However, unlike the Neato D7, our previous midrange robot vacuum pick, the Roborock S7 was much more effective at pulling sand away from both medium-pile (50.4%) and low-pile carpets (64.2%). On hardwood floors this Roomba picked up an average of 93% shark cordless of our test sand, the second-highest amount in our test group. With 95% sand removal, the Neato Botvac D7 still reigns supreme on that test. In an open area, some models travel in a grid-like pattern in the area until they encounter obstacles.
The result is that although Roombas are effective at cleaning rooms, they take several times longer to do the job than a human would. The Roomba may cover some areas many times, other areas only once or twice, and may miss some areas. However, the random algorithm has been shown to effectively cover rooms of various sizes and configurations, particularly when used repeatedly for maintenance cleaning. The i3+ EVO offers 10 times the suction power of the entry-level Roomba 600 series, and in testing did a good job of removing dirt from hard floors and carpet.
That’s fine, but it’s slightly less than what you get from the slightly more affordable Roborock Q5. The older Eufy RoboVac L70 is still available, as well, but its app is not capable of permanently remembering specific rooms in a home, which makes it substantially less convenient than most current laser-nav bots. We’ve tested a handful of its laser-nav bots over the past few years, including the Deebot Ozmo T8 AIVI (a higher-end but otherwise similar version of the N8 and N8 Pro). All of the Ecovacs models we’ve tested worked fine when they were new, but you can usually find a better bot for a lower price. Their major flaw lies in the Ecovacs app, which is glitchier than others.
It has consistently been one of the lowest-priced models of its ilk (around $100 cheaper than the Roborock Q5). We tested one, and it worked a lot like all the other laser-nav models. The robot itself felt relatively flimsy, but we have no clue what to expect in terms of durability, and our analysis of owner reviews didn’t turn up any unusual complaints. The main reason we don’t recommend the Wyze bot is that the app can’t currently remember maps for multiple floors of a home—it learns one level, whereas Roborock bots can remember up to four levels. According to the Wyze customer support forums, a beta version of the Wyze app supports multiple maps, and it’s supposed to be released widely at some point. If that doesn’t matter to you, or if you’re willing to believe that Wyze will actually release that multi-level update soon, the Wyze robot seems like a decent-enough option.
We also tested the Ecovacs Deebot T8 AIVI, which failed to avoid any objects. It just informed us in the app, after the session was over and the Nutella was smeared everywhere, that there were many objects on our floor irobot vacuum cleaner and that we should pick them up. We bought one of the Goovi models, and lo and behold, we found that it was functionally identical to the 11S, with many of the same components and even the same beep and boop sounds.
Even so, the semi-random bots still have a place in the world, and we’ve concluded that the Roomba 600 series is a great option if you want a simple, sturdy bot for a fair price. The Roomba i3 EVO is a better cleaner than most robot vacuums—at any price. We know this from assessing the visual results in our tests, but also from weighing the contents of the robot’s dustbin after vacuuming sessions and comparing that against the performance of other vacs. On many occasions, we also ran it immediately after other bots had done a cleaning session, and the i3 EVO would still come back with a lot of extra debris in its bin that the other bots must have left behind. Every bot we’ve tested—even the latest models with sophisticated navigation and smart-home integration—has gotten trapped or tangled at least occasionally.