Best Rated Robot Vacuum Cleaner

Robot vacuums are fantastic for keeping your floors tidy but they cannot replace a traditional vacuum. Even the best vacuums struggle to penetrate carpets or rugs and often get caught in cords and socks.

Staying on top of routine maintenance (replacing filters cutting hair that is tangled from brushes, and emptying the dust bin) will help your robot last longer.

Battery Life

Most robot vacuums can handle just a few cleaning sessions before requiring a charge. The runner-up of our overall 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. The runtime is more than enough time to clean the majority of smaller homes that have the combination of hard floors and carpets with low pile, or a larger home with rooms that are roughly the same size.

A longer battery lifespan also means that the robot is able to spend more time cleaning, and less time charging on its dock. It is recommended to choose a model that has an auto-emptying bin. These models are more efficient in picking up debris and returning to docks to recharge. It's important to clean or replace the filters and wipe down sensors and the camera regularly so that they can see clearly.

Smart mapping technology is an important feature to be looking for because 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 go under and around sofas, beds and other furniture with a high height. Some robovacs that are inexpensive have boundaries that you can place on the floor to block off areas, while others use cameras and sensors to accomplish this.

Even the best robot vacs cannot replace a traditional vacuum when it comes to heavy-duty large-pile dirt and other debris. It's recommended to have a power vacuum on hand for these tasks and schedule robot vacs for light cleanings throughout the week.

Navigation

A robot must be able to traveling around your home and not getting caught or crashing into things such as metal screws or pet hair, or sand. In our tests, a tracking device is used to track the robot's movements through a multi-room lab. It then maps its surroundings. We also examine how the robot can avoid obstacles like power cords, furniture legs, and pet waste.

The most advanced robots can map out several floors and can recognize landmarks like windows and doors. The most advanced models such as the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra, feature a dual-sensor navigation system that utilizes the LIDAR sensor to map the space and a structured light camera at the front of the robot to detect objects in real time. The S8 can evade obstacles like power cords as well as legs of furniture. It also has the ability to store up to four floor maps.

Most affordable models rely on bump sensors which aren't as precise. In my tests, they were able to see through dog poop and cords as well as a pair shoes placed in the middle. The Dreametech D10+ is the best value pick. It is a great carpet and hard floor pickup, great tangle and hair pickup, and a near perfect auto empty score.

A large onboard dustbin, which doesn't have to be emptying manually is another aspect that's crucial. For models that sweep the floor, this water tank is able to hold enough water to last for several weeks of cleaning. Karcher's RCV 5 is a great illustration of this. It has a large enough footprint to be able to be placed under furniture, but not so large that it is unable to fit into the space between your bathtub and toilet.

Apps

Robot vacuums are similar to upright models, and it takes lots of technology to get them up and running at speed. There are many choices available in a market that is mature. But even the best models require some interaction with their users - especially when it comes to scheduling cleanings as well as establishing a home floor plan, and setting up virtual barriers.

Consider a model with its own app that can recognize the layout of your home and save these settings for later use. This will allow the robot vacuum to continue where it began on subsequent runs rather than having the mapping process restarted each time.

You should also look for models that provide zones or spot cleaning. They let you tell the robot vacuum to focus on a specific area like under the dining room table after an enormous family meal. You can typically do this via the app or via voice commands.

The ability to avoid objects is another option that is available on many models. It lets the robot observe something in its path, like shoes, a crate of dog toys or a crate full of dog toys, and guide itself around it. This prevents it from crashing into things that might damage its sensors or cause a jam.

This feature is offered on some of the more expensive models we tested. However, they tend to rely on bump sensors for this and weren't always able to avoid obstacles in my test homes.

Pet Hair

Find an upright vacuum cleaner specifically designed to remove hair from pets. The most effective models will have a high suction, a brush which prevents tangling and an automatic emptying mechanism. Some can also detect dirt levels and adjust cleaning intensity accordingly. They are also able to detect objects that aren't part of your flooring in your home, such as toys, furniture and food bowls.

Certain robot vacuums come with pet-friendly features, like a water dispenser that can be used to mop floors and a HEPA filter that can help reduce allergens such as pet dust. They may also offer a quieter operation that can reduce the amount of sound generated during cleaning sessions.

Robot vacuums with maps are an excellent 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 Robot Vacuum is a smart vacuum that has the impressive ability to map the room and navigate around furniture and other obstacles using gyroscope and accelerometer smart sensors which work in tandem to understand the layout of your space.

Apps allow you to create no-go zones. These are areas that the robot should not be permitted, such as areas that contain fragile objects or pet feeding areas. This feature is especially useful for a busy household, as it allows you to schedule cleaning time and make adjustments without having to be in the same room as the vacuum. Another feature that is extremely useful is spot cleaning which lets you direct the vacuum to clean an area that may be particularly dirty or brimming with pet hair.

Dust Bin

If you don't need something tiny, choose a robot with a large bin or even a self-emptying bin. This is why we suggest opting for a model with a large bin, or perhaps a self-emptying dustbin. The one will let you keep up with emptying your bin frequently enough to maintain its performance. The latter will help you save time and effort by automatically dropping the contents into an inside container each time you clean it.

Whatever the size of your home the majority of robots are able to climb up and around furniture, and most are able to detect and navigate around household obstacles such as shoes, cords that are loose and dog puke. Find models with intelligent mapping capabilities, which enable them to "learn" the patterns of your house and devise more efficient routes, as well as ones that are able to detect and avoid objects that may hinder their routes (like shoelaces or strangling charging cables).

Some models also offer spot cleaning. This allows you to select an area of your home to be targeted for intensive cleaning. We've discovered that many of the top performers in our tests can pick up fine particles like baking soda and sand, along with heavier debris like oatmeal orzo pasta screws and pet hair.

According to the brand the company, robots can last for years and perform well as long as they're maintained. For instance cleaning hair tangled of brushes and emptying dust bins after each use and wiping sensors and cameras down as required. The top robots are more modular. This makes it easier to replace or repair parts like batteries and wheels, when they get worn out.