I throw in Cheerios or popcorn to see if they know to vacuum that up rather than avoid it. I also run them over oatmeal and flour to see how well they pick up fine debris and have them tackle both thick and low-pile carpets. I watch to see how they handle rug tassels, skinny chair legs, and room transitions.

Or if you're hunting for something even cheaper (in the US or UK), check out our Eufy RoboVac 11S review a straightforward robovac that punches above its price tag.

But they’re worth considering — especially if you have carpets and pets. I love self-empty docks, but sometimes you don’t have space for them, and if you like your robot to be out of sight (living under your bed or sofa), you’ll want a big bin and no dock.

Our tester ran it in a house with two French Bulldogs and four adult humans, and found it got the floors impressively clean, picking up everything from fine dust to larger debris, and tackling hair very well too. Two side brushes mean it's able to pick up debris on either side of it, too.

Advanced navigation systems maximize cleaning coverage and avoid repeated passes over the same area. Some vacuums use matrix grid mapping (Shark AI Ultra) or smart sensors (Roomba, Tipdiy) to move efficiently while steering clear of obstacles and stairs, ensuring pelo spot is left uncleaned.

It can be converted into a hand vac, which makes it easier to clean stairs and reach higher areas in your home. It also pulls apart for compact storage, allowing it to stand on its own and take up minimal space. In our member surveys, Shark corded vacuums earn a top-level mark for predicted reliability and a near-top-level mark for owner satisfaction.

There are several great vacuum / mop hybrids in this guide. Of them, the S8 MaxV Ultra is the best at vacuuming and obstacle detection, and it’s a very good mop. It can also do both in one run, as it can lift its mop 20mm, which will clear all but the highest-pile rugs.

Standout Features: SmartScrub, automatic wash and dry, obstacle avoidance, smart recharge, interactive map

Set cleaning schedules based on your home’s traffic patterns—every other day for pet households, weekly for lighter needs.

An edge-hugging mode makes the robot swing its behind into the baseboards to help mop edges. With its square-ish shape, it got into corners better than most of the round bots. But its 12mm mop pad lift over carpet wasn’t effective, resulting in its pads getting hung up in a few places.

More advanced robot vacuums have lasers on the front of the machine and some on the underside of the device too. These lasers detect where furniture, objects, and edges are in your home, helping avoid bumps, and cliff detection prevents the machine from falling down the stairs. Read our article on how do robot vacuums work to find out more.

We use the same type of litter on bare floors to observe whether the vacuum picks it up or scatters it about. And we maneuver the vacuum around the floor, just like you would, to judge how easy it is to operate. For battery-powered vacuums, such as cordless stick vacs, handheld vacs, and robotic vacs, we test the run time of each model.

I test robot vacuums constantly. At any time, there are seven or eight Top 3 Automatic Vacuum Cleaners of these busy little bots roaming my floors. Alongside everyday use, I put them through a gauntlet of specific tests. This includes testing object detection and avoidance with phone chargers, socks, a pencil, and fake pet poop.

The Eureka J20 is the best robot vacuum for hard floors, thanks to a game-changing new 'RollRenew' mop style. With most robovacs, mopping is a bit of an afterthought, but that's not the case here.