For a dependable, versatile, and affordable cleaner, we prefer a bagless upright, but we have recommendations for other types of vacuums as well. Wipe the sensors clean as needed, according to the manufacturer’s guidelines—usually with a microfiber cloth or cotton swab with a little water or rubbing alcohol. The Trifo Max worked fine in our tests, nothing impressive or obviously bad.
It can even mop and vacuum carpets within the same cleaning run by raising and lowering its mopping pad. To do this it first performs a mapping run to locate where your carpets are. The robot mop vacuum then uses sensors to confirm the presence of carpeting where it expects to find it.
Some of the higher-end Roombas also include intelligent features that allow the vacuum to “talk” to the robot mop, allowing a tag-team approach to cleaning. Most robot vacuums are made bissell crosswave cordless to suit certain surfaces better than others. Overall, however, Roomba vacuums tend to be most effective in uncluttered areas on solid surfacing or on low- to medium-pile carpeting.
But if a vacuum you like doesn’t come with one, it doesn’t have to be a dealbreaker, models without the label may be just as good. While not really a feature I consider essential for operation, the G20 has a remote control option in the Eufy Home app, which means it can also double as a fun cat toy. Despite being a budget bot, it doesn’t partake in the classic bump and roll navigation, Instead, it uses gyroscopic navigation to divide the space into individual areas and clean each one methodically. It’s quite soothing to watch it go to work as it moves up and down in neat, rectangular boxes. You can read my full review of the Roomba j7 Plus here, where I put it head-to-head with Samsung’s Jet Bot AI Plus robot vac, which shares similar features.
The Roomba app will also log the machine’s cleaning history so users can keep track of which areas have been vacuumed. To use the convenient voice-activation feature, most models are compatible with Alexa or Google Home. As a bonus, some models can also be linked with iRobot’s smart mops for coordinated cleaning. With just a tap, you can freely start the job, pause, resume & send the robot back to the Home base without using a physical remote or touching directly the robot. More conveniently, you can schedule the jobs at your favorite times of the day, for example at night or at the weekend at noon. The automation software inside the app will make sure the Robot will mop as what is scheduled.
How to shop for a robot vacuumNo one knows your mess better than you, so consider what you want from your robovac as we run through what to consider when shopping for a robot vacuum. Models with an interface come with a Mini-DIN connector supporting a serial interface, which is electrically and physically incompatible with standard PC/Mac serial ports and cables. However, third-party adapters are available to access the Roomba’s computer via Bluetooth, USB, or RS-232 (PC/Mac serial).
By looking at the live map, you can freely check the live position & movement of the robot, as well as giving you a bird’s-eye view of your room. When seeing the robot is getting stuck at one position for too long, you can just simply press the “Music note” button to activate the robot’s sound for fast location investigation. After the job has been done, the complete live map will be saved in the History section.