The 7 Best Robot Vacuums, According to 200+ Hours of Testing

Shop Roborock Q5+ with Self-Empty Dock

Although robot vacuums help with autonomy, they also come with their fair share of pain points, like lacking sufficient suction power and difficulty navigating certain floorplans. Chances are if you’re in the market for a robot vacuum, you want to invest in one that's going to make your life easier— and that's exactly what the Roborock Q5 robot vacuum will do.

The Q5 is easy to use, easy to maintain, accurately maps floorplans, and does a great job of sucking up dust and debris. Simply put, it just works! During my cleaning tests, it had comparable performance to the $650 Roborock S7 and did a phenomenal job at cleaning my carpets and hard floors.

Given that it has about 10% higher suction power than the S7, unsurprisingly, it picked up debris of all shapes and sizes, from coffee grounds on my hardwoods in the kitchen to popcorn kernels on my living room rug.

Another major advantage of the Q5 is its large battery. The vacuum has a 180-minute run time, which is twice as long as the Roomba i3 EVO and as long as the $1,400 Roborock S7 MaxV vacuum. More battery life means the vacuum can clean larger floorplans without having to stop midway through to charge itself before it completes the job.

Compared to other robot vacuums in its price range, like the competing iRobot Roomba i3 EVO, this one uses LIDAR (laser-based navigation) to intelligently move throughout your home. This technology allows the vacuum create a map of your floor plan and will systematically clean room by room in straight lines.

The Roborock app lets you set detailed cleaning schedules that allow the vacuum to increase suction for specific rooms and avoid certain areas of your home, giving you the freedom to create keep-out zones. Throughout my testing, I used this functionality to avoid the area where my pet’s water bowls are.

Really, the only issue I have with the Roborock Q5 is that its brush roller is more susceptible to hair tangles for pet and human hair. Fortunately, Roborock sells a newer rubber brush roller that resists tangles better than the included bristled brush.

Overall, the Q5 (and the self-emptying Q5+) should be on your shortlist for their outstanding navigation tech, convenient app, and above-average cleaning performance.

Shop iRobot i3 EVO+ with Clean Base

I can’t recommend the iRobot Roomba i3 EVO enough for pet owners who desperately want to keep pet hair on their floors down to a minimum. What sets the Roomba apart from competing cleaners, like the Roborock Q5, is that it’s equipped with dual rubber brush rollers. While testing the vacuum, I found that the brushes work exceptionally well at resisting hair tangles, and they help beat out the dirt and debris embedded deep within your carpets.

Although our best overall pick, the Roborock Q5, does a fine job at sucking up pet hair from bare floors, the hair had a tendency of getting tangled on its brush roll bristles when vacuuming carpets — but this wasn’t a problem we experienced with the Roomba i3 EVO.

Another perk for pet owners is that it features a high-efficiency filter that captures 99% of allergens, dust mites, mold, and pollen. As for cleaning performance, the vacuum effortlessly picked up dust, pet food, and debris of all shapes and sizes during my tests. When the Roomba senses an area with more debris than usual, it’ll pass over the spot multiple times. The Roomba i3 EVO delivered a better cleaning performance than the majority of other robot vacuums and left my carpets and hardwood floors nearly spotless, which is really saying something since I’m a husky owner.

I was able to run the i3 EVO for about an hour and a half before it needed to charge. My only complaint is that every now and then, it gets stuck. Lastly, if you can afford to spend extra, I recommend opting for the i3 EVO+, which includes iRobot’s “Clean Base,” an accessory that allows the vacuum to empty the contents of its dustbin automatically in an enclosed bag that won’t need replacing for 2 months.

The Roborock S7 is the first robot vacuum that vacuums and mops at the same time. Conveniently enough, it can even detect carpet and will automatically lift its microfiber mop pad out of the way when approaching carpet or rugs.

I tested the Roborock in a 2,500-square-foot home and was surprised that the vacuum could clean my entire floor plan in a single charge. If you live in an even bigger home, the Roborock is smart enough to return to its dock to charge and then will resume cleaning where it last left off. You can expect around 180 minutes of runtime.

The robot vacuum delivered above-average cleaning performance. Crumbs in my dining room, coffee grounds in between my kitchen tile, and pet hair on my living room rug all disappeared.

Despite lacking front-mounted cameras like the Roomba j7, the vacuum easily cleaned around corners, around barstools, and in between chair legs. It uses LIDAR technology (the same sensor as self-driving cars) to map your home, clean in straight lines, and avoid obstacles throughout it.

With the Roborock app, you're able to set regular cleaning schedules, designate times you don't want the vacuum to run, remotely instruct the vacuum to clean specific rooms or areas of your home, and adjust suction speed. There’s also an incredibly useful “No-Go Zones” setting you can enable so the vacuum will avoid certain spots of your home. I used the feature to keep the vacuum from running into my pet’s dog bowls.

Priced at $650, the Roborock S7 doesn't run cheap, but it's a luxurious robot vacuum unlike any other, and it delivers some of the best cleaning performance I’ve seen among robot vacuums. If you have the budget for it, also consider the Roborock S7+, which includes a useful “Auto Empty Dock” that sucks the debris out of the robot’s dustbin. The base uses 3-liter vacuum bags, which hold 8 weeks’ worth of dust and debris. You can also shop for a reusable dust bin that doesn't use bags.

Read More: Check Out Our Full Roborock S7 Review

Editor's Note: iRobot recently launched the Roomba Combo j7+, which is equipped with a retractable mop that can lift itself up and under the vacuum to mop hard floors and stow itself on top of the robot when it’s vacuuming carpet. The robot vac is nearly identical to the j7+ with the exception of its slightly smaller dust bin so it can accommodate its water tank and it features a larger battery. We will test it for a future iteration of this guide.

The best robot vacuum is one that works so well that you almost forget about it, which pretty much sums up iRobot’s latest robot vacuum, the Roomba j7+.

What sets it apart from the majority of other robot vacuums is its excellent navigation performance. It navigates in straight lines and uses an onboard camera to avoid obstacles like socks and cords, which would likely get tanged up with other vacuums and halt cleaning completely. I absolutely love that you can turn it on without feeling the need to tidy up your home prior to running it.

The Roomba j7+ vacuum includes iRobot’s convenient Clean Base, so when the vacuum’s bin is full, it’ll automatically return to its base, empty itself into an enclosed bag (which won’t need replacing for 2 months), and resume cleaning where it left off. Compared to other self-emptying vacuums like the Roborock S7+, the Roomba i3 EVO+, and the Roomba S9+, the j7+’s bin is more compact, so you can store it under tables. It also looks more like a piece of furniture, thanks to its luxe leather accents.

During my tests with the j7+, I found that the j7+ was better equipped to overcome steep thresholds, and it delivered superior carpet cleaning performance than competing vacuums in its price range. The latter is likely because of its signature dual rubber brush rollers. I also appreciate that the Roomba is a tad shorter than other robot vacuums, making it easier for it to clean under furniture.

My only minor qualm with the j7+ is that in order for it to operate and navigate correctly, it needs to be in a well-lit room. Other vacuums like the Shark AI Self Empty XL use LIDAR to navigate and can get around in the dark. Fortunately, it has a headlight on board for those occasional late-night cleaning sessions.

Although I wish the j7+ were a little cheaper, the vacuum is an absolute beast at sucking up dust bunnies, crumbs, and pet hair — making it well worth the price if you can swing it. It comes with a user-friendly app, supports voice controls, and empties itself.

Read More: Check Out Our Full iRobot Roomba j7+ Review

The Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra is a product that sounds like it’s just too good to be true. It’s one of the first autonomous floor cleaners that vacuums your floors and mops them simultaneously and then empties its dust bin, refills its own water tank, and cleans its mopping pad.

Priced at $1,399, the S7 MaxV Ultra may cause some serious sticker shock, but after testing it for a month, I can see why people would be willing to drop over a grand on it. Reader, it really works, and my wood floors look amazing. The vacuum has more than 5,000 pascals of suction power — twice as much as the Roborock S7 I previously mentioned — and its mop works better than any other robot mop I’ve tested. Its onboard obstacle avoidance tech is top-notch, too.

The robot vacuum also navigated around my floor plan mostly without issue. In the month that I tested it, the S7 MaxV only got stuck once on a charging cable. Besides that single incident, it worked flawlessly. Roborock says the MaxV Ultra’s Empty Wash Fill dock can go two months without needing any maintenance, but I emptied and rinsed out the dirty wash tank once a week to keep things from getting gross and smelly besides that I just let it do its own thing.

Compared to this model’s direct competitor, the Ecovacs Deebox X1 Omni, I think the Ecovacs has a nicer, more sleek design that doesn’t stick out as much. However, the Roborock did a better job at picking up larger-sized debris, avoiding obstacles, and it has a larger onboard water tank and lifts its mop pad up when it senses carpet. With the X1 Omni, you must run separate mopping and vacuum cycles.

Voice control is one of the many smart features this behemoth has. The Roborock app offers users a myriad of customization features you can tweak from suction speed to mop intensity and keep-out zones, plus you can go as granular as changing cleaning settings room by room. It even has a live streaming camera onboard with two-way audio built-in, in case you want to use it as a remote-controlled security camera. For those who have privacy concerns, this feature is optional, and the camera cannot record or store footage.

All in all, the S7 MaxV is an absolute unit, but hands down, it's one of the most powerful and advanced robot cleaners you can buy. Unfortunately, it costs a pretty penny, but if you’re the type of person who likes to have the most futuristic or most powerful gadgets, it might just be worth splurging for!

Read More: Our Full Review of the Roborock S7 MaxV

The eufy RoboVac G20 Hybrid is an affordable but powerful robot vac that does a better job at navigating around spaces than other options in its price range. That’s because it uses a gyroscope-powered navigation system and intelligently designed algorithms to divvy your home into 13 feet by 13 feet cleaning zones which it systematically cleans one by one.

Other options like the iRobot Roomba 694 are bump-and-run robots, meaning they travel in a straight line until they hit something, turn around, adjust themselves, and move forward. The process repeats until their battery dies.

During my tests with the RoboVac, the vacuum navigated flawlessly around my space. The vacuum didn’t get stuck, and its slim profile helped it to clean under tight spaces. The RoboVac will even automatically adjust its suction power depending on what type of surface it's cleaning on. For instance, when it transitioned from my living room’s hardwoods to an area rug, it immediately increased the suction speed.

Despite its powerful suction, I found the vacuum to be quieter than other options. For comparison’s sake, this one measures in at 55 decibels compared to the iRobot i3 EVO’s 68 decibels.

Although I was impressed with the vacuum’s hard floor and carpet cleaning performance, its mopping ability was subpar. It mostly just wiped the floors and didn’t scrub them as well as Roborock’s vacuums and wasn’t able to remove a dried-on juice stain. If savings are important to you, consider the similar RoboVac G20, which lacks the mop feature but still has stellar suction power, and the same smart features, including scheduling and remote start — for a lower price.

As convenient as having a self-emptying vacuum is, it can be annoying and expensive to continuously replace their dust bags. iRobot’s cost around $5.50 a pop. Roborock’s are a little cheaper at $3.50, but depending on how long a bag lasts you, it can cost well over $100 each year for replacement dust bags.

Shark is one of the few robot vacuum manufacturers who has created a robot vacuum base with a dust bin that you can dump in the trash — similarly to a stick vacuum.

The only other option I know of is the Roborock S7+, which typically costs around $950. Shark’s AI Robot Vacuum is about $400 cheaper and comes in two sizes. The smaller model holds 30 days’ worth of debris, and the larger one holds twice that. There’s a convenient, transparent window on its side so you can see how full it is, so you know when it’s time to empty it.

The Shark uses a combination of LIDAR and algorithms to navigate and avoid obstacles. I found the tech to be much more refined than Shark’s previous robot vacuum, the AV1010AE IQ, which more regularly got stuck and couldn’t clean in the dark. It’s worth mentioning that because of the LIDAR sensor, the vacuum is quite tall (4 inches), so it might be too tall to clean under your furniture.

As far as cleaning performance goes, I found the Shark to excel on hardwoods. It has two side brushes to push in dust bunnies and a self-cleaning brush roll on its bottom that did a decent job at resisting hair tangles. I also appreciated the nifty UltraClean spot cleaning mode, which has more suction power and will clean your floors in a crosshatch pattern to get them looking spotless.

During my tests, the Shark AI struggled at rolling over the threshold that separates my hallway from my bathroom. Other vacuums were able to overcome it, but the Shark would oftentimes get stuck. It had no issues maneuvering around other obstacles in my home like dining chairs or large dog bones that I forgot to put away.

The SharkClean app is well-designed and lets users easily schedule cleanings in advance, set up no-go zones, and adjust suction speeds. I was also impressed by the vacuum’s 2-hour-long battery life.

Overall, the Shark AI is a great option for folks in homes with large floor plans who are looking for a self-emptying vacuum that doesn’t need any expensive dust bags.