Best Rated Robot Vacuum Cleaner

Robot vacuums can be great for keeping your floors clean however they aren't a replacement for a regular vacuum. Even the best vacuums struggle to penetrate carpets or rugs, and can often get tangled in socks and cords.

Your robot will last longer if you perform routine maintenance. This includes replacing filters, cutting the tangled hairs 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 picks. It comes with batteries that last for up to 180 minutes (3,230 square foot) on one charge. The runtime is more than enough time to clean most smaller homes with carpets that are hard and low-pile carpets or a larger house with rooms that are roughly the same size.

A longer battery lifespan also means that the robot will spend more time cleaning and less time charging its dock. It is recommended to choose the model with an automatic emptying bin. These models are more efficient in collecting debris and then returning to docks to recharge. It's also important to empty or change the filter and wipe down sensors and cameras on a regular basis so they can see your home clearly.

Smart mapping technology is an important feature to look out for since it permits you to program your robot to only clean specific rooms or areas that it's likely to bump into furniture or other obstacles. It's also beneficial for ensuring your robot can get under and around beds, sofas and other tall furniture. A few robovacs are cheap and have boundary strips you can place on the floor to block off areas, and other models with higher-end features make use of sensors and cameras to achieve this goal.

Even the best robot vacuums cannot replace a conventional vac for heavy-duty dirt and debris. It is recommended to keep a standard power vac on standby to handle these chores, and to schedule robot vacs regularly for light cleanups throughout the week.

Navigation

A robot should be able of moving around your home without being caught or running into objects like metal screws, pet hair or sand. In our tests the tracking device is used to follow the robot around an entire lab. It then tracks its surroundings. We also examine how the amazon robot vacuum can avoid obstacles like power cords, furniture legs, and pet waste.

The top robots can map out several floors, and recognize landmarks such as windows and doors. The most advanced robots, such as the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra have a dual sensor navigation system that uses a LIDAR to draw a room's layout and a structured-light camera mounted on the front to spot objects in real-time. The S8 can avoid obstacles such as cables for power and furniture legs. It also has the capability to store up to four floor maps.

The most affordable models depend on bump sensors that aren't as accurate. In my tests they were able to rip through cords, dog poop, and even shoes that were placed in the middle of the room. The Dreametech D10+ is the best value choice. It has excellent carpet and hard floor pickup, good hair and tangle pickup and a near perfect auto empty score.

A large onboard dustbin, which doesn't have to be emptying manually is another feature that is essential. For models that mop the floor, this water tank is able to hold enough water for several weeks of cleaning sessions. Karcher's RCV 5 is a great illustration of this. It has a wide enough footprint to fit under furniture but not so large that it is unable to fit into the space between your toilet and bathtub.

Apps

Robot vacuums are a lot like upright vacuums and require a lot of tech to bring them up to speed. The result is a mature market with plenty of options. Even the best models require input from their users especially when it comes to schedule cleanings, create an outline of your home and set up virtual barriers.

You might consider a model with its own app that can identify the layout of your house and save these settings for later use. This will allow the robot vacuum to continue where it began on subsequent runs rather than having the mapping process restarted every time.

It's important to look out for a model that has zones or spot cleaning modes. They let you tell the robot vacuum to focus on a specific spot, such as under the dining table following the family's big meal. You can use the app or voice commands.

A lot of models also offer objects avoidance. It allows the robot, when it spots something in its way such as a box of shoes or a crate filled with dog toys, to coach itself around. This will keep it from crashing into objects that might damage its sensors or cause a jam.

This feature is available on some of the more expensive models we tested. They rely on bump sensor technology for this however they weren't always able to stay clear of things I tested at home.

Pet Hair

When it comes to removing pet hair, look for the right model designed to handle this type of debris. The most effective models will feature an extremely high suction, a brush that keeps hair from tangling and an automated emptying mechanism. Some models can detect levels of dirt and adjust the intensity of cleaning. They also can detect items that aren't a part of your flooring in your home, such as furniture, toys and food bowls.

Certain robot vacuums come with pet-friendly features, such as small water dispensers that can be used to mop floors and a HEPA filter that can help reduce allergens, such as pet dust. They could also provide a quieter operation that can reduce the amount of sound generated during cleaning.

Robot vacuums with maps are an excellent option for pet owners. They're designed to evaluate your home and devise an attack plan based upon the layout of each room and obstacles. Shark Matrix Plus is a two-in-one robot vacuum that can map a room, and navigate around furniture, and other obstacles by using accelerometers and gyroscope smart sensors.

Other advanced models allow you to set no-go zones, which are areas that the robot is expected to avoid--like fragile items or pet feeding spots. You can adjust these settings using an app. This feature is especially useful for busy households, as you can schedule cleaning times without needing to be in the space in which the vacuum is. Spot cleaning robots is a excellent feature. You can use the vacuum cleaner to clean a spot that is particularly filthy or is brimming with pet hair.

Dust Bin

Unless you're looking for something small, you'll want to choose a robot capable of holding at least a complete bag of trash from one cleaning session. That's why we recommend opting for a model with a large bin, or perhaps self cleaning vacuum-emptying bins. The former will enable you to keep up with cleaning the bin regularly enough to stay on top of its performance, while the latter will save you time and effort by automatically emptying its contents into an internal container after every few cleans.

Look for models with smart mapping capabilities that permit them to "learn" the layout of your home and devise more efficient routes. They can also sense and avoid objects that could hinder their routes (like shoelaces or tangled charging cables). Look for models with smart mapping capabilities that enable them to "learn" the structure of your home and design more efficient routes, and ones that are able to detect and avoid objects that may hinder their path (like shoelaces or strangling charging cables).

Certain models also offer spot cleaning, which allows you to choose an area of your house for intensive cleaning. We've found that most of the top performers in our tests can remove fine particles such as sand and baking soda, along with heavier debris like oatmeal orzo pasta screws and pet hair.

Based on the manufacturer, the majority of robots last for years and will continue to perform well so long as you maintain them with regular maintenance, like cleaning out tangled hair from brushes and emptying the dust bin after every use, and wiping down cameras and sensors as required. The most efficient robots tend to be more modular, which makes them easier and cheaper to repair or replace components such as batteries and wheels when they wear out.