When we put it to the test, it picked up 100% of pet fur and cereal — it just missed a perfect score, as it collected roughly 97% of kitty litter. It was better on bare floors than our overall winner, the Roborock S4 Max. Brian Bennett is a senior writer for the home and outdoor section at CNET. These include everything from cordless and robot vacuum cleaners to fire pits, grills and coffee makers.
IRobot has been praised for the availability of replacement parts for Roombas, with official parts still being sold for every model including the first-generation Roombas, almost 20 years after their release. Most Roomba models are disc-shaped, measuring 338–353 millimetres (13.3–13.9 in) in diameter and 86–94 millimetres (3.4–3.7 in) high depending on the model. The ninth generation S series are D-shaped rather than dyson robot vacuum circular, with the flat part of the D at the front, and are narrower at 311 millimetres (12.2 in) wide. A large contact-sensing mechanical bumper is mounted on the front half of all models, with an omnidirectional infrared sensor at its top front center. Our recommendations above are what we think are currently the best robovacs for most people. We factor in the price, feedback from our visitors, and availability.
Our carpet is in great condition every day thanks to the genuine joy we get from letting the Roomba do its thing. Living with a Roomba also made our home tidier because we didn’t want to leave anything this feisty device might try and consume. We moved those too, as well as furniture, positioning pieces to give the Roomba space to navigate. That’s not to say the cleaner can’t fit through small spaces — because it really can. Sometimes the vacuum’s ability to squeeze in-between furniture and under tables pleasantly surprised us.
So the first order of business for any successful robot vacuum is to avoid or at least escape from potential bot traps and hazards. As for the Roborock S6 MaxV, it failed the crucial dog-turd avoidance test multiple times when we first tested it in 2020, and was just okay at avoiding other kinds of obstacles. We tested it again in late 2021, and it either improved due to a software update (they’ve issued several since our last round of testing) or some other variable in our testing changed. We’re not confident that you can count on the bot’s AI to avoid a doo-doo catastrophe but if you were thinking about getting a Roborock anyway and are curious about the AI, it’s not a bad option.
They have surprisingly small bins and so, unless you’re lucky enough to own a self-emptying model, these will need emptying after each run. On top of this, it’s good practice to cut free any hairs which have tangled in the rotating brush as well as clean the irobot vacuum cleaner filters. Some brands such as Eufy, iLife, Neato, and Roborock will provide a cleaning tool which can help with these tasks. The filters will need replacing as well — you should refer to your manual for guidance on how often to replace and where to buy.