Jade Ketner

Best Rated Robot Vacuum and Mop

Eufy's top-rated robotic vacuum and mop takes a bit of the hands-off work out of keeping your floors clean. It is able to refill its own water tank, empty its tower bin that is larger and then change the dust bag.

Advanced models can map your house and note furniture arrangement. They can also identify hazards and avoid them, like loose charging cables or unintentional socks.

Object Avoidance

Object avoidance features enable your robot to avoid crashing into things like power cords, toys and clothes that can be caught in the vacuum. These features are particularly important if you have children or pets that may leave things on the floor for your robot to find.

Depending on the model you select You may have a variety of sensors that can assist your robot in its journey around obstacles. Some of the most well-known include crossed IR sensor beams that are infrared-focused lights that scan the room looking for things like furniture legs or door frames. Many robots have adopted this technology, and you can find it in the top models that cost more.

Other object avoidance technology that you may find in higher-end robotics is 3D Structured Light which uses cameras and a crossed IR sensor to map the surrounding area and detect obstacles. Time of Flight (ToF), sensors that measure and emit the amount of time that it takes the light to reflect off an object, in order to determine its distance, are also available. While these are less common however, they are beneficial to your robot if you need peace of mind knowing that it will avoid getting hung up on cords or socks when cleaning.

Most of the top-rated robotics are also able to mop your floors. Some robots have their own water tanks that allow them to clean up spills and messes. You'll need to empty the dust bin onboard and clean its sensors and cameras between cleaning sessions.

Mapping

Mapping capabilities are essential in robot vacuums since they help them recognize your home's layout, and avoid hitting things like walls. Without mapping, they could be tripped by furniture, cords or pet toys, and end up removing less of your space. By using sensors, many robots map out your home to track any obstacles and help them navigate around them. This allows them to clean the entire floor with fewer passes, saving you time. A lot of the top-rated robot vacuums can also utilize this feature to create no-go zones, allowing you to set specific areas that you do not want the robot to get into.

Robots that have built-in LIDAR utilize this technology to map your home efficiently and quickly. The Eufy Clean robot vacuum with mop separated my room into different areas and cleaned each in a separate manner during our tests. This was an enormous improvement over cheaper models that only used sensors on the front of the vehicle. This was a more precise way to navigate my home and it was simple for me to control via the app on the device.

While no robot vacuum cleaner uk vacuum can climb stairs yet, most of the top-rated models come with good obstacles avoidance and mapping features. These tools allow them to collect dirt from low-pile or hard floors, and prevent falling down the stairs. Some have cliff sensors that prevent them from going over the edge of the stairs, and some have boundary strips that keep them away from certain areas.

Some robots come with a massive tower base that houses their collected dirt, minimizing the amount of dust and allergens emitted into your home. These bases can last for weeks or even months between emptying, and are particularly beneficial if you have allergies. Some models also have self-emptying mechanisms that let you empty their dust bins without having to manually open and close them.

Wi-Fi enabled

Some robot vacuums utilize Wi-Fi to communicate with their apps which allows users to control them with your smartphone instead of (or in addition to) an actual remote. These models are more expensive, however, they can save time since they can schedule cleaning times every day, weekly, or even monthly. They also often allow you to modify and save floor maps and offer different cleaning routines.

The most advanced robot vacuums employ dual sensors, combining the LIDAR system to map your area with a structured light sensor that can detect objects and avoid them, even if they're buried under furniture or power cords. These features allow your robot to reach tight spaces, such as the space under your kitchen cabinets or under sofas. Other robots struggle with these spaces. They're also quicker to get around obstacles and have longer run times due to larger dust bins, which makes them better suited for large homes than entry-level robots.

The top-rated robot vacuums tend to be quick, efficient and effective cleaning up all kinds of floor debris, including pet hair, cat litter, and other dirt. They can also be quiet making them a good choice for homes with young kids and pets. Many of the robot vacuum owners we've talked to report that they enjoy the convenience of having their floors cleaned with little effort, especially when used often. Robots can last just as long as traditional vacuum cleaners with the proper maintenance (cleaning rotating brushes and keeping track of replacement parts). PCWorld has a helpful guide that outlines some essential techniques to keep your robot running efficiently for many years to come.

Larger Dust Bags

Although a robot vacuum may not clean as well as an upright or canister model, it is excellent in picking up dust and other debris that regular vacuuming leaves behind. It can also be used for quick repairs to floors and can navigate through cords and other obstacles in the home. If you don't want to do the deep cleaning yourself, a robot vacuum can be sent out to sweep your floors on a regular schedule.

Some of the best rated robot vacuums come with large dust bags that are easy to empty and can hold more than one room's worth of dirt. This will save you time and money on new bags. A number of the models on our list have this feature, including the top pick, the Ecovacs Deebot T30S Combo. This all-in-one robovac is a top-performing robovac that has a self-emptying bin. It has a mopping feature and efficient navigation. It's a close contest between the iRobot Roomba Combo j9+ and this one, which is equipped with smart mapping and avoidance technologies. This robovac has more capacity but is slightly more expensive.

The two models also differ in how they handle long hair, which could get caught in the rollers of some robots. The best-performing models include the Roborock Q5 Max+ and SwitchBot K10S Plus, both have excellent hair pickup and tangle avoidance scores along with fantastic path planning and near perfect auto empty results. The Eufy and Shark Matrix Plus are also great options, with good hair pickup and tangle avoiding, but not as much path planning or auto empty.

The latest robots come with sensors that detect dirt and debris on the carpet, and are better at removing hairs that have fallen off of pets. Some robots feature a mopping mode where they can use the reservoir of water to remove stuck-on mess and spills. This feature is crucial for families with children and pets.

Maintenance

Having a robot vacuum is a great aid in keeping up with your home. While no robot is able to replace an upright or canister vacuum for deep cleaning, the best models that are rated highly pick up pet hair, lint and other surface dirt on hard floors and low-pile carpets, picking up much more than you could using the Broom. They also have navigational features to prevent them from getting stuck on power cords, rug fringes or furniture.

According to the model, you can program a robot vacuum to run multiple times per day or even watch it in action using an app. These devices are convenient however they can get clogged and require regular maintenance. This includes emptying the dust bin onboard (or in some cases, the base's larger bin), checking brushes for tangled fur, and regularly washing the filters and allowing them to dry in accordance with the manufacturer.

Vacuum expert Emily Rairdin, a store owner apprentice at University Vacuum + Sewing, says a high-quality robot automatic vacuum cleaner and mop can last from three to five years or more if it receives regular maintenance and care. She recommends emptying the bin and Best Robot Vacuum brush roll frequently and cutting off hairs that get caught in the brushes, and regularly washing and drying the filter if your machine is also a mop. It is a good idea to clean the sensors and charging contacts on the robot or dock with an easy clean cloth every now and again. Then simply refill and recharge the robot vacuums with mop when needed for your next cleaning session.