The S7+ works well on hard flooring and carpet, but is best for homes that have both. With four vacuum power levels—Quiet, Balanced , Turbo, and Max, topping out at an impressive 2,500Pa of suction—it’s an excellent option for homes with pets and carpeting. You no longer have to suffer the indignity of dragging around an unwieldy plastic hose connected to a clumsy, wheeled canister the size of a Galapagos tortoise. Robot vacuums can help you dispose of dust, pet hair, and other debris in your home with minimal effort on your part. Robot vacuums are more capable and affordable than ever, and these top-tested models can help lighten your home maintenance load.
We’ve decided to make this a significant factor in our recommendations. We scout reviews for hints about longevity, and we favor bots with easy-to-find replacement parts such as filters and bissell crosswave cordless brushes but also batteries, wheels, and transmissions. We also fully disassemble some popular bots to get a sense for the build quality and how straightforward they might be to repair.
Also, the first- and second-generation Roombas can get stuck on rug tassels and electrical cords. Third-generation and newer models are able to reverse their brushes to escape entangled cords and tassels. All models are designed to be low enough to go under a bed or most other items of furniture. Early models use only flashing lights to indicate specific problems, while later models use a synthesized voice to announce a problem and a suggested solution. Vacuuming an ever-changing household is a complex task, and no robot vacuum is perfect.
In my testing, the X8 Hybrid’s maps were way too wonky for me to trust it to lug a full 250-mL tank of water around my house. However, it was the perfect vacuum to deep-clean all the dog hair and kid detritus in the basement. If you have an enclosed area that needs a regular deep cleaning, this will do the trick. Battery life is also important to consider based on the size of your home. In general, most robot vacuums can run for at least between 60 and 70 minutes, which should be enough to tackle smaller homes and apartments. If you have a bigger living area, look for a robot vacuum with at least 90 minutes of battery life so it can hit every room before requiring a recharge.
For instance, you can say “Hey Siri, go clean the kitchen,” and the bot will do just that. As we mentioned earlier, Siri Shortcuts does not provide the ability to create Automations. However, we don’t think chasing the very best cleaning performance is worthwhile. The key is that bots don’t procrastinate or get bored, so they spend more time cleaning, and they clean more thoroughly, than almost any human. Pet owners and people with young kids in particular seem to gain a lot from bots, but many robot vacuum owners have told us that they are amazed at how clean their floors look and feel after they start using one regularly. If you run your bot a few times per week, or even every day, crumbs and pet hair will never get a chance to pile up; the mess is gone before it becomes a nuisance, with very little effort on your part required.
While the Roomba j7 is the best bot if you want all the bells and whistles, the Roomba i3 Plus EVO is the best robot vacuum for a better price that also empties itself. You don’t get AI obstacle avoidance or app-enabled clean or keep-out zones, but you do get smart mapping and a physical spot-cleaning button that lets you do small areas bissell crosswave cordless on the fly. The Roborock S7 is a mapping robot that uses lidar sensors to map your home in minutes. It also gives you the option of room-specific cleaning commands and allows you to set keep-out zones. This is essential as it doesn’t have AI obstacle avoidance, so it will get stuck in regular robot traps such as clusters of cables.
If you don’t want smart features like mapping, don’t need a self-emptying dustbin and don’t mind picking up before you start the vacuum, the Eufy 11S is the budget robot vacuum we recommend. It’s a basic and affordable vacuum with a slim profile, good suction and quiet operation, and should work well for anyone who wants to maintain their floors in between manual vacuuming. The j7+ leaves behind neat rows of just-vacuumed carpeting and the powerful suction of the unit was able to pick up cat litter and pet hair in my bedroom carpeting.
Some people are comfortable using a robot as their only floor-cleaning vacuum , though bot owners tend to also own a traditional vacuum that they use to deep-clean their rugs on occasion. When shopping, shark cordless you’ll want to look for components like battery life, size and suction power. Some of the robot vacuum models also come with special features like WiFi connectivity and built-in mop heads.
For a more budget-friendly option, pet owners should consider the Roomba e5 with Wi-Fi. It’s a capable vacuum, too, and a top-five finisher on all three flooring types we test, which is something that only one other robot vacuum we’ve tested can claim (the also-excellent Neato D10). On top of that, the S9 Plus aced our pet hair pickup tests, where we scatter clumps of actual pet hair donated from a friendly local groomer across all of our test floors. The 700 series, introduced in May 2011, though largely similar to the 500 and 600 series, included a more robust cleaning system, improved AeroVac Bin with HEPA filter, and improved battery life. Like the 500 series, the 700 series had models with different technologies and accessories.