Best Overall
iRobot Roomba j7+ Robot Vacuum
- Setup5/5
- Effectiveness5/5
- Noise Level5/5
- Maneuverability5/5
- Features5/5
- This vacuum has above-average mapping and obstacle avoidance thanks to its smart technology.
This vacuum has above-average mapping and obstacle avoidance thanks to its smart technology.
- You won’t find this vacuum for under $500, even on sale.
You won’t find this vacuum for under $500, even on sale.
The iRobot Roomba j7+ impressed us with both its cleaning ability and smart features. We tested it in households with pets, and it was incredibly effective at picking up hair. We were similarly impressed by its ability to pick up debris, including things other vacuums we tried would miss.
We suggest connecting to the app right away; this will allow the j7+ to create a map of your home on its first cleaning. The mapping feature is a cut above the rest—the app displays photos of obstacles the j7+ encounters during cleaning, allowing you to mark them “temporary” or “permanent.”
The robot vacuum will then do one last “touch-up” clean to tackle any missed spots because of moveable disturbances. There are other beneficial features in the app, such the ability to schedule cleanings or add additional cleanings when pollen count or pet hair levels are determined to be high.
Its strong suction power impressed us during testing; it even left a textured entryway mat spotless. We noted that it worked especially well on walls and baseboards, thanks to the edge-sweeping brush. This brush also effectively got underneath the legs of a kitchen table, which a regular vacuum wouldn’t be able to do without an attachment.
The j7+ is quiet enough for you to hold a conversation at normal levels or watch TV when it’s on (the exception is during the self-emptying period, which lasts a few seconds at a much higher volume). It transitioned from hardwood to carpet with ease and didn’t need assistance around items like pet beds or chairs.
The vacuum charges in about two hours, and the self-emptying function is seamless. Hair does get caught in the brushes, but it’s easy to clean off. While the price is notably high, it’s worth paying for due to its ease of use, effective object avoidance, and the fact that it’s quiet enough to not scare the pets you’re cleaning up after.
How it Performed After Six Months
The j7+ performed very well with regular use. It picks up a truly impressive amount of dog hair, and though we found that it got caught in the rollers more frequently at the end of the testing period, it's possible that replacing the rollers would help. We did occasionally experience app connectivity issues that impacted the mapping.
BETTER HOMES and GARDENS / NIKY CROSS TAYLOR
Key Terms to Know
- Self-Emptying Mode: Many robot vacuums have something called self-emptying mode; this means that it will automatically empty its dustbin into a larger container on the docking station, allowing you to worry about maintenance less often.
Best Budget
Black + Decker RoboSeries Robot Vacuum
- Setup3/5
- Effectiveness5/5
- Noise Level4/5
- Maneuverability4.8/5
- Features4/5
- The affordable model cleans dust and hair off both hardwood and carpet with equal amounts of ease.
The affordable model cleans dust and hair off both hardwood and carpet with equal amounts of ease.
- It doesn’t have a self-emptying dustbin, and the app is a little hard to navigate.
It doesn’t have a self-emptying dustbin, and the app is a little hard to navigate.
The Black + Decker RoboSeries Robot Vacuum effectively removed dust, hair, crumbs, and dirt during testing; it would even go over the same spot multiple times to ensure that every last bit was picked up, which makes it especially effective on, say, embedded pet hair. It also worked as well on hard floors as it did on carpets.
While it’s not super quiet, it’s no louder than a traditional vacuum. It doesn’t have object avoidance for temporary objects like socks, computer cords, or dog toys, but it avoids larger objects like furniture and stairs. It got stuck under a bathroom vanity during testing, but was overall good at avoiding furniture.
It does have an app, but we needed to connect it manually to the Wi-Fi as it did not work automatically after a few tries. There are not many app features, but the ones it has are useful: Schedule cleanings or tap a button to run the vacuum immediately.
The scheduled cleanings are especially useful; choose between three modes—spiral, wall follow, and smart mode—and the app will notify you when cleaning starts even if you’re not home. The dustbin is not self-emptying, but it’s large (560 mL) and doesn’t need to be cleaned out every day.
Hair did get caught in the rollers, but it was easily pulled out thanks to the included tool. It takes a few hours to charge, but it does automatically go back to the dock when it’s low on battery life. While it doesn’t have the bells and whistles of a more expensive option, the vacuum does the basics quite well.
How it Performed After Six Months
We used the Black+Decker robot vacuum about once a week throughout the six-month testing period, and it completely replaced the traditional vacuum we were using before. It made a huge difference in the overall cleanliness of our home since it's so easy and no-fuss, though we did have some issues with the small debris brush falling off.
Product Details: Noise Level: Not listed | Object Avoidance: Stairs and furniture only | Self-Emptying Dust Bin: No
Best Splurge
Roborock S8 Pro Ultra Robot Vacuum
- Setup4.3/5
- Effectiveness5/5
- Noise Level4/5
- Maneuverability4.8/5
- Features4.5/5
- This Roborock smart vacuum and mop is one of the smartest models on the market—it even slowed down when we stood in front of it.
This Roborock smart vacuum and mop is one of the smartest models on the market—it even slowed down when we stood in front of it.
- It’s also a mop, which raises the price point.
It’s also a mop, which raises the price point.
The RoboRock S8 has excellent suction abilities, and pet owners will be happy to learn that hair was sucked up quickly and easily during testing. It also did well with larger pieces of debris like cereal (another win for pet owners whose pets manage to get kibble everywhere).
It has excellent object avoidance—so good, in fact, that it slowed down in front of us while we took videos of its progress—and navigated around the legs of chairs, under tables, and in corners. It mapped a room divider that raised the floor a bit and cables in the corner of a room as areas to avoid during the next cleaning.
The self-emptying bin holds an estimated seven weeks of dust, and the battery life is impressive; it charges in four hours and can run continuously up to 180 minutes. These details make it a pretty low-maintenance option, even among the already low-maintenance robot vacuum category.
The app was incredibly easy to set up thanks to a QR code. Once the app was installed, the robot built an accurate map by skimming each area. You can designate the space into individual rooms for easy scheduling. The vacuum successfully stuck to areas that we had pre-programmed it to clean during scheduled cleanings.
The vacuum is also a mop, which brings up its price quite a bit and may not be a useful feature for homes with a lot of carpet. On a full tank, it can mop up to 3,230 square feet. During testing, the mop cleaned well while depositing less water than a traditional mop, creating less mess.
All in all, while this is a pricey model, it’s so easy to map any space in the home, and the vacuum seamlessly avoids objects, picking up on any and all impediments. Plus, it cleans quite well in both vacuum and mop mode.
How it Performed After Six Months
The Roborock S8 has become a staple of our cleaning routine and we recommend it very highly. It makes life much easier, cleans well, and works mostly independently (aside from the occasion when it gets stuck on a cord). Because it returns to the charging dock after vacuuming it always has a pretty full battery.
Product Details: Noise Level: N/A| Object Avoidance: Yes | Self-Emptying Dust Bin: Yes
- BETTER HOMES and GARDENS / DERA BURRESON
BETTER HOMES and GARDENS / DERA BURRESON
Best Self-Emptying
Yeedi Vac Station Self-Emptying Robot Vacuum and Mop
- Setup4/5
- Effectiveness3.3/5
- Noise Level4/5
- Maneuverability5/5
- Features3/5
- Not only is this one of the best robot vacuums for pet hair, it’s also a smart mop—and it can switch seamlessly between both tasks.
Not only is this one of the best robot vacuums for pet hair, it’s also a smart mop—and it can switch seamlessly between both tasks.
- It takes a bit longer than others to pick up hair and debris.
It takes a bit longer than others to pick up hair and debris.
This vacuum from Yeedi performs the basic tasks that a robot vacuum should very well. The app lets you map out the basic blueprint of your home, schedule cleanings, and create no-clean zones. Its suction power changes when it moves from a hard floor to carpet.
Perhaps its most distinctive feature is its ability to mop as well as vacuum floors—it can perform both tasks during the same cleaning session. When the mopping feature is engaged, it will avoid carpeted areas.
It was equally effective at vacuuming and mopping, but it took longer than we expected to complete both tasks (luckily, the run time is up to 240 minutes). The vacuum won’t begin the mop function when it’s on the carpet—no need to worry about it messing up your rugs.
We liked how well it sucked up larger particles of debris such as cat litter in addition to pet hair, though it took longer than the allotted two minutes to get it all during our test. If your pet tracks in dirt and mud, consider this the perfect solution. It works well under furniture and around chair legs, walls, and tables.
How it Performed After Six Months
Running the Yeedi vacuum daily cut down on the need to manually clean the floors. It continued to perform well, though it did seem to get louder over the six-month test. We did find that the self-empty feature didn't always work as well as it should, and sometimes hair from our shedding dog would get stuck in the bin.
Product Details: Dust Bag Capacity: .42 Liters | Noise Level: 65 decibels | Object Avoidance: No | Self-Emptying Dust Bin: Yes
- BETTER HOMES and GARDENS / HENRY WORTOCK
BETTER HOMES and GARDENS / HENRY WORTOCK
Best on Carpet
Neato D9 Intelligent Robot Vacuum
- Setup5/5
- Effectiveness4.5/5
- Noise Level4.5/5
- Maneuverability4.8/5
- Ease of Emptying5/5
- This vacuum has an extra-large dust bin (almost triple the size of other models), so you won’t need to empty it too often.
This vacuum has an extra-large dust bin (almost triple the size of other models), so you won’t need to empty it too often.
- Set-up was a little confusing as the instructions didn’t specify that the app is necessary for using the vacuum.
Set-up was a little confusing as the instructions didn’t specify that the app is necessary for using the vacuum.
The Neato D9 intrigued us for its clever construction alone: the D-shape lets it get into 90-degree corners more thoroughly, while the curved edge works great around furniture. The shape also allows for a multi-surface brush up to 70% larger than typical round models, so it’ll make quick work of cleaning your floors.
The brush isn’t the only thing that’s super-sized on this vacuum—the dust bin is almost three times larger than some of the other options on the list, which is especially useful because this vacuum is not self-emptying.
But the biggest reason we love the vacuum is its superior carpet-cleaning abilities. That’s thanks to a pleated filter that allows for greater surface area, trapping dust particles as small as 10 microns. It’s excellent at trapping allergens, too. We think that makes it especially useful for caked-in dirt hidden on carpets.
It also has a Turbo Mode made for deeper cleans (nothing can use a deeper clean than a carpet covered in pet hair). The included app allows you to customize up to 16 cleaning zones. We did find setup to be a bit confusing because the instructions didn’t tell us that we needed to download the app in order to operate the vacuum.
How it Performed After Six Months
The Neato D9 seemed to get better and smarter at navigating our home and returning to its charging station the more we used it. The device picked up tons of cat hair and dust, especially from underneath furniture. It has great suction and even cleaned cat litter embedded in the carpet better than a regular vacuum.
Product Details: Dust Bag Capacity: .7 Liters | Noise Level: N/A | Object Avoidance: No | Self-Emptying Dust Bin: No
- BETTER HOMES and GARDENS / HENRY WORTOCK
BETTER HOMES and GARDENS / HENRY WORTOCK
Best for Hardwood
ECOVACS DEEBOT T9+ Robot Vacuum and Mop
- Setup4.8/5
- Effectiveness5/5
- Noise Level5/5
- Maneuverability5/5
- Features5/5
- This vacuum is great at removing pet hair and large pieces of debris (we even found screws and bobby pins in the dustbin) from hard floors.
This vacuum is great at removing pet hair and large pieces of debris (we even found screws and bobby pins in the dustbin) from hard floors.
- Larger debris may get jammed in the vacuum, preventing the self-emptying feature from working.
Larger debris may get jammed in the vacuum, preventing the self-emptying feature from working.
The ECOVACS T9+ is great for pet hair—we tested in a house with a dog—and very adept at gathering surprising debris. We found screws from recent home repairs, bobby pins, and even hair ties inside the dustbin. The more we used it, the less dog hair we noticed around the house, including on our socks at the end of the day.
With four modes (silent, standard, strong, and super), users can customize the intensity of the cleaning. Another interesting feature is the built-in air freshener, which will lightly scent the home while the vacuum runs. An added bonus: it’s whisper-quiet (much quieter than other models we had used in the past).
The app maps the interior of the house in both 2D and 3D, and provides info like battery life, duration of the clean, and how much space is covered. One thing to keep in mind: It takes around two hours to map the house and create the physical diagram in the app, which is a little longer than some of the other options on this list.
The TrueDetect 3D technology is one of our favorite features, as it’s great at object avoidance. During testing, the vacuum didn’t bump furniture, and it also avoided running into the dog while it was napping (a problem we’d had with other robot vacuums).
Its self-emptying dust bin is useful as we ran the vacuum twice a day during the testing period, but we did find that larger pieces of debris would get clogged inside, preventing the feature from working correctly until the problem was resolved.
This is also a mop, which is great for homes with wood, tile, laminate, and other hard floors. It comes with disposable mopping pads, which we appreciated, and it vibrates at 480 times a minute. All in all, the mop works well, but it best functions as a quiet vacuum that does a great job getting rid of pet hair.
How it Performed After Six Months
The Deebot actually seemed to work better after six months than it did out of the box. It initially struggled to learn the layout of the apartment and kept avoiding certain areas, but the more we used it, the more accurately it seemed to work. It does a nice job cleaning, and we really appreciated the self-emptying feature.
Product Details: Noise Level: N/A | Object Avoidance: Yes | Self-Emptying Dust Bin: Yes
- BETTER HOMES and GARDENS / DERA BURRESON
BETTER HOMES and GARDENS / DERA BURRESON