Best robot vacuum cleaner of 2024

Every robot vacuum cleaner we consider for recommendation is tested in our testing lab in Louisville, Kentucky. In addition to test floors where we conduct our controlled retrieval tests, we monitor each robot vacuum in a special test room filled with mock furniture to measure how well it navigates around common obstacles. In addition, we check each robot vacuum’s ability to pick up pet hair without clogging or leaving loose strands, we consider its mopping capabilities, and we also check how well it handles fake dog poop.

Let’s dive a little deeper into the key considerations, starting with our performance tests.

Robot vacuum cleaner absorption power

When it comes to vacuuming ability, we want to know how effective each robot is against common crumbs and other debris, as well as how it performs against much smaller particles like dust, dirt, and sand. To find out, we use dry, uncooked black rice as a substitute for the crumbs and sand as an analogue for the finer particles.

Each time we spread a controlled amount over three test floors: low-pile carpet, medium-pile carpet and hardwood floors. Then we take the robot vacuum cleaner, thoroughly empty the dust container, send it to the affected area and finally measure the weight of everything it managed to pick up. This gives us a collection percentage of the full amount. From there we repeat each run two more times and average the results.

Speaking of results, the chart above shows how every cleaner we’ve tested in recent years performs on hardwood floors. The iRobot Roomba Combo J7 Plus is our best-tested cleaner on that surface, picking up an average of 98% of crumbs and an extra impressive 100% of sand. Right behind it is our top recommendation, the Dreametech DreameBot D10 Plus, which came in a close second on hardwood floors despite retailing for less than half the price of the top-trim Roomba Combo J7 Plus.

Next is short pile carpet. Besides the fact that the orange bars are a lot shorter (vacuuming sand is more challenging on carpets than on hardwood floors because of all the fibers that the sand can cling to), keep in mind that the order of cleaning agents is different is, with our top mid-range pick, the Roborock S8, now leading the way. Different robot vacuums have different strengths and weaknesses based on their design, so our variety of tests helps us make recommendations that are as informed and well-rounded as possible.

Finally, our medium pile carpet is the result. Neato did well in this test, with the Neato D9 leading all our CNET-tested cleaning products overall and the cheaper Neato D8 coming in third overall. In between, the iRobot Roomba Combo J7 Plus takes second place. As with the low pile tests, keep in mind that most of the cleaners in the top half of the chart are all relatively close together. It’s only when you get to the bottom of the stack that those bars really start to shrink. . That’s good for you as a consumer, because it means you can choose from a wide variety of robot vacuum cleaners that all offer similar cleaning capabilities at different price points.

Another reminder: these charts refer to the robot vacuum cleaners we’ve tested over the past few years. Robot vacuum cleaners we tested before that time period used a slightly different test setup, so the data from those tests is not directly comparable. I made sure to mention the previous performers that are still good buys, especially the iRobot Roomba S9 Plus, which did particularly well on medium-pile carpets and is still one of our top recommendations.

Navigation skills with robot vacuum cleaners

Your robot vacuum cleaner will only clean your home as thoroughly as it can navigate through it. The ideal cleaner will be able to easily find its way from room to room and automatically avoid obstacles along the way, all of which makes for good, low-maintenance automated cleaning.

We make sure to observe each robot vacuum cleaner as it cleans to get a good idea of ​​how well it navigates, but to get the best vacuum cleaner to vacuum cleaner comparison, we take long exposure overhead shots of each robot vacuum cleaner as it eclipses our test chamber, with glow sticks attached to the top of each stick, directly above the vacuum inlet. The resulting images show us light trails that reveal the robot’s path as it navigates the room and cleans around our fake furniture.

Now compare that to this next GIF, which shows you three runs of our top mop pick, the iRobot Roomba Combo J7 Plus. Do you notice the difference? The Roomba was less effective at covering the entire room, missing the bottom left corner in two out of three runs, and also had a lot of trouble providing enough coverage around the legs of that fake dining table.

To a large extent, it comes down to the technology at play. Over the years, we’ve consistently observed that robot vacuums that use laser-guided lidar navigation are typically very good at mapping their surroundings and finding their way around. Meanwhile, 3D mapping cameras with smart object recognition can give robot vacuum cleaners the added power to identify and adapt to obstacles in their path. The Roborock S8 Pro Ultra uses both technologies, which helps explain why it performs so well here. Meanwhile, the Roomba relies solely on cameras and sensors, leaving out lasers.

Still, those cameras certainly come in handy. Just take a look at the GIF above, which shows what happened when we put the iRobot Roomba J7 Plus to the test – specifically its promise to identify and avoid pet waste. With a variety of (I assure you, fake) dog poop spread across a small, enclosed test floor, the Roomba did its best to vacuum the area without touching any. It worked and we never encountered any of our disgusting looking test turds.

Now compare that to the Samsung JetBot AI Plus, which also promises to use its cameras to recognize and avoid pet feces. The result wasn’t great; on every test run it ended up crashing into one of our test stacks. Luckily they weren’t real.