Best Rated Robot Vacuum Cleaner
While robot vacuums are great at keeping your floors clean, they can't substitute for a larger vacuum. Even automatic vacuum have difficulty getting deep into carpets and rugs, and they can become tangled in cords and socks.
Maintaining a regular schedule of 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 are able to handle a few cleaning sessions without having to be charged. The Ecovacs Q30S Combo is a close second in our overall choices. It has batteries that last up to 180 minutes (3,230 square feet) on one charge. This will suffice for most small homes with the combination of hard floors and carpets with low pile or larger homes where the rooms are about the same size.
A longer battery life means the robot can spend less time charging and spend more time cleaning. It's recommended to select a model with a self-emptying dust bin because those models 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 so they are able to see your home clearly.
Smart mapping technology is a beneficial feature, as it allows you to program your robot to ensure that it only cleans certain rooms or areas it is likely to bump into furniture and other obstacles. This feature is also helpful for ensuring that your robot is able to get under and around furniture like beds, sofas and other large objects. Some cheap robovacs offer boundaries that you can place on the floor to block off certain areas, while others utilize sensors and cameras for this purpose.
Even the best robot vacuums can't replace a conventional vacuum for heavy-duty, large-pile dirt and debris. It's recommended to have an electric vacuum in your home to tackle these tasks, and also schedule robot vacs for light cleanings throughout the week.
Navigation
A robot should be capable of traveling around your home and not being caught or running into things like metal screws, pet hair or sand. In our tests, we employ an instrument to track the robot as it goes through a multiroom lab. It shows its surroundings. We also check the way it manages to avoid obstacles like furniture legs, power cords and pet waste.
The top robots can map out several floors, and recognize landmarks like windows and doors. The most advanced models, like the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra, come with a dual-sensor navigation device that utilizes a LIDAR sensor to map out the room and a structured light camera on the front of the bot to detect objects in real time. The S8 can avoid obstacles like cables for power and legs of furniture. It can also store up to four floor maps.
Cheaper models don't come with this type of object detection and rely on bump sensors, which aren't as accurate. In my tests, they were able to detect dog poop and cords, as well as a pair of shoes placed in the middle. The most affordable choice Dreametech D10+, is one exception to this. It is a great carpet and hard floor pickup, good hair and tangle pickup, and a near perfect auto empty score.
Another feature worth mentioning is a huge onboard dustbin which doesn't have to be manually empty. It also has, for those models that mop, a water tank that can hold weeks worth of cleaning sessions. The Karcher RCV 5 comes with this, and a large enough footprint to be placed under furniture but not so big that it won't fit in the nook between your bathtub and toilet.
Apps
Robot vacuums are like their upright counterparts and require an array of technologies to keep them up-to-date. The result is a pretty mature market full of options. Even robot vacuum deals require interaction from their users, especially when it comes time to plan cleaning schedules, design the floor plan of your home and set up virtual barriers.
You might consider a model with its own app that can recognize the layout of your home and save the settings for future use. This will allow the robot vacuum to continue where it started in subsequent runs, rather than having the mapping process restarted every time.
It's also worth keeping an eye out for a model that offers zones or spot cleaning options. These allow you to tell the robot vacuum to concentrate on a specific area for example, like under the dining room table after a big family meal. You can do this by using the app or by voice commands.
Avoidance of objects is a different feature that's included in several models. It allows the robot when it comes across something that is in its path such as a box of shoes or a crate filled with dog toys, to guide itself around. This prevents it from crashing into objects that could damage its sensors or cause a jam.
This feature is available on some of the more expensive models we tried. They depend on bump sensor technology to do this however they did not always stay clear of things I tested at home.
Pet Hair
When it comes to picking up pet hair, look for one that is specifically designed to handle this kind of debris. The most effective models will feature a high suction, a brush which keeps hair from tangling and an automated emptying mechanism. Some can also detect dirt levels and adjust the intensity of cleaning in line with the level of dirt. They are also able to detect objects that aren't part your flooring at home, such as furniture, toys, and food bowls.
Certain robot vacuums have additional pet-friendly features. These include the water dispenser that can be used to mop floors, and an HEPA filtration system that reduces allergens such as pet dust. They could also feature an operation that is quieter to minimize the amount of noise produced during cleaning sessions.
Robot vacuums that have the ability to map are a great option for pet owners. They are designed to analyze your home and develop an strategy based on the layout of each room as well as obstacles. Shark Matrix Plus is a dual-purpose robot vacuum that can map a room, and navigate through furniture, and over other obstacles using accelerometer and Gyroscope smart sensors.
Apps let you create no-go zones. These are areas where the robot is not allowed, such as delicate objects or pet feeding areas. This feature is especially useful for households with busy schedules, as you can schedule cleaning times without having to be present in the room in which the vacuum is. Spot cleaning is another great feature. You can use the vacuum cleaner to clean an area that is particularly filthy or is brimming with pet hair.
Dust Bin
If you don't need something tiny, choose a robot with a big bin or even a self-emptying bin. That's why we recommend opting for a model that has an enormous bin or self-emptying garbage bin. The former will allow you to keep up with emptying your bin frequently enough to ensure its efficiency. The second will save you time and effort by automatically emptying the contents into an inside container each time you clean it.
Whatever the size of your home, most robots can easily climb up and around furniture, and almost all are able to detect and navigate around household obstacles such as shoes, cords that are loose, and dog poop. Look for models that have intelligent mapping capabilities. This allows them to "learn the patterns of your house and plan more efficient route.
Some models also offer spot cleaning, which allows you to manually target a particular area of your house for intensive cleaning. In our tests, we discovered that the top models can remove fine particles such as baking soda, sand, orzo, screws made of metal and pet hair, as well heavier debris like oatmeal, orzo, and screws made of metal.
Depending on the brand, most robots will last for years and will remain in good working order in the event that you are on top of maintenance, like cleaning out hair that is tangled from brushes, emptying the dust bin after every use and wiping down sensors and cameras whenever needed. The best robots are also more modular. This makes it easier to replace or repair components like wheels and batteries as they wear out.