Anti-collision and drop sensors keep it from damaging furniture or falling down the stairs. While the navigation is effective the machine fails to distinguish between carpeting and hard dyson robot vacuum surfaces, meaning it may end up eventually accidentally mopping your carpet. The mop feature is a welcome addition, it tends to be less effective than dedicated robotic mopping options.
Read on for our top picks, as well as all the factors you should consider when buying a robot vacuum. You no longer have to suffer the indignity of dragging around an unwieldy plastic hose connected to a clumsy, wheeled canister the size of a Galapagos tortoise. Robot vacuums can help you dispose of dust, pet hair, and other debris in your home without requiring you to lift a finger. Robot vacuums are more capable and affordable than ever, and we’ve rounded up the best models we’ve tested to help you pick the perfect one for your home. With features such as in-app mapping, scheduling and no-go zones, the Neato BotVac D8 was promising.
In addition, it’s a self-emptying model, so you don’t need to empty the robot vacuum’s dust box. However, there is an ongoing in the form of the replaceable dirtbags the robovac empties the debris into. We weren’t able to test any of them before the 2021 holiday season, but we’re confident that the Shark and lower-end Samsung will work similarly to all the other laser-nav robots described in the previous few paragraphs. The “everyday” prices are a bit high, but we’ve seen some pretty good deals on the version of the Shark that comes with the self-emptying dock. Since we know laser-nav bots are all pretty similar to one another, this Shark could be a good choice if you see it on sale. Wyze is known for selling good-enough and implausibly affordable smart-home gear like security cameras, locks, thermostats—and the laser-nav Wyze Robot Vacuum too.
Plus, customizable Keep Out Zones and Clean Zones allow you to tell it the exact area to avoid and clean. Instead of 1 bristle brush, Roomba® robot vacuums use 2 Multi-Surface Brushes that flex to adjust to different floor types and avoid getting tangled with pet hair. If you’re a pet parent irobot vacuum cleaner who needs help keeping hardwood, tile or low-pile carpeting fur-free, the iLife V3S Pro is the right vacuum for you. This ends up in surprisingly good overall coverage, but you may find that some areas that trap the robot get lots of attention, and more open areas just get one quick pass.
For a dependable, versatile, and affordable cleaner, we prefer a bagless upright, but we have recommendations for other types of vacuums as well. Wipe the sensors clean as needed, according to the manufacturer’s guidelines—usually with a microfiber cloth or cotton swab with a little water or rubbing alcohol. The Trifo Max worked fine in our tests, nothing impressive or obviously bad.
For several hundred dollars less than the j7 Plus, you get the power of a high-end Roomba vacuum; it has the same suction level and similar battery life to the j7. However, it does have a tendency to bump into things more often than the j7, likely because it doesn’t have a camera on board. During testing, this resulted in a few toppled chairs, so this isn’t the right bot for you if you have delicate items like vases on pedestals.
But if a vacuum you like doesn’t come with one, it doesn’t have to be a dealbreaker, models without the label may be just as good. While not really a feature I consider essential for operation, the G20 has a remote control option in the Eufy Home app, which means it can also double as a fun cat toy. Despite being a budget bot, it doesn’t partake in the classic bump and roll navigation, Instead, it uses gyroscopic navigation to divide the space into individual areas and clean each one methodically. It’s quite soothing to watch it go to work as it moves up and down in neat, rectangular boxes. You can read my full review of the Roomba j7 Plus here, where I put it head-to-head with Samsung’s Jet Bot AI Plus robot vac, which shares similar features.