Bobsweep PetHair Plus - Review 2022

Aimed at beleaguered pet owners, the Bobsweep PetHair Plus is a robot vacuum that promises to suck upwards even the most stubborn hairballs. But while information technology does a skilful job of cleaning up after messy pets, information technology has an overly complex setup and isn't the best at navigating different floor types. It does come with some novel features, like a mop zipper and UV lamp, simply they don't make upwards for the lack of Wi-Fi connectivity—a feature you'd await for vacuum with a $899.99 list cost. If you're keen to shell out for the ultimate bot, you'd exist amend served past the Roomba 960, our Editors' Selection for high-end robot vacuums.

Pattern and Accessories

The Bobsweep PetHair Plus is a large fellow. It measures xiii.eight inches in diameter and stands four.5 inches tall, making it one of the largest robovacs we've tested. Shorter competitors, like its cousin, the Bobsweep Bobi Pet (12 past 3.5 inches) and the Roomba 980 (13.eight by 3.6 inches) exercise a better job getting under depression-contour furniture like beds, couches, and coffee tables. The PetHair Plus just bumps up against your burrow, a trouble it shares with the Dyson 360 Eye, which stands a smidge taller at 4.7 inches. At 7.2 pounds, the PetHair Plus is also pretty hefty.

Pattern-wise, the most hit affair nigh the PetHair Plus is the color. Our test unit was an attractive deep cobalt blue, which is a nice change from the common silverish-and-black palette you typically run into with robovacs. (Though, the Bobsweep is available in charcoal if yous'd prefer something a niggling less flashy.) On the elevation, you lot'll detect the display, control buttons, and signal transmitter. The front houses the infrared sensor and bumper, while the removable dustbin and filter is located in the back. On the right side you'll find the power switch and a charging inlet. Underneath, you'll discover the side brush, roller, front wheel, and two tank-tread wheels. And like the Bobi Pet, the PetHair Plus features a UV lamp for boosted disinfecting.

Out of the box, the Bobsweep comes with a surprising assortment of accessories. In addition to the essentials—charging dock and power cord—you get a virtual wall, bumper stickers, a mop zipper, 2 microfiber cloths, two side brushes, a filter replacement, cleaning tool, extra screws, a flat caput screwdriver, and a remote control. Why and so much extra stuff? That's partially due to the Bobsweep's complicated setup, which I'll go into later on.

At that place's no Wi-Fi connectivity or app control on the PetHair Plus. This is disappointing as it'southward a feature nosotros expect to run across at this toll signal. To control the bot, y'all'll either have to use the five buttons under the display or the included remote control. Using the buttons, you can start cleaning, select between six cleaning modes (which range from random zig-zagging to more controlled grid patterns), transport the bot to the dock, mute sound furnishings, or activate a troubleshooting cheque up mode. Y'all tin practice all this from the remote as well, in add-on to extra features like programming scheduled cleans, toggling the UV lamp, and manually driving the bot.

The display itself is easy to understand. Information technology comprises 4 dissever sections: charging, troubleshooting, cleaning way, and checkup. Depending on the state of affairs, the relevant sections will low-cal upward to tell you how your robot is doing. So for example, when information technology's charging you'll see that department low-cal up, forth with a battery icon to point progress. For a vac with no app, this is a step up from having to rifle through a manual to brand sense of error codes or symbols.

Complicated Setup

While no robot is set up to go out of the box, the PetHair Plus requires more than elbow grease than average. The typical setup for a not-Wi-Fi robot ordinarily entails installing a side brush, setting upwardly the charging dock, and leaving information technology to charge for a few hours. With the Bobsweep, you have to do all that and then some.

First is the side brush. Ordinarily this involves snapping it on and calling it a solar day. Simply with the Bobsweep yous have to actually screw it on. Information technology's not hard, but the provided screwdriver isn't the easiest to use and it's an added hassle when replacing parts.

Next is charging the robot, which takes a few hours. Typically you'd be able to starting time your showtime clean once it's fully charged. Simply with the Bobsweep, there's a few extra steps—namely, syncing the dock, remote, and virtual wall. (Though before you lot can do that, you lot'll have to notice iv AA batteries for the wall and two AAA batteries for the remote.) If you lot don't do this, you won't able to control the robot via remote and information technology won't return the dock when it'southward depression on battery.

To sync the dock, you have to hold down the button on the dorsum while it's plugged in. And so you turn on the robot and wait for it to beep twice. The same procedure is repeated for the remote. Syncing the virtual wall is more involved. The virtual wall is a cobalt block with 2 infrared emitters—one to the left and one facing forward. In that location are iii separate buttons on the back. The leftmost button is for syncing with the robot itself, while the other two actuate the left or front barrier. First, you have to concord the sync button until you run into the ability low-cal commencement blinking (nearly 10 seconds). And so yous repeat the process with the center button. Finally, yous keep the process with the right-most button while simultaneously flipping on the robot'due south power switch. If you've done this successfully, the PetHair Plus should beep twice. Simply then can you use the virtual wall to create a digital barrier.

If that sounds complicated, that's considering information technology is. The entire setup process—minus the charging time—took over a half hr. That's unnecessary when y'all consider that the Roomba 690 took a brisk fifteen minutes including unboxing, Wi-Fi pairing, app download, and virtual wall installation.

Performance

Anyone who has a pet knows that cleaning up afterward them is a full time job, so I pitted the PetHair Plus at home against my domestic dog. Though she sheds less than boilerplate, she'due south constantly abaft food behind her so the Bobsweep had plenty to work with. On acme of that, my apartment is located adjacent to a thruway, meaning dust bunnies reappear every bit soon equally they're vanquished. Subsequently a full cleaning session, I was pleased to run into a dustbin brimming with hair, clay, and dust. The PetHair Plus also managed to choice upward an entire dustbin of carpet fibers from our pilly studio carpeting at the PCMag labs in a brisk 20 minutes.

While the Bobsweep didn't have trouble picking up hair and debris up off hardwood and tile, it struggled with my living room rug. It wasn't ever able to manage the transition between floor types, and when information technology did get on the rug, it ordinarily gave me a sensor error. This might exist due to the pattern, which includes a blackness border and some darkly colored geometric shapes. (Many robot vacuums struggle with dark flooring because of their infrared sensors.) It too had some difficulty crossing the threshold betwixt my kitchen and hallway. However, this isn't a major drawback if you don't accept a lot of carpeting, and you tin utilize the virtual wall to set upwardly boundaries for trouble areas.

Otherwise, the PetHair Plus is much meliorate at navigating than the Bobi Pet. While the latter mowed down a dining room chair and rammed itself into my fridge for twenty minutes, the PetHair Plus managed to drive effectually my furniture. It did occasionally bump into things, only never to the extent where I felt the bumper stickers were necessary.

I also tested the mop attachment on my kitchen floor, simply information technology was a lesson in futility. The attachment is piece of cake enough to install and fits in a slot betwixt the two primary wheels. The microfiber cloth attaches to it via velcro, though you'll have to wet it and add liquid lather beforehand. While I could see it got the floor clammy, it didn't really pick upward any dirt and vibrant beet juice stains remained even later I manually collection the bot over the area multiple times. If its sparkling floors y'all desire, you lot're meliorate off sticking with the Braava Jet 240 or a plain sometime Swiffer.

Similarly, the UV lamp seems similar a absurd add-on simply ultimately feels similar a gimmick. Brusque of busting out some petri dishes and a microscope, I couldn't test whether this was really effective. Information technology'due south a nice placebo, just unless y'all want to consume off your floors, you shouldn't put likewise much stock in it. I would've preferred a 2nd side brush in its place.

Battery life on the Bobsweep is on the shorter side, clocking in at a little nether 75 minutes. While ninety minutes would've been preferable, it's better than the paltry 45 minutes you get with the Dyson 360 Eye on max ability. That being said, information technology was enough to make clean my hallway, kitchen, and nearly one-half my living room. Equally for automatic docking, the Bobsweep was able to practice it, though it took a little while to exercise so. At one bespeak, it meandered back the wrong way simply was able to reorient itself once I gave it a nudge in the right direction.

As for noise, no robot vacuum is particularly serenity (with the exception of the Eufy RoboVac 11). The PetHair Plus is a little louder than boilerplate, simply it'due south withal quieter than a traditional upright vacuum. You might take to plow up the book if you're watching the Television, but it's not going to wake the neighbors.

Conclusions

For $900, the PetHair Plus is clunkier than information technology ought to be. While it does a fine task busting dust, it's hard to recommend due to its bulk, lack of Wi-Fi, and overly complicated setup process. For about $200 less, the iRobot Roomba 960 gets you Wi-Fi connectivity, app control, Alexa integration, maps of areas cleaned, smarter navigation, and skilful functioning.

Although you can find the PetHair Plus for almost half-cost at third-party retailers, it'south all the same hard to justify buying it over less expensive, more streamlined offerings. The entry-level Roomba 690 is $375 and comes with Wi-Fi. And if y'all don't care well-nigh Wi-Fi, it'southward really hard to beat the value of the Eufy RoboVac xi, our Editors' Choice for affordable robovacs. Yous'll save a several hundred dollars in exchange for an equally powerful yet much quieter clean, also equally amend navigation on dark flooring.

Source: https://sea.pcmag.com/robot-vacuums/16567/bobsweep-pethair-plus

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