Best Rated Robot Vacuum Cleaner

While robot vacuums are fantastic in keeping your floors spotless but they aren't able to substitute for a larger vacuum. Even the best vacuums struggle to get into carpets or rugs and often get caught in socks and cords.

Staying on top robot vacuum 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 can handle one or two cleaning sessions before needing to recharge. The runner-up of our overall picks, the Ecovacs Deebot Q30S Combo is that is designed to last for best vacuums up to 180 minutes (3,230 square feet) of cleaning time on one charge. That amount of runtime is enough to clean most smaller homes with a mix of hard floors and carpets with low pile or a larger house in which the rooms are about the same size.

A longer battery life also means the robot can spend more time cleaning and less time charging its dock. It's worth opting for models that have a self-emptying dust bin, as these models are more efficient in picking up debris and returning to the dock for charging. It is also essential to clean or replace the filter and clean sensors and cameras on a regular basis so they are able to see your home clearly.

smart vacuum mapping technology can be a valuable feature, as you can program your robot so that it only cleans specific rooms or areas it's likely to crash into furniture or other obstacles. It's also useful for ensuring that your robot can get under and around beds, sofas and other furniture that is tall. Some cheap robovacs come with boundary strips that you can use to block certain areas. Other models of higher quality rely on cameras and sensors.

Even the most powerful robot vacuums cannot replace a traditional vacuum for heavy-duty dirt and debris. It's wise to keep a traditional power vac on standby for these tasks, and to schedule robot vacuums regularly for light cleanups throughout the week.

Navigation

A robot should be able to navigate you home without getting stuck or crashing into objects like screws made of metal or pet hair that is loose, or sand. In our tests, we employ a tracking device to follow the robot as it goes through a multiroom lab and shows its surroundings. We also look for the way it manages to avoid obstacles, including furniture legs, power cords and pet waste.

The best robots are able to create several floors and recognize landmarks like doors and windows. The most advanced robots, like the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra have a dual sensor navigation system that uses a LIDAR to map out a room and a structured-light camera on the front to detect objects in real-time. This allows the S8 to stay clear of common obstacles like power cords and furniture legs, and it can store up to four different floor maps in its internal memory.

More affordable models don't have this type of object detection and rely on bump sensors which aren't as accurate. In my tests, they were able to detect dog poop through cords, as well as a pair shoes placed in the middle. The most cost-effective choice the 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 feature worth mentioning is a huge onboard dustbin that doesn't need to be manually empty. It also has, for those models that mop, a tank of water that can last for weeks of mopping sessions. The Karcher RCV 5 comes with this, and a large enough footprint to be placed under furniture, but not so large that it doesn't fit into the nook between your toilet and bathtub.

Apps

Robot vacuums are similar to their upright counterparts and require an array of technologies to keep them up to date. The result is a mature market that is brimming with options. However, even the most advanced models still require some interaction with their users - especially when cleaning schedules are being planned as well as establishing a home floor plan and establishing virtual barriers.

To reduce the impact of this interaction, consider looking for a model that has its own app to determine the location of your home, and save the settings for future use. This will allow the robot vacuum cleaner top 10 vacuum to continue where it started when it runs again, instead of having the mapping process restarted every time.

It's worth looking out for a model that has spot or zone cleaning modes. You can instruct the vacuum cleaner to focus on an area, like under the table after a huge family meal. You can usually choose to do this via the app or voice commands.

Avoidance of objects is a different feature that's included in numerous models. It lets the robot detect objects in its path, such as a box of shoes or a crate full of dog toys, and guide itself around it. This will stop it from hitting objects that could harm its sensors or cause jams.

This feature is available on a few of the more expensive models we test. However, they usually rely on bump sensors to accomplish this and didn't always manage to avoid obstacles in my test homes.

Pet Hair

Find a vacuum cleaner that is designed to pick up hair from pets. The most effective models will have the highest suction, a brush which stops tangling, and an automatic emptying mechanism. Some models are able to detect dirt levels and alter the level of cleaning. They can also detect objects that aren't a part of your home's flooring like furniture, toys, food bowls cords, and so on.

Certain robot vacuums come with features that are pet-friendly, such as small water dispensers that can be used for mopping floors, and an HEPA filter that can help reduce allergens, such as pet dust. They could also feature a quieter mode of operation to cut down on the amount of noise produced during cleaning sessions.

Robot vacuums that include the ability to map are a great option for pet owners since they are designed to analyze your home and develop plans of attack in accordance with the layout and the obstacles in each room. Shark Matrix Plus is a dual-purpose robot vacuum that can map a room, navigate through furniture, and over other obstacles with the help of accelerometers and gyroscope smart sensors.

Other advanced models allow you to set no-go zones, which are areas that the robot is expected to avoid, such as items that are fragile or pet feeding spots. You can adjust these settings via an app. This feature is especially useful for households with busy schedules, as it allows you to schedule cleaning sessions and adjust settings without having to be in the same room as the vacuum. Another excellent feature is spot cleaning, which lets you use the vacuum to clean a particular area that is dirty or brimming with pet hair.

Dust Bin

If you're not searching for something small it is recommended to select a robot that can carry at least a full bag of garbage from one cleaning session. We recommend choosing a model that has a large bin, or even a dustbin that self-empties. The one will let you keep up with the process of emptying your bin regularly enough to keep it functioning. The latter will help you save time and effort by automatically dropping the contents into an inside container after every cleaning.

No matter the size of your house the majority of robots are able to move around and up to furniture, and they are able to detect and navigate around household obstacles such as shoes, cords that are loose and dog urine. Look for models that have smart mapping capabilities. This lets them "learn the patterns of your house and plan more efficient route.

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

Based on the manufacturer, most robots will last for a long time and remain in good working order so long as you maintain them with regular maintenance tasks, such as cleaning hair that is tangled from brushes and dust bins, emptying them after each use, and wiping down sensors and cameras when required. The most efficient robots tend to be more modular which makes them simpler and less expensive to replace or repair parts such as wheels and batteries as they wear out.