What Experts Say You Should Know
Best Rated Robot Vacuum Cleaner
Robot vacuums are fantastic for keeping your floors tidy but they are not a substitute for the regular vacuum. Even the best vacuums struggle to penetrate carpets or rugs, and can often get caught in cords and socks.
Maintaining a regular schedule of maintenance (replacing filters cutting hair that is tangled from brushes and emptying the dust bin) can help your robot last longer.
Battery Life
The majority of robot vacuums can manage one or two cleaning sessions before needing a charge. The second-placed model in our overall picks, the Ecovacs Deebot Q30S Combo is that is designed to last for up to 180 minutes (3,230 square feet) of cleaning time on one charge. That amount of runtime is enough to clean most smaller homes with the combination of hard floors and carpets with low pile, or a larger home with rooms that are roughly the same size.
A longer battery lifespan also means the robot can spend more time cleaning and less charging its dock. It's worth opting for an auto-emptying dust bin, since those models are more efficient when it comes to picking up debris and returning to the dock to recharge. It is important to clean or replace filters and wipe down sensors and the camera on a regular schedule so they can see clearly.
Smart mapping technology is a great feature to be looking for, as it allows you to program your robot to clear certain rooms or areas that it's likely to bump into furniture or other obstacles. It's also useful for ensuring that your robot can get under and around sofas, beds and other tall furniture. A few robovacs that are cheap come with boundary strips that you can use to block off specific areas. Other models of higher quality rely on cameras and sensors.
Even the best robot vacs aren't able to replace a traditional vacuum when it comes to heavy-duty large-pile dirt and other debris. It's wise to keep a conventional power vac in reserve for these tasks and to schedule robot vacuums regularly for light cleanups throughout the week.
Navigation
A robot must be able to navigate around your home without getting stuck or crashing into objects such as metal screws or loose pet hair or sand. 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 examine how the robot is able to avoid obstacles like power cords, furniture leg and pet waste.
The most advanced robots can map out several floors, and recognize landmarks like doors and windows. The most advanced ones such as the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra, feature a dual-sensor navigation system that utilizes a LIDAR sensor to map the space and a structured lighting camera in front of the robot to identify objects in real-time. The S8 can avoid obstacles like power cords and legs of furniture. It also has the capability to store up to four floor maps.
The more affordable models don't have this kind of object detection and rely on bump sensors, which aren't as precise. In my tests, they were able to detect dog poop and cords as well as a pair of shoes placed in the middle. The Dreametech D10+ is the most value-for-money option. It has excellent carpet and hard floor, tangle, and hair pickup. It also has an auto empty score that is close to perfect.
A large onboard dustbin, that doesn't need to be empty manually, is also a feature that is essential. For models that sweep the floor, this water tank is able to provide enough water for several weeks of cleaning sessions. Karcher's RCV 5 is a good illustration of this. It has a large enough footprint to fit under furniture, but not too big that it cannot 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. There are plenty of alternatives available in a marketplace that is a mature. However, even the most advanced models require interaction with their users - especially when cleaning schedules are being planned and establishing a floor plan, and setting up virtual barriers.
To lessen the chance of this kind of interaction, look for a model with its own app to recognize the location of your home, and save those settings for the future. This will let the robot vacuum start where it left off in subsequent runs, instead of having to restart the mapping process each time.
It's also worth keeping an eye out for a model that has spot or zone cleaning modes. They allow you to instruct the robot vacuum to concentrate on a specific spot for example, like under the dining table following a big family meal. You can typically use the app or via voice commands.
Avoidance of objects is a different feature that's available with many models. It allows the robot hoover to observe something in its path, such as the shoe box or a crate full of dog toys, and guide itself around it. This will keep it from running into things that could damage its sensors or cause a jam.
Some of the more expensive models we tested have this feature. They depend on bump sensor technology to do this, but they didn't always stay clear of things I tested at home.
Pet Hair
When it comes to removing pet hair, choose a model that's designed specifically to handle this type of debris. the best robot vacuum cleaner best models have high suction power and a brush that prevents the tangling and an emptying mechanism that can automatically empty hair into the bin when it is needed. Some models are able to detect dirt levels and alter the level of cleaning. They can also detect objects that aren't part of your flooring in your home, such as toys, furniture and food bowls.
Some robot vacuums have extra features that are pet-friendly, 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 might also have a quieter mode of operation to minimize the amount of noise generated during cleaning sessions.
Robot vacuums with mapping capabilities are a great option for pet owners. They're designed to evaluate your home and devise an attack plan based on the layout of each room and obstacles. For instance the Shark Matrix Plus 2-in-1 Vacuum is a smart vacuum with an impressive capability to map the room cleaning robot and navigate around furniture and other obstacles using accelerometer and gyroscope sensors which work in tandem to understand the layout of your space.
Apps allow you to set up zones that are not allowed. These are areas that the robot should not be permitted, such as areas that contain fragile objects or pet feeding areas. This feature is especially useful for families with busy schedules, since it allows you to schedule cleaning sessions without having to be present in the room in which the vacuum is. Another great feature is spot cleaning which allows you to use the vacuum to clean a specific area that may be particularly dirty or brimming with pet hair.
Dust Bin
If you don't want anything small, consider a robot with a large bin or even a self-emptying dustbin. We recommend picking one with a large bin or a bin that automatically emptys. The one will let you keep up with the process of emptying your bin regularly enough to keep it functioning. The latter will help you save time and effort by automatically emptying the contents into an internal container each time you clean it.
No matter the size of your home Most robots are able to move around and up to furniture, and they are able to detect and navigate around household obstacles like shoes, cords that are loose, and dog puke. Consider models that have smart mapping capabilities that enable them to "learn" the patterns of your house and design more efficient routes, and ones that can sense and avoid objects that may hinder their routes (like shoelaces or the tangled charging cables).
Certain models also offer spot cleaning, which lets users to select specific areas of your house for intensive cleaning. We've found that most of the top performers in our tests are able to take in fine particles such as baking soda and sand as well as heavier debris such as oatmeal, orzo pasta, metal screws and pet hair.
Based on the manufacturer, most robots will last for a long time and remain in good working order in the event that you are on top of maintenance tasks, such as cleaning tangled hair from brushes and emptying the dust bin after each use, and wiping down sensors and cameras whenever needed. The best robots are also more modular. This allows you to replace or repair components like batteries and wheels, when they wear out.
