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I’ve struggled with dog hair for years.
It was manageable when I just had one personal dog, a single-coated small dog at that. But then over the years I added my pomeranian and all her stubborn deep gray fluff. Then a cat, and another, and providing daycare a few days out of the week for a second pomeranian. When I started my board-and-train business and opened for general boarding on top of it, the hair situation began bordering on a full-time job all on its own.
I found myself with a steady rotation of animals enthusiastically shedding all over my house, depositing it in the carpets and making generous donations to the hardwood floors. I swept regularly, vacuumed when I found the spare time, and still found myself collecting a house full of hairballs and dust bunnies kindly contributed by my pets and client dogs.
And, honestly, it doesn’t help that I’m a long-haired person with plenty of daily shedding to contribute, myself.
See, the real pain about pet hair is that it’s a constant battle. It makes cleanup way more of an ordeal than a lot of other messes, because it feels like as soon as you put away the vacuum or the broom and dustpan, your cat has tracked kitty litter out of the bathroom and into the hall, or your dog decided now would be the perfect moment for a deep, hair-flying-everywhere type of neck scratch. Then, it’s back to the dustpan, the bending, and those awful lines on the floor of dust and dirt as you try to sweep up every bit of it.
The stuff is insidious.
There had to be a way to make this easier.
Or, just not so awful in general.
One day, I came by the local dog grooming salon where some of my friends work, and I noticed an odd machine standing inconspicuously beneath one of the tables. I vaguely recognized it as an EyeVac stationary vacuum, which I’d perused online in my pursuit of sweet relief from the hairball infestation. I’d just never managed to commit and actually order one.
An EyeVac is a brand of stationary vacuum, which is more or less exactly what it sounds like. It’s a small vacuum unit that lives in a single spot (although it’s definitely easy enough to tote around the house if that’s your preference) in your home. You sweep as usual, and just dump the collected mess in a pile at the mouth of the EyeVac.
If you have it on automatic mode, the EyeVac will suck up anything that you place directly at its mouth, turning on with a special sensor. There are also modes to make the turn-on manual, so the unit will only activate if you press a designated button at the top of the unit.
Here’s a little promo video from EyeVac demonstrating how the Home Unit works:
It sounds like a dream, right?
“How do you guys like that?” I asked, immediately interested now that I’d seen one out in the wild, and in a dog space at that.
The staff at the dog grooming salon raved about it. I kept imagining dense, fluffy hair from poodles, samoyeds, and Bernese mountain dogs flying all over their salon, and by the time I got back home I knew that if it was working for them, I had to give it a shot.
Comparing EyeVac Models
So, I ordered an EyeVac for home use, the same model I’d seen at the salon. There are “pro” and “for pets” versions of the EyeVac that I’m sure are even better-suited for my purposes than the one I purchased. But at the time, I was working on other projects, and didn’t quite feel like putting down the additional cost for the more powerful models.
For reference, the EyeVac Home, which I purchased, retails $114 on the EyeVac website. The EyeVac Pro is $149, and the EyeVac Pet is also $149. As I understand it, the EyeVac Pro and Pet are slightly larger units than the EyeVac Home, and they share a boxier shape. In fact, the EyeVac Pet and Pro versions seem nearly identical based on specs alone. These factors also influenced my decision, so between the size and the price, I decided to give the Home version a try.
| EyeVac Home | EyeVac Pet | EyeVac Pro | |
| Price | $114 (from eyevac.com) | $149 (from eyevac.com) | $149 (from eyevac.com) |
| Weight | 11lbs | 15.6lbs | 14.0 lbs |
| Dimensions | 20″ x 15″ x 10″ | 13.5″ x 9.5″ x 20.5″ | 13.5″ x 9.5″ x 20.5″ |
| Motor | 1000 Watt | 1400 Watt | 1400 Watt |
| Filtration | High efficiency Pre-Motor & Exhaust Filters | High efficiency Pre-Motor & Exhaust Filters | High efficiency Pre-Motor & Exhaust Filters |
| Canister Capacity | 3.8 Liters | 4.8 Liters | 4.8 Liters |
| Voltage | 120v | 120v | 120v |
| Cord Length | 6 Feet | 6 Feet | 6 Feet |
| Design | Slightly domed design, available in six colors: white, black, matte black, silver, rose gold, and seaglass. | Sleek but angled design, available in white and black. This unit has a paw-print design running across the canister. | Sleek but angled design, available in white, black, and silver. |
| Warranty | 1 Year | 1 Year | 1 Year |
It’s worth giving an honorable mention to two other products from the same company: the EyeVac Air and the EyeVac+. I had not ever seen mention of these two products when I initially purchased my Home unit, which leads me to believe they are fairly recent additions to the EyeVac family.
The EyeVac Air is a hepa air purifier and stationary vacuum combo, and the EyeVac+ is a motion sensor waste bin with the same stationary vacuum functionality. They both look very neat and handy, but I haven’t used either of the multi-function units, so they’re omitted from this review.
Testing the EyeVac Home on Pet Hair
The EyeVac shipped fairly quickly, and when I tell you I tore into that box as soon as it arrived, I really mean it. I was so ready to make this cleaning process easier, the poor thing didn’t stand a chance. The EyeVac Home flew out of the box and was almost immediately set up and ready to go. I placed it in a corner in my living room where I knew I could easily sweep the bulk of the pet hair with ease.
It was incredibly plug-and-play. Once the EyeVac unit was plugged in and I’d figured out which side to set which way, it was already ready to go.
I did change the setting to “manual,” which just means that you will have to press a button on the top of the unit to turn on the suction.
I made this decision because I have personal pets, and my house is frequented by friends’ dogs, boarding dogs and training dogs. If it wasn’t the cats messing with the automatic sensor, it would be my personal dogs venturing too close and startling themselves, which really didn’t seem ideal even if a rare occurrence. Because I also train dogs that are nervous, anxious, and generally lack confidence and socialization when they first come in, having the machine turn on by accident was just not worth the slight convenience the setting provides.
So, I went about testing the vacuum. I’d never been more excited to sweep up around the house. I got my broom and gathered my little collection of food crumbs, dust, cat litter, and the hairs of various pets. I made a respectable pile at the mouth of the EyeVac system, and pressed the manual button.
The entire mess disappeared like magic, sucked into the canister completely. Dog hair and all. No bending, awkward handling of a large broom, and no annoying little lines of dirt on the floor. I was thrilled.
I’ve had the unit for several months, and still use it almost exclusively when dealing with dog hair and really any other messes around the house. It’s seen dog hair, people hair, dust, dirt, small leaves and other tracked-in-from-outside nonsense, scattered clay and pine cat litter, and tons more. That little machine is a monster.
When the canister is full, a light on the top of the unit will come on. The canister is incredibly easy to dump; just pull it out from the front of the unit, shake the contents out into the trash bin, and pop the canister back into the unit. It’s so much more convenient than the constant bending and awkward sweeping into a dustpan.
I will say, however, when the EyeVac activates it is rather loud; it’s about the volume you would expect from any regular vacuum cleaner, and the suction will last for several seconds before automatically turning off. That said, the EyeVac does not seem to startle any of my animals when they are at a distance from it and I switch it on manually.
But one thing that makes me sure I would never, ever, ever go back to not having one of these things is the fact that the EyeVac will actually clean off the broom for you. I mean it. After the pile of hair and dirt and yuck is sucked up in to the unit, I just run the tips of the broom bristles along the mouth of the machine while the suction is still on.
It sucks up all those annoying stuck-to-the-broom hairs, meaning you never have to touch them again.
I’d buy this thing for that alone, honestly.
Which EyeVac Should You Get?
I got the EyeVac Home version, and I’m still happy with it months later.
That said, I don’t have children, and tend to keep to myself while working. Meaning, my main concern is pet hair and kitty litter, not the rest of life. I think the EyeVac Home is very appropriate for the level of use I give it, even though it is not the model intended “for pets.”
In the future, there is of course a chance I would reconsider; the EyeVac Home has held up stupendously so far, but if it ever did need replacing I might consider not purchasing the Home version again, depending on what my needs are at that time. I think if I had children or had a busier household on top of a house full of pets, I might opt to get the Pro or Pet version, to get the stronger motor and larger canister capacity of the bigger units.
I also would definitely get the Pro or Pet version of the EyeVac if I was running a brick-and-mortar business, like a barber shop or salon, or in my case a dog training facility. That said, my friends at the dog grooming salon seem to love their EyeVac Home, even while brushing out and clipping down huge volumes of dog hair every day.
And, because I’m a sucker for multi-function and space-saving items, I would very strongly consider the EyeVac+ waste bin, and I may even opt to do so before the current EyeVac Home unit gives me any reason to; I might just bring the Home unit downstairs, so I can have one unit in each area with wood floors. The idea of never having to touch a dustpan again sounds incredibly alluring.
I would say that, for most people, the Home version is going to suffice. I use mine daily, and it has never disappointed me.
Have you ever used an EyeVac system or other stationary vacuum to help with pet hair or other daily messes? What is your preferred way to tackle dog hair in your home? Let us know in the comments!
