's reliable in its cleaning capabilities as well as a mobile app that is easy to use and produces accurate home maps.

It also comes with Matrix Clean navigation, a system that performs two passes that go back and forth before moving side to side for complete coverage. Its base is bagless, unlike many other robot vacuums.

1. Roborock S4

This is an excellent robot vacuum for bare flooring with a large dirt container and can pick up debris. The smart pathing feature works well and the app allows you to manage cleaning and docking. The app also gives you an easy overview of cleaning, including a map of where the S4 has been cleaned, the cleaning duration, and battery life.

The S4's maximum suction is 2,000Pa, which is similar to larger vacuums. The side brush and combo brush are closer to the front of the machine than the other Roborock models. This could be to help reduce the possibility of clogging.

The S4's advanced mapping system can map a house up to four levels deep and remember the areas that it has already cleaned. This makes it easy to design a cleaning schedule, without having to manually move robots from room to room. You can mark certain areas as "no-go zones" to prevent the S4 from cleaning those areas.

It was able to vacuum the entire floor of our home easily and was very efficient on floors that were not paved. However, it was not successful in collecting hair from dogs, which is a typical problem for robotic vacuums. It only 8.5 percent of the dog hair it picked up was collected in the dustbin and much of the rest was clumped up around the suction inlet and brushes.

Compared to other Shark vacuums in the market, the S4 is significantly smaller and lighter, which increases maneuverability. It can turn more quickly and avoid obstacles that bog down other robots, and its low profile design makes it easier to fit under furniture. It also has improved climbability to traverse flooring transitions and various heights of flooring. It can reach down to the lowest point of the stairs and is an excellent choice for homes with multiple levels. The app allows you to set a schedule and also has a manual control for vacuuming. It can also return to its charging station to recharge automatically between cleaning cycles. It comes with a massive 5200 mAh battery that is rated to run for 150 minutes or 2691 square feet between recharges in normal mode.

2. Shark EZ Robot Self-Empty

This Shark robot vacuum is a fantastic option for pet owners who need an easy-to-use, smart machine. The self-emptying bagless base is a great benefit, particularly when compared with other vacuums that utilize disposable dirtbags for their bases. You can empty the bin on top of the trashcan by removing it. It's messy, but you'll save money on replacement bags.

The bin is also large, which means that the EZ Robot can handle a large amount of dirt. It also performs well on bare floors. However, it has a difficult time with dirt embedded in low pile carpet. It also has decent navigation capabilities, and a tiny dock footprint.

The EZ wet Dry robot vacuum may not be as good as Roborock S4, but it is still a great option for those who are looking for a robot that can perform well and is affordable. It's well-built, offers a wide range of automation options, and offers impressive cleaning performance on both carpet and Wet Dry Robot Vacuum floors with high pile. However the maintenance requirements for this model are high and it has high recurring costs.

Another fantastic feature of the Shark robot is its capability to recharge and then resume where it was when it returns to its docking station following an entire cleaning session. This is a fantastic feature, especially in the case of a large home.

The IQ XL is also equipped with a variety of useful features, such as the ability to remotely schedule whole-home cleans and review cleaning reports using the SharkClean app. You can also use voice control through Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant to start, stop, and resume cleaning sessions. The row-by-row cleaning feature is a big plus and it also is able to clean your entire house in neat rows instead of a back-and-forth snake pattern like many other robots.

The IQ XL has a major disadvantage that is that it can't overcome obstacles like power cords. It could mistake them for solid barriers and therefore not try to climb over them. It's also not as fast or efficient in navigating rooms that are stuffed with pet hair, which could tangle its brushes and slow it down.

3. Shark AI Robot

This is a reliable robotic vacuum from Shark that offers a solid combination of features. It comes with a base that can store up to 30 days worth of debris, and it blends the cleaning power of an automated mop and a vacuum cleaner. It has a grid cleaning mode, and is equipped with advanced smart home integration that can work with Alexa and Google Assistant. You can schedule it to clean, activate it at any time, or create virtual boundaries to stop the robot from entering rooms that contain rug or other items that are fragile.

The Shark AI Robot carries out an impressive job of cleaning bare floors, picking up debris like rice easily. However it has a tough to remove larger, bulky debris off carpets in low pile and does a poor job of maneuvering around large furniture. It does come with a do-not-disturb mode, which means you can use it while you're away from home and it won't interfere with your daily routine.

It also uses LiDAR to map your home. This lets it detect and navigate obstructions more precisely than units that depend solely on gyroscopes or an infrared sensors. This helps it avoid crashing into delicate objects, and optimize dirt collection on different surfaces. The LiDAR system is also more efficient than gyroscopes which can cause robots to slow down or lose control when they come across uneven surfaces.

Other features include remote control, automatic mopping, and a variety of vacuum modes. It is able to charge and recharge while it's working. The biggest issue is that it only maps only one floor. If you have two floors it's required to be manually transported to the areas, and then programed to repeat.

It can also be quite loud, particularly when in mopping mode. It also has a lot of parts that need to be replaced or cleaned regularly which increases its ongoing costs. The self-empty function is the basic feature that helps to reduce the cost of these items. It's also compatible with a bagless filter, which reduces the annual cost.

4. Shark ION Robot RV700 series

The Shark ION Robot RV700 Series fulfills all the requirements that you would expect from a midrange robotic vacuum. It is reliable in its cleaning performance, a superb mobile app that can create precise maps of your home, and a excellent cleaning performance. The bagless base removes the need for dust bags to replace every year. In our cleaning test it was able remove 97.8 percent of dust from carpeting and hardwood floors, though it wasn't as effective on carpets with high piles. Its maneuverability is sturdy and it can maneuver around furniture, climb onto carpeting with high pile, and traverse objects such as rug tassels and electrical cords without getting stuck.

Its helix-pattern high-tensile bristles are durable enough to manage and untangle long hair strings, other fibers and the like The brushroll also has an edge that retracts and can be deployed when it encounters obstacles. Its slim design lets it coast underneath furniture, and proximity sensors assess and adapt to surrounding obstacles. The app lets you schedule cleaning times or activate the machine with one button press. Its sound levels are average, but it can be quieted down by using a do not disturb mode or a custom scheduling.

The RV700 is a little more manual than the Roborock S4 or iRobot Roomba J7+. This is to be expected from the fact that it does not self-empty. It is nevertheless more durable and simpler to maintain. It is faster in charging and removes more dirt from high pile and unfinished floors. Its navigation system is able to create virtual boundaries, and also detect and avoid obstacles which makes it the ideal option for "set it and forget it" robotic cleaners.

The RV700 Series does not have a cliff-sensor that would prevent it from falling down the stairs. This could be a problem for people who live in houses that are taller. It's not able to mop and vacuum at the same time, and you have to change between modes in the app. The RV700 Series offers a cheaper alternative to more sophisticated Roborock and iRobot robots that have self-emptying capabilities and cliff detection. Its most appealing feature is that it can be used to empty and recharged while at its base, which makes it an ideal choice for those who don't want the inconvenience of emptying the dustbin each time they use it.