Robot vacuums are feats of engineering. Even a basic bot can keep your floors tidy with little effort on your part, handling pet hair and dust adeptly. Top-tier models can map your home, schedule cleanings, take voice commands, and empty themselves.
But don’t set your expectations too high. These machines excel in routine midweek cleanups but can’t replace traditional plug-in vacuums, especially on rugs. And even the fanciest models can drive you mad, getting tangled or trapped, or missing piles of dirt.
In our most recent testing, we tried 13 models, from cheap, aimless bumblers to sophisticated machines that (usually) navigate with ease. We think that the Roborock Q5 (and the Roborock Q5+, with its self-emptying dock) and the Eufy RoboVac 11S Max are your best choices. (If you’re curious about hybrid models that can vacuum and mop, we have some information on those, too.)
Our pick
This bot is a top-notch cleaner and a great navigator that avoids (most) obstacles while keeping on top of scattered debris.
This is the Roborock Q5 packaged with a charging dock that sucks debris from its dustbin after it cleans.
The Roborock Q5 was one of the most thorough cleaners we tested, picking up more debris than some costlier models. It’s one of the best navigators we’ve tried, able to map multiple levels of your home and remember a room’s layout.
This model’s user-friendly app offers dozens of customizations, such as scheduling cleaning cycles, vacuuming specific rooms, and sending the bot back to places it may have missed. It also allows you to block off areas that you don’t want cleaned.
While Roborock’s obstacle-detection system isn’t perfect, the Q5 avoided hurdles more effectively than the other robots we tested. It’s also one of the quietest robots we’ve tried, which comes in handy if you have skittish pets or are easily distracted.
The Roborock Q5+ performs exactly the same as the Q5 but comes with a charging station that can suck debris from the robot right into a large, disposable bag.
The Q5 and Q5+ come with a one-year warranty.
Budget pick
This solid, affordable robot vacuum has a large bin and excellent cleaning power. It can be scheduled to clean, but it can’t be controlled with an app.
In our cleaning tests, the basic Eufy RoboVac 11S Max outperformed even robots with fancy navigation, sucking up more debris than most, including along baseboards and close to walls. Its low height allows it to effortlessly glide under furniture to pick up dust bunnies and missed kitty treats.
The 11S Max is so quiet and nimble that it fades into the background like no other robot we’ve tested. It doesn’t connect to an app, but it does come with a remote control for scheduling it to clean and directing it to missed spots. But its navigation system tends to be random, and its bumbling aimlessness gets on some people’s nerves.
It comes with a one-year warranty.
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