Best Rated Robot Vacuum Cleaner

While robot vacuums are fantastic at keeping your floors clean, they can't substitute for a larger vacuum. Even the best robots aren't able to get deep into carpets and rugs and they can get tangled up in cords and socks.

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

Battery Life

Most robot vacuums are able to handle a few cleaning sessions without needing to be charged. The runner-up in our overall picks, the Ecovacs Deebot Q30S Combo, has a battery that is designed to last for up to 180 minutes (3,230 square feet) of cleaning time on one charge. This is enough to clean smaller homes with carpets that are hard and carpets with low pile or a larger house in which the rooms are about the same size.

A longer battery life means the robot will spend less time charging and can spend more time cleaning. It's recommended to select models that have a self-emptying dust bin because they are more efficient when it comes to picking up debris and returning to the dock for recharging. It's important to clean or replace the filters and clean the sensors and the camera regularly so they can see clearly.

Smart mapping technology can be a useful feature, since you can program your robot to ensure it only cleans certain rooms or areas it is likely to bump into furniture and other obstacles. It's also beneficial for ensuring your robot is able to get under and around beds, sofas and other furniture with a high height. Some cheap robovacs come with boundary strips that you can use to block off specific areas. Other models of higher quality rely on sensors and cameras.

Even the best robot vacs can't replace a conventional vacuum when it comes to heavy-duty, large-pile dirt and debris. It's recommended to have a power vacuum available for these tasks and 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 objects such as metal screws, loose pet hair, or sand. In our tests, we use a tracking device to follow the amazon robot vacuum as it travels through a multiroom lab and determine its surroundings. We also look for the extent to which it can avoid obstacles like furniture legs, power cords, and pet waste.

The best robots can map out different floors and recognize landmarks such as doors and windows. The most advanced robots like the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra have a dual sensor navigation system which utilizes an LIDAR to create a floor plan and a structured-light camera mounted on the front to detect objects in real-time. This lets the S8 to avoid common obstacles like furniture legs and power cords and can also store up to four different floor maps in its internal memory.

Most affordable models use 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 affordable choice the Dreametech D10+, is one exception to this. It is a great carpet and hard floor pickup, good hair and tangle pickup and an auto vacuum empty score.

Another feature worth mentioning is a large dust bin which doesn't have to be manually empty, and for the models that mop, a tank of water that can hold weeks worth of cleaning sessions. Karcher's RCV 5 is a good example of this. It has a large enough footprint to fit under furniture but not so big that it cannot fit in the nook between your bathtub and toilet.

Apps

Robot vacuums are a lot similar to upright models and require an enormous amount of technology to bring them up to speed. There are plenty of alternatives available in a marketplace that is maturing. Even the best models require input from their users, especially when it comes to schedule cleaning, make a the floor plan of your home, and set up virtual barriers.

You might consider a model with its own app that can determine the layout of your house and save the settings for future use. This will let the robot vacuum start where it left off in subsequent runs, rather than having to restart the mapping process each time.

You should also look for models that offer zones or spot cleaning. They allow you to instruct the robot vacuum bot to focus on a specific area for example, like under the dining table following the family's big meal. You can choose to do this using the app or voice commands.

A lot of models also offer objects-avoidance. It allows the robot, when it comes across something that is in its path such as a box of shoes or a crate containing dog toys, to instruct itself around. This prevents it from crashing into objects that could harm its sensors or cause jams.

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

Pet Hair

When it comes to picking up pet hair, choose the right model designed to handle this type of debris. The most effective models will have the highest suction, a brush which stops tangling, and an automatic emptying mechanism. Some models can detect levels of dirt and adjust the intensity of cleaning. They also can detect objects that aren't part of your flooring in your home, such as toys, furniture and food bowls.

Certain robot vacuums have additional features that are pet-friendly. These include a water dispenser which is used to mop floors and an HEPA filtering system that eliminates allergens, such as pet dust. They may also have an operation that is quieter to cut down on the amount of noise that is generated during cleaning.

Robot vacuums with the ability to map are a great option for pet owners since they're designed to evaluate your home and create a plan of attack based on the layout and the obstacles in every room. For instance the Shark Matrix Plus 2-in-1 Robot Vacuum is a smart intelligent vacuum cleaner that has an impressive ability to map the room and navigate around furniture and other obstructions using gyroscope and accelerometer smart sensors that work in conjunction to learn the layout of your space.

Apps let you set up zones that are not allowed. These are areas where the robot is not allowed, such as fragile items or pet feeding areas. This feature is especially beneficial for families with a lot of activity as it permits you to plan your cleaning schedule and adjust settings without having to be in the same room as the vacuum. Another excellent feature is spot cleaning that lets you control the vacuum to clean an area that is particularly filthy or full of pet hair.

Dust Bin

If you don't need something small, consider a robot with a large bin, or even a self-emptying dustbin. We recommend picking the one with an enormous 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 second will save you time and effort by automatically dumping the contents into an internal container each time you clean it.

No matter the size of your house, most robots can easily climb up and around furniture, and they are able to detect and navigate around household obstacles like shoes, loose cords and dog poop. Find models with smart mapping capabilities, which enable them to "learn" the layout of your home and design more efficient routes, as well as models that detect and avoid objects that could block their paths (like shoelaces or strangling charging cables).

Some models also offer spot cleaning, which lets you to choose an area of your home for thorough cleaning. We've observed that the majority of the top performers in our tests are able to remove fine particles such as sand and baking soda, together with larger debris such as oatmeal orzo pasta screws and pet hair.

According to the company the manufacturer, robots last for a long time and perform as well, so long as they are maintained. For instance cleaning hair that is tangled out of brushes and emptying dust bins after each use and wiping cameras and sensors down when needed. The best-performing robots also tend to be more modular which makes them simpler and less costly to repair or replace parts such as batteries and wheels when they get worn out.