IRobot’s $279 Roomba 694 is a great option for most people thanks to its good cleaning power and easy-to-use mobile app. We won’t get too deep into it here since we have a whole guide to affordable robot vacuums with additional recommendations. But suffice to say, the 694 gives you all the essentials you’d expect from a robot vacuum, along with all of the convenience that comes with iRobot’s mobile app.
Those images may be sent to the cloud and shared with third-party companies (such as those that analyze photos), in order to improve the vacuum’s capabilities and features. In one, we run the bot in a room with several chairs, stray USB cables, a sock, and a medium-pile area rug. Next, we pour about an eighth of a cup of all-purpose flour across an area rug and bare floor (including some against a baseboard) and let the bot try to suck it up for a couple of minutes. This dust-pickup test gives us a visual gauge of each bot’s raw cleaning power.
The newest Roomba technology is the PrecisionVision Navigation feature that helps the vacuum avoid small obstacles like pet messes and cords. According to iRobot, an accidental robot vacuum run through pet waste was a huge concern for their customers. With this technology, the Roomba uses a small camera on the front of it to bissell crosswave cordless identify obstacles and work around them instead of running through them. After the Roomba’s cleaning run is complete, the app will show you what it avoided, and you can mark whether it was correct in avoiding that spot or not. This way, the machine continues to learn your home and adapt to temporary and permanent obstacles.
Run it daily if you can; it won’t keep up as well if it only runs once a week. If you want hands-free cleaning everywhere, you’ll want to budget for one per floor or be prepared to move it around. You can also buy extra charging bases, and some models can map multiple floors. This brings the level of this bot way up, making it much more reliable than some of Shark’s previous models. It’s also designed exclusively as a self-emptying bot, and for the money, it’s a great deal. It’s loud and ugly, and its AI isn’t nearly as good, but it has most of the features of the Roomba j7 Plus for somewhere around half the price (depending on the day).
The latter also allows you to establish no-go zones and set schedules with little hassle. Many robot vacuums cope well with hardwood floors and carpeted areas, but if your home has many staircases, you’ll need an additional vacuum to clean the stairs. With many robot vacuums suitable for programming from your phone, you’ll be able to switch these devices on when you’re out and about and come home to clean floors. Williams says there are two navigation methods that Roomba vacuums use to move about the house. “[These] use input from sensors on the robot, like bump sensors in the robot’s bumper, to execute pre-programmed behaviors.” He said the Roomba 600 series uses this type of navigation. “It works well in smaller spaces, like dorm rooms, studios and apartments where they tend to cover areas of the floor multiple times,” he said.
Without fail, the Ozmo T8 AIVI detected the toys in its way and changed directions accordingly. If you’re choosing between the two most premium robot vacuums money can buy, the S7 MaxV Ultra and the X1 Omni, go with the former if you have a lot of hard flooring and you’re mainly concerned with mopping performance. Roborock’s bot uses sonic vibration technology irobot vacuum cleaner to scrub your floors 3,000 times per minute, while the X1 Omni’s circular mopping pads spin at 180 revolutions per minute. Both robots left our test floors streak-free and shiny, but the S7 MaxV Ultra is slightly better at deep cleaning. When it comes to cleaning performance, the Roborock S7+ did a great job sucking up dirt around my home.