Best Rated Robot Vacuum Cleaner
While robot vacuums are excellent in keeping your floors clean however, they're not able to substitute for a larger vacuum. Even the best robots can struggle to penetrate carpets or rugs and often get caught in cords and socks.
Being on top of routine maintenance (replacing filters cutting hair tangled from brushes, and emptying the dust bin) can help your robot last longer.
Battery Life
Most robot vacuums are equipped to handle a few cleaning sessions without needing to be charged. The second-placed model 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. This should be more than enough for the majority of small homes with carpets, hard flooring and carpets with low pile or larger homes with rooms that are about the same size.
A longer battery life means the robot will spend less time charging and spend more time cleaning. It's worth opting for models that have a self-emptying dust bin, as those models are more efficient when it comes to collecting debris and returning to the dock for recharging. It is important to clean or replace filters and wipe down the sensors and cameras regularly so they can be seen clearly.
Smart mapping technology is an important feature to be looking for since it permits you to program your robot to only clean specific rooms or areas where it's more likely to hit furniture or other obstacles. This feature is also useful for ensuring that your robot can reach under and around furniture such as sofas, beds and other large objects. A few robovacs are cheap and have boundaries that you can put on the floor to block off certain areas, while other high-end models utilize sensors and cameras for this purpose.
Even the best robot vacs 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 vacuums for light cleaning throughout the week.
Navigation
A robot should be able to navigate your home without getting stuck or crashing into things like screws made of metal or pet hair that is loose, or sand. In our tests we used a tracking device used to track the robot through the multi-room lab. It then analyzes its surroundings. We also check how well the robot avoids obstacles like power cords, furniture legs, and pet waste.
The most advanced robots can create multiple floors and recognize landmarks, like doors and windows. The most advanced ones, like the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra, feature a dual-sensor navigation system which uses the LIDAR sensor to map the space and a structured lighting camera in front of the robot to identify objects in real time. This lets the S8 to stay clear of common obstacles such as furniture legs and power cords and can also store up to four different floor maps within its internal memory.
The majority of the models that are affordable use bump sensors, which are not as accurate. In my tests, they were able to see through dog poop and 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 is a great carpet as well as a hard floor, tangle, and hair pickup. It also has an auto empty score that is close to perfect.
Another feature that is important is a huge onboard dustbin that doesn't need to be manually emptied, and for those models that mop, a water tank that can hold weeks worth of mopping sessions. The Karcher RCV 5 has this and a big enough footprint to go under furniture however, it's not so huge that it doesn't fit into the nook between your toilet and bathtub.
Apps
Robot vacuums are like their upright counterparts and require an array of technologies to keep them current. The result is a mature market with plenty of options. However, even the most advanced models require interaction with their users, particularly when cleaning schedules are being planned as well as establishing a home floor plan, and setting up virtual barriers.
Consider a model with its own app that can recognize the layout of your home and save the settings for future use. This will allow the robot vacuum to continue where it left off in subsequent runs, rather than having the mapping process restarted every time.
Also, consider models that offer zones or spot cleaning. You can instruct the robot vacuum cleaner to concentrate on a specific area, for example, under the table after a huge family meal. It is possible to do this via the app or by voice commands.
The ability to avoid objects is another feature that's available with numerous models. It allows the robot to see something in its path, such as a box of shoes or a crate of dog toys, and coach itself around it. This will stop it from crashing into objects that could harm its sensors or cause jams.
This feature is available on a few of the more expensive models we tested. However, they typically rely on bump sensors to accomplish this, and they weren't always able to stay clear of things in my test homes.
Pet Hair
When it comes to picking up pet hair, choose one that is specifically designed to handle this type of debris. The most effective models will feature an extremely high suction, a brush that stops tangling, and an automatic emptying mechanism. Some models can also determine dirt levels and adjust the intensity of cleaning according to the amount of dirt. They can even spot objects that aren't part of your flooring, such as furniture and toys, food bowls, cords, and more.
Certain robot vacuums come with pet-friendly features, like a small water dispenser that can be used to mop floors, and a HEPA filter that helps reduce allergens like pet dust. They might also have an operation that is quieter to minimize the amount of noise produced during cleaning sessions.
Robot vacuums that include maps are a great option for pet owners, as they're engineered to assess your home and devise plans of attack according to the layout and the obstacles in every room. Shark Matrix Plus is a dual-purpose robot vacuum that can create a map of a room, and navigate around furniture and other obstacles using accelerometer and Gyroscope smart sensors.
Apps allow good robot vacuum to set up zones that are not allowed. These are areas that the robot shouldn't be allowed, for instance, areas with fragile objects or pet feeding areas. This feature is particularly useful for households with busy schedules, as you can schedule cleaning sessions without needing to be in the room where the vacuum is. Spot cleaning is a great feature. You can use the vacuum cleaner to clean a spot that is particularly dirty or filled with pet hair.
Dust Bin
If you don't want something small, consider a robot with a large bin or even a self-emptying trash bin. That's why we recommend opting for a model that has a large bin or even a self-emptying dustbin. The former will enable you to keep up with cleaning the bin regularly enough to keep track of its performance, while the latter will save you time and hassle by automatically dumping its contents into an internal container every few cleanings.
No matter the size of your house, most robots can easily move around and up to furniture, and most can recognize and navigate around household obstacles such as shoes, loose cords, and dog poop. Consider models that have intelligent mapping capabilities, which permit them to "learn" the layout of your home and plan more efficient routes, and ones that can sense and avoid objects that could hinder their routes (like shoelaces or the tangled charging cables).
Some models also offer spot cleaning. This lets you choose a specific area of your home for intensive 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 screws and pet hair.
Depending on the brand, the majority of robots last for years and will continue to perform in the event that you are on top of maintenance, like cleaning out hair that has become tangled from brushes, emptying the dust bin after each use, and wiping down cameras and sensors as needed. The most efficient robots tend to be more modular which makes them simpler and less expensive to replace or repair parts such as batteries and wheels when they wear out.