This robot vacuum is also one of the fast house-cleaning products you’ll wish you knew about sooner. Most robot vacuums also have the perk of the compact size and low height for picking up debris underneath furniture. For those sensitive to noise, Roombas are generally quieter to operate than most standard vacuums. The loudest models top out around 70 decibels, which is just slightly louder than the average conversation.
Like most other robot vacuums that cost more than $350, the s9+ can learn the layout of your home, and you can then use a smartphone app to tell it where and when to clean. While it navigated quite well around the obstacles in our lab tests, a staffer found that it had a few quirks in his own home, like being prone to getting snarled on the edges of rugs. This robot vac uses a 20 V Li-ion battery and is equipped with 1 side brush. Even setting aside the smart maps, the Roborock Q5 is still one of the best navigators we’ve tested. It rarely misses any accessible areas of a home, as random-navigation robots sometimes do. In our tests, even when it did bump into an object its lidar turret didn’t detect, it course-corrected more quickly and more accurately than other bots.
The 694 is ideal for smaller areas and will work best in rooms without clutter. An auto-adjust cleaning head helps the unit transition easily between low-pile carpet, medium-pile carpet, hardwood, and bare floors. It can run for up to 90 minutes before automatically recharging, but it will need to be reset before its next run. This pick for the best budget robot vacuum doesn’t come with mapping capabilities, although adaptive navigation keeps it from bumping into furniture or falling down stairs. A quieter runner than others we tested, it might be a great pick for spaces or situations where a not-so-loud robot cleaner is needed.
The Eufy RoboVac G30, on the other hand, stands out for its short stature. Measuring 12.8 inches in diameter and 2.85 inches tall, it’s one of the smallest robot vacuums we’ve tested, meaning it can clean where a lot of other robot vacuums won’t fit, like under couches. Before the X1 Omni hit the scene, the Ecovacs Deebot Ozmo T8 AIVI was the most advanced floor-cleaning robot we’d seen.
Another advantage is that the Roomba 694 has two counter-rotating brush rolls, mounted in a suspension system, whereas every other bot at this price has a single brush sitting at a fixed height. The Roomba 694 also has a dirt-detection system, which helps the bot reliably clean the most obvious piles of debris as long as it encounters those piles on its semi-random travels. The biggest difference from our top picks is that the Roomba 600 series doesn’t have smart mapping and navigates semi-randomly rather than following an orderly, predictable path. This was the norm for robot vacuums until a few years ago, and a lot of people were happy with that approach. But as of 2022, smart robots are much more common and affordable—and much better at cleaning large spaces consistently and efficiently.
Battery reliability is a frequently mentioned complaint on customer review websites. Battery replacements from iRobot cost a significant fraction of the purchase price of a new Roomba, dyson robot vacuum though compatible third-party batteries are available at a lower price. The iRobot customer support website offers advice on maximizing battery performance and longevity.
There are robot vacuums to honor every price, budget and style preference. Whether you have less than $200 to spend or up to $1,000, these smart investments can free up your personal time and offer a hygienic home environment. The Roomba app will also log the machine’s cleaning history so users can keep track of which areas have been vacuumed. To use the convenient voice-activation feature, most models are compatible with Alexa or Google Home. As a bonus, some models can also be linked with iRobot’s smart mops for coordinated cleaning.
Connected bots also typically generate statistics and maps of the areas they clean. Many even create personalized floor plans, allowing for targeted room cleanings and eliminating the need for you shark cordless to use “virtual walls” to cordon off sections of your home. The Roomba i3+ EVO is a top choice for anyone looking to upgrade from a standard robot vacuum to one with self-emptying abilities.
To learn more about how we rate and test robot vacuums, consult our vacuum buying guide. On top of these calculations, we factor in the reliability and owner satisfaction score of robotic vacuums from surveys based on members’ experiences with more than 9,000 robot vacuums. While this one isn’t exactly a Roomba, it’s certainly in the family and it pairs well with certain smart dyson robot vacuum models from iRobot’s stable of vacuum robots. Meant for use on hardwood, tile, or stone floors, the M6 is perfect for cleaning spills, pet waste, and other messes. Similar to iRobot’s vacuums, the automated M6 mop features smart mapping and coordinated app control. Users can pair the app to voice-control devices in order to direct the bot to quickly clean up specified areas.
Our journalists combine independent research with over-the-top testing to save people time, energy and money when making buying decisions. Whether it’s finding great products or discovering helpful advice, we’ll help you get it right . Rachel Cericola is a senior staff writer at Wirecutter who has been covering smart-home technology since the days of X10. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Wired, Men’s Health, USA Today, and others.