Best Rated Robot Vacuum Cleaner
While robot vacuums are excellent in keeping your floors clean however, they're not able to replace a large-sized vacuum. Even the most powerful robots struggle to penetrate carpets and rugs. They also often get caught in socks and cords.
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
Most robot vacuums are equipped to handle a few cleaning sessions without needing to be charged. The Ecovacs Q30S Combo is a close second in our overall picks. It has an energy-efficient battery that can last up to 180 minute (3,230 square foot) on one charge. This should be more than enough for homes that have the combination of hard flooring and carpets with low pile or larger homes where the rooms are similar in size.
A longer battery life means the robot will be able to spend less time charging and more time cleaning. It's a good idea to choose a model with a self-emptying dust bin, as they are more efficient when it comes to cleaning up debris and returning to the dock for charging. It's important to clean or replace filters and wipe down the sensors and camera on a regular schedule so they can be seen clearly.
Smart mapping technology is a great feature to look for because it allows you to program your robot to only clear certain rooms or areas where it's likely to bump into furniture or other obstacles. It's also helpful for ensuring your robot can get under and around beds, sofas and other tall furniture. A few robovacs that are cheap come with boundary strips you can use to block certain areas. Other models of higher quality rely on sensors and cameras.
Even the most powerful robot vacuums aren't able to replace a traditional vacuum when it comes to heavy-duty, large-pile dirt and debris. It's advisable to keep a conventional power vac in reserve for those tasks, and to schedule robot vacs regularly for light cleanups throughout the week.
Navigation
A robot must be able to traveling around your home and not being caught or running into objects like metal screws pet hair, sand or. In our tests, a tracking device is used to follow the robot around a multi-room lab. It then tracks its surroundings. We also look for the way it manages to avoid obstacles, including furniture legs, power cords, and pet waste.
The best robots are able to map out different floors and recognize landmarks, such as doors and windows. The most advanced robots like the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra have a dual sensor navigation system, which utilizes a LIDAR to draw a room's layout and a structured-light camera on the front to detect objects in real-time. This lets the S8 to stay clear of common obstacles, such as furniture legs and power cords and can store up to four different floor maps in its internal memory.
Cheaper models don't come with this kind of object detection and rely on bump sensors which aren't as precise. In my testing, they plowed right through dog poop, cords, and even the shoes that were placed in the middle of the room. The most cost-effective choice, the Dreametech D10+, is an exception to this. It is a great carpet and hard floor pickup, excellent hair and tangle pickup, and a near perfect auto empty score.
Another important feature is a large onboard dustbin which doesn't have to be manually empty, and for the models that mop, a tank of water that can last for weeks of mopping. The Karcher RCV 5 comes with this, and a large enough footprint that it can go under furniture but not so big that it can't fit into the space between your toilet and bathtub.
Apps
Robot vacuums are like their upright counterparts, and it takes a lot of tech to bring them up to speed. The result is a pretty mature market full of options. But even the top models require some interaction with their users - particularly when it comes to scheduling cleanings as well as establishing a home floor plan and establishing virtual barriers.
You might consider a model with its own app that can determine the layout of your house and save these settings for future use. This will allow the robot vacuum to continue where it left off in subsequent runs, rather than having the mapping process restarted each time.
It is also recommended to look for models that offer zones or spot cleaning. They let you tell the robot vacuum to concentrate on a specific area like under the dining room table after the family's big meal. You can choose to do this by using the app or voice commands.
Many models also offer object avoidance. It permits the robot, when it comes across something that is in its path, like a box of shoe or a crate with dog toys, to instruct itself around. This will keep it from crashing into objects that could damage its sensors or cause a jam.
Some of the most expensive models in our tests include this feature. They rely on the technology of bump sensors for this however they did not always avoid things in my test home.
Pet Hair
Choose a vacuum cleaner that is designed to pick up pet hair. The best models will have a high suction, a brush which stops tangling, and an automatic emptying mechanism. Some can also detect dirt levels and adjust the intensity of cleaning accordingly. They are able to detect items that aren't part of the flooring in your home, such as furniture toys, food bowls, toys, cords, and more.
Some robot vacuums include additional pet-friendly features. These include the water dispenser that can be used to mop floors and an HEPA filtering system that helps to reduce allergens such as pet dust. They could also feature an operation that is quieter to reduce the amount noise generated during cleaning sessions.
Robot vacuums that have maps are a great option for pet owners since they are designed to analyze your home and develop plans of attack in accordance with the layout and obstacles in every room. For example the Shark Matrix Plus 2-in-1 Robot Vacuum is a smart vacuum that has the amazing ability to map the room and navigate around furniture and other obstructions with accelerometer and gyroscope sensors that work in conjunction to learn the layout of your home.
Other models that are more advanced let you create no-go zones, which are areas that the robot is meant to avoid--like fragile items or pet feeding areas--by altering settings via an app. This feature is particularly useful for households with busy schedules as it permits you to plan your cleaning schedule and make adjustments without having be in the same room as the vacuum. Spot cleaning is a great feature. You can use the vacuum cleaner to clean an area that is particularly filthy or filled with pet hair.
Dust Bin
If you don't need something small, consider a robot with a big bin or even a self-emptying trash bin. That's why we recommend opting for a model with an enormous bin or a self-emptying dustbin. The former will enable you to keep track of emptying the bin often enough to stay on top of its performance while the latter will help you save time and hassle by automatically dumping its contents into an internal bin every few cleans.
Look for models with smart mapping capabilities that enable them to "learn" the layout of your home and plan more efficient routes. They also can detect and avoid objects that may block their paths (like shoelaces or tangled charging cables). Make sure robot vacuum cleaners choose models with smart mapping capabilities. This lets them "learn the patterns of your house and plan more efficient routes.
Some models provide spot cleaning. This lets you manually target an area of your home for intensive cleaning. We've observed that the majority of the top performers in our tests can pick up fine particles like sand and baking soda, along with heavier particles like oatmeal, orzo pasta, metal screws, and pet hair.
The brand you choose will determine the longevity of the robot. most robots will last for years and will continue to perform as long as you keep up with maintenance tasks, such as cleaning hair that is tangled from brushes and emptying the dust bin after each use, and wiping down cameras and sensors whenever required. The most efficient robots tend to be more modular, which makes them easier and less expensive to replace or repair parts such as wheels and batteries when they get worn out.