Best Rated Robot Vacuum Cleaner
While robot vacuums are fantastic at keeping your floors clean, they can't replace a full-size vacuum. Even the best robots have trouble getting deep into rugs and carpets, and they may get caught in cords and socks.
Being on top of routine maintenance (replacing filters cutting hair tangled from brushes and emptying the dust bin) will make your robot last longer.
Battery Life
Most robot vacuums are capable of handling one or two cleaning sessions before requiring a charge. The runner-up in our top picks is the Ecovacs Deebot Q30S Combo, has a battery rated to last up to 180 minutes (3,230 square feet) of cleaning time on one charge. This amount of runtime will be more than enough for most small homes with a mixture of hard floors and low pile carpets or larger homes with rooms that are about the same size.
A longer battery life means the robot can spend less time charging and can spend more time cleaning. It is recommended to choose one with an automatic emptying bin. These models are more efficient at collecting debris and then returning back to the dock to recharge. It's also important to clean or replace the filter and wipe down sensors and cameras on a regular basis to ensure they can clearly see your home.
Smart mapping technology is a great feature to be looking for because it allows you to program your robot to only clean specific rooms or areas where it's more likely to hit furniture or other obstacles. It's also useful for ensuring that your robot is able to go under and around sofas, beds and other furniture with a high height. Some cheap robovacs offer boundary strips you can place on the floor to block off certain areas, and other models with higher-end features utilize sensors and cameras to achieve this goal.
Even the top robot vacuum s can't replace a conventional vac when it comes heavy-duty dirt and debris. It is recommended to keep a standard power vac in reserve for those tasks and to schedule robot vacuums regularly for light cleaning throughout the week.
Navigation
A robot must be able to navigate around your home without getting stuck or crashing into objects such as metal screws or pet hair that is loose, or sand. In our tests, we use an instrument to track the robot as it travels through a multi-room lab and determine its surroundings. We also test how the robot can avoid obstacles such as power cords, furniture leg and pet waste.
The most advanced robots can map out multiple floors and can recognize landmarks like doors and windows. The most advanced robots, such as the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra have a dual sensor navigation system, that uses an LIDAR to draw a room's layout and a structured-light camera mounted on the front to identify objects in real-time. The S8 can evade obstacles such as power cords and furniture legs. It can also store up to four floor maps.
Most affordable models rely on bump sensors which are not as accurate. In my tests they were able see through dog poop and cords as well as a pair shoes placed in the middle. The best value pick, the Dreametech D10+, is one exception to this. It has excellent carpet and hard floor pickup, good hair and tangle pickup, and a near perfect auto empty score.
Another feature worth mentioning is a huge onboard dustbin which doesn't have to be manually empty, and for the models that mop, a tank of water that can last for weeks of mopping sessions. Karcher's RCV 5 is a good illustration of this. It has a big enough footprint to fit under furniture, but not too big that it cannot fit in the space between your bathtub and toilet.
Apps
Robot vacuums are a lot like upright vacuums, and it takes lots of technology to get them up and running at speed. There are many alternatives available in a marketplace that is maturing. Even the most advanced models require interaction from their users, especially when it comes to schedule cleanings, create a floor plan for your home and install virtual barriers.
To lessen the chance of this kind of interaction, look for a model with its own app to identify the location of your home, and save those settings for future use. This will let the vacuum start where it left off in subsequent runs, instead of having to restart the mapping process each time.
It's worth looking out for a vacuum that comes with spot or zone cleaning modes. You can instruct the robot vacuum cleaner to concentrate on a specific area, such as under the table after a huge family meal. You can choose to do this using the app or by voice commands.
Many models also offer objects avoidance. It lets the robot observe something in its path, like a box of shoes or a crate full of dog toys, and coach itself around it. This will keep it from crashing into things that might damage its sensors or cause jams.
This feature is offered on some of the more expensive models we test. However, they tend to rely on bump sensors for this and weren't always able to avoid obstacles in my test homes.
Pet Hair
Look for an upright vacuum cleaner specifically designed to remove hair from pets. The best models will have the highest suction, a brush that keeps hair from tangling and an automated emptying mechanism. Some models can detect levels of dirt and adjust cleaning intensity. They also can detect objects that aren't part your flooring in your home, such as toys, furniture and food bowls.
Some robot vacuums include additional features that are pet-friendly. These include a water dispenser that is used to clean floors, and a HEPA filtering system that helps to reduce allergens like pet dust. They could also feature a quieter mode of operation to reduce the amount noise generated during cleaning sessions.
Robot vacuums with maps are an excellent option for pet owners. They're designed to evaluate your home and devise an strategy based on the layout of each room as well as obstacles. Shark Matrix Plus is a 2-in-1 robot vacuum that can map a room, and navigate around furniture, and other obstacles using accelerometer and Gyroscope smart sensors.
Apps allow you to set up zones that are not allowed. These are areas that the robot shouldn't be permitted, such as areas that contain fragile objects or pet feeding areas. This feature is particularly useful for households with busy schedules, as you can schedule cleaning times without having to be in the room in which the vacuum is. Another feature that is extremely useful is spot cleaning that allows you to direct the vacuum to clean a particular area that is particularly dirty or brimming with pet hair.
Dust Bin
If you don't want something tiny, choose a robot with a large bin, or even a self-emptying dustbin. We recommend choosing the one with a large bin, or even a dustbin that self-empties. The former will help you keep up with cleaning the bin regularly enough to ensure you are on top of its performance, while the latter will save you time and effort by automatically emptying its contents into an internal container after every few cleans.
No matter the size of your house, most robots can easily get up to and around furniture, and most can recognize and navigate around household obstacles such as loose cords, shoes, and dog puke. Make sure you choose models with intelligent mapping capabilities. This lets them "learn the patterns of your house and design a more efficient route.
Certain models also offer spot cleaning, which allows you to choose specific areas of your house for intensive cleaning. We've found that most of the top performers in our tests can remove fine particles such as sand and baking soda, together with larger debris such as oatmeal orzo pasta screws, and pet hair.
The brand you choose will determine the longevity of the robot. most robots will last for years and will remain in good working order in the event that you maintain them with regular maintenance tasks, such as cleaning tangled hair from brushes and emptying the dust bin after every use and wiping down cameras and sensors as needed. The best robots are also more modular. This allows you to replace or repair components such as wheels and batteries when they get worn out.