Best Robot Vacuums We’ve Tested (August 2025)

• April 2025: We added new tested robot vacuum and mop recommendations to the list: the Yeedi C12 Plus, Dreame X50 Ultra, Eufy 3-in-1 E20, Shark PowerDetect NeverTouch Pro and Yeedi M12 Pro Plus. We also updated our testing procedures with our latest guidelines. Specifically, we eliminated our test for black rice because every robot vacuum was hitting nearly 100%. Instead, we’ve re-weighted our scoring using just sand on three different test surfaces. Finally, we updated the list of other robot vacuums we’ve tested and are currently testing.
• June 2025: We reworked the product entries of all the robot vacuums we recommend to provide additional guidance on why we recommend them and who shouldn’t buy them. We also added other robot vacuums we tested and some new infographics that compare robot vacuums.
• July 2025: We added the iRobot Roomba 205 DustCompactor Combo as our new pick under $500, the Roborock Saros Z70 as the best splurge, and the Dreame X40 as the most consistent. We also updated our other robot vacuums we tested with new products and results.
• August 2025: Added new test results for the Deebot X9 Pro Omni and T80 Omni. Added an explanation of how we test average runtime.

Budget

Before you do anything else, make sure you’re clear on what you want to spend on your new vacuum. Robot vacuum models can cost anywhere from $200 to nearly $2,000, so it’s important to set a budget to prevent overspending. We recommend deciding on what features (self-emptying bins, built-in mopping capabilities and advanced AI image recognition for elite-level obstacle avoidance) fit your needs and researching what your budget can get you. That way you know what you’re looking for and can ensure you’re getting the best value.

Navigation and obstacle detection

Sure, many robot vacuum models have sensors to navigate around your home or apartment but how effectively do the sensors perform? The ability of a robot vac to detect objects in its path can mean the difference between returning home to a clean house and a situation where the robot is trapped on cords or an area rug.

Certain models like the Dreame L40 and Shark PowerDetect NeverTouch Pro have powerful obstacle detection capabilities and navigate your home with efficiency. Many new and upcoming robovacs also incorporate AI object recognition, allowing them to recognize objects intelligently and learn about new objects over time. This is true of the Dreame X50 Ultra and Roborock Saros Z70 and Ecovacs T50 Pro Omni, among others.

Pets

Is there anything worse than your vacuum roller brush getting all tangled up and clogged by a heap of pet hair? Luckily, many manufacturers make robot vacuums that are suited for cleaning up after pets. Models like the Dreame X50 Ultra and the Yeedi M12 Plus Pro are adept at sucking up pet hair on carpet and hardwood flooring as well as detecting (and avoiding) pet waste. Several of the models on this list have high-efficiency filters to help eliminate allergens that may come from pet hair and dander to help with allergies. One of the best new innovations is self-detangling brush rollers that are designed to avoid getting clogged by pet hair.

Each robot vacuum we consider for recommendation gets put through its paces in our test lab in Louisville, Kentucky. In addition to test floors where we run our controlled pickup tests, we monitor each robot vacuum in a special test room filled with mock furniture to gauge how well it navigates around common obstacles. Past that, we check each robot vacuum’s ability to gobble up pet hair without getting clogged or leaving loose strands behind, we consider mopping capabilities, and we check to see how well it navigates fake dog messes too.

Let’s dive a little deeper into the main considerations, starting with our performance tests.

Robot vacuum pickup power

When it comes to vacuuming prowess, we want to know how effective each robot is against common crumbs and other debris, and also how it fares against much smaller particles like dust, dirt and sand. To find out, we use sand as an analog for finer particles.

In each case, we scatter a controlled amount across three test floors: low-pile carpet, midpile carpet and hardwood floors. Low-pile carpet is shorter, less plush carpet with shorter fibers, so typically robot vacuums have an easier time picking up from it (though not always). Midpile is softer, more plush carpet with taller fibers. It tends to be more challenging for robot vacuums (though again, not always). Then, we take the robot vacuum, thoroughly empty its dust bin, send it to clean the affected area and finally measure the weight of whatever it managed to pick up. That gives us a pickup percentage of the full amount. From there, we repeat each run two more times and average the results.

In recent months, we eliminated our test for black rice on hardwood floors since, more or less, every robot vacuum we tested was scoring near 100%. We now use the sand test as our primary benchmark in evaluating cleaning performance. We consider anything 50% and above to be a good score for sand.

Robot vacuum navigation skills

Your robot vacuum will only clean your home as thoroughly as it’s capable of navigating it. The ideal cleaner will make easy work of finding its way from room to room and automatically avoiding obstacles along the way, all of which makes for proper, low-maintenance automated cleaning.

We make sure to observe each robot vacuum as it cleans to get a good sense of how well it navigates but to get the best comparison from cleaner to cleaner, we take overhead long exposure shots of each one as it cleans our darkened test room, with glow sticks attached to the top of each one directly above the vacuum intake. The images that result show us light trails that reveal the robot’s path as it navigates the room and cleans around our mock furniture.

Below is an example from the Ecovacs Deebot T30S, our best overall. It offers superb area coverage and it carried out navigation in a very organized and efficient manner. It got a 10 out of 10 in the navigation score, only taking an average of 15 minutes to complete a full-cleaning cycle.

In contrast, we have a robot vacuum with bad navigation, the Noesis Florio. It missed several spots in the room, and the light path test image contains a couple of brighter spots, potentially indicating the robot vacuum spent time spinning in place. What’s notable is the very disorganized navigation pattern. All this resulted in poor navigation scores.

In large part, it comes down to the tech at play. Over the years, we’ve consistently noted that robot vacuums that use laser-guided lidar navigation tend to be very good at mapping their environment and finding their way around. Meanwhile, 3D-mapping cameras with object recognition smarts can give robot vacuums the extra ability to identify and adapt to obstacles in their path.

Average runtime

To measure robot vacuum runtime, we run the vacuum in our test room three times and take the average of the times it takes to complete its cleaning cycle. To be clear, we do not run the vacuum until it’s drained, since unlike cordless vacuums, a robot vacuum will stop when it believes cleaning has been completed. Generally, we consider anything below 20 minutes to be a fast runtime.

Robot vacuum mopping testing

We test mopping on all the robot vacuums that have the functionality. We run the mopping test at least two or three times and evaluate its ability to remove sticky messes from different types of flooring. We’re currently in the process of formalizing our testing procedures in a quantifiable manner, but as of this writing our evaluation of mopping capabilities is anecdotal.

You’ve seen our top picks and our test data. Now, here’s a quick rundown of the rest of the robot vacuums we’ve tested in recent years, some of which are still worthy of consideration for some shoppers:

3i

• 3i S10 Ultra: We haven’t reviewed many robot vacuums from 3i, but the company has some unique offerings like the S10 Ultra, which it claims is the first water recycling robot vacuum in the world. What that means is that it’s capable of purifying and distilling its own wastewater extracted from the robot, as well as utilizing water vapor and condensation from the air to refill the robot’s water tank with clean water. It’s a fascinating implementation that can help cut down on how much water gets wasted on mopping. In terms of performance, the S10 Ultra is a capable robot vacuum, removing 85% of sand from hard flooring, 54% from low-pile carpet and almost 50% from mid-pile carpet. It has all the key features you’d expect from a higher-end robot vacuum, including advanced lidar navigation, dirt and liquid detection, a self-cleaning spinning roller mop and AI obstacle avoidance. Our lab technician, Schylar Breitenstein, noted that the app wasn’t very user-friendly, but it does work at saving maps quickly, and the robot worked to execute tasks without being prompted. In our mopping test, we had some issues with the robot continuing to clean even after the app claimed cleaning was completed, and the floor was still somewhat sticky after our cleaning session. Despite the mopping and app issues, the overall suction performance still puts it among the higher tier of robot vacuums, but that also means it’ll cost you $1,900 at full price, though it’s currently on sale for $1,300. The relatively high price puts it close to our most expensive picks like the Dreame X50 Ultra and Roborock Saros Z70, which keeps it narrowly off our primary list since the water recycling is a relatively niche feature compared to the X50 Ultra’s ability to overcome obstacles and the Z70’s unique robotic arm that can sort items. However, if you can get it on sale, it’s definitely worth considering if water usage is a big concern.
• 3i P10 Ultra: The P10 Ultra is 3i’s more traditional robot vacuum and mop offering and it comes in at a lower starting price, starting at $1,100 at full price and $700 on sale as of this writing. In terms of performance, it’s just shy of the S10 Ultra, picking up 75% of sand from hard flooring, around 49% from low-pile carpet and 52% from mid-pile carpet. It also has many of the key features you’d expect, including an all-in-one base station that can self-empty and automatically dry the mop, 70 days of dust storage, lidar navigation and 3D scanning, an AI camera for obstacle avoidance that can recognize 100+ objects and messes and anti-tangle brushes. Our lab tech noted some issues, though. When opening the dustbin, all the debris fell out, and there was some significant lag when using the app. Perhaps most notably, on the mid-pile pet hair carpet test, we found hair wrapped around the bristle roller that had to be manually pulled out. It’s a good option if you can get it for sale, offering suction performance similar to the Eufy E20 on hard flooring and carpet, though it lacks the flexibility of Eufy’s unique 3-in-1 design.

Dreame

• Dreametech DreameBot L10S Ultra: A souped-up Dreametech model that typically costs around $500, the DreameBot L10S Ultra adds a king-size, 3L self-emptying bin and self-filling water tanks that let the thing make multiple mopping runs before needing a refill. It was only a so-so performer in our cleaning tests, getting regularly outperformed by its smaller sibling, the top-rated DreameBot D10 Plus. That model doesn’t have the self-filling water tank, but at several hundred dollars less than the L10S Ultra, it’s a much better buy.
• Dreame L40 Ultra: The L40 Ultra is a capable robot vacuum that performed well at picking up sand from hardwood floor (95%) as well as low-pile (63%) and midpile (62%) carpet. Navigation was also impressive, with tight corners and no missed spots. However, at $1,499 at full price, it’s one of the more expensive robot vacuums on the market, so we don’t recommend it unless you can find it on sale for closer to $1,000.
• Dreametech DreameBot D10S Plus: A newer, slightly fancier version of our top-recommended DreameBot D10 Plus, the DreameBot D10S Plus (emphasis mine) added in a slightly larger bin that won’t need to be emptied quite as much, a slight bump in suction power and a sleek, black-bodied design, all for about a hundred bucks more than the regular D10 Plus. It was a bit better on thin, low-pile carpet than that top-rated cleaner, but not quite as good on hardwood floors or midpile carpet, which was somewhat surprising. Unless the bigger bin is of particular interest, we think you’re better off saving some money and sticking with the D10 Plus.
• DreameBot D10 Plus (out of stock): This is the former overall pick, but the aging device is harder to find at retailers. It performs well on both carpets and hardwood floors with lidar navigation and a self-emptying dustbin. It’s largely discontinued, but its successor, the Dreame D10 Plus Gen 2 is in stock for around $400 or less with a sale. Its features rival top brands like Roomba and Roborock at a significantly lower cost, making it a good option.

Ecovacs

• Ecovacs Deebot X2 Omni: Retailing for $1,500 (though typically available for significantly less), this is the fanciest and most expensive Deebot we’ve danced within our test lab. It vacuums, mops, empties its own bin, refills its own water reservoir and features all of the rest of the bells and whistles that you’d expect from such a costly cleaner. It wasn’t a leader in any of our tests, which is disappointing at this price, but it never faltered too badly, either. The pickup percentages on hardwood floors were all decent, and its performance was passable on the carpet too, with more than 50% of the sand sucked up in both our low- and midpile tests.
• Ecovacs Deebot 500: The Deebot 500 is a basic but competent robot vacuum that offers app controls and voice compatibility with Alexa and Google. It wasn’t a strong performer in our carpet tests and is priced too high to count as a budget pick.
• Ecovacs Deebot Ozmo 950 (out of stock): The Ozmo 950 adds mopping functionality to the Deebot mix. As with other Deebots, the cleaning power didn’t blow us away
• Ecovacs Deebot N30 Omni: The N30 Omni is a capable robot vacuum and mop, but it doesn’t stand out in performance. It scores decently in our sand removal test from hardwood (58.8%) and did OK at low-pile (46.5%) and midpile (50.4%). At $800, there are robovacs with better performance in this price range.
• Ecovacs Deebot T50 Max Pro Omni: The T50 Max Pro Omni is another robot vacuum and mop combo targeted toward the higher end of the market. It certainly looks like it, with a premium-felling design and beautiful rose gold accents on the robot vacuum. Setup was It’s loaded with features, including a self-emptying dock that can detangle its brushes, advanced navigation and obstacle avoidance, and auto-refill for mopping. Performance is generally good, averaging 61% for sand removal from our three test surfaces. It did the best on hardwood, removing 76.5% of sand and more than 50% from both types of carpet. However, navigation left something to be desired, with numerous missed spots in our testing room, especially when navigating our multi-legged table. Robot vacuums with these features are also increasingly common, and at the $999 price, competition is stiff, which keeps it from taking a spot on our list.

  Ecovacs Deebot T80 Omni: The $1,000 T80 Omni is another capable robot vacuum and mop from Ecovacs that offers solid performance. It scores 62.75% in our sand pickup test on hardwood, a respectable score, though not as high as some others we’ve seen. It also did quite well on carpet, scoring 65.12% on low-pile and 64.34% on mid-pile. It took about 21.36 minutes on average to clean our test room, which is relatively standard for the robots we’ve tested. What keeps it off our main list is that while performance is solid and the T70 Omni is loaded with premium features, including all-in-one base station, a self-cleaning and drying mop, advanced navigation and threshold crossing, it’s outperformed by Ecovacs’ own T30S Combo. The

• Ecovacs Deebot X9 Pro Omni: The $1,200 X9 Pro Omni is one of the best robot vacuums we’ve tested on carpet. It scored an impressive 72.87% on low-pile carpet and 75.19% on mid-pile carpet. That puts it among some of the top-tier robot vacuums we’ve tested in terms of carpet performance. It also does well on hardwood, scoring 70.59%, though we’ve seen higher scores on other models, including the more affordable Yeedi M12 Pro Plus. As you’d expect from a high-end robot vacuum, it comes with premium features, including advanced navigation, an all-in-one docking station, self-emptying, and a self-washing mop. The only thing that prevents it from earning a spot in our top ten is that the older Dreame X40 Ultra model is currently still in stock and scored better on carpet pickup, but if you want the latest and greatest bells and whistles, you won’t go wrong with the X9 Pro Omni.

Eufy

• Eufy 11S Max: The Eufy 11S Max is a robot vacuum that might have earned our budget pick if the performance held up. However, while this slim robovac does well at sucking up sand from hardwood (71%), it struggled with both low-pile (21%) and mid-pile (27%) carpet. It’s $249 at full price, but it may become a more palatable option on sale ($140 as of this writing).
• Eufy Omni S1 Pro: We were mixed on the S1 Pro. On one hand, our tester loved its fast and efficient cleaning, strong mopping, capable mapping and navigation, and useful self-sterilizing base. However, in lab testing, it didn’t quite live up to expectations. While it did excellently on removing sand from hardwood floors, getting 81.5%, it fell short on carpet at 37.8% for low-pile and 38.5% for mid-pile.
• Eufy Omni E28: The Eufy Omni E28 is another one of Eufy’s unique 3-in-1 robot vacuums. Unlike the E20, which incorporated a cordless and handheld vacuum into the robot, the E28 is a portable deep cleaner built into the robot vacuum’s base station. The detachable dual water tank (clean and dirty water) doubles as a deep cleaner, complete with a handle and hose attachment that lets you do spot cleaning on various soft surfaces, including carpets and fabric. «At home testing the carpet cleaner, I loved the self-cleaning feature on the extractor,» said Breitenstein. «It, cleans very well. It does need to be plugged in to use, but with an extension cord it’s very attainable to clean everywhere.» In terms of performance for regular usage, the robot vacuum is no slouch, with 65% sand pickup from hard flooring. On carpet, it gets 46% from low-pile carpet and 45% from mid-pile, which isn’t as high as we’d have liked for something designed to clean carpets specifically, but it’s still reasonably solid. In terms of other capabilities, it has all the key features you’d expect, including self-washing and drying fro the mop, brushes that can avoid getting entangled by pet hair, the ability to clean corners and self-emptying and automatic refilling for the base station. At full price, the E28 will run you $1,300, but you can often get it on sale for less, which makes it a good option if you have a lot of carpeting at home, but need to save space by not having a dedicated carpet cleaner. «For $999, I think this price is completely justified considering it comes with a carpet cleaning function,» said Breitenstein, also noting that the dustbin is quite large compared with competitors.

Eureka

• Eurkea E10S: The Eureka 10S is a very capable midrange robot vacuum and mop with lidar navigation. It picked up 64.5%% of sand from hardwood, 45.2% from low-pile carpet and 40.7% from midpile. Navigation was also generally quite good, with few missed spots. At $450, there are better-performing robot vacuums from the price, like the ones from Yeedi; however, if you can get the 10S on sale for closer to $300, it’s a good option in the midrange.
• Eureka J15 Pro Ultra: This high-end robot vacuum and mop from Eureka didn’t live up to expectations. It underperformed on hardwood floors, scoring just 22% on sand pickup. It did alright on carpet, at 50% on low-pile and 49% on midpile, but for a vacuum that costs $1,000 at MSRP, this is a disappointing performance.
• Eureka J20: The J20 is another flagship robot vacuum and mop from Eureka that didn’t wow us. It did alright in picking up sand from hardwood, scoring 66.7%, but it feels notably short on carpet, at 24.4% for low-pile and 31.9% for midpile. Despite some nice features like the self-emptying dock, mop washing, hot air drying and 3D obstacle avoidance, you get get a better robot vacuum and mop for the $1,000 price.

iRobot

• iRobot Roomba 694: This budget-priced Roomba does a decent job cleaning carpets and hardwood floors. In terms of performance, it’s extremely close to the Eufy RoboVac 25C, so if that model isn’t available, give this Roomba a look as an alternative budget pick.
• iRobot Roomba i3 Plus: At $350 or less, this is an entry-level option among self-emptying Roombas, so if you just want something from iRobot that empties its own bin for as little cash as possible, give it a look. It was a middle-of-the-pack performer in all of our cleaning tests, never disappointing us but never really wowing us, either.
• iRobot Roomba i7 Plus: This is another entry-level Roomba with self-emptying smarts, and you can currently get it for roughly $600 on Amazon. In our carpet tests, it wasn’t able to suck up much more than 25% of sand, which suggests some limitations to its cleaning power.
• iRobot Roomba J7 Plus: The Roomba J7 Plus is another Roomba vacuum that earned a place on our list for strong performance and AI-powered poop detection capabilities. However, this is a feature that’s becoming increasingly common on newer models that are making impressive strides in obstacle detection and avoidance. It also lacks mopping capability, another expected feature and supplies appear to be dwindling outside of a few retailers.
• iRobot Roomba S9 Plus: The Roomba S9 Plus used to be our pick for pet owners and plush carpets. It excelled in our old testing procedures, picking up 71% of sand on midpile carpet. However, it lacks mopping functionality, an increasingly common feature on robot vacuums across price ranges, and its availability is dwindling.
• iRobot Roomba S10 Max Combo: The S10 Max Combo is iRobot’s highest-end robot vacuum. It costs $1,400 at full price, though you can sometimes find it on sale for less than $1,000. As the name suggests, it can both vacuum and mop, comes with a self-emptying dock, and washes its mopping pad after every use. It had excellent hardwood performance in our testing, picking up 96.5% of sand, and better than average performance on carpet, with 67.5% on low-pile and 58.7% on midpile. Navigation was generally quite comprehensive, but it could have done tighter turns around some table legs, resulting in some missed spots. Unless you can get it on sale, there are other robot vacuums with better performance and similar features for the price.

Narwal

• Narwal Freo X Ultra: The Freo X Ultra is a premium robot vacuum and mop combo with all the bells and whistles you’d expect. It has lidar navigation, auto mop drying and washing, a self-emptying base station and a brush that’s resistant to tangling with pet hair. Performance is decent, but doesn’t particularly stand out. It does well on hardwood, removing nearly 76% of sand, but falls short on carpet, removing 41.5% from low-pile and 36.3% from midpile. For $900, there are better options from Shark, Ecovacs and others.
• Narwal Freo Z10: The Z10 is another premium robot vacuum from Narwal priced at $1,099, but once again, performance left something to be desired. It does well on hard flooring, scoring 68.6% sand pickup from hardwood, but fared quite poorly on carpet, with just 18.6% on taller fiber carpet and 24.03% on shorter fiber carpet. Our lab tech also noted the cheap feeling replaceable insert bin inside the dustbin made of low-density plastic. People will need to periodically replace the insert bins, purchasing additional ones from Narwal, creating an added expense. We also had issues with setup, with the robot displaying an error and trying to have us replace a brand-new dustbin. Finally, it struggled to map and navigate, with the unit unable to position itself after circling our test room multiple times.

Neato

• Neato D9 (out of stock): Nearly identical in appearance to the D8 and the D10, the Neato D9 is a powerful vacuum, particularly on thick carpets, where it leads the way in our cleaning tests among all of the cleaners we’ve tested in the past two years. You won’t get a self-emptying bin or a mop, but if you just want something to keep crumbs and pet hair out of your carpets, it’s well worth a look as an alternative to the Roomba S9 Plus.
• Neato D10: One of the latest D-shaped cleaners from Neato, the D10 promises powerful suction and room-by-room navigation smarts via the Neato app. It was a relatively strong performer in our tests, but we didn’t see enough of an edge over the D8 or the D9 to justify the extra expense.

Roborock

• Roborock S5 Max (out of stock): An older model in Roborock’s lineup, the S5 Max was a robot vacuum and mop combo. It did great on hardwood floors, picking up 85% of sand, but fared poorly on carpet, managing just 28% on low-pile and 41% on midpile.
• Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra (out of stock): It’s no longer available, but when we tested it, it proved to be a fairly capable robot vacuum, scoring 76.5% on hardwood, 58.9% on low-pile carpet and 56% on midpile. The S8 MaxV Ultra is its successor and a good option if you’re keen on a Roborock.
• Roborock S8 is a top midrange robot vacuum with excellent performance and intelligent navigation. It excels at cleaning various floor types, including those with a built-in mopping pad. While lacking a self-emptying bin, its strong performance makes it an excellent choice for homes with diverse flooring.
• Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra is a premium robot vacuum with exceptional cleaning power and intelligent features. It effectively cleans various floor types with powerful suction and an advanced mopping system. Obstacle recognition and lidar navigation ensure efficient cleaning throughout your home.
• Roborock Qrevo Curv: The Qrevo Curve is a fairly expensive robot vacuum and mop, costing $1,600 at full price, though it is currently on sale for $1,300. It has an attractive design with an egg-shaped charging station. It doesn’t particularly stand out in performance, but it does great on hardwood, picking up 86% on sand. It falls short with carpet at 47.7% and 42.2%, respectively.
• Roborock Saros 10: The Saros 10 is a very capable robot vacuum, though its $1,599 price makes it hard to recommend compared with more affordable options that offer similar performance. It did well in our testing, scoring 86%, picking up sand off hardwood floors, putting it on par with our best overall pick, the Ecovacs T30S Combo. With more plush midpile carpet, it did reasonably well at 49%, but fared lower than average with lower fiber carpet, at 35%. The dustbin was also quite small, but we were impressed by the navigation and the fact that the Saros 10 didn’t require much mapping to clean. It also comes with all the premium bells and whistles, including mopping functionality, intelligent dirt detection, self-detangling main brush, hot water mopping, and dock self-cleaning. If you can get it closer to $1,000, it’s a great option.
• Roborock Saros 10R: It’s hard to keep all of Roborock’s lineup straight since both the 10 and 10R have similar features and capabilities, but they have different base stations and use different types of mops and brushes. With the 10R, you get another high-end robot vacuum that offers strong performance on all the flooring we tested it on. It scored 89% removing sand from hardwood and 64% from low-pile carpet. It also did great on mid-pile with 58% removed. Naturally, it can mop and vacuum, boasts an all-in-one dock that can self-empty, has tangle-avoiding brushes, and great obstacle detection and avoidance. The sticking point ends up being the price, like the Saros 10, it’ll run you $1,600 at full price, but if you can get it on sale for closer to $1,000 it offers better performance on carpet than the Saros 10 and is on par with our best overall, the T30S Combo for hard flooring.

Samsung

• Samsung JetBot AI Plus: You already saw it fail our poop avoidance test, and that wasn’t the only place where Samsung’s JetBot AI Plus came up short, with pickup percentages that ranked near the bottom in all of our cleaning tests. At $650, this tech-rich robot vacuum just isn’t worth it.

Shark

• Shark PowerDetect 2-in-1: The PowerDetect is Shark’s high-end model, priced between $600 and $1,000. It does an excellent job of picking up rice, and it’s better than average (higher than 50%) when it comes to picking up sand from low- and midpile carpets. However, its hefty weight and middling carpet performance usually mean there are better options on the market at a lower price, including the Roomba Combo J7 Plus.
• Shark IQ RV1001AE: A self-emptying cleaner, the Shark IQ RV1001AE is worth a look as an affordable option that empties its own bin. It gathered a respectable 84% of sand from hardwood floors in our cleaning tests but failed to pick up more than 35% of the stuff in any of our carpet tests, which isn’t as strong as some of our top recommendations.

Yeedi

• Yeedi Cube: An offshoot of EcoVacs, the Yeedi Cube is a self-emptying floor cleaner with a built-in mopping mode. The «cube» in question is the docking bay, which looks like a little robot vacuum garage, up into which it empties its bin. It was a middle-of-the-pack performer on hardwood floors, and rather lackluster on both of our test carpets, which makes this pick pretty passable.
• Yeedi C12 Plus: The Yeedi C12 Plus is a solid midrange robot vacuum and mop that offers strong, across-the-board performance for a reasonable price. It was our former pick for best midpriced robot vacuum before being supplanted by the Roomba 205 DustCompactor Combo. It picked up 78.65% of sand from a hardwood floor and managed 45% from low-pile and 57% from midpile carpet. Pet hair was removed easily from hardwood floors, but it took more than one pass to get it off the carpet. On the plus side, the brushes didn’t tangle. Navigation was generally quite good in our light path test, with the C12 Plus keeping tight corners around a complicated table setup and generally not missing any spots. It’s also no slouch on features with support for multi-level mapping and the ability to climb thresholds up to 0.8 inches, similar to the Dreame X50 Ultra and Shark NeverTouch. It comes with an all-in-one docking station that supports a self-emptying dustbin that can last for seven weeks. It lacks an auto-refill water tank, though, so you’ll need to refill the 220ml water tank on the robot directly. At $479, it offers similar functionality to more expensive robot vacuums like the T30S Combo and SharkPowerDetect at less than half the price. Currently, it’s on sale for $270, making it one of the best bangs for the buck robot vacuums. While the C12 Plus can do mopping, it doesn’t have an auto-refill water tank in its base station, so you’ll need to do that manually. The dust canister is also bagless, which we typically don’t like since dust gets everywhere when you empty it. For these features, we like Yeedi’s higher-end model, the M12 Pro Plus.
• Yeedi S14 Plus: The S14 Plus is Yeedi’s newest, top-range robot vacuum and mop combo. It has a lot going for it, with strong performance on hardwood floors (82.4%) and very good performance on carpet (58% low-pile and 59.7% midpile). It’s also loaded with features, an auto-empty and self-drying dock, a 3D sensor for navigation, and self-detangling brush rollers. However, at $1,400 at full price (currently $950 on sale), you can get even better performance from the Yeedi M12 Pro Plus, which is our recommended robot vacuum for both vacuuming and mop and hardwood floors. It’s also less than half the price.

Other brands we’ve tested

• Electrolux Pure i9 (out of stock): This cleaner features a unique, triangular design, and it incorporates 3D-mapping cameras into the mix for smarter navigation. It was an underachiever in our cleaning tests, so we’d recommend shopping around.
• Greenworks GRV-5011: This $658 laser-guided floor cleaner performs well on hardwood floors. Couple that with the built-in mopping functionality, and it might be worthy of consideration for homes with hard floors. Performance on low- and midpile carpet was less than stellar, though, averaging toward the bottom of the pack in both cases.
• IonVac Smart Clean 2000: One of dozens of cheap, no-name robot vacuums available from Amazon and other online retailers, the IonVac Smart Clean 2000 was near-competent in our cleaning tests, but always just a little below average. Nothing about it stands out enough for us to recommend it.
• Lynkbey M20 Pro: A newcomer to our tests, Lynkbey’s flagship cleaner is a self-emptying, mop-wielding powerhouse that seeks to take on Roborock. It was a top-three finisher in our hardwood floor tests, and an above-average finisher on low- and midpile carpets, although I’d note that it couldn’t quite suck up 50% of the sand in either test, which is a slight red flag for performance. Still, it’s a likable upgrade pick, especially if you can catch it on sale for less than the full $1,150 asking price.
• Lubluelu SL60D (out of stock): No longer available in the US, but still available in the EU, UK and Australia, the Lubluelu SL60D is a solid midrange or budget vacuum if you can get it for the $272 price or less. It scored well in our testing, with 77.8% sand pickup from hardwood and 55.3% from low-pile carpet. It didn’t fare as well with midpile at 36.8%, but it also offers premium features including lidar navigation, mopping, voice control and a self-emptying dock.
• Ultenic MC1: This robot vacuum is from a little-known brand, but it was our previous pick for midrange robotics. It did well on our old lab tests, picking up nearly 75% of sand. It also boasts features like a self-emptying dock and mopping system, which is impressive for a robot vacuum. However, it’s currently only available on Ultenic’s storefront and lacks suction power compared to newer models.
• AirRobo P20: This robot vacuum and mop combo is one of the more affordable options we’ve tested. At $499 MSRP and frequent discounts and sales, you’ll rarely get mopping and vacuuming functionality at this price. However, as a vacuum, it doesn’t excel, removing just 48% of sand from hardwood floors and struggling on low-pile (22%) and midpile (18.4%) carpet.
• Noesis Florio F10 Pro: With a name that sounds vaguely like a dental disease, the Noesis Florio was a strange robot vacuum and mop to test. It had a very odd navigation pattern, which made it inefficient for cleaning sand and pet hair. In fact, it got the worst results of any robot vacuum we’ve tested, removing just 7.8% of sand from hardwood, 3.1% from low-pile carpet and 11.2% from midpile carpet. We redid the testing six times to confirm this result. The dustbin was also very small, and we were unable to properly test navigation due to the current preventing our light path test. For $1,600 at full price, this robot vacuum is not worth the money, even at a discount.
• Monsga MS1 Max: I was really interested in testing this robot vacuum as part of our search for a new budget or midrange pick. For $360 on sale and $520 at full price, it offers a lot of premium features, including mopping, lidar navigation, a self-emptying bagged base station, and voice control. However, the performance was nothing to write home about. It removed 46.7% of sand off hardwood floors, but just 11.4% off low-pile carpet and 23.7% off midpile. The below-average carpet performance keeps it from earning a spot on our list.

We like to think that our robot vacuums are completely self-reliant and to some extent, that’s increasingly true. Many robot vacuums have self-emptying docks, auto-refill water tanks and self-detangling brush rollers. However, hair can still get tangled around the brush and sensors can get dirty. Performing regular maintenance on your robot vacuum will continue to perform well for years to come.

Some of the routine cleaning that needs done for your robot vacuum is daily, while other stuff can be done weekly or even monthly.

• Daily: Emptying the bin, checking wheels for stuck debris.
• Weekly: Cleaning brush rolls and wheels.
• Monthly: Charging contacts and cliff sensors; removing and deep cleaning the brushes.

We have dedicated a complete breakdown of the different parts of your robot vacuum that will need some regular maintenance. Most of this work will take only a few minutes at most but will give you much more in return with a cleaner house.

However, some of the newer robovacs reaching the market, such as those from Narwal, come with multi-function base stations that can automatically handle things like dust emptying and water tank refilling, letting it last up to 120 days before maintenance, so you can look forward to spending less time on these tasks in the future.