Best Rated Robot Vacuum and Mop

Eufy's top-rated robot vacuum and mop takes a bit of the burden of keeping your floors clean. It can replenish its own water tank as well as empty its tower bin. It also has the ability to change the dust bag.

Advanced models can map your house and note furniture arrangement. They also can detect dangers and help you avoid them, such as loose charging cables or unintentional socks.

Object Avoidance

Object avoidance features enable your robot to avoid crashing into things like toys, power cords and clothes that be caught in the vacuum. These features are especially crucial if you have children or pets that may leave objects on the floor for your robot to discover.

Depending on the model you choose, your robot may have various sensors to help it navigate around obstacles. Some of the most popular include crossed IR sensors that send focused beams of infrared light across the room to detect things like doors and furniture legs. A lot of robots have adopted this technology, and you'll see it in the flagship models that are more expensive.

Other technologies for avoiding objects that you might find in higher-end robots include 3D Structured Light, which uses cameras and crossed IR sensors to map the environment and detect obstacles. Also, Time of Flight (ToF) sensors which emit and measure the time it takes for light to reflect off of objects, to determine the distance to them. They aren't as common, but could be a great option to add to your robot should you want to have more security.

The majority of the top-rated robots are also able to mop your floors. Some robots come with very own water tanks that enable them to clean up messes and spills. It is necessary to clean the robot's dust bin onboard and clean its cameras and sensors between cleaning sessions.

Mapping

Mapping capabilities are crucial in robot cleaner with mop vacuums since they allow them to keep track of your home's layout and avoid hitting things like walls. They can be tripped up by cords, pet toys or furniture that are not marked. This can result in them cleaning less space. Using sensors, most robots map your home to identify any obstacles and help them navigate around them. They can clean the floor in fewer passes, and save you time. Many of the top rated robot vacuums also have this feature to create zones that are not allowed, allowing you to set specific areas that you do not want the robot to get into.

Robots equipped with LIDAR utilize this technology to map your home quickly and effectively. During our tests, the Eufy Clean robot made use of this feature to divide my room into distinct areas and clean each independently it was a major improvement over the less expensive models we tested, which had an in-front bump sensor. This was a much more precise way to navigate my home and was simple to control via the app on the device.

While there are no robot vacuums that can climb stairs, top models do come with mapping and obstacle avoidance features. These tools let them remove debris from low-pile and hard floors, and preventrs we've spoken with say that they love the convenience of having their floors cleaned without much effort. This is especially true if they are used frequently. If you take care of maintenance (cleaning the rotating brushes and keeping an eye on the replacement parts) robots can last as long as a conventional full-size vacuum cleaner. PCWorld offers a guide that offers some useful suggestions to ensure your machine is running smoothly.

Dust Bags Larger

A robotic vacuum may not be as good at cleaning like an upright or canister vacuum, but it is great at picking up the dust and other debris that regular vacuuming leaves behind. It can also be used for quick repairs to floors and can navigate around cords and other obstacles that are common to household use. If you don't want to perform the deep cleaning yourself, a robotic cleaner can be sent out to scour your floors on a regular schedule.

A few of the top-rated robotic vacuums have large dust bags that can store more dirt than one room. This can save you time and money on replacement bags. This feature is available on a variety of models, including our top pick which is the Ecovacs T30S Combo. This all-in-one robovac has an excellent performance score and has a self-emptying bin. It has a mopping feature and a streamlined navigation. It is a close race between the iRobot Roomba Combo j9+ and this model, which utilizes smart mapping and avoidance technologies. This robovac has a larger capacity but is slightly more expensive.

Another major difference between the two models is the way they handle hair that is long, which can tangle in the rollers of some robots. The Roborock Q5 Max+, SwitchBot K10S Plus and Roborock Q5 Max+ are the most efficient models. They all have outstanding hair pickup and tangle avoidance scores, along with great auto empty results and excellent path planning. The Shark Matrix Plus and eufy are also great options with decent hair pickup and tangle avoidance but they don't have as much path planning or auto empty.

The latest robots are equipped with sensors that can detect dirt and other debris on carpets and they're better at removing pet hair. Some have a mopping mode that can use the reservoir of water to eliminate spills and messes that have gotten stuck. This feature is crucial for families with children as well as pets.

Maintenance

A robot vacuum can be a huge help in keeping up with your home. While no robot is able to replace an upright or canister vacuum for deep cleaning, the top models are rated to remove pet hair, lint and other dirt that accumulates on hard floors and low-pile carpets, picking up much more than you can with the Broom. They also have navigation capabilities that ensure they don't get stuck on power cords or rug fringe and are able to glide effortlessly under furniture.

Based on the model, a top-rated robotic automatic vacuum cleaner is also able to run multiple times a day or may allow users to observe it in action via an app. However, these useful vacuums are also prone to clogging, and require regular maintenance like emptying the onboard bin (or the base's larger dust bin in some cases) as well as checking the brushes for tangled hair, and periodically rinsing and letting the filters dry as suggested by the manufacturer.

Vacuum expert Emily Rairdin, a store owner apprentice at University Vacuum + Sewing, says a good robot vacuum can last from three to five years or more with regular care and attention. She suggests regularly emptying the brush roll and bin and cutting out any hair that has gotten caught up in the brushes and regularly washing and drying the filter, if your robot also acts as a mop. It's a good idea clean the charging contacts and sensors on the dock or the robot with an easy clean cloth every now and again. Then simply recharge and refill the robot whenever you need to for your next cleaning session.