Best Rated Robot Vacuum Cleaner
While robot vacuums are great in keeping your floors spotless, they can't substitute for a larger vacuum. Even the most powerful robots struggle to get into carpets and rugs. They also often get caught in cords and socks.
Your robot will last longer if you perform routine maintenance. This includes replacing filters, cutting hairs that are tangled from brushes, and emptying the dustbin.
Battery Life
Most robot vacuums are capable of handling a few cleaning sessions before requiring a charge. The runner-up in our overall picks, the Ecovacs Deebot Q30S Combo is 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 most smaller homes with a mix of hard floors and carpets with low pile, or a larger 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 more time cleaning. You should select a model that has an automatic emptying bin. These models are more efficient in picking up debris and returning to docks to recharge. It's also important to clean or replace the filter and wipe down sensors and cameras regularly so that they are able to see your home clearly.
Smart mapping technology is a useful feature to be looking for because it allows you to program your robot to only clear certain rooms or areas where it's likely to hit furniture or other obstacles. This feature is also helpful for ensuring that your robot is able to get under and around furniture such as sofas, beds and other high-height items. Some cheap robovacs have boundary strips that you can use to block off specific areas. Other high-end models rely on sensors and cameras.
Even the most powerful robot vacuums aren't able to replace a traditional vacuum for heavy-duty dirt and debris. It's advisable to keep a conventional power vac on standby for those tasks and to schedule robot vacs regularly for light cleaning throughout the week.
Navigation
A robot should be able to navigate you home without getting stuck or running into things such as metal screws or pet hair that is loose, or sand. In our tests the tracking device is used to follow the robot around the multi-room lab. It then tracks its surroundings. We also check how well the robot can avoid obstacles like power cords, furniture legs, and pet waste.
The most advanced robots can map out multiple floors, and recognize landmarks like doors and Windows. The most advanced ones such as the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra, feature a dual-sensor navigation system that utilizes the LIDAR sensor to map the space and a structured light camera on the front of the bot to detect objects in real-time. The S8 is able to avoid obstacles like power cords and legs of furniture. It can also store up to four floor maps.
Most affordable models use bump sensors, which aren't as precise. In my tests they were able detect dog poop and cords as well as a pair of shoes placed in the middle. The most affordable choice Dreametech D10+, is one exception to this. It is a great carpet and hard floor pickup, good hair and tangle pickup, and a near perfect auto empty score.
Another important feature is a huge onboard dustbin that doesn't need to be manually empty. It also has, for the models that mop, a tank of water that can hold weeks worth of cleaning sessions. The Karcher RCV 5 comes with this, and a large enough footprint to be tucked away under furniture, but not so large that it won't fit in the nook between your bathtub and toilet.
Apps
Robot vacuums are similar to their upright counterparts and require an array of technologies to keep them current. There are plenty of choices available in a market that is maturing. But even the top models require interaction with their users - particularly when cleaning schedules are being planned, establishing a home floor plan and establishing virtual barriers.
You might consider a model with its own app that can recognize the layout of your home and save these settings for later use. This will allow the robot vacuum to continue where it began on subsequent runs rather than having the mapping process restarted every time.
Also, look for models that offer zone or spot cleaning. These allow you to tell the robot vacuum to focus on a specific area for example, like under the dining room table after an enormous family meal. You can typically do this using the app or voice commands.
The ability to avoid objects is another feature that's available with many models. It allows the robot, when it spots something in its way such as a box shoe or a crate with dog toys, to coach itself around. This will stop it from crashing into objects that could damage its sensors or cause jams.
Some of the most expensive models in our tests include this feature. They rely on bump sensor technology for this however they did not always keep things out of my test home.
Pet Hair
Look for a vacuum cleaner that is specifically designed to remove hair from pets. The most effective models will have an extremely high suction, a brush which stops tangling, and an automatic emptying mechanism. Some models can detect levels of dirt and alter the level of cleaning. They are also able to detect objects that aren't part of your home flooring, like toys, furniture and food bowls.
Certain robot vacuums come with features that are pet-friendly, such as a small water dispenser that can be used for mopping floors and a HEPA filter that can reduce allergens such as pet dust. They could also feature a quieter mode of operation to reduce the amount noise produced during cleaning sessions.
Robot vacuums that have mapping capabilities are a great option for pet owners. They are designed to analyze your home and develop an attack plan based upon the layout of each room as well as obstacles. 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 smart sensors.
Apps let you establish no-go zones. These are areas that the robot shouldn't be permitted, such as areas that contain delicate objects or pet feeding areas. This feature can be especially beneficial for families with a lot of activity, as it allows you to plan your cleaning schedule and make adjustments without having be in the same room as the vacuum. Another great feature is spot cleaning that gives you the option to direct the vacuum to clean an area that is particularly dirty or brimming with pet hair.
Dust Bin
If you don't want anything tiny, choose a robot with a big bin or even a self-emptying trash bin. That's why we recommend opting for a model with a large bin, or perhaps self-emptying garbage bin. The former will enable you to keep track of cleaning the bin regularly enough to stay on top of its performance, while the latter will save you time and hassle by automatically dumping its contents into an internal container after every few cleans.
Look for models with smart mapping capabilities that permit them to "learn" the layout of your home and devise more efficient routes. They also can detect and avoid objects that could block their paths (like shoelaces or tangled charging cables). Find models with smart mapping capabilities. This allows them to "learn the structure of your home and plan an efficient route.
Some models provide spot cleaning. This allows you to select an area of your home to be targeted for intensive cleaning. We've found that most of the top performers in our tests are able to remove fine particles such as sand and baking soda, as well as heavier debris such as oatmeal, orzo pasta, metal screws, and pet hair.
Based on the manufacturer, most robots can last for a long time and continue to perform well as long as you are on top of maintenance tasks, such as cleaning hair that has become tangled from brushes, emptying the dust bin after each use, and cleaning cameras and sensors as required. The top robots are more modular. This makes it easier to replace or repair components like wheels and batteries when they get worn out.