Google Assistant and Alexa compatibility let you start a cleaning session with just your voice, or simply use the iRobot Home App. When your area’s pollen count is high or during pet shedding season, the Roomba 677 robot vacuum can even suggest extra cleanings —to help keep your floors clean every day of the year. The Dual Mode Virtual Wall® Barrier gives you dyson robot vacuum greater control over where your robot cleans. Virtual Wall Mode keeps your robot in the rooms you want cleaned and out of the ones you don’t. The Eufy G30 Edge is a mapping robot, using a mixture of sensors and software to move methodically though your space in a back and forth motion, like a game of Snake, instead of bumping randomly through your apartment.
With just a 75-minute runtime, this is another iRobot model that would be better in a smaller space, said Williams, though it is a step up from the 600 series. The Roomba i series are equipped with tracking sensors, so instead of random navigation around your home, the i series can clean bare floors and carpeting in neat, straight lines, says the brand. The Roomba i3 EVO is a standalone vacuum, but the i3+EVO comes with a self-emptying dock. IRobot vacuums are a type of robot vacuum that combine cleaning materials with wheels in order to move around your home.
Robot vacuums have a series of brushes on the underside of the machine that work together to collect dirt and dust that they come in contact with. The dirt is then sucked into the dust cup, which is fitted into the vacuum’s body. Most are equipped with smaller brushes that extend past the circumference of the vacuum, and the purpose of these is to reach dirt that’s settled against baseboards or in awkward places. The Ecovacs Deebot Ozmo N8+ can vacuum and mop, ensuring your hard floors are left sparkling. Just like the Ecovacs Deebot Ozmo T8 AIVI it can also detect carpet, and when it does will stop mopping to ensure your floor coverings don’t end up sopping wet. If you do not empty the bin or check for tangled hairs regularly, it will affect the performance of the robot vacuum.
I evaluated each model’s individual characteristics and assessed what type of consumer would benefit from them the most. I’m a freelance food, home, and kitchen writer with experience reviewing household gadgets for sites like Food & Wine, Foodnetwork.com, Real Simple and Better Homes & Gardens. With a degree in journalism from Penn State and a degree in Culinary Arts from the Institute of Culinary Education, I focus on writing thorough, analytical, and authoritative product reviews to help consumers run a more efficient household. A dog owner and mom of a 10-month-old, I’m no stranger to mess, so I have no shortage of real-life insight into the need for a robot vacuum.
He enjoys visiting factories and learning about regulatory loopholes, and has flooded our testing area only three times. Many of today’s robot vacuums are great at thoroughly cleaning every room in a home without getting lost or stuck. The Electrolux Pure i9 is an oddity that we want to love but can’t recommend. The Roomba 694, bissell crosswave cordless like most affordable robots, is what we call a bump-and-run navigator. Basically, it bloops around semi-randomly until its battery runs low, and then it tries to get back to its dock before it completely runs out of juice (and doesn’t always succeed). It looks silly, but it’s basically effective, especially in smaller spaces.
Another option is to set up do-not-cross lines or no-go zones, which is a great way to keep bots out of areas where they tend to get stuck or make a mess (like around pet food bowls). The dust- and crumb-pickup stress tests are meant only to give us an idea of each bot’s cleaning power—they don’t tell the whole story, and we don’t place much weight on them when we’re deciding which models to recommend. We’ve found that as long as a robot has a brush roll and a side brush, it’ll pick up crumbs, tufts of pet hair, and other common debris from bare floors and low-pile rugs. That’s enough to keep most homes tidy, and most owners seem happy with those results. If you have thicker rugs, or if you just feel like owning a stronger bot, go ahead and spend a little more on a bot with better brushes or stronger suction.
If you have both carpet and hard flooring throughout your home, you might want to consider a hybrid that can do double duty as a vacuum and a mop, such as the Deebot Ozmo T8 AIVI or the Bissell SpinWave Wet and Dry. Standalone robot mops aren’t eligible for this list because they don’t suck up dirt and debris, but they can leave your hard floors nice and shiny. With so many different features to choose from, which robot vacuum is right for you? Read on for our top picks, as well as all the factors you should consider when buying a robot vacuum.