Common features in the best robot vacuums include self-emptying, scheduling and smart navigation. This robotic vacuum is built with incredibly good suction power in addition to its durable brushroll that work together to pull in both big and small messes. Reviewers confirm it sucks up pet hair, dust, crumbs, and even glitter. Because the brush roll has bristles and plastic-like fins, it can also comb through carpet fibers to get debris hiding beneath the surface.
The Shark IQ digitally maps your home, can be controlled over your smartphone, and has a “Room Select” feature that allows you to clean a specific room. It doesn’t have the raw cleaning power of the high-end Roomba, but it was still a pretty good cleaner in our tests. The Roomba S9+, j7+, Combo j7+, i7+, i3+ EVO, e5, and other high-end models shark robotic vacuums offer some more unique features compared to most Shark robots. This multi-purpose cleaning device features 3D object avoidance which allows it to recognize any objects in its path and move around them to avoid getting stuck. It’s great for pet households as the Yeedi Vac 2 is designed to avoid your dog’s food bowl, water bowl and toys.
The vac picked up dog hair in hard-to-reach places (such as under the bed!), which was a highlight. It struggled under some lower furniture, and uneven flooring and bumps proved challenging, too. Still, despite its lack of smart features, there’s lots to appreciate about this easy-to-use and effective machine. It’s really up to you, but the advantage of a robot vacuum is that it can clean floors more often than many people are willing to vacuum. If you schedule it to run every few days, or even every day, dust and crumbs never have a chance to accumulate, leaving your floors feeling cleaner than they would without a bot. Tons of engineering choices affect the way robot vacuums handle obstacles.
I’m used to grabbing robot vacuums and tossing them into areas that need cleansing, swiftly clearing any floor debris (clothing, random pillows, boxes, etc.), and shutting the door behind them so they don’t annoy me. Even if I did have to carry it, at roughly 13 pounds, it’s not a pain to place around my apartment. That might be a relief for those considering purchasing this without its self-emptying base (which can save you $250).
Although many robot vacuums struggle to move on carpet, a few can do a decent job. Arguably the most compelling reason to get a robot vacuum at all is convenience, and iRobot managed to figure out how to incorporate mopping into an already stellar robot vacuum without removing any convenience. Sure, you have to add water and cleaning solution when you want to mop, and dispose of the remnants when it’s finished, but that’s about it. The Roomba has enough smarts to take care of the rest, without accidentally dampening your carpet along the way. The included clean base still comes in handy as it will suck up the vacuumed debris that the robot catches, but just know that it will not take care of excess water for you.
It’s suitable for both carpet and hardwood floors, and boasts 1,500 Pascal of suction for thorough cleaning. While it doesn’t feature the floor-mapping capabilities of pricier models, it is equipped with drop-sensing technology and Wi-Fi connectivity so you can activate it through your phone or smart home hub. It can run for up to 100 minutes on a full charge, and will automatically return to its included charging base when low on power. The Shark IQ Robot XL also stands out for its self-cleaning brushroll, which in our testing successfully prevented hair from getting wrapped around it, a common problem with many robot vacuums. Moreover, it delivered strong suction power, effectively cleaning dust, debris, and pet hair from hard flooring and carpet, and it never got stuck.
The 11S is quiet enough that you could easily forget that it’s running if you’re home at the time. We measured the volume on the bot’s maximum suction setting and found that it was just 57 dBc, a full 5 decibels quieter than the Roomba shark dustbuster 694—that’s a major difference. On its normal suction setting, the 11S operates at just 53 dBc, sounding more like a fan than a vacuum cleaner (traditional vacuums are often 70 dBc or louder because of their much stronger suction).
The main page shows your home’s map along with the battery level, cleaning time, cleaning area in feet, and buttons that let you quickly start a cleaning job and empty the dustbin. You’re also able to select specific rooms or zones to clean, but the rest of the control options live in the menu accessible by the three-dot icon at the top-right corner of the app. Things are a little buried, and that might make the S7+ harder for robot-vacuum newbies to use.
This is the Roborock Q5 packaged with a charging dock that sucks all the debris out of the robot after a cleaning session. Some robot vacuums make smoother transitions from one surface to another, but easily traveling through different floor types is an essential function of robot vacs. If you’re on the market for a great robot vacuum and mop, but are looking to save some money, the Roborock S7 MaxV is for you. Right now, you can save 37% and get a strong 5100Pa suction powered robot vacuum that can mop simultaneously. The iRobot app makes using both of these robots a breeze, combining maps and having the ability to schedule the mop to run as soon as the vacuum has finished its job.
Shark also has some models with extra-large dust bins of up to 0.66 liters. Roomba dust bins are about 0.5 liters and self-emptying options are available. When comparing battery life, it is important to select two models that are almost equally matched and in the same range. They can even move to their recharging bases and beacons on their own.