Best Rated Robot Vacuum Cleaner

While robot vacuums are excellent at keeping your floors clean but they aren't able to replace a large-sized vacuum. Even the best robots have trouble getting deep into carpets and rugs and they can get tangled up in cords and socks.

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

Battery Life

Most robot vacuums are capable of handling one or two cleaning sessions before requiring a charge. The Ecovacs Q30S Combo is the runner-up of our top picks. It has a battery that can last up to 180 minutes (3,230 square feet) on one charge. The runtime is more than enough time to clean most smaller homes with a mix of hard floors and carpets with low pile or a bigger home with rooms that are roughly the same size.

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

Smart mapping technology is a useful feature to look for, as it allows you to program your robot to only clean certain rooms or avoid areas that it's likely to bump into furniture or other obstacles. It's also helpful for ensuring your robot can get under and around sofas, beds and other furniture that is tall. Some cheap robovacs offer boundaries that you can place on the floor to block off areas, and other models with higher-end features make use of sensors and cameras to accomplish this.

Even the best auto vacuum robot vacuums cannot replace a traditional vacuum for heavy-duty large-pile dirt and debris. It's best to keep a power vacuum available to tackle these tasks, and also schedule robot vacs to do light cleaning throughout the week.

Navigation

A robot should be able to navigate you home without getting stuck or crashing into things such as metal screws or loose pet hair or sand. In our tests, a tracking device is used to track the amazon robot vacuum through an entire lab. It then tracks its surroundings. We also examine how well it avoids obstacles like power cords, furniture legs and pet waste.

The best robots are able to map out multiple floors and can recognize landmarks like windows and doors. The most advanced ones such as the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra, come with a dual-sensor navigation device which uses the LIDAR sensor to map out the room, and a light camera at the front of the robot to identify objects in real time. The S8 is able to avoid obstacles such as power cords and furniture legs. It can also store up to four floor maps.

Cheaper models don't come with this type of object detection and rely on bump sensors which aren't as accurate. In my testing, they plowed right through dog poop, cords, and even the shoes that were placed in the middle of the room. The most cost-effective choice Dreametech D10+, is an exception to this. It has excellent carpet, hard floor, tangle, and hair pickup. It also has an auto empty score that is close to perfect.

Another important feature is a huge onboard dustbin which doesn't have to be manually emptied, and for the models that mop, a tank of water which can store weeks of mopping. Karcher's RCV 5 is a good illustration of this. It has a wide enough footprint to fit under furniture, but not too big that it cannot fit in the space between your bathtub and toilet.

Apps

Robot vacuums are similar to their upright counterparts and require a lot of technology to keep them up to date. The result is a pretty mature market full of options. Even the most advanced models require interaction from their customers particularly when it comes time to schedule cleaning, make a a floor plan for your home and install virtual barriers.

To help reduce the impact of this interaction, you should look for a model with its own app to determine the design of your home and save those settings for future use. 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 also worth keeping an eye out for a model that has zones or spot cleaning modes. You can instruct the robot vacuum cleaner to concentrate on a specific area, for example, under the table after a huge family meal. You can choose to use the app or by voice commands.

Many models also offer objects-avoidance. It lets the robot observe something in its path, such as the shoe box or a crate filled with dog toys, and then guide itself around it. This will keep it from crashing into things that could damage its sensors or cause jams.

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

Pet Hair

Look for an upright vacuum cleaner designed to pick up pet hair. The best models will have an extremely high suction, a brush which keeps hair from tangling and an automated vacuum cleaner emptying mechanism. Some models can detect levels of dirt and adjust the intensity of cleaning. They can even spot items that aren't part of your home's flooring, such as furniture toys, food bowls, toys cords, and much more.

Some robot vacuums come with additional features that are pet-friendly. These include a water dispenser which is used to mop floors, and an HEPA filtration system that reduces allergens, such as pet dust. They might also have a quieter mode of operation to minimize the amount of noise generated during cleaning sessions.

Robot vacuums with maps are an excellent option for pet owners. They're designed to assess your home and devise an attack plan based on the layout of each room and obstacles. For example the Shark Matrix Plus 2-in-1 Vacuum is a smart vacuum that has the amazing ability to map the room and navigate around furniture and other obstructions with accelerometer and gyroscope smart sensors which work in tandem to understand 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 stay clear of, such as fragile items or pet feeding spots. You can adjust these settings through an app. This feature is especially beneficial for families with busy schedules, since you can schedule cleaning sessions without having to be in the room where the vacuum is. Spot cleaning is an additional fantastic feature. You can use the vacuum cleaner to clean a spot that is especially dirty or is brimming with pet hair.

Dust Bin

If you don't need something small, go for a model with a big bin or even a self-emptying bin. This is why we suggest opting for a model with a large bin, or perhaps self-emptying garbage bin. The one will let you keep up with emptying your bin frequently enough to keep it functioning. The second will save you time and effort by automatically dropping the contents into an inner container each time you clean it.

No matter the size of your house, most robots can easily get up to and around furniture, and most are able to detect and navigate around household obstacles such as loose cords, shoes and dog poop. Make sure you choose models with smart mapping capabilities. This lets them "learn the patterns of your house and plan more efficient routes.

Some models also offer spot cleaning, which allows users to select a particular area of your home for thorough cleaning. We've observed that the majority of the top performers in our tests can pick up fine particles like sand and baking soda, along with heavier particles like oatmeal, orzo pasta, metal screws, and pet hair.

The brand you choose will determine the longevity of the robot. most robots will last for years and will continue to perform so long as you maintain them with regular maintenance, like cleaning out hair that is tangled from brushes, emptying the dust bin after each use, and wiping down cameras and sensors when required. The most efficient robots tend to be more modular and therefore easier and cheaper to repair or replace components like batteries and wheels as they wear out.