The Samsung Jet Bot AI+ worked its way around a lot of objects but still managed to knock over a few hockey sticks and a bucket of golf balls. When it avoided obstacles, it often misidentified them in the app—and all of that would be fine, if it cleaned effectively. But it doesn’t work very well on even low-pile carpet and is an absolute no for pet owners. We tested the claim out with a fake turd made from Nutella and oatmeal, and the j7 worked great. The j7 spotted the faux feces from a few feet away and then methodically worked around the mess, never getting closer than about a foot.
You might not expect sufficient cleaning power from a budget robot vacuum, but that’s precisely what the Anker Eufy RoboVac 25C delivers. Its suction power ability to scour sand from hardwood floors (78.9%) wasn’t too far below that of the Roborock S7. The Eufy RoboVac 25C’s sand performance across low-pile (53.5%) and medium-pile (52.2%) carpets was decent as well.
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. Really, any model in the Roomba 600 series is a good choice, since they shark cordless are all strong cleaners, especially on rugs, thanks to the dual-brush and dirt-detection systems. They are also sturdier than any bump-and-run models from any other brand we’ve tested, which more than offsets the Roomba line’s slightly higher sticker price.
Compared with earlier models, such as the 600 series, the i7+ has 10 times the suction power and it can hold up to 60 days’ worth of contents. Once it’s empty and charged, it will head out to clean some more until the job is done. In late May 2019, iRobot introduced the Roomba s9 and s9+ as the “smartest, most powerful robot vacuum yet”. The S series features a newly designed “D” shape and corner brush for optimized edge cleaning deep into corners and along edges. Other new features include an anti-allergen system that traps 99% of pollen, mold and allergens, 40 times the suction compared to the 600 series, 30% wider rubber brushes, and the most advanced navigation system to date. Similar to the I series, the s9+ comes with the self-emptying Clean Base.
Another option to consider is the lower-priced Roomba i7+, which has the same cleaning system and Smart Map capabilities as the j7+ but doesn’t have the obstacle-avoidance feature. Consider the size of your home and individual irobot vacuum cleaner rooms before choosing a robot vacuum and pick one with enough power to handle the area. The robot smoothly cleaned open areas within the confines of a test pen and never touched any of our solid pet waste facsimiles.
Some homes have more of these traps than others; most homes have at least a few. The biggest problem with the RoboVac series is that these bots don’t last as long as Roomba models do. About a year after the 11S was released, we started to hear from owners whose bots had already died. On the other hand, one staffer has had the 11S for four years, and it’s still going strong. The bigger problem is that RoboVac models can’t be fixed when they break. We dismantled an older Eufy RoboVac 30 and found that doing major repairs was impossible without breaking parts of the robot.
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 its predecessor , the now-discontinued Roborock S4 Max, the Q5 shines with its smart-mapping feature. Using its laser rangefinder and bump sensors, the Q5 learns your floor plan in a single cleaning session and creates an interactive map in the companion app. It also allows you to create and store maps for up to four levels, which is a nice perk if you want to use the bot on different floors of your home. Besides being one of the quietest and overall best robot vacuum models on the market, this small cleaning machine also boasts a manageable price point.
The 694 is ideal for smaller areas and will work best in rooms without clutter. An auto-adjust cleaning head helps the unit transition easily between low-pile carpet, medium-pile carpet, hardwood, and bare floors. It can run for up to 90 minutes before automatically recharging, but it will need to be reset before its shark cordless next run. This pick for the best budget robot vacuum doesn’t come with mapping capabilities, although adaptive navigation keeps it from bumping into furniture or falling down stairs. A quieter runner than others we tested, it might be a great pick for spaces or situations where a not-so-loud robot cleaner is needed.