You have to wonder sometimes. Is the best handheld vacuum for pet hair really as good as all the magazines say? Following thousands of requests from pet owners wanting to end summer pet fur ubiquity as easily as possible, a blue ribbon consumer panel was formed to deal with this very issue.
After years of crunching the data it was finally determined the best handheld vacuum for pet hair depends on several things: price, cordlessness, and specificity. Here are three of the top models.
Black & Decker makes the Pivot Vac that was the top cordless vac in Consumer Reports' testing. It picks up debris of various levels of coarseness, and the battery holds a charge long enough to do some real work with it. It folds up for storage on a wall mountable charger, and has a nozzle with 10 pivoting positions. It's about twice as much as the next best handheld pet hair vacuum, but it also comes with a two year warranty, which is twice as long as other brands.
The Shark SV736 costs about half as much as the Black & Decker. It has a motorized brush that does a good job getting up pet hair. It also has a washable filter, a charging indicator and a tool for reaching into crevices.
The Bissell Pet Hair eraser isn't cordless, but the cord is 16 feet long, so you can get around with it and not worry about the battery running down. It weighs 4 lbs. and works well at getting debris off carpeted and hard surfaces. It has two nozzles and a washable HEPA filter.
Finding the best handheld vacuum for pet fur is mostly a matter of preference. While the Bissell Hair Eraser does a good job, if you're looking for a cordless model, you'll have to choose another brand.
