Best Rated Robot Vacuum Cleaner

Robot vacuums are fantastic for keeping your floors clean but they cannot replace a traditional vacuum. Even the best vacuums struggle to get into carpets or rugs and often get tangled in socks and cords.

Your robot will last longer if you perform regular maintenance. This includes replacing filters, removing hairs that have become tangled off brushes, and emptying the dust bin.

Battery Life

The majority of robot vacuums are able to handle a couple of cleaning sessions without needing to be charged. The second-placed model in our top picks, the Ecovacs Deebot Q30S Combo, has a battery rated to last up to 180 minutes (3,230 square feet) of cleaning time on a single charge. The runtime is more than enough to clean the majority of smaller homes that have a mix of hard floors and carpets with low pile, or a larger home where the rooms are roughly the same size.

A longer battery lifespan also means the robot can spend more time cleaning and less charging on its dock. It's worth opting for a model with a self-emptying dust bin, since those models are more efficient in cleaning up debris and returning to the dock for recharging. It is essential to clean or replace filters and clean the sensors and the camera on a regular schedule so they can be seen clearly.

Smart mapping technology is a great feature to look out for, as it allows you to program your robot to only clear certain 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 beds, sofas and other tall furniture. Some robovacs that are inexpensive have boundaries that you can place on the floor to block off certain areas, while other high-end models utilize sensors and cameras for this purpose.

Even the best robot vacs aren't able to replace a traditional vacuum when it comes to heavy-duty large-pile dirt and debris. It's recommended to have an electric vacuum in your home for these chores and plan robot vacs for light cleanings throughout the week.

Navigation

A robot should be capable of navigating your home without getting caught or running into things like metal screws, pet hair or sand. In our tests, we use a tracking device to track the robot vacuum deals as it moves through a multi-room lab and maps out its surroundings. We also check how well the robot is able to avoid obstacles like power cords, furniture leg, and pet waste.

The most advanced robots are able to identify different floors and recognize landmarks, like doors and windows. The most advanced robots, such as the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra have a dual sensor navigation system, which utilizes the LIDAR to map out a room and a structured-light camera mounted on the front to detect objects in real-time. The S8 can avoid obstacles like power cords and furniture legs. It also has the capability to store up to four robotic floor scrubber maps.

Cheaper models don't come with this type of object detection and rely on bump sensors which aren't as precise. In my tests they were able to rip through cords, dog poop, and even shoes that were placed in the middle of the room. The Dreametech D10+ is the best robot vacuum under 200 value pick. It is a great carpet, hard floor, tangle and hair pickup. It also has an auto empty score that is near-perfect.

A large onboard dustbin which doesn't have to be emptying manually, is also a feature that's important. For models that sweep the floor, this water tank is able to hold enough water to last for several weeks of cleaning. The Karcher RCV 5 has this feature and has a large enough footprint to go under furniture however, it's not so huge that it won't fit in the space between your bathtub and toilet.

Apps

good robot vacuum vacuums are similar to their upright counterparts and require an array of technologies to keep them up to date. The result is a pretty mature market with plenty of options. But even the top models require interaction with their users - especially when it comes to scheduling cleanings and establishing a floor plan, and setting up virtual barriers.

To lessen the chance of this interaction, consider looking for a model that uses its own app to determine the design of your home and save the settings for the future. This will let the vacuum start where it left off in subsequent runs, rather than having to restart the mapping process every time.

You should also look for models that offer spot or zone cleaning. You can tell the robot vacuum cleaner to concentrate on an area, like under the table after a huge family meal. You can use the app or voice commands.

The ability to avoid objects is another option that is available on numerous models. It allows the cheap robot vacuum cleaner when it spots objects in its path such as a box of shoe or a crate with dog toys, to guide itself around. This will prevent it from crashing into objects which could harm its sensors or cause jams.

This feature is available on a few of the more expensive models we tested. They rely on bump sensor technology for this however they did not always keep things out of my test home.

Pet Hair

Choose an upright vacuum cleaner specifically designed to collect hair from pets. The most effective models will feature an extremely high suction, a brush which stops tangling, and an automatic emptying mechanism. Some are also able to detect dirt levels and adjust cleaning intensity according to the amount of dirt. They also can detect objects that aren't part of your flooring in your home, such as furniture, toys, and food bowls.

Some robot vacuums come with extra pet-friendly features. These include the water dispenser that can be used to clean floors, and an HEPA filtering system that helps to reduce allergens such as pet dust. They may also have a quieter mode of operation to cut down on the amount of noise produced during cleaning sessions.

Robot vacuums with mapping capabilities are a great option for pet owners. They are designed to analyze your home, and create an attack plan based on the layout of each room as well as obstacles. For example, the Shark Matrix Plus 2-in-1 Robot Vacuum is a smart vacuum with an impressive ability to map a room and navigate around furniture and other obstructions with gyroscope and accelerometer smart sensors that work together to learn the layout of your home.

Apps allow you to establish no-go zones. These are areas that the robot shouldn't be allowed, for instance, areas with fragile objects or pet feeding areas. This feature can be especially beneficial for families with a lot of activity, as it allows you to plan your cleaning schedule and adjust settings without having to be in the same room as the vacuum. Spot cleaning is a fantastic feature. You can instruct the vacuum cleaner to clean a spot that is especially dirty or filled with pet hair.

Dust Bin

Unless you're looking for a small size, you'll want to choose an item capable of holding at least a complete bag of trash from one cleaning session. That's why we recommend opting for a model with a large bin, or perhaps self-emptying garbage bin. The former will allow you to keep up with emptying your bin frequently enough to maintain its performance. The second will save you time and effort by automatically dumping the contents into an inner container each time you clean it.

Regardless of the size of your home the majority of robots are able to move around and up to furniture, and most are able to detect and navigate around household obstacles such as shoes, loose cords, and dog puke. Consider models that have smart mapping capabilities that enable them to "learn" the layout of your home and plan more efficient routes, and ones that are able to detect and avoid objects that could hinder their routes (like shoelaces or the tangled charging cables).

Some models provide spot cleaning. This allows you to select an area of your house for thorough cleaning. We've observed that the majority of the top performers in our tests are able to remove fine particles such as baking soda and sand together with larger particles like oatmeal orzo pasta screws, and pet hair.

Depending on the brand, the majority of robots last for years and will continue to perform so long as you are on top of maintenance tasks, such as cleaning hair that has become tangled from brushes, emptying the dust bin after every use and cleaning cameras and sensors when required. The top robots are more flexible. This allows you to replace or repair components like batteries and wheels, as they wear out.