This is where you can set it up to map your floorplan and set zones, and it continues to learn. You’ll receive notifications of a new cleaning recommendation, when a particular space in the home needs more attention. The Roomba Combo J7 Plus has the ability to suck up particles as small as 0.7 microns (which is the P.O.O.P promise) making it ideal for pet owners. It will also actively avoid your furry friends at your command over Alexa, Siri or Google Assistant. Beyond the basic specs I’ve already mentioned, there are four key features to consider when buying a robot vacuum. You don’t need all of these, and each will mean spending more than the most basic budget bots in this roundup.
It was able to successfully wipe away liquid messes, like spilled coffee, without a trace, and though it took a few passes, the vacuum-mop combo also cleaned sticky syrup off the floor. We loved the ease and convenience of this all-in-one robot vacuum, which made cleaning up dirt, spills, and pet hair a stress-free task. This smart vacuum and mop combo performed great on all floor types, even cleaning up coffee messes and syrup spills from hard floors with ease.
Equipped with a superior mapping system that can store multiple maps for different levels of the home in both 2D and 3D, the Q5 also has an easy-to-use app and responds well to voice commands. It cleans admirably (though not as well as the Roomba i4 EVO, particularly on carpets), moves fast, and steers clear of larger obstacles. A possible side effect of the Roomba i4 EVO’s design is that it may be relatively slow compared with other smart-mapping bots, such as our also-great pick, the Roborock Q5.
This is the Roborock Q5 packaged with a charging dock that sucks all the debris out of the robot after a cleaning session. Ultimately, whether you need both a regular vacuum and a robot vacuum comes down to you and your household’s cleaning needs. This is because the Roomba J7 has rubber brushes on the bottom instead of bristles, which scoop up hair and gunk without excess hair getting caught. We especially loved how easy it was to remove the rubber brush from the vacuum and clean off compared to other vacuums we’d used. “This vacuum has great suction, picking up big and small debris pretty easily,” our long-term tester said.
Robot vacuums are impressive devices that will clean your floors well without complaining (much). As prices have dropped, these busy little bots have become less of a luxury and more of a necessity. They can reach places most standup vacs never see (under beds and sofas) and, thanks to better bissell crosswave cordless batteries and robot brains, rarely get tired of cleaning. Liam McCabe is a former senior staff writer for Wirecutter, and has covered the wild world of appliances since 2011. After testing dozens of robot vacuums, he is neither worried about AI nor holding his breath for self-driving cars.
A mapping robot, the Shark has room-specific cleaning and app-enabled keep-out zones. It also has a handy Zones feature that lets you select areas of your house — say, half the living room and the hallway — to clean on a schedule. This is useful for regular quick cleans in high-traffic areas, and it doesn’t need to be set up every time you run it, as with some clean zone options.
“Look for robot vacuums with strong suction power and a brush roll designed specifically for carpets.” These are key features that will ensure the vacuum can effectively remove dirt and debris, she explains. On paper, the Bissell SpinWave Wet and Dry Robotic Vacuum has all the features you could want in a robot vacuum—mopping capabilities, object avoidance, easy emptying, and more. However, when we tested it in the lab, we found that even its most basic features were unhelpful. The vacuum couldn’t pick up cereal, pet hair, or even grains of sand from any flooring type, and the mop failed to clean up sticky residue when cleaning. The Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid was one of our top scorers for pet hair removal, collecting 100% of fur from hardwood floors, which only the iLife VS3 Pro also achieved. It’s also the only pet hair-effective robot vacuum to make our list which also functions as a mop.
The Roomba 694 isn’t too noisy when it’s working on your floors, but you might want to refrain from using it during naptime if you’ve got little ones. Aside from connecting to Wi-Fi, there aren’t any extra features, though the basic ones that are present perform very well. This robot vacuum isn’t perfect at transitioning from the edges of a rug to hardwood floors, but we think its ability to suck up hair, cereal, and sand from carpet still makes this an excellent device. Samantha Jones is bissell crosswave cordless a commerce editor at Better Homes & Gardens, writing about a variety of home products including the best stick vacuums, removable wallpaper, steam irons, and more. Most robot vacuums will last around four to six years, provided you take good care of it and ensure it doesn’t run over anything it’s not supposed to, like pet waste, power cords, and socks. Many robot vacuums have object avoidance technology and stair recognition, which can prevent it from falling down the stairs while in use.