Best robot vacuum for long hair, and where the hair goes instead

ECOVACS calls the main brush ZeroTangle, the sort of name that usually ages badly. This one holds up. Not one strand of the lab's long hair stayed on the roller. The robot also lifted all the short pet hair pressed into that lab's carpet. It steered around 23 of 24 obstacles, which matters where hair ties and chargers live on the floor.

A home test of two to three months found no hair wound on the floating roller. The same tester rated the auto-empty strong enough for a pet house. Nobody has found long hair hiding in its wheels or side brush. Nobody has traced it past the roller on the US robot either, so that part is not measured.

It mops well too, which is why it's our pick for most homes. The small bin just means more trips to a dock that empties it for you. Some hard-floor homes have a dog still being house-trained, or a pet that doesn't always make it outside. There, avoidance matters more than hair, and our pick is the eufy Omni S2; our eufy Omni S2 review covers it.

The catch is carpet. In the lab it pulled grit from medium pile only about as well as average. Owners find it stalls on a thick rug. That won't matter on hardwood with a runner or two. It will in a carpeted bedroom.

For long hair on wood, tile or LVP with thin or medium rugs, we'd buy it. Our ECOVACS DEEBOT T90 Pro Omni review covers the rest.

Roborock sells this robot on climbing. Its own figure for a single step is 1.8 in (45 mm), and the robot beats it. In testing it went over 2 in (50 mm) in both directions and managed one step of 2.2 in (57 mm).

On hair it has one of the cleanest records here: nothing reported anywhere on the brush. It wrapped nothing in the lab. In a tester's own house, three months of daily runs with a dog shedding on the floors never once left the brushes needing scissors. Another reviewer's two robots didn't tangle either. Nobody has traced where loose hair goes beyond the brush, so that's not measured. Still, a season with no cutting and no reported jam is about as clean as long-term evidence gets on this page.

It should also stay supported. Roborock puts a date on its security updates for this model: March 2028, in writing. In one tester's run it stayed controllable through Apple Home, rooms included, with the internet blocked for three days.

Its soft spot for hair is very short, dense carpet. A lab's rug and one cat owner both found hair left behind there.

The weak spot is the mess every dog owner fears finding. In RTINGS' testing, its camera couldn't be counted on to steer clear of pet waste. Other testers watched it drive straight through fake poop. If accidents happen in your house, skip it. Where they come with steps between rooms, the X60 below is our pick: it climbed a 2 in (51 mm) step in the lab too, and steers around mess far better. On mostly hard floors without the steps, our pick is the eufy Omni S2; our eufy Omni S2 review explains why.

It suits a home where one room sits a step below the rest, or a doorway sill stands tall, and the pets never have accidents indoors. For that home, we'd buy it. Our Roborock Saros 20 review has the full story.

Dreame calls it a Detangling DuoBrush and adds a carpet pressure plate. The lab backs both. It wrapped nothing, lifted all the pressed-in pet hair, and pulled 89% of the grit buried in medium-pile carpet.

The best evidence is a six-month home test sponsored by Dreame. The house had three dogs, three cats, two rabbits and two kids. Hair never wrapped the brush. Skip a few cleanings, though, and it gathered into balls at either end of the roller. The robot flagged a jam four or five times, and each was cleared by hand. The bag lasted one to two months under that load. The dock never clogged.

So this robot's forwarding address for hair is the end of the brush. At least it tells you when the mail piles up. Fringed rugs are another matter: RTINGS found tassels still tangle the brushroll.

The catch is that hair ball. Clearing it takes a pinch and a pull, not scissors. But it's yours to do, and more often if you skip runs.

For a carpeted home with long hair and a hard-shedding pet, we'd buy it. Our pet hair roundup makes the same call for heavy shedders. Our Dreame X60 Max Ultra Complete review goes deeper.

Dreame quotes a TÜV SÜD certificate for 100% detangling. For once the lab agrees with the paperwork. It wrapped nothing, lifted all the pressed-in pet hair, and pulled 94% of embedded carpet grit. That's the best carpet result on this page.

One owner, a month in, has a cat and long human hair in the house. Barely anything collected on the main brush. The side brush caught the odd strand, and that's where long hair goes on this robot. A 90-day home test also rated its hair handling highly. It found the auto-empty weak, though, with one clog under a heavy load of hair.

The catch is thresholds. It cleared a 0.75 in (19 mm) step in the lab and failed a 1 in (25 mm) one. A sunken den or a tall sliding-door track will stop it.

For a single-story carpeted home with flat doorways and pets that don't have accidents, we'd buy it. Our Dreame L60 Ultra PE review covers it in full. Our pet hair roundup picks it too, for carpet and a shedder at this money.

The cheapest pick here makes the same detangling claim as its expensive cousins. It very nearly earns it. It wrapped nothing in the lab and lifted 91% of pressed-in pet hair. It also pulled 93% of embedded carpet grit, beating every pick on this page but one. Dreame's own page can't decide whether the side brush extends. The spec table and the testers say it doesn't.

The hair doesn't all vanish. In a home carpet test with very long hairs, strands wound themselves around the wheels. The same tester warns the path from robot to dock can clog with hair over time. Expect to find strands on the wheels.

The catch is bigger than any hair. It has no obstacle avoidance at all, scoring 0 of 24 in the lab. A hair tie or a phone cord on the floor is its problem, then yours.

If someone will clear the floor before it runs, we'd buy it. Our Dreame D20 Plus review covers it in full.