Best Rated Robot Vacuum and Mop
Eufy's robot mop and vacuum is among the highest-rated of its kind. It takes a lot of the chore of cleaning your floors. It has the ability to replenish its own water tank as well as empty its tower bin. It can also change the dust bag it uses.
Advanced models can map your home and take note of furniture arrangement. They also can detect dangers and avoid them, such as loose charging cables or stray socks.
Object Avoidance
Object avoidance allows your robot to avoid hitting things like toys, cords, and clothes that could get caught in the vacuum. These features are especially crucial if you have children or pets that may leave objects on the floor for your robot vacuum that vacuums and mops to discover.
Based on the model you select, your robot may have a variety of sensor options to assist it in its quest to avoid obstacles. A few popular ones include crossed IR sensors that send focused beams of infrared light throughout the room to identify things like furniture legs and door frames. Many robots have embraced this technology, and you'll find it in the flagship models that cost more.
Other technology for avoiding objects that is available in higher-end robotics is 3D Structured Light which uses cameras and crossed IR sensors to map the environment, and identify obstacles. Time of Flight (ToF), sensors that measure and emit the amount of time that it takes for the light to reflect off an object, to determine its distance, are available. These aren't very common but could be a great option to add to your robot should you want to have more peace of mind.
The majority of the top-rated robots are also able to mop your floors. Some even come with their own water tanks, allowing them to wash away water-based spills and messes. You'll have to empty your robot's onboard dust bin and clean the cameras and sensors in between cleaning sessions, but these chores shouldn't take much of your time.
Mapping
Mapping capabilities are essential in robot vacuums since they enable them to keep track of your home's layout and avoid bumping into things like walls. They may be tripped by pet toys, cords or furniture that are not marked. This can result in them removing less space. Most robots employ sensors to map your home and navigate around obstacles. This way, they're able to sweep the entire floor using fewer passes, which saves your time. Many of the top-rated robot vacuums can also utilize this feature to create no-go zones, allowing you to set specific areas that you do not want the robot to enter.
Robots equipped with LIDAR make use of this technology to map your home efficiently and quickly. The Eufy Clean robot divided my room into separate areas and cleaned each one in a separate manner during our tests. This was a vast improvement over the cheaper models that only used sensors on the front of the vehicle. This was a far more accurate way of navigating my home and was simple to control via the app on the device.
While there are no robot vacuums that can scale stairs, the most effective models have obstacles avoidance and mapping features. These tools help them to remove dirt from hard floors and low-pile carpets and also to prevent falling down the stairs. Certain tools come with sensors that make sure they don't fall over the edge of the stairs. Others come with boundaries to keep them out.
Certain robots have a huge tower base which holds their collected dirt, minimizing the amount of dust and allergens that are released into your home. The bases can be left for weeks or even months without emptying which is particularly beneficial when you suffer from allergies. Some models come with self-emptying dust bins that can empty without opening and closing them manually.
Wi-Fi enabled
Some robot vacuums make use of Wi-Fi to connect with their apps which allows users to control them with your smartphone instead of (or in addition to) the physical remote. Those models are more expensive, but they can save you time by allowing you to schedule cleaning times on a weekly, daily or even a monthly basis. These models also let you edit floor maps and save them for later use. They also offer different cleaning patterns.
Dual sensors are utilized by the most advanced robot vacuums. They combine the LIDAR mapping system with a structured-light sensor which can detect and avoid objects, even when they're hidden beneath furniture or power cables. Those features make it easier for your robot to maneuver into small spaces, like the nook beneath your kitchen cabinets and beneath sofas, where other robots have trouble. They're also faster to get around obstacles and have longer run times with larger dust bins, which makes them better suited for large homes than entry-level robots.
The top rated robot vacuums tend to be quick, efficient and effective and can clean up all kinds of floor debris such as pet hair, cat litter and other mess. They are also quite quiet, making them an ideal choice for homes with pets as well as young children. The majority of robot vacuum users we've spoken with say that they appreciate the ease of having their floor cleaned with minimal effort. This is especially true if they are used frequently. And with proper maintenance (cleaning the rotating brushes and keeping an eye on the parts that need replacement) robots can last as long as a traditional full-size vacuum cleaner. PCWorld offers a manual with helpful tips to keep yours running smoothly.
Larger Dust Bags
While a robotic vacuum may not clean as well as a canister or upright model, it's great in picking up dirt and dust that regular vacuuming leaves behind. It can be used to perform quick touch-ups of bare floors and is able to maneuver around cords and other obstacles in your home. You can employ robots to clean your floors on a schedule if you don't have time to do it yourself.
Some of the top-rated robot vacuums have large, easy to empty dust bags which can hold more dirt than a room. This will save time and money in the form of bags that are replaced. Several of the models on our list have this feature, including our top pick, the Ecovacs Deebot T30S Combo. This all-in-one robovac boasts an excellent performance score and comes with an auto-emptying bin. It comes with a mopping function and an efficient navigation. It's a close contest between the iRobot Roomba Combo j9+ and this one, which is equipped with smart mapping and avoidance technologies. This robovac has more capacity, but it is a bit more expensive.
Another big difference between these two models is how they deal with hair that is long and human that can get caught in the rollers on some robots. The Best robot vacuum cleaner UK-performing models, the Roborock Q5 Max+ and SwitchBot K10S Plus, both have outstanding hair pickup and tangle avoidance scores, along with excellent path planning and close to perfect auto empty results. The Shark Matrix Plus and eufy are also good options with decent hair pick-up and tangle avoidance, however they don't have as much path planning or auto vacuum and mop empty.
The latest robots are equipped with sensors that can identify dirt and debris on carpets, and they're better in removing pet hair. Some have a mopping mode that makes use of the water reservoir to remove spills and messes that have gotten stuck. This feature is crucial for families with children and pets.
Maintenance
A robot vacuum can help keep up with your home. While no robot is able to replace an upright or canister vacuum for deep cleaning, the highest models are rated to remove pet hair, lint, and other dirt that accumulates on carpets with low pile and hard floors, picking up much more than you could using a vacuum. They come with navigational features that help them avoid getting stuck on power cords, rug fringe or furniture.
Depending on the model, a top-rated robotic vacuum can be scheduled to run multiple times a day or may allow users to observe it at work via an app. However, these handy devices can also be prone to clogging, and require regular maintenance such as emptying the bin onboard (or the base's bigger dust bin in some cases) and checking the brushes for hair that has become tangled and then periodically washing and letting the filters dry according to the manufacturer.
Vacuum expert Emily Rairdin, a store owner apprentice at University best automatic vacuum cleaner + Sewing, says that a quality robot vacuum will last for three to five years or more with regular care and attention. She recommends regularly emptying the bin and brush roll and cutting off any hair that has gotten caught up in the brushes and regularly cleaning and drying the filter, in the event that your robot acts as a mop. It's a good idea wipe the sensors and charging contacts on the dock or robot with an easy clean cloth every now and then. Then, refill and recharge your robot prior to the next cleaning session.