robot vacuum cleaner best in test

Though high-end robotic cleaners like the Dyson 360 Eye use cameras and apps to get your house clean, those fancy robot vacuums can cost close to $1,000. That's a lot of cash to keep dust bunnies and pet hair at bay. Our tests show that a host of less-expensive—and sometimes lesser-known—models will clean your house nearly as well as pricier robot vacs. No robot vacuum will clean as well as a traditional canister or upright, but they can keep floors looking fresh between cleanings. To find the best, we rounded up the most popular robot vacuums that retail for less than $350 and spent a few weeks putting them through our robot vacuum obstacle course. While we did uncover a few robots to avoid at any cost, it turns out that the best low-cost vacuums can stand sensor-to-sensor with their high-end cousins. Updated August 17, 2016 Where to Buy Amazon Walmart $199.99 Anker Robovac 10 Update, Nov. 25, 2016: We noticed that the Robovac 10 has frequently been sold out on Amazon.

We recently tested it's brand-new successor—the Eufy Robovac 11—and also recommend it. The Robovac 11 cleans just as well as its predecessor, but has a longer battery life. Read our full review of the Robovac 11. Our overall favorite affordable robot vacuum is the Anker RoboVac 10. This model retails for only $199, it gets positive user reviews, and it did exceptionally well in our tests. In fact, it outperformed the popular iRobot Roomba 770 and 880, and was only barely beat by models from Dyson and Samsung that cost up to five times as much. We estimate it will clean over 80 grams of dirt a week—about as much as a traditional vacuum can hold. A full clean of our test track took two hours, but you can schedule the vacuum to clean when you're not home. In every test run, the Anker automatically returned to its dock after cleaning. The only complaint we have about the RoboVac 10 is its lack of virtual barriers. Other vacuums have magnetic strips or tiny beacons that keep a robot from entering a room or knocking over a dog's dish, but the Anker goes wherever it pleases—even if it ends up getting lost.

For under $200, though, the RoboVac 10 is the most affordable and effective way to add a robot to your cleaning routine. Where to Buy Amazon $394.00 Walmart $40.95 Bissell SmartClean 1605 Bissell has been making floor care products for over 140 years, but the SmartClean 1605 is its first robot vacuum. This unassuming appliance won us over with its low price and ease of use. At around $220 on sale, it's a tad more expensive than the Anker and doesn't get as good user reviews, but the Bissell comes with a virtual wall—a convenience that the vast majority of robot vacuums under $300 do not have. Although the SmartClean picked up less dirt than the Anker, it cleaned more quickly—which makes it a better choice for tidying up between full cleanings. If you have a large home, the Bissell may be a better fit than the RoboVac 10. Where to Buy Amazon $275.00 Home Depot $329.99 Best Buy $310.99 Walmart $279.00 Bobsweep Bobi Pet The oddly named Bobsweep Bobi Pet (stylized as bObi Pet) comes with a ton of extras, including a virtual wall, a dry mop attachment, and a UV light on its underside that Bobsweep says can kill germs.

Where to Buy Amazon $299.99 Home Depot $374.99 Best Buy $374.99 Walmart $299.99 iRobot Roomba 650 The Roomba 650 is the entry-level offering from iRobot, one of the best-known names in the world of home robotics.
best way to clean varnished wood floorsOn sale for as low as $325, it's one of the most affordable robot vacs from an established manufacturer.
best vacuum upright vacuum cleanerIn our tests, it picked up five percent more dirt than the Anker—the most of any vacuum we evaluated. The 650 also comes with a virtual wall and the ability to schedule cleanings. So why isn't this superb cleaner our favorite? We measure how hard a robot vacuum strikes objects and found that, in its zeal to clean our test room, the 650 rammed furniture with 3.3 pounds of force. That's hard enough to knock an item off the edge of a table.

Where to Buy Amazon $484.00 Walmart $343.53 Neato XV-21 The XV-21 is an older model from Neato—the other big name in robot vacuums. It may be slow to clean, but it is the only robot on this list that can traverse high-pile carpet. Unfortunately, like the Bobsweep, we found the XV-21 got stuck on doormats and the edges of area rugs. Its five-inch height prevents it from going under shelves and cabinet toe kicks, too. Where to Buy Amazon $169.00 Walmart $123.99 Infinuvo CleanMate QQ-2 Basic The Infinuvo QQ-2 Basic is the most affordable robot vacuum on our list. It may have an alluring price tag of $120, but we found this robot utterly lacking. Most notably, it has no dock for automatic charging—you have to plug it in after it finishes cleaning. It has no virtual walls, and it lacks any way to program a daily schedule. Our tests showed that the QQ-2's dirt pickup is the lowest of any vacuum we tested. Yes, $120 is cheap for a robot vacuum—but it's expensive for what amounts to a toy.

Where to Buy Amazon $155.99 Walmart $473.65 ILIFE V3s During our testing of the iLife V3S, this robot vacuum dove off the balcony of our obstacle course. Whether this was a bid for freedom or simply the fault of a bad sensor, we will never know. What we do know is that a slip-up like that keeps us from recommending this vacuum. That's too bad, because the V3S did well in our tests otherwise. Average dirt cleaning and a useful dry mop attachment are commendable, considering its ultra-low price of just $160. It also comes with a remote and a charging dock, but no virtual walls. If your home is on a single floor, the V3S is adequate. But if you have stairs or a balcony, it's best to avoid this one. Where to Buy Amazon $357.14 Walmart $283.99 EcoVacs Deebot D83 The Ecovacs Deebot D83 is the worst robot vacuum we've ever tested. On sale for $262—far more than our recommended offerings from Bissell and Anker—this robot did nearly everything wrong in our tests. It took six times longer than its competitors to clean our obstacle course, and—thanks to an obsolete Ni-MH battery—it slowly lost power as it cleaned.