Look for details about its ability to clean hard floors and carpets, and see if it has a “max” mode you can use to increase suction. If you are given a Pa measurement, look for around 2000Pa if you have mostly carpeted floors. Among those top models are flagship cleaners from companies like iRobot, Roborock and Neato, as well as compelling picks from lesser-known upstart brands. CNET will continue to test robot vacuums and update this best robot vacuum list periodically as new models become available — for now, let’s get right to the top models we’d currently point you toward. For several hundred dollars less than the j7, the i3 has similar software features, the same suction level, and a slightly smaller battery.
It looks much sleeker now with its new all-black design, giving it an aesthetic similar to some of the more expensive Roomba models. It has three physical buttons on it — start, dock and spot — and it connects to WiFi so you can control it via the iRobot app. Unfortunately, your $274 gets you the vacuum and its necessary parts only so you’ll have to pay up immediately when you need a replacement filter or brushes.
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 shark cordless 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.
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 shark cordless 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.
Neato cleaned up in this test, with the Neato D9 leading all of our CNET-tested cleaners overall and the less-expensive Neato D8 coming in third overall. That’s good for you as a consumer, because it means that you’ve got a good variety of robot vacuums to choose from that all offer comparable cleaning capabilities across various price points. I’ve tested several models in this category now, and the Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra is still my favorite. The Ecovacs Deebot X1 Omni (which has a built-in voice assistant and oscillating mops like the Q Revo) is also good, but the Roborock can vacuum carpets and mop simultaneously. In contrast, you have to choose your cleaning preference with the Ecovacs model each time you send it out. The newer Ecovacs T20 Omni can lift its mops, but in early testing, its obstacle avoidance was not as good as the Roborock’s.
When it comes to vacuuming prowess, we want to know how effective each robot is against common crumbs and other debris, and also how it fares against much smaller particles like dust, dirt and sand. To find out, we use dry, uncooked black rice as a stand-in for the crumbs, and sand as an analogue for finer particles. The best bang for your buck, the Roomba i3 Evo cleans just as well as the j7 but won’t avoid clutter dyson robot vacuum and doesn’t have app-enabled clean zones or keep-out zones. Robot vacuums tend to have two different types of navigation, infrared and optical, or a combination of both. The vacuum does a good job with debris and larger particles, performing nearly as well as our No. 1 pick. It can be programmed via a free app or remotely controlled with voice commands, allowing you to stop, start, or adjust this robo vac with ease.