Best Rated Robot Vacuum Cleaner

While robot vacuums are fantastic at keeping your floors clean but they aren't able to substitute for a larger vacuum. Even the best floor vacuum robot robots can struggle to get deep into carpets or rugs and often get tangled in cords and socks.

Maintaining a regular schedule of maintenance (replacing filters cutting hair that is tangled from brushes and emptying the dust bin) will make your robot last longer.

Battery Life

Most robot vacuums are able to handle a few cleaning sessions without having to be charged. The Ecovacs Q30S Combo is the second-best of our overall selections. It has an energy-efficient battery that can last up to 180 minutes (3,230 square feet) on a single charge. This will be more than enough for the majority of small homes with carpets, hard floors and carpets with low pile or larger homes where the rooms are roughly the same size.

A longer battery life means the robot can spend less time charging and spend more time cleaning. It's recommended to select a model with a self-emptying dust bin because they are more efficient in cleaning up debris and returning to the dock to recharge. It is important to clean or replace filters and clean the sensors and the camera regularly so that they can be seen clearly.

Smart mapping technology is a useful feature to look out for since it permits you to program your robot vacuum cleaner quiet to only clear certain rooms or areas where it's likely to hit furniture or other obstacles. It's also helpful for ensuring your robot can get under and around beds, sofas and other tall furniture. A few robovacs that are cheap come with boundary strips you can use to block certain areas. Other high-end models depend on sensors and cameras.

Even the top robot vacuums cannot substitute a traditional vac for heavy-duty dirt and debris. It's wise to keep a standard power vac on standby for these tasks, and to schedule robot vacs regularly for light cleanups throughout the week.

Navigation

A robot should be able to navigate you home without getting stuck or crashing into things like screws made of metal, loose pet hair, or sand. In our tests, we employ a tracking device to follow the robot as it goes through a multiroom lab and determine its surroundings. We also check how well the robot is able to avoid obstacles like power cords, furniture leg and pet waste.

The top robots are able to map out multiple floors and can recognize landmarks such as doors and windows. The most advanced robots, such as the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra have a dual sensor navigation system, that uses a LIDAR to create a floor plan and a structured-light camera on the front to spot objects in real-time. The S8 can avoid obstacles like power cords and legs of furniture. It can also store up to four floor maps.

More affordable models don't have this kind of object detection and rely on bump sensors which aren't as precise. In my tests, they were able to detect dog poop through cords as well as a pair of shoes placed in the middle. The best value pick, the Dreametech D10+, is one exception to this. It is a great carpet as well as a hard floor, tangle, and hair pickup. It also has an auto empty score that is near-perfect.

Another important feature is a large dust bin which doesn't have to be manually empty. It also has, for those models that mop, a tank of water which can store weeks of cleaning sessions. Karcher's RCV 5 is a great example of this. It has a wide enough footprint to fit under furniture, but not so big that it can't fit into 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. There are many choices available in a market that is mature. But even the top models still require some interaction with their users - particularly when cleaning schedules are being planned and establishing a floor plan, and setting up virtual barriers.

Consider a model with its own app that can identify the layout of your house and save these settings for future use. This will let the robot vacuum start where it left off in subsequent runs, without having to restart the mapping process each time.

Also, consider models that offer zone or spot cleaning. They allow you to instruct the robot vacuum to focus on a specific area like under the dining table following a big family meal. You can choose to do this by using the app or by voice commands.

A lot of models also offer objects-avoidance. It lets the robot observe something in its path, for instance the shoe box or a crate filled with dog toys, and then guide itself around it. This will keep it from running into things that might damage its sensors or cause a jam.

Some of the more expensive models in our tests come with this feature. They depend on the technology of bump sensors for this however they did not always stay clear of things I tested at home.

Pet Hair

Choose an upright vacuum cleaner specifically designed to collect hair from pets. The most effective models will feature the highest rated robot vacuum suction, a brush which stops tangling, and an automatic emptying mechanism. Some models can detect levels of dirt and adjust cleaning intensity. They can also detect items that aren't part of your home's flooring like furniture toys, food bowls, toys cords, and much more.

Some robot vacuums include extra pet-friendly features. They include a water dispenser which is used to mop floors, and a HEPA filtration system that reduces allergens like pet dust. They could also provide an operation that is quieter, which can reduce the amount of noise generated during cleaning sessions.

Robot vacuums that include maps are a great option for pet owners, since they are designed to analyze your home and create a plan of attack based on the layout and obstacles in every room. For instance the Shark Matrix Plus 2-in-1 Robot Vacuum is a smart vacuum that has an impressive capability to map the room and navigate around furniture and other obstacles using accelerometer and gyroscope smart 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, such as items that are fragile or pet feeding spots. You can adjust these settings via an app. This feature is particularly useful for families with busy schedules, since you can schedule cleaning times without having to be in the space where the vacuum is. Another excellent feature is spot cleaning that lets you direct the vacuum to clean a specific area that is particularly dirty or brimming with pet hair.

Dust Bin

If you're not searching for a small size, you'll want to choose one capable of holding at least a large bag of garbage from one cleaning session. We recommend picking a model that has a large bin or a bin that automatically emptys. The former will enable you to keep track of cleaning the bin regularly enough to ensure you are on top of its performance and the latter will help you save time and hassle by automatically dumping the contents into an internal container every few cleanings.

Regardless of the size of your home, most robots can easily climb up and around furniture, and almost all can detect and navigate around household obstacles like loose cords, shoes and dog urine. Look for models that have smart mapping capabilities. This allows them to "learn the patterns of your house and design a an efficient route.

Certain models also offer spot cleaning, which allows you to manually target an area of your house for intensive cleaning. In our tests, we found that the top models can take out small particles like baking soda, sand, orzo, metal screws, and pet hair, as well heavier debris such as oatmeal, orzo, and screws made of metal.

According to the brand, robots can last years and still perform well, as long as they are properly maintained. For example, cleaning tangled hair out of brushes cleaning dust bins after each use and wiping cameras and sensors down when needed. The most efficient robots tend to be more modular and therefore easier and less expensive to repair or replace components like batteries and wheels when they wear out.