For starters, the iLife V3s Pro is slow, taking more than 90 minutes on average to clean our test space — others took less than 30 minutes. Also, it can’t be controlled from your smartphone, so you have to use the included remote control, and you can’t connect it to Alexa or Google bissell crosswave cordless Assistant to turn it on or schedule cleanings. But, it’s great at doing the one thing it needs to do well, and that’s picking up debris. For this price, its downsides are tradeoffs we’re willing to make. The iLife V3s Pro is the best robot vacuum you can get for less than $200.
An undriven swivel caster (located at the front of most models, and at the back of the D-shaped S series) is used not for steering, as is often believed, but as an additional sensor. It too is a rotary encoder; the caster’s irobot vacuum cleaner wheel is half black and half white, and optical sensors detect the change in color as it rotates. This helps detect if the Roomba is stuck or beached (i.e., the drive wheels are spinning but the Roomba isn’t moving).
Some, like the more basic models in the Roomba 600 series, don’t even include Wi-Fi capabilities. For our hard floor straight-line pickup tests, large and small debris is deposited onto a marked area of the floor (based on the width of the opening of the robot vacuum’s nozzle). Then each robot vacuum is allowed 10 minutes to pick up the debris from the floor and the weight of the dustbin is taken to find how much debris is picked up by each. Straight-line pickup tests on carpet are done in an enclosed area where we deposit mixed debris including potting soil, sand and rayon fibers meant to mimic hair. Each robot vacuum is allowed to clean the carpet for a specified length of time, and the weight of the dustbin is taken to find out how much debris each robot can pick up. The best of the bunch is the Roomba j7+, which is on sale at Crutchfield for $599.
Roomba® j7 or j7+ robot vacuums avoid hazards like charging cords when it first spots them using PrecisionVision Navigation and sends you a photo so you can tell it to avoid or clean around the obstacle in the future. While that shape is probably its most appealing feature, the D8 also sports a solid 100-minute battery life, a 0.7-liter dirt bin, and LIDAR mapping technology. Unfortunately it doesn’t have a built-in mop, and Neato doesn’t sell any docks yet. Downward-facing sensors are commonplace, and serve basic obstacle avoidance. Better models have forward-facing sensors that can map rooms and/or identify furniture for targeted cleaning. If money is no object and you’re looking for a Roomba model that ticks all the main boxes, consider this flagship model.
Our carpet is in great condition every day thanks to the genuine joy we get from letting the Roomba do its thing. Living with a Roomba also made our home tidier because we didn’t want to leave anything this feisty device might try and consume. We moved those too, as well as furniture, positioning pieces to give the Roomba space to navigate. That’s not to say the cleaner can’t fit through small spaces — because it really can. Sometimes the vacuum’s ability to squeeze in-between furniture and under tables pleasantly surprised us.
These are the best robot vacuums based on our testing of the top models from multiple brands. Suction power and cleaning featuresObviously, a vacuum’s cleaning ability is its most important attribute. While some vacuums provide numerical measurements for their suction power, iRobot does not.