iRobot® Roomba® i1+ 1552 Wi-Fi Connected Self-Emptying Robot Vacuum, Ideal for Pet Hair, Carpets

This top-of-the-line model is suitable for those with deep pockets who are willing to pay a premium for convenience. With long battery life, strong suction power, and AI-powered obstacle avoidance technology, the X1 Omni is an excellent option for large homes, and those with pets. The iRobot Roomba 694 is a solid robot vacuum with some extra features, thanks to its ability to connect to the iRobot Home app. You can schedule cleaning sessions or use a voice assistant to start one, but even though it’s connected, you can’t map your home or target areas to be cleaned. We don’t think the extra connected features are worth the extra money, so for $50 less, we found the Eufy 11S to be a better vacuum.

People tend to be really impressed with the solid feature set offered at this price point. Many are surprised by how quiet the machine is when running, with some users forgetting it’s even there — until they see the results. Users also enjoy modern conveniences such as Alexa and shark cordless Google Assistant integration, as well as it’s self-docking feature when the battery is low and how it picks up where it left off when charged. The i7’s dual rubber brushes won’t get tangled cleaning pet hair, while its filter manages to trap up to 99% of dog and cat allergens.

This robot vacuum is constantly learning with every run too, making it one of the smartest we’ve seen. How much you spend depends on your budget and your must-haves in a robot vacuum cleaner. As a rule of thumb, the more features and functions a robot has, the more expensive it will be.

Both have great navigation with LIDAR navigation that makes them very accurate. Connectivity can be a challenge, with the bot often losing floor plans, requiring remapping of the space. The Botvac D7 Includes magnetic dividing strips that you can cut up to establish no-go zones in your home, although you can also set up virtual bissell crosswave cordless no-go zones in the included app too. The virtual mapping allows you to create a map for the bot that’s much more versatile than using the strips alone. Other users like how the unit can be upgraded by adding a mopping module or a self-emptying dock. Yeedi’s voice is a bit too loud, even when you have it on the lowest setting.

You can set up your favorite language, cleaning frequencies & bin full behavior in the Settings section. Location This app may use your location even when it isn’t open, which can decrease battery life. The iRobot Roomba J7+ takes design cues from the rest of the iRobot Roomba range, but it opts for a more streamlined approach and this goes for both the robot itself and its base. Battery reliability is a frequently mentioned complaint on customer review websites. Battery replacements from iRobot cost a significant fraction of the purchase price of a new Roomba, though compatible third-party batteries are available at a lower price.

According to the Wyze customer support forums, a beta version of the Wyze app supports multiple maps, and it’s supposed to be released widely at some point. If that doesn’t matter to you, or you’re willing to believe that they’ll actually release the multi-level update soon (I wouldn’t, but I’ve been wrong before), the Wyze seems like a decent-enough option. As for cleaning, we’ve found over and over again that basic Eufy bots are capable of picking up all the most common types of debris off bare floors and low-pile rugs. It’s actually kind of surprising how effective they are, since the advertised suction is so modest, and the single brush roll is small. If you have plush carpets and a lot of hair to deal with, though, you’ll want a robot with better brush action and possibly stronger suction.

And again, we’ve found over and over again that it works well in smaller spaces. Also, we’re not convinced that obstacle avoidance is really the holy grail of robot-vacuum technology. One of the reasons robot vacuums help your home feel so tidy is because they force you to pick stuff up off the floor. Even if advanced obstacle recognition worked well enough to let you skip the pre-tidying, your home would still feel messy.

While no robot can manage stairs or tackle ground-in dirt and debris as well as a stick or upright vacuum (yet!), the top performers in our tests do have impressive pick-up scores on hard floors and low-pile carpets. They do well at sweeping up fine particles, like sand and baking soda, heavier debris, like oatmeal, orzo pasta, metal screws and nuts and even fluffy stuff, like pet hair. Obstacle pickup tests are done across both rooms of our testing area with a mixture of oatmeal, orzo, baking soda and sand spread out around both rooms.

The Eufy G20 Hybrid has a bristle / rubber brush, a side brush , and a mop pad. The Eufy G20 Hybrid is a small, svelte robot vac that’s perfect for tackling smaller jobs with less fuss. The Shark AI Ultra XL has a hybrid bristle brush Shark calls “self-cleaning,” and two side brushes. There are several things to consider when purchasing one of your own, such as your budget, the features offered, and even reviews from real customers.

irobot vacuum cleaner

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. Predicted brand reliability is based on estimated problem rates for newly purchased robotic vacuums, not covered by an extended warranty or service contract, within the first three years of ownership. Another robot vacuum, the Jet Bot AI Plus, is also billed as being able to avoid pet waste. Unfortunately, the robot consistently failed to recognize one out of our three gag poop objects.