This is not going to do much to mop your floors, but it does help with fine dust and debris. A mapping robot, the Shark has room-specific cleaning and app-enabled keep-out zones. It also has a handy Zones feature that lets you select areas of your house — say, half the living room and the hallway — to clean on a schedule. This is useful for regular, quick cleans in high-traffic areas, and it doesn’t need to be set up every time you run it, as with some clean zone options.
We’ve tried several Eufy models, including the RoboVac G30 Edge, the RoboVac G30, and the RoboVac G20. The last is the newest model, but it’s our least favorite of the trio, and none are better than our top picks. We like the G30 models bissell crosswave cordless best since they include very basic mapping, a 110-minute run time , a Cleaning History in the app, and more push buttons on top. The G30 Edge package adds boundary strips to avoid certain areas, which work but are a little ugly.
The mapping feature allows you to set a schedule to clean only certain rooms or send it off at any time to clean just the kitchen or living room. This helps make it less intrusive since it doesn’t try to clean the whole house on every run — meaning you’re less likely to find it sitting silently in a corner because an annoyed family member shut it off. However, it does take a long time to map your home initially , because iRobot uses its own navigation tech and not lidar, which most other mapping bots use to map in minutes. This is a good option if you need a basic bot that will get the job done and don’t mind ditching the fancy features of the higher-end models. It’s a powerful robot that rarely got stuck in my testing, even on my high-pile, fluffy, tasseled living room rug I’ve nicknamed the robot killer. Your robot vacuum will only clean your home as thoroughly as it’s capable of navigating it.
Floors cluttered with obstacles like wires, charging cords, toys, shoes and clothing can stop robots in their tracks. Some robot vacuum models clean tile, wood flooring and different types of carpet better than others. Neato cleaned up in this test, with the Neato D9 leading all of our CNET-tested cleaners overall and the less-expensive Neato D8 coming in third overall.
However, it has a shorter battery life than the Roborock and tends to get stuck a little more frequently. With just a 75-minute runtime, this is another iRobot model that would be better in a smaller space, said Williams, though it is a step up from the 600 series. The Roomba i series are equipped with tracking sensors, so instead of random navigation around your home, the i series can clean bare floors and carpeting in neat, straight lines, says the brand.
The S7 MaxV Ultra has the same sonic, vibra-rising mopping action of the S7, so it mops very well. But it also has AI-powered obstacle recognition, so it won’t get caught out by clutter and can avoid stepping in dog poop. There’s also the option of using the onboard camera as a security camera, with two-way talk built-in.
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. It earned an Excellent rating from Consumer Reports for bare floors and carpets, and continues to impress customers with inclusions like free boundary strips. If you’re looking to spend as little as possible, the Roborock E4 is the best robot vacuum at a budget price that we’ve tested. Compared to the pricier Roborock Q5, it has a more rudimentary navigation system, which uses optical sensors and internal gyroscopes instead of LIDAR to determine its position. It can’t store a permanent coverage map of your home, so you can’t send it to specific rooms or set up no-go zones. That said, it still cleans in an organized, efficient manner and does a great job of avoiding getting stuck around furniture or hazards like coat racks.
Indicates the vacuum’s ability to remove surface debris from a bare laminate floor. Wirecutter is the product recommendation service from The New York Times. Our journalists combine independent research with over-the-top testing so you can make quick and confident buying decisions. Whether it’s finding great products or discovering helpful advice, we’ll help you get it right .