Keeping up with cleaning floors can be a daunting task. If your home is anything like mine, kids and pets can turn your living spaces into one giant crumb factory. Most of us don’t have the time or the patience to pull out a traditional vacuum for every little mess. Luckily, some of the best robot vacuums on the market can easily handle those cleanups and save you from lifting a finger.
Dividing up the household chores can bring many of us to the breaking point. According to a recent survey of 2,000 American adults, cleaning duties have strained a lot of relationships. Nearly half of all respondents admitted to getting frustrated in the past due to their living companion’s lack of cleaning contributions. While 42 percent said they technically share cleaning responsibilities at home, many said it doesn’t always work out that way. For example, the average respondent reported re-cleaning two items or areas per week that one of their roommates had already cleaned first. In all, 67% admitted to arguing with their roommates about chores. On average, respondents argue about cleanliness about three times a week. Yikes!
Smart technology seems to be taking over our everyday lives. The good news is, a recent study reveals that smart devices are luckily not making us less intelligent. Although vacuuming may feel mindless, just know you’re not losing brain capacity by letting a robot do it for you.
Why not add a robot vacuum to your ever-growing smart home? Luckily, StudyFinds is here to help you keep a clean home. We’ve compiled a list of the five best robot vacuums, from ten expert websites, to find superb models to tidy up with. As always, we’d like to see your own recommendations in the comments below!
The List: Best Robot Vacuums, According to Experts
1. iRobot Roomba j7+
“The Roomba j7+ has powerful suction and some of the best navigational tools on the market. iRobot now has a feature called Genius that lets you teach your Roomba about your personal preferences and cleaning schedules, instead of painstakingly programming them manually,” notes Wired.
Are you a pet owner? This smart vacuum avoids those little “gifts” they often leave on your floor. According to PCMag, “iRobot is so confident in the robot’s poop-evading abilities that it’s offering it with a P.O.O.P. (Pet Owner Official Promise) guarantee: If the Roomba j7+ fails to avoid solid pet waste within a year of your purchase, the company will give you a new one for free.”
Simply put, “The iRobot j7+ is the best robot vacuum you can buy right now, with simpler mapping, more cleaning power and smarter features than anything else we tested,” says CNN.
The Roomba j7+’s cleaning base is compact and can hold up to 60 days’ worth of debris. However, some users note the self-emptying bin is a bit noisy. You can snag this one starting at around $600.
2. Eufy RoboVac 11s
If you are looking for a basic, affordable robot vacuum, for $200, check this one out. “While it works best in small spaces, it rarely gets stuck, and it does a good job on bare floors and short-pile rugs,” points out The New York Times.
CNN notes, the Eufy 11s “may not be smart, but its brute force approach covered our test area almost as well as the connected robots, plus it’s quiet, slim enough to reach under most furniture and does a great job cleaning.”
Consumer Reports adds that it “isn’t the strongest robotic vac you can buy, and it’ll struggle to thoroughly clean large areas. But this nimble, relatively affordable bot can be a great option for cleaning a few rooms at a time, or for patient owners.”
3. Roborock S7+
For $429.99, this hybrid robot vacuum/mop, will have your floors sparkling in no time.
“The S7 is the first such device we’d actually trust to vacuum and mop without close supervision. That’s because the S7 is smart enough to know when it’s on a rug, and can lift its mopping pad so that your carpet doesn’t get soaked,” according to Tom’s Guide.
This gadget won CNET’s Editors’ Choice award, adding it’s aided by “multiple sensors and lasers, efficient navigation is the S7’s other strong suit. The vacuum cleaner covered the entire floor of our test room without missing any spots across multiple runs in an average of just 16 minutes. That’s a full 9 minutes shorter than the Roomba S9 Plus required for the same job.”
Engadget explains the app that hooks up to this model: “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.”
4. Shark AI Ultra Robot Vacuum
This mid-range robot vacuum is app controlled, and costs about $600. “It offers reliable cleaning performance, its mobile app is easy to use and it produces accurate home maps. On top of that, its base is bagless, which means you won’t have to spend money every few months on garbage bags for your robotic vacuum,” according to Engadget.
Good Housekeeping adds that it had “no problem cleaning under kitchen cabinet toe kicks or figuring out how to clean tight spaces without getting stuck, though the LIDAR sensor at the top of the robot does make it a little too tall to get under some furniture.”
Wired says this model “is a much more affordable alternative to the giant, pricey Ecovacs (and without the unnecessary cameras). Instead, it uses laser navigation to make an accurate map of your home within 20 minutes, which you can subdivide in the easy-to-use app to indicate vacuuming or mopping zones.”
However, some reviewers noted it’s loud when the dust bin empties.
5. Samsung Jet Bot AI+ Robot Vacuum
Maybe you want more from your vacuum than just clean floors. “This intelligent and gentle cleaner almost acts as a security camera as much as a robot vacuum cleaner. It can patrol your home while you’re away and livestream what it can see straight to your phone. It can also recognize objects and offer alternative cleaning patterns, so you can choose the route you want it to take,” according to Tom’s Guide.
“With the Clean station, the Jet Bot will automatically empty its dust bin, reducing the amount of maintenance for the user. Overall, the Samsung Jet Bot AI+ is a solid choice and includes many of the features we look for in a robot vacuum,” adds Modern Castle.
Despite it being bulkier than some of its competitors, “I had to include it, because it’s quiet, fast, and powerful, and its navigational system is even better than iRobot’s. It left about 4 inches of clearance around all obstacles, which might not work for you if you need a lot of edge cleaning. But I watched in amazement as it navigated adroitly around a sleeping 80-pound dog, even vacuuming around her face without trembling a single whisker. It was phenomenal,” mentions Wired.
The biggest drawback? The price. This object recognition robot vacuum costs a hefty $1,299.99.
Honorable Mention: Roborock Q5+
We couldn’t leave out this gem from Roborock. For $499.99, Q5+ self-empties and has superb customizable cleaning capabilities.
The New York Times notes that it’s “packaged with a charging dock that sucks all the debris out of the robot after a cleaning session. It works well automatically and on-demand through the app.”
Wired points out “it did pick up tumbleweeds of dog hair and adroitly swiped croissant crumbs from under the kitchen counter that other vacuums had left behind.” One slight downside to this robot vacuum is the small onboard bin that leads to more frequent emptying.
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Sources:
- Wired
- PCMag
- The New York Times
- CNN
- Consumer Reports
- Tom’s Guide
- CNET
- Engadget
- Good Housekeeping
- Modern Castle
Note: This article was not paid for nor sponsored. StudyFinds is not connected to nor partnered with any of the brands mentioned and receives no compensation for its recommendations. This post may contain affiliate links.
