Whether you want a new keyboard or a robot vac, there’s something for everyone. I hate to be a downer, but you’re probably still going to need a second vacuum once in a while. I keep a Dyson around for quick spot cleaning and vacuuming bedroom corners.
It’s less of a standout when it vacuums hardwood floors, but Roborock makes up for it with the fully automated mopping, which is aided in turn by the best-in-class navigation capabilities . If you’re new to the world of robot vacuums and want to try one without irobot vacuum cleaner spending a ton of money, the iLife A9 is a wise choice. If you have medium-pile carpeting in your home, it’s not the best option, but if you have hard floors and low-pile carpeting, it’s one of the best robot vacuums you can get in its price range.
If your main struggle is keeping up with pet hair and small pieces of debris like cat litter, you don’t need to spend hundreds of dollars to get a well-performing robot vacuum. In our testing, the iLife V3S Pro did the best job on cat hair and cat litter on my hardwood floors. The Eufy does a superb job picking up dirt, excelling on hardwood floors, tile and low-pile carpets. It filled its dustbin with pet hair and cat litter, though it wasn’t able to get up all the litter on a higher-pile carpet.
You should only have to interact with it to turn it on, empty its dustbin and untangle it if it were to get stuck somewhere. Then there are the top-of-the-line Roomba s9 and self-emptying Roomba s9+, which we do not recommend. Instead of the classic puck shape, the s9 has a D-shaped body and extra-wide brushes intended to improve its edge-cleaning and corner-cleaning abilities. It also has four times more raw suction than the already-strong Roomba i3 EVO, i7, and j7. That helps it consistently pick up larger debris such as cat litter or yard waste better than most robots, though it still doesn’t come close to deep-cleaning dust from a rug like a traditional vacuum does. But when we tried the s9 in 2020, it was one of the clumsiest navigators we’d ever tested.
As with the low-pile tests, note that most of the cleaners in the top half of the graph are all relatively close to one another — it isn’t until you get to the bottom of the pack that those bars really start to shrink. That’s good for you as a consumer, because it means that you’ve got a good variety of robot vacuums to choose from that all offer comparable cleaning capabilities across various price points. Along with the fact that the orange bars are a lot shorter , note that the order of cleaners is different, with our top midrange pick, the Roborock S7, now leading the way. Different robot vacuums will have different strengths and weaknesses based on their designs, so our variety of tests help us make recommendations that are as informed and well-rounded as possible.
Infrared “cliff sensors” on the bottom of Roombas similarly prevent them from falling off ledges such as stairways. These slow down the Roomba when nearing obstacles, to reduce its force of impact. It’s also used to clean alongside walls without bumping into the wall repeatedly. This technology is also able to distinguish between hard and soft obstacles.
Instead, it offers up more vague terms like “5x the cleaning power” or “40x the suction power.” Still, paying attention to how each model compares to the others can help you determine which one is right for your level of mess. For example, if you have pets that shed, you may want the stronger suction. Alongside suction power, other cleaning features to be aware of are brushless rollers or allergen filters, which trap pollen and mold allergens inside once they’re picked up, says iRobot.
The first journey the Shark makes is an “Explore Run,” during which it produces a map of your home that you can then edit from the mobile app. We also tested the Ecovacs Deebot T8 AIVI, which failed to avoid any objects. It just informed us in the app, after the session was over and the Nutella was smeared everywhere, that there were many objects on our floor and that we should pick them up.
Things are a little buried, and that might make the S7+ harder for robot-vacuum newbies to use. The Roomba s9+ is admittedly overkill for most people – but it’s nothing if not one of the best robot vacuums out there. The s9+ is the biggest but also the most attractive robo-vac I tried, with a corner-friendly design, copper accents and a 1.5-foot tall clean base. The setup was quick and easy, with the machine taking only a few minutes to connect to my home’s WiFi and the iRobot app.
The Eufy RoboVac X8 is packed with smart features and offers four different suction levels for powerful cleanup. It uses AI to detect and avoid obstacles and builds a virtual map that you can watch in real time, something other vacuums don’t do. It also got into dyson robot vacuum a few tangles with power cords and had to be rescued but did a great job scooping up a cat toy that I later found in the dustbin. It’s a solid machine, but at $599, you can get the self-emptying and superior iRobot Roomba j7+ for just a hundred dollars more.