When robot vacuum cleaners first appeared on the market they were pretty simple machines. Remember how you used to watch the bot amble around your living room bumping into everything like a drunken sailor? While this offered a lot of amusement, these early robotic vacuum cleaners were more frustrating than anything else. After about 25-minutes of achieving very little, the battery would run flat and your drunken bot would pass out in the middle of living room floor. This gave robot vacuum cleaners quite a bad reputation.
See the 9 Best Picks Below
Fortunately, technology moves fast these days. A lot of R & D has gone into improving these machines. Modern robotic vacuum cleaners are way more intelligent than their alcoholic predecessors. They have smart sensors and computers that scan the room detecting obstacles and then calculate the most efficient way to clean the area. Many of the top models now have smartphone connectivity that offers a whole range of remote control options and gives you valuable information on the status of the machine.
Best Robot Vacuums for Pet Hair and Different Floor Types
We’ve chosen robotic vacuum cleaners that all offer a great quality standard. Admittedly, some may be more robust than others but all of them make the cut according to people who’ve used them. Generally, the more expensive robot vacuums in this review will offer more advanced technology and better features. So if you look at the cheaper options in this review, you won’t necessarily be buying a lower quality machine. It’s just that the more expensive models will offer you more advanced technology. In short, any of these robot vacuums will offer you the best value for money in their class. Many will be very similar in price, features, and quality. Choosing between them may come to subtle differences or brand preference. I’m going to do my best to point out everything that each model has to offer. This should make it easier for you to choose the robot vacuum that’s best for you.
1. Roomba 980 – Top Rated Robot Vacuum for Pet Hair
The Roomba brand is synonymous with robotic vacuum technology, they were one of the first and so people have come to know and respect the brand. They offer a good range of products from basic to very advanced robot vacuums. The Roomba 980 is the best that they have to offer and is obviously their most expensive model. So you’re going to have to dig quite deep into your pockets if you want to get the Roomba 980 but are going to be getting some of the best technology that goes into a robot vacuum cleaner.
Technophiles will love the Roomba 980. The iRobot HOME App is one of the best smartphone apps for a robot vacuum and it’s compatible with Alexa and Google Assistant. So you can use voice-activated commands. There are all sorts of custom features that this app will offer you along with remote control from anywhere in the world. You’re also able to see exactly where the Roomba 980 has cleaned, no matter where you are.
The cleaning power of the Roomba 980 is exceptional, up to 10 times better than their other models. The 3-stage cleaning system is ideal for any floor surface. The tangle-free multi-surface brushes will automatically adapt to any floor, moving from hard floors to carpet effortlessly. Along with the brushes, the powerful suction will dislodge and suck up engrained dirt and pet hair from any floor. When needed, the Roomba uses advanced dirt detection technology and will boost its suction power for really stubborn dirt. This is great for conserving battery time, you have high-powered suction when it’s needed most and it will conserve power when necessary. The result is that you can get up to 120-minutes cleaning time from a single battery charge. When the battery runs low, the Roomba 980 will return to the docking station and continue cleaning when the battery has been fully charged.
Thanks to their +Visual technology, the Roomba 980 will clean an entire level of the home, moving from room to room without any input from you. It’s just 3.6” tall and will fit in under furniture where many other vacuums can’t. You’d expect the best Roomba vacuum to offer the best air filtration and you’d be correct in this. The high-efficiency dust filtration system used in the Roomba 980 is one of the best in its class.
The Roomba 980 is one of the best robot vacuum cleaners for homes with pets and is suitable for any sized home. If you want a vacuum that’s packed with everything modern technology can offer, there aren’t many robotic vacuums that will match the features on the Roomba 980. iRobot provides a 1-year warranty on the Roomba 980.
2. Shark ION ROBOT 750 Connected Robotic Vacuum, RV750 – Top Robot Vacuum for Pet Owners
Shark is one of the top vacuum cleaner brands. So even though they’re a relative newcomer to the robot vacuum market, they do offer a wealth of experience. The Shark ION Robot 750 is nowhere nearly as sophisticated as the Roomba 980 and it doesn’t seem to be quite as powerful. Then again, the Shark ION 750 is about half the price of the top Roomba model. This means that you’re getting a lot of features for the price that you’re paying.
The Shark ION Robot 750 is one of the few robotic vacuum cleaners in its price range to offer a smartphone app. I haven’t had the chance to check out all the features on the app, but it looks a bit limited, you do get Alexa and Google Home compatibility with this app. The cool thing about apps, however, is that updates are made available over time. So as updated versions are made available, it’s just a matter of downloading the new version. There are certain things that won’t be made available with updates, though. The Shark ION will never have multi-room cleaning and nor will it be able to resume cleaning after returning for recharging. These are some of the features that are reserved for more expensive robotic vacuums.
The Shark ION Robot 750 has some amazing stuff, none the less. Suction is good and it has a fantastic tangle-free roller brush (excellent for pet owners) and side brushes for cleaning right up to your walls. It is also one of the lowest profile robot vacuums, standing only 2.6” from the ground. The Shark 750 is also excellent at adapting to different floor surfaces – moving from hard floors to carpets with ease.
The smart sensors are great at detecting obstacles and make for very effective cleaning. You can expect to get around an hour or more from the battery and it will return to the docking station for recharging. The Shark has fantastic HEPA filters and the dust bin is easy, quick and hygienic to empty.
With a lot of high-end features at a mid-level price, the Shark ION Robot 750 is one of the best value for money robot vacuums on the market.
3.Neato Botvac D5 Connected Navigating Robot Vacuum – Pet & Allergy
The Neato Botvac D5 is priced somewhere in between the Shark ION 750 and the Roomba 980. It includes features that make it an excellent rival to both machines, like a really intelligent smartphone app with Alexa and Google Assist voice commands.
The Neato Botvac D5 is one of the best robot vacuums for pet owners and people with allergies. It comes with a full range of brushes – a spiral brush, combo brush and side brushes. These excellent brushes work together with advanced SpinFlow suction to make light work of any floor surface.
The Neato Botvac D5 will move from room to room and will return to the docking station for recharging. It will resume cleaning once the battery is charged and all these functions are controlled and monitored from the smartphone app, as well as time scheduling and locating the bot. The D-shape design makes it the best robot vacuum cleaner for getting into corners but is a bit taller than many others (3.9”), so it’s not the best for cleaning under really low furniture.
The high capacity lithium-ion battery knocks the socks off most others, it will give you around 120-minutes and that should clean an area of around 5000 square feet. You can set it for an economy mode that will reduce the suction power for lighter cleaning and this will give you to 360-minutes. The smart laser sensors and the sophisticated computer will ensure that it cleans the maximum floor space in the least amount of time.
When you compare the Neato Botvac to the Roomba 980, they are very similar. I’d say that the Roomba has an advantage with their automatic power cleaning mode for stubborn dirt. Other than this, the Neato sizes up to the more expensive Roomba incredibly well and it also has a 1-year warranty.
4. Eufy RoboVac 11
We get that not everyone wants to pay extra for smart features like phone apps and the like. If you want a robotic vacuum that’s going to stand up to the best but don’t want to pay for too many extras, the Eufy RoboVac 11 is an excellent option.
When it comes to cleaning up after pets on both hard floors and carpets, the Eufy RoboVac 11 is as good as any of the most expensive robotic vacuums. It has an amazing 1000Pa of suction power as well as an excellent roller brush and side brushes. There’s absolutely no compromising on cleaning power of this machine and it keeps cleaning 100% effectively for up to an hour and a half on a single battery charge.
While you don’t get a phone app with the Eufy RoboVac 11, it does have a remote control. It also has one of the largest dust bins and HEPA filters. It’s also one of the lowest robot vacuums. At a height of 3.1”, it can get in under some pretty low furniture. Like all the best robot vacuums, the Eufy RoboVac 11 also makes use of sophisticated sensors to detect obstacles and calculate the most efficient cleaning path.
Without too many frills, the Eufy RoboVac 11 has concentrated on what is most important: highly effective and very efficient cleaning. The 1-year warranty on the Eufy is very much the same as what you get with most other robotic vacuum cleaners.
5. ILIFE A4s Robot Vacuum Cleaner
The ILIFE A4s is designed with a similar philosophy as the Eufy RoboVac 11. The standard retail price on the ILIFE A4s is substantially lower than the Eufy and it doesn’t seem to be quite as powerful as the Eufy. In all other respects, they are very much the same. For its price, I’d say that the ILIFE is better value. Though there are often amazing discount offers on the Eufy RoboVac 11 and, if you can get it at a similar price to the ILIFE A4s, the Eufy will probably be a better deal.
The ILIFE A4s is, like the Eufy, a fairly basic machine without the fancy stuff, like a phone app. It has a great roller brush that adapts to any floor type and HEPA filtration. It has a 3-stage cleaning system that’s excellent for cleaning up pet hair – the tangle-free roller brush also does a lot to make this a better pet hair robot vacuum.
It has two cleaning modes that can be activated from the handheld remote control. The high power mode is great for heavy cleaning but will reduce your battery time to 120-minutes – which really isn’t a bad time. If you’re not using the high-power mode, you’ll get around 140-minutes. Like the others, the ILIFE A4s will automatically return to the docking station. It also has very similar sensors to all the best robot vacuums and won’t be bumping into furniture or falling down steps. The ILIFE A4s is great for getting under low furniture – it’s only 3” tall.
The ILIFE A4s is great value for a reasonably powerful robotic vacuum that has the ability to handle pet hair and provide clean HEPA filtered air. It’s also backed by a 1-year warranty.
6. ECOVACS DEEBOT N79 Robot Vacuum Cleaner
The Ecovacs Deebot N79 compares very closely to the Shark ION Robot 750, the Deebot is just quite a bit cheaper. There are many who might feel that it’s worth paying extra for the Shark based on their longstanding reputation for excellent products and service. This could well be true but if you look at the 4.4 stars that the Ecovac Deebot got on Amazon from over 900 customer reviews, it’s clear that this vacuum has been met with a lot of praise. When it comes to function and features there’s almost no difference between the two. The Deebot also has a phone App and is every bit as powerful.
With 1000Pa of suction and a very well-designed V-shape roller brush, the Ecovacs Deebot N79 cleans carpets and hard floors perfectly and has no problem with pet hair. It has fantastic sensors for avoiding obstacles and detecting stubborn dirt which will cause the Deebot to provide extra cleaning where needed. It also has a single room mode to concentrate the cleaning to a single area of the home.
A low profile of 3.1” and side brushes means the Deebot will clean every corner, even under furniture. High-efficiency filters provide really clean air. The rated maximum working time from a fully charged battery is 100-minutes, so this is adequate, but certainly not the best. The Deebot will automatically return to the docking station for recharging.
So the Shark probably has a better battery than the Ecovacs Deebot N79. Other than this (and maybe the Shark reputation), I can’t see much reason to rate the Shark over the Ecovacs Deebot N79, this makes it one of the best value for money robot vacuum cleaners in this review.
7. PureClean Robot Vacuum Cleaner
Cheap but not nasty. This describes the PureClean robot vacuum cleaner to a tee. It’s not extremely powerful and doesn’t have any fancy features but does an excellent job of removing dirt and pet hairs from light carpets and hard floors.
With 500Pa of suction, it’s not the most powerful robotic vacuum cleaner. It does have a fantastic brush action and side brushes so it cleans well in all areas of your home. It gobbles up pet hair without a problem and has HEPA filters.
The battery is okay for a vacuum of this price and because it isn’t all that powerful, you get a reasonable working time of 90-minutes. It has clever sensors and a low profile of 2.9”, so it will move in and out of tight spots and under low furniture easily.
If you don’t have a very big home and want an affordable robot vacuum that’s going get the job done, the PureClean offers you what you’re looking for.
8. Deik Robot Vacuum
This is not the first time I’m reviewing a Deik product and I can say that I’m always impressed with all that you get for your money from these machines. The Deik robot vacuum is a powerful robotic vacuum cleaner and mop with a host of amazing features.
Apart from the fact that it doesn’t have a smartphone app, the Deik robot vacuum cleaner can be rated amongst the best and most expensive machines – but it’s not all that expensive compared to the others at the top end of the market. It has the advantage of having a water tank and mopping pad, something that most don’t.
With 1200PA suction power and an excellent 3-in-1 V-shaped roller brush, the Deik moves from any floor surface and sucks up the toughest dirt and pet hairs as easily as any of the best robotic vacuums. It also adjusts the suction power to match the floor type automatically, using more suction for carpets and reducing the power for hard floors. It has a high-power turbo boost for getting rid of stubborn dirt.
It has one of the best HEPA air filtration systems for allergen-free air. The only area where I see this vacuum falling slightly short of the best models is that it has a 90-minute working time from the battery. Other than this, you’re getting a really top-notch robot vacuum cleaner and electric mop for a very reasonable price.
8. Inlife I6
The Inlife robot vacuum offers you the versatility of a vacuum cleaner and electric mop at a reasonable price. It will handle low pile carpets, but is really suited to hard floors and area rugs.
The Inlife robotic vacuum cleaner has good suction and has side brushes as well as a roller brush and mopping pad. This makes it a very versatile vacuum for homes with mostly hard floors and hard carpets.
All the intelligent features are there, it has great sensors and an easy to use remote control with 5 pre-programmed cleaning modes. Like many of the best robot vacuum cleaners, this model also has HEPA filters. The height compares well to most others at 3.3”. The battery isn’t the best, though, providing around 80-minutes from a charge. It will automatically return to the docking station when it needs to recharge the battery.
So the Inlife robot vacuum cleaner is pretty basic. Though if you’re looking for an affordable robotic vacuum/electric mop combination, this is a really good deal.
Making the Right Choice
Battery technology has advanced in leaps and bounds. In conjunction with this, brushless electric motors are way more efficient than the old technology. This means that your robot vacuum will cleaner will clean more effectively and do so for much longer. Most will detect when the battery needs recharging and will automatically return to the docking station to recharge the battery. The better robot vacuum cleaners will resume their cleaning cycle once the battery has been charged. This means that they will return to the spot where they last were and continue with the job.
What you now have is a bot that is a sober and reliable servant. This makes them well worth the investment – if you buy correctly. Online shopping has a disadvantage, in that you don’t have the touch and feel experience of a physical store. On the other hand, the internet has given us a research medium that allows us to read up on customer experiences and this helps us make an informed decision before we make our purchase.
With so many robotic vacuums on the market and thousands of customer reviews, it takes up a lot of your time to get the information that you’re looking for. This is where we come in. After searching for the best products and checking what customers have to say about them, we’ve compiled a list of the best robot vacuum cleaners.
So what makes a robotic vacuum the best? One would automatically assume that if you pay more, you’re going to get the best product. To a certain extent, this is true. Though if you look at either extreme, ridiculously cheap or outrageously expensive, there’s a good chance that you’re being ripped off. If a product seems too good to be true, you need to ask why. The cheapest of the cheap will, almost always be a piece of junk and leave you disappointed.On the other end of the scale, some of the most expensive robotic vacuum cleaners don’t necessarily offer more than models that cost a bit less. So the answer lies somewhere in the middle. You can get reasonably priced robot vacuums that offer reliability and build quality to rival the best.
