Best Rated Robot Vacuum Cleaner
While robot vacuums are great in keeping your floors clean but they aren't able to substitute for a larger vacuum. Even the best vacuums struggle to get into carpets and rugs. They also often get tangled in socks and cords.
Your robot will last longer if it is maintained with routine maintenance. This includes replacing filters, removing the tangled hairs from brushes, and emptying the dust bin.
Battery Life
The majority of robot vacuums can manage one or two cleaning sessions before needing a charge. The runner-up in our top picks, the Ecovacs Deebot Q30S Combo, has a battery that is designed to last for up to 180 minutes (3,230 square feet) of cleaning time on a single charge. This amount of runtime will suffice for homes that have a mixture 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 spend less time charging and spend more time cleaning. It is recommended to choose a model that has an auto-emptying bin. These models are more efficient in collecting debris and then returning to docks to recharge. It's important to clean or replace filters and clean the sensors and cameras on a regular schedule so they can be seen clearly.
Smart mapping technology is an important feature to be looking for because it allows you to program your robot to clean specific rooms or areas that it's likely to bump into furniture or other obstacles. It's also useful for ensuring that your robot is able to go under and around beds, sofas and other tall furniture. Some cheap robovacs have boundary strips that you can use to block off certain areas. Other models of higher quality rely on sensors and cameras.
Even the most powerful robot vacuums cannot replace a traditional vacuum for heavy-duty, large-pile dirt and debris. It is recommended to keep a conventional power vac in reserve to handle these chores and to schedule robot vacs regularly for light cleanups throughout the week.
Navigation
A robot should be able of navigating your home without getting caught or running into things like metal screws, pet hair or sand. In our tests, we use a tracking device to follow the robot as it goes through a multiroom lab. It maps out its surroundings. We also examine how well it avoids obstacles like furniture legs, power cords and pet waste.
The best robots can map out multiple floors, and recognize landmarks like doors and Windows. The most advanced robots like the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra have a dual sensor navigation system, which utilizes a LIDAR to map out a room and a structured-light camera mounted on the front to identify objects in real-time. The S8 can evade obstacles like power cords as well as furniture legs. It can also store up to four floor maps.
The more affordable models don't have this kind of detection and rely on bump sensors, which aren't as precise. In my testing they cut right through cords, dog poop and even the shoes that were placed in the middle of the room. The most affordable choice Dreametech D10+, is one exception to this. It is a great carpet and hard floor pickup, excellent tangle and hair pickup, and a near perfect auto empty score.
Another important feature is a large onboard dustbin which doesn't have to be manually emptied, and for models that mop, a tank of water that can hold weeks worth of mopping. Karcher's RCV 5 is an excellent illustration of this. It has a big enough footprint to fit under furniture but not so large that it cannot fit in the nook between your toilet and bathtub.
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 that is brimming with options. Even the best models require interaction from their customers, especially when it comes to plan cleaning schedules, design the floor plan of your home and set up virtual barriers.
Consider a model with its own app that can identify the layout of your house and save the settings for future use. This will allow the robot vacuum to continue where it began in subsequent runs, rather than having the mapping process restarted every time.
It is also recommended to look for models that provide zone or spot cleaning. They allow you to instruct the robot vacuum to concentrate on a specific spot like under the dining table after an enormous family meal. You can typically do this using the app or by voice commands.
Avoidance of objects is a different feature that's included in numerous models. It allows the robot, when it sees objects in its path such as a box of shoes or a crate containing dog toys, to guide itself around. This will keep it from crashing into objects that could harm its sensors or cause a jam.
This feature is available on a few of the more expensive models we tested. However, they usually rely on bump sensors for this and weren't always able to avoid obstacles in my test homes.
Pet Hair
Choose the best vacuum cleaner specifically designed to remove hair from pets. The top models feature high suction power, a brush that avoids getting caught in a knot, and an emptying mechanism that will automatically dump hair into the trash bin when needed. Some are also able to detect dirt levels and adjust the cleaning intensity in line with the level of dirt. They can also detect objects that aren't a part of your home's flooring, such as furniture, toys, food bowls cords, and so on.
Some robot vacuums have extra pet-friendly features, such as small water dispensers that can be used for mopping floors, and an HEPA filter that can reduce allergens, such as pet dust. They could also feature a quieter mode of operation to cut down on the amount of noise generated during cleaning sessions.
Robot vacuums that include maps are a great option for pet owners since they're designed to evaluate your home and create plans of attack according to the layout and obstructions in each room. For example, the Shark Matrix Plus 2-in-1 Vacuum is a smart vacuum that has an amazing ability to map rooms and navigate around furniture and other obstructions with gyroscope and accelerometer smart sensors that work in conjunction to learn the layout of your space.
Other models that are more advanced allow you to set no-go zones, which are areas that the robot is meant to stay clear of, such as fragile items or pet feeding spots. Learn Even more Here can adjust these settings through an app. This feature can be especially beneficial for families with a lot of activity as it permits you to schedule cleaning time and make adjustments without having be in the same room with the vacuum. Spot cleaning is another excellent feature. You can direct 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, go for a model with a large bin, or even a self-emptying bin. We recommend picking one with an enormous bin or a bin that self-empties. The former will enable you to keep up with emptying the bin frequently enough to ensure you are on top of its performance, while the latter will help you save time and effort by automatically dumping its contents into an internal container every few cleanings.
Whatever the size of your house the majority of robots are able to get up to and around furniture, and most can recognize and navigate around household obstacles such as loose cords, shoes, and dog urine. Look for models that have intelligent mapping capabilities. This allows them to "learn the structure of your home and design a an efficient route.
Some models provide spot cleaning. This lets you choose a specific area of your home to be targeted 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, together with larger debris such as oatmeal, orzo pasta, metal screws and pet hair.
According to the manufacturer, robots can last years and perform as well, so long as they are maintained. For example cleaning hair that is tangled out of brushes cleaning dust bins after each use, and wiping cameras and sensors down as required. The best-performing robots also tend to be more modular, which makes them easier and cheaper to replace or repair parts such as wheels and batteries when they wear out.