The S7 is the first such device we’d actually trust to vacuum and mop without close supervision. That’s because the S7 is smart enough to know when it’s on a rug, and can lift its mopping pad so that your carpet bissell crosswave cordless doesn’t get soaked. The iLife V3s Pro is the best robot vacuum you can get for less than $200. Despite its low price, the V3s Pro consistently outperformed other robot vacuums that cost three times as much.
The Clean Base is shorter and shallower than Samsung’s emptying bin base, taking up less space in a room or under a table. If you want the convenience of a self-emptying vacuum but want to save a couple of hundred dollars over an iRobot or Samsung, the Shark IQ XL cleans and performs almost as well for a lot less. For our Founding Sponsors Program, we’re looking to partner with a small, select group of companies that are passionate about robotics and STEM education.
Beyond offering greater convenience than traditional models, they significantly limit your exposure to dust, a big plus if you suffer from allergies. As recently as a couple of years ago, you’d be hard-pressed to find a sub-$1,000 self-emptying robot vacuum, but the price on these models has been coming down. The Ecovacs Deebot Ozmo T8 AIVI is a pricey 2-in-1 robot vacuum and mop with excellent battery life, the ability to identify and avoid obstacles, and a unique home monitoring feature.
It can’t refill its own water tank, clean its own mopping cloth, or function as a home security camera, but it offers all the other perks of the S7 MaxV Ultra for $400 less. Based on your preferences, habits, home and the seasons, Roomba® j7/j7+ uses iRobot OS to create personalized cleaning suggestions, like cleaning more frequently during pet-shedding or allergy seasons. A full suite of advanced sensors allow this robot to navigate under and around furniture and along edges, while Cliff Detect keeps it from falling down the stairs. However, we couldn’t get it to complete the mapping process despite several attempts and a call to customer service. The iLife V3S Pro’s bin is easily accessible from the top of the robot.
The company has a good history of following through on those kinds of promises, but you should expect the improvements to trickle out over several years, not months. Besides, most good robots at all prices are pretty good at avoiding bot-trapping obstacles. And bot owners tend to get in the habit of picking up bissell crosswave cordless the kinds of floor-bound clutter that can create a problem—toys, shoes, laundry, even certain lightweight floor mats—so that the robot can work effectively. The Electrolux Pure i9 is an oddity that we want to love but can’t recommend. Another surprisingly useful upside to the basic Eufy bots is the short body.
PCMag.com is a leading authority on technology, delivering lab-based, independent reviews of the latest products and services. Our expert industry analysis and practical solutions help you make better buying decisions and get more from technology. One caveat is that the i3+ EVO’s mapping capabilities are limited to a single floor.
Unlike almost every other vacuum here, Eufy’s latest and most powerful robot vacuum utilizes twin turbines. Each turbine generates up to 2,000 Pa of suction energy, meaning that it can suck up twice as much dirt in one pass. In my testing, the X8 Hybrid’s maps were way too wonky for me to trust it to lug a full 250-mL tank of water around my house. However, it was the perfect vacuum to deep-clean all the dog hair and kid detritus in the basement.
While navigation isn’t as advanced as the Roombas, it does come with boundary strips that you can lay in front of power cords or doorways to keep it out of unwanted areas. If you want quicker, quieter, and more control over cleaning cycles, we’d suggest the S6. Targeted rooms — Similar to no-go zones, some also let you set targeted rooms, if you only need to clean a particular area. Keep a can of compressed air handy in irobot vacuum cleaner case you need to blow dust out of gears or other hard-to-reach nooks in the bot. You could save some money by using third-party filters, which are extremely unlikely to harm the bot, but you may void your warranty if you happen to send in your bot for repairs with one of them in the filter slot. The Shark AI VacMop did not avoid any obstacles, nor did it even acknowledge in the app that it encountered any obstacles.
I’ve written about robot vacuums for Wirecutter since 2013, logging hundreds of hours of research and testing in that time. Also consider the Eufy RoboVac 11S, which is so quiet and nimble that it blends into the background like no other robot . This basic, affordable bot sounds more like a desk fan than a vacuum—even if you’re home while it works, you’ll barely notice it running. It’s shorter than most bots, which lets it glide under more furniture, picking up plenty of hidden debris. The big downside is that the 11S don’t seem to be built to last for more than a couple of years on average, and we’ve heard about plenty of unrepairable breakdowns that happen even sooner. And while the 11S will get your floors much cleaner than if you didn’t vacuum at all, this bot just isn’t built to dig up much debris from rugs, especially softer, thicker types.
However, if the model you’re looking at needs to be manually plugged in, you might come home to a half-finished job. The Roomba i3+ can be controlled via an app as well as with Alexa and Google Assistant, so you can create a schedule and connect it to smart home devices. Unlike the more expensive Roomba i7+ and s9+, though, the i3+ can’t be directed to map individual rooms. It’s self-emptying and cleaning, too, which makes for a genuinely hands-off floor cleaning experience, but it does mean you have to put up with the highly bulky docking station, which is imposing. Replace filters and side brushes a few times per year, the brush roll about once a year, and the battery as needed—probably every second year, though that depends on how often you use the bot.