You can still find the RV761, but it’s a little difficult to do so now that the latest model is available. Although we haven’t tested the RV765, we feel comfortable recommending it since we found the previous version to be a great affordable robot vacuum. Shark’s robot vacuum has good cleaning power, solid WiFi connectivity, an easy to use app and a refined design that’s sleeker and more attractive. Run it daily if you can; it won’t keep up as well if it only runs once a week.
Floors cluttered with obstacles like wires, charging cords, toys, shoes and clothing can stop robots in their tracks. Some robot vacuum models clean tile, wood flooring and different types of carpet better than others. Roborocks with 5,000 to 6,000 Pa of suction do better than models with 2,000 Pa, but as noted earlier, the brushes make the biggest difference. Most robots have multiple suction levels, and more expensive models adjust to suck harder when they sense carpet. As a floor maintainer between manual cleanings, robot vacuums are worth it since they can save you a lot of time and energy. A self-emptying or automatic-emptying robot utilizes a secondary vacuum located in the charging base.
Plus, they can be app-controlled from your smartphone so you don’t even have to leave the couch to tidy up. Although, as noted, you’ll probably still need a stick vac for weekly deep cleans. I’ve been testing robot vacuums for five years and have run close irobot vacuum cleaner to 50 robot vacuums all over my house in my quest to find the best. There’s been a lot of innovation in this space, which is slowly getting us closer to that Rosie the Robot dream. But we’re still far from a robot that can handle all your housework.
In that case, I’d recommend getting the j7 and a separate mopping bot for your non-carpeted floors. IRobot’s Braava Jet m6 is a good option that can be programmed to mop after the Roomba vacuum is done. The robot vacuum cleaners you see today are not the clunky furniture destroyers from a decade or two ago. While this is a pricey bot, it’s the first Roomba with AI obstacle avoidance. This means it uses both a camera and some processor-powered smarts to see and avoid potential obstacles, such as power cables, shoes, socks, and pet waste.
The Shark is a good bot to stick under a bed or desk and set to run when you’re not home, as it’s loud and rattly and will bang into everything in its track. But its bullish nature and 120-minute runtime mean it’s less prone to getting stuck (although cables and socks will throw a wrench in its efforts as there’s no obstacle avoidance). The i3 has an attractive woven plastic gray top — a nice change from most of the shiny black plastic you find in this category (a magnet for dust, fingerprints, and scratches). It still gets stuck on common robot traps such as phone charging cables, cat toys, and the skinny feet of a lounger chair in my house. You need to tidy up a bit before setting it free, but it does better with large cables and rug tassels than many other robots.
When a cleaning cycle is complete, the robot vacuum returns to the charging base, and the secondary vacuum suctions out the dust bin and places the contents into a bag or separate dirt cup. A few other variables to consider are thresholds and flooring transitions. Most robot vacuums are designed to go over thresholds between rooms that are up to .25 inches tall.