Karlston Posted July 16, 2020 Share Posted July 16, 2020 The Best Robot Vacuums From no-frills cleaners to high-end automation, we have the perfect picks for you. Let’s be honest: A lot of new devices are meant to stoke desire for something you never even knew you wanted. (A tiny keyboard? Yes, please! A DNA test for your cat? Purrrr-fect!) But if you’re shopping for the best robot vacuum cleaner, it’s usually because you really, really need one. Whether you’re drowning in dog hair, need to lighten your chore load, or just want to spend a little more time with your family, these robot vacuums should help. Be sure to check out our other buying guides, including the Best Air Purifiers, Best Fitness Watches, and Best Dyson Vacuums. Updated for July 2020: We've added several new picks, such as the Roborock S6 MaxV, and cut a few older units. If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. Learn more. Photograph: Shark Best Overall Shark IQ Robot With Base Once you’ve tried a robot vacuum with a self-emptying bin, you can’t go back. The Wi-Fi-enabled Shark IQ bot has some hiccups, but it compensates by being relatively affordable, with a game-changing, self-emptying bin. In Shark's app, you can also enable Alexa, schedule cleanings, establish no-go zones on a floor map, and change the cleaning mode. The Shark IQ will dock to unload the bin according to a pre-established algorithm, which usually worked out to twice an hour in my dog-hairy, kid-crumbly house. It also has nifty extras, like a self-cleaning roller brush. The bot did have trouble establishing a working floor map, and the cliff sensors often got tripped up on my kitchen step. But it’s worth it, just to not have to empty a dust bin every day. $600 $480 at Amazon $600 $480 at Best Buy Photograph: iRobot Best in Class iRobot Roomba S9+ iRobot consistently puts out the best, and most expensive, robot vacuums available. For stellar, fuss-free performance, the Roomba S9+ is in a league of its own (9/10, WIRED Recommends). This year, iRobot added a 3D sensor that scans its path 25 times a second, adding up to a staggering 230,400 data points per second to keep the Roomba S9+ from getting stuck. That’s in addition to a self-emptying base with a sensor in the dust bin, a rubber roller brush that scrubs up low-pile carpet, unbelievable edge-detection capabilities, a proprietary corner brush, infallible smart maps with no-go zones, and the ability to link to your iRobot mop. If you want the best, you have to get this vacuum. $1,300 $1,100 at Amazon $1,100 at Best Buy Photograph: Dser Best Budget Robot Vacuum RoboGeek 21T The Dser RoboGeek 21T is so much cheaper than our previous budget pick, the Eufy 11S Max, that I was suspicious. But after a week of testing, I've found it surprisingly reliable. It uses simple bounce navigation technology to ping-pong around your house and has a respectable run time of more than 100 minutes. It didn't fall victim to common robot vacuum traps, like falling off my kitchen step, and you can control it via an app, through voice commands or with an included battery-powered remote. It's not the most powerful vacuum out there, and bounce navigation isn't that thorough—it did leave a whole mess of feathers on the floor of my children's room (don't ask). But you can't beat the price. If you don't need voice commands, the RoboGeek 20T is even cheaper. $190 at Amazon Photograph: Ecovacs Best Vac-Mop Combo Ecovacs Deebot T8 AIVI In a crowded field, where robot vacuums compete to be incrementally smaller, faster, and more powerful, the Deebot Ozmo T8 AIVI throws in many additional features for its high price. It's a vacuum and mop, and it has a microphone, and it's a Wi-Fi-enabled camera that you can navigate while peering at your house from ankle-height. That's in addition to other high-end navigation features, like obstacle identification and the ability to customize your map with virtual boundaries, designated areas, and multiple floors. This powerful, sophisticated vacuum has a long battery run time and can mop and vacuum on a single pass. But a Wi-Fi-enabled mobile camera in your home is a tempting target for hackers. It also had a few hiccups in my testing: The app sometimes deleted my painstakingly crafted maps if I updated the software, and the drop sensors got stuck a few times with my kitchen step. Plus, Deebot warns me to clean the sensitive dust sensors with annoying frequency. (No duh, you get dusty! You're a vacuum!) $800 $750 at Amazon $800 $750 at Best Buy Photograph: Roborock Best for Pets Roborock S6 MaxV For a robot vacuum that's slightly cheaper, with a camera that doesn't take live video feeds, I also like the Roborock S6 MaxV. It's designed specifically for pets, with ReactiveAI that uses two stereoscopic cameras in the front of the vacuum to identify and avoid the most feared robot vacuum obstacles, like pedestals, power strips, and ... dog poop. I didn't bring poop in my house, but it identified every other obstacle in my house accurately, even avoiding small piles of Legos. And at 2.5 kPa suction power, it's almost twice as powerful as a regular hand vacuum; it sucked dog hair right out of our low-pile carpet. If you're house-training a new pandemic puppy, a powerful robot vacuum that can identify pet poop might be the perfect pick. $750 at Amazon Photograph: Neato Best Deep Clean Neato Robotics Botvac D7 Connected Neato's premium D7 Connected has seen considerable improvements since our review. Rather than taping magnetic boundaries around your house, you can draw no-go lines on your phone's touchscreen. It can also store multiple floor plans for multistory houses, and it has zone cleaning so you can send it to tidy up the kitchen after you're done baking. It can also calculate exactly how long it needs to recharge to finish cleaning, instead of charging for the full hour. It's amazingly powerful, fast, smart, and effective. Just keep it on gentle navigation if you don't want it to break its own bump sensors. (Price note: This model routinely drops into the $600 to $700 price range. Try not to buy it outside of that. Just wait a bit!) $800 at Amazon $800 at Best Buy Photograph: Roborock A Good Overall Pick Roborock E20 For the price, you get a ton for your money with the Roborock E20. It doesn't have a self-emptying bin, but this vacuum-mop combo has features I've previously only seen in much more expensive robot vacuums, like mapping capabilities and an optional mop attachment to pick up the last little pieces of schmutz. It can automatically edge-clean and navigate around obstacles without banging doors shut or scaring your cats. If you have a bigger house and want longer battery life and stronger suction, you might also want to consider the upgraded Roborock E35. $300 $170 at Amazon Photograph: Eufy A Vac I Can't Help Liking Eufy RoboVac G30 We've consistently recommended Eufy's budget robot vacuums as being affordable, attractive, and easy to use. Last year the company launched a vacuum series that uses laser navigation, and this year it released the RoboVac G30 Edge, a more affordable mapping robot vac. It doesn't have more sophisticated features, like virtual no-go zones in the app, and I did find it to be a little inefficient—it took between 50 to 80 minutes to clean my small house when more expensive vacs take around 30 to 45 minutes. But it still has Eufy's small, slim form factor for squeezing under tight spots. It's quiet, the app is attractive and easy to use, and it's not finicky—it doesn't constantly tell me to wipe off sensors or get stuck. If you really like your old 11S, this is a good, small upgrade. $370 at Amazon Photograph: Getty Images A Few Tips Yes, You Still Need a Push Vac For your robot vacuum's first run, it's worth staying home to watch. Many homes have hot spots—a weird door jamb, a lumpy rug—that can cause trouble; it's also worth cleaning up robot booby traps, like ribbons and pieces of string. If you have a Wi-Fi-enabled robot vacuum, the vast majority of them can only connect to the 2.4-GHz wireless band. If you're having problems connecting, check to make sure you're connecting to the right band (for example, many dual-band networks will have a "Home1" and "Home2" selection for the different bands). If you think you don't have enough free wall space, I've found that under the couch or under a bedroom cabinet is a great place to charge and store the vacuum. If you have a mapping robot vacuum, it usually uses an optical sensor, which means it requires a little light to navigate—2 pm is a better time to schedule a run than midnight. And I hate to be a downer, but you're probably still going to need a second vacuum. I keep a Dyson around for quick spot cleaning and vacuuming bedroom corners (and my car). The Best Robot Vacuums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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