Best Rated Robot Vacuum Cleaner

While robot vacuums are fantastic at keeping your floors clean however, they're not able to replace a full-size vacuum. Even the best vacuums struggle to penetrate carpets or rugs and often get tangled in socks and cords.

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

Battery Life

Most good robot vacuum vacuums are able to handle a few cleaning sessions without needing to be charged. The second-placed model in our overall selections, the Ecovacs Deebot Q30S Combo, has a battery rated to last up to 180 minutes (3,230 square feet) of cleaning time on one charge. This should be more than enough for most small homes with a mixture of hard floors and carpets with low pile or larger homes with rooms that are about the same size.

A longer battery life means that the robot is able to spend more time cleaning and less time charging on its dock. It is recommended to choose the model with an automatic emptying bin. These models are more efficient in cleaning up debris and bringing it to docks to recharge. It is also essential to clean or replace the filter and clean cameras and sensors regularly so that they can clearly see your home.

Smart mapping technology is a useful feature to look for because it allows you to program your robot to clear certain rooms or areas that it's likely to hit furniture or other obstacles. This feature is also helpful for ensuring that your robot is able to reach under and around furniture, such as sofas, beds and other high-height items. Some cheap robot vacuum robovacs come with boundary strips that you can use to block off specific areas. Other high-end models depend on sensors and cameras.

Even the top robot vacuums aren't able to replace a conventional vac for heavy-duty dirt and debris. It's recommended to have a power vacuum available for these tasks and schedule robot vacs for light cleanings throughout the week.

Navigation

A robot should be able to navigate your home without getting stuck or crashing into things like metal screws or loose pet hair or sand. In our tests, we use a tracking device to track the robot as it moves through a multiroom lab and determine its surroundings. We also check the extent to which it can avoid obstacles, including furniture legs, power cords and pet waste.

The most advanced robots are able to map out multiple floors, and recognize landmarks like doors and windows. The most advanced models, like the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra, have a dual-sensor navigation system that uses a LIDAR sensor to map the room and a structured lighting camera in front of the robot to detect objects in real-time. The S8 can evade obstacles such as power cords and legs of furniture. It also has the ability to store up to four floor maps.

Most affordable models rely on bump sensors which aren't as precise. In my tests, they plowed right through dog poop, cords, and even the shoes that were placed in the middle of the room. The best auto vacuum value pick Dreametech D10+, is an exception to this. It is a great carpet, hard floor, tangle and hair pickup. It also has a near-perfect auto empty score.

A large dust bin onboard, that doesn't need to be manually empty is another feature that is essential. For models that sweep the floor, this tank will provide enough water for several weeks of cleaning. Karcher's RCV 5 is a great example of this. It has a wide enough footprint to fit under furniture but not so big that it cannot fit in the space between your bathtub and toilet.

Apps

Robot vacuums are like upright vacuums and require lots of technology to get them up to speed. The result is a pretty mature market that is brimming with options. But even the top models require interaction with their users - particularly when cleaning schedules are being planned, establishing a home floor plan, and setting up virtual barriers.

To lessen the chance of this kind of interaction, look for a model that has its own app to determine the layout of your home and save the settings for future use. This will allow the robot vacuum to continue where it left off on subsequent runs rather than having the mapping process restarted each time.

It's important to look out for a model that offers zones or spot cleaning options. You can tell the robot vacuum cleaner to concentrate on a specific area, such as under the table after a huge family meal. You can do this by using the app or by voice commands.

Avoidance of objects is a different feature that's available with many models. It allows the robot when it comes across something that is in its path such as a box shoes or a crate filled with dog toys, to coach itself around. This will keep it from running into things that could damage its sensors or cause jams.

This feature is available on a few of the more expensive models we test. However, they typically rely on bump sensors for this, and they weren't always able to stay clear of things in my test homes.

Pet Hair

When you're looking to remove pet hair, choose a model that's designed specifically to handle this type of debris. The most effective models come with powerful suction capabilities and a brush that is free of tangling, and an emptying mechanism that will automatically dump hair into the trash bin when necessary. Some models can detect dirt levels and alter the level of cleaning. They are able to detect objects that aren't a part of your home's flooring, such as furniture, toys, food bowls cords, and so on.

Some robot vacuums include additional pet-friendly features. These include a water dispenser that is used to mop floors, and a HEPA filtering system that helps to reduce allergens like pet dust. They could also provide a quieter operation that can minimize the amount of noise generated during cleaning.

Robot vacuums that include the ability to map are a great option for pet owners since they are designed to analyze your home and create a plan of attack in accordance with the layout and obstacles in each room. 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 sensors.

Apps allow you to establish zones that are not allowed. These are areas where the robot shouldn't be allowed, for instance, areas with fragile objects or pet feeding areas. This feature is especially useful for households with busy schedules as it permits you to plan your cleaning schedule and make adjustments without having be in the same room with the vacuum. Another great feature is spot cleaning, which allows you to use the vacuum to clean a particular area that is particularly dirty or full of pet hair.

Dust Bin

If you don't want something small, go for a model 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 perhaps a self-emptying dustbin. The former will allow you to keep up with emptying the bin often enough to keep track of its performance while the latter will help you save time and hassle by automatically dumping the contents into an internal container after every few cleanings.

Whatever the size of your house, most robots can easily move around and up to furniture, and they can recognize and navigate around household obstacles such as shoes, loose cords and dog puke. Consider models that have smart mapping capabilities that allow them to "learn" the layout of your home and plan more efficient routes, as well as ones that are able to detect and avoid objects that could block their paths (like shoelaces or tangled charging cables).

Some models also provide spot cleaning, which lets you to choose a particular area of your home for intense cleaning. We've observed that the majority of the top performers in our tests can take in fine particles such as baking soda and sand, together with larger debris like oatmeal orzo pasta 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 keep up with maintenance, such as cleaning hair that has become tangled from brushes and emptying the dust bin after every use and wiping down cameras and sensors when needed. The best robots are also more modular. This makes it easier to replace or repair parts such as wheels and batteries as they wear out.