It also features a self-emptying dustbin, good battery life, impressive obstacle avoidance, and strong vacuum suction power. We’ve tested more than 50 robot vacuum cleaners, and below are our recommendations for the best robot vacuums for pets to buy. These recommendations are based not only on their pet-hair cleaning performance on different surfaces but also on their design and price. For more, look at our lists of the best vacuums for pet hair, the best robot vacuums, the best robotic vacuums for hardwood floors, and the best handheld vacuums for pet hair. The Eufy RoboVac 11S and other Eufy bots whose model names begin with a number instead of a letter stand out as some of the quietest robot vacuums we’ve tested. They’re also some of the shortest, so they can fit beneath more pieces of furniture.
You can program almost all models to run on a cleaning schedule (such as Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at noon). You can also start some Roomba models from your smartphone before you even get home. Other features include smart mapping, where your Roomba learns your home so you can tell it, “Clean the living room,” and it will concentrate its cleaning run to that area. The Roomba i7+ will learn your home through smart mapping, and it should avoid large obstacles like stairs, but it doesn’t have the technology to avoid smaller obstacles like socks, cords, or pet waste.
For a more budget-friendly option, pet owners should consider the Roomba e5 with Wi-Fi. However, it does have increased suction power and two brushless rollers — a design tweak that makes it more effective at cleaning hair without getting tangled — and an allergen irobot vacuum cleaner filter, making it ideal for pet owners, according to the brand. This intelligent and gentle cleaner almost acts as a security camera as much as a robot vacuum cleaner. It can patrol your home while you’re away and livestream what it can see straight to your phone.
Apart from that, there’s not much that you’re missing here, making this an excellent midrange pick, especially for homes with an abundance of area rugs and other low-pile carpets. No other cleaner we’ve tested cleans carpets like those better than the S7. Roomba budget models (Dirt Dog and Model 401) used a simplified interface (a single “Clean” button) and lacked some of the software-controlled flexibility of other versions. The Roomba Dirt Dog contained sweeping brushes and a larger dust bin, but lacked the vacuum motor, using the space that would be required for the vacuum for additional dust bin volume. It was designed for a home shop or garage environment.[5] The Roomba Model 401 was similar but had a standard-size dust bin and vacuum system.
Like the i4+, the 671 robot vacuum’s multi-surface brushes work on carpet, hardwood and tiles, and they easily power through everything from dirt and liquids to pet hair. As you use the vacuum, the app will start to learn your cleaning habits and suggest customized schedules based on when you typically clean as well as seasonal changes like heightened pollen counts. Among robot vacuums (and vacuum cleaners in general), the Roomba is one of the most popular ones out there. The computerized, self-cleaning vacuum has only grown in popularity since its debut in 2002, but its hefty price tag can be a barrier to entry that’s hard to look past. One option is to consider a more affordable Roomba alternative; another is to wait until iRobot discounts some of its Roomba models, like it’s doing right now.
Brushes along the bottom of the unit are combined with suction power to lift and remove dirt in your home. Lasers and sensors may also be incorporated to offer mapping technologies that can avoid tricky areas in your home, like stairs, corners, doors, and pet waste. IRobot Roomba Combo J7+ uses iRobot’s advanced 4-stage Cleaning System, incorporating mopping into its vacuum features. It is best for hard floors, given its mopping feature, but thanks to its lifting design, it can seamlessly switch over to vacuum mode for carpets. With smart mapping, you can choose which rooms are vacuumed and which ones are mopped, creating a signature schedule precisely for your home.
If you schedule it to run every few days, or even every day, dust and crumbs never have a chance to accumulate, leaving your floors feeling cleaner than they would without a bot. In most homes, a bot is likely to stay in good shape if you do about 15 minutes of maintenance per month, maybe a bit more if the bot has a heavy workload. On that note, there is still a place in the world for cheaper robots that rely on semi-random navigation.
At the end of each job, the robo-vac automatically empties its small dustbin into the large clean base – that means you won’t have to empty the dustbin yourself and you’ll only have to tend to the base once every few weeks. Just keep in mind that most self-cleaning bases require proprietary garbage bags – another long-term expense you’ll have to factor in. Also, any vac-and-mop robot with a water tank will not dump its dirty water into the clean base, so you’ll still have to clean that yourself.
However, if you have a lot of high-pile rugs, the j7 tackles these better than either the Roborock S7 or S8. In that case, I’d recommend getting the j7 and a separate mopping bot for your non-carpeted floors. IRobot’s Braava Jet m6 is a good option that can be programmed to mop after the Roomba vacuum is done.
I found this to be true with the Roomba 694—the more I picked it up and moved it around my house, the more trouble it had finding its home base at the end of a cleaning cycle. If you opt for a Roborock robot vacuum that you empty yourself, you can save a bit of money. The Braava Jet M6 robot mop, also by iRobot, delivers a jet spray that can help you tackle messes on finished hard floors of stone, tile, wood and more. Keep reading to find the best iRobot robot vacuum deals available right now. The most essential function of a vacuum is suctioning up unwanted spills and debris.