Our journalists combine independent research with over-the-top testing to save people time, energy and money when making buying decisions. Whether it’s finding great products or discovering helpful advice, we’ll help you get it right . Rachel Cericola is a senior staff writer at Wirecutter who has been covering smart-home technology since the days of X10. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Wired, Men’s Health, USA Today, and others.
This robot vacuum is also one of the fast house-cleaning products you’ll wish you knew about sooner. Most robot vacuums also have the perk of the compact size and low height for picking up debris underneath furniture. For those sensitive to noise, Roombas are generally quieter to operate than most standard vacuums. The loudest models top out around 70 decibels, which is just slightly louder than the average conversation.
Some people are comfortable using a robot as their only floor-cleaning vacuum , though bot owners tend to also own a traditional vacuum that they use to deep-clean their rugs on occasion. Really, any model in the Roomba 600 series is a good choice, since they are all strong cleaners, especially on rugs, thanks to the dual-brush and dirt-detection systems. They are also sturdier than any bump-and-run models from any other brand we’ve tested, which more than offsets the Roomba line’s slightly higher sticker price.
Another option to consider is the lower-priced Roomba i7+, which has the same cleaning system and Smart Map capabilities as the j7+ but doesn’t have the obstacle-avoidance feature. Consider the size of your home and individual shark cordless rooms before choosing a robot vacuum and pick one with enough power to handle the area. The robot smoothly cleaned open areas within the confines of a test pen and never touched any of our solid pet waste facsimiles.
The Samsung Jet Bot AI+ worked its way around a lot of objects but still managed to knock over a few hockey sticks and a bucket of golf balls. When it avoided obstacles, it often misidentified them in the app—and all of that would be fine, if it cleaned effectively. But it doesn’t work very well on even low-pile carpet and is an absolute no for pet owners. We tested the claim out with a fake turd made from Nutella and oatmeal, and the j7 worked great. The j7 spotted the faux feces from a few feet away and then methodically worked around the mess, never getting closer than about a foot.
To learn more about how we rate and test robot vacuums, consult our vacuum buying guide. On top of these calculations, we factor in the reliability and owner satisfaction score of robotic vacuums from surveys based on members’ experiences with more than 9,000 robot vacuums. While this one isn’t exactly a Roomba, it’s certainly in the family and it pairs well with certain smart models from iRobot’s stable of vacuum robots. Meant for use on hardwood, tile, or stone floors, the M6 is perfect for cleaning spills, pet waste, and other messes. Similar to iRobot’s vacuums, the automated M6 mop features smart mapping and coordinated app control. Users can pair the app to voice-control devices in order to direct the bot to quickly clean up specified areas.
The popular model has a three-stage cleaning system to suck up dirt, crumbs, dust, and debris — with not much effort on your part. Designed to keep your entire home spotless, it tackles messes on hard floors and carpets for up to 90 minutes on a full charge. For even more convenience, when the robo vac’s battery runs low, it automatically returns to its dock to recharge.
In our tests, its data security is quite strong, but its data privacy is middling. In CR’s latest member survey, Samsung robovacs receive a middling predicted reliability rating and a Poor owner satisfaction score. For a dependable, versatile, and affordable cleaner, we prefer a bagless upright, but irobot vacuum cleaner we have recommendations for other types of vacuums as well. If your bot breaks down outside of the warranty period, you may be able to repair it, particularly if it’s a Roomba model. Don’t chalk up the bot as a total loss until you check to see whether the broken part is available as a replacement.
The 694 is ideal for smaller areas and will work best in rooms without clutter. An auto-adjust cleaning head helps the unit transition easily between low-pile carpet, medium-pile carpet, hardwood, and bare floors. It can run for up to 90 minutes before automatically recharging, but it will need to be reset before its bissell crosswave cordless next run. This pick for the best budget robot vacuum doesn’t come with mapping capabilities, although adaptive navigation keeps it from bumping into furniture or falling down stairs. A quieter runner than others we tested, it might be a great pick for spaces or situations where a not-so-loud robot cleaner is needed.