Unlike our other midrange picks, the X8 Hybrid doesn’t come with a clean base, nor is there one you can purchase separately. It’s just a standalone robo-vac, but the “hybrid” indicates that it’s also a robot mop. It has both a dustbin for collecting debris and a 250-milliliter water tank that you can fill whenever you want to run a mopping cycle. Plenty of other robot vacuums have this feature, and it could be even more useful than a clean base if you have lots of tile or hardwood floors throughout your home. In fact, the “brushes” on the i4 EVO are really rubber-nubbed extractors, which are particularly good at picking up pet hair, especially from thicker and higher-pile rugs, without much hair getting wrapped around the roller.
It got stuck in that spot every time it traveled to the area, and we had to move furniture around to eliminate the issue. The vacuum also frequently got tangled in power cords, though it was always able to extract itself after a few minutes without intervention. Here’s the table on which robot vacuums are best at picking up dirt and pet hair. Note that while all of the robot vacuums were tested by picking up the same material on the same surfaces, those with an asterisk were tested in a 15 x 15-foot square, whereas the other models were tested in a 5 x 5-foot square. Because robot vacuums are designed to clean, most of us forget that these too need regular maintenance. They have surprisingly small bins (some less than 400ml) and so, unless you’re lucky enough to own a self-emptying model, these will need emptying after each run.
We’ve aimed to recommend a handful of robots that should work well in most homes and aren’t wildly expensive. But plenty of models that we don’t explicitly recommend can be good or great, too, and we cite many of them throughout this guide. PCMag.com is a leading authority on technology, delivering lab-based, independent reviews of the latest products and services. Our expert industry analysis and practical solutions help you make better buying decisions and get more from technology. It may not have the name recognition that iRobot or Shark do, but the Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid is a solid choice nonetheless, especially if you don’t care to add a clean base into the mix. It’s an even more tempting choice if you can snag it when it’s discounted.
And if you are loyal to iRobot, we have a roundup of the best Roombas. Fortunately, vendors seem to be placing more of an emphasis on design as of late. The Roomba j7+, iRobot’s latest self-emptying robot vacuum, features a classier canister design than previous models, with a matte ribbed texture on the front and a leather pull tab to open the lid. IRobot’s Roomba s9+ is expensive, but its intelligent navigation, super-powerful suction, and ability to empty itself out make it the best robot vacuum we’ve tested. The expensive machine has a longer setup process because its clean base comes in two pieces. You must attach the bottom of the base, where the robo-vac charges, to the garbage-bin upper portion using a few screws and a tool that attaches to the bottom of the base.
“It’s sort of surprising to me that [the images] got shared on a crowdsourcing platform,” says Olga Russakovsky, the principal investigator at Princeton University’s Visual AI Lab and a cofounder of the group AI4All. Keeping the labeling in house, where “folks are under strict NDAs” and “on company computers,” would keep the data far more secure, she points out. An MIT Technology Review investigation recently revealed how images of a minor and a tester on the toilet ended up on social media. IRobot said it had consent to collect this kind of data from inside homes—but participants say otherwise.
Indicates the vacuum’s ability to remove surface debris from a bare laminate floor. On the underside the 890 uses one spinning side brush for cleaning corners and tight spots, along with dual rubberized brushrolls for collecting debris, without the tangles. The Shark R85 is a solid representation of the build quality and performance of the Shark 800 series, hitting a nice balance between price and performance. The constant changes of the naming style is a bit confusing, but hopefully, this rundown helps to clear up the fact that these sub-names are basically the same vacuum older models, but with a new name. Shark has made a number of changes to the naming of these vacuums, which can sometimes make for tricky comparisons.
These cleaners are an investment, which is why Pullins recommends taking stock of your lifestyle and cleaning needs before committing to a purchase. “If you have pets, children, or allergies, a robot vacuum can be a valuable investment,” he says. “Robotic vacuum cleaners are supposed to take the stress and work out of daily chores, leaving no tasks behind for the humans,” Jones says.
With 40x the suction power, the superior 3-Stage Cleaning System lifts, loosens, then eliminates debris and pet hair from deep within your carpets. The Braava jet m6 mop has Precision Jet Spray to help tackle sticky messes and kitchen grease. The 3-Stage Cleaning system lifts dirt, dust and debris from carpets and hard floors while an Edge-Sweeping brush takes care of corners and edges. The Shark ION AV751 didn’t have any issues going between different floorings.
I would say, though, that if you want a powerful, deep clean, you might be better off scrubbing hard with a handheld mop. But the vac-mop is great for quick mopping sessions and touch-ups when you don’t have the time to do it manually. shark pet hair vacuum Some clues about other methods of data collection come from Giese, the IoT hacker, whose office at Northeastern is piled high with robot vacuums that he has reverse-engineered, giving him access to their machine-learning models.
Unlike the more expensive Roomba i7+ and s9+, though, the i3+ can’t be directed to map individual rooms. The S7’s killer combo is a mop that vibrates 3,000 times a second to simulate some good old-fashioned scrubbing, which is paired with an extra-large water tank so the mop can actually get wet enough to be effective. Despite being a budget bot, it doesn’t do the classic bump-and-roll navigation of most budget bots. Instead, it uses gyroscopic navigation to divide the space into individual areas and clean each one methodically. Watching it go to work as it moves up and down in neat rectangular boxes is quite soothing.