The Eufy RoboVac X8 is packed with smart features and offers four different suction levels for powerful cleanup. It uses AI to detect and avoid obstacles and builds a virtual map that you can watch in real time, something other vacuums don’t do. It also got into a few tangles with power cords and had to be rescued but did a great job scooping up a cat toy that I later found in the dustbin. It’s a solid machine, but at $599, you can get the self-emptying and superior iRobot Roomba j7+ for just a hundred dollars more.
Infrared “cliff sensors” on the bottom of Roombas similarly prevent them from falling off ledges such as stairways. These slow down the Roomba when nearing obstacles, to reduce its bissell crosswave cordless force of impact. It’s also used to clean alongside walls without bumping into the wall repeatedly. This technology is also able to distinguish between hard and soft obstacles.
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The first journey the Shark makes is an “Explore Run,” during which it produces a map of your home that you can then edit from the mobile app. We also tested the Ecovacs Deebot T8 AIVI, which failed irobot vacuum cleaner 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 and that we should pick them up.
If your main struggle is keeping up with pet hair and small pieces of debris like cat litter, you don’t need to spend hundreds of dollars to get a well-performing robot vacuum. In our testing, the iLife V3S Pro did the best job on cat hair and cat litter on my hardwood floors. The Eufy does a superb job picking up dirt, excelling on hardwood floors, tile and low-pile carpets. It filled its dustbin with pet hair and cat litter, though it wasn’t able to get up all the litter on a higher-pile carpet.
Recognizing that most homes have a combination of carpeting and bare floors, iRobot just launched its first 2-in-1 robot vacuum-and-mop combo in September, said WIlliams. The Roomba Combo j7+ offers all the same features as the j7+, including the iRobot’s Pet Owner Official Promise, but it also mops and vacuums bare floors at the same time. According to the brand, this is the only robot vacuum-and-mop combination that can easily transition from carpet to bare floors because it has an automatic, fully retractable mop that prevents wet carpet messes. Cleaning styleWilliams says there are two navigation methods that Roomba vacuums use to move about the house. “ use input from sensors on the robot, like bump sensors in the robot’s bumper, to execute pre-programmed behaviors.” He said the Roomba 600 series uses this type of navigation.