Best Rated Robot Vacuum Cleaner
Robot vacuums can be great to keep your floors clean but they cannot replace a traditional vacuum. Even the most advanced robots aren't able to get deep into carpets and rugs and they can become tangled up in cords and socks.
Staying on top of routine maintenance (replacing filters cutting hair that is tangled from brushes, and emptying the dust bin) can help your robot last longer.
Battery Life
Most robot vacuums are equipped to handle a couple of cleaning sessions without having to be charged. The runner-up in our top picks, the Ecovacs Deebot Q30S Combo comes with a battery capable of lasting up to 180 minutes (3,230 square feet) of cleaning time on one charge. This amount of runtime will be more than enough for the majority of small homes with a mixture of hard flooring and carpets with low pile or larger homes with rooms that are about the same size.
A longer battery life means the robot will be able to spend less time charging and more time cleaning. It's worth opting for models that have a self-emptying dust bin, since these models are more efficient when it comes to picking 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 see clearly.
Smart mapping technology is a great feature to look for, as it allows you to program your robot to only clean specific rooms or areas where it's likely to hit furniture or other obstacles. This feature is also helpful for ensuring that your robot is able to reach under and around furniture such as beds, sofas and other large objects. A few robovacs are cheap and have boundary strips you can place on the floor to block off areas, while others use cameras and sensors to accomplish this.
Even the most powerful robot vacuums can't replace a conventional vac when it comes to heavy-duty dirt and debris. It is recommended to keep a power vacuum on hand for these tasks and schedule robot vacuums for light cleaning throughout the week.
Navigation
A robot must be able to navigate you home without getting stuck or crashing into objects like screws made of metal, loose pet hair, or sand. In our tests, a tracking device is used to follow the robot around an entire lab. It then analyzes its surroundings. We also test how the robot can avoid obstacles like power cords, furniture leg and pet waste.
The top robots can map out several floors, and recognize landmarks such as doors and windows. The most advanced ones, like the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra, come with a dual-sensor navigation device that utilizes an LIDAR sensor to map out the room, and a light camera on the front of the robot to identify objects in real-time. This lets the S8 to avoid common obstacles such as furniture legs and power cords and can also store up to four floor maps within its internal memory.
The most affordable models use bump sensors, which are not as accurate. In my tests they cut right through dog poop, cords, and even shoes that were placed in the middle of the room. The Dreametech D10+ is the most value-for-money option. It is a great carpet and hard floor pickup, great hair and tangle pickup, and an almost perfect auto empty score.
Another feature worth mentioning is a large dust bin that doesn't need to be manually empty. It also has, for models that mop, a water tank which can store weeks of mopping. Karcher's RCV 5 is a great example of this. It has a big enough footprint to fit under furniture, but not so large that it cannot fit in the nook between your toilet and tub.
Apps
Robot vacuums are similar to their upright counterparts and require an array of technologies to keep them up to date. The result is a mature market that is brimming with options. Even the most advanced models require interaction from their users particularly when it comes time to schedule cleaning, make a a floor plan for your home and set up virtual barriers.
Consider a model with its own app that can determine the layout of your home and save these settings for later use. This will allow the robot vacuum to continue where it started when it runs again, instead of having the mapping process restarted each time.
It's also worth keeping an eye out for a model that has spot or zone cleaning modes. These allow you to tell the robot vacuum to focus on a particular area for example, like under the dining table after the family's big meal. You can do this using the app or by voice commands.
A lot of models also offer objects-avoidance. It permits the robot, when it sees something in its way such as a box of shoes or a crate containing dog toys, to instruct itself around. This prevents it from running into things that could damage its sensors or cause a jam.
Some of the more expensive models we tested have this feature. They depend on bump sensor technology to do this however they weren't always able to stay clear of things I tested at home.
Pet Hair
When you're looking to remove pet hair, choose a model that's designed specifically to handle this type of debris. The most effective models come with high suction power, a brush that avoids tangling, and an emptying mechanism that will automatically empty hair into the bin when needed. Certain models can detect dirt levels to adjust cleaning intensity. They can also detect objects that aren't part of your flooring at home, such as toys, furniture and food bowls.
Certain robot vacuums have additional features that are pet-friendly. They include a water dispenser which is used to mop floors, and an HEPA filtering system that eliminates allergens like pet dander. They might also offer a quieter operation that can reduce the amount of noise generated during cleaning.
Robot vacuums with the ability to map are a great option for pet owners. They're designed to assess your home, and create an attack plan based upon the layout of each room as well as obstacles. For instance the Shark Matrix Plus 2-in-1 Vacuum is a smart vacuum that has the impressive ability to map rooms and navigate around furniture and other obstacles using accelerometer and gyroscope sensors that work in conjunction to learn the layout of your space.
Other models that are more advanced let you set no-go zones, which are areas that the robot is supposed to avoid--like fragile items or pet feeding spots--by adjusting settings through an app. This feature is particularly useful for households with busy schedules, as you can schedule cleaning times without having to be present in the room where the vacuum is. Another great feature is spot cleaning, which lets you use the vacuum to clean a specific area that is particularly dirty or brimming with pet hair.
Dust Bin
If you don't want anything small, go for a model with a big bin or even a self-emptying trash bin. This is why we suggest opting for a model with an enormous bin or a self-emptying dustbin. The former will enable you to keep up with emptying the bin often enough to ensure you are on top of its performance, while the latter will save you time and effort by automatically dumping its contents into an internal bin every few cleanings.
No matter the size of your house Most robots are able to move around and up to furniture, and almost all are able to detect and navigate around household obstacles such as shoes, loose cords and dog urine. Find models with smart mapping capabilities, which permit them to "learn" the layout of your home and design more efficient routes, and models that detect and avoid objects that may hinder their path (like shoelaces or the tangled charging cables).
Some models provide spot cleaning. self cleaning vacuum lets you select an 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, as well as heavier debris such as oatmeal, orzo, and screws made of metal.
According to the company the manufacturer, robots last for a long time and still perform well, as long as they're maintained. For example cleaning hair that is tangled out of brushes cleaning dust bins after each use and wiping sensors and cameras down when needed. The most efficient robots tend to be more modular, which makes them easier and less expensive to repair or replace components such as batteries and wheels when they get worn out.