The Best Robot Vacuums
A robot vacuum will take care of the majority of the cleaning for you. It can remove pet hair, lint and dirt from surfaces and furniture before they get stuck. Many robot vacuums are compatible with smart assistants such as Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant to give you a hands-free cleaning experience.
A lot of models come with mapping capabilities that allow them to create an interactive map of your home. This can help them avoid falling off ledges and traversing cords that connect devices.
What to Look For
Certain robots have advanced features that let you control them through the app and voice assistants such as Alexa and Google Assistant. Smart mapping, zone cleaning, and object avoidance are some of the features. They may also have longer battery lives and bigger dust collection bins.
Choose a model with a a wide brush that can sweep up large pieces of debris and one that is slim enough to fit under furniture. Also check whether the robot vacuum can move over multiple floor types without the need to swap brushes or change suction settings, which can decrease the effectiveness of cleaning and reduce its lifespan.
The top robot vacuums have high-quality filters that capture fine particles and protect your home from damage. They also have an enormous easy-to-access collection bin that allows you to empty it frequently. Some come with an additional side brush that can be used to sweep up pet hair and debris in hard-to-reach places under and behind furniture. The bins are typically transparent, so you can see the amount of dirt in the bin, and when to empty it.
In addition to scheduling your robot vacuum to run at times when you're likely to be at home, you can use the app to create the boundaries around your furniture and rooms that you want it to avoid. Certain models can also detect the type of floor they're cleaning and automatically adjust their brush and suction settings to match.
You can also find robots that recharge and resume cleaning exactly where they left off if their batteries are running low. Some robot vacuums come with cameras built-in that lets you see the path taken by your robot and the data it has gathered.
Some robots are controlled by voice commands but not all. Check that the model you select is compatible with the voice assistant of your choice and then test it to see how the robot responds to different commands before buying. Some robots will even empty their trash bins or clean their docking stations, which will reduce your chore list. But this feature comes with cost, as do a larger collection bin and faster charging speed.
Cleaning Performance
Robots are not a replacement for a vacuum or broom. However they can be extremely efficient and efficient in keeping your floors tidy. Whether you need to keep track of tracked-in dust or pet hair, crumbs and crumbs or nab bigger debris like wood shavings and screws, most top-rated robotic cleaners are capable of picking up various materials in the first go-around and doing so without damaging your floor surfaces or furniture.
They usually detect the type of floor they are cleaning and adjust their suction/brush functions according to the type of floor you have. This allows them to clean it more thoroughly. This is especially important if you have different flooring types across your home. A lot of models have the option of setting up virtual boundaries. This lets you tell your robot to stay out of certain areas of your home. This can be helpful in protecting your pets or children from entering areas they shouldn't, and it can help ensure that your home gets cleaned in every scheduled time.
Think about the amount of autonomy your robot can enjoy. Certain models require your presence and attention while others operate on their own, with the ability to change cleaning modes and schedules via a mobile app or voice commands using an integrated smart assistant. Some models map and learn your home's layout and let you define zones and instruct the robot only to clean specific areas within your home on a weekly or daily basis.
In our tests the iRobot J7+ was the best "set it and forget it" robot. It was superior at mapping virtual boundaries, making virtual borders and avoiding obstacles than any of the other robots that we evaluated. It also has the ability to empty itself, so you aren't required to do it manually. And, the side brushes can help clean debris off edges and corners which a vacuum can't reach.
Its slim profile and infrared sensors enable it to reach under and behind furniture for more thorough cleaning than other robots. Its advanced navigation system is more capable of cleaning the entire floor of your home in a single charge as compared to other devices we've tried. It's hard to beat, especially at its affordable price.
Battery Life
A robot vacuum can make cleaning your floors feel less of a chore, and more like an indulgence. Fastly removing dirt, crumbs and shedding pet hair can make all the difference in how clean your home feels on a regular basis. A basic robot can take care of the majority of cleaning tasks. However those who prefer a more hands-off experience may wish to search for a model that can be used as a mop.
The Ecovacs Deebot T10 OMNI is among the top models for both, since it delivers excellent performance in both its mop and vacuuming modes, and is able to handle dirt debris, pet hair and even cat litter. Its object avoidance function is remarkable. It lets it best budget robot vacuum steer away from objects and avoid getting caught on them.
It also has a long battery life and a huge dust bin which allows it to cover a large amount of space in just one session. It's also a smart vacuum, which means it can be able to map your home, and it is compatible with apps like the ones offered by Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant to let you control the vacuum with voice commands.
The app that comes along with the robot allows you to set up schedules, designate specific rooms for cleaning or the ability to pause and resume sessions. It will notify you when its battery is low and will return to the docking station to recharge.
Another nice feature of this robot is that it can distinguish between carpets and hard floors and adjust its settings accordingly. This keeps the machine from getting caught up in one type of surface or accidently tearing up furniture. However, it is not yet able to discern high pile carpeting or seams in rooms, so you will still have to be careful about picking up large items.
All robot vacuums require a degree of maintenance, like brush hair removal and emptying (and sometimes, rinsing) the trash bin after each cleaning session, and wiping down cameras or sensors between uses to keep them in good condition. The manufacturer will provide specific instructions for these steps as well as other procedures, which will vary according to the model.
Cost
The top robot vacuums don't come cheap, but they're far cheaper than a professional carpet cleaner or even an entire stand-up vacuum. They also need less maintenance than traditional vacuums as they require that you empty (and occasionally rinse) their bins of dust after each cleaning session and often cleaning their cameras or sensors.
Many robot vacuums come with intelligent features that help them be more effective in your home, such as mapping technology, which allows you to instruct the vacuum to follow the layout of your room by using an app, so it knows not to run through the stairs or under the furniture, where there could be a mess. Other robot vacuums can recognize the kind of floor they are cleaning, so they can adjust their suction and brush features to achieve the most effective results.
Some models feature objects avoidance, which utilizes sensors (or even cameras) to detect toys and other items on the floor. They then instruct the robot to walk around them rather than run over them. This could be extremely helpful when you have children or pets that tend to scatter toys all over the home.
One other smart feature that may be important to you is voice control which allows you to operate the robot using your voice instead of using the buttons on board. This is useful when your children aren't yet old enough to operate the robot, or when it's practical for you.
How often you need to use your robot will depend on the amount of dirt and debris is usually found on your floors. Most experts recommend using a robotic vacuum several times a week to keep your floors looking their best and nabbing pet hair dust and dirt from the surface before it is able to get ground in or become more difficult to get rid of.
If you're limited with areas of floor space and don't want to utilize your robot for other purposes, a budget model like our top choice the Eufy 11S, is a suitable option. It's inexpensive, simple to install and operate, and gets the job done without causing any noise disruption while you work or watch TV.