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Best Rated Robot Vacuum Cleaner

Robot vacuums are great to keep your floors clean but they are not a substitute for a traditional vacuum. Even the best vacuums struggle to get deep into carpets or rugs, and can 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) can help your robot last longer.

Battery Life

Most robot vacuums are equipped to handle a few cleaning sessions without having to be charged. The second-placed model in our overall picks, the Ecovacs Deebot Q30S Combo is capable of lasting up to 180 minutes (3,230 square feet) of cleaning time on one charge. This amount of runtime will suffice for most small homes with a mixture of hard floors and carpets with low pile or larger homes with rooms that are about the same size.

A longer battery life means the robot will spend less time charging and spend more time cleaning. It's a good idea to choose models that have a self-emptying dust bin because they are more efficient when it comes to cleaning up debris and returning to the dock to recharge. It is essential to clean or replace the filters and clean the sensors and camera regularly so that they can see clearly.

Smart mapping technology is a beneficial feature, since you can program your robot to ensure it only cleans specific rooms or avoids areas where it's likely to bump into furniture or other obstacles. It's also useful for ensuring that your robot is able to go under and around sofas, beds and other tall furniture. A few robovacs that are cheap come with boundary strips you can use to block off certain areas. Other models of higher quality depend on sensors and cameras.

Even the best self cleaning vacuum robot vacs aren't able to replace a traditional vacuum when it comes to heavy-duty, large-pile dirt and debris. It is recommended to keep a traditional power vac in reserve to handle these chores, and to schedule robot vacs regularly for light cleaning throughout the week.

Navigation

A robot must be able to navigate around your home without getting stuck or crashing into things like screws made of metal or loose pet hair or sand. In our tests we used a tracking device used to follow the robot around a multi-room lab. It then tracks its surroundings. We also check how well the robot avoids obstacles like power cords, furniture legs, and pet waste.

The top robots can map out multiple floors, and recognize landmarks such as doors and windows. The most advanced ones, like the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra, feature a dual-sensor navigation system which uses a LIDAR sensor to map out the room, and a light camera on the front of the robot to identify objects in real-time. The S8 can avoid obstacles like power cords and furniture legs. It also has the capability to store up to four floor maps.

The more affordable models don't have this kind of object detection and rely on bump sensors which aren't as accurate. In my tests, they were able to detect dog poop through cords as well as a pair of shoes placed in the middle. The most cost-effective choice the Dreametech D10+, is an exception to this. It has excellent carpet and hard floor pickup, good tangle and hair pickup, and a near perfect auto empty score.

A large dust bin onboard, which does not need to be empty manually is another feature that's important. For models that mop the best robot vacuum cleaner floor, this tank can hold enough water to last for several weeks of cleaning sessions. Karcher's RCV 5 is an excellent example of this. It has a big enough footprint to be able to be placed under furniture, but not too big that it can't fit into the space between your toilet and tub.

Apps

Robot vacuums are a lot like upright vacuums and require lots of technology to get them up and running at speed. The result is a pretty mature market full of options. However, even the most advanced models require interaction with their users - particularly when it comes to scheduling cleanings as well as establishing a home floor plan and setting up virtual barriers.

To lessen the chance of this interaction, consider looking for a model that has its own app to recognize the layout of your home and save those settings for future use. This will allow the robot vacuum to continue where it began on subsequent runs rather than having the mapping process restarted each time.

It's worth looking out for a model that has spot or zone cleaning modes. They let you tell the robot vacuum to focus on a specific area like under the dining table after an enormous family meal. You can usually choose to do this using the app or by voice commands.

A lot of models also offer objects-avoidance. It permits the robot, when it spots objects in its path such as a box shoes or a crate filled with dog toys, to guide itself around. This will stop it from crashing into objects that could damage its sensors or cause jams.

Some of the most expensive models we've tested have this feature. They rely on bump sensor technology for this, but they didn't always avoid things in my test home.

Pet Hair

When you're looking to remove pet hair, you should choose the right model designed to handle this type of debris. The best models will have a high suction, a brush that stops tangling, and an automatic floor cleaners emptying mechanism. Some can also detect dirt levels and adjust the intensity of cleaning in line with the level of dirt. They are also able to detect objects that aren't part of your home flooring, like toys, furniture and food bowls.

Certain robot vacuums come with features that are pet-friendly, such as a water dispenser that can be used to mop floors, and a HEPA filter that can reduce allergens like pet dust. They could also feature a quieter mode of operation to cut down on the amount of noise that is generated during cleaning.

Robot vacuums that include mapping capabilities are an excellent option for pet owners, since they're designed to evaluate your home and devise an action plan based on the layout and obstructions in each room. Shark Matrix Plus is a 2-in-1 robot vacuum that can create a map of a room, and navigate around furniture and other obstacles using accelerometer and Gyroscope smart sensors.

Other advanced models let you define no-go zones that are areas that the robot is expected to stay clear of, such as fragile items or pet feeding spots. You can adjust these settings through an app. This feature is particularly useful for families with busy schedules, since it allows you to schedule cleaning sessions without needing to be in the space where the vacuum robot is. Another feature that is extremely useful is spot cleaning that allows you to direct the vacuum to clean an area that may be particularly dirty or brimming with pet hair.

Dust Bin

If you don't need something small, consider a robot with a large bin or even a self-emptying trash bin. We recommend going for a model with an enormous bin or a self-emptying dustbin. The former will enable you to keep track of cleaning the bin regularly enough to ensure you are on top of its performance while the latter will help you save time and effort by automatically emptying its contents into an internal container every few cleans.

Find models that have smart mapping capabilities that enable them to "learn" the layout of your home and devise more efficient routes. They also detect and avoid objects that may hinder their travel (like shoelaces or tangled charging cables). Look for models with smart mapping capabilities, which permit them to "learn" the structure of your home and plan more efficient routes, as well as ones that are able to detect and avoid objects that may hinder their routes (like shoelaces or tangled charging cables).

Certain models also offer spot cleaning, which allows you to choose a particular area of your home for intense cleaning. In our tests, we discovered that the top models can take out small particles like baking soda, sand orzo, metal screws and pet hair, as well heavier debris like oatmeal orzo, and screws made of metal.

According to the manufacturer the company, robots can last for years and still perform well as long as they're maintained. For instance cleaning hair that is tangled out of brushes cleaning dust bins after each use, and wiping sensors and cameras down when needed. The best robots are also more modular. This makes it easier to replace or repair parts like wheels and batteries when they get worn out.