Malinda Polen

Best Rated Robot Vacuum Cleaner

While robot vacuums are great in keeping your floors clean but they aren't able to replace a full-size vacuum. Even the best robot vacuum cleaner robots can struggle to get deep into carpets and rugs. They also often get caught in cords and socks.

Being on top of routine maintenance (replacing filters cutting hair tangled from brushes and emptying the dust bin) can help your robot last longer.

Battery Life

Most robot vacuums can handle a few cleaning sessions before requiring a charge. The Ecovacs Q30S Combo is a close second in our top picks. It comes with an energy-efficient battery that can last up to 180 minutes (3,230 square foot) on a single charge. This will suffice for homes that have the combination of hard floors and low pile carpets or larger homes with rooms that are about the same size.

A longer battery life means that the robot will spend less time charging and can spend more time cleaning. It's worth opting for a model with a self-emptying dust bin, since they are more efficient when it comes to cleaning up debris and returning to the dock to recharge. It is also essential to empty or change the filter and wipe down cameras and sensors on a regular basis so they can clearly see your home.

Smart mapping technology is an important feature to be looking for, as it allows you to program your robot to clean specific rooms or areas where it's more likely to bump into furniture or other obstacles. It's also beneficial for ensuring your robot is able to get under and around beds, sofas and other furniture that is tall. Some robovacs are inexpensive and come with boundary strips you can use to block certain areas. Other high-end models rely on cameras and sensors.

Even the best smart vacuum robot vacuums cannot replace a conventional vac for heavy-duty dirt and debris. It's advisable to keep a traditional power vac on standby for those tasks, and to schedule robot floor cleaner vacuums regularly for cleaning up light chores throughout the week.

Navigation

A robot hoover must be able to navigate around your home without getting stuck or crashing into objects such as metal screws, loose pet hair, or sand. In our tests, we employ a tracking device to follow the robot as it travels through a multi-room lab and maps out its surroundings. We also check the extent to which it can avoid obstacles, including power cords, furniture legs, and pet waste.

The most advanced robots are able to map out multiple floors, and recognize landmarks such as doors and windows. The most advanced ones, like the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra, feature a dual-sensor navigation system which uses an LIDAR sensor to map the space and a structured light camera at the front of the robot to detect objects in real-time. This lets the S8 to avoid common obstacles, such as power cords and furniture legs, and it can store up to four different floor maps in its internal memory.

The more affordable models don't have this kind of object detection and rely on bump sensors, which aren't as accurate. In my tests they cut right through dog poop, cords, and even a pair of shoes placed in the middle of the room. The best auto vacuum value pick the Dreametech D10+, is an exception to this. It has excellent carpet and hard floor pickup, great hair and tangle pickup, and an auto empty score.

A large dust bin onboard, which does not need to be manually empty is another feature that is essential. For models that sweep the floor, this water tank is able to hold enough water for several weeks of cleaning. The Karcher RCV 5 comes with this and a big enough footprint that it can go under furniture but not so big that it doesn't fit into the nook between your bathtub and toilet.

Apps

Robot vacuums are like their upright counterparts and require a lot of tech to get them up to speed. There are many options in a market that is a mature. Even the best models require interaction from their users, especially when it comes to plan cleaning schedules, design an outline of your home, and set up virtual barriers.

To reduce the impact of the impact of this interaction, you should look for a model that uses its own app to recognize the design of your home and save those settings for the future. This will let the vacuum start where it left off in subsequent runs, without having to restart the mapping process each time.

You should also look for models that offer zone or spot cleaning. You can instruct the robot vacuum cleaner to focus on a specific area, such as under the table after a big family meal. You can usually choose to do this via the app or by voice commands.

Many models also provide object avoidance. It allows the robot when it sees something that is in its path such as a box shoes or a crate filled with dog toys, to instruct itself around. This prevents it from running into objects that could damage its sensors or cause jams.

This feature is available on a few of the more expensive models we tried. However, they typically rely on bump sensors for this and weren't always able to avoid obstacles in my test homes.

Pet Hair

Look for the best vacuum cleaner designed to pick up pet hair. The best models will have an extremely high suction, a brush which keeps hair from tangling and an automated emptying mechanism. Some models are able to detect levels of dirt and alter the level of cleaning. They also can detect objects that aren't part your home flooring, like furniture, toys and food bowls.

Some robot vacuums come with additional pet-friendly features. They include the water dispenser that can be used to clean floors, and a HEPA filtering system that eliminates allergens, such as pet dander. They might also offer the option of a quieter operation, which will reduce the amount of sound generated during cleaning sessions.

Robot vacuums that include the ability to map are a great option for pet owners since they're designed to evaluate your home and devise an action plan based on the layout and obstructions in each room. For instance, the Shark Matrix Plus 2-in-1 Vacuum is a smart vacuum that has the impressive capability to map a room and navigate around furniture and other obstacles using accelerometer and gyroscope sensors that work together to learn the layout of your room.

Apps let you set up no-go zones. These are areas where the robot shouldn't be allowed, such as delicate objects or pet feeding areas. This feature is especially useful for households with busy schedules, as you can schedule cleaning sessions without having to be present in the room in which the vacuum is. Spot cleaning is an additional fantastic feature. You can direct the vacuum cleaner to clean a spot that is particularly filthy or stuffed with pet hair.

Dust Bin

Unless you're looking for something small You should pick an item capable of holding at least a complete bag of garbage from one cleaning session. We recommend choosing a model that has an enormous bin, or even a dustbin that self-empties. The former will enable you to keep track of emptying the bin frequently enough to ensure you are on top of its performance, while the latter will help you save time and effort by automatically dumping the contents into an internal container every few cleanings.

No matter the size of your home the majority of robots are able to get up to and around furniture, and most can recognize and navigate around household obstacles like shoes, cords that are loose and dog urine. Find models with intelligent mapping capabilities, which enable them to "learn" the structure of your home and plan more efficient routes, as well as ones that are able to detect and avoid objects that may block their paths (like shoelaces or the tangled charging cables).

Some models offer spot cleaning. This allows you to choose a specific area of your home to be targeted for thorough cleaning. In our tests, we found that the top models can remove fine particles such as baking soda, sand, orzo, screws made of metal and pet hair, in addition to heavier debris like oatmeal orzo, and metal screws.

According to the manufacturer, robots can last years and still perform as well, so long as they are maintained. For instance cleaning hair that is tangled out of brushes and emptying dust bins after each use and wiping cameras and sensors down as needed. The most efficient robots tend to be more modular and therefore easier and cheaper to repair or replace components such as batteries and wheels when they wear out.