The Ultimate Guide to Automatic Vacuum Cleaners
The Ultimate Guide to Automatic Vacuum Cleaners
Blog Article
Vacuum Wars has made a significant shift towards complete independence by officially adopting a policy of not accepting free products from companies or doing sponsored content.
Over the past 10 years, we've tested dozens of robot vacuums, both by performing objective tests as well as real-world setups. Each model we review is first evaluated to see how well it can pick up three types of debris. We measure out 20 grams of Cheerios, 20 grams of kitty litter, and 20 grams of pet hair. Next, we scatter each individually across a hardwood floor, and then weigh the contents of the robot vacuum's dustbin to see how much of each it picked up. We then repeat the same three tests on a low-pile carpet. Afterwards, the robot vacuum receives a cleaning performance score, which is the percentage of debris it was able to collect. After we record each robot vacuum's scores, we let these machines loose in our tester’s home to see how each holds up in terms of navigation, obstacle avoidance, and coverage in real-world testing.
...The mopping function on this vacuum is plenty enough for us as it'll help clean up any missed small messes and it adds back some shine to make every look and feel cleaner and brighter!"
Top-tier robot vacuums often boast extended battery life and intelligent power management. Many premium models advertise anywhere from 180 up to 240 minutes of runtime on a single charge, especially in standard mode on hard floors. This longer battery life, combined with smart navigation, allows the vacuum to cover larger areas or entire multi-room layouts in one cleaning session. Additionally, almost all of the best models have “recharge and resume” capability – if the battery runs low mid-job, the robot will return to its dock, recharge, and then pick up where it left off to finish the cleaning.
The Roborock Saros 10R features a 3.14-inch profile and StarSight Autonomous System 2.0, eliminating the need for a raised LDS unit and allowing it to clean under low-lying furniture. It excelled in our obstacle avoidance tests, demonstrating reliable 3D sensing and a VertiBeam Lateral Obstacle Avoidance system that navigates cables and various types of furniture.
We purchased this unit with our own money and put it through rigorous tests over the past few weeks. The verdict? We were incredibly impressed with its innovative features and outstanding performance across multiple categories.
The Roomba s9+ also comes with a self-emptying charging base; while it's unfortunate that you'll have to purchase replacement bags for this base, you will only have to empty the container every 30 days. This will save you a lot of time versus emptying the onboard dustbin.
On March 13, 2025, iRobot issued a warning to investors that they could face closure within a year, in part due to high levels of debt. This came only a day after the company announced new Roomba robot vacuum cleaners.
Here’s the best robot vacuums you can buy right now based on our testing. Read on for our full in-depth reviews.
We also compare each vacuum’s performance to the average of all robot vacuums we’ve tested, using Vacuum Wars’ scoring methodology, to give you context on how each stands out. Let’s dive into the top robot vacuums of 2025 and see what makes each a winner.
The handheld vacuum was a great complement; not only did it suck the crumbs out of our couch cushions, but it was also able to pick up the kitty litter that the Deebot T30s missed in the carpet cleaning lab test.
This ensures that all reviews are based on products purchased with our own funds, thereby eliminating potential bias that might come from manufacturer influence.
The iRobot Roomba j7+ stands out for its intelligent mess recognition. It learns from each object it encounters and offers excellent obstacle avoidance. Plus, it’s guaranteed to avoid pet waste. There’s a handy cleaning base as well.
You can simply set Automatic Vacuum Cleaners and forget the Shark IQ robot vacuum for over a month thanks to its advanced scheduling capabilities and self-emptying dustbin.