What to Look For in a Good Robot Vacuum

A good robot vacuum can keep you on top of pet hair, lint and dust on a regular basis. Many work with apps to let you schedule cleaning sessions and set virtual boundaries or "walls" to keep them from areas you don't want cleaned.

This mop and vac creates a map of your home with its first run, memorizing your space for future jobs. It has an extra-large dustbin that automatically emptys, as well as self-cleaning, self-cleaning brush roll.

Object Detection

When you are choosing a robotic vacuum, look for one that can take in large items, like toys and lamp cords, as well as fine dirt. This will ensure that they do not get caught in the roller brush or end up on your floor. This feature is especially important if your robot will be regularly cleaned by children or pets.

A model with an engine that is powerful and lots of suction is also an ideal option. This will make it more efficient at getting up pet hair, lint, and dust from your hardwood and carpet floors.

Another important consideration is the size of your home. If you live in a big home, you may choose models with multiple cleaning zones that can cover the entire house in a single session. Certain models also include mopping functions, which can be used to keep your floors fresh and clean.

Robot vacuums can last for a long time, but they'll need to be maintained and cleaned regularly. Regularly cleaning the rotating brushes and emptying the dust bin, and wiping the sensors will ensure that your robot Vacuum black friday is working efficiently for many years. Many of the robot vacuum owners who we talk to have owned their machines for 10 years or longer (and have replaced motors, brushes and batteries along with time).

A basic robot is less expensive than a large vacuum cleaner. They will still do an excellent job of cleaning dirt from surfaces as well as pet fur and lint. You can use them to scrub your floors several times per day. They don't have as much technology and are more prone to getting jammed or needing manual intervention.

Object Avoidance

The best robot vacuums use sensors, cameras or lasers to help you navigate your home, avoiding getting stuck or falling down the stairs. They are also able to avoid obstacles like cords and robot vacuum black Friday furniture legs, and some models can automatically return to their base or dock when they are running low on power. Some of the more expensive models come with mapping capabilities that allow them to remember your home's layout and therefore spend less time bumping against walls.

If you don't want to splurge on the most advanced robotic vacuums, you could find a model that is capable of picking up pet hair dirt, dust, and debris from floors that are hard like tile and wood as well as carpets with a low pile. They also can handle larger debris such as metal screws, rusty nails or even toys that have been discarded. Some models come with a base that automatically empty itself, which is ideal if you do not want to empty it at the end of each cleaning session.

Most robotic vacs also offer innovative features that make a ordinary stick vacuum appear old-fashioned such as scheduling, zone targeting, and the ability to control them via an app or voice assistant like Alexa. You can also create cleaning zones and virtual walls to block off areas that you don't want the robot to get into.

Certain robotic vacuums, such as the Eufy 11S and my former top pick, the Roborock S8, have obstacle avoidance technology that stops them from derailing by running into furniture or tangling cords. Some robot vacuums, such as the iRobot Roomba j7+ have more sophisticated AI obstacle avoidance technology that makes use of sensors, cameras and smarts to avoid items like lamp cords and pet waste. It's a little more expensive than other bots I've tried, but it did an impressive job of avoiding obstacles in my home and rarely got stuck or tangled when I was cleaning my flooring.

While the iRobot's j7+ was a good obstacle avoidance bot, it didn't always do an excellent job of avoiding dirt and crumbs off my rugs. It also had a tendency to over-vacuum certain areas, which resulted in dust accumulation in the filters, and an unclean house.

Smart Mapping

Some of the best robots vacuums come with an application that lets you alter cleaning modes, create schedules, and view the floor area that is covered by the machine. This is a handy feature that many competitors don't have. This makes it easy to create profiles that automatically start your robot at specified times and keep it running on regularly, for example, cleaning the living room before dinner or on a regular basis.

A good app will also let you control your robot via voice commands. Certain models are compatible with Amazon's Alexa and Google Assistant, which allows you to control your robot through voice commands.

To have a hands-free experience, opt for models with a large dust bin that can withstand numerous cleaning sessions before needing to be empty. There are models that are self-emptying which takes a portion of the burden of emptying the robot after each cleaning run.

If you're looking for a robotic that does more than auto vacuum cleaner, you should consider a model with mopping functions. These are usually bigger than robotic vacuums and include a water tank in the interior which can store several cleaning sessions worth of dirt and other debris prior to needing to be emptied.

The most advanced robots can create their own maps of your house and can even keep track of the arrangement from one cleaning to another, which helps them avoid getting lost or stuck in corners. This can make a huge difference in the speed at which your robot vacuums, as it won't be spending time returning to the beginning of the room when it encounters furniture or walls.

Our test subjects found that robots that had this feature were very efficient. They could sit and watch TV or do other tasks while the robot cleaned. Some models employ laser navigation to create a map of your home. You can program them to clean the bedroom after dinner, or in all rooms when you're at work.

App Control

If you'd like to alter the frequency at which the robot cleans your house and select the cleaning mode you should choose one that has an app for mobile devices. Through the app, you can also check the status of your vacuum and its dust bin. The best robotic vacuums can be controlled with Alexa, Google Assistant, Best Robot Vacuum Cleaner or Siri Shortcuts.

A robot that self-empties a bin and washable filters is easy to keep clean, especially when you are able to access the filter and then remove it to rinse it. Another feature that is great is a high-powered brush that can be found in corners and along baseboards making it much easier to get rid of dirt and hair. Some robots are more adept in avoiding the chair's legs than others, and some even have a self-cleaning sensor that prevents the clogging of brushes that can be a problem in other machines.

Some robo-vacs have navigation tools to help them navigate around obstacles and help you understand your home. High-end models use sensors and cameras to recognize obstacles like stairs, furniture and cords. The cheaper models could use boundaries to mark areas that you don't wish to see it go. Avoidance of objects is particularly useful for families with young kids who scatter socks and toys all over the home. This allows your robot to gather these items, instead of scattering them.

We're beginning to see more robots with mops, which are beneficial for those who have hard floors and need to mop them regularly. They come with water tanks built into the chassis, or an additional piece that you can put in when you're ready to mop. They may require to be refilled more often than other types of robots, however they're ideal for homes with hard floors which aren't easy to clean with a vacuum.

These robots are packed with some amazing technology, and cost a lot less than you'd think. You can find a quality one for less than $200, and it can do a decent job of cleaning on hard floors and can be scoured around the edges of carpets and rug. It is possible to schedule the robot to sweep the room every day and can be controlled remotely using the app or by pressing buttons on its side.