Best Rated Robot Vacuum 101: The Ultimate Guide For Beginners

best floor vacuum robot Rated Robot Vacuum Cleaner

While robot vacuums are great at keeping your floors clean, they can't replace a full-size vacuum. Even the best value robot vacuum robots have trouble getting deep into rugs and carpets, and they may get caught in cords and socks.

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

Battery Life

The majority of robot vacuums are able to handle a few cleaning sessions without needing to be charged. The second-placed model in our overall picks is the Ecovacs Deebot Q30S Combo is rated to last up to 180 minutes (3,230 square feet) of cleaning time on a single charge. That amount of runtime is enough to clean smaller homes with carpets that are hard and carpets with low pile or a larger house with rooms that are roughly the same size.

A longer battery life means the robot can spend less time charging and spend more time cleaning. It's worth opting for an auto-emptying dust bin, since they are more efficient when it comes to collecting debris and returning to the dock for charging. It is essential to clean or replace the filters and clean the sensors and the camera regularly so that they can be seen 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 avoids areas where it's likely to crash into furniture or other obstacles. This feature is also helpful for ensuring that your robot can reach under and around furniture like beds, sofas and other large objects. A few robovacs are cheap and have boundaries that you can place on the floor to block off areas, and other models with higher-end features use cameras and sensors to accomplish this.

Even the best home vacuum cleaner robot vacuums cannot replace a conventional vac when it comes heavy-duty dirt and debris. It's advisable to keep a conventional power vac on standby for these tasks, and to schedule robot vacuums regularly for light cleaning throughout the week.

Navigation

A robot must be able to navigate your home without getting stuck or crashing into things such as metal screws or pet hair that is loose, or sand. In our tests, a tracking device is used to track the robot's movements through a multi-room lab. It then analyzes its surroundings. We also look for how well it avoids obstacles like power cords, furniture legs and pet waste.

The best robots can map out several floors and can recognize landmarks such as windows and doors. The most advanced models such as the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra, have a dual-sensor navigation system that uses a LIDAR sensor to map the room and a structured light camera on the front of the robot to identify objects in real-time. This lets the S8 to avoid common obstacles, such as power cords and furniture legs and can also store up to four floor maps in its internal memory.

Most affordable models rely on bump sensors which aren't as accurate. In my testing they were able to rip through cords, dog poop, and even the shoes that were placed in the middle of the room. The Dreametech D10+ is the most value-for-money option. It is a great carpet and hard floor pickup, good hair and tangle pickup and a near perfect auto empty score.

Another feature that is important is a huge onboard dustbin which doesn't have to be manually emptied, and for models that mop, a water tank that can hold weeks worth of mopping sessions. The Karcher RCV 5 has this and a big enough footprint that it can be tucked away under furniture but not so big that it doesn't fit into the space between your bathtub and toilet.

Apps

Robot vacuums are a lot similar to upright models and require a lot of tech to get them up to speed. The result is a pretty mature market that is brimming with options. Even the most advanced models require input from their users especially when it comes time to plan cleaning schedules, design a floor plan for your home and set up virtual barriers.

To reduce the impact of this kind of interaction, look for a model that uses its own app to determine the layout of your home and save these settings for the future. This will let the vacuum begin where it left off on subsequent runs, rather than having to start the mapping process each time.

Also, consider models that offer zone or spot cleaning. They allow you to instruct the robot vacuum to focus on a particular area for example, like under the dining table following the family's big meal. It is possible to do this using the app or by voice commands.

A lot of models also offer object avoidance. It lets the robot observe something in its path, such as a box of shoes or a crate full of dog toys, and coach itself around it. This prevents it from crashing into objects that could damage its sensors or cause jams.

Some of the most expensive models we've tested include this feature. They rely on the technology of bump sensors for this however they weren't always able to avoid things in my test home.

Pet Hair

When you're looking to remove pet hair, look for a model that's designed specifically to handle this type of debris. The most effective models will feature the highest suction, a brush which stops tangling, and an automatic emptying mechanism. Some models are able to detect levels of dirt and adjust cleaning intensity. They can also detect objects that aren't a part of the flooring in your home, such as furniture toys, food bowls, toys, cords, and more.

Certain robot vacuums have additional features that are pet-friendly. These include a water dispenser which is used to clean floors, and a HEPA filtering system that helps to reduce allergens like pet dust. They could also provide a quieter operation that can reduce the amount of sound that's produced during cleaning sessions.

Robot vacuums that have maps are a great option for pet owners, since they're engineered to assess your home and devise an action plan based on 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 by using accelerometers and gyroscope sensors.

Apps let you establish no-go zones. These are areas that the robot shouldn't be allowed, such as delicate objects or pet feeding areas. This feature can be especially beneficial for families with a lot of activity as it permits you to plan your cleaning schedule and adjust settings without having to be in the same room as the vacuum. Another feature that is extremely useful is spot cleaning which lets you control the vacuum to clean a specific area that is particularly filthy or full of pet hair.

Dust Bin

If you don't want anything tiny, choose a robot with a big bin or even a self-emptying dustbin. We recommend picking the one with an enormous bin or a bin that self-empties. The former will allow you to keep up with emptying your bin often enough to keep it functioning. The second will save you time and effort by automatically dumping the contents into an internal container each time you clean it.

Find models that have smart mapping capabilities, which allow 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, which allow them to "learn" the structure of your home and plan more efficient routes, and models that detect and avoid objects that may block their paths (like shoelaces or tangled charging cables).

Some models also provide spot cleaning, which allows you to choose specific areas of your home for thorough cleaning. In our tests, we discovered that the best Self Cleaning vacuum models can take out small particles like baking soda, sand, orzo, metal screws and pet hair, as well heavier debris such as oatmeal, orzo, and metal screws.

Depending on the brand, most robots will last for years and will continue to perform well so long as you are on top of maintenance tasks, such as cleaning hair that has become tangled from brushes and dust bins, emptying them after each use, and cleaning cameras and sensors as required. The best robot vacuum for vinyl plank floors-performing robots also tend to be more modular and therefore easier and less expensive to replace or repair parts such as wheels and batteries when they get worn out.