Shark - AV2511AE

Not BIFL, but our Shark (get the self emptying base!) has withstood 4 cats, a long haired dog, 3 adults, a toddler, and a long haired teenager for 4 years and still doing well. I was incredibly disappointed in the original roomba I tried. If you do buy a shark buy directly from them. Their customer service is phenomenal. I bought one through a home improvement store as it was on sale. It had a charging issue within 12 months and when I called Shark I was told that since I hadn’t bought from them they couldn’t cover the full replacement even under warranty. BUT if I paid shipping they would send me a new one - $34 later I had a new one on the way. Bonus points as I was able to fix the original and had two robot vacs for the price of 1+ shipping.

I have a dog that never stops shedding. And I just got two cats. I have the Shark robot vacuum that self empties. I love it. I still vacuum every couple of days and get plenty of fur and dirt but I know it picks up its fair share because I empty the reservoir once every week or so and there is plenty in there. I can tell if it doesn’t run for a couple days because I will notice the floors not being as clean. I typically just have it run every day while I’m at work on a timer so I come home to fresh carpet lines. It’s worth spending a little more on these robot vacuums because the self emptying is huge, especially if you have square footage to cover. But it is also so much smarter than the older cheaper brand I had that would constantly get stuck and just bounce around the rooms willy-nilly. This one maps it out and covers all the floor space efficiently.

I have the Shark that empties itself. Only does one floor and mixed hard wood and rugs. Empties itself twice while cleaning and does a pretty good job.

Well it's definitely not the BEST robot vacuum, because I'm a little on the cheap side and I don't have to have the best thing, but I really like my shark vacuum because they have a patented "lint roller" that keeps pet hair and string from getting tangled or building up on the roller. It's the lidar kind with the self empty base. The self empty base is a must have imo. Running this daily keeps the pet hair tumbleweeds from taking over the house. Doesn't do great on carpet though.

I have one of the Shark models where it’s a double canister vacuum. The robot is a small canister vac on wheels and the emptying doc is also a canister vacuum. It worked well for the first 2 years and has been slowly dying the last 3 years. I can’t get it to connect to my phone any more and the app is pretty terrible. Not the same model, but it looks similar to this: https://www.bestbuy.com/product/shark-navigator-robot-vacuum-self-empty-base-gray/JXJVXLJPRR/sku/6641726 I think if / when we replace it, I’m going to look at Roborock and iRobot. I also think I want to get one where at least the dock is bagged. I really wish I could find one where the robot itself is a bagged vacuum but not too sure if that exists.

I have a Shark with a base that it self empties into. Mine is scheduled to run three times a week and I empty the base once a week. I’ve got two cats, hardwood, and a lot of dust. You’d probably have to empty the base multiple times a week with two shepherds. Honestly I love my Shark. It saved me so much anxiety and time because I was constantly fighting to make my floors feel clean. Now I just have to spot clean and vacuum the corners where the robot can’t reach.

I second u/Huntit-Ownit ! Get one that has the auto empty dock. I empty mine every couple of days that way. One huge leg up for a Shark over Roomba is that the brush roller is similar to a vacuum (e.g. hard plastic), whereas the roomba is a plastic roller with a rubber cover that is DESTROYED by dog fur and you have to frequently replace. If you keep an eye on Woot they have refurbished sharks on sale pretty frequently, last one I got for $120.... Edit: Looks like Woot has one refurbished for $129!

That’s the only thing; I had one too and it worked good.

I like my big Bissell Pet hair vacuum. It was like $250? I think I got it from target. We have a BC, a Sheppard mix, and a yorkie mix. So, with the 2 bigs we have a lot of hair lol ALSO.... if you do not have them already look at chom chom on amazon... it is a little hand held thing that gets hair off of furniture in a breeze!! I have one in the living room and the bedroom. It is like a lint roller without the sticky tape. you just run it back and fourth really quick on the surface you want to remove hair and it picks it up like a charm! I use that on my couch and bed daily! We also got a shark robot vacuum with a tank that it self empties into and we run that every day too. I have found that daily maintenance or every other day is the best way to keep the hair down

I have a Shark robot vacuum with the auto-emptying feature. The auto-empty is a HUGE part of making this work smoothly. The Shark is also much smarter than previous brands (iRobot and EcoVacs) that I tried. I've had mine for over a year and absolutely love it. I have used it with both wood floors and carpet, and 1-3 cats (2 of them with long hair that shed A LOT) and it easily keeps up with all of that. It's also good at avoiding most hazards like cords and cat toys. Costco usually has a recent model of the Shark robot on sale, I've sent a few people there for it. Looks like right now they have a vacuum + mop combo for $479, and you should be able to just not use the mop function if you don't want to. The Shark app is pretty decent, it will map your home and allow you to label rooms and track robot status. You can schedule whole-house cleaning through the app, or do manual cleaning for individual rooms. My only complaint is that I can't schedule individual room cleanings, I have a couple spaces that need daily vacuuming vs every few days for the whole house. Edit - it also has voice control available through Alexa and Google, but I haven't tried that as I use AppleHome which doesn't integrate with Shark.