Kenmore Elite Pet Friendly Review
Our Verdict
Compare to Similar Products
This Product Kenmore Elite Pet Friendly | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Awards | Best Overall | Best Carpet Cleaning Performance | |||
Price | $400 List $349.99 at Amazon | $80 List $64.99 at Amazon | $83 List $72.99 at Amazon | $579 List $579.00 at Amazon | $80 List $79.99 at Amazon |
Overall Score | |||||
Star Rating | |||||
Bottom Line | Though it has great handling and multiple adjustable features, this expensive vacuum doesn't work as well as we'd hoped | The perfect solution for those who want a good vacuum for very little money | We think this canister vacuum is one of the best options if you are shopping on a slim budget | This model is great at cleaning the carpeting but doesn't deliver as well with hard flooring | This inexpensive and lightweight vacuum can handle small messes but easily gets overwhelmed |
Rating Categories | Kenmore Elite Pet F... | Eureka WhirlWind | Eureka Mighty Mite | Miele Compact C1 Turbo | Bissell Zing Bagles... |
Carpet Cleaning (35%) | |||||
Ease of Use (25%) | |||||
Handling (20%) | |||||
Hard Surface (10%) | |||||
Pet Hair (10%) | |||||
Specs | Kenmore Elite Pet F... | Eureka WhirlWind | Eureka Mighty Mite | Miele Compact C1 Turbo | Bissell Zing Bagles... |
Measured Weight | 24.5 lbs | 11.0 lbs | 9.3 lbs | 14.2 lbs | 9.2 lbs |
Measured Maximum Reach | 37' 4" | 26' 10" | 31' 10" | 30' | 26' 6" |
Manufacturer Capacity | 2.1 L | 3.0 L | 2.8 L | 4.1 L | 2.0 L |
Measured Noise Level | 72 dBA | 68 dBA | 72 dBA | 67 dBA | 72 dBA |
Measured Head Width | 14.75'' | 10.5'' | 10.5'' | 10.75'' | 10.0" |
Measured Hose Suction Power | 74'' | 60'' | 90'' | 72'' | 64'' |
Measured Power Cord Length | 26' | 16' 6" | 19' 6" | 18' | 16' 6" |
Model Number | 81714 | NEN110B | 3670G | SCAE0 | 2156A |
Dirt Collection | Bag | Bagless | Bag | Bag | Bagless |
HEPA Filter | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Measured Brush Width | 14'' | N/A | N/A | 10'' | N/A |
Variable Suction Control | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Brush On/Off Switch | Yes | N/A | N/A | Adjusts | N/A |
Automatic Cord Rewind | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
Our Analysis and Test Results
The Kenmore Elite Pet Friendly Canister delivered impressive results for pet hair clean-up. It's a good choice for handling and is easy to use, but it doesn't deliver a solid cleaning performance. It's also pricey for a canister vacuum, and others generally outperformed it.
Performance Comparison
Carpet Cleaning
We began our review by putting each vacuum through a gauntlet of carpet cleaning tests. We used difficult-to-vacuum items like flour, oatmeal, rice, and cereal on both medium and low-pile carpets in order to assess performance. The Kenmore Elite Pet Friendly vacuum got off to a rather bad start on the rice test, spraying it out every which way.
The Kenmore Elite Pet Friendly did do marginally better with the oatmeal and surprised us with the Cheerios — vacuuming up all of the cereal in five passes. But, it did not pass our flour tests, leaving a powdery haze in its wake.
Ease of Use
Our next series of tests ranked and scored the overall user-friendliness of each vacuum and looked at how easy they were to use when cleaning different sections of a home. We tested each canister vacuum on edging, reach, furniture maneuverability, and surface transition. The Kenmore Elite Pet Friendly did quite well in this regard. It has a foot switch used to move between four different cleaning modes (XLO, LO, MED, HI), maximizing efficiency on different types of floors. It also has a switch on the handle to turn on or off the powered brush roll.
The Kenmore Elite Pet Friendly vacuum earned high marks for its surface transition and reach performances, thanks to the 26-foot cord and 9-foot hose. But, it bombed again in the edging test.
Handling
We based scores for our handling metric by using them on stairs and also on how agile and maneuverable each product felt. This vacuum does an excellent job when it comes to maneuvering and pushing/pulling. But, again, it failed at cleaning the stairs.
It has enough hose to clean around seven steps before the base of the vacuum needs to be moved. The Kenmore Elite Pet Friendly is also on the lighter side and has a built-in stair grip that allows it to be easily carried up most staircases. This worked great on our test flight of stairs.
It's easy to push and pull the Kenmore Elite across most types of floors, and we found it to be very nimble and maneuverable, even when cleaning a room cluttered with furniture. The vacuum is aided by its flexible neck, and the canister base usually does a good job of following.
Hard Surface Cleaning
For this metric, we repeated our gauntlet of cleaning tests for each vacuum on a section of laminate floors. Regrettably, the performance of the Kenmore Elite Pet Friendly plummeted a bit. It was mediocre at sucking up rice and oatmeal, eventually collecting them when the brush roll was off, but it took a bit more coaxing than other vacuums.
The Kenmore Elite did about the same with Cheerios, though we did have to tweak the clearance settings a bit to keep it from pushing them around. However, we noticed that the cereal could get caught in the extractor's head rather than making it up to the collection bin. This vacuum was slightly better with fine messes, but not by too much, leaving behind a film of flour in our test.
Pet Hair
As the name would imply, the Kenmore Elite Pet Friendly Canister finished our tests with an excellent performance when it came to collecting pet hair. For these tests, we weighed 50 grams of pet hair, spread it on a carpet or hard floor, made four passes, then weighed what was collected and converted it to percentages. The Kenmore Elite vacuumed up 95.60% of pet hair.
Should you buy the Kenmore Elite Pet Friendly?
Unfortunately, it is hard to say that the Kenmore Elite Pet Friendly is of great value. It pairs a good-but-not-great performance with a top-tier price tag, while more affordable vacuums outperform it.
What Other Canister Vacuum Should You Consider?
If you are attached to the idea of a canister vacuum and have a furry friend living with you, then the Kenmore Elite Pet Friendly Canister may be the one for you. It offers great pet hair cleaning performance and is very easy to handle and convenient to use. Although, if you want a canister that will do everything else at a solid price point, we recommend the Eureka WhirlWind or the Dyson Big Ball Multi Floor for an equally stellar pet hair performance.