What to Look For in a Good Robot Vacuum
A robot vacuum can keep you on top of pet hair and lint on daily basis. Many robot vacuums are compatible with apps that allow you to schedule cleaning sessions. You can also set virtual boundaries, or walls, to ensure that the vacuum is kept away from areas you don't want cleaned.
This mop and vac creates a home map with its first trip, and then it will remember your space for future jobs. It comes with a huge dust bin that automatically empties and a self-cleaning, brush roll.
Object Detection
When selecting a robot vacuum cleaner, select one that can clean up big items such as lamps and toys and fine dust. This will ensure that they do not get stuck in the roller brush or strewn across your floor. This is especially important when you have pets or children and you may have to clean the robot on a regular basis.
A model with a powerful engine and lots of suction is also a good choice. This will make it more effective at getting up pet hair, lint, and dust off your carpets and hardwood floors.
Another crucial aspect to consider is the size of your room. If you have a huge house, you may prefer one with multiple cleaning zones that cover the entire house in one session. Certain models also include a mopping function that can be used to keep your floors looking fresh and clean.
Robot vacuums last a long time however, they must be maintained regularly and in a proper manner. Cleaning the rotating brushes, emptying the dust bin and wiping down the sensors on a regular basis will keep your robot functioning efficiently for many the years to be. Many of the robot vacuum owners we speak to have owned their machines for 10 years or more (and have replaced motors, brushes, and batteries with time).
A basic robot will cost less than a full-sized vacuum cleaner, however they'll still do an excellent job at keeping up with dirt and pet hair and lint. You can use them to scrub your floor several times a day. The drawback is that they don't have as smart technology, and can be susceptible to becoming stuck or requiring human intervention.
Object Avoidance
The top robot vacuums make use of sensors, cameras or lasers to guide you around your home and avoid getting stuck or falling down the stairs. Certain models are able to return to their base or dock when their battery is depleted. They can also avoid obstacles like furniture legs and cords. The most expensive models usually have mapping capabilities that allow them to memorize the design of your home and reduce the amount of time you're bumping into walls.
You don't have to spend a lot of money on the most expensive robotic vacuums. There are models that do a great job at picking up pet hair and dirt from hard surfaces like wood, tile and low-pile rugs. They also do a decent job of removing larger debris such as metal screws and staples that are rusty or even discarded toys. Some have a base that automatically empties itself, which is ideal if you do not want to empty it after each cleaning session.
Many robotic vacuums also come with advanced features that make your ordinary stick vacuum appear old-fashioned such as scheduling, zone targeting, and the ability to control them via an app or voice assistant such as Alexa. You can also create cleaning zones and virtual walls to block off areas you don't want the robot to go.
Some robotic vacuums, like the Eufy 11S or my former top choice, Roborock S8, come with obstacle avoidance technology that will keep them from tripping over furniture or cords. Others, like the iRobot Roomba j7+, are more sophisticated. AI obstacle avoidance that uses a camera and processor-powered smarts to identify and avoid items like shoes, lamp cords, socks, and pet waste. It's a little more expensive than other bots that I've tried, but it does a great job of avoiding obstacles, and never gets stuck or derailed when I'm working on my floor.
The J7+ from iRobot was an excellent obstacle avoidance robot, but it did not always do a good job in avoiding crumbs or dirt on my carpets. It also had a tendency to over-vacuum certain areas, leading to dust accumulating in the filters, and a less tidy home.
Smart Mapping
The best robot vacuums have an app that lets you to customize cleaning settings and schedules, as well as view the flooring area that the machine covers. This is a handy feature, and one that a few competitors do not have. This allows you to create profiles that automatically start your robot at certain times and keep it running on a regular basis, like cleaning your living room prior to dinner or every other day.
irobot vacuum and mop can let you control your robot using voice commands. Some models are compatible with Amazon's Alexa or Google Assistant and can work completely hands-free. You can say "start with a clean" or "change cleaning mode" without the need for an app.
Find models with a large dust bin. This will allow you to perform many cleaning sessions without having to empty it. You can find models that self-empty. This eliminates the requirement to empty the machine after every vacuuming session.
If you want a robot that is more than just vacuum, you'll want to consider one that can mop your floors. They are usually larger than the robotic vacuums, and include a water tank in the interior that can hold several cleaning sessions worth of dirt and debris before needing to be emptied.
The most advanced robots create their own maps of your home. They can even remember the arrangement between cleanings, which helps them avoid getting lost or stuck in corners. This can make a significant difference in the efficiency of your robot vacuums, since it won't need to spend time going back to the beginning of the room if it comes into contact with walls or furniture.
Our test subjects found that robots with this feature were extremely efficient. They could sit and watch TV or complete other things while the robot was cleaning. Some of these models use laser navigation, and can create an exact map of your home, which means that you can program them to clean just the bedroom after dinner, or every room in your home while you're at work.
App Control
If you want to customize the frequency with which the robot cleans your house and select the cleaning mode, it's best to get one that is compatible with an app that can be downloaded on mobile. In the app, you can check the status of your vacuum and its dust bin. Some of the best vacuums that are robotic can be controlled using Alexa, Google Assistant, or Siri Shortcuts.
It is simple to maintain a robot with an washable filter and self-emptying bin, particularly when the filter is easily removed and rinsed. A high-powered brush is another fantastic feature that allows you to reach into corners and along baseboards to get rid of dirt and hair. Some robots are more adept at avoiding chair leg than others. Others have a sensor that automatically cleans brushes to avoid obstruction.
Certain robo-vacs utilize navigation tools to help them understand your home and get around obstacles. High-end models use sensors and cameras to detect obstacles like stairs, furniture and cords. Cheaper models may use boundary strips to mark areas that you don't wish it to go. Object avoidance is especially important for families with children who have socks and toys scattered around the house, as it allows your robot to grab those objects instead of scattering them.
We're starting to see more robots that have mops, which are useful for those who have hard floors and require to regularly clean them. These robots come with a water tank built into the chassis, or a separate piece which you can change out when you're ready to mop. They may need to be refilled frequently but they're ideal for homes that have hard floors and can't be easily cleaned by a vacuum.
We've seen some impressive technology incorporated into these tiny robots, and they're a lot cheaper than you think. You can find a decent one for less than $200, and it does a decent job cleaning on hard floors while navigating around the edges of carpets and area rug. The robot can be programmed to clean specific rooms on a regular schedule. It can also be controlled remotely via an app or by pressing buttons.