The Furbuster AdvancedClean+ is a cordless handheld vacuum with a motorised pet-hair brush, a built-in 9-inch crevice tool and a roughly 0.7-litre dust bin. TechGearLab named it its best handheld for pet hair, found it often cleared messes in a single pass and measured almost 30 minutes of runtime. Yahoo Shopping picked it as its best car vacuum for pet hair after a test in a compact SUV, praising its strong suction on soil, pebbles and dog hair. It suits pet owners who need to strip fur from seats and floor mats; anyone who mostly cleans narrow gaps around the console, or wants something light for one-handed use, should look at slimmer models.
Full review
Pulls embedded fur from mats and seats
TechGearLab found the motorised brush was where the Furbuster stood out, with stiff bristles gripping strands of fur and most areas handled in a single pass, even spots with a lot of hair. In a car, its reviewer worked from the top of the back seat down to the floor mats and cleaned fur-clinging mats with just a few passes. It also reported that the brush's stiff plastic prongs could crush cereal, sometimes needing a second pass for larger crumbs.
Yahoo Shopping scattered soil, sand, pet hair and crushed crackers across the back seat of a compact SUV. The Furbuster picked up everything from soil to larger pebbles, and its max mode collected leaves and pine needles. The reviewer weighed 4.7 ounces recovered from 5 ounces scattered, and found it beat most rivals on pet hair from the floor mats.
Long runtime and a big bin, but a bulky body
Battery life is a consistent strength. TechGearLab measured 29.1 minutes and still saw more than 15 minutes when running on high, while Yahoo Shopping got about 20 minutes switching between regular and max modes. The trade-off is charging time: TechGearLab put a full charge at four to five hours and Yahoo at about four. The large bin rarely needs emptying, though TechGearLab found hair often snagged around the filter, so it still had to be pulled out by hand.
Size is the main drawback. TechGearLab weighed it at 3.3 lb and described the body as boxy, which can stop the 9-inch crevice tool reaching tight spaces such as the gap between a car console and seats. Yahoo Shopping found it awkward one-handed with the pet brush attached and reported that the extendable crevice tool sometimes collapsed back into the body. Neither review found it tiring for ordinary use.
Who should pay for it
At around $99, the Furbuster sits towards the upper end of mainstream handhelds. TechGearLab recommended it as the top handheld choice when pet fur is the main concern, citing its battery life and durable design, but said it is better suited to larger areas than very tight spaces. Yahoo Shopping, which noted the battery is built in rather than replaceable, still chose it for pet owners who take dogs on road trips. Buyers without pets, or those who mainly need a slim tool for crevices, may find its extra bulk unnecessary.
Strengths
- +Motorised brush cleared fur-clinging car floor mats in just a few passes
- +Ran for almost 30 minutes on a charge in TechGearLab's runtime test
- +Strong suction picked up soil, larger pebbles, leaves and pine needles in a car test
- +Large 0.7-litre dust bin holds plenty of debris before emptying
- +Built-in 9-inch crevice tool is always attached and ready to use
Watch-outs
- −Bulky body and wide crevice tool cannot reach very tight gaps beside seats
- −Hard to manoeuvre one-handed, especially with the pet brush fitted
- −Takes four to five hours to recharge fully
How it compares
TechGearLab measured 29.1 minutes of runtime for the Furbuster against 14.7 for the Shark UltraCyclone Pet Pro Plus, although it found the Shark better in tight spaces and it weighs 2.8 lb to the Furbuster's 3.3 lb. The BLACK+DECKER DustBuster Ion (HHVI315JO42) is lighter at 2.2 lb and listed at about half the price in the same test, but TechGearLab noted it was not designed with pet hair in mind.
Rating sources
Counts as 4.49/5 in our score — this publisher's 138 scores on the site average 3.66, so its scores are adjusted up to compare fairly with other publishers.
Not in the average — we derived this score from the review's words, and a publisher printed a score for this product, so the printed number counts instead.
Our 4.5 score is the average of 1 of the scored reviews above, each adjusted for how strictly its publisher scores. 1 derived score above is not in the average because a publisher printed a score for this product. Ratings marked * were derived from the reviewer’s written analysis or video transcript — the publisher didn’t print an explicit numeric score, so we inferred one from their own words. Click through to verify. More about methodology.
