Best Rated Robot Vacuum Cleaner
While Robot Vac vacuums are excellent in keeping your floors spotless but they aren't able to replace a full-size vacuum. Even the best robots can struggle to get deep into carpets or rugs, and can often get caught in socks and cords.
Your robot will last longer if it is maintained with routine maintenance. This includes replacing filters, cutting hairs that are tangled from brushes, and emptying the dust bin.
Battery Life
Most robot vacuums are able to handle a few cleaning sessions without needing to be charged. The Ecovacs Q30S Combo is a close second in our top selections. It has an energy-efficient battery that can last for up to 180 minutes (3,230 square feet) on a single charge. The runtime is more than enough time to clean most smaller homes with a mix of hard floors and low-pile carpets, or a larger home with rooms that are roughly the same size.
A longer battery lifespan also means that the robot is able to spend more time cleaning and less time charging on its dock. It's worth opting for models that have a self-emptying dust bin because those models are more efficient when it comes to cleaning up debris and returning to the dock for recharging. It's also important to empty or change the filter and clean cameras and sensors on a regular basis to ensure they can see your home clearly.
Smart mapping technology can be a useful feature, since you can program your robot to ensure that it only cleans specific rooms or avoids areas where it is likely to bump into furniture and other obstacles. It's also useful for ensuring that your robot is able to go under and around sofas, beds and other tall furniture. Some robovacs that are inexpensive have boundaries that you can put on the floor to block off areas and other models with higher-end features use cameras and sensors to achieve this goal.
Even the best robot vacuums aren't able to replace a traditional vacuum for heavy-duty, large-pile dirt and debris. It's advisable to keep a traditional power vac in reserve to handle these chores, and to schedule robot vacs regularly for light cleaning throughout the week.
Navigation
A robot must be able to moving around your home without being caught or running into things such as metal screws or pet hair, or sand. In our tests, a tracking device is used to track the robot through an entire lab. It then maps 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 create several floors and recognize landmarks, like windows and doors. The most advanced robots like the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra have a dual sensor navigation system, which utilizes a LIDAR to map out a room and a structured-light camera at the front to identify objects in real-time. The S8 can avoid obstacles such as power cords as well as legs of furniture. It also has the capability to store up to four floor maps.
The majority of the models that are affordable depend on bump sensors that aren't 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 Dreametech D10+ is the best value pick. It is a great carpet and hard floor pickup, excellent hair and tangle pickup and an almost perfect auto empty score.
Another feature that is important is a large dust bin which doesn't have to be manually emptied, and for models that mop, a water tank that can last for weeks of cleaning sessions. The Karcher RCV 5 has this and a big enough footprint that it can be tucked away under furniture however, it's not so huge that it can't fit into the nook between your bathtub and toilet.
Apps
Robot vacuums are a lot similar to upright models, and it takes an enormous amount of technology to get them up and running at speed. The result is a pretty mature market with plenty of options. Even the best models require input from their users especially when it comes to schedule cleanings, create the floor plan of your home and set up virtual barriers.
Think about a model that has its own app that can recognize 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 start the mapping process every time.
It's also worth keeping an eye out for a model that offers zones or spot cleaning options. You can instruct the vacuum cleaner to concentrate on a specific area, for example, under the table after a big family meal. You can choose to use the app or voice commands.
Object avoidance is another feature that's available with numerous models. It permits the robot, when it spots something in its way, like a box of shoes or a crate filled with dog toys, to guide itself around. This prevents it from running into things that could harm its sensors or cause jams.
This feature is available on some of the more expensive models we test. However, they tend to rely on bump sensors to accomplish this and didn't always manage to avoid obstacles in my test homes.
Pet Hair
Choose an upright vacuum cleaner designed to pick up hair from pets. The top models feature powerful suction and a brush that is free of the tangling and an emptying mechanism that can automatically dump hair into the dust bin when it is needed. Some models can detect levels of dirt and alter the level of cleaning. They also can detect objects that aren't part your flooring at home, such as toys, furniture and food bowls.
Certain robot vacuums have additional pet-friendly features. These include a water dispenser that is used to clean floors, and an HEPA filtering system that helps to reduce allergens, such as pet dander. They may also have an operation that is quieter to reduce the amount noise generated during cleaning sessions.
Robot vacuums that include the ability to map are a great option for pet owners since they're engineered to assess your home and develop an action plan based on the layout and obstacles in each room. Shark Matrix Plus is a 2-in-1 robot vacuum that can map a room, navigate around furniture, and other obstacles using accelerometer and Gyroscope smart sensors.
Other advanced models allow you to define no-go zones that are areas that the robot is expected to avoid--like fragile items or pet feeding spots. You can adjust these settings through an app. This feature is especially beneficial for families with a lot of activity, as it allows you to plan your cleaning schedule and make adjustments without having to be in the same room as the vacuum. Another feature that is extremely useful is spot cleaning which lets you use the vacuum to clean a particular area that is dirty or full of pet hair.
Dust Bin
If you don't want anything tiny, choose a robot with a large bin, or even a self-emptying bin. We recommend going for a model that has a large bin or even a self-emptying dustbin. The former will allow you to keep up with emptying the bin often enough to stay on top of its performance while the latter will help you save time and effort by automatically emptying its contents into an internal container after every few cleanings.
Whatever the size of your home Most robots are able to climb up and around furniture, and most can recognize and navigate around household obstacles like shoes, cords that are loose and dog puke. Consider models that have smart mapping capabilities that permit them to "learn" the layout of your home and design more efficient routes, as well as ones that can sense and avoid objects that could hinder their path (like shoelaces or strangling charging cables).
Some models provide spot cleaning. This allows you to manually target an area of your home for intensive cleaning. We've discovered that many of the top performers in our tests can take in fine particles such as baking soda and sand, as well as heavier debris such as oatmeal orzo pasta, metal screws and pet hair.
According to the brand the company, robots can last for years and perform well, as long as they are maintained. For instance cleaning hair tangled of brushes, emptying dust bins after each use, and wiping cameras and sensors down when needed. The most reliable robots are more flexible. This allows you to replace or repair parts such as wheels and batteries as they wear out.