Best Rated Robot Vacuum Cleaner

While robot vacuums are great at keeping your floors clean, they can't substitute for a larger vacuum. Even the most powerful robots aren't able to get deep into rugs and carpets, and they can get tangled with cords and socks.

Staying on top of routine maintenance (replacing filters cutting hair that is tangled from brushes and emptying the dust bin) will help your robot last longer.

Battery Life

Most robot vacuums can handle one or two cleaning sessions before needing a charge. The Ecovacs Q30S Combo is the runner-up of our overall selections. It comes with an energy-efficient battery that can last up to 180 minute (3,230 square feet) on one charge. This should suffice for homes that have a mixture of hard floors and low pile carpets or larger homes where the rooms are about the same size.

A longer battery life means that the robot will be able to spend less time charging and can spend more time cleaning. It's a good idea to choose models that have a self-emptying dust bin because they are more efficient when it comes to collecting debris and returning to the dock to recharge. It is also essential to clean or replace the filter and wipe down sensors and cameras on a regular basis to ensure they are able to see your home clearly.

Smart mapping technology is an important feature to be looking for since it permits you to program your robot to clean certain rooms or avoid areas where it's likely to bump into furniture or other obstacles. This feature is also helpful for ensuring that your highest rated robot vacuum is able to reach under and around furniture like sofas, beds and other tall items. A few robovacs that are cheap come with boundary strips you can use to block off certain areas. Other high-end models depend on sensors and cameras.

Even the best robot vacuums cannot replace a conventional vac when it comes heavy-duty dirt and debris. It is recommended to keep a power vacuum on hand for these tasks and 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 objects such as metal screws or loose pet hair or sand. In our tests the tracking device is used to track the robot through the multi-room lab. It then maps its surroundings. We also examine how the robot is able to avoid obstacles such as power cords, furniture leg, and pet waste.

The top robots can map out multiple floors and can recognize landmarks such as doors and windows. The most advanced models such as the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra, feature a dual-sensor navigation system that utilizes a LIDAR sensor to map out the room, and a light camera at the front of the bot to detect objects in real time. This lets the S8 to avoid common obstacles such as furniture legs and power cords and can store up to four floor maps within its internal memory.

The more affordable models don't have this type of object detection and rely on bump sensors, which aren't as precise. In my testing they cut right through dog poop, cords, and even shoes that were placed in the middle of the room. The most cost-effective choice Dreametech D10+, is one exception to this. It is a great carpet and hard floor pickup, great tangle and hair pickup, and an almost perfect auto empty score.

Another feature that is important is a huge onboard dustbin which doesn't have to be manually emptied, and for those models that mop, a tank of water that can hold weeks worth of cleaning sessions. The Karcher RCV 5 has this feature and has a large enough footprint that it can go 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 like upright vacuums and require an enormous amount of technology to get them up to speed. The result is a pretty mature market that is brimming with options. Even the best models require input from their users especially when it comes time to schedule cleanings, create a floor plan for your home and set up virtual barriers.

To lessen the chance of this kind of interaction, look for a model with its own app to identify the layout of your home and save those 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.

It's also worth keeping an eye out for a vacuum that comes with zones or spot cleaning options. You can instruct the robot vacuum cleaner to concentrate on a specific area, for example, under the table after a huge family meal. You can choose to use the app or by voice commands.

Many models also provide objects-avoidance. It allows the robot to see something in its path, such as shoes, a crate of dog toys or a crate full of dog toys, and then guide itself around it. This prevents it from running into objects which could harm its sensors or cause jams.

This feature is available on a few of the more expensive models we tried. They depend on bump sensor technology for this however they did not always stay clear of things I tested at home.

Pet Hair

Find an upright vacuum cleaner specifically designed to remove pet hair. The best robot vacuum under 200 models have powerful suction, a brush that avoids the tangling and an emptying mechanism that can automatically dump hair into the bin when necessary. Some models are able to detect dirt levels to adjust cleaning intensity. They can also detect items that aren't a part of your flooring at home, such as toys, furniture and food bowls.

Some robot vacuums have extra 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 like pet dust. They could also provide a quieter operation that can reduce the amount of sound generated during cleaning sessions.

Robot vacuums with the ability to map are a great option for pet owners. They're designed to evaluate your home, and create an attack plan based on the arrangement of each room and obstacles. For example the Shark Matrix Plus 2-in-1 Vacuum is a smart vacuum that has the amazing ability to map a room and navigate around furniture and other obstacles using accelerometer and gyroscope sensors that work together to learn the layout of your home.

Other advanced models allow you to define no-go zones that are areas that the robot is supposed to avoid, such as items that are fragile or pet feeding areas--by altering settings through an app. This feature is especially useful for a busy household, as it allows you to schedule cleaning time and make adjustments without having to be in the same room as the vacuum. Another excellent feature is spot cleaning which allows you to direct the vacuum to clean a specific area that may be particularly filthy or full of pet hair.

Dust Bin

If you don't need something small, go for a model with a big bin or even a self-emptying bin. We recommend choosing the one with a large bin or a trash bin that automatically emptys. The former will allow you to keep track of emptying the bin often 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 bin every few cleans.

Whatever the size of your home Most robots are able to get up to and around furniture, and almost all can recognize and navigate around household obstacles like shoes, cords that are loose and dog puke. Consider models that have intelligent mapping capabilities, which enable them to "learn" the patterns of your house and devise more efficient routes, as well as models that detect and avoid objects that could hinder their routes (like shoelaces or strangling charging cables).

Some models offer spot cleaning. This allows you to select an area of your home to be targeted for intensive cleaning. We've discovered that many of the top robot vacuum performers in our tests can remove fine particles such as sand and baking soda, together with larger debris such as oatmeal orzo pasta screws, and pet hair.

According to the company the company, robots can last for years and continue to perform well, as long as they are maintained. For instance cleaning hair tangled of brushes cleaning dust bins after each use, and wiping cameras and sensors down when needed. The best cheap robot vacuum robots are also more flexible. This makes it easier to replace or repair components such as wheels and batteries as they wear out.