While upright and canister vacuums are better at deep-cleaning hardwood and carpets, a robot vacuum—often controlled by a smartphone app—can be useful for regular touch-ups.

Its battery lasts for cem minutes, as measured on bare floors in Standard mode). In a home with carpets and rugs, a runtime of 60 minutes is more realistic.

The app also adds convenient features not seen in other robot vacuums in our list. You can tell it to only use the self-emptying bin during certain hours of the day (self-emptying is loud), and you can disable the physical button on the vacuum itself, so mischievous kids and dextrous pets can’t set it going.

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...The mopping function on this vacuum is plenty enough for us as it'll help clean up any missed small messes and it adds back some shine to make every look and feel cleaner and brighter!"

The iRobot Combo Roomba j9+ receives solid performance scores across the board in CR’s tests, earning an excellent score for cleaning bare floors and a very good score for carpet. It has smart mapping technology as well as avoidance technology to help it move around household obstacles like cords.

Although this does mean it will likely require more clearance space and will protrude further out from the wall as well. Make sure you have a space in mind for your robot vacuum’s dock before you make a purchase, otherwise you might have to move some furniture around.

An increasing number of top-tier robot vacuums are hybrid models that also mop your floors. In these models, you’ll find enhanced mopping capabilities that go beyond a basic wet cloth. Look for features like electronic water flow control (to adjust how much water is used), vibrating or pressurized mop pads (which scrub the floor more effectively), and larger water tank capacities for longer mopping sessions.

We checked how well each model performed around obstacles and took note of the user-friendliness of app-controlled bots.

Luckily, we've been testing robot vacuums for 10 years to find those that deliver the strongest suction and best features for all sorts of homes, needs and budgets. And we have plenty of brand new releases to test following CES 2025.

A multi-map function means it can clean different floors - unlike most robot vacuums on the market. Obviously, the robovac needs to be carried up the stairs, but this is a big improvement on other robot vacuums, which are usually limited to a single floor.

Keep a can of compressed air handy in Automatic Vacuum Cleaners case you need to blow dust out of gears or other hard-to-reach nooks in the bot.

It’s time to dive deep into the Ecovacs Deebot N20 Plus – a bagless robot vacuum and mop combo that's turning heads for its impressive features at an unbeatable price.

It’s durable. Guide author Sabine Heinlein has had her Eufy 11S (the predecessor of the Eufy 11S Max) for almost four years and had to replace its battery only recently. She’s run it several times a week in a very furry household and is continuously impressed with its pickup.