If you live in a smaller apartment and would prefer a more affordable robot vacuum, then then Eufy 11S Max is our top pick in the budget category. This robot vacuum is low-maintenance, low-volume, and low-profile, perfect for sliding under furniture and quietly cleaning your home. For apartment dwellers with modest square footage, the remote-controlled 11S is a good starter robot vacuum, with decent suction power and a fairly long runtime. When picking out the best robot vacuum for your needs, be sure to consider what type of floors the vacuum is designed to work on. During testing, different robot vacuums performed better on certain types of flooring. While some were great at tackling cereal spills on hard floors, they struggled to pick up hair out of carpet fibers.
We can’t pinpoint one spec or feature that helps a robot navigate well—we just have to test the bots and see how they do. Some cheap, dead-simple bots are especially nimble, while certain high-end models struggle constantly. But for the most part, modern robots are pretty good at navigation, and many models now give you the option to draw invisible boundaries around problematic irobot vacuum cleaner areas using a smartphone app. We also tested the Kyvol Cybovac S31, along with its auto-emptying dock, and it was perfectly decent (at least when new). The navigation (as of late 2020, at least) was a little clumsier, and some of the details—including the translation in the app, manual, marketing materials, and even the voiceovers from the bot itself—lacked polish.
If you’re short on time, have mobility or dexterity issues, or just hate vacuuming, a robot vacuum is likely to make your life easier. Really, any model in the Roomba 600 series is a good choice, since they are all strong cleaners, especially on rugs, thanks to the dual-brush and dirt-detection systems. They are also sturdier than any bump-and-run models from any other brand we’ve tested, which more than offsets the Roomba line’s slightly higher sticker price. The Roomba 694 is the most current model with Wi-Fi (for on/off remote control through a smartphone app), but at times you might be able to find a more basic model, without Wi-Fi.
However, a stylish build and top-of-the-line features come at a price, as this is one of the most expensive Roombas on the market. We tested this vacuum in The Lab and at home and discovered that you really need to unlock the smart features for this robot vacuum to perform well. If you’re a beginner in the robot vacuum world, this is not the model for you. If you have the patience to let this device smart map and learn your home, then it can be worth the splurge. The best robot vacuums will not only make your life easier by cleaning your floors for you, but they’ll also be quiet enough not to disturb you. We measured the decibel rating of each vacuum we tested, and the quietest option was the Samsung Jet Bot AI+ Robot Vacuum Cleaner, which was only 68 decibels.
Right behind it is our top recommendation, the Dreametech DreameBot D10 Plus, which earned a close second place finish on hardwood floors despite retailing for less than half as much as the top-finishing Roomba Combo J7 Plus. AI-powered cameras capable of recognizing and avoiding obstacles — including piles of dog poop — as it cleans. Its first feces-defying flagship was the Roomba J7 Plus, and sure enough, when we tested it out against an armada of unnervingly convincing fake dog poop samples, it steered clear at every turn.
The 15 images shared with MIT Technology Review are just a tiny slice of a sweeping data ecosystem. IRobot has said that it has shared over 2 million images with Scale AI and an unknown quantity more with other data annotation platforms; the company has confirmed that Scale is just one of the data annotators it has used. An MIT Technology Review investigation recently revealed how images of a minor and a tester on the toilet ended up on social media.
Shark’s device is unlike most other robot vacuum clean bases because you don’t have to keep buying proprietary garbage bags to outfit the interior of the base. When you want to empty the base, part of it snaps off and opens to eject debris, and it easily locks back in place when you return it. Not only is this quite convenient, but it also brings irobot vacuum cleaner the lifetime cost of ownership down since you won’t be buying special bags every few months. Then there are the top-of-the-line Roomba s9 and self-emptying Roomba s9+, which we do not recommend. Instead of the classic puck shape, the s9 has a D-shaped body and extra-wide brushes intended to improve its edge-cleaning and corner-cleaning abilities.
“[The s9+] motor is 40 times more powerful than the Roomba 600 series and will increase its power automatically on carpet and rugs,” said Williams. He added that the Roomba s9+ also has dual, counter-rotating rubber rollers that are 30% wider than the 600 series. It has a slightly different shape (it has a rounded square front) that allows it to get into corners more easily and is designed with anti-allergen filters built in, making it great for pet owners, according to the brand. Like the i series, it’s available as a standalone vacuum or in a plus model with the self-emptying dock.