Best Rated Robot Vacuum Cleaner

Robot vacuums are great for keeping your floors clean but they cannot replace the regular vacuum. Even the best combo vacuum robots can struggle to penetrate carpets or rugs, and can often get tangled in cords and socks.

Your robot will last longer if you perform routine maintenance. This includes replacing filters, cutting hairs that have become tangled off brushes, and emptying the dust bin.

Battery Life

Most robot vacuums can handle just a few cleaning sessions before needing to recharge. The second-placed model in our overall selections, the Ecovacs Deebot Q30S Combo comes with 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 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 the robot will be able to spend less time charging and spend more time cleaning. You should choose one with an auto-emptying bin. These models are more efficient in collecting debris and then returning back to the dock to recharge. It is also essential to empty or replace the filter and wipe down cameras and sensors regularly so that they are able to see your home clearly.

Smart mapping technology can be a useful feature, as you can program your robot cleaner commercial to ensure that it only cleans certain rooms or stays clear of areas where it is likely to bump into furniture or other obstacles. This feature is also useful for ensuring that your robot is able to get under and around furniture, such as beds, sofas and other tall items. Some cheap robovacs offer boundary strips you can place on the floor to block off areas while others utilize sensors and cameras to achieve this goal.

Even the best amazon vacuum robot vacs aren't able to replace a traditional vacuum for heavy-duty, large-pile dirt and debris. It's best to keep a power vacuum on hand for these tasks and schedule robot vacs to do light cleaning throughout the week.

Navigation

A robot should be capable of navigating your home without getting caught or crashing into objects like metal screws pet hair, sand or. In our tests, a tracking device is used to track the robot's movements through the multi-room lab. It then tracks its surroundings. We also check how well the robot can avoid obstacles like power cords, furniture legs and pet waste.

The most advanced robots can create several floors and identify landmarks, such as doors and windows. The most advanced models, like the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra, feature a dual-sensor navigation system which uses the LIDAR sensor to map the room, and a light camera at the front of the bot to detect objects in real time. This lets the S8 to stay clear of common obstacles like furniture legs and power cords, and it can store up to four different floor maps in its internal memory.

The majority of the models that are affordable use bump sensors, which are not as accurate. In my tests they cut right through dog poop, cords, and even shoes that were placed in the middle of the room. The most affordable choice Dreametech D10+, is an exception to this. It has excellent carpet and hard floor pickup, great hair and tangle pickup, and an auto empty score.

A large onboard dustbin that doesn't need to be empty manually is another aspect that's crucial. For models that mop the floor, this water tank can hold enough water for several weeks of cleaning sessions. The Karcher RCV 5 has this feature and has a large enough footprint to be placed under furniture, but not so large that it won't fit in the nook between your bathtub and toilet.

Apps

Robot vacuums are like upright vacuums, and it takes an enormous amount of technology to get them up to speed. The result is a pretty mature market with plenty of options. Even the most advanced models require input from their users, especially when it comes to schedule cleanings, create a floor plan for your home and install virtual barriers.

Think about a model that has its own app that can recognize the layout of your home and save the settings for future use. This will let the vacuum start where it left off in subsequent runs, rather than having to restart the mapping process every time.

Also, look for models that provide zones or spot cleaning. These allow you to tell the robot vacuum to concentrate on a specific spot, such as under the dining room table after an enormous family meal. You can choose to use the app or voice commands.

A lot of models also offer object avoidance. It lets the robot see something in its path, such as shoes, a crate of dog toys or a crate of dog toys, and guide itself around it. This will keep it from crashing into things that might damage its sensors or cause a jam.

This feature is available on some of the more expensive models we tested. However, they usually rely on bump sensors for this and didn't always manage to avoid obstacles in my test homes.

Pet Hair

Look for the best vacuum cleaner specifically designed to remove hair from pets. The most effective models will feature a high suction, a brush that stops tangling, and an automatic floor cleaner emptying mechanism. Some are also able to detect dirt levels and adjust cleaning intensity accordingly. They can even spot items that aren't part of your flooring like furniture, toys, food bowls, cords, and more.

Certain robot vacuums come with pet-friendly features, like a water dispenser that can be used for mopping floors and an HEPA filter that can reduce allergens such as pet dander. They might also offer an operation that is quieter, which can minimize the amount of noise that's produced during cleaning sessions.

Robot vacuums that include mapping capabilities are an excellent option for pet owners, since they are designed to analyze your home and create an action plan according to the layout and the obstacles in every room. Shark Matrix Plus is a 2-in-1 robot vacuum that can map a room, navigate through furniture, and over other obstacles by using accelerometers and gyroscope smart sensors.

Apps allow you to establish zones that are not allowed. These are areas where the robot should not be permitted, such as areas that contain delicate objects or pet feeding areas. This feature is particularly useful for busy households, as it allows you to schedule cleaning sessions without needing to be in the room where the vacuum is. Another feature that is extremely useful is spot cleaning, which allows you to direct the vacuum to clean an area that is particularly filthy or full of pet hair.

Dust Bin

If you're not looking for a small size, you'll want to choose a robot that can carry at least a large bag of garbage from a single cleaning session. This is why we suggest opting for a model with an enormous bin or self-emptying garbage bin. The first will let you keep up with emptying your bin frequently enough to keep it functioning. The latter will save time and effort by automatically dumping the contents into an inner container each time you clean it.

Find models that have smart robot vacuums mapping capabilities that enable them to "learn" the layout of your house and plan more efficient routes. They also detect and avoid objects that could hinder their travel (like shoelaces or tangled charging cables). Consider models that have smart mapping capabilities that enable them to "learn" the patterns of your house and devise more efficient routes, as well as ones that can sense and avoid objects that may block their paths (like shoelaces or strangling charging cables).

Some models provide spot cleaning. This allows you to choose a specific area of your house for thorough cleaning. In our tests, we discovered that the top models can remove fine particles such as baking soda, sand, orzo, metal screws and pet hair, as well heavier debris like oatmeal, orzo, and metal screws.

Depending on the brand, most robots can last for a long time and continue to perform well in the event that you are on top of maintenance tasks, such as cleaning hair that is tangled from brushes and emptying the dust bin after every use and wiping down sensors and cameras when required. The most efficient robots tend to be more modular which makes them simpler and less expensive to repair or replace parts such as wheels and batteries when they wear out.