Featured Product: iRobot Roomba i3+ with Dirt Disposal | $549 | Amazon
Nobody wants to vacuum We’re all sick of it, and you know you’d give it up in a heartbeat if you could. Well, what if there was a way to have a strange little robotic disk do all of the work for you? What if there was a way to free yourself from this chore? Good news, that’s exactly what we’re going to tell you, because the best robot vacuums are no longer the ones that are extortionately unfathomably expensive.
Instead, you can get yourself a robovac for a lot cheaper than you might think, although you can also choose to spend a bit more if you’re looking for something bit fancier than the base models. A lot of robovacs now come with ways to help them navigate more efficiently, tackle tougher areas, and even learn your cleaning habits to choose the best times to get the work down. No matter what you’re looking for, we’ve got you covered with our list of the best robot vacuums.
Best Robot Vacuum Overall: iRobot Roomba i3+
The iRobot Roomba i3+ was named one of Gizmodo’s Coolest Gadgets of 2020, and our colleagues appreciated this robovac particularly for its skills with sucking up pet hair, among other talents. It’s a mid-tier option with some premium features in the mix, such as the optional base station that automatically sucks the dirt out of your Roomba i3+ after each cycle. That means you don’t have to manually empty the robovac every single time.
Gizmodo’s Catie Keck said the Roomba i3+ helped her tame the dog fur tumbleweeds that previously dominated her space:
“I’d assumed that short of vacuuming my house virtually every day, multiple times a day, I’d have to come to terms with living like this, surrounded on all sides by my good girl’s no good shedding. That was until I met the Roomba i3+, a destroyer of dust bunnies and my secret to floors so clean I feel like I’m living in an entirely new home—no thanks at all to my pup.”
Best Robot Vacuum for Pet Hair: Yeedi K650
Dawn McCarthy, a TV personality and a lifestyle advisor, is also a dog mom. When she started to shop for a vacuum, she wanted to make sure it would be excellent with pet hair, with a big enough chamber that it would have enough room. Yeedi quickly rose to the top of her list.
“With the dual chambers, it truly does a great job. I like that it works on hardwood floors, and easily glides over many of my thicker rugs as well,” McCarthy told me. But that wasn’t the only reason she bought it. “This was selling on Amazon for about half the price as others on the market.”
Although the vacuum does occasionally get lost, McCarthy says that she wishes it had a “Find my Yeedi” function. In spite of that, she’s smitten. It’s quiet and gets the job done daily.
“For me personally, this has lived up to the hype, and again for dog parents who tend to have more hair everywhere in the house with their pets, this truly does a great job,” she told me.
Best According to Consumer Reports: Eufy RoboVac 11S
Jeanne Sager is a pet owner in Upstate New York. She tells me about getting the Eufy RoboVac 11S. “I got sick of constantly having to either drag a vacuum around or to sweep in order to keep up with the tumbleweeds of hair, Sager said. “A robot vacuum seemed like a good option since I could essentially ‘set it and forget it.’”
Vacuums are an investment, so Sager did a lot of research before settling on the Eufy vacuum cleaner. It was well rated for fluffy pet hair, but it also stood out for another reason. “I was looking for a vacuum with a low profile that would still be able to get underneath the couch and capture the dust bunnies and fur that collects there without me having to move the furniture.”
Like any vacuum cleaner, it isn’t perfect, but for $220, it’s worth the money despite some minor qualms. Sager says the Eufy didn’t work so well with her area rugs. In fact, she tells me, “I eventually had to rid my downstairs of all area rugs because I was constantly having to jump up and disentangle the vacuum and rug.”
“I don’t use it every day anymore,” Sager shared with me. With area rugs and a family that lease socks and other small items around, it’s not as easy as she thought it would be to use. “That said, I do still like it over a big traditional vacuum.”
The RoboVac 11S MAX boosts the suction power from 1,300Pa to 2,000Pa for extra force. The base 11S model boasts a suction power of 1,300Pa, while the 11S MAX edition boosts that up to 2,000Pa.
Best Robot Vacuum and Mop: Ecovacs Deebot N8 Pro+
We obviously prefer affordability where possible, but if you’ve got a bit of money to spend and you’re after a robot that can not only vacuum, but also mop the floor, then we’ve got just the thing for you. The Ecovacs Deebot N8 Pro+ is definitely one of the best robot vacuums going, and certainly one of the best robot vacuum and mop combos. We at The Inventory reviewed it a while ago, and our reviewer was very happy with it.
It has 2,600Pa suction, laser mapping and time-of-flight sensors to map your space out properly, and while the mop functionality isn’t what we’d call hardcore, it still does a good enough job to make sure your floors look a bit cleaner than normal. Plus, it even auto-empties itself at its special station. Now, for $800, it’s not the cheapest around, but it does go on sale now and then, so it’s worth wishlisting if you want to pick one up when that happens.
Best Budget Robot Vacuum and Mop: Eufy RoboVac G30 Hybrid
Now, just because your want one of the best robot vacuum and mops around, it doesn’t mean you want to spend all of the money on it. Instead, you can grab Eufy’s RoboVac G30 Hybrid for $370 at full price, but at the moment it’s down to $250, which is excellent value. The multi-talented Wes Davis talks about it in more detail in their review of this unit, and while they admit it’s not the precise one he’s ever used, he was still quite happy with it overall.
“With a clean, fairly robust app interface, extremely quiet operation, and easy maintenance, the Eufy RoboVac G30 Hybrid sits pretty comfortably at its price point… a good value for those who keep things tidy enough to be cleaned on a schedule by a little geometric friend.”
Best Reviewed Robot Vacuum: Roborock S4
Kellie McGinnis and Natalie Craig both own and love the Roborock S4. Both are pet parents and that was one of the many reasons that they invested in the vacuum.
“The reviews for the Roborock were hard to beat—barely any complaints, so that made me feel secure in my decision to go with that brand,” McGinnis said to me. “I love that I can clean the whole house, a specific room, or even a specific zone. I also love the no-go zone, especially during the holidays when I don’t want it to go near my Christmas tree.”
Craig, a Chicago based blogger, has a messy bird. Eventually, she got tired of cleaning up after it multiple times a day, and a robot vacuum made perfect sense.
“I did a lot of research on robot vacuums and I was impressed with the smart mapping features of the Roborock S4,” Craig tells me, as well as the suction force and the sweeping bristles.”
It’s these smart features that set the Roborock S4 from the more budget-friendly alternatives. “I knew it would be a smart and intuitive vacuum per the reviews,” Craig says. “I am even more impressed than I thought regarding its intuitiveness.”
“This is one of the best purchases I’ve made all year,” McGinnis says. “The only downside to the model I went with is that it is not self-emptying, but that was something I chose to compromise on to save some money.”
This story was originally published by Chaya Milchtein on 12/15/20 and updated by Jason Coles with new information on 02/01/2022.