Best Rated Robot Vacuum 101: It's The Complete Guide For Beginners
Best Rated Robot Vacuum Cleaner
Robot vacuums can be great to keep your floors clean but they cannot replace a regular vacuum. Even the best vacuums struggle to penetrate carpets or rugs and often get tangled in cords and socks.
Being on top of routine maintenance (replacing filters cutting hair tangled from brushes and emptying the dust bin) will help your robot last longer.
Battery Life
Most robot vacuums are capable of handling just a few cleaning sessions before needing a charge. The runner-up of our overall picks is the Ecovacs Deebot Q30S Combo comes with a battery rated to last up to 180 minutes (3,230 square feet) of cleaning time on a single charge. This is enough to clean most smaller homes with carpets that are hard and carpets with low pile, or a larger home in which the rooms are about the same size.
A longer battery life means that the robot is able to spend more time cleaning and less time charging its dock. It's recommended to select a model with a self-emptying dust bin, as they are more efficient when it comes to cleaning up debris and returning to the dock for charging. It is also essential to empty or change the filter and clean cameras and sensors regularly so that they can see your home clearly.
Smart mapping technology can be a valuable feature, as you can program your robot to ensure it only cleans specific rooms or stays clear of areas where it's likely to bump into furniture or other obstacles. It's also beneficial for ensuring your robot can get under and around sofas, beds and other furniture with a high height. A few robovacs are cheap and have boundaries that you can put on the floor to block off areas and other models with higher-end features make use of sensors and cameras for this purpose.
Even the best robot vacs can't replace a conventional vacuum when it comes to heavy-duty large-pile dirt and debris. It's wise to keep a conventional power vac in reserve for these tasks and to schedule robot vacuums regularly for light cleaning throughout the week.
Navigation
A robot should be able of moving around your home without getting caught or running into things such as metal screws or pet hair, or sand. In our tests, a tracking device is used to track the robot's movements through the multi-room lab. It then maps its surroundings. We also check how well the robot avoids obstacles like power cords, furniture legs, and pet waste.
The most advanced robots are able to identify multiple floors and recognize landmarks, such as doors and windows. The most advanced ones, like the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra, come with a dual-sensor navigation device which uses the LIDAR sensor to map the room and a structured lighting camera in front of the robot to detect objects in real time. This lets the S8 to avoid common obstacles like power cords and furniture legs and can store up to four different floor maps within its internal memory.
The majority of the models that are affordable depend on bump sensors that aren't as accurate. In my testing they cut right through cords, dog poop and even a pair of shoes placed in the middle of the room. The most affordable choice Dreametech D10+, is an exception to this. It is a great carpet, hard floor, tangle and hair pickup. It also has an auto empty score that is close to perfect.
Another important feature is a huge onboard dustbin that doesn't need to be manually empty. It also has, for those models that mop, a water tank that can hold weeks worth of mopping sessions. The Karcher RCV 5 comes with this feature and has a large enough footprint that it can be placed under furniture but not so big that it can't fit into the nook between your toilet and bathtub.
Apps
Robot vacuums are like their upright counterparts, and it takes a lot of tech to bring them up to speed. There are a lot of choices available in a market that is maturing. Even the most advanced models require interaction from their users particularly when it comes time to schedule cleaning, make a a floor plan for your home and set up virtual barriers.
Think about a model that has its own app that can determine the layout of your house and save the settings for future use. This will let the vacuum begin where it left off in subsequent runs, without having to start the mapping process each time.
It's important to look out for a model that has zones or spot cleaning modes. They let you tell the robot vacuum to focus on a specific area for example, like under the dining table following a big family meal. You can choose to do this using the app or voice commands.
Many models also provide object avoidance. It allows the robot when it spots something that is in its path such as a box of shoe or a crate with dog toys, to instruct itself around. This will prevent it from hitting objects which could harm its sensors or cause jams.
This feature is offered on some of the more expensive models we tested. They depend on the technology of bump sensors for this however they weren't always able to avoid things in my test home.
Pet Hair
Choose a vacuum cleaner that is specifically designed to remove pet hair. The top models feature powerful suction, a brush that avoids the tangling and an emptying mechanism that can automatically empty hair into the dust bin when it is needed. Some models are able to detect dirt levels to adjust cleaning intensity. They can also detect items that aren't part of your flooring like furniture and toys, food bowls cords, and much more.
Some robot vacuums come with extra pet-friendly features. These include a water dispenser which is used to clean floors, and a HEPA filtering system that eliminates allergens like pet dander. They may also offer an operation that is quieter, which can minimize the amount of noise generated during cleaning sessions.
Robot vacuums that have mapping capabilities are a great option for pet owners. They're designed to evaluate your home and devise an attack plan based on the arrangement of each room and obstacles. For instance, the Shark Matrix Plus 2-in-1 Vacuum is a smart vacuum that has an amazing ability to map a room and navigate around furniture and other obstructions with accelerometer and gyroscope sensors that work together to learn the layout of your space.
Apps let budget robot vacuum create zones that are not allowed. These are areas that the robot should not be allowed, such as delicate items or pet feeding areas. This feature is especially useful for a busy household, as it allows you to schedule cleaning sessions and make adjustments without having to be in the same space as the vacuum. Another feature that is extremely useful is spot cleaning which lets you direct the vacuum to clean a particular area that is particularly dirty or brimming with pet hair.
Dust Bin
If you don't want anything tiny, choose a robot with a large bin, or even a self-emptying trash bin. We recommend going for a model that has a large bin or even self-emptying bins. The one will let you keep up with the process of emptying your bin regularly enough to maintain its performance. The second will save you time and effort by automatically emptying the contents into an internal container each time you clean it.
Look for models that have smart mapping capabilities, which permit them to "learn" the layout of your house and plan more efficient routes. They also detect and avoid objects that could block their paths (like shoelaces or tangled charging cables). Find models with intelligent mapping capabilities. This allows them to "learn the layout of your house and plan more efficient route.
Some models offer spot cleaning. This lets you choose a specific area of your home for intensive cleaning. We've found that most of the top performers in our tests are able to take in fine particles such as baking soda and sand, as well as heavier debris like oatmeal orzo pasta, metal screws, and pet hair.
Based on the manufacturer, most robots will last for a long time and continue to perform well as long as you maintain them with regular maintenance, like cleaning out hair that is tangled from brushes and dust bins, emptying them after each use, and wiping down sensors and cameras when needed. The most efficient robots tend to be more modular which makes them simpler and cheaper to repair or replace components like batteries and wheels as they wear out.