Best Rated Robot Vacuum Cleaner

While robot vacuums are great at keeping your floors clean but they aren't able to substitute for a larger vacuum. Even the most powerful robots struggle to penetrate carpets or rugs and often get tangled in socks and cords.

Your black friday robot vacuum deals will last longer if you perform routine maintenance. This includes replacing filters, removing hairs that are tangled from brushes, and emptying the dustbin.

Battery Life

Most robot vacuums are able to handle a couple of cleaning sessions without needing to be charged. The second-placed model in our top picks, the Ecovacs Deebot Q30S Combo, has a battery rated to last up to 180 minutes (3,230 square feet) of cleaning time on one charge. The runtime is more than enough to clean smaller homes with a mix of hard floors and carpets with low pile or a bigger home where the rooms are roughly the same size.

A longer battery life means the robot will spend less time charging and spend more time automated cleaning. It's a good idea to choose an auto-emptying dust bin, since they are more efficient when it comes to collecting debris and returning to the dock for recharging. It's important to clean or replace filters and wipe down sensors and the camera on a regular schedule so they can be seen clearly.

Smart mapping technology can be a valuable feature, as it allows you to program your robot to ensure it only cleans certain rooms or stays clear of areas where it's likely to bump into furniture and other obstacles. This feature is also beneficial to ensure that your robot is able to get under and around furniture like sofas, beds and other large objects. Some robovacs that are inexpensive have boundaries that you can put on the floor to block off areas while others make use of sensors and cameras to accomplish this.

Even the most powerful robot vacuum reviews vacuums aren't able to replace a conventional vac when it comes heavy-duty dirt and debris. It's best to keep an electric vacuum in your home for these tasks and schedule robot broom vacs for light cleanings throughout the week.

Navigation

A robot must be able to navigate around your home without getting stuck or crashing into things like metal screws or loose pet hair or sand. In our tests, we use a tracking device to follow the robot as it moves through a multiroom lab and shows its surroundings. We also look for how well it avoids obstacles like furniture legs, power cords and pet waste.

The top robots can map out several floors, and recognize landmarks such as windows and doors. 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 evade obstacles such as cables for power and furniture legs. It also has the capability to store up to four floor maps.

Most affordable models use 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 best value pick Dreametech D10+, is an exception to this. It has excellent carpet and hard floor pickup, excellent tangle and hair pickup, and an almost perfect auto empty score.

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

Apps

Robot vacuums are like their upright counterparts and require lots of technology to get them up to speed. The result is a pretty mature market that is brimming with options. However, even the most advanced models require some interaction with their users - especially when cleaning schedules are being planned, establishing a home floor plan and establishing virtual barriers.

To lessen the chance of this interaction, consider looking for a model that has its own app to identify the location of your home, and save those settings for the future. This will let the robot vacuum begin where it left off in subsequent runs, rather than having to restart the mapping process each time.

It's important to look out for a model that has zones or spot cleaning options. You can tell the robot vacuum cleaner to focus on a specific area, such as under the table after a large family meal. It is possible to do this using the app or via voice commands.

A lot of models also offer objects avoidance. It lets the robot detect objects in its path, for instance the shoe box or a crate of dog toys, and coach itself around it. This prevents it from running into things that could harm its sensors or cause a jam.

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

Pet Hair

Find the best vacuum cleaner specifically designed to remove hair from pets. The most effective models come with high suction power and a brush that prevents tangling, and an emptying mechanism that will automatically dump hair into the bin when it is needed. Some are also able to detect dirt levels and adjust cleaning intensity according to the amount of dirt. They are also able to detect items that aren't a part of your flooring at home, such as furniture, toys and food bowls.

Certain robot vacuums have extra pet-friendly features. These include the water dispenser that can be used to mop floors, and an HEPA filtration system that reduces allergens like pet dust. They might also have a quieter mode of operation to reduce the amount noise generated during cleaning sessions.

Robot vacuums with maps are a great option for pet owners since they're designed to evaluate your home and create an action plan according to the layout and obstacles in every room. Shark Matrix Plus is a 2-in-1 robot vacuum that can create a map of a room, and 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. 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 needing to be in the space where the vacuum is. Another excellent feature is spot cleaning which gives you the option to control the vacuum to clean a specific area that may be particularly dirty or brimming with pet hair.

Dust Bin

If you don't want anything tiny, choose a robot with a large bin, or even a self-emptying dustbin. That's why we recommend opting for a model with a large bin or even a self-emptying dustbin. The one will let you keep up with emptying your bin frequently enough to ensure its efficiency. The latter will help you save time and effort by automatically dumping the contents into an internal container every few cleanings.

Whatever the size of your home Most robots are able to get up to and around furniture, and most are able to detect and navigate around household obstacles like shoes, cords that are loose, and dog puke. Look for models that have smart mapping capabilities. This lets them "learn the structure of your home and design a an efficient route.

Some models also provide spot cleaning, which lets you to manually target an area of your home for thorough cleaning. In our tests, we discovered that the best models can remove small particles like sand, baking soda, orzo, metal screws and pet hair, as well as heavier debris like oatmeal orzo, and metal screws.

Based on the manufacturer, the majority of robots last for a long time and remain in good working order as long as you maintain them with regular maintenance, like cleaning out hair that has become tangled from brushes and dust bins, emptying them after each use, and cleaning cameras and sensors as needed. The best-performing robots also tend to be more modular and therefore easier and less costly to repair or replace components such as wheels and batteries as they wear out.