During testing, this robot vacuum tackled every size mess efficiently and more quickly than our other picks. It has multiple modes, depending on the cleaning you need , and its multiple sensors prevent it from hitting furniture or toppling down stairs. And with this pick, you don’t have to rely solely on the sensors to protect your investment — a handy boundary strip is easily installed to stop the robot from entering a no-go area.
The iRobot Roomba vacuum cleaner shoulders some of the housework load by automatically cleaning your carpet and floors. It vacuums up debris, even in hard-to-reach spots like beneath your furniture and along baseboards. Most robot vacuums compete in a crowded field to be incrementally smaller, faster, and more powerful. The Deebot Ozmo T8 AIVI, on the other hand, stuffs bissell crosswave cordless as many features into one package as it can. It’s a vacuum and a mop, it has a microphone, and it’s a Wi-Fi-enabled camera you can navigate—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.
Over the years, we’ve tested dozens of robot vacuums to find the one that’s best suited for an array of needs. 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, we have a pick that might help. Be sure to check out our other irobot vacuum cleaner buying guides, including the Best Air Purifiers and the Best Pots and Pans. From the earliest models on, Roomba vacuum cleaning robots have been hacked to extend their functionality. The first adaptations were based on a microcontroller that was directly connected to the motor drivers and sensors.
The robot smoothly cleaned open areas within the confines of a test pen and never touched any of our solid pet waste facsimiles. We used three pieces of prank dog poop, all of different shapes, to represent the offensive substance. Bissell’s SpinWave Wet and Dry robot can both vacuum and scrub your floors to make them truly shine.
First-generation models must be recharged from a wall power adapter, while all subsequent models have a self-charging homebase that the unit seeks out at the end of a cleaning session via infrared beacons. The Roombas’ bumper allows them to sense when they have bumped into an obstacle, after which they will irobot vacuum cleaner reverse or change paths. Infrared “cliff sensors” on the bottom of Roombas similarly prevent them from falling off ledges such as stairways. These slow down the Roomba when nearing obstacles, to reduce its force of impact. It’s also used to clean alongside walls without bumping into the wall repeatedly.
Neato’s Botvac D7 Connected offers interactive cleaning maps, long battery life, and better third-party smart home integration than any other robot vacuum. While the L70 is loaded with smart features, it also knows the fundamentals well. Our testing showed that it picked up 10.8 grams of dirt on average, enough to keep up with a full-sized vacuum over the course of a week. If you’re looking to upgrade to a top-tier robot vacuum, the L70 Hybrid is a solid choice. Our runner-up and pick for the best value robot vacuum is the Eufy Robovac 11S. This is the heir to the much-loved Robovac 11 and a sister model to the older Robovac 30c. This robot vacuum does its predecessors proud, offering excellent, strong suction and improved navigation.
One of the biggest concerns from buyers before getting a robot vacuum was the possibility that it would drag pet messes all over the house. The PrecisionVision capability (and the P.O.O.P. guarantee that comes with it) keeps that from happening. Most Roomba models will run for around 90 minutes before needing a charge.