Best Rated Robot Vacuum Cleaner
Robot vacuums are great for keeping your floors clean but they cannot replace a regular vacuum. Even the most powerful robots struggle to get into carpets or rugs and often get caught in cords and socks.
Maintaining a regular schedule of maintenance (replacing filters, cutting tangled hair from brushes and emptying the dust bin) will make your robot last longer.
Battery Life
The majority of robot vacuums can manage one or two cleaning sessions before requiring a charge. The Ecovacs Q30S Combo is a close second in our overall picks. It has a battery that can last up to 180 minutes (3,230 square feet) on one charge. The runtime is more than enough to clean 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 can spend less time charging and more time cleaning. It's worth opting for a model with a self-emptying dust bin, since these 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 sensors and camera regularly so they can be seen clearly.
Smart mapping technology is a useful feature to be looking for since it permits you to program your robot to only clean certain rooms or avoid areas where it's more likely to hit furniture or other obstacles. It's also beneficial for ensuring your robot is able to go under and around beds, sofas and other furniture that is tall. Some cheap robovacs have boundary strips that you can use to block certain areas. Other models of higher quality depend on sensors and cameras.
Even the best robot vacuum robot vacuums cannot replace a traditional vacuum when it comes to heavy-duty, large-pile dirt and debris. It is recommended to keep a power vacuum on hand to tackle these tasks, and also schedule robot vacuums for light cleaning throughout the week.
Navigation
A robot should be capable of traveling around your home and not getting caught or crashing into objects like metal screws pet hair, sand or. In our tests we used a tracking device used to track the robot through an entire lab. It then tracks its surroundings. We also test how the robot can avoid obstacles such as power cords, furniture leg and pet waste.
The best robots can map out several floors and can recognize landmarks such as doors and windows. The most advanced robots such as the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra have a dual sensor navigation system which uses an LIDAR to map out a room and a structured-light camera at the front to spot objects in real-time. The S8 can evade obstacles like power cords as well as legs of furniture. It also has the ability to store up to four floor maps.
The more affordable models don't have this kind 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 of shoes placed in the middle. The most cost-effective choice, the Dreametech D10+, is one exception to this. It is a great carpet and hard floor pickup, excellent hair and tangle pickup and a near perfect auto empty score.
A large onboard dustbin which doesn't have to be empty manually, is also a feature that's important. If you have models that mop the floor, this tank will provide enough water for several weeks of cleaning. Karcher's RCV 5 is an excellent example of this. It has a wide enough footprint to fit under furniture, but not too big that it cannot fit in the space between your toilet and bathtub.
Apps
Robot vacuums are a lot like upright vacuums and require lots of technology to bring them up to speed. There are a lot of choices available in a market that is mature. Even the most advanced models require interaction from their customers particularly when it comes time to schedule cleanings, create a floor plan for your home and install virtual barriers.
To reduce the impact of this interaction, consider looking for a model with its own app to determine the location of your home, and save the settings for future use. This will allow the robot vacuum to continue where it began on subsequent runs rather than having the mapping process restarted every time.
It's also worth keeping an eye out for a vacuum that comes with spot or zone cleaning modes. They let you tell the robot vacuum to concentrate on a particular area for example, like under the dining table after an enormous family meal. You can usually choose to use the app or by voice commands.
Many models also provide objects avoidance. It allows the robot when it spots something that is in its path such as a box of shoes or a crate filled with dog toys, to instruct itself around. This will stop it from crashing into objects which could harm its sensors or cause jams.
This feature is available on a few of the more expensive models we test. They rely on the technology of bump sensors for this however they did not always keep things out of my test home.
Pet Hair
When you're looking to remove pet hair, look for one that is specifically designed to handle this type of debris. The most effective models will have a high suction, a brush which stops tangling, and an automatic emptying mechanism. Some can also detect dirt levels and adjust cleaning intensity accordingly. They are also able to detect objects that aren't part of your home flooring, like furniture, toys and food bowls.
Certain robot vacuums have additional pet-friendly features. They include a water dispenser which is used to clean floors, and a HEPA filtering system that helps to reduce allergens like pet dust. They could also feature a quieter mode of operation to reduce the amount noise generated during cleaning sessions.
Robot vacuums that have maps are an excellent option for pet owners. They're designed to evaluate your home, and create an strategy based on the arrangement of each room and obstacles. Shark Matrix Plus is a dual-purpose robot vacuum that can create a map of a room, and navigate around furniture and other obstacles by using accelerometers and gyroscope sensors.
Apps let you create zones that are not allowed. These are areas that the robot is not permitted, such as areas that contain fragile items or pet feeding areas. This feature is particularly useful for families with busy schedules, since you can schedule cleaning sessions without having to be in the space in which the vacuum is. Another excellent feature is spot cleaning that allows you to control the vacuum to clean a specific area that is dirty or full of pet hair.
Dust Bin
If you don't need something small, go for a model with a large bin, or even a self-emptying dustbin. We recommend picking a model that has a large bin or a bin that automatically emptys. The one will let you keep up with emptying your bin often enough to maintain its performance. The latter will help you save time and effort by automatically dropping the contents into an inside container every few cleanings.
Look for models with smart mapping capabilities that enable them to "learn" the layout of your home and plan more efficient routes. They also detect and avoid objects that could hinder their routes (like shoelaces or tangled charging cables). Consider models that have smart mapping capabilities, which enable them to "learn" the structure of your home and devise more efficient routes, and models that detect and avoid objects that could hinder their routes (like shoelaces or strangling charging cables).
Some models also offer spot cleaning, which allows you to manually target a particular area of your home for thorough cleaning. In our tests, we found that the best models can remove small particles like baking soda, sand, orzo, metal screws and pet hair, in addition to heavier debris like oatmeal orzo, and metal screws.
According to the brand, robots can last years and perform as well, so long as they're maintained. For example cleaning hair tangled of brushes and emptying dust bins after each use, as well as wiping cameras and sensors down as required. The best-performing robots also tend to be more modular which makes them simpler and less costly to repair or replace components such as wheels and batteries when they get worn out.