Best Overall
Shark ZU62 Navigator Zero-M Pet Pro Upright Vacuum
AMAZON
- Effectiveness5/5
- Maneuverability5/5
- Ease of Emptying3/5
- Portability3/5
- Noise Level3.5/5
- It was easy to navigate and effective on both hard floors and deep-pile carpets.
It was easy to navigate and effective on both hard floors and deep-pile carpets.
- It might scratch your vinyl floor.
It might scratch your vinyl floor.
Overall, the best Shark vacuum for pet hair is the ZU62 Navigator Zero-M Self-Cleaning Brushroll Pet Pro Upright Vacuum. Though it’s billed for pet owners, it’s got enough suction power for everyone’s cleaning needs and could certainly function as your home’s main vacuum.
We were impressed with how well this vacuum picked up cat food and dog hair on both hard floors and carpet, even deep-pile rugs. We found it navigated between both surfaces well, too.
We appreciated how all we needed to do was flick a switch to change the suction power and transition from hard floor to carpet. We did find it more effective on tile or concrete floor—it can scratch vinyl, so keep that in mind if you have vinyl flooring in your home.
At 16 pounds, this Shark is not a handheld vacuum by any means. The cord is long enough to allow you to carry the vacuum up and down the stairs; however, this vacuum is quite hefty.
While testing, we liked the extendable hose, which was great for getting into corners, even up on the ceiling. The dustbin takes a bit of effort to remove and empty, especially if you’re vacuuming up hair and dander. But since it’s a whopping 2.8 quarts, you probably won’t even have to empty it that often.
How it Performed After Six Months
This vacuum continued to impress us when we used it at home. It has powerful suction and is fantastic for getting a deep clean on carpet and hardwood. Over the course of six months of use, we found ourselves using it for deep cleaning instead of everyday messes, because it is too heavy to regularly lug up and down stairs.
Product Details: Weight: 16 pounds | Dustbin Capacity: 2.8 quarts | Battery Life: N/a | Accessories: Not listed
- BETTER HOMES and GARDENS / RACHEL MAREK
BETTER HOMES and GARDENS / RACHEL MAREK
Best Cordless
Shark Navigator Freestyle Cordless Vacuum
AMAZON
- Effectiveness4/5
- Maneuverability4/5
- Ease of Emptying4/5
- Portability4/5
- Noise Level4/5
- The swivel design makes it easy to maneuver.
The swivel design makes it easy to maneuver.
- It’s loud and the canister is on the small side.
It’s loud and the canister is on the small side.
We loved the swivel steer design of the Shark SV1106 Navigator Freestyle Upright Bagless Cordless Stick Vacuum, which made it easy to move and maneuver around the floor. It held up well over the course of six months and even replaced the vacuum we were using previously.
During testing, we found out quickly that this cordless vac is great for picking up pet hair on the carpet. While trying it out at home, it easily cleaned dust bunnies, hair, and dirt. We noticed that it does have to work harder on hard surfaces, especially for kibble, so keep that in mind.
With this vacuum, it’s very easy to remove the dust canister; however, emptying it was a different story, as hair tended to get caught on top. It’s small, which means you’ll have to take the time to empty it more often, too. However, we were thrilled to notice that there was no hair wrapped around the front roller, so we’ll take the tradeoff.
We appreciate that it has different settings for carpet and hard floors and liked how easy it was to get around corners and baseboards, though it would be great if there was an adjustable handle. It’s also a bit loud, so you might have to keep your fur babies in another room while you work.
How it Performed After Six Months
By the end of the home testing period we had gotten rid of our old vacuum because this one performed so much better. It cleaned high-pile rugs more efficiently and had an easier time picking up bigger pieces of debris like kibble and popcorn kernels. It works great at collecting larger clumps of dog hair, too.
It's capabilities as far as suction and battery life stayed the same with consistent use. The canister is on the smaller side, which was fine for vacuuming in a smaller apartment, but may be more annoying in a larger house. One downside is that it doesn't fit under very low furniture, such as the TV stand.
Product Details: Weight: 7.5 pounds | Dustbin Capacity: 0.64 quarts | Battery Life: Not listed (4 hours to charge) | Accessories: Precision charging base
- BETTER HOMES and GARDENS / RACHEL MAREK
BETTER HOMES and GARDENS / RACHEL MAREK
Best Robot
Shark IQ Robot Self-Empty XL RV1001AE
AMAZON
- Effectiveness2.5/5
- Maneuverability3/5
- Ease of Emptying3.5/5
- Portability4/5
- Noise Level4/5
- It’s truly hands-off, even when emptying the dustbin.
It’s truly hands-off, even when emptying the dustbin.
- You’ll need another vacuum for the stairs.
You’ll need another vacuum for the stairs.
If you prefer a robotic vacuum, the best option is the IQ Robot Self-Empty XL. We found this vacuum did a great job on hardwood floors and low-pile carpet, though it did need to work a bit harder to remove kibble from the deeper pile carpet.
It picked up hair quite well, but we noticed it worked better on individual strands than clumps, so it’s ideal for pets that don’t shed much. We noticed some hair and even kibble got stuck in the beaters, but since the vac does everything else—except stairs, unfortunately—we’d still recommend it.
This robot vacuum even fits under couches, which is something you can’t say about many vacuums. This model will bump into things that get in the way, but we noticed that it does so gently; still, you’ll want to keep those cords out of its way so things don’t get tangled.
You can pick it up midway to redirect it or have it go over another part of the area for cleanup, but otherwise, this is a hands-off vacuum. It even re-docks and empties itself—later, just push a button to remove the canister to dump out the contents easily.
Product Details: Weight: 13.23 pounds | Dustbin Capacity: Holds up to 30 days of debris | Battery Life: 30 days | Accessories: Self-empty base, side brushes, and filter
- BETTER HOMES and GARDENS / RACHEL MAREK
BETTER HOMES and GARDENS / RACHEL MAREK
Best Handheld
Shark UltraCyclone Pet Pro+ Handheld Vacuum
AMAZON
- Effectiveness5/5
- Maneuverability5/5
- Ease of Emptying3/5
- Portability5/5
- Noise Level5/5
- It’s extremely powerful for a handheld and sucks up kibble even without attachments.
It’s extremely powerful for a handheld and sucks up kibble even without attachments.
- The dustbin can be challenging to empty.
The dustbin can be challenging to empty.
At just under 3 pounds, we found the UltraCyclone Pet Pro+ to be lightweight and easy to use. Setup is very easy—just snap the two pieces together and charge it up. It comes with attachments (stored separately) so you can customize it when needed for cleaning crevices and dusting surfaces.
Kibble spilled on the hard floor was no match for this vacuum, though it proved to be more difficult to pick up on the carpet. Oddly enough, we actually didn’t even see the attachments—they’re stored separately—until later on in our testing, which should give you an idea of how well this handheld vacuum works on its own.
Though it won’t have the same power as a bigger upright vacuum, the size and strength of the suction make it a great handheld to keep around for quick pickups. We were impressed at how well it picked up cat hair from upholstery and crevices. Even though we’ve seen fur balls get stuck in larger vacuum canisters, that was not the case for this Shark.
We were impressed with the battery runtime on this cordless vac—it powered off on its own at the 25-minute mark, even though the battery is only slated for a 15-minute lifespan.
Emptying the canister proved to be a bit of a challenge. We did have to reach in to dislodge pet hair that had gotten stuck, but there’s some really good news: We found that nothing got stuck around the brushes.
How it Performed After Six Months
This is the easiest of all the tools we own for removing cat hair from the couch on a daily basis. We reached for it more often than a full-size Dyson over the six month testing period, especially for spot cleans in nooks and crannies and for vacuuming upholstery. Its amazing at picking up hair on tough fabrics like velvet.
Product Details: Weight: 2.8 pounds | Dustbin Capacity: Not listed | Battery Life: 15 minutes | Accessories: Charger, crevice tool, dusting brush, turbo brush
- BETTER HOMES and GARDENS / RACHEL MAREK
BETTER HOMES and GARDENS / RACHEL MAREK
Best for Hard Floors
Shark Canister Pet Bagless Corded Vacuum
AMAZON
- Effectiveness4/5
- Maneuverability4/5
- Ease of Emptying5/5
- Portability4/5
- Noise Level5/5
- It’s lightweight and easy to maneuver for a canister vacuum.
It’s lightweight and easy to maneuver for a canister vacuum.
- It left some hair behind as it transitioned from carpet to hard floor.
It left some hair behind as it transitioned from carpet to hard floor.
Canister vacs tend to have a lot of pieces, but we were impressed with how easily we were able to move about with this Shark model. Kibble was cleared from hard surfaces in a flash, but it struggled to clean up all of the stuff that got embedded in the deep-pile carpet.
We found that it picked up all the hair on the upholstery rather quickly. On the floor, we noticed clumps of hair came up easily, though some did get left behind on the edge of the carpet when the vacuum made the transition from between floor surfaces.
It would have been nice to have a different setting to take on deeper pile carpet cleaning, but we think it’s great for hard surfaces and shorter-pile carpets.
Overall, we thought it felt lightweight and easy to maneuver, though if you’re not used to this type of vac, you might need a couple of cleaning sessions to get used to it. It takes just the click of a button to empty the canister.
How it Performed After Six Months
This is a reliable canister vacuum for picking up any type of hair—pet or human—on hard floors and carpet. It's easy to switch modes because the control buttons are on the handle; no bending over is required! Even though it's a corded model, it's relatively lightweight and easy to store.
Product Details: Weight: 17.2 pounds | Dustbin Capacity: 1.9 quarts | Battery Life: N/a | Accessories: Pet crevice tool and upholstery tool
- BETTER HOMES and GARDENS / RACHEL MAREK
BETTER HOMES and GARDENS / RACHEL MAREK
Best for Everyday Use
Shark Pet Pro Cordless Stick Vacuum Cleaner
WAYFAIR
- Effectiveness3/5
- Maneuverability5/5
- Ease of Emptying2.5/5
- Portability5/5
- Noise Level4/5
- It’s especially good for hard surfaces and it comes with a useful crevice tool.
It’s especially good for hard surfaces and it comes with a useful crevice tool.
- It’s not ideal for deep-pile carpeted homes.
It’s not ideal for deep-pile carpeted homes.
If your pet sheds often, the best choice is the Pet Pro Cordless Stick Vacuum Cleaner. The effective cleaner makes it easy to clean up messes and has a long battery life as well.
This is a great vac for picking up kibble on hard surfaces. However, keep in mind that it took many passes on the carpet to finally pick it up. Deep-pile carpet proved to be an even bigger problem because the debris got stuck deep in the fibers.
With carpet, we found that the trick is to put the vacuum directly over clumps of hair for the most effective results.
During testing, some hair did get stuck on the rollers, but this is a common issue for vacuums, especially those used for pet cleanup. Though it was easy enough to remove the dust canister, we needed to consult the manual to see how to empty it.
We were impressed by the crevice tool not just for corners but picking up hair on upholstery. This vac comes with a pet attachment, but strangely enough, we found the crevice tool to be better at picking up pet hair on upholstery.
We tried out the Max Power button and found it didn’t do much more for picking up hair. However, the regular settings proved to be effective enough on their own.
Product Details: Weight: 6.92 pounds | Dustbin Capacity: Not listed | Battery Life: 50 minutes | Accessories: Crevice tool and pet grooming tool
BETTER HOMES and GARDENS / RACHEL MAREK