My must-have cleaning solution for shedding season – I’ve tested 3 eufy robot vacuums and they're a game changer for pet hair cleanup

It wasn’t on my radar to get a robot vacuum to help with cleaning pet hair, but I was lucky enough to be given three eufy robot vacuums to test and review as Head of Solved here at Homes & Gardens.

Before, I'd spent years manually scraping floors with a carpet fur scraper, available from Walmart. Whilst that is hugely effective, it's labor intensive and I have worsening pain and disability, so it's no longer an option for me.

I figured the eufy robots I'd been sent to test would bump into things, not clean very well, and have me dashing back to my trusty canister vacuum. But honestly, I have been absolutely blown away by how brilliant the best robot vacuums are, and how easy they have made cleaning up after my two cats.

Why eufy robot vacuums have been brilliant for pet hair clean up

My cats are both shedding like crazy as it's spring, and having an S1 Omni Pro eufy robot vacuum in the house, which I tested and reviewed thoroughly, means my canister vacuum usage has dropped by a whopping 90 per cent. Having a eufy robot vacuum has made keeping my home clean with cats so much easier.

Professional cleaner and operations manager, Karina Toner of Spekless, adds, ‘Seasonal shedding is a major issue, especially in spring and fall when pets naturally lose more fur. On carpets, pet hair gets embedded in the fibers, making it harder to remove. On hard floors, it tends to gather in corners, along baseboards, and under furniture. Without regular vacuuming, it can quickly build up and make a home feel messy, even right after cleaning.’

The eufy robot vacuums have also proven to be transformative for me as I am disabled, and have chronic pain so I need to use adaptive pacing when cleaning my home. My energy, pain tolerance, and the number of steps I can take, and how many seconds I can stand are very limited daily.

But with two floofy friends furring up my carpets, kicking litter all over my kitchen’s linoleum floor and traipsing muddy bean prints into the house daily, the floor cleaning needed in my home is constant, and I am simply not physically capable of doing it myself.

Karina adds, ‘Cleaning can be physically demanding, and for those with chronic pain or disabilities, tasks like vacuuming can take extra effort. After all, traditional vacuuming does involve quite a bit of physical exertion – bending, lifting, and pushing – which can be very taxing. Automated cleaning tools like robot vacuums make a significant difference by helping to reduce strain and making it easier to stay on top of cleaning with less physical demand.’

Why I kept my eufy robot vacuums after testing was over

First off, all three eufy robot vacuums I’ve fully and thoroughly tested in my home have been exceptionally easy to set up, taking 10 minutes from box to charging.

This is in contrast with two SwitchBot robot vacuums I’ve also been testing. Whilst the SwitchBot S10 has fantastic cleaning power and looks so slick, it took me an hour to setup and I found it quite stressful to decipher the myriad of instructions and elements.

The other, a SwitchBot K10+ Pro Combo was much easier and intuitive to set up, but the robot kept failing to save its mapping run and therefore I wasn’t able to get it going. Then the cordless vacuum part completely stopped working after two uses. The test unit was likely faulty, so we have another new unit currently being tested.

With eufy, however, everything came out of the box and was setup with ease within minutes. Yes, the price is high, but boy do you get to enjoy the ease and intuitive setup, app and phenomenal cleaning power.

This is vital when you have furry dogs, cats, and other pets that shed and create a mess around the home. Which takes me to the next point: eufy robot vacuums – I also reviewed eufy X10 Pro Omni and I am in the final steps of reviewing the eufy E20 3-in-1 – are genuinely excellent for suction power, object avoidance and thoroughness when cleaning.

They get under objects like sofas as long as there is 4.3 inches (11cm) of clearance. Plus, their spinning side arms mean they can clean right up against baseboards, a common spot for pet hair to build up.

Professional cleaner Karina adds, ‘Along baseboards and in high-traffic areas like hallways and near pet beds are a common concern. Fur tends to drift and collect in those areas, making them look dirtier faster. A major trouble spot I’ve noticed is under couches and other furniture. These low-clearance spaces are often neglected, so dust and pet hair tend to accumulate. A robot vacuum is especially useful here as it can glide underneath to clean where some vacuums simply can't.’

The eufy vacuums have smart navigation systems, which means even if an area is mapped, next time the robot goes around, it adapts its map to clean every space available. So if you haven’t decluttered for spring yet under your sofas, fret not. When you do, and the path under it becomes clear, eufy robots will know to now go under and update their maps. If it’s blocked again next time, no problem.

Even my cats cope well with my robot vacuums, showing nothing more than typical cat-like disdain when they're whizzing around cleaning up their pet hair from my carpeted and linoleum floors.

Now, I run both my eufys on automatic vacuum cycles daily, one upstairs, one down, though you can map both storeys of your home and run one robot on both, and the S1 does my mopping mop every three days, or when there is a spill. It's one of the cleaning essentials I, as a pet owner, say is worth the spend.

I don’t have to do anything else with my robot vacuums other than top up the clean water in the base station and empty the dirty reservoir of the S1 when prompted. It self-cleans and dries its mop heads, and all the ones I've tested have been self-emptying.

This is particularly handy if you are cleaning your home while dealing with a dander allergy, as it sucks up the hair, dust, and dander from your floors, and empties it into a sealed vacuum bag in the base unit, meaning you never have to empty the dust bin yourself and have all that debris fly around your face.

Having to deal with and empty that dander from a cordless, such as one of the best Dyson vacuums, is one of the reasons your allergies may feel worse after vacuuming.

Which eufy robot vacuum is right for you?

The difference having eufy robots in my house for pet clean up

My two cats shed all the time, especially now in spring, and before we had to set aside time daily to vacuum with our tried and tested canister Miele C3, one of the best vacuums for pet hair.

This is even more pertinent as I’m somewhat ironically allergic to cats and need their pet hair and dander to be cleaned up daily. Whilst I used to be able to vacuum daily, my decreasing mobility and increasing pain due to a genetic and progressive connective tissue disorder has taken this capacity from me almost completely over the last 10 years.

Before our eufy robot vacuums, this meant if my husband was too busy or tired, our daily vacuuming fell to the wayside. Now, my eufy robots vacuums have reduced the need for cannister vacuum use in our house by 90%, and do a fantastic job of cleaning carpets and hard floors instead of us.

Are there any drawbacks?

The only drawback from my experience is the initial cost of buying a brilliant robot vacuum. Of course, there are cheaper ones available such as the older, but still great eufy X8, which we've reviewed, but as with any technology, you get what you pay for.

Checking our best vacuum deals is a wise move to help you grab a bargain on the top tech. Many retailers, such as eufy direct, also offer monthly instalment plans for robot vacuums, too.

Of course, robot vacuums, no matter how smart, cannot clean your stairs for you. Yet. Though stair-climbing robot vacuums are in development. But other than that, I don't have anything negative to say. If a eufy robot vacuum is on your radar because you have pets, you won't regret investing in one.

What to shop

Cleaning up after pets, especially in shedding season, is no mean feat. Here are some of the other easy, quick, and cheap fur clean up essentials I swear by.

FAQs

Are robot vacuums good for those who are time poor?

I say yes, absolutely, and professional cleaner Karina agrees. She says, ‘I think it’s a smart choice! If you're constantly on the go, the last thing you want to do is spend your limited free time vacuuming every day. This also helps make sure that when you do have time to clean, you’re not starting entirely from scratch. It’s a small investment that really pays off in saved time and effort.’

Will robot vacuums ever take the place of a vacuum cleaner?

Not entirely, well, at least not yet!

Karina says, ‘Automation has made great strides and continues to evolve year after year, but I personally don't believe the technology has reached its full potential quite yet.

‘Even more advanced models can sometimes struggle with thick carpets, stairs, upholstery, and some tight spaces that traditional vacuums, with proper human guidance, can handle more effectively.

‘For now, I find that traditional vacuums remain necessary for deeper, more detailed cleans, especially with specialized attachments that can clean upholstery, crevices, and stairs – places robot vacuums often fall short. That said, at the rate things are advancing, we may not be far from a future where a robot vacuum can make full-size vacuums practically obsolete. Only time will tell!’

I agree with Karina, though I will add that in my experience eufy robots and many of the other best robot vacuums work well on different carpets, rug piles and hard floor types. We now only get the canister vacuum up once a month, so it’s really taken over in our household.

Banishing pet hair from your home is one thing, but an air purifier was transformative for our home tech editor who suffers allergies and asthma. Similarly, our news writer has four dogs and received so many compliments on how her home smelled after using a Jo Malone diffuser.