The Shark AI Robot VacMop did not avoid any obstacles, nor did it even acknowledge in the app that it encountered any. The Trifo Max worked fine in our tests, nothing impressive or obviously shark cordless bad. Owner reviews suggest it gets lost pretty easily, isn’t built to last, and has poor customer service. We haven’t tested Trifo’s other models, but we would expect similar results.
For example, you can’t use Siri to set up Automations as you can with Alexa and Google Assistant—though to be fair, Automations on those two platforms are pretty limited, as well. Using Alexa, Rachel was able to create an automated Routine that would tell the Roomba i3 EVO to start vacuuming whenever Rachel and her smartphone left her house. However, as with most robot vacuums, you could also set a Schedule to accomplish these tasks. For every robot vacuum, we run at least two regular cleaning cycles across about 1,000 square feet, with lots of obstacles and thresholds.
We’ve also discovered that, as of late 2021, several other brands are selling near-copies of the Eufy bots. Under the Settings menu are even more customization options, such as turning the robot to Do Not Disturb mode or telling it to charge during certain hours. We spoke with sources in the floor-care manufacturing industry to help make sense of all the low-cost, off-brand options.
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.
All iRobot vacuums use a three-stage cleaning system to loosen, lift, and suction dirt and debris; however, the power will vary depending on the Roomba. For instance, the i7 has 10 times the suction power of the 600 series; therefore, users looking for a heftier clean may want to choose a model with this in mind. In addition, robot vacuums have reached the point where they’re just as powerful and effective as regular vacuums. The robots here combine spinning brush rolls and side brushes to clean your home just as well as their upright equivalents. And they’re slim enough to travel underneath most couches and tables, so you don’t have to rearrange furniture. Its battery life is just okay, but the RoboVac G30 smartly navigates your home, cleaning in orderly lines instead of randomly ping-ponging from wall to wall like some other affordable models.
Roborock does a decent job of keeping spare parts like filters and spare brushes in stock for its recent-model robots, which is an improvement over the company’s spotty stock status in past years. Even if you can find something like a spare transmission or wheel, it’s not so easy to just swap it in using a regular screwdriver, as it is with Roomba devices. But we’re happy to report that Roborock seems to be establishing a decent reputation for product quality and support. A possible side effect of the Roomba i3 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. Whereas those other bots use lasers or cameras to help them map and clean areas, the i3 EVO still utilizes gyroscopes and sensors to help it navigate. Laser-nav bots can learn your home’s layout in a single session, whereas the i3 EVO and higher-end Roomba models typically need two or three sessions of training.