8 Tips To Up Your Best Rated Robot Vacuum Game

best roborock vacuum Rated Robot Vacuum Cleaner

While robot vacuums are fantastic at keeping your floors clean however, they're not able to substitute for a larger vacuum. Even the best vacuums struggle to get deep into carpets or rugs and often get caught in cords and socks.

Maintaining a regular schedule of maintenance (replacing filters, cutting tangled hair from brushes and emptying the dust bin) will make your robot last longer.

Battery Life

Most robot vacuums are able to handle a couple of cleaning sessions without needing to be charged. The Ecovacs Q30S Combo is a close second in our top picks. It has an energy-efficient battery that can last up to 180 minute (3,230 square feet) on a single charge. This is more than enough to clean the majority of smaller homes that have carpets that are hard and carpets with low pile, or a larger home where the rooms are roughly the same size.

A longer battery life means that the robot will spend less time charging and more time cleaning. You should choose a model that has a self-emptying bin. These models are more efficient at cleaning up debris and bringing it to docks to recharge. It is important to clean or replace filters and clean the sensors and the camera on a regular schedule so they can be seen clearly.

Smart mapping technology is a useful feature to look out for, as it allows you to program your robot to only clear certain rooms or areas where it's likely to crash into furniture or other obstacles. It's also useful for ensuring that your robot can get under and around beds, sofas and other furniture with a high height. A few robovacs are cheap and have boundary strips you can place on the floor to block off areas while others utilize sensors and cameras for this purpose.

Even the most powerful robot vacuums cannot replace a traditional vacuum robot for heavy-duty large-pile dirt and debris. It is recommended to keep a power vacuum available for these tasks and schedule robot vacuums for light cleaning throughout the week.

Navigation

A robot should be able to navigate your home without getting stuck or crashing into things like metal screws or pet hair that is loose, or sand. In our tests we used a tracking device used to track the robot's movements through the multi-room lab. It then tracks its surroundings. We also test how the robot can avoid obstacles such as power cords, furniture leg, and pet waste.

The most advanced robots can identify different floors and identify landmarks, like windows and doors. The most advanced models, like the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra, come with a dual-sensor navigation device which uses a LIDAR sensor to map the room and a structured light camera at the front of the robot to identify objects in real-time. The S8 can evade obstacles such as power cords as well as legs of furniture. It can also store up to four floor maps.

The majority of the models that are affordable rely on bump sensors which aren't as precise. In my tests they cut right through cords, dog poop and even a pair of shoes placed in the middle of the room. The Dreametech D10+ is the best value pick. It has excellent carpet and hard floor pickup, great hair and tangle pickup, and a near perfect auto empty score.

A large dust bin onboard, which doesn't have to be manually empty, is also a feature that's important. For models that sweep the floor, this tank is able to provide enough water for several weeks of cleaning. The Karcher RCV 5 has this, and a large enough footprint to go under furniture but not so big that it won't fit in the nook between your bathtub and toilet.

Apps

Robot vacuums are similar to their upright counterparts and require lots of technology to keep them up-to-date. The result is a pretty mature market with plenty of options. But even the best robovac models require interaction with their users - particularly when it comes to scheduling cleanings, establishing a home floor plan, and setting up virtual barriers.

Consider a model with its own app that can identify the layout of your house and save the settings for future use. This will let the robot vacuum begin where it left off on subsequent runs, instead of having to start the mapping process each time.

You should also look for models that provide zones or spot cleaning. They let you tell the robot vacuum to focus on a specific area for example, like under the dining table after an enormous family meal. You can use the app or voice commands.

Object avoidance is another feature that's included in numerous models. It allows the robot to see something in its path, like the shoe box or a crate full of dog toys, and coach itself around it. This prevents it from running into things that might damage its sensors or cause jams.

This feature is available on some of the more expensive models we tested. However, they typically rely on bump sensors for this, and they weren't always able to stay clear of things in my test homes.

Pet Hair

Look for an upright vacuum cleaner specifically designed to remove pet hair. The best models have high suction power and a brush that is free of the tangling and an emptying mechanism that can automatically empty hair into the dust bin when it is needed. Some models are able to detect dirt levels and adjust cleaning intensity. They also can detect items that aren't a part of your flooring at home, such as furniture, toys, and food bowls.

Some robot vacuums have extra pet-friendly features, like a small water dispenser that can be used to mop floors, and an HEPA filter that helps reduce allergens such as pet dander. They could also provide a quieter operation that can minimize the amount of noise that's produced during cleaning sessions.

Robot robotic vacuums that have the ability to map are a great option for pet owners, since they're designed to evaluate your home and develop an action plan in accordance with the layout and the obstacles in each room. For example, the Shark Matrix Plus 2-in-1 Robot Vacuum is a smart vacuum with an amazing ability to map the room and navigate around furniture and other obstructions using accelerometer and gyroscope smart sensors that work together to learn the layout of your space.

Other models that are more advanced allow you to set no-go zones, which are areas that the robot is supposed to avoid--like fragile items or pet feeding spots. You can adjust these settings through an app. This feature is particularly useful for busy households, as you can schedule cleaning sessions without having to be in the room where the vacuum is. Spot cleaning is another fantastic feature. You can use the vacuum cleaner to clean a space that is particularly filthy or is brimming with pet hair.

Dust Bin

Unless you're looking for a small size it is recommended to select one that can hold at least a complete bag of garbage from one cleaning session. We recommend picking the one with a large bin or a bin that self-empties. The former will enable you to keep up with emptying the bin often enough to stay on top of its performance and the latter will help you save time and effort by automatically dumping the contents into an internal bin every few cleans.

No matter the size of your home, most robots can easily move around and up to furniture, and almost all are able to detect and navigate around household obstacles such as shoes, cords that are loose and dog poop. Look for models with smart mapping capabilities, which allow them to "learn" the structure of your home and plan more efficient routes, as well as ones that are able to detect and avoid objects that may block their paths (like shoelaces or strangling charging cables).

Some models provide spot cleaning. This lets you choose a specific area of your home to be targeted for intensive cleaning. We've found that most of the top performers in our tests are able to take in fine particles such as baking soda and sand along with heavier particles like oatmeal, orzo pasta, metal screws, and pet hair.

Based on the manufacturer, most robots can last for a long time and continue to perform well in the event that you keep up with maintenance, like cleaning out hair that has become tangled from brushes, emptying the dust bin after every use, and wiping down cameras and sensors as needed. The best roborock vacuum-performing robots also tend to be more modular, which makes them easier and cheaper to replace or repair parts such as batteries and wheels when they get worn out.