TL;DR: The BObsweep Bob Pethair is the best value for money BObsweep robot vacuum
Here are the list of BObsweep Pet Hair vacuum we will be reviewing:
The Canadian robotic vacuum brand BObsweep has been operating since 2011. They specialize in only robotic vacuums. They are a relatively small robotic vacuum manufacturer, but are gaining a strong customer base.
This is thanks to their quality products and excellent customer support. They have a range of robot vacuums designed for homes with pets. And this is our BObsweep Pet Hair vacuum review.
The history of robotic vacuum
The first robotic vacuum was manufactured by the German brand Electrolux in 1996. Although 20+ years have passed since then, robotic vacuum cleaners are still a novelty in many homes. With the growth in tech-savvy consumers, many households are buying their first robotic vacuums in the past decade.
One of the main frustrations with robotic vacuum is its technology. The machine is highly automated. There are many parts involved in the cleaning process.
But BObsweep has captured the audience with strong value proposition, mid-range prices and excellent customer service.
Is bObsweep as good as Roomba?
BObsweep is a Canadian robotic vacuum company based in Toronto. They have offices in Vancouver and California, and the robotic vacuums are manufactured in China, and more recently in the US.
They are a small player in the robotic vacuum market, but a competitor to the famous iRobot Roomba on Amazon and other online retailers. Their first robotic vacuum debuted in 2011. Since then they’ve added 8 more models to their growing product line.
The company is known for their outstanding customer support. They offer great after sale support, and will continue to be helpful after the warranty period has ended.
There are more moving parts in a robotic vacuum to enable it to schedule, navigate, detect dirt, vacuum dirt. It complicates the troubleshooting process. But the support team at BObsweep seems to have a great handle on it.
So although they are a relatively small and new player in the market, BObsweep is quickly gaining a strong base of loyal customers.
BObsweep Pet Hair models
BObsweep currently has 9 models in their product line offering. Four of them are geared towards cleaning up pet hair. This should come as no surprise as there are close to 80 million households in the US alone that own at least one pet, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association. This is more than 60% of households in the US and the world pet care industry is expected to hit $269 billion by 2025. Before we jump into comparing and reviewing these four BObsweep pet hair models, we’ll look at how you can prepare your home to allow the robot vacuum to function optimally.
Some of the pet hair models provide more robust cleaning abilities than others. The suction power differs, and so does the dust cup capacity. The floor surface type in your home will determine how much suction power you’ll need. And the number of pets in the home and how much they shed will determine if it makes sense to get a pricier vacuum with a larger dust cup.
Robot Vacuum Proofing Your Home
Robot vacuums are programmed to be quite smart, but they still need your help to set them up for success. Think of it like getting a new pet. You’ll need to set the stage so you can minimize frustration and help them behave better. You need to robot vacuum proof your living space.
Rugs, shag and fringes
As you’ll discover, not all robot vacuums take to rugs and carpets well. Some are fussy about deep pile shag rugs, they’ll eat the fibers and get stuck on the rug. Some are not good with transitioning between floor surfaces, especially if the height difference is significant.
If you have carpet edge trims which don’t let them down easily, the stairs alert will trigger and they’ll get stuck on the rug and won’t come off. If your rug has long fringes, they’ll eat it. If the edge of your rug is slightly upturned, then it’ll assume it to be an obstacle.
So remove all area rugs with deep fibers and long fringes. Tape down the edges of the rug to make a transition easier.
Docking area
The robot vacuum will be claiming this space, so you’ll need to allow them that. Clear a space against the wall in an open area. It needs to be easily accessible.
Avoid narrow hallway or a small room in your home. The space surface needs to be hard, flat and non-slippery. Place tape underneath the docking station to keep it from slipping and sliding.
Furniture and cord
Depending on the height of your robot vacuum, you’ll need to consider adding furniture risers. Common furniture you need to look out for are the couches, consoles and cupboards, and beds.
Make sure that the risers can handle the weight of the furniture and give you the right height clearance. Also pay attention to the material of the risers. Lightweight, plasticky risers can slip and slide, which makes them dangerous to use.
Look out for cord running across the floor. Robot vacuums that have trouble transitioning between different floor surfaces will have trouble going over thick cables.
Often times, the robot vacuum will slide the cord around while trying to go over it. Use cord covers to secure the cord along the wall and keep it off the floor. Or duct tape to secure the cord to the floor.
Pet toys
Robot vacuums have the tendency to eat small pet toys. Some of its favorites include feathery toys, cat wand, furry small fake rat toy. The material is lightweight and the size is small enough to fit in the nozzle. Do a quick pick up before setting the robot vacuum on it’s way.
Ensuring your home is properly robot vacuum proofed will save you a lot of unnecessary frustration. This will keep the robot vacuum operating effectively as well. Read the rest of this guide to help you identify the right BObsweep for your needs. Let’s start.
BObsweep Bob Pethair Vision
The brainy one: The best app-enabled BObsweep
The BObsweep Bob Pethair Vision is the latest model and one of the priciest options in this lineup. One of the biggest upgrades the engineers have done at BObsweep is lowering the noise level.
The Bob Pethair Vision is the quietest model in the BObsweep range and is one of the quietest robot vacuums around. The motor is whisper quiet. That’s very much appreciated if you’re planning to run the robot vacuum quite constantly to keep up with the shedding speed of your pets.
Between two cats and a dog, I sometimes feel like I need to vacuum every 30 minutes or so just to keep up. And that’s not even during the shedding season. The noise will fade into the background and you’ll not be bothered by the noise even if you’re home most of the time.
The Bob Pethair Vision is also the only App-enabled model by BObsweep. The app is available on iOS and Android, but the WIFI connection on the robot vacuum can be buggy in some instances.
I often have trouble keeping track of small devices, even if it has a wall holder to keep it in place. So having this app allows me to have one device less to keep track of.
This model, along with the Bob Pethair Plus and the bObi Pet, comes with digital barriers in the box. These digital barriers allow you to keep the vacuum out of areas that you don’t want it to enter and clean.
Another new feature that’s introduced in this model is the VisiOn Camera and SLAM technology. It tracks and maps the surroundings to create a more efficient cleaning process.
At 3 inches tall, it has the lowest profile in this lineup, and this is a much welcomed feature. It can get under furniture more readily while taller models may consider furniture as obstacles and go around them instead.
It’s also the lightest (6.37 lbs) in this lineup. What it gains on technology-focused features and having a more lightweight body, it loses on dust cup capacity. It has a significantly smaller dust cup capacity at only 2.5 cups.
Pros: Quiet, App-enabled (iOS & Android), low profile to fit under furniture, lightweight
Cons: App-enabled functionality is buggy, small dust cup
BObsweep Bob Pethair Plus
Best BObsweep Pet Hair vacuum for carpets
Bob Pethair Vision is the brainy one that develops programs to work more efficiently. And Bob Pethair Plus is the hard working one that does not disappoint.
This heavy weight in the robot vacuum world delivers efficient, spotless results every time. Most robot vacuums rely heavily on the sweeper brushes to gather dirt and feed them to the suction nozzle.
The Bob Pethair Plus however uses strong suction to pull dirt into its nozzle. So the combination of sweepers and strong suction allows it to lift dirt, dust and most importantly hair off most surfaces.
It does well on hard surfaces (hardwood or tiled floors) as well as carpets. Cleaning the carpet significantly takes a toll on the battery so this might be a concern if your home is mostly carpeted.
It self-docks at the charging station when the battery is low. But it tends to get lost and could not find the docking station in time before the battery dies. So if the battery runs out faster (from cleaning carpeted areas), then you might need to rescue it more often.
While the robot vacuum can handle most surfaces, it can have trouble transitioning between hard surfaces and rugs. The robot vacuum will consider it an obstacle or stairs especially when there’s a significant height difference.
The Bob Pethair Plus, Bob Pethair and bObi Pet have an extra long main brush. This brush protrudes from underneath the vacuum. It works in tandem with the shorter brush to push dust and hair to the nozzle area. This extra long brush provides a wider cleaning path.
It is particularly useful for reaching dirt/hair in the corner or edge of the wall. The Bob Pethair Plus is the heaviest machine in this lineup, weighing about 8 lbs.
It comes with a remote in the box. The remote uses the FullCommand technology that allows you to navigate the robot vacuum like you would with a remote control toy car.
Pros: Heavy duty, strong suction, can handle carpet, comes with a remote control
Cons: Can have trouble transitioning between surfaces
BObsweep Bob Pethair
Best BObsweep Pet Hair vacuum for hardwood floors
The Bob Pethair Plus and Bob Pethair are similar in almost all aspects. They have the same dimensions, same dust cup capacity of 4.6 cups. Both have a height clearance of 4.2 inches so they might not be able to fit under some furniture.
Main difference between the Bob Pethair Plus and Bob Pethair is the batteries. The Bob Pethair Plus is powered by a 2600 mAh battery and the Bob Pethair is a 2200 mAh battery. This gives the former a slightly longer run time, but they both take about 4 hours to fully charge.
Another difference between the two is the suction power. The Bob Pethair Plus provides a much stronger suction than the Bob Pethair. With the Bob Pethair, you also don’t get the navigation feature on the remote as you would with the Bob Pethair Plus.
You can schedule cleaning sessions up to 7 days on the Bob PetHair’s remote, but it lacks the navigation feature on the Bob Pethair Plus.
Like the Bob Pethair Plus, the Bob Pethair is also a hard working machine. It handles all hard surfaces well, and even low pile carpets. But if you have large carpet areas, then consider getting the Bob Pethair Plus that has a strong suction power.
The Bob Pethair also has a harder time maneuvering on carpets. It also needs help once in a while to find the docking station.
And like most robot vacuum, they do get caught on something and couldn’t get out of it. After trying but failed to get unstuck, the vacuum shuts itself off. It’ll let out a beeping signal to let help you locate it.
All four of these BObsweep models are great for picking up cat litter as well. You’ll need to arrange the litter box to allow the robot vacuum to go around it, and make sure the litter mat is not too high for the robot vacuum to go over. The maximum threshold it can handle is about half an inch.
Pros: Handles carpet well, can be scheduled for cleaning up to 7 days
Cons: Tall profile, can have trouble transitioning between surfaces
BObsweep bObi Pet
Sleekest lightweight robot vacuum from BObsweep
The bObi Pet model has a smaller dimension and a sleeker look. It is lighter than the Bob Pethair models and runs on 2200 mAh lithium ion batteries.
It has a longer run time than the Bob Pethair models, at around 75 minutes per charge. A smaller dimension also means that it loses capacity for a larger dust bin. The dust bin is only 1.5 cups, less than half the capacity of the Pethair models.
You should empty the bin after every cleaning session to maintain optimal cleaning capabilities. A full dustbin not only will inhibit the filters to function optimally but also weight down the vacuum. This is particularly true for the bObi Pet since it runs longer (thus collecting more dirt) but has a significantly smaller dustbin.
The bObi Pet is the only machine with a washable dust bin and this makes cleaning up after pets much easier. The floors can become yucky very quickly when pets go in and outdoors freely and track dirt around the house.
And because it has a lower profile, it gets under furniture and picks up small items that’ve been dropped or forgotten, so the bin can get icky.
All four of these BObsweep models have the mop attachments. They differ slightly, but conceptually is the same thing. They function similarly to a swiffer. The damp cloth is dragged across the floor to collect dust that the suction nozzle missed.
It gives very different results from hand mopping. With mopping, you’re able to scrub the floor, but the mop attachment doesn’t do that. If you have a tough spot on the floor that needs cleanup, the robot vacuum wouldn’t cut it.
Or if you have a small pile of pet vomit on the floor, it will not clean it up effectively. What will likely happen is the vomit will be dragged across the floor. As the vacuum swiffers its way around the room, you’ll end up with more mess to manually clean up.
So think of the mop attachment as nothing more than a damp cloth that’s being dragged around. It collects very minimal dirt and definitely does not scrub your floors.
Pros: Long run time, washable dust bin, lightweight, low profile
Cons: Small dust cup
Each of the 4 BObsweep Pet Hair robot vacuums has their pros and cons. Knowing what your cleaning needs are will help you decide which model is right for you. Think hard and be honest about what you really need (vs. want), and get a model that fits the criteria.
If your home is heavily carpeted, then the BObsweep Bob Pethair Plus is right for you. It produces strong suction power, and is the best at handling carpet cleaning.
Although it can have trouble transitioning between surfaces, that wouldn’t be a problem if your home is mostly carpeted. Go for the BObsweep Bob Pethair if you have mostly hard floor surfaces in your home.
You can save some money as you wouldn’t be needing as much suction power. The BObsweep Bob Pethair is the best value for money BObsweep robot vacuum.
Get the BObsweep Bob Pethair Vision if you have very timid pets. It’s the quietest model of the four. It also comes with more advanced features such as the App-enabled remote control.
The BObsweep bObi Pet is right for messy pets. It’s best used on hard floor surfaces. It has a long runtime. But what entices us is the washable dust cup. Although it has a small capacity, but the ability to clean the cup thoroughly is a plus.
