Best pet vacuum cleaners 2023, tried and tested

If you’re a pet owner with a serious aversion to hair, you can justify the price tag on the S9+, because you’ll probably never have to worry about it again – as long as your pets are confined to the floor and not the furniture, of course.

The most powerful robotic vacuum we’ve ever tested will process hair wherever it finds it on its very methodical route around your rooms. It will map out your floor plan and return to areas that routinely collect more hair than others.

The S9+ was versatile enough to suck up cat litter that had been tracked out of the tray, as well as hard dog food that had been spilled from the bowl. You can also draw boxes around certain zones, like full dog bowls of water, to make them no-go areas for the bot, so you don’t come home to more mess.

The vacuum performed very well on the obstacle course too, mounting dog beds and cleaning them without getting grounded and never getting snagged on the many doggy booby traps that were laid out in its path.

There have been some comments that hair gets caught on the S9+’s rubber rollers that run almost the entire length of the bot’s leading edge, but we never really had this problem because the suction from the motor seemed so impressive. The self-emptying dustbin means that it can fill up quickly and still operate – it will just return to the dock, empty itself into the bin and head out again.