After testing dozens of robot vacuums, he is neither worried about AI nor holding his breath for self-driving cars. He enjoys visiting factories and learning about regulatory loopholes, and has flooded our testing area only three times. This is important because if you set your bot to clean while you’re out of the house, but it gets stuck under your dining room table within the first 10 minutes, you’ll still have dirty floors when you get home. Even if you’re home to babysit your robot and rescue it from trouble, that kind of defeats the purpose of having an automatic vacuum anyway.
It picked up nearly all of Fido’s fur in our lab tests — making it the best robot vacuum for pet hair — and was also good in our at-home tests, too. It was about average in terms of noise compared to the other robot vacuums on test, with 64.1dB. Robot vacuums can offer a very impressive clean, even on thick carpets, making them an excellent alternative to upright or other vacuums. They’ll be more convenient too as you can set them to work when you’re busy doing other things. In addition, the dust cups on robot vacuums are often smaller than you’d expect to find on a canister or an upright vacuum cleaner.
But don’t be fooled by the AI in the name — it can only avoid objects if they’re over four inches tall. The S7 is the best option for a bot that can actually mop at a semi-accessible price. It does require a bit more hands-on effort, though, since you have to refill the reservoir (it doesn’t warn you when it’s empty) and wash the mopping pads . There is a new Roborock model that cleans its own mop, but it costs $1,400 (see the section below “What about robot vacuum mops that can clean their mops and refill themselves?”).
The first robot vacuum that ranked high in our testing has standard features such as iRobot’s three-stage cleaning system and dirt detector sensors paired with advanced suction power and smart navigation. Compared with earlier models, such as the 600 series, the i7+ has 10 times the suction power and it can hold up to 60 days’ worth of contents. Once it’s empty and charged, it will head out to clean some more until the job is done.
If you have a bigger living area, you’ll want to look for a robot vacuum that can get at least 90 minutes of battery life so it can hit every room before requiring a recharge. To test this, we charge the battery to full, start a cleaning cycle, and time how long the robot runs before it needs to be docked. In some cases, it may take several complete cleaning cycles for a bissell crosswave cordless robot to run out of battery. Some of the most advanced robot vacuums, such as the iRobot Roomba j7+, feature a camera and artificial intelligence technology to automatically identify and avoid obstacles like shoes, toys, and even pet waste. Premium models may also function as a roving home security camera, letting you view live video of your home from wherever you are.
Once you have that map, you can add room dividers and room labels, as well as keep-out zones and clean zones. Previously, you had to use a separate laser device with some iRobot robots to add a keep-out zone – but this is no longer dyson robot vacuum necessary, making everything much easier. The clean zone lets you choose to clean a particular area, such as under the dining room table, for example, though the J7+ also has the Dirt Detect technology to help with this.
It’s a great option for pet hair on hard floors and low-pile carpeting. The suction on this unit is 10 times higher than models in the 600 series and can be automatically increased to clean deep into carpets. The 981 Roomba vacuum cleans with pet-friendly features, including multisurface brushes and power-lifting suction with five times the air power of traditional vacuums. It will run for about 75 minutes before returning to the charging dock to power up and then resume cleaning.