What Makes a Good Robot Vacuum?

A good robot vacuum can help you avoid a lot of hassle when you're doing your weekly routine cleaning. What makes a good robot vacuum?

The more expensive features, such as real-time hazard detection and mopping systems can make your robot cleaner last longer. We'll talk about the most effective maintenance and care practices, including emptying the trash bin after each use and scrubbing away debris regularly.

Object Detection

A quality robot vacuum will be able to navigate and identify obstacles. The top robot vacuums make use of cameras, sensors and Robot Vacuum lasers to guide you through your home and suck up pet fur, crumbs and dirt from hard surfaces such as tile, wood, and low-pile area rugs. Some of the top models come with mopping capabilities, which allow them to sweep mop pads across floorboards to eliminate dried coffee spills and pet poop. Look for a model that's Wi-Fi-connected so you can control it via your smartphone and set cleaning schedules. If you suffer from allergies, consider the model that empty its onboard dust bin into a larger one at the base, then washes and dries its own filter after every cleaning.

If you're willing to pay more than $500, the most expensive robots have advanced features such as home mapping and enhanced obstacle detection. For example, the premium iRobot J7 series utilizes sensors to track your home's location while it cleans, and allows you to assign certain rooms or areas to be cleaned. It also has a fall detection sensor to keep the robot from falling down stairs. Other features that are high-end include self-emptying charging docks and the ability to wash your robot’s mop pads.

Other models, like the Eufy X10, have smart mapping that recognizes furniture, walls, and other objects. The sensor system is able to distinguish between surfaces that are hard and soft, preventing it from damaging or scratching your flooring. It can detect even changes in height, like a sofa or staircase. It also has lidar, which makes use of lasers to create a real-time map of its surroundings. This can be used in dark environments.

The size of the dustbin, the battery life, and the time for charging are a few aspects to take into consideration when choosing a robot mop or vacuum. A large bin means less trips to empty it, while the longer time to run and quick charging times allow for more cleaning sessions without having to wait hours for the robot to charge between sessions. The suction power of a robot vacuum is measured in Pascal (Pa) which is a measurement of suction power, with higher numbers indicating more powerful vacuums. Find a model that has a high Pa rating that's compatible with your floor.

Bases that Self-Empty

Self-emptying bases add a lot of value and convenience to the robot vacuum that is compatible with it. The base self-empties and you don't need to empty the dustbin on the robot autonomous vacuum every time. Instead, the debris is puon how to maintain their products. Outside of scheduled maintenance, it is recommended to regularly check your robot vacuum's brushroll, making sure it isn't clogged with pet hair or other debris.

Lidar Navigation

Lidar makes use of lasers for mapping and navigation, in contrast to optical sensor-based systems that rely on light sources. Robots that use this technology are more adept at getting around obstacles and cleaning smaller spaces than those that do not have it.

Depending on the model you have, you can view the maps in the app or use the built-in feature to create no-go zones and specific rooms, like "clean living room and kitchen." Most robots with lidars can will map rooms in just a few minutes, but it could take longer in larger or more complex homes. It is important to ensure that your robot can not see any ceiling to floor mirrors. These will reflect the laser, which can cause it to think that it's seeing a room that doesn't exist or even bump into its own self. It is recommended to cover these mirrors with drapes or paper before tracing your home for the first time.

A good robot vacuum is also capable of avoiding tangled objects or trapped objects even if they're concealed by furniture. For instance, if the vacuum sees a wire that is loose in the path, it will make a turn and go to a different route. If it finds a danger to trip it will stop its movement and notify you via app or by chirping the on-device alarm.

The best robot hoover robots are able to do this almost all the time. The IRobot Roomba 694, for example, was one of our most reliable models, robot vacuum picking up all the hairs and coffee grounds it could reach on hardwood flooring. It also impressed when it came to carpets, removing all but a few grain of flour from the corners.

It's not quite as good as the performance of our top model that is the Roborock Q5 Max+, but it still offers an excellent value. It's easy to navigate and plan out rooms quickly, just as the more expensive models. There are also options for creating no-go zones and selecting specific rooms. The bin is also big, so it won't need to return to its self-emptying base too frequently and covers a lot of ground before needing a refill.

Mopping

The top robot vacuums provide an excellent level of performance for the money. They do a great job of cleaning floors with no carpet and removing the majority of dirt and debris that's been forced into carpets by furniture, toys and other obstacles. They lack the power to clean dirt from carpets and rugs, and they tend to leave dust on baseboards as well as other edges. For this reason, most people prefer to supplement their robot vacuum with a separate robot mop for more thorough midweek cleanups.

There are a variety of robot mop available, from dedicated mops which only mop, to hybrid vacuum and mop designs that have an empty water tank and a dustbin. When shopping for a robotic mop, choose one that has an auto-emptying system. This means that it will empty the dirty water into its clean bin at the end of every cleaning cycle. This makes them simpler to maintain than robo-vacs, which require you empty the small dustbins yourself into a larger container after each use.

A mop that will sense when it's on carpeting and raise its pads enough to avoid wetting the floor. Choose a mop which can be programmed so it can draw maps and determine areas that require attention, such as the kitchen or stairs. Many mop and vacuum robots come with side brushes that allow for more thorough cleaning of edges and corners.

Another feature to look for is the amount of suction power that a robot mop has. Many manufacturers offer Pascal (Pa) levels which means that the more powerful the Pa rating, the stronger the suction. Certain models come with a Max setting for dirt that is difficult to remove.

The iRobot Braava Jet X8 Hybrid which is our top pick for ease of use it is a robot mop and vacuum. This machine is quick to draw out our test rooms, and effortlessly defining no-go zones on rugs and hard floors and automatically empty its bins that are clean and dirty into its self-emptying dock after each mopping session. The only issue is that it could not get under the baseboards in our kitchen. This is a problem that many robotic vacuums and mop shares.