How to Find the Best Robot Vacuum
If you're willing to live without the benefits of smart features like mapping, and you don't mind emptying the dustbin every 60 days or so, a basic robotic vacuum could be a good choice for you. Look for an option that is clean and works with voice assistants.
It is a pro at picking up dirt, clumps of pet hair and cat litter on tile floors, hardwood floors and carpeting with less pile than any other robo vacuum we've tried. It can also map and set virtual no-go zones for rooms or areas.
1. Powerful Suction
A robot vacuum cleaner can help you keep track of the dust, pet fur and dander that settles on your floor every day. It can also reduce how often you need to clean your floors, saving you time and effort. The most effective models have powerful suction that is able to take on the most difficult messes and leave your home sparkling clean.
neato robot vacuum can cover more area by using a robot vacuum and mop, which can be useful if you have a large house. Look for a model that has a water reservoir either in the chassis or as a separate piece that you put in after vacuuming is complete. It'll need to be filled and empty and refilled, which is an additional task.
In the ideal world, you'd clear your floors before you used your robot vacuum to keep it from crashing into objects. In most homes, however, this is not possible or desirable. Thankfully, many models allow you to use a smartphone app to set up virtual barriers that the robot will see and avoid. Some have no-go zones which you can use to mark areas you don't want it be in, like kids rooms or a pile of cords for your device in the corner.
This model is a great choice if you want an easy robot cleaner that doesn't have all the bells and whistles. It's quiet, it can be used on hard floors and carpets with low pile and can be programmed through the app to mop and vacuum at your own convenience. It's got a long battery life that can last for up to 180 minutes before it needs to recharge.
2. Easy to Operate
Robot vacuums generally require very little effort from you. They utilize navigation tools like sensors lasers, cameras and sensors to move through obstacles and collect dust, food crumbs and pet hair from hard floors, tile, hardwood and low-pile carpets. Many have boundary strips to allow them to stay within the walls of a room while pricier models can be programmed to automatically wake up and begin cleaning at a predetermined time. Some even come with fall detection technology that can help them avoid falling down stairs or becoming caught in electrical cords.
Find models that allow you to control from the comfort of your sofa using voice assistants such as Alexa or Google Assistant. You can also pick Wi-Fi models that allow you to start cleaning from anywhere with an app. Depending on the size of your house is, you might prefer one that has a long battery life and a spacious dust bin that doesn't require being regularly emptied.
Some robot vacuums can double as mops and use reservoirs of water to clean your floor. This is great for regular mopping but won't work for tough messes like pet poop or other wet spills. You can select hybrids with an adjustable microfiber mopping pad, or a self-emptying version that allows you to go for up to 60 days before emptying the base.
3. Smart Mapping
Some robots utilize advanced mapping technologies to build an accurate map of your floorplan as they clean the floor, which makes it easier for them to avoid crashing into furniture or falling over things like cords or chair legs. This feature is only available on higher-end models however, it allows your robot to have a thorough understanding of the layout of your home and to know where it should go when the battery is out.
If you don't want your robot to venture into areas of your house that you'd rather it stay away from (like your kids' toys or the mess of device cords in the corner), most robots offer some way to create virtual barriers, either through their apps or physical boundary strips. You can block off areas that you don't want your robot to enter to allow it to focus on the areas that require the most attention.
Many robots also have the ability to automatically navigate to different floorings based on the type of floor they're cleaning, whether that's changing between hard flooring and carpet or focusing on certain areas of your home, like baseboards and corners. In our tests, this was a useful feature that helped improve their scores on picking up carpeting made of low-pile or hardwood. It's nevertheless important to tuck away furniture and cords that are loose prior to using your robot vacuum to ensure that it doesn't get caught or come into contact with something it shouldn't.
4. Remote Control
Most robot vacuums have WiFi capabilities and can be controlled with voice commands, Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa or Siri Shortcuts. Many connect to smart home systems and create a map of your space after each cleaning session so they can "learn" your layout and devise more efficient routes for future trips. There are also built-in obstacles avoidance that prevents them from bumping into and damaging furniture or getting stuck on things like charging cables that are loose or shoe laces, as well as hair from pets.
Most robots have an remote control that you can use to navigate them around your home. However, the majority of them can be controlled via an app on your mobile that offers more features. You can create multiple cleaning schedules and make an inventory of your preferred rooms. You can also manually guide the robot by using directional Arrows.
Some models provide no-go zones These are virtual barriers you can configure within the app to prevent the robot from entering certain areas (like toys for kids or dog beds and bowls). Certain apps let you draw a map of your house and provide detailed information about the floors. The app we ranked as our top choice one, the Roborock S7+, has many useful options to help you clean your house, but its interface isn't as polished and elegant as those from iRobot and Shark.
5. Long Battery Life
Robotic vacuums that can sweep a whole house without stopping to recharge or empty their bins of dust save you time and effort. Certain robot vacuums can work with smart home devices like Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri Shortcuts to enable hands-free operation. They can also draw maps of the area for you to program them to specific areas or rooms and to avoid obstacles.
Most robot vacs have some degree of object detection, but higher-end models like the iRobot j7 come with advanced features like "home mapping" and advanced obstacle avoidance that will simplify your life (although our test bot did once "eat" the socks of a pair). socks). If you're seeking to improve the quality of your home maintenance, think about the use of a robot mop and water containers that you can fill and empty.
While none of the models we tested could match the dirt-picking power of a stand-up vacuum, most do an admirable job at cleaning hard floors and low-pile carpets. They excel at sweeping up fine dirt, food crumbs and dirt that has been tracked in. They are also able to handle nuts and screws made of metal as well as the stray cat litter. The best robot vacs can effortlessly work through furniture, and they excel at cleaning edges and corners as well. For an affordable model that can work on its own and is comparatively inexpensive, check out the Eufy 11S.
6. Convenient Self-Charging
With the right setup and the right setup, a robotic vacuum can aid in keeping your home looking and feeling cleaner on a regular basis with minimal effort. It is possible to schedule cleanings with the app, and you can create no-go zones so that the robot won't walk on your favorite chair or plants. The majority of our top picks automatically empty their trash bins and clean their docking stations for you.
The best robot vacuums are programmable to clean your floors regularly for weeks or months at a time, thereby which saves you the time and effort of manually mopping or sweeping your floors every single week or every day. This lets you take more time doing the things you like and reduces the time it takes to clean your floors manually.
In our tests the Q Revo was able to grab tiny particles such as baking soda and oatmeal, heavier debris such as nails and screws made of metal as well as fluffy things like pet hair. It isn't equipped with the intelligent mapping and objects-avoiding features of our top picks, but it is still a good choice for families with children.
The best feature of the j7 is that it makes use of cameras and processor-powered smarts to detect and avoid obstacles such as power cords, shoes, socks and pet waste. This means you don't have to tidy up before you can run your robot, although cluttered rooms will mean that your bot may get stuck and not perform the job as well.