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Honorable Mention
Photograph: Molly Higgins
Tineco Go Pet Cordless Vacuum for $350: As when I tested the Tineco Go Mini for my handheld vacuums guide, I was a bit underwhelmed by this vacuum specifically for pets. It’s not bad, but it’s also not outstanding. Like the Ryobi, it has a slot for easy brush removal if hair gets stuck around the bars, which is a helpful thing to have when you’re dealing with pet (and human) hair. The lever and the angle of the lid for emptying are counterintuitive, and the first few times I emptied it, the debris went everywhere. It’s hard to distinguish between eco and power modes, and the vac blinked red and the brush stopped rotating when transitioning between surfaces. (It especially had a hard time on my thin runner rug.) I’d have to turn it off and let it rest before restarting. It felt a bit heavier and clunkier than others as well. But, it does have handy lights to illuminate debris and comes with attachments to make handheld cleaning a breeze. I could probably overlook those faults, but with such amazing cordless vacs to compare it to, it just wasn’t as good.
Not Recommended
Photograph: Molly Higgins
Eufy RoboVac 11S Max for $200: Our esteemed competitors at places like The Strategist and Wirecutter loved this cheap robovac, so I bought one for myself before moving into my new apartment with two cats. And I have to say, I don’t agree with them. Yes, this robovac is significantly cheaper than most others and has generally good ratings, but I have nothing nice to say about it besides that it is able to go under furniture and suck up pet hair I otherwise wouldn’t be able to. Its navigation system is random, it doesn’t have an app (but it does come with a remote control to direct it to a specific spot or schedule cleanings), it’s loud, and it tends to be attracted to cords. (If there is even one cord around, it will somehow directly go to it and spin on a never-ending loop. Don’t even talk to me about the afternoon it got ahold of a stringed cat toy.) It has extreme difficulty traversing even minor height differences, like the small panel of wood between the hallway and bathroom door. It has a toxic love affair with the bathmat and has nearly created a bald spot in the pile from continuous sucking. But most of all, it is needlessly hard to empty the bin, and nearly impossible to detangle all of the hair and fur from the bar or spinning brush beneath. There’s gross hair that will probably still be wrapped around the mechanism until the day I am put into the ground. This cursed thing will outlive us all, I fear.
Correction: 3/14/25, 3:41 pm EST: An earlier iteration of this piece erroneously linked Ryobi’s stick vacuum bare tool and kit to the PBLSV716 model, not the PBLS719. The copy has been changed to reflect this.
