Best Rated Robot Vacuum Cleaner

While robot vacuums are great in keeping your floors spotless, they can't replace a full-size vacuum. Even the best automatic floor cleaner robots aren't able to get deep into carpets and rugs and they may get caught with 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 just a few cleaning sessions before needing to recharge. The Ecovacs Q30S Combo is the second-best buy robot vacuum of our top selections. It has an energy-efficient battery that can last for up to 180 minutes (3,230 square foot) on one charge. This 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 house with rooms that are roughly the same size.

A longer battery life means that the robot will spend less time charging and can spend more time cleaning. You should select one with an automatic hoover robot emptying bin. These models are more efficient in collecting debris and then returning to docks to recharge. It's also important to clean or replace the filter and clean sensors and cameras on a regular basis so they can clearly see your home.

Smart mapping technology is a useful feature to be looking for since it permits you to program your robot to only clean specific rooms or areas where it's more likely to bump into furniture or other obstacles. This feature is also beneficial to ensure that your robot is able to get under and around furniture such as sofas, beds and other high-height items. Some robovacs are inexpensive and come with boundary strips you can use to block certain areas. Other models of higher quality rely on sensors and cameras.

Even the best robot vacs can't replace a conventional vacuum for heavy-duty large-pile dirt and debris. It is recommended to keep a traditional power vac in reserve to handle these chores, and to schedule robot vacs regularly for light cleanups throughout the week.

Navigation

A robot must be able to navigate you home without getting stuck or running into things like metal screws, loose pet hair, or sand. In our tests, we employ an instrument to track the robot as it moves through a multiroom lab. It shows its surroundings. We also test how the robot is able to avoid obstacles like power cords, furniture leg and pet waste.

The most advanced robots can map out different floors and recognize landmarks, like windows and doors. The most advanced models, like the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra, come with a dual-sensor navigation device that uses the LIDAR sensor to map the space and a structured lighting camera in front of the robot to identify objects in real-time. The S8 can avoid obstacles like power cords as well as furniture legs. It also has the ability to store up to four floor maps.

Most affordable models depend on bump sensors that aren't as precise. In my testing they were able to rip through cords, dog poop, and even the shoes that were placed in the middle of the room. The best value pick Dreametech D10+, is one exception to this. It has excellent carpet, hard floor, tangle and hair pickup. It also has a near-perfect auto empty score.

Another feature that is important is a large dust bin that doesn't require manually empty, and for those models that mop, a water tank which can store weeks of mopping. The Karcher RCV 5 comes with this feature and has a large enough footprint to be placed under furniture however, it's not so huge that it can't fit into the space between your toilet and bathtub.

Apps

Robot vacuums are a lot like their upright counterparts and require lots of technology to bring them up to speed. There are a lot of choices available in a market that is mature. But even the best models require interaction with their users, particularly when cleaning schedules are being planned, establishing a home floor plan and establishing virtual barriers.

Think about a model that has its own app that can determine the layout of your house 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.

You should also look for models that provide spot or zone cleaning. You can tell the robot robotic vacuum cleaner cleaner to concentrate on a specific area, such as under the table after a large family meal. You can usually choose to do this using the app or voice commands.

Many models also provide object avoidance. It allows the robot to observe something in its path, such as a box of shoes or a crate of dog toys, and coach itself around it. This will stop it from crashing into objects that could damage its sensors or cause jams.

This feature is available on a few of the more expensive models we tried. They rely on bump sensor technology to do 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 top 5 robot vacuum models feature powerful suction capabilities and a brush that is free of the tangling and an emptying mechanism that can automatically empty hair into the dust bin when needed. Some can also detect dirt levels and adjust the intensity of cleaning in line with the level of dirt. They can even spot objects that aren't part of the flooring in your home, such as furniture toys, food bowls, toys cords, and much more.

Some robot vacuums include pet-friendly features, like a water dispenser that can be used to mop floors and an HEPA filter that can reduce allergens, such as pet dander. They could also provide an operation that is quieter, which can minimize the amount of noise generated during cleaning sessions.

Robot vacuums with the ability to map are a great option for pet owners since they are designed to analyze your home and create an action plan based on the layout and obstructions in every room. Shark Matrix Plus is a dual-purpose robot vacuum that can map a room, navigate around furniture and other obstacles using accelerometer and gyroscope sensors.

Other models that are more advanced let you set no-go zones, which are areas that the robot is supposed to stay clear of, such as fragile items or pet feeding spots--by adjusting settings using an app. This feature is especially beneficial for households with busy schedules, as you can schedule cleaning times without having to be in the space where the vacuum is. Spot cleaning is a great feature. You can instruct the vacuum cleaner to clean a space that is particularly dirty or filled with pet hair.

Dust Bin

If you're not looking for something small, you'll want to choose a robot that can hold at least a large bag of garbage from one cleaning session. We recommend choosing the one with a large bin or a bin that automatically emptys. The former will enable you to keep up with emptying the bin often enough to keep track of its performance while the latter will save you time and effort by automatically dumping its contents into an internal container every few cleanings.

No matter the size of your house Most robots are able to climb up and around furniture, and almost all are able to detect and navigate around household obstacles like shoes, cords that are loose and dog poop. Look for models that have smart mapping capabilities. This lets them "learn the patterns of your house and design a more efficient route.

Some models also provide spot cleaning, which lets you to manually target specific areas of your home for thorough cleaning. In our tests, we discovered that the top models are able to take out small particles like sand, baking soda, orzo, metal screws, and pet hair, in addition to heavier debris such as oatmeal, orzo, and screws made of metal.

The brand you choose will determine the longevity of the robot. most robots can last for years and will remain in good working order as long as you maintain them with regular maintenance, such as cleaning hair that has become tangled from brushes and emptying the dust bin after each use and wiping down cameras and sensors when required. The best-performing robots also tend to be more modular and therefore easier and less expensive to repair or replace components such as batteries and wheels as they wear out.