The Yeedi S20 Infinity Ultra carries only a modest premium over the standard S20, with a price tag that comes in just shy of $1000.

And while that seems like a steep price to pay, it’s competitive in the world of the best robot vacuums. For this price, you're getting a machine that vacuums and mops effectively, delivers strong suction performance, independently navigates around the home, and incorporates several genuinely advanced features.

Like the non-Ultra Yeedi S20 Infinity version that I also reviewed, this robot vacuum also uses two cleaning solutions for cleaner floors – something I appreciate when testing for the best vacuum. Read on to discover how the new Ultra model (currently discounted to $849.99 at Amazon) compares to its predecessor and if it's truly worth the premium price tag.

The One-Minute Summary

When I reviewed the Yeedi S20 Infinity Ultra’s non-Ultra predecessor, I was impressed, if not quite blown away. While this upgraded version is not perfect, it gets much closer. It’s quieter in operation. Its vacuuming is just as good. Its mopping seems even better. And it’s easier to maintain.

It also keeps the things that I liked about the previous version, including the two cleaning solutions and the Matter-certified smart home support. It adds a few new features like an AI Agent Mode, though the touted 'Jet Spray' addition doesn't feel like a worthwhile addition.

I also think that, despite the price, it’s competitive with other models that offer the same type of cleaning experience. Just be prepared to spend close to a thousand dollars for it. Of course, that’s typically the case with the vacuums of this variety. You’re paying for the convenience and hands-free operation. A typical vacuum offers a deeper clean, but requires some elbow grease, and the Yeedi S20 Infinity Ultra allows you to postpone those deep cleans and keep up regular cleans with ease.

Yeedi S20 Infinity Ultra: Specifications

Yeedi S20 Infinity Ultra: Setup

For a product that’s mostly already assembled and arrives in just a few pieces, the Yeedi S20 Infinity Ultra does take a little while to set up. Now, it’s not complicated. The base station is intact except that the extended base plate needs to be attached (and it just drops in), and the robot vacuum itself already has all the brushes installed. Opening and adding the two different included cleaning solutions is not difficult.

Really, what takes so long is removing the various sheets of plastic and smaller pieces of styrofoam used to keep the Yeedi S20 Infinity Ultra safe during transport. It’s a little annoying and feels a bit wasteful, but it does at least keep everything extra safe until fully set up, even if it takes five minutes to remove everything.

The physical assembly is otherwise straightforward and takes about three minutes of work. Plug the base station in, add the extended base plate, put the robot vacuum all the way back in the base station, and then just power on both the base station and robot vacuum. At that point, the Yeedi S20 Infinity Ultra just needs to map your space before cleaning.

To fully finish setting up the robot vacuum, you will want to go through the app setup as well to get access to all the functionality of this vacuum. I did have some initial trouble connecting the robot vacuum to my phone (the whole process starts with a Bluetooth connection between a smartphone and the S20 Infinity Ultra), but I do have some wonky internet. Once connected, I had to just go through the prompts to finish setup. I would say the app setup process, not including my technical WiFi difficulties, probably took ten to twenty minutes.

Yeedi S20 Infinity Ultra: Design and Features

One thing, among many, that I’ve noticed about expensive robot vacuums is that they all talk to you. They talk when they start up. They talk when they’re done. They talk when something’s in the way. But not all of the vacuums let you talk to them. The Yeedi S20 Infinity Ultra, with its Matter Ecosystem support, lets you do so via voice assistant (as long as you’ve set up the robot through the Yeedi app already). I was able to connect through Alexa.

And like most expensive tech these days, the Yeedi S20 Infinity Ultra also uses AI. You can run the vacuum in AI Agent Mode in the app, and the vacuum will adjust on its own the various cleaning settings, like suction power, to clean my floors as it sees fit. And truthfully, when using the Yeedi S20 Infinity Ultra more passively (and not to vacuum up large messes), I ran it in this mode.

While features are a bit more fun to write about, the actual design of the Yeedi S20 Infinity Ultra can’t be overlooked. I don’t quite mean the durability or build – those are on par with every robot vacuum I’ve tested above $500, but there are a couple of additions that make cleaning easier.

I really appreciate that the Yeedi S20 Infinity Ultra uses two different cleaning solutions with its mopping capabilities. There are two cleaning solution-specific reservoirs inside the base station – along with the much bigger 4 and 2.2 litre respective clean and dirty water reservoirs – for those solutions, which help break down stains and feel more like a deep cleaning.

The base station also has a decently sized 2.5-litre dust bag. It can probably hold a good month or two of auto-empties from the robot vacuum before needing to be replaced. Also, it's worth mentioning that the base station is that it does mop drying, so be prepared to wait a few hours after mopping for the Yeedi S20 Infinity Ultra to fully dry the mop roller.

As far as the robot vacuum itself goes, it’s flat on top – no little lookout tower in the middle – with just a magnetic top plate hiding its onboard dustbin and onboard controls, so that it can fit under furniture like a couch that some other robot vacuums can’t.

On the bottom, it may have just one side brush, but at least the bottom roller brush hoovering everything up, has zero tangle technology, a good option for those dealing with lots of pet hair. I find some variation of this type of anti-tangle tech on most mid-range to premium robot vacuums, so I’m a little more impressed by the Ozmo Roller 3.0, Yeedi’s mop roller, which not only mops a very even 27cm wide path, but lifts when going over carpet, and, most importantly, can extend out a couple of inches to get into edges and corners.

What Is the Yeedi S20 Infinity Ultra Like to Use?

Interacting with the Yeedi S20 Infinity Ultra is much the same as its smaller sibling, the non-Ultra version. Press the center button on the robot vacuum itself, and it will just start – usually using whatever settings were selected the last time the app was open. If you press the button without setting up the app, it does a standard level of vacuuming and mopping.

Within the app, starting to clean is pretty straightforward as well. If AI Agent Mode is selected, all you have to do is press start for a cleaning. If you want something specific, you can manually adjust several settings specific to that cleaning, such as cleaning mode (vacuum only, vacuum and mop, vacuum then mop), four levels of suction power from quiet mode to max, water flow level up to 50 (mL presumably), three levels of cleaning speed, and whether I want it to do one or two passes. My only issue here is that the app wanted to collapse this menu when I changed the water flow level, even though I was not done choosing my settings.

It’s also worth noting that the app allows you to choose some station-specific functions – Empty Bin, Wash Mop, Dry Mop – at will, which is nice. The app also lets you create a schedule as well as clean specific rooms or even specific zones if there’s a specific spill that needs cleaning – something I had to do for the vacuuming and mopping tests below.

Speaking of the map, I had no trouble dividing or combining rooms, though I didn’t need to with how accurately the Yeedi S20 Infinity Ultra mapped out my space. I was also able to select rooms and select what kind of flooring is in that room (hardwood flooring, marble, etc.) as well as whether there’s carpet (a separate selection for some reason). You can even add furniture on the map, though this doesn’t seem necessary, and create a second map for another area in your home.

I want to mention some general things when the Yeedi S20 Infinity Ultra is running. First, it’s among the quieter robot vacuums I’ve used. At standard vac and mop settings, this robot vacuum registers around 56dB in volume. That doesn’t mean you can’t hear it while going, but it’s quiet enough to ignore.

Also, I’ve already mentioned how this robot vacuum can get under furniture easily thanks to its flat top. What I haven’t mentioned is object avoidance, which I found to be very good here. Since I had it set to be very sensitive, it registered and avoided just about everything I would put in front of it, even thicker cables like an HDMI cable, only having trouble with a translucent container with water. That said, I still suggest picking up before running the Yeedi S20 Infinity Ultra as it gives a good six-inch berth to anything it’s trying to avoid, so it will leave fairly large spots untouched because it’s avoiding a frisbee sitting on the floor.

Yeedi S20 Infinity Ultra: Vacuuming Tests

When testing robot vacuums, we reviewers like to spot clean an area covered in different-sized granules to see how the unit responds. Usually, it’s cereal, lentils, and sugar. I had run out of lentils, so I used long-grain rice instead. For the vacuuming tests, I ran the Yeedi S20 Infinity Ultra on both hard flooring and carpet.

After having run my tests, I found this robot vacuum to do well on both surfaces, but still not quite catch everything put down in front of it, especially if it wasn't set to deep cleaning and two passes in the app. This was particularly true on hard flooring, where it did kick a Cheerio or two around and left a trail of sugar on its first pass. It did pick up the rice immediately, however.

The story was much the same on carpet, though it didn’t kick the cereal around. It still needed an extra pass to pick up all the sugar. With a suction power rating of 22000Pa, the Yeedi S20 Infinity Ultra is as powerful a robot vacuum as I’ve come across.

It still does not replace the need for a regular vacuum for deep cleaning. This is true more on carpet than on hard flooring, because the mop brush is not involved (it lifts up 15mm off the floor to keep it from getting wet), and that mop brush is the only part extending out, meaning that the vacuuming alone is not getting to the edges and corners where dust tends to build up most.

Yeedi S20 Infinity Ultra: Mopping Tests

I was more impressed with the Yeedi S20 Infinity Ultra’s mopping than its still-good vacuuming. A big part of that is that 27cm cleaning path width from the mop roller that is not only covered in a micro-fiber type fabric but puts 2800pA of downward pressure as it’s mopping. Also helpful is the fact that the mop roller extends out when cleaning. The Ozmo Roller 3.0, as Yeedi calls it, is how this robot vacuum is able to get into the edges and corners of a room.

As mentioned before, the addition of the two cleaning solutions is also something that I believe adds to this robot vacuum’s cleaning prowess. And, of course, the fact that it has the new 'Jet Spray' feature, to handle stains one would normally grab a wet/dry vacuum for, is nice, though I have to select a zone for the feature to use it, as opposed to doing it on its own. To test this feature, I rubbed some wet dirt on the floor and selected 'Jet Spray.' The Yeedi S20 Infinity Ultra seems to spray water at the corner of the zone just to add extra water that it would push around instead of directly on the dirt, strangely enough. However, it also sucked everything up and left a very clean floor. I can’t decide if this feature is useful or a gimmick, but again, the floor was clean.

For the actual mop testing, I put some soy sauce, ketchup, and mustard on the floor all at once to see how the Yeedi S20 Infinity Ultra would fare. The robot vacuum needed just one pass to mop everything up and leave a clean, non-sticky floor.

Just be aware that if you’re mopping large areas – I’m usually covering about 7 - 800 square feet on a usual cleaning - the robot vacuum will return regularly to the base station to fill up water and wash the mop roller. I appreciate the thoroughness and cleanliness, even if it does mean that the actual cleaning time for that space is about an hour.

Yeedi S20 Infinity Ultra: Maintenance

When I reviewed the non-ultra version of this model, I felt that the ability to clean it up and maintain it was good, but not great. I could get to the onboard dustbin if I needed to, I could remove the central roller brush if something got tangled, and the app would let me know when certain things needed to be refilled or replaced.

But figuring out how to clean this robot vacuum is just a little bit easier than the previous model. That’s because the mop roller brush is actually removable, something that was not the case on the previous version meaning if it ended up trying to mop up a mess too big for it and something got behind the mop roller, I would have to use a Q-tip to get behind the mop roller and do what I could, hoping that running the mop wash feature in the app would be enough to finish the job. With the Yeedi S20 Infinity Ultra, I can just remove the mop roller, clean it, clean behind it, and put it back in. Much easier.

The water tanks are as easy to access as they are with any other model. I will say that the door covering the cleaning solution reservoirs and the dustbag requires a little more force than expected to open. Out of all the expensive, feature-filled robot vacuums I’ve tested, I think this might be the easiest to clean. Just expect to spend a little money down the line to replace the cleaning solutions and dust bags.

How Does the Yeedi S20 Infinity Ultra Compare?

Homes and Gardens’ top robot vacuum pick at the time of writing is the Dreame Aqua10 Ultra Roller, which has an MSRP of $1,599.99, though it is currently being offered up for a slightly more reasonable price of $1,049.99. It has a lot in common with the Yeedi S20 Infinity Ultra thanks to its excellent mopping and object avoidance, not to mention its fairly low maintenance. The reviewer of the Dreame robot vacuum did find the app a bit overwhelming and not consistent when cleaning carpets.

Considering the Yeedi S20 Infinity Ultra costs $999.99, I find it a very competent alternative to the Dreame Aqua10 Ultra Roller. After all, the app only becomes a bit much if you’re digging into all the various extra settings, and the carpet cleaning is good. That said, the Dreame is a little stronger in the vacuum compartment since it has 30,000pA of suction power, requiring fewer passes to handle vacuuming up, say, some spilled sugar.

It’s also worth comparing the Yeedi S20 Infinity Ultra to the Yeedi S20 Infinity, which has an MSRP of $899.99. While the Ultra has the jet spray feature, I think the Ultra is worth the extra cost mainly because of the removable mop roller and quieter operation. That said, the non-Ultra version has a dustbin that doesn’t require dustbags, so it has less recurring costs in the long run.

How I tested the Yeedi S20 Infinity Ultra

We take a methodical approach to how we test vacuums, which involves in-depth and standardized performance tests, running benchmarks, and living with the product to see how it fits into everyday cleaning.

For the Yeedi S20 Infinity Ultra, I used it for a week, running it every day in an area regularly occupied by five adults and two French Bulldogs (with the odd appearance of a reclusive cat). I ran it typically with vacuum and mop functionality together – often with the AI Agent Mode on – though I’ve run it with just one or the other for testing.

As far as targeted tests go, I did run it to pick up about a quarter cup of sugar, rice, and cereal, testing with each type of substance individually on both hard flooring and carpet. I also tested the mopping by running a test with ketchup, mustard, and soy sauce.

Next, explore our guide for choosing the best vacuum for pet hair for your home.

When offered the chance to review the eufy Omni E25, I was delighted to oblige. Anything that can help keep the constantly-building layer of dust and hair at bay and leave my kitchen and bathroom floors sparkling is an excellent floorcare upgrade for a busy home such as mine.

As I live in a cottage with wonky floorboards and nooks and crannies that collect all manner of hair and debris that comes from a busy life as a family of four, including two young children, I'd always imagined that even the best robot vacuums would find my higgledy-piggledy home something of a nemesis.

However, I have been deeply impressed with how well this sleek and efficient automatic appliance performs, handling all floor types and obstacles with ease, and saving me around 80% of my usual manual cleaning.

My One-Minute Verdict

On the whole, I found the eufy Omni E25 did a great job of keeping on top of my day-to-day cleaning, and, as it's so easy to use once you've set it up, whether from home, remotely, or with the scheduling option. I cleaned far more regularly with this than when I have to use a manual vacuum or mop; my house definitely feels cleaner.

It's not perfect, of course, and despite the corner-roving arm feature, there was still some dust and dirt to deal with manually in those pesky crevices, and spot cleaning after an accidental spill was more fiddly and time-consuming than simply getting my trusty old cordless Dyson out.

I won't be giving up my cordless vacuum for quick cleaning tasks, but it is also fair to say that I haven't gotten my stick vacuum out once since owning the eufy Omni E25 - a testament to its ease of use and efficiency. The dual brushes have also saved me the usual hair-wrap frustration, disposing of hair cleanly and neatly by itself. This feature will be a big win for pet owners, too.

Plus, if you suffer from chronic pain, a robot vacuum like this could be life-changing. No more bending and reaching into awkward spaces, as it does the work for you.

Eufy Omni E25: Specifications

eufy Omni E25: Setup and Maintenance

On delivery, the box was very heavy, and I was unable to lift it myself, so you might want to ensure that you have someone on hand to help you put it in place for unboxing. The eufy Omni E25 was very well packaged with a handy quick-start guide right at the top of the box, featuring a QR code for the e-manual and app download.

Inside, another smaller box, with a handle, was easy to pull out, and contained the vacuum itself, along with the power cord, base plate from the Omni station and a bottle of mop cleaning liquid (a nice bonus, as some products require you to buy these separately from the outset at extra cost).

The base station could then be easily lifted out and placed in position. I'd recommend choosing a designated spot for this before you start unboxing, as eufy suggests a 1.6ft clearance on either side and 4.9ft in front.

In my small cottage, finding a spot with the right clearance proved tricky, but it's worth noting from our other eufy robot vacuum testers that if you don't have the larger clearance on each side, the appliance will still function as expected. The clearance in front, however, is a must.

I positioned mine in the corner of my kitchen near the bins (with a much smaller clearance space) and haven't experienced any issues. The video below shows the robot locating and docking in the base station.

The power cable was too short to reach my socket on the kitchen counter, so I had to use an extension cable. It's not a deal breaker, but a minor irritation and worth considering before positioning.

Once I'd filled the clean water tank, the circular ring light lit up, indicating it was ready to go. I slotted the robot into its charging position and got to work downloading and exploring the app.

I added my eufy Omni E25 as a device on the eufy app and it indicated over 90% battery power, so it was good to go straight out of the box without the need for charging. All in all, I'd say the setup and mapping took me around 1-1.5 hours, but it's a one-time job and worth spending the time to get it right. Read on for more details, or jump to design and features, or the results of the tests we ran to determine its vacuuming performance and mopping power.

Then I followed a series of voice commands, triggered by the app, including connecting the device to my WiFi network, which was easily done, then mapping my floor to create 2D and 3D maps of each room.

When you select 'start mapping', the robot does a cursory sweep of the space, using its cameras and laser sensors to detect any furniture or obstacles. Eufy's advice is to remove as many obstacles as possible, such as power cables, toys, shoes and lightweight furniture, such as dining chairs, for the initial mapping to give a full scope of the area to be cleaned. Once complete, a map of my ground floor appeared on my phone.

This wasn't as accurate as I'd hoped initially, and the map indicated additional rooms where there weren't any, but luckily, there's an 'edit' option which you can use to merge, divide, rename, and expand rooms on your map. Additionally, the map updates with each cleaning to improve accuracy, and it produced a much better representation of my space after the first full floor clean.

Once happy with the map, you can create cleaning tasks and schedules for individual rooms or zones, adjusting the settings to vacuum, mop, or both, and the suction power and water levels to suit your floor surfaces.

The vacuum also automatically recognises when a surface changes from hard floor to carpet or rug and raises the mop head accordingly, but you can also add elements to your map, such as carpet, and even update the specific floor material to wood, marble, tile, and terrazzo, for more tailored cleaning.

Adding furniture, no-go zones (like staircases), or vacuum-only zones to your map allows for an even more tailored result. This does take a little time, but once it's done, you shouldn't need to repeat the process, and you can make small tweaks at any point.

There's no messy dustbin emptying to do with the eufy Omni E25 as it automatically collects dust from the vacuum into the dust bag in the base station after every 15 or 30 minutes of cleaning, or after every clean, which can be adjusted in your settings.

This is the loudest it gets at nearly 80dB, but it's very short-lived, and the clever 'do not disturb' setting will ensure this doesn't happen between certain hours of the day, such as when the children are asleep, or overnight.

The 3L dust bag is large enough for 75 days of continuous cleaning, according to eufy (but it does only come with one bag included, so you'll need to buy replacements, which come in a set of three 3L bags directly from eufy for $16.99).

I can't comment on ease of emptying yet, as I haven't had it for long enough. However, others on our team who have been using eufy robots for over a year say it's as simple as opening the compartment lid on the dock, pulling the bag up and out, and then slotting a new one in its place. The eufy app also provides a prompt and visual step-by-step for all maintenance as it arises, making switches fast and simple.

The self-cleaning mop scrapes away dirt and washes the extra-long brush in real time whilst in use, then performs a more thorough wash and dry afterwards – this can take as long as five hours, but it's quiet enough that you'll barely notice. This stops mold and bacterial growth, causing any odors or sanitation issues.

You can cut short the drying time if you want to perform other tasks, but it's advisable to revert back afterwards to complete the process, as it will prolong the life and hygiene of your mop.

You can empty the dust, clean or dry the mop in the app easily, at other times, too. I haven't had to empty the dirty water tank yet, even after two weeks of use, but I only have a small area to mop, and eufy says this usually needs emptying around once a week, so it will depend on how big your mopping area is.

Our colleagues who have tested for longer tend to empty it weekly to avoid odors building up inside that area, although this is not something you can smell unless you open the compartment.

The high-performance filter is easy to remove and clean with running water, which eufy recommends doing every two weeks, with a full replacement every six months.

There's a handy maintenance guide in the e-manual, which recommends manually cleaning the mop and brushes once a month and replacing them every six months.

While this sounds like a substantial outlay, the most cost-effective way of doing this is to buy a eufy accessories package for $69.99, which includes at least one of everything, and actually works out as quite a good deal.

Design and Features

The eufy Omni E25 has a good range of features, as you'd expect for the $1300 price tag, including a 250% improved turbo suction power of 20,000ps, compared to the brand's previous generation models.

Then there's the HydroJet™ Self-Cleaning Roller Mop, which distributes water evenly through 32 ports, cleans as it mops (120 times per minute).

And, as it removes the dirty water as it goes, my floors were nowhere near as wet as they are when I use a manual mop, even on the high water level setting, meaning they dried quickly, too (no more being banished from the kitchen for hours when I'm craving a coffee).

The 11.4" brush head is nearly the full width of the vacuum itself, allowing for the maximum cleaning area, and it applies 1kg of downward weight as it goes, designed to replicate the pressure you'd apply with a manual mop.

The Edge-Cleaning CornerRover™ Arm extends from the vac body and has thin, flexible bristles that navigate around corners and baseboards, where dust, hair, and crumbs gather, and flick them underneath the vacuum to be sucked up. I found this to be reasonably effective, but sometimes larger debris was flicked away from the vac and missed if it didn't do a second pass of the room.

The AI.See™ Obstacle Avoidance claims to offer superior object recognition, enabling the robot to dodge over 200 common objects as opposed to getting stuck or attempting to climb over things.

It did successfully dodge rogue toys and cables, but proved a little tricky when I actually wanted it to vacuum larger debris, such as in our cereal tests.

However, for the most thorough clean, you'll want to pick up any obstacles before starting a full room vacuum. On the plus side, this has meant I've been keeping my floors tidier and clutter-free more regularly – one of the unexpected benefits of owning a robot vacuum.

The eufy Omni E25 also has built-in carpet detection, automatically increasing its suction power, which is audibly noticeable, and it worked perfectly in my living room, which has wooden floors and a large rug.

And if, like me, you have an ongoing battle with hair, from people or trying to keep your house clean with pets, the DuoSpiral™ Detangle system is a revelation.

As the name suggests, it features not one, but two roller brushes, which direct collected hair into a gap in the middle, where it's sucked up, rather than getting wrapped around repeatedly and caught up.

Head of Solved and cat owner, Punteha Van Terheyden, also wrote about how her eufy robot vacuum was a game-changer for tackling pet hair, too.

Before this robot, I was having to constantly manual unravel hair from my old vacuum's brushroll, which was a deeply unpleasant task.

What Is the eufy Omni E25 Like to Use?

Once the app and mapping were set up, I found the eufy Omni E25 really simple to use. I simply selected 'start' on the app to begin cleaning, or choose a room and tailor the cleaning preferences (mop, vac, turbo etc).

I also liked the option to add custom cleans by room, as this allows for pre-programming cleaning preferences. Another option is to 'draw' out a zone, which is handy if you want to just clean a specific area, like under the dining table, rather than the whole room. I also enjoyed setting it to clean from the comfort of my car (via the app), while I was travelling back from a weekend away, then coming home to a freshly mopped kitchen.

Whilst the vacuum re-charges automatically whenever it's in its base station, I've not noticed it drop below around 80% during my testing period, so losing charge during a clean hasn't been an issue for me. However, I will caveat that by saying that my home does have a relatively small square footage compared to some.

The manufacturer says that the standard run time for the E25 is 125 mins, which is comparable to most of its models and only a touch less than the older, but more expensive eufy Omni S1 Pro at 140 mins.

One of my concerns was whether I'd be able to use the eufy Omni E25 on different floors of the house (I have friends who have invested in one robot vac for each floor).

This proved surprisingly easy with the multi-map function, which allows you to create and edit up to three different maps. I carried the E25 upstairs and placed it on floor, then put a physical barrier at the top of the stairs so that it didn't fall down during the initial mapping process, though it has anti-tip technology to prevent this anyway.

I also added a 'no-go' zone as an extra precaution. Once the cleaning upstairs was complete, the robot returned to where it started, so I could carry it back down and place it back in the base unit to empty and recharge.

The eufy Omni E25 navigated corners and edges really well, stopping short of my wooden furniture and baseboards by a hair's breadth, meaning no bumps and scratches, but allowing for close cleaning.

It even managed to get in between the legs of my dining chairs (with enough force to slightly nudge them out of the way), as well as under my sofa without getting stuck – if you do encounter this problem, these easy ways to stop your robot vacuum getting stuck could help.

The corner rover arm did whip up most of the dust and debris stuck around the edges of the rooms, but this feature isn't faultless, as some larger debris was simply flicked too far away from the machine for it to register, meaning it gets missed. I do like that you can visibly see where it has vacuumed on carpeted floors – like stripes on a freshly mowed lawn – as it adds to that 'just cleaned' feeling.

Whilst the eufy Omni E25 coped well with the transition from my wooden parquet flooring to the central flat rug in my living room (auto-adjusting the suction power when it recognised the change of surface), it did struggle with my smaller, more lightweight rug, which has a fringed edge and got tangled in the brushes.

I followed the advice in the app to tuck it underneath, and the vacuum attempted to get up and over the edge before giving up and going around it, instead.

If you're concerned about noise, it's not loud – around 51-55dB for normal cleaning (which equates to 'quiet home' noise levels according to the decibelX app that I used), and 59dB at maximum in turbo mode. It certainly wasn't enough to interrupt my work or even a call if I closed the door. This is also considerably less than comparable robot vacuum models, like the Dreame X50 Ultra which runs at 73dB.

The mop function coped with day-to-day surface dirt well, but did struggle to remove more dried-on stains (like coffee) even after a few attempts on the same spot. Having said that, I think it did loosen the stains as they wiped cleanly away with a damp cloth afterwards. I also liked the fact that the floors weren't sopping wet after use, thanks to the excess water being vacuumed up, meaning they dried almost instantly.

It's a huge improvement on manual mopping.

Vacuuming Performance

I performed three specific suction tests (sugar, lentils, and cereal) on two different surface types (tile and carpet), to gauge how successfully the eufy Omni E25's vacuum function performed.

At Homes & Gardens, we carry out the same standardized vacuum tests to create an even playing field for comparing and rating performance.

Here's how the eufy Omni E25 got on.

Test 1: Sugar

I poured a quarter of a cup of sugar out onto my kitchen flooring for the first test to see how the eufy Omni E25 coped with fine debris. The thing I found most fiddly about this test was working out how to clean a small area. There is a spot cleaning function, but it's quite well hidden in the settings part of the app. This cleaned around a 2ft square area, but I did find it difficult to pinpoint where I actually wanted the vacuum to go.

I found the most effective option to be the remote control function, which gives you freedom to decide where the vacuum goes. With this option, I cleaned up most of the sugar, but some did get stuck in the grooves between my kitchen tiles, and I had to finish the job manually.

The same test on the carpet was more successful (no tile grooves to contend with), and the turbo suction cleared the fine sugar from my thick-pile carpet with ease, although it did need a few passes to get all the granules.

Test 2: Lentils

This time, I scattered a quarter of a cup of dried lentils on my tiled kitchen floor, ensuring some landed in the grooves and along the baseboards.

Using the remote control function again, the eufy Omni E25 crunched through the lentils, sucking up most of them, but quite a few were scattered further away thanks to the brushes on the corner rover arm.

When you're in spot cleaning mode, the vacuum doesn't detect the debris that has been flicked to the opposite side of the room, but with the manual controls, I was able to pick up all the loose lentils.

On the carpet, the performance was similar, and the lentils seemed to prove tricky to suck up from the thick pile, even in turbo mode. I did manage to clean up most of them, but the weight-to-size ratio of the lentils made this a more challenging task.

Test 3: Cereal

For the final vacuuming test, I spilt a quarter cup of O-shaped cereal on the kitchen floor and another on the carpet. Initially, the eufy Omni E25 backed up when it encountered some of the large pieces of cereal, acting as if they were objects to avoid (small Legos, perhaps) rather than clean up.

But when I switched to remote control mode, it actually coped better with this larger debris than with the lentils and crushed the cereal into a powder before sucking them up from the tiled flooring.

On the carpet, the odd few Os were flung into corners, but again the remote control function allowed me to go back and forth over the same area a few times to pick most of them up.

It's also worth noting that a few days (and a few bin empties) after all three tests, I was still finding remnants of sugar, lentils and cereal in the base unit, and when I took the filter out to clean it, there were lentils left in the vacuum's small dustbin compartment, indicating that they hadn't been sucked into the main unit, so I did have to empty it manually.

How It Performed on Hair

While this isn't a specific test, it's worth a mention here, as hair can be troublesome for vacuum cleaners, getting tangled in the brushes and negatively affecting performance. It's especially important if you own pets or have long-haired members of your household who are constantly shedding.

I fall into the latter category (no pets, but three long-haired family members, me included), and one of my most heinous chores involves taking apart my vacuum brushes to untangle handfuls of tightly wound hair from the mechanism.

I was interested to see how the eufy Omni E25 would tackle this, having read about its dual brushes, which claim to prevent tangling. Well, this was one of my favorite features.

When I turned the robot upside down after vacuuming the whole of my first floor (all carpet, and the worst offender when it comes to hair), the brushes were clean as a whistle. I picked out a very dense hairball that was in the middle of the brushes and about to be sucked up for disposal, and one or two of these were also dropped on my carpet during the process (which were easily popped in the trash), but – crucially – none in the brushes themselves.

I did notice a little bit of hair tangled around the wheels, though, which I had to unwind, but compared to the alternative, I can live with that.

Mopping Performance

To put the mopping power of the eufy Omni E25 to the test, I put it through its paces with Ketchup and mustard spills – the same tests Homes & Gardens use for all robot vacuums with a mop function. This helps us to make a fair comparison and you to decide what to spend your money on.

Test 1: Ketchup

The eufy Omni E25 features a built-in camera to detect stains. For this test, I squirted a quarter cup of ketchup across my tiled kitchen floor and set the mop to work. There's no mop-only function, so the only option is to vacuum and mop. Before it starts cleaning, the base station performs a mop clean in situ, dispensing clean water and cleaning fluid onto the roller.

While the robot did seem to detect the spillage, honing in on it (in the zone cleaning mode), it did leave a fairly substantial smear on the floor, with more between the tile grooves, before returning to the base station. Once a mopping task is complete, the base station auto-cleans the mop, and you have to wait until this is finished before starting another task. It then moves on to drying the mop, but you can interrupt this to do more cleaning, which is a good thing, as a full dry can take up to five hours.

I was able to start the mop again in remote control mode and cover the ground that it had missed before, but I still needed to wipe the remaining Ketchup up from between the tile grooves with a kitchen towel to complete the job.

Test 2: Mustard

The eufy Omni E25 did a good job of cutting through the thick mustard spillage (again, around a quarter cup's worth), on the tiled kitchen floor. It didn't seem to smear it around as much as it did with the ketchup, but it did still leave some in the grooves and a slight residue on the tiles.

When I flipped the vacuum over, I also discovered a fairly sustantial about of ketchup and mustard in the brush and the tread of the wheels. This was a concern as I didn't want to risk vacuuming the rest of my home afterwards, without thoroughly cleaning off the residue, for fear of smearing sticky sauce on my other floors and carpets.

Whilst in general I really like the mop function of this robot vacuum, and think it's really effective at day-to-day cleaning, I think it has some way to go in terms of being effective at spot cleaning. It's also worth noting that the spot clean and remote control options aren't available in mop mode, so you'll need to rely on full room or zone cleaning to tackle spills like this.

How Does the eufy Omni E25 Compare?

The only difference that you'll find the eufy Omni E25 and its upgraded sister model, the eufy Omni E28, which we're in the process of reviewing, is the lack of a detachable portable deep cleaner, which puts the price tag up by $100.

This would be useful for tackling problem areas and dried-on stains, but it depends on what you're looking for in a robot vacuum and how much you want to spend.

If you do like the versatility of having a stick and handheld vac as well, you might want to try the eufy 3-in-1 E20, which includes all three options that share a canister for dust collection. It's around half the price and will save on storage compared to three completely separate items, but the robot vacuum power is considerably lower than the eufy Omni E25, with 8,000pa compared to 20,000pa.

The eufy Omni S1 Pro is a good bet if you have cats or dogs. This robot vacuum still comes highly recommended for pet hair, by Home Tech Editor Dan Fauzi, despite being an older and less powerful model.

But, the eufy Omni E25 swings it for me thanks to the higher suction power (20,000pa vs 8,000pa), more rotations per minute, and the improved detangling brushes, as well as for its more compact base station (the S1 stands at over 26" tall, compared to the E15 at 17"). The E25 is also $200 cheaper, so it's a win-win. It can often be discounted by hundreds of dollars at a time during retailer events, so look out for good deals.

If you have a lot of hard flooring, you'd do well to check out the newer, but more budget-friendly eufy Omni C28, which has similar functionality but slightly lower suction power (15,000pa), for around half the price of the E25.

As for other brands, the Dreame X50 Ultra comes at a similar price point to the eufy Omni E25, and our reviewer said it offered 'outstanding' cleaning performance, was 'a breeze to set up,' and she liked its 'lightweight design'. It's a bit louder at 73db, compared to the much quieter eufy Omni E25, which maxed 55db on turbo mode. But if that's not an issue, this is a good alternative.

How I Tested the eufy Omni E25

At Homes & Gardens, we have a dedicated and thorough procedure for how we test vacuums. We recreate real-life circumstances by putting each vacuum through its paces, making note of how it performs with different substances on different surfaces.

I tested the eufy Omni E25 with sugar, lentils, and cereal on both hard and carpeted floors, using various vacuuming modes (from spot cleaning to zone cleaning and remote control) to find the most effective, and recorded how successful it was at vacuuming each substance. I noted down any issues and where the vacuum struggled or excelled in my home, and took photos and videos to give an accurate representation of daily performance over the course of two weeks.

To test the mopping functionality of the eufy Omni E25, I spilled ketchup and mustard on a tiled kitchen floor, and recorded how effectively it cleaned the spillages up. I noted whether it left smears or residue between tiles and whether it required an additional clean to finish the job, as well as what was left on the vacuum after the task was complete.

Once you've mastered using the eufy Omni E25, (or a different model, if you prefer), you'll want to know how to clean your robot vacuum to ensure it performs at it best and lasts for as long as possible.

The Yeedi M16 Infinity robot vacuum is one of the most feature-packed automated floor cleaners you can buy, with its advanced roller mop, hot-water self-washing capabilities, and intelligent cleaning options making light work of even the toughest stains on my floors.

It quite easily ranks among the best robot vacuum cleaners available, even if it’s a bit large.

At a retail price of $999, it’s expensive, but not nearly as expensive as competitors, from Dreame and eufy, and has been seen on sale for as low as $599 in the two months since it launched.

One-Minute Summary

For those who like to take full control of their house cleaning, the Yeedi M16 is for you. Not only does it offer superb vacuum and mopping performance, but the app also allows you to customize a wide range of settings to help you find the perfect cleaning setup for your home.

Like most other flagship robot vacuums from the past several months, it uses a new roller-style mop that delivers a much better clean than the traditional pad or scrubber mops. The dock completely cleans the vacuum, both emptying the dust and thoroughly washing the mop during and after each mopping run, saving you from having to complete the dirty jobs yourself and preventing odors from building.

It is simple to set up and use, and is quite intelligent about mapping and avoiding obstacles. It’s not perfect, and it's best to first remove smaller toys and clutter from floors before commenting on a clean.

While the plethora of options and settings in the app are great for fine-tuning your cleaning regimen, it can also be quite overwhelming for someone just wanting to set and forget it. Overall, it’s a great option for families who need some low-maintenance automated cleaning help.

Specifications

Setup

Setting up the Yeedi M16 Infinity was quite simple. I was pleased to see a very minimal amount of styrofoam in the box, with all the components well packaged. I was less pleased to see the lack of additional accessories included. Aside from a bottle of cleaning solution, there’s nothing else included. Even the Shark PowerDetect UV Reveal, which was quite light on accessories as well, came with an extra side brush.

Once unboxed, the setup process in the Yeedi app is simple. Connect to your home Wi-Fi, tap through a few screens, and you’re ready to begin mapping. The mapping process was surprisingly quick and took less than 10 minutes to get through my entire 1-story, 1,800 sq. ft. home.

It is recommended to fully charge the vacuum before mapping your home for the first time, but you could manage it on less battery if you needed to. The app also recommends cleaning up the floors and moving curtains and such, but I noticed it only really moved through the middle of each room and spanned around to scan, so you won’t need completely bare floors to get up and running.

Design and Features

I personally like the design of the Yeedi M16 Infinity. The slightly two-tone white and beige color, combined with the matte finish, looks very premium and looks much better than many of the cheap black plastic-looking models.

It's a bit larger than some other models on the market, so if you're worried about it fitting into smaller spaces, make sure to check the dimensions of the spot you intend to place it in, my specifications table above.

The vacuum itself has only a large button on top with a panel that lifts to access the power and reset buttons, and the removable dust bin.

Around back are the charging connectors as well as the dock connections for emptying and refilling the mop water and emptying the dust bin. Underneath are the wheels, side brush, roller brush, and extendable roller mop. The Yeedi M16 Infinity is a bit thicker than some other models I’ve tested, but it never had a problem getting under my furniture.

The dock contains the dirty and clean water tanks on top, and popping off the front door reveals the disposable dust bag. The bottom of the dock, where the robot sits, houses the mop washing system, which is impressive at cleaning the mop roller thoroughly, so you don't have to. There’s also a tank for the cleaning solution.

The Yeedi app is where most of the controls live for the vacuum. From here, you can create cleaning schedules and fine-tune the way your vacuum cleans your home. When you select the Yeedi M16 Infinity in the app, the first thing you’re greeted with under the map is an option to immediately start a clean or to turn on Agent Mode.

Agent Mode uses AI to intelligently build cleaning patterns based on the cleanliness of your home and when you typically send it to clean. After a few uses, the app will automatically set whether to just vacuum or vacuum and mop, which suction power to use, the water flow rate for mopping, and a variety of other settings you would normally set manually.

The idea is that the Yeedi M16 Infinity will learn your home and your cleaning schedules and patterns, to quickly make the process even more hands-off over time.

In my testing, this worked pretty well but I have young children, which means lots of unpredictable messes. I had to exit out of Agent Mode to manually adjust settings, probably every three or four times I sent it to clean to better suit my household's floorcare needs.

In the same place where you turn on Agent Mode in the app, you can switch tabs between the vacuum and dock settings. Up front, you can tell the station to empty the dust bin, wash or dry the mop, and both tabs take you to more advanced settings at the bottom.

This is one area where the Yeedi M16 Infinity sets itself apart from the pack. There are more options in the settings menu for both the vacuum and the dock than I’ve ever seen in all my years of testing the latest robot vacuums.

There are all the expected settings like scheduling, auto-resume, do not disturb, and more, but Yeedi also gives you several additional useful options, like letting you select the order of rooms to clean, suction settings for the type of carpet you have, and even the sensitivity of obstacle sensing.

Most people won’t need to change the default settings, but it is impressive to see just how deeply you can customize the settings on the Yeedi M16 Ultra.

Vacuuming Performance and Tests

To test the vacuuming performance of the Yeedi M16 Infinity, I ran a series of our pantry tests using sugar, lentils, and cereal to represent fine, medium, and large debris.

Starting with tiled floors, I spread a bit of granulated sugar in a small area, but was sure to put some near the edge of the wall to see how well it could reach there. The results were not surprising; the Yeedi M16 Infinity picked up all the sugar in the first pass with no issues.

One thing I appreciated is that by default, the vacuum will clean long-ways across the area, then double back and clean in a perpendicular direction. This ensured that even the sugar that had fallen into the cracks of my tile was picked up, which is not something I can say for many other vacuums I’ve tested.

The lentils were also cleared away well, though, being large, some were pushed around a bit during the vacuuming. However, it did get them all in the first pass, and there were none left behind or pinged out of the cleaning path.

Cereal presented the hardest challenge on my tile floors, but again, the Yeedi M16 Infinitely performed admirably. As with the lentils, some of the cereal pieces got pushed around a bit on the tile while cleaning, and it missed a few on the first run.

However, the vacuum continued to clean the area until all the cereal was gone. If you typically deal with larger-sized debris like cereal, our best Dyson alternatives also handle large debris quite well.

My rugs offered a bit more of a challenge for the Yeedi M16 infinity, but once again, I was impressed with the results. On the standard suction, I could still see a few sugar granules left in the carpet after the first pass, but using stronger suction, it cleaned them up fine.

Once again, the lentils were picked up with no issues. It did push a few around again, but the extra pass got everything. Vacuuming in both directions in one pass provides an extra thoroughness I don't often see with other vacuums.

As expected, cereal debris presented the toughest challenge for vacuuming on the rug, but once again, I was impressed with Yeedi M16 Infinity's performance.

I had to run two passes to get it all picked up, but nothing was left behind after the second pass. Admittedly, I also spilled more on the floor than is likely to be the case with a typical spill, but it still shows the cleaning power of this robot.

Max suction power is typically only necessary for cleaning thick carpets or rugs, but I did run it just to see how it was, and it was honestly a bit loud. Granted, it would be quieter on a thick carpet, but it was still louder than I expected it to be at 88 decibels, which is as loud as a motorcycle.

Standard suction, which is the mode I most often left it on, registered at 66 decibels via the DecibelX app.

If you're more sensitive to noise and don't have much carpet, you might prefer one of the best cordless vacuums, which often offer quieter operation on area rugs.

Mopping Performance

For the mopping tests, I used ketchup and mustard to simulate stickier substances that might trip up some robot cleaners. Also, instead of cleaning the entire floor, I did a spot clean in only the area where the stain was. I was pleased to see that you can adjust the size of the spot cleaning depending on the size of the mess.

Also, similar to the Yeedi S14 Plus from late last year, the roller mop brush extends out from the side of the vacuum to get into all the corners and edges, which was much more effective than I thought it would be.

The Yeedi M16 Infinity had no problems cleaning up the ketchup. In just one pass, it cleaned up the entire spill without any residual mess left behind. This is the first vacuum I’ve tested with a roller mop instead of a pad mop, and I have to say it makes quite a difference.

Other vacuums have still been able to clean up similar messes, but not nearly as well as the M16 Infinity. Some, like the eufy X10 Pro Omni we have reviewed, didn't manage to clear ketchup and smeared it around. This performance from the Yeedi shouldn't be underestimated.

What impressed me most about the Yeedi M16 Infinity was how well it handled the mustard. Mustard is a thicker, oilier substance than ketchup, which makes it harder to clean, and it often leaves a smell behind.

With other vacuums, it took at least two, sometimes three passes for all the mustard to be cleaned up, but the Yeedi handled it in one go. I was truly impressed with just how well it cleaned.

One thing to note is that the M16 Infinity returns to the dock to clean the mop much more frequently than other mops I’ve seen. You can adjust this a bit in the settings if you want, but personally, I prefer it. It may take a few extra minutes to finish clearing, but it ensures the mess is cleaned more thoroughly, and it helps keep the mop from staining.

Overall, it performed better than most other vacuums I’ve tested, and for mopping your floors daily, it will do a superb job. This might make it particularly useful if you have lots of hard floors or have pets to contend with when keeping your house clean.

Ease of Maintenance

One of the biggest benefits of robot vacuum cleaners is that they mostly take care of themselves, and the Yeedi M16 Ultra does just as good a job at that as all the other top robot vacuums we’ve tested.

The OMNI dock empties the dust bin and dirty water after every clean and even washes the mop roller as well. The docking area would sometimes show pet hair or other dirt left behind from the cleaning, but that stuff never ended up back out on my floors.

My wife has long hair, which can often be a robot vacuum’s biggest challenge, but after a couple of weeks of testing, I never had to cut hair off from the vacuum brushes, which proves its anti-tangle technology is working exactly as expected. Even so, regularly checking the brushes as part of regularly cleaning your robot vacuum is a good idea.

Emptying and refilling the water tanks is very simple, as they both easily slide in and out from the top of the OMNI dock. I do miss the bag-less dustbin of the Shark PowerDetect UV Reveal, as it’s easier to maintain and I have fewer parts to purchase, but having to replace the bag is just part of having a robot vacuum, and it’s certainly easier than having to vacuum the house myself.

Unfortunately, like the Shark PowerDetect UV Reveal, replacement parts are not easy to purchase directly from the app. This is likely due, in part, to how new the vacuum is to the market, and thankfully, there are easy-to-find parts on Amazon, and the app notifies you when it’s time to replace them, but it’s still a bit annoying not to be able to purchase in-app.

Overall, the Yeedi M16 Infinity, even with having to empty the bags and manage the water buckets, cut my cleaning time effort by at least 80-90%.

How Does the Yeedi M16 Infinity Compare?

The Yeedi M16 Infinity cleans exceptionally well and has more than enough features and settings to give you a fantastic cleaning setup. The launch price was $999, but we’ve seen it for as low as $599, and the current listed retail price on Amazon is $799.

That’s almost the same price as another one of our favorite vacuums, the eufy Omni S1 Pro, but the Yeedi M16 looks a bit more premium and has more features and settings options.

Another favorite, the Dreame Aqua10 Ultra, typically runs closer to $1,200, but it also includes a roller mop that physically cleans itself while in use, so it does a better job of mopping.

How I Tested the Yeedi M16 Infinity

We’ve built a robust approach to how we test vacuums to ensure that every appliance we review endures the same in-depth and unbiased performance and benchmark tests. We also live with and regularly use the products for several weeks, giving us a good look at what it's like to have them in our homes.

I tested the Yeedi M16 Infinity for about three weeks in my single-family home with two adults, two young children, and a large dog.

I used the same materials for each test, including sugar, lentils, and cereal to represent fine, medium, and large particles as well as ketchup and mustard to represent a variety of liquid stains. Noise levels were measured using the DecibelX app, and I used a mixture of the scheduling and manual cleaning modes.

This process gave me a comprehensive look at how effectively it can replace the bulk of manual vacuuming and mopping chores around my house.

Next, explore our best vacuums for pet hair to better remove dust, fur and dander from your floors.

The Shark PowerDetect UV Reveal robot vacuum uses unique technology to show you just how dirty your floors really are. It's the dream for anybody passionate about immaculate floors.

It has many of the same capabilities as the best robot vacuums available, but the added UV light helps identify and clean even the toughest stains, and ones you might not have known were lingering on your floor.

The Shark PowerDetect UV Reveal is certainly one of the more expensive options out there, but its unique features are genuinely useful, and its cleaning power is outstanding. It’s certainly not without its flaws, however.

One-Minute Summary

The Shark PowerDetect UV Reveal is designed for those who have an extra passion for clean floors. Most robot vacuums will clean the floors well, but the PowerDetect UV Reveal will actually show you the dirt and stains you can’t see as it cleans them.

Like most high-end robot vacuum cleaners, it will both vacuum and mop your floors, but I particularly appreciate how the mop actually scrubs the floor instead of simply dragging the mop pad around, as many less expensive robots do. The mop pad on the PowerDetect UV Reveal vibrates back and forth and can even extend out to the sides for robust corner cleaning.

The docking station empties the dustbin and washes the mop automatically, and I enjoy the included odor neutralizer that keeps the dirty mop water from smelling too strong when it’s time to empty.

It navigates the house well after the initial mapping run, and I was impressed with how high the body lifts up to overcome obstacles like moving from my hardwood living room to the tile kitchen. Shark’s 'NeverStuck Technology' certainly lives up to its name.

It’s not perfect, though. It’s a bit noisier than other robot vacuums I’ve tested, and its performance on carpet is less than spectacular. It also can’t map more than one floor, so if you want a multi-level cleaner, I'd recommend the Dreame Aqua10 Ultra Roller.

It’s also expensive. $1,299 is a high price for a robot vacuum when there are plenty of other models, such as the eufy X10 Pro Omni, that will clean your floors well for much less. Features like the UV detection and NeverStuck are good for pet owners or young families with lots of spills, but you’ll have to decide if it's worth the investment.

Shark PowerDetect UV Reveal: Specifications

Shark PowerDetect UV Reveal: Setup

The setup process is similar to that of almost every robot vacuum. You take everything out of the box, assemble it all, and connect everything through the app.

The box was well packaged, but I was a bit disappointed in the lack of extra parts. Shark includes one bottle of cleaning solution, which is good for one water tank, and an extra side brush, but every other robot vacuum I’ve tested has come with several spare parts.

Setting up the app took a bit longer than I expected. It took three tries for it to find my Wi-Fi and connect to it, and I was quite close to the router during setup. The process is thankfully quite simple, with only a few screens to go through, and that was the only issue I experienced during setup, but it wasn’t quite as seamless as I’ve seen previously when adding a robot vacuum to my smart home setup.

Mapping my house was fairly straightforward, and I was impressed with how well it detected my furniture. Once it has a map, you can split or merge rooms, but I couldn’t find a way to manually adjust the borders once they're set, something I appreciate about the Roborock Saros Z70. Oddly, it did ask me to remove the mop pad before doing the initial mapping, but it’s easy to reattach, so it wasn't an issue.

Shark PowerDetect UV Reveal: Design and Features

As the name suggests, the flagship feature of the PowerDetect UV Reveal is the UV light included in the front sensors. This is the first robot vacuum in the industry we've seen with a built-in UV light and is the stark upgrade from the Shark PowerDetect 2-in-1 that we tested and loved last year.

The PowerDetect UV Reveal is a little taller than some others to accommodate the UV light. There are three touch buttons on top for sending it to vacuum, mop, or return to the dock, along with the housing for the mapping sensors.

The front is where the UV light, cameras, and other sensors live that help it detect stains and navigate the house. The back is where it docks to the station to self-empty water tank and dust bin.

Underneath the vacuum lies everything you’d expect – the brushes, wheels, and mop pad – and something you might not: LED lights. The PowerDetect UV Reveal has a set of LED lights underneath that change colors depending on what it’s doing. A blue light indicates that it’s detected a stain, purple means it’s increasing suction to pick up extra dirt, and white means it's operating as normal.

You can turn both the UV light and the colored light modes off if you want, change how frequently it washes the mop pad, and set how long the mop pad should dry between uses.

While cleaning, the PowerDetect UV Reveal did an outstanding job of avoiding obstacles and cleaning the floors quickly and efficiently. It moves a bit faster than some other vacuums I’ve tested, but I didn’t notice it leaving behind dust.

The stain targeting features on the PowerDetect UV Reveal are quite impressive. When cleaning stains, it will ramp up the mopping power and circle around to target the stain area head-on. It essentially draws a box around the stain and traverses back and forth across it to make sure it’s thoroughly cleaned. The only downside is that it has to return to the dock before it comes to target the stain, but it still does a great job of it.

While vacuuming, the DecibelX app showed 66 decibels and when cleaning in the dock it showed 72 – a similar noise level to standing on a quiet street. I recommend running it during the day when everyone is out of the house.

The Shark Clean app is fairly straightforward and easy to use. You can start and end cleans across the whole house, specific rooms, or even individual stains. You can create schedules and edit the map, too.

I do wish it gave you more options for editing the map of your home, for instance, you can’t identify furniture or curtains or even adjust the room boundaries once they're set, but it still works well.

I also didn’t see anything in the app to indicate water levels or conditions of the brushes, which is a little disappointing. Even trying to purchase extra accessories through the app can be frustrating because the Shop tab takes you to the Shark homepage. I struggled to find any of the accessories, like an extra cleaning solution, anywhere on the site.

The app is also lacking some key features, such as forcing a cleaning of the vacuum or manually checking for software updates. I never experienced any issues with the app, but it's a little light on features. The Dreame Aqua10 Ultra Roller, however, provides more customization in comparison.

The docking station houses the two water tanks, along with the air freshener capsule, which is a welcome touch to reduce odors that emanate from the dirty tank.

As with most high-end robot vacuums, the dock handles emptying and cleaning the vacuum, so you shouldn’t have to interact with it until it's time for any robot vacuum maintenance.

Speaking of the dock, another unique feature of the PowerDetect UV Reveal is that, unlike most other self-cleaning robot vacuums, it does not use bags to collect the dust and dirt. There's just a large bin on the side of the dock where all the grime collects that you empty straight into the trash can. I appreciate it because while you might have to rinse it out every so often, it's one less extra accessory you have to buy.

Shark PowerDetect UV Reveal: Vacuuming

I ran our standardized vacuuming tests on the PowerDetect UV Reveal to try to get a good feel for its vacuuming capabilities. I ran the tests on hardwood and thick rugs. I tested the vacuuming capabilities using sugar, lentils, and cereal to represent fine, medium, and large debris.

The PowerDetect UV Reveal had no problems picking up the sugar, although there was some left over in the grooves of my tile floors, however every robot vacuum I've tested has had the same issue.

When I went back over it on a higher suction mode, it picked it up. Sadly, there is no option to choose a higher suction mode for spot cleanings; you can only do so for room or whole-home cleanings.

The lentils were picked up just as easily as the sugar. And, of course, since they are larger, they didn't get stuck in the grooves of the tile. The PowerDetect UV Reveal was able to pick up all the lentils along the edge of the wall with no problems as well.

The cereal was the hardest one to get, but it still performed better than I expected. It missed a few on the first pass, but picked up the rest on a second pass. It did also drop a small bunch of crushed up cereal in front of the dock as it was returning, but picked it up as it went for the second pass.

Vacuuming the same materials on soft flooring demonstrated similarly strong performance. I was impressed with how easily it picked up all three materials. It picked up the sugar on the first pass with no issues.

The lentils were picked up easily on the first pass, too. None were pushed around or spread out as it vacuumed, and it only took a couple of minutes to clean the whole area. For cleaning carpets daily, this is outstanding performance.

The PowerDetect UV Reveal also did an impressive job with the cereal. I was expecting it to push more of them around and leave quite a few more on the first pass than it did. It still took two passes to get all of it, but for smaller messes or just a few pieces it will do quite well.

In my two weeks of testing, I never had to manually clean the rollers due to pet hair or human hair being stuck in them and it certainly cut my need to manually vacuum by 80-90%.

Shark PowerDetect UV Reveal: Mopping

I used our standardized ketchup and mustard tests to vet the PowerDetect UV Reveal's mopping abilities across messes with different properties.

I used the spot cleaning mode for both messes, and the first thing I noticed was that there is no option to increase the intensity of the mopping during spot cleaning. When the vacuum first got to the stain, it seemed to evaluate the mess, then began cleaning very methodically.

It would roll over part of the mess, then stop and proceed to scrub the mop pad back and forth over where it sat to ensure the ketchup was cleaned up. It repeated this process across the entire area where the ketchup was.

It took about 20 minutes to clean the entire area, but it was done incredibly thoroughly. There was no ketchup or smears anywhere in the area.

The mustard was a bit tougher. Mustard is a thicker and oilier substance than ketchup, and it took two attempts to get it fully cleaned.

One thing to note is that sometimes the dock may not automatically wash the mop pad after a clean, particularly if it was a spot clean. The dock doesn't seem to be able to detect if the pad is dirty enough to require cleaning; it seems to judge it based on the time spent mopping.

In order to force the dock to wash the mop pad, I had to send it to mop an entire room and refill the clean water tank to full. As of publish time, an option to force the mop to the dock to clean it in the app was not available, although there may be software updates to allow that option in the future.

Overall, this is a thorough solution to mopping your floors daily, without having to do so yourself.

Shark PowerDetect UV Reveal: Maintenance

One of the benefits of paying for a higher-end robot vacuum is that they come with self-cleaning features that minimize your maintenance effort.

After each clean, the PowerDetect UV Reveal returns to the dock where it empties the dustbin and thoroughly cleans the mop pad. You can even customize how often the mop pad gets washed during a cleaning cycle and how long you want it to dry between cleans.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t automatically sense when the mop needs cleaning, which is why you need to set those cleaning cycles yourself, but that’s not a deal breaker for me. The default interval is 15 minutes, and I found that to be adequate during my testing.

The tanks are easy to empty and fill, and it manages water use well. When emptying the mop water and the dust bin, the integrated odor neutralizer was very welcome as it kept them from ever acquiring foul smells from all the dirt and grime.

The Shark Clean app seems to be somewhat unreliable when it comes to notifying you when parts are wearing out. Regularly checking the brushes when cleaning your robot vacuum is a good habit to get into.

Overall, as with most self-cleaning robot vacuums, the maintenance is minimal. You’ll need to empty and refill the water bins every two weeks or so, depending on how often you clean, while Shark claims the dustbin can go up to 60 days without emptying. After two weeks of testing, there’s still plenty of room left in my bin, so Shark's claims appear to be accurate.

How Does the Shark PowerDetect UV Reveal Compare?

The Shark PowerDetect UV Reveal proved highly effective at vacuuming and mopping, outperforming many robots we've vetted at Homes & Gardens. Its unique UV feature is genuinely useful, even if it isn't necessarily essential. It costs $1,299 at SharkNinja at full price, but is often discounted to around $950.

Our best-on-test robot, the Dreame Aqua10 Roller, does a better job at mopping and navigating, it’s quieter, and it can handle multiple levels in your home, but it costs $1,599.99 at Dreame at full price.

At the more affordable end of the spectrum, the eufy Omni S1 Pro is one of our favorite robot vacuums, and as it's been succeeded, it's often available for as low as $699.99 at eufy. It's the best we've tested on pet hair, pulling more from carpets than a full-sized canister vacuum.

The Yeedi S20 Infinity isn’t the most durable vacuum out there, but for $999.99 on Amazon (and often discounted to as low as $799.99), it has some of the strongest cleaning capabilities for the price.

How I Tested the Shark PowerDetect UV Reveal

We have a rigorous approach to how we test vacuums to ensure that every review is thorough, honest, and comprehensive.

I tested the Shark PowerDetect UV Reveal in my home, which I share with my partner, two small children, and a dog, for about two weeks. I used it daily to vacuum and mop my floors, in addition to testing specifically with sugar, lentils, cereal, ketchup, and mustard.

Next, discover which vacuums top our guides of the best vacuums for pet hair and the best Miele vacuums, after our robust testing sessions.

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The brighter, warmer days of spring have officially arrived, and while our dog walks and daylight hours are now more vibrant, our pets are preparing for the heat by shedding their winter coats.

But instead of adding mounds of pet hair to your spring clean, this year, let a robot vacuum handle it on your behalf. The eufy Omni S1 Pro has outstanding performance on fur – never tangling, and picking up large amounts, even from thick carpets.

And fortunately, it's currently reduced by a rare $800, meaning you can bring one of the best robot vacuums into your home at a stunningly low price.

The eufy Omni S1 Pro Vacuums Shed Pet Hair, Without Tangling

Cleaning up pet hair is challenging in itself, even when it isn't springtime. But as warmer weather brings shedding season, this seemingly never-ending task becomes even more difficult, and unless you have one of the best vacuums for pet hair, your vacuum cleaner might not be able to keep up.

Offloading some of this manual labor onto a robot vacuum, that cleans your floors as often as multiple times a day without any effort from you, makes it much less strenuous.

The eufy Omni S1 Pro has rubber rollers which, in the 15 months that our Head of Solved Punteha van Terheyden has been using it, have never once wrapped with hair.

'My home has a mix of thick rugs, carpets, and hard floors, and the eufy Omni S1 Pro continues to surprise us by how much fur it vacuums from every surface,' Punteha told me after spending more than a year with the premium robot vacuum cleaner.

And as nature-bound dog walks are becoming more appealing, the eufy Omni S1 Pro can also keep up with muddy pawprints, with highly effective stain removal that leaves floors dry within minutes.

All prices were correct at the time of publication.

More to Shop

To help with the pet hair cleanup this spring, here are a few more recommendations from our expert product team at Homes & Gardens.

All prices were correct at the time of publication.

Next, learn how to keep a home clean when you have pets.

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With its self-cleaning dock, rotating mop and LiDAR navigation, the eufy Omni C28 robot vacuum has the hardware to compete with vacuums, mops and hybrids that can cost considerably more. And in everyday use it largely holds its own.

For combined cleaning it performs well on hard floors and with pet hair, and it sits comfortably among the best robot vacuums for mopping.

There are a handful of sacrifices to be made, in terms of noise and fine debris, for the slightly lower 2-in-1 price, but overall the eufy Omni C28 punches above its weight in ways that matter. Read on to find out more.

The One-Minute Summary

The eufy Omni C28 is a well-built robot vacuum that punches above its weight. It handles everyday cleaning reliably, mops hard floors well and automates enough of the maintenance side of things to feel like it's earning its keep.

The dock takes care of emptying, mop washing and drying after every clean. In testing, a full week passed without needing to do anything beyond refilling the water tank, and the filters are still going strong after weeks of daily use.

Hard floors are where the C28 is the most convincing. During tests, as well as everyday use, stains were removed first time, without streaking, and the robot made vacuuming larger debris look easy. It was particularly good at handling pet hair and dander on both hard floors and when cleaning carpets, especially on deep clean mode. Fine debris like sugar was more hit and miss but setting the robot to double up its run easily solved that.

The app is clean and easy to navigate once you're familiar with it, although it can feel a little sparse on finer controls. There's no per-room suction adjustment, for instance, which feels like a missed opportunity at this price and it's not possible to just mop – only vacuum then mop. The dock is chunky and needs a permanent home with clear space around it but it's notably more compact than some rivals including the Roomba Combo Max 705. If space is tight, the slimmer Roborock Q7 M5 is worth considering.

At $799.99 the Omni C28 represents solid value for a robot with this level of automation and mopping capability. You're paying for a machine that reduces the cleaning load rather than adding to it, and for most homes it delivers on that. If the price is still a stretch, the C28's sister robot, the eufy Omni S1 Pro is a close alternative worth looking at.

eufy Omni C28: Specifications

eufy Omni C28: Setup

Setting up the eufy Omni C28 is easy because eufy packs everything neatly in the box. The robot, Omni Station, water tanks and documentation all sit in separate layers so lifting out each component takes seconds and assembly takes minutes.

The dock itself just needs its detachable base clipped into place and the protective films removed before putting it in place. Eufy recommends leaving 0.5 meters on either side and roughly 1.5 meters in front so I placed mine along the side of my kitchen island which left enough room for the robot to dock and leave comfortably.

As soon as you place the robot on the dock it powers on automatically and begins charging. A full charge takes around 3.5 hours, although the robot began its mapping run well before reaching full battery during our setup.

Next comes the smart home setup. Download the Eufy app, connect to a 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi network – the app is very particular about this – and follow the pairing prompts. In my case the robot appeared in the app instantly and connected on the first attempt, which is rarer than it should be when setting up robot vacuums. At no point did I experience errors or the frustrations I've had with other robot vacuums recently – namely the Roomba Max 705.

Once connected, the C28 performs a mapping run to learn the layout of your home. This first pass scans the space rather than cleaning it, using the robot’s LiDAR navigation system.

I opened all the interior doors and moved a few shoes and cables out of the hallway before starting the run and the robot worked methodically around the rooms, tracing walls first before filling in the center of each space in about 20 minutes. It created a clean floor plan that required only a few small boundary adjustments.

After the map appears in the app, you can divide rooms, draw no-go zones and customise cleaning preferences before starting the first proper clean. The room layout looked accurate from the start, and drawing a no-go zone over the dog’s water bowls took only a few seconds.

The final step involved filling the clean water tank and the eufy Omni C28 was then ready to start deep cleaning my home. This whole process took no more than 30 minutes, including the detailed mapping run.

eufy Omni C28: Design and Features

The Eufy Omni C28 looks like a typical robot vacuum – a low, round disc with a LiDAR turret on top. This turret is fixed in place, unlike the retracting turret on the Dreame Aqua10 Ultra Roller, which can prevent the C28 from cleaning under low-profile furniture.

There are two physical buttons – one to start and stop the robot and one to make it return to the base. There's additionally a panel on the top of the robot which hides a small compartment that clips in and out and which houses the onboard filter.

Flip the robot over and you'll find two counter-rotating brushes that pull dust, dirt and trapped debris from corners toward the center suction channel. A wide main mop roller then sits top-center.

This roller spins as the robot moves which means it cleans dirt from hard floors, rather than dragging it, and retracts fully to keep the wet mop off your carpets as the robot moves between rooms.

Navigation comes from the LiDAR sensor plus both front-facing and rear-facing laser sensors, which scan the room to build a 360-degree map of your home.

The dock is large and bulky, as is standard, but it takes up less space than other robot vacuums I've tested, namely the Roomba Combo Max 705. The clean and dirty water tanks sit side-by-side on top of the dock, and then the washing and drying system for the mop is built into the base. The dock handles emptying, rinsing, drying, and refilling automatically, so you rarely need to interact with the robot itself.

Most of the robot and dock's other features live inside the eufy app. The app itself is dark-themed and cleanly laid out. The home screen keeps things simple with a large card showing the robot's current status and battery level, a one-tap start button and smaller tiles below for scheduled tasks and dust bag capacity. It doesn't feel cluttered, and the most-used controls are easy to reach without digging through menus.

From the map screen you can divide rooms, draw no-go zones, set no-mop areas for carpets, and direct the robot to clean specific rooms on demand. You can also schedule regular cleans, adjust suction power, and control how much water the mop uses. It's a well-laid-out app that isn't overwhelming – like the Dreame Aqua 10's app – and doesn't take long to get comfortable with.

That said, it does have its limitations. There's no per-room suction which feels like a missed opportunity at this price. If you want more power in the kitchen and less in the bedroom, for example, you're running them as separate cleans. There's also no option to just mop – you either set it to vacuum, or vacuum them mop. Neither issue is a dealbreaker but they are a little disappointing.

If you'd rather skip the app, or want more hands-free control, the C28 additionally works with Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant. To set it up, open the eufy app, tap the menu in the top left corner, and select Smart Integrations – from there, on-screen instructions walk you through linking whichever assistant you use.

What Is the eufy Omni C28 Like to Use?

Day-to-day, the C28 is a largely (and thankfully) hands-off machine. Once the map is built, the app becomes the main way to run it and it's straightforward enough that most settings are easy to find without much poking around.

You can switch between House, Room, and Zone cleaning modes, adjust suction across three levels, and set the mop's water flow to low, medium, or high. Scheduling works across any day of the week, and a Do Not Disturb window silences the robot and pauses automatic dust collection during set hours.

This is handy if the station lives near a bedroom or you'd rather not hear it cycle at 6am because it's not the quietest of robot vacuums I've tested.

At 57dB on Quiet mode, the robot is silent enough to clean carpets during a call or in the background while working. Turbo and MAX modes are noticeably louder – 69dB and 73dB respectively – which is more in line with a traditional vacuum and much more noticeable, although not distractingly so.

The loudest the eufy Omni C28 gets is when it's emptying the dustbin, pushing the decibels up to 85dB on average, but it's a short blast rather than a constant noise. Then, a loud noise comes from the dock as it cleans the mop before the station starts humming as it dries the mop. This hum isn't loud but it lasts for hours and once you notice it, it's hard to ignore it.

The map the eufy app builds is detailed and, in testing, matched the actual layout of my home well. We have a drum kit in the living room and while other robot vacuums have struggled with navigating it, the eufy Omni C28 had no problems mapping the correct shapes.

Rooms divide automatically, and while the labels it assigns aren't always intuitive, a few minutes spent tidying the floor plan before the first full clean pays off. No-go and no-mop zones draw directly onto the map and stay put between sessions. From there the robot works methodically, moving in tight rows rather than the erratic bounce-and-correct approach of older models – you can see it making progress rather than wondering where it's going.

Obstacle avoidance is decent but not foolproof. It handles chair legs and furniture bases reliably, slowing and steering around them without fuss. Smaller things on the floor, like messy cables or a shoe left in a doorway, are less consistently spotted and can cause it to stall or reroute. During one test, it managed to pick up my son's headphones – the cable was hanging over the edge of a windowsill – and dragged them around until I noticed.

The bumper manages the odd light contact without drama, and furniture rarely ends up shifted. Crossing between hard floors and rugs is smooth and despite having a tall threshold between the Karndean flooring in my kitchen and the solid wood of my hallway, the robot handled it without problem.

The carpet detection sensor does its job well, lifting the mop pad before the robot moves onto carpet rather than dragging it wet across the pile. Other models, namely the Roborock Q7, have in the past smeared stains onto my carpet after mopping.

Battery life is one of the C28's stronger points. Eufy quotes 251 minutes on Quiet suction in vacuum-only mode, and in testing this stood up, lasting over four hours – enough to cover our home in a single pass. Mopping brought that down to a little over two hours on the same setting, and MAX suction with mopping dropped it down to an hour and 10 minutes. It should also be noted that if the battery gets too low, the robot will return to the base to charge automatically before picking up where it left off.

If I was being picky, the app sends too many notifications for my liking. There are water refill reminders, low battery alerts, clean complete, all of which are useful at first – especially if it's something you need to intervene on – but can become annoying and there's no obvious way to dial back which alerts you receive. Other than turning them off completely, which is also not ideal.

eufy Omni C28: Vacuuming Tests

To test how well the Eufy Omni C28 vacuums, I ran a standardized set of tests on both hard floors and carpet, using sugar for fine debris, lentils for medium and cereal for larger pieces.

When cleaning hardwood floors and kitchen laminate, the results were mixed. Lentils and cereal were both picked up cleanly without being flung across the room. The cereal in particular was dealt with better than expected and rather than being crushed and left as dust on the floor, most pieces were lifted whole on the first pass. A few were nudged briefly before being collected, but very little was left behind.

Around the edges and baseboards, which can be one the hardest cleaning tasks to get right, the side brushes did a great job of sweeping debris inward rather than scattering it.

Similarly on carpet, lentils and cereal fared well, though not quite as cleanly as on hard floors. Coverage was consistent enough that a second pass wasn't always necessary and pet hair on deep clean mode was a genuine surprise on both hard floors and low-pile rugs . On thicker carpet, surface hair was removed well, although deeper strands occasionally needed a follow-up to remove the dander.

Across both hard floors and carpets, however, the Omni C28 struggled to pick up the sugar. In fact, it left large amounts of it behind – you could see the lines of the brushes running through it, leaving a pattern rather than a clean floor. A second pass improved things, but it never fully cleared and I had to manually sweep the floor to get rid of it.

One thing to note is that the eufy Omni C28 cannot handle is small rugs. I have a thin mat by my back door and it got caught in the rubber brush roller repeatedly to the point I had to remember to remove it before each clean.

All in all, the C28 reduced the need for manual vacuuming by around 60% over my testing period. Hard floors and rugs were handled well enough that I didn't have to vacuum everyday, although carpeted areas still benefited from a weekly run with a full-size vacuum, particularly for fine debris and dust.

eufy Omni C28: Mopping Tests

To test how the eufy Omni C28 handles stains and spills, I ran standardized tests on hard flooring using ketchup and mustard.

Both performed well – among the best mopping results I've seen from a robot vacuum at this price. Ketchup lifted cleanly on the first pass with no streaking and no residue left at the edges.

Mustard, which is thicker and oilier and is usually more likely to leave a trace, was handled just as well – gone in a single run without needing to send the robot back. In both cases the rotating mop lifted rather than smeared, which sounds like a low bar but is something a surprising number of robot mops still get wrong.

In everyday use, fresh spills like drink splashes, muddy paw prints, and general kitchen mess were also reliably cleared in one clean. The one failure was a dried coffee stain near my bin, which the C28 didn't – and couldn't – shift. No matter how many times I sent it over the stain.

The best way to get streak-free floors is to add a cleaning solution to the clean water tank before each run. Eufy's own floor cleaning solution costs $20.99 and is sold separately; the brand doesn't include it in the box as standard. You can technically use any compatible floor cleaner, though doing so could invalidate the warranty so approach with caution.

Considering Dreame gives you its standard solution and pet-friendly solution (plus spares of each) with the Dreame Aqua10 this felt a little tight.

For a home that's mostly hard floors, the mopping performance and stain removal makes a strong case for the C28. I barely needed to manually mop at all during the testing period and that's not something I can usually say about many robot vacuums, let alone ones at this price.

eufy Omni C28: Maintenance

For a robot at this price, the expectation is that it largely takes care of itself and for daily use, the C28 mostly delivers.

After each clean, the robot drives back to the dock where it automatically empties its dustbin into a built-in dust bag, washes the mop using water from clean water tank, and pumps the dirty water into a separate wastewater tank.

In practice though, this means the station stops odors and prevents mold from building up on a damp roller, and you can run the C28 daily without much hands-on intervention. The only real maintenance is emptying and refilling the tanks every few days depending on how hard the robot is working. You can check in on the status of maintenance, and keep track of any errors in the app if your robot vacuum keeps getting stuck or isn't working as it should.

The DuoSpiral brushes are designed to reduce tangling, and they do fare better than a single, but in a home like mine with long hair and pets, the rolling brush still needed attention every few days or so. It's not a difficult job, but it's a chink in the otherwise almost flawless armor of this robot's hands-free nature.

Beyond this, the app tracks all of the robot's components through its Accessory Services screen. This shows how much each part has been used – via a percentage – and how long it is until it needs replacing. Knowing how to clean a robot vacuum is important, especially if you want to extend its lifespan so this a small but useful addition. It won't reduce the physical work of replacing the parts, but it takes the guesswork out of knowing what needs attention.

How Does the eufy Omni C28 Compare?

the eufy Omni C28 is a mid-range vacuum cleaner that, on test, demonstrated the ways in which it outperforms many high-end robot vacuum cleaners.

The Omni C28 appears to be a stark upgrade from the eufy X10 Pro Omni, our favorite mid-range model thus far. Surprisingly, the Omni C28 can be found at a similar price when on sale, despite its stronger performance across the board. Find it for around $499.99 to $799.99 at eufy.

The eufy Omni S1 Pro has long been our favorite from the brand. The Omni C28 has stronger suction and more thorough mopping, but the Omni S1 Pro has stronger performance on pet hair, and no hair wrap. The eufy Omni S1 Pro is available for around $700 to $900 at eufy, depending on promotions.

How I Tested the eufy Omni C28

Testing a robot vacuum properly takes time and how we test vacuums reflects that.

I tested the eufy Omni C28 over three weeks in a home with a mix of hard floors and rugs and which contains children and a chocolate labrador. During this time, it replaced my regular vacuum.

To keep performance tests consistent, I set the robot to vacuum sugar, lentils, and cereal off both hard floors and carpet, while for mopping, I tasked it with clearing up ketchup and mustard stains. Noise levels were then measured using the DecibelX app across a range of settings.

Beyond the benchmarks, I used the scheduling and manual controls in everyday use to get a realistic sense of how much the robot reduced cleaning time versus how much it added back in the form of maintenance and intervention.

Next, learn how to choose the best vacuum for every home and budget.

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I never thought I could be quite so amazed at a robot vacuum – but with its sleek design, industry-leading features, and robust cleaning skills, the Dreame X50 Ultra left me impressed.

As an interior journalist for over five years, I have seen the rise of robot vacuums, and tested three from brands Roborock and Eureka. The Dreame X50 Ultra is the first Dreame I have tested, and has quickly my favourite robot vacuum so far.

I tested it around my house for three weeks, which has both carpet and hard flooring, as well as using it in a house with pets to put it through its paces. No matter where I put it, it was a breeze to set up, thanks to its sleek app and lightweight design. Strong contender for one of the best robot vacuums we've tested.

The One-Minute Summary

More expensive than most robot vacuums, the Dreame X50 Ultra is a premium purchase. While more budget-friendly robot vacuums also come with an app, camera, and mopping functions, this has more advanced versions, along with other features that make it worth the extra money.

It's a dream at vacuuming and mopping, excelling on cleaning everyday dirt and spills. I also tested how it vacuumed up sugar and lentils, and found it quick and efficient on small and medium sized debris. However, it did struggle with larger debris, crushing pieces without proper removal. In terms of mopping, it struggled with thicker liquids, but swept through thinner, more water-based ones with no problems.

It has the world's first robotic retractable legs, which glide over obstacles up to 2.36 inches tall. It even lowers its height to smoothly go underneath areas like sofas and TV units. Plus, I loved the fact that it comes with a Dreame cleaning solution that goes in a separate slot to the water tank, allowing for an extra sparkling finish that kept my home fresh.

It also works exceedingly well as a pet hair vacuum. It has a special setting that means it takes special care to avoid pets, and even has a setting for capturing cute pictures of your pet while it’s cleaning (yes, really!). The DuoBrush also picks up short and long hair without getting tangled – I didn’t have to cut out any hair throughout testing.

Dreame X50 Ultra: Specifications

Dreame X50 Ultra: Setup

When unboxing the Dreame X50 Ultra, I was surprised at just how much cardboard there was inside the box – an eco-friendly design and recyclable, as opposed to heavy plastic and bubble wrap.

The base station is relatively light, meaning that I was able to get it out of the box without much of a struggle. After that, all I needed to do was slot in the base station panel, pour the cleaning solution into it (dust bag already intact), and plug it into the wall.

Once I’d done this, I downloaded the Dreamehome app, which had easy setup instructions. It told me where to scan the QR code to identify the model, how to turn on the robot vacuum, and what to press to connect the Wi-Fi to it. The whole process took around 15 minutes.

The robot had enough initial charge in it to start fast mapping, which took 20 minutes for my downstairs space, which has an open-plan living and dining room, a kitchen, and a hallway.

Once the map was done, I had to adjust the map to merge together the two parts of the kitchen and to rename the hallway, as it was identified as the bathroom, but this was simple and didn't take long. After this, it was easy to set it on an initial deep house clean, which took an hour.

Dreame X50 Ultra: Design and Features

The Dreame X50 Ultra has to be one of the most beautiful robot vacuums I’ve seen. It has a sleek design that will seamlessly fit into interiors, both classic and contemporary, with its grooved and metallic paneling. It also comes in white and black colorways.

Its hero feature is the industry-first ProLeap system, which allows it to lift itself over difficult obstacles and ledges up to 2.36 inches. One of my biggest annoyances when testing other robot vacuums is having to rush over when they get themselves tangled up in my rug or when they can’t make it over thresholds. No problem here, though – and the lifting got impressed ‘Oohs!’ from people I showed it to while testing.

Meanwhile, the VersaLift Navigation allows it to reach under small gaps, lowering the robot vacuum’s height to 3.5 inches. I have two sofas and a chaise lounge in my living space, and a bar cart in my kitchen space, and it was able to reach under these perfectly with this.

As well as this, its 3D structured light and AI action allow it to identify different types of objects with impressive accuracy. From this, it creates a detailed 2D and 3D map. I was impressed to see it was able to identify furniture and fabrics to avoid, as well as safely navigate around shoes (which I have a lot of in the hallway!) and charging bases.

As a person with long hair which seems to get everywhere, the HyperStream Detangling DuoBrush was an especially welcome feature. The Bristled Rubber Brush cleans hard floors, while the TPU Rubber Brush lifts larger particles and hair. The combination of these is designed to minimize tangles – and so far, I have not had to cut any hair out of it, and the brush itself has remained completely clean.

The base station packs a lot into it, despite the fact it is compact and light for a robot vacuum station. Open up the metallic panel, and you’ll find a container similar to a washing machine drawer for the cleaning solution to be poured in, which comes with it. The dust bag also comes pre-installed. Plus, while the water capacity isn’t as big as that of larger models, it still lasted me three runs before needing to be emptied.

The AceClean DryBoard allows it to quickly dry the mop pads while keeping the base station fresh. In the past, I have tested vacuums that the board has ended up catching excess dirt, and having to clean this manually myself – but even after three weeks, my white model’s base stayed pristine, as did the mop pads (apart from after the mustard mop test – more on that below).

The Dreamhome app – which is essential for using the robot vacuum – is very easy to use, with a clean interface and easy navigation. It even has a handy forum section for finding other users, which I think will definitely be useful for troubleshooting any problems.

What Is the Dreame X50 Ultra Like to Use?

When it comes to interacting with the Dreame X50 Ultra, it’s oh-so-smooth to get it to start cleaning. The app has a play button from the outset, which you can press for a quick start. Or, you can go further into the app to customise vacuuming or mopping, change the vacuum’s power, or see the maps. I found the custom button wasn’t as intuitive for me to press, with it being tucked to the left of the screen, and I felt it could have been in the lower panel.

On the app, the robot vacuum can be set to clean different rooms and zones, which is very easy to do. Whether I’ve been in a rush and needed to just clean one area before hosting or had the time to do a full deep clean, it takes seconds to get it started. It can start cleaning by using the smart home voice prompt ‘Okay Dreame, start cleaning’ – or simply by pressing the play button on the app.

The object identification is superb, with it being able to clearly find objects and swiftly skirt around them, without pushing them around – something other robot vacuums I have tested have done. It also closely cleans around these and other large objects – I was amazed at how smoothly it cleaned next to boxes, tables, and kitchen cabinets, getting right to the edge without bumping into them or causing marks.

While I don’t recommend robot vacuums for deep cleaning the home, for everyday, regular use, the Dreame X50 Ultra is excellent. In terms of picking up pieces of debris and dust, it is quick and efficient. I run regularly, so often I end up trailing mud into the house (especially in the hallway), and I haven’t accidentally trodden on any dirt. I’m also a messy cook and, once the vacuum has cleared up after me, you wouldn’t know I had been in there (well, apart from needing to clean the kitchen countertops).

The 6,400mAh battery is powerful enough for it to do up to 220 minutes of cleaning. I found on a full charge, it was able to clean my top and bottom floor. Plus, when the battery runs low, it returns to the dock to recharge and resumes cleaning from where it stopped.

It mops the floor evenly with its two circular mop pads that move deftly, making sure every corner is properly cleaned – unlike robot vacuums with just a cylinder roller mop, which just goes in a straight line. I didn’t find any streaking or uneven washing. It also lifts up the mop pads when going across my rugs, so I didn’t have to worry about them getting damp.

I also tested it in a pet household to see how it manages pet hair, and it had no problems picking this up. Speaking of the pet-friendlyness, it allows you to confirm if you have pets so it is gentler around obstacles, and can also take pictures of your pet and make them into GIFs. Yorkshire Terrier Rosie will usually bark at anything, but she only started barking when it started mopping – and even then, she stopped after a while. It also picked up pet dander and hair easily.

One minor issue I did find is that it would often circle back to areas randomly. For example, it would clean the living room, then move into the kitchen, but then return to do more of the living room, before going back into the kitchen again. This didn’t bother me too much, but it could have been annoying if, for example, I wanted to start cooking in the kitchen once it was done there, only to have it come back.

Plus, despite Dreame describing it as quiet, when testing it on the Decibel X app, it turned out to be louder than other models we have tested, at 73 decibels. I struggled to watch TV with it on and couldn't concentrate on work with it either. However, it can run while you're in another room, and even while you're out the house.

Dreame X50 Ultra: Vacuuming Tests

For the vacuuming tests, I ran the Dreame X50 Ultra by cleaning vinyl flooring and low-pile carpet. I used sugar, lentils, and hoop-shaped cereal to see how well it would come with debris of various sizes. While I knew it was excellent at everyday cleaning, these tests were very eye-opening.

With a suction power of 20,000Pa, it should vacuum up everything in its sight – and for the sugar and lentils, it definitely did this, cleaning up everything in its path. I was surprised that it didn’t go back around and fully clean them up, which I would have expected with its AI camera surely still being able to see they were still there. The flex arm also flung the lentil and sugar to the side.

In terms of cleaning the cereal, as shown in the video it crunched it up to a smaller size to try and pick the pieces up, but only did this for a few of the pieces. It also spat out cereal around the house afterwards, meaning I had to keep up cleaning after it. These were the same size as some pet treats, so I could imagine this being an issue in a pet household.

It performed the same on both the vinyl flooring and the carpet, with it not struggling on either texture. However, it did struggle to mount my rug at times, bunching up the corner for no reason – which was a surprise considering it has special lifting technology.

These tests are meant to truly test the vacuum, and it definitely fared better on smaller, day-to-day debris. It also was able to pick up pet dander effectively. For cleaning bigger debris, I always recommend reaching for one of the best cordless vacuums.

Dreame X50 Ultra: Mopping Tests

In terms of mopping, the Dreame X50 Ultra has great cleaning credentials, thanks to the removable mop pads, the specialist cleaning solution, and having MopExtend RoboSwing technology, where the robot extends a mop out and swings the back of its body towards the floor's edge to maximize what's being cleaned.​

I tested how it cleaned up ketchup and mustard – two sauces with different textures. While it cleaned the ketchup up completely, it struggled with the thicker mustard, missing parts of the mess and again not looping back to clean it properly.

The floor wasn't sticky at all on the ketchup side, but it was still on the mustard side. That being said, there wasn't a strong odor compared to when I originally squeezed the sauces onto the floor, which was impressive considering how strong mustard smells.

The beauty of the mop pads is that they’re removable. While the mop pads are self-cleaning and self-drying in the base station, this didn’t completely remove all the mustard, so I finished the job by washing by hand in soapy water and air-drying on the laundry rack.

However, in terms of day-to-day cleaning, it excels at mopping hard surfaces. It doesn’t miss a nook or cranny and leaves the floors fresh thanks to the cleaning solution. It is also brilliant at mopping at dirt from muddy shoes and paw prints. We run these tests simply to see exactly what its limitations are – and for the X50 Ultra, it's high volumes of sticky sauce.

Dreame X50 Ultra: Maintenance

The vacuuming and mopping tests provided a great opportunity for thoroughly cleaning the vacuum. Learning how to properly clean a robot vacuum is key to its performance and longevity, which is especially important when spending on one with a higher price tag, like the Dreame X50 Ultra.

The mop pads are easy to remove if needing to be cleaned manually (I recommend doing this by hand), and the set also comes with two additional mop pads. However, the base station itself also cleans and dries the pads itself.

The vacuum also comes with a special cleaning brush, which allows me to get into the crevices easily. While the vacuum’s brushes can’t be removed, the cleaning brush made it easy to scrub them. I dipped the brush in hot soapy water to clean post-testing, and the rubber material meant the dirt came off easily.

In terms of removing the dust, the base station does an efficient job of automatically emptying the robot vacuum’s contents into the dust bag every time the robot vacuum docks. While this will need replacing in time, the set does come with two extra bags. After testing it for three weeks, it is about a quarter full – but this is likely partially due to the initial deep clean it has done.

The water tanks are slightly smaller than previous robot vacuums I have tested, but this is the price of the base station being more compact and fitting more sleekly into the home. I haven’t needed to empty out the dirty water in three weeks (although I have, as the app helpfully encourages me to do so), nor have I needed to top up the water. The tanks are also lightweight, have useful handles, and sturdy clips.

How Does the Dreame X50 Ultra Compare?

With an MSRP of $1,049,99 at Dreame, the Dreame X50 Ultra is more on the premium end of the robot vacuum market – but it really does earn its price point, thanks to its clever lifting technology, high suction power, quietness, and ease of use.

Unlike our top rated robot vacuum, the Yeedi S20 Infinity, it has lifting technology and removable mop pads. It also has better suction power (20,000 Pa compared to the Yeedi S20 Infinity’s 19,500 Pa) and has a more stylish design. However, it is not as quiet, with the Yeedi being 56 decibels average, and the Dreame X50 Ultra being 73 decibels average.

It also has a lot more features than the eufy X10 Pro Omni, which is our best budget robot vacuum cleaner. They both auto-empty, are quiet, and edge-hugging, but the app and mapping aren’t as advanced, and it doesn’t have removable pads nor come with a rubber brush roll (although this can be bought separately).

How I Tested the Dreame X50 Ultra

There is a lot that goes into how we test vacuums, which includes using the robot vacuum’s app intensively, living with the product to see how it fits into everyday cleaning, and testing it in environments that might prove a challenge.

For the Dreame X50 Ultra, I tested it for three weeks, running it most days around my downstairs area, which gets the most traffic and has vinyl and rugs, as well as upstairs, which is mostly carpeted. My household has two adults – myself and my partner – and I tested it in a household with two other adults and a Yorkshire Terrier.

In line with Homes & Gardens’ robust guidelines, I tested how it cleaned a quarter cup of sugar, lentils, and cereal, testing with each type of substance individually on both hard flooring and carpet. I also tested the mopping by running two tests – first with a quarter cup of ketchup and second with the same amount of mustard.

Next, learn how to choose the best vacuum for every home – no matter your size, your surfaces, and your budget.

With its large dock, roller mop, and high price, the Dreame Aqua10 Ultra Roller is most definitely a premium appliance designed to stand out.

It comfortably sits among the best robot vacuums for mopping and it does a great job on hard floors, even if it’s less impressive and consistent on carpets.

Dreame bills its $1,599.99 Aqua10 Ultra Roller as its most advanced cleaner yet and in everyday use it largely lives up to this. It's hugely capable, it's just not without a few flaws. Read on to learn more.

The One-Minute Summary

The Dreame Aqua10 Ultra Roller is designed for people who want their floors cleaned with as little effort as possible and, in many ways, it delivers. Over four weeks of testing, it was especially impressive on hard floors, where its self-cleaning roller mop came into its own.

The continuously washed roller system – a first in the market – lifts grime rather than dragging it around, leaving floors clean without streaks or odors. This puts it closer to the results I'd expect from some of the best vacuum-mops than a typical robot vacuum. The fully automated dock, which washes, dries, and empties the machine, means you rarely have to deal with dirty water or damp pads.

Elsewhere, mapping is accurate and once set up, the robot runs largely without help. It can navigate furniture, cables and everyday clutter well, and it's great at avoiding obstacles – including pets – making it ideal for busy homes with kids, dogs and general chaos.

It's not perfect though. The app can feel busy and overwhelming at times, even for someone who has spent more than a decade testing smart home devices. Vacuuming is inconsistent; it's great on hard floors and low-pile rugs but less effective on cleaning carpets, and both the robot and the dock are bulky. With the station resembling a small piece of furniture, it may not suit small apartments or homes with limited space and the slimmer Roborock Q7 M5 may be a better bet.

In terms of value, at $1,599.99 the Aqua10 Ultra Roller is expensive. You're paying a premium for automation, advanced mopping, and reduced day-to-day effort. If you can afford it, it's worth the investment. If it's beyond your budget, the eufy Omni S1 Pro is a close like-for-like alternative that is regularly on offer, since the launch of the eufy Omni S2.

Dreame Aqua10 Ultra Roller: Specifications

Dreame Aqua10 Ultra Roller: Setup

Unboxing the Dreame Aqua10 Ultra Roller is relatively painless, even though the box itself is huge and heavy. Everything is well-organized and packed neatly so you’re not digging through a mess of loose parts, and there isn’t loads of pointless plastic either.

Even better, all the robot vacuum components – the filter, brushes, and mop rollers – come pre-installed so the "build" is quick and easy, as is filling the clean water tank and solution reservoirs on the dock. There's one reservoir for the Dreame's Standard Solution, and one for Dreame's Pet Odor version.

You get a bottle of each, plus a spare of each and all of the robot's spare components included in the box. A very welcomed touch.

In total, fully unboxing the Dreame Aqua10 Ultra Roller and dock took less than five minutes.

The smart home setup is quick, too. The Dreame Aqua10 Ultra Roller's Quick Start guide is genuinely one of the easiest I’ve used because of its simple step-by-step instructions. You don't have to flick through a full manual, navigate complex diagrams, or scan a QR code to watch a video. It takes you through downloading the Dreamehome app, finding your device, and connecting it to Wi-Fi.

At no point did I experience errors or the frustrations I've had with other robot vacuums recently – namely the Roomba 750 – and nothing that tripped me up.

Once connected, the robot does a mapping run. Mine created a decent first map in a little over 20 minutes – although it thought my garden was an extra room. It was then ready to start deep cleaning my home.

The app recommends charging the robot to 100% before running the initial deep clean, although ours managed it on 48% (the level of battery it had straight out of the box). The dock then takes care of all the prep, including washing the roller mop. All you need to do is clear the floor.

Dreame Aqua10 Ultra Roller: Design and Features

The robot itself is fairly low-profile, with a round, wide body and a smooth finish. On top, there are two physical buttons for basic controls, letting you start a clean or send it back to the dock without the app.

The navigation system sits flush to the top when not in use but rises up when it starts to clean. It can also retract this tower mid-clean if it needs to fit under low furniture, for example.

There’s then a small onboard water tank at the rear, which the dock refills automatically when needed, and a camera that lets you remotely view your home.

This is fun and it captures Pet Moments, which are cute, but this likely adds a premium to the already expensive price so you're effectively paying a privilege for something that, in real-world terms, adds very little.

Flip the robot over and you’ll find the main brush, side brushes for pulling trapped debris from corners and edges, and the cylindrical roller mop. Unlike flat pads, this roller spins as it cleans and is designed to lift dirt rather than smear it. It also cleans itself as it goes, and has a cover that automatically moves into place when the vacuum moves from hard floors to carpets to avoid stains transferring. The roller additionally sits slightly off-center, helping it achieve better baseboard cleaning and reach into corners.

Sensors and wheels are then positioned around the underside to help with navigation, and there are even "legs" that protrude from the base to help the robot climb high thresholds.

The dock itself is large and bulky.

Inside, behind a removable panel on the front, it houses the dust bag and solution reservoirs. The clean and dirty water tanks can be accessed via the top of the dock, and then the washing and drying system for the mop is built into the base.

The dock handles emptying, rinsing, drying, and refilling automatically, so you rarely need to interact with the robot itself.

Most control happens through the Dreamehome app, though. From here, you can start and stop cleans, choose specific rooms or zones, and decide whether the robot should vacuum, mop, or do both at once. You can create cleaning schedules for different days and times, set no-go zones and virtual walls, and adjust suction and water levels for different rooms, even during the same clean.

The app also lets you set up routines, such as cleaning the kitchen after meals or focusing on high-traffic areas more often. You can send the robot to clean a single spill, an entire floor, or a custom area you draw on the map. And once mapping is complete, the home layout, including walls and rooms, can be fine-tuned.

Over time, the system builds a detailed picture of how your home is used. It tracks which areas get dirty most often and can suggest more frequent cleaning in busy spaces via the CleanGenius mode.

You can choose whether to follow these suggestions or ignore them, but the option is there if you want a more hands-off approach.

Maintenance features are built into the app too. You can check the condition of brushes, filters, and bags, see when parts need replacing, and order spares directly. The robot automatically empties its on-board dust bag and cleans and dries its mop but if you don't think it's done a good-enough job, you can manage this in the app. Plus, it's a good place to start if your robot vacuum keeps getting stuck or isn't working as it should.

What Is the Dreame Aqua10 Ultra Roller Like to Use?

Around my house, the Dreame Aqua10 Ultra Roller moved carefully and slowly. It didn't rush through rooms but this meant it rarely had to double back unnecessarily. It follows logical paths, keeps good track of covered areas, and updates its map as it goes. Even after I'd moved furniture or left doors open, it adapted well without needing to completely remap.

This also meant it handled obstacles well. Despite my best efforts, shoes, toys, messy cables, and pet bowls are often left scattered around. They were always avoided rather than dragged across the floor. Very thin wires and low objects had a tendency to still trip it up, but that’s true of most robot vacuums I've tried.

Elsewhere, the robot moves well between surfaces and rooms. I have a high threshold between the Karndean flooring in my kitchen and the solid wood of my hallway. This often caused the robot to hesitate, but it always managed to scale it thanks to the "legs" that protrude and push it up and over. Even if the clattering noise as it hits the floor when the legs retract makes me jump every time.

Speaking of noise, the robot itself is easy to live with. During everyday use, it fades into the background and is quiet enough to run while working or watching TV. The dock is noticeably louder when it empties the dustbin or cleans the mop, but those moments are brief and predictable.

If I was being picky, the app is a little too busy for my liking. There's a lot going on with various options and settings spread across myriad submenus. From pet-friendly settings, to settings for different floor types, different ways to clean carpets, edge and corner settings, obstacle settings, camera and voice assistant settings and more.

On the map page alone there are nine icons in addition to the main cleaning menu, within which are five modes, four suction strengths, how wet you want the mop to be and how much pressure it should apply and more.

On the plus side, this means you can customize the Dreame Aqua10 Ultra Roller to your exact home and needs and with many of these settings, you can set and forget. But it can feel overwhelming and confusing at times.

Dreame Aqua10 Ultra Roller: Vacuuming Tests

To get a clear picture of how well the Dreame Aqua10 Ultra Roller actually vacuums, I ran a set of tests on both hard floors and carpet, using sugar for fine debris, lentils for medium, and cereal for larger pieces.

When cleaning hardwood floors and kitchen laminate, results were consistently strong. With sugar, the robot picked up almost everything on the first pass. Very little was pushed around, and only a small amount remained in tight corners, which were cleared on a second sweep. It didn’t smear or drag the fine debris, and nothing was spat back out.

Lentils were handled almost as well. Most were collected immediately, including those near the baseboards. A few were nudged forward before being picked up, but few were left behind, and nothing was flung across the room. When the robot went back to the dock to charge, a few of these lentils fell out but this is a small complaint.

Cereal was also dealt with well. The larger pieces were either run over and turned to dust, or lifted without clogging or bouncing away. Only a couple were briefly pushed ahead before being collected. Corners were less consistent, but still better than average for a robot vacuum and a quick manual sweep is enough to get rid of them.

On carpet, however, performance was a mixed bag (excuse the pun).

Sugar was mostly removed on the first pass, but some was left behind in deeper fibers. A second run noticeably improved things, although it still didn’t achieve the same finish as on hard floors.

Lentils were picked up reasonably well, but not quite as cleanly as on hard surfaces. A small number became buried in the carpet pile and needed an extra pass. None were thrown around, but the coverage wasn’t quite as good.

Cereal proved the most challenging on carpet. Few pieces were collected with several just being pushed around or crushed. The robot often seemed to get confused by the cereal and just moved in random patterns. I assume it thought they were obstacles, despite the fact the robot handles other obstacles so well, and this was annoying to say the least.

Beyond these standardized tests, edges and moldings, which can be one the hardest cleaning tasks were rarely a problem. The robot even has a little arm that extends to push the brush or the mop into the nooks.

The robot also handled pet hair well on hard floors and low-pile rugs. This is where the app's recommendations work well because it now knows to concentrate around my labrador's bed. On thicker carpets, hair was lifted from the surface, but deeper strands weren't always fully removed and I still found myself having to manually vacuum in carpeted areas to remove the dander.

In practical terms, though, the Aqua10 reduced my manual vacuuming by around 70%. The biggest reduction I've seen in all my time testing robot vacuums. I still used my regular vacuum on carpets and stairs every weekend, but for daily maintenance, the robot handled most of the work.

Dreame Aqua10 Ultra Roller: Mopping Tests

To test how well the Dreame Aqua10 Ultra Roller handles real, sticky stains, I ran two standardized tests on hard flooring using ketchup and mustard.

For the ketchup test, the robot performed well. On its first pass, the spinning roller lifted most of the stain straight away. A faint pink line was left behind in a couple of places, mainly near the edges of the roller but because the mop cleans itself as it goes, none of the residue was moved around.

The mustard test was more of a challenge for the Dreame Aqua10 Ultra Roller. Mustard is thicker, oilier and more likely to leave staining behind. On the first pass, the robot removed the bulk of the spill, but it did drag a small amount of yellow residue across the floor. I also had to send the vacuum back over the spill, this time via the Spot Clean setting with mop pressure set to high in order to lift the faint yellow that remained.

Importantly, and despite these complaints, in both mopping tests, the roller mop behaved more like a manual mop than a damp cloth. Instead of pushing liquid around, it lifted and absorbed the mess, which is something many robot mops I've tried struggle to do.

For everyday tasks, too, mopping is where the Aqua10 Ultra Roller really stands out. The powered roller and automatic washing system make a noticeable difference.

Floors consistently looked – and smelled – cleaner after a run, especially in kitchens and entryways where sticky residue and grime tend to build up. The cleaning solutions gave a light, clean scent and there were no musty or “wet cloth” smells, which can be an issue with robots that don’t dry their pads properly.

After mopping, floors are left slightly damp but not soaked. In most cases, they were dry enough to walk on comfortably within five minutes. There was minimal splashing, no clogging, no foaming and no obvious build-up of grime on the roller. Just streak-free floors.

In fact, the Dreame Aqua10 Ultra Roller's stain removal in general is excellent for a robot mop. Fresh food spills, muddy paw prints, and drink splashes were usually removed in one run.

Older, dried-on stains, especially coffee, sometimes needed a second pass, but very rarely required me to manually mop. Over several weeks of testing, I found myself mopping far less often, if at all.

Dreame Aqua10 Ultra Roller: Maintenance

One of the main reasons to buy a premium robot vacuum like the Dreame Aqua10 Ultra Roller is to cut down on day-to-day chores, not add to them and in this case, it overdelivers.

Most routine maintenance is handled by the dock. After each run, it washes the roller mop thoroughly and dries it with warm air, which stops odors and prevents mold. In everyday use, I found the mop consistently came out clean and dry, with none of the damp, musty smell that cheaper robot mops often develop. The dustbin is emptied automatically, and both clean and dirty water tanks are clearly labeled and easy to remove and refill.

Hair management is good but not great. The rubber main brush resists tangling better than bristle brushes, and during testing I rarely had to cut away wrapped hair but that doesn't mean it was faultless. With my long hair and pets in the house, I still needed to check it every couple of weeks and loosen stubborn hairs, but as a rule it performed well.

The app keeps track of wear and tear and sends reminders when filters, bags, or brushes need cleaning or replacing. Replacement parts can then be ordered directly from the app. Knowing how to clean a robot vacuum is key to extending its lifespan and with a robot this expensive, it's great to see clear instructions easily available.

And if you need to check one of the components, or replace it, access is straightforward. The underside opens easily, the roller mop lifts out without tools, and the dust filter can be rinsed under the tap.

Overall, maintenance is minimal. Aside from topping up water, emptying the dirty tank, and doing the occasional brush check, the Aqua10 largely looks after itself. For a robot vacuum in this price bracket, it offers one of the most hands-off experiences I've had, and that’s a big part of what you’re paying for.

How Does the Dreame Aqua10 Ultra Roller Compare?

The Dreame Aqua10 Roller cleans more thoroughly, and handles obstacles, navigation, and pattern-learning better than most robot vacuums we've tested. It costs $1,599.99 at Dreame at full price (but is often discounted to under $1,000).

The eufy Omni S1 Pro, another of our top picks, once cost around the same, but is now discounted to around $699.99 at eufy. The Dreame Aqua10 Roller has stronger suction, more thorough mopping, and more advanced features, but the eufy Omni S1 Pro has stronger performance on pet hair.

The Yeedi S20 Infinity is another strong alternative, costing around $899.99 at Amazon. It has a few drawbacks, notably its poorer durability, but like the Dreame it also has some of the strongest suction and deepest mopping in the robot vacuum market.

How I Tested the Dreame Aqua10 Ultra Roller

We take a methodical approach to how we test vacuums which involves in-depth and standardized performance tests, running benchmarks, and living with the product to see how it fits into everyday cleaning.

I tested the Dreame Aqua10 Ultra Roller over one month in a family home with mixed flooring, children, and a dog.

To standardize the vacuuming tests, I used sugar, lentils, and cereal on hard floors and carpet, while mopping tests used ketchup and mustard stains. Noise levels were measured using the DecibelX app, and I used the scheduling and manual functions on the app in everyday use.

This helped me focus on how often the robot genuinely replaced manual cleaning versus adding to the household chore load.

Next, learn how to choose the best vacuum for every home and budget.

The Roomba Max 705 Combo robot + AutoWash dock is one of the most powerful, but also expensive and physically imposing robot vacuums I’ve lived with.

It's up there as one of the best robot vacuums for mopping, but falls a little short at vacuuming, which is disappointing given it is not cheap.

On paper, the Roomba Max 705 Combo [at Amazon] is iRobot’s most advanced hybrid to date. In reality, its appeal is limited. Read on to find out why.

The One-Minute Summary

The Roomba Max 705 Combo is a high-end robot vacuum and mop that works best in homes with lots of hard flooring.

During my month-long test, in a house of children and pets, it was consistent at vacuuming everyday mess and was genuinely excellent at mopping. The heated roller mop cleans more thoroughly than basic pad systems I’ve used, and the AutoWash dock takes care of washing, drying, and emptying, so you don't have to rinse out mop heads or buckets each time. This makes the 705 Combo closer than most robot vacuums I've used to making mopping feel easy.

It’s not without its flaws. Vacuuming on carpet is good but not great, especially when it comes to getting rid of hidden dust and pet hair. The robot is bulky and isn’t an appliance you can put in a corner out of the way. Plus, aside from being conspicuous, its size means it struggles to clean under beds, sofas and between chair legs.

If you have a large, open-plan home with mainly hard floors, the Roomba Max 705 is a strong choice and the price will feel justified by the time it saves. However, if you have lots of carpet or pets, the eufy Omni S1 Pro is much better at handling hair consistently, and the Yeedi S20 Infinity is a great all-rounder.

Roomba Max 705 Combo: Specifications

Roomba Max 705 Combo: Setup

I should have known the Roomba Max 705 Combo was going to be a beast of a machine by how big and heavy its box was. I couldn't lift it on my own and ended up pushing it like a sled into my kitchen.

Inside, everything was well organized in cardboard boxes and sections – the robot vacuum was in one box, the dock in another, and a small plastic bag with the brushes, a replacement filter and instructions was on top. The lack of packaging generally, but especially the lack of plastic was welcomed.

The brushes don't come fitted as standard, to protect them from damage I presume, but they're color-coded and labelled clearly so it takes seconds to install them on the underside of the vacuum. The water tank and mopping heads are then already in place.

The dock similarly comes with minimal setup. Filling the clean water tank and solution reservoir takes seconds, and the dust bag (plus a replacement) are neatly where they need to be.

The StayClean cleaning solution isn't in the box as standard and you have to buy it separately ($28 from Amazon). Roomba stresses you can only use its own version in the 705 Combo but I used a DIY cleaning solution and had no issues. Just be aware that there may be warranty problems if the vacuum breaks from the use of a non-Roomba solution, so approach with caution.

In total, fully unboxing the Roomba Max 705 Combo Infinity took less than five minutes.

The app portion of the Roomba's smart home setup proved less efficient.

Despite scanning the on-board QR code the app couldn't identify the model, then couldn't connect to my Wi-Fi. After 10 minutes of troubleshooting; being asked for the Wi-Fi password repeatedly and just generally facing loading screens I ended up Googling the issue. A factory reset – which itself didn't work properly the first time – fixed things but it took a while.

Once connected, however, the app is basic – in a good way. iRobot doesn't bombard you with multiple menus, features or over-the-top design elements. Everything you need is clean, simple and within reach.

It then guides you through how to map your home. It took just over 25 minutes to map my downstairs and the resulting floor plan was pretty accurate for a first attempt. Especially considering we have a drum kit in the living room and that's not easy to navigate around. This accuracy further improves the more the robot is used.

Roomba Max 705 Combo: Design and Features

The Max 705 Combo is unapologetically large. The robot itself is wider than similarly-priced competitors, and the dock resembles a small piece of furniture rather than a charging base.

The upside is that the white model I tested, with a faux-material cover on the dock, has a surprisingly cozy modern aesthetic meaning it will suit most homes. I can't say it blends in seamlessly, given its bulk, but at least it doesn't look ugly or industrial in the process.

On top of the robot, things are kept fairly minimal. Two physical controls sit flush, allowing you to start or pause a clean (via the Power button), or send the robot back to its dock (via the Home button) without opening the app.

There’s no raised navigation module, as seen on rival models like the Roborock Q7. Instead, the LiDAR system is built into the body with cameras and sensors positioned around the front, rear and underside of the robot. There’s also the onboard water reservoir on its back, which is pretty small.

Flip the robot over and you'll see two rubber brush rollers, designed to help lift debris on hard floors and carpets while also helping reduce hair tangles.

Towards the rear is the cylindrical PowerSpin Roller Mop. Unlike flat mop pads that drag moisture behind them, this roller spins continuously and sits slightly off center to help getting into corners and edges.

On either side, edge-sweeping brushes pull trapped debris from corners and edges rather than scattering it outward.

Most of the control happens in the Roomba app, which is easy to use even if you’re new to robot vacuums. You can set cleaning schedules – the app calls them Automations – choose which rooms to clean, tell it to avoid certain areas with no-go zones, and adjust how much suction or mopping power it uses in different spaces.

If there’s a specific mess to deal with, you can also send it to clean a single room or zone rather than the whole house.

A small but useful feature is being able to identify the type of furniture you have rather than just flagging them as obstacles. The Max 705 Combo knows the difference between a table vs a sofa, for example, and even a fridge vs a cupboard and this comes in handy when setting cleaning zones, or directing the robot for spot cleans.

When the robot finishes cleaning, it automatically empties the dirtbag into the dock's dust container. In fact, if the bag gets full mid-vacuum, it takes a detour to empty it before returning to its job.

The dock also washes the mop with heated water, taken from the dock's white, clean water tank; dumps the waste water in the black dirty water tank; and dries the mop, so you’re not dealing with wet, smelly pads after each run either. There's also a small reservoir inside the white water tank where the cleaning solution goes.

Elsewhere, the app lets you enable the child lock and check on your robot's "health." The latter lists how close you are to needing to replace or clean all of the robot's parts, such as the filter, brushes, and dustbag.

This is a good place to start if your vacuum keeps getting stuck or isn't working as it should. I also like that you can order the parts directly from this screen; another small but significant touch.

Over time, the robot builds a detailed map of your home and starts to recognize high-traffic areas, using that information to suggest more frequent cleaning where it’s needed. You can accept these suggestions or ignore them; the system works either way.

Overall, the design of the Roomba Max 705 Combo is clearly aimed at substance over style. That's not to say it's ugly, and everything feels deliberate and well thought through. It has a strong focus on hands-off use too. The downside is that it means sacrificing space more than with simpler robot vacuums.

What Is the Roomba Max 705 Combo Like to Use?

Once the Roomba Max 705 Combo is set up, you don’t have to think about it much, which is exactly what you want from a robot vacuum at this price. The app is easy to use and over the testing period, I didn’t run into glitches, dropped connections, or cleaning jobs that failed to start.

The robot works room by room in neat lines and keeps track of where it’s been on the app. This makes cleaning speed steady rather than fast. A full clean of my downstairs takes around 2.5 hours depending on settings. Thankfully the battery life can more than cover this, even if the charging time of around five hours (on average) isn't ideal.

Obstacle avoidance is strong. Shoes, messy cables and pet toys were usually spotted and avoided rather than pushed around but the vacuum often got spooked by obstacles that weren't there – even highlighting these phantom objects on the app. A small, slightly weird inconvenience.

The Max 705 Combo crossed thresholds and moved between hard floors and carpets easily, but it struggled in tighter spaces. Narrow gaps under furniture and between chair legs were often skipped because the robot couldn’t fit.

And in terms of noise, during regular cleaning, the Max 705 Combo averaged around 71 decibels, which is easy to live with in another room. The dock is much louder when it empties the dustbin or washes the mop – as much as 85 decibels – but those bursts are short.

All in, the Roomba Max 705 won't be the go-to for deep cleaning your home but in day-to-day use it does a decent job of keeping on top of the dust, debris and hair until you do have time for a deeper cleaning session.

Roomba Max 705 Combo: Vacuuming Tests

For the vacuuming tests, I ran the Roomba Max 705 Combo by cleaning hardwood flooring and low-pile carpet using sugar, lentils, and cereal. I scattered a quarter cup of each across the floor, making sure some debris reached edges and corners.

On hard floors, the larger, cereal debris was handled well. Most of the Cheerios were picked up on the first pass, even pieces near baseboards. The robot didn’t fling debris around or spit it back out, although some cereal was nudged forward and pieces in the very corners of my kitchen were missed.

As the debris size decreased, though, so did the performance. The lightweight nature of the lentils meant they were flung around. I was still finding lentils in random places for days after the tests. Sugar was mostly lifted in open areas, but residue remained along edges and in corners. A second pass on both improved results, but I still needed to wipe up light traces by hand.

Carpet performance was more consistent. Lentils were collected much more reliably and sugar was removed more thoroughly, with less visible residue left behind in the edges and moldings, which can be one the hardest cleaning tasks even when done manually by the best vacuum cleaners.

Sadly this performance was let down when it came to hair. Both our chocolate labrador's short hairs, and my long hair were often left behind or ended up wrapped in the brush rollers over time. Despite the brand's tangle-free promise.

On carpet particularly, hair was lifted from the surface but not always pulled fully out of the pile and my son often complained about getting dog hairs in his Lego when building on the floor.

Over the testing period, the robot kept my wooden and Karndean floors looking tidy. I don't always have time to clean floors daily but the robot made it easy to keep on top of and reduced my manual vacuuming by more than half. On carpeted areas, regular vacuuming was still needed for deeper cleaning the pet hairs, but it was adequate for surface-level debris.

Roomba Max 705 Combo: Mopping Tests

Yet for all its all relatively minor vacuuming flaws, I can barely fault the Roomba Max 705 for mopping. For mopping tests, I used the robot to spot clean ketchup and mustard stains out of my hardwood floors. Both were left to sit for a few minutes before cleaning so they weren’t freshly spilled.

On the mustard test, the robot removed most of the stain on the first pass, lifting the bulk of the residue rather than dragging it across the floor. A faint mark remained at the edges, but the robot automatically went back over the area and cleared it on the second pass.

The ketchup stain proved more stubborn. The first pass noticeably lightened the stain but didn’t remove it, and the robot had to return to the area twice before it was mostly gone. On each occasion, though, the robot went back to its dock, washed the mop roller automatically before returning to try again. This level of attention to detail and cleanliness is unlike anything I've seen on any other robot vacuum and I'm still highly impressed.

This is also critical when you want the robot to vacuum and mop at the same time. Other models I've tested – namely the Roborock Saros – tend to drag residue on the mop pads onto carpet. I regularly had to use a stain removal pen when using the Roborock but this never happened with the Roomba Max 705 Combo.

In everyday use, the roller mop proved to be more thorough than basic drag-pad systems. Floors were left damp rather than wet and I could usually walk across then within five minutes without leaving footprints or streaks. The floors never felt sticky, even after repeated runs, and there was no lingering “wet mop” smell once the dock finished washing and drying the roller.

Like with vacuuming, the Roomba Max 705 won't replace a deep manual scrub for older or set-in stains, but for regular upkeep and fresh spills it's as close to a deep manual mop clean that I've ever experienced from a robot vacuum.

Roomba Max 705 Combo: Maintenance

For a robot this expensive, I'd expect the day-to-day maintenance to be minimal, and for the most part, it is. The AutoWash dock handles most of the heavy lifting, emptying the dustbin automatically, washing the roller mop during and after cleaning, and then drying it so you’re not left with a damp, smelly mop inside the machine.

In everyday use, this meant I could go weeks without touching the dock itself. Most of my interaction was limited to topping up or emptying the water tanks, every few cleans. Even the robot's small, built-in water tank only needed emptying once every few mops. I liked to empty it after each run, but it's nice that I didn't need to.

Despite the rubber rollers, hair did wrap around the base over time. Cutting it off isn't a huge job, but it’s not fully hands-off either, especially in my pet-heavy home. The internal dustbin very rarely clogged with hair too, before it made it to the dock, which occasionally meant popping the bin out and clearing it manually.

Plus, when there's a problem the app sends an alert and helps troubleshoot the error. Knowing how to clean a robot vacuum is key to extending its lifespan and with a robot this expensive, it's great to see clear instructions available directly in the app.

On the Support tab you'll find articles and videos for removing the brushes, accessing the bin, and cleaning sensors and rollers. Nothing feels fragile or difficult to take apart, and routine maintenance doesn’t require tools.

In the most part, maintenance is low, but not invisible. The dock takes care of a lot of the admin but it's not a miracle worker.

How Does the Roomba Max 705 Combo Compare?

It costs $1,299.99 at full price at iRobot, but is often discounted to as low as $899,99, as it is at the time of writing. It sits comfortably in the high-end bracket, but there are plenty of robots that cost more than this, notably the Roborock Saros Z70 and its mechanical arm for picking up objects.

For around the same price, the eufy Omni S1 Pro is a great alternative if you're a pet owner. It's our best-on-test robot when it comes to vacuuming fur, as its roller is great at pulling it out of carpets and avoiding wrapping with hair.

Other notable shouts are the Yeedi S14 Plus and the Yeedi S20 Infinity which, if you find on sale at the right time, can be much cheaper than the Roomba Max 705 Combo, while offering similar cleaning performance (or in the S20 Infinity's case, better vacuuming).

How I Tested the Roomba Max 705 Combo

We take how we test vacuums seriously and it involves in-depth performance tests, meticulously going through the app, running benchmarks, and living with the product to see how it fits into everyday cleaning.

I tested the Roomba Max 705 Combo over one month in a family home with mixed flooring, children, and a dog.

To standardize the vacuuming tests, I used sugar, lentils, and cereal on hard floors and carpet, while mopping tests used ketchup and mustard stains. Noise levels were measured using the DecibelX app, and I used the scheduling and manual functions on the app in everyday use.

This helped me focus on how often the robot genuinely replaced manual cleaning versus adding to the household chore load.

Next, learn how to choose the best vacuum for every home and budget.

As a seasoned shopping editor and product tester, there's one bit of advice I tell everyone when Black Friday comes around: Use it to your advantage and buy something worthwhile.

And what's more worthwhile than a gadget that will genuinely free up hours of your time every week? That's what the Yeedi S20 Infinity, discounted by $700 at Amazon will do, keeping your floors spotless without you having to reach for your own vacuum.

It's the best robot vacuum we've tested, vacuuming and mopping floors so thoroughly that your weekly cleans will be nothing in comparison.

The Discounted Yeedi S20 Infinity Will Give You Hours Back Every Week

The Yeedi S20 Infinity impressed across the board during our testing, vacuuming everything from fine dust to large food crumbs, and leaving the floors sanitized and streak-free after mopping.

It does this almost entirely autonomously. The robot maps your home, then you set schedules on the app – from multiple times a day to once or twice a week – and the robot will go from room to room, cleaning everything in its path.

This is the true benefit of a robot vacuum. Feeling free to walk around barefoot in your home, even when living with pets or kids who love to make a mess, without having to do the cleaning, really transforms your life.

And, with this limited-time Black Friday offer, snapping it up for $700 less than its usual cost will not be a decision you regret.

No more having to get your best vacuum out every time you see crumbs, or having to mop the floors when the dog tracks in muddy paw prints. You'll still benefit from doing weekly deep house cleans, but they'll be much less arduous, as part of why they're so time-consuming is the accumulation of dirt and grime around the house.

And one of the reasons why the Yeedi S20 Infinity is our best on test is because it uses a specialized cleaning solution to mop the floors. Most robots just use fresh water, which doesn't really sanitize the floors.

But the Yeedi S20 Infinity makes the floors more hygienic. It also has 19,500Pa suction – higher than almost every other robot vacuum on the market – that, on test, proved to be incredibly effective at pulling dirt, dust, and hair out of every floor, even carpets.

This robot vacuum's deep cleaning capacity frees up hours of your week that you otherwise would've spent on chores, suddenly being freed up to spend on more meaningful time at home, with the family, or relaxing after work.

I've also spoken with dozens of consumers when hunting down the best vacuums for pet hair, to see what proven methods people have at home for dealing with the constant battle against shedding fur. And one answer reigned supreme: Using a robot vacuum cleaner.

As it's picking up loose hairs every day, and doing so before the hairs have been set into carpets by people repeatedly walking over them, you're not dealing with layers and layers of pet hair.

You won't need to spend nearly as long vacuuming pet hair, not only because there'll be fewer hairs there, but because they'll mostly be recently shed.

The Yeedi S20 Infinity is discounted to $899.99 at Amazon, from $1,599.99.

More to Shop

We've tested 24 robot vacuums at Homes & Gardens, and here a few more of our favorites, which also happen to be on offer this Black Friday.

All prices correct at time of publication.

Next, see the Black Friday home deals that our shopping editors love.

The Yeedi S20 Infinity is part of the premium, flagship genre of robot vacuums, with high price points that may not appeal to everybody. But if you're looking for genuine hands-free cleaning, this is worth the spend.

It runs more quietly than the best robot vacuums out there, and it does an outstanding job vacuuming and mopping, doing much of your home's deep cleaning for you.

It uses cleaning solution, which is something that I wish more robot vacuums would do. After all, you wouldn’t mop your floors with plain water, so why would you have your robot vacuum do the same? The Yeedi S20 Infinity [at Amazon] is also Matter-certified, meaning it can connect to any smart home system out there. Read on to find out why I rate it so highly.

The One-Minute Summary

It can be tough to recommend a premium product sometimes, because as good as they are, they’re expensive and there are cheaper models that often punch above their weight. That’s the case for the Yeedi S20 Infinity.

The Yeedi S20 Infinity [at Amazon] performs better than most of the competition. It runs very quietly while still doing a stellar job vacuuming and mopping. It also has a very long battery life and has most of the features one could think of, including being able to connect to any smart home ecosystem.

That being said, it’s pricey, and the Yeedi S14 Plus is much cheaper and covers 90% of the same territory. You’ll have to decide if paying the difference is worth the smart home support and the deeper clean owed to higher suction and dedicated cleaning solution.

The Yeedi S20 Infinity is available for $1,599.99 at Amazon.

Yeedi S20 Infinity: Specifications

Yeedi S20 Infinity: Setup

When unboxing the Yeedi S20 Infinity robot vacuum, I was struck by how little assembly was required, but also how tedious certain aspects of it still are. When I pulled everything out of the box, the side brush was already installed on the robot vacuum itself. In fact, on the unit, all I had to do was remove some plastic wrapping and the foam lining.

The base station took a little more work, however. The whole thing is on the heavier side so it takes a bit of muscle to get it out of the box, and there’s a base plate that needs to be installed.

Everything is covered in clingy plastic that needs to be peeled off section by section. While I appreciate the fact that it’s there to keep the base station safe during transport, it does mean a little extra work to unbox, and it isn't the most eco-friendly design choice. In total, fully unboxing the Yeedi S20 Infinity takes maybe five minutes.

Setting it up is fairly straightforward. Besides powering the base station and the robot vacuum, most of the work is during the app and smart home setup, which mostly consists of following the on-screen prompts, though you do need to pair the robot vacuum (there’s a button to hold down next to the power slider) and you should know the WiFi info of the network you’ll be connecting to.

Of course, it’s not fully set up at this point, as it needs to map your home. Getting it to do so is a press in the app, but it takes some time to go from room to room and map out the floor plan. I found that once that’s done, the map created is fairly accurate. It’s worth noting that you can’t fully set up the Yeedi S20 Infinity robot vacuum without a smart phone.

Before running, you'll need to fill up the clean water tank and the regular and hard cleaning solution reservoirs if you chose to get them, as they’re an additional purchase.

Yeedi S20 Infinity: Design and Features

The Yeedi S20 Infinity follows the looks of most of the other Yeedi robot vacuums I’ve tested. Its colorway is a black and gray affair with splashes of red, usually on levers or buttons. The robot vacuum itself is flat on top – great for fitting under furniture where dust tends to build up – with a removable faceplate that hides the power slider, pairing button, and onboard dustbin.

There’s also the onboard water reservoir on its back, which is pretty small. Where this robot vacuum is a little different than most, though similar to other more premium models from Yeedi, is how it’s arranged underneath. The brushroll used is the kind of anti-tangle one I see a lot with alternating lines of brushes and silicone that’s good for dealing with lots of hair, especially as a vacuum for pet hair. There’s just one side brush, which has a unique angle to push debris in front of it instead of kicking away.

And the Ozmo Roller 2.0 mopping roller brush is probably the most innovative improvement that I’ve seen on a robot vacuum. Not only does it extend out to mop edges, but its form factor means that it’s spinning but doing so in a forward to back motion instead of a circle like most mop pads that spin. This means that it mops up spills instead of moving contents around.

While you can control the Yeedi S20 Infinity through the app, and there’s plenty of fine tuning such as turning off the voice that announces every little thing the robot vacuum is about to do or scheduling cleaning, this robot vacuum supports the Matter smart home standard. This means that it can be connected to just about any ecosystem and voice assistant you use.

The base station also holds a few important design improvements and features. Notably, it holds both regular and heavy-duty cleaning solution, for different spills. The base station will also wash and dry the mop regularly during and after cleaning. Also worth noting is that while you do have to buy those cleaning solutions separately (both the regular and heavy duty solution is available at Amazon), you won’t have to buy dust bags as the base station’s dust bin is a removable, reusable canister that can easily empty into the trash the one time a month it’s required.

A little less impressive are the size of the water tanks. It’s not a dealbreaker, but the robot vacuum likes to wash its mop fairly regularly so under default conditions, I have to fill up the clean water tank and empty the dirty water tank every two to three uses.

What Is the Yeedi S20 Infinity Like to Use?

When it comes to interacting with the Yeedi S20 Infinity, I find using it to be on par with any other recent robot vacuum I’ve used. While there’s a button on the vacuum itself that will set it to start cleaning, this is the kind of device where I instinctively turn to the app for whatever I plan to do, whether that’s creating a schedule or choosing the parameters of a cleaning.

Adjusting the parameters is easy per usual as everything is in a menu that you can pull up from the bottom. Choosing vacuum and mopping strengths and the number of passes gives quite a bit of flexibility. However, if you don’t want to think about it, there is an AI mode that will adjust on the fly, which makes things more intuitive.

While I don’t recommend robot vacuums for deep cleaning your home – even when they’re as powerful as this one – in its day-to-day use, I’ve found the Yeedi S20 Infinity to do a fantastic job of keeping dust and debris off the floor. Pet dander, little pieces of food, and random dust all get sucked up for a floor clean enough that I don’t mind walking across it barefoot.

I was also impressed by how silent this robot vacuum is. The last robot vacuum I tested was the Yeedi S14 Plus, which I already found to be on the quiet side. The S20 Infinity is even quieter (unless you have it at max vacuum suction settings), running at around 56 dB. Of course, the self-emptying on the base station is louder at 76 dB but that takes a very short amount of time.

The object avoidance was good as it recognized objects quickly and navigated around them. Plus, you can toggle a setting in the app to take a wider berth to objects – essentially an “avoid hitting my dog” button.

It mops the floors evenly with its wide, six-inch cleaning path. I didn’t find any streaking or uneven washing, and as I’ve used this robot vacuum on carpet, I didn’t have to worry about the roller getting the carpet wet as it automatically lifts up when used.

Lastly, since I used the Yeedi S20 Infinity in a carpeted room that was on a different floor, it had to last at least half an hour of testing without using up too much battery. And since the battery life its very long, rated at 254 minutes, it’s not something I had to worry about. Of course, it does have fast charging to the tune of 6% of the battery in three minutes if you somehow manage to run that battery out.

The Yeedi S20 Infinity is available for $1,599.99 at Amazon.

Yeedi S20 Infinity: Vacuuming Tests

For the vacuuming tests, I ran the Yeedi S20 Infinity by cleaning hardwood flooring and low-pile carpeting. I used flour, sugar, lentils, and cereal to see how well this robot vacuum would do with debris of various sizes. While it had already done a good job with dust and pet dander, using these controlled tests was illuminating in a way I didn’t expect.

The Yeedi S20 has 19,500Pa of suction, which means that it should vacuum everything up in its path without mercy. While it certainly does have powerful suction, it still had some areas it struggled in.

Now, it sucked up the lentils and cereal with aplomb, besting the Yeedi S14 Plus that tended to shoot lighter particles like lentils out like it’s playing hockey. And it did so effectively on both hard and carpeted flooring.

It handled getting pieces of debris at the edges well on hardwood, though it struggled a bit on carpet between the carpet and the molding, which is one of the hardest cleaning tasks and not something I can really hold against the robot vacuum.

That brings up probably the most important point for a flagship robot vacuum, and that’s the fact that no matter how powerful one is, it can’t beat manual deep cleaning with your best vacuum cleaner. Whether it’s cleaning up lentils at the edges of my carpet, mopping up large amounts of ketchup, or getting a bunch of flour and sugar, most robot vacuums aren’t going to be able to spot clean a big mess as easily as I can with a regular vacuum.

Vacuuming up sugar and flour definitely highlighted that shortcoming as well as any other test or observation. Namely, the Yeedi S20 Infinity took a long time and multiple passes to mostly suck up these smaller particles on hard flooring as it did on carpeting. However, it did better on carpeting as it mostly captured all the sugar and flour, while I had to manually clean up some remnants on hard flooring even after two passes.

Yeedi S20 Infinity: Mopping Tests

When it comes to mopping, the Yeedi S20 Infinity has a leg up on most other robot vacuums. It’s actually surprising how few robot vacuums use additional cleaning solution, considering the goal is clean floors. Along with the eufy Omni S1 Pro, the Yeedi S20 Infinity is one of the few.

Also in its favor is its “Ozmo Roller 2.0” brushroll, which rolls the same way as a regular brushroll as opposed to either a flat pad that’s pressed against the floor or the spinning round mop pads that a lot of premium models come with.

This roller then combines the even cleaning surface of the former flat pad and the spinning pressure and motion of the round mop pads. It’s the best of both worlds and it showed in our mopping tests.

The Yeedi S20 Infinity sucked up the mustard and ketchup that I set out in front of it quickly and in one pass. Now, this isn’t a true replacement for the best vacuum-mop combos, despite the marketing, as it does get overwhelmed a bit with a lot of liquid. In this test, even though it did two passes and got most everything it was supposed to, it did still leave thin lines of mustard and ketchup at the edges of its cleaning path.

It did at least get to the edges of the room with some ketchup I had squirted over there. And it left the rest of the floor outside of the remnants it left behind very clean. While another pass would have probably gotten the rest of what was left, I was impressed with its mopping skills.

The Yeedi S20 Infinity is available for $1,599.99 at Amazon.

Yeedi S20 Infinity: Maintenance

The aforementioned vacuuming and mopping tests provided a good chance at looking under the hood. After all, learning how to clean a robot vacuum is going to affect its performance and longevity.

Luckily, it’s mostly straightforward. The brushroll and the cage that contains it are easy to remove, making it easy to get to anything that gets tangled in there. A filter that sits behind the Ozmo Roller 2.0 mopping brushroll comes out just as easily to be emptied out and cleaned.

Outside of that and the filter inside the robot vacuum’s own dustbin, none of the other parts are easily removable, if removable at all. That mopping brush may get washed and cleaned in the base station, but the area behind it is basically inaccessible to clean. And when you’re mopping up a bunch of ketchup and mustard, you’re probably going to have to clean the underbelly of this robot vacuum somehow.

As far as the routine maintenance goes, the base station does a good job of automatically emptying the robot vacuum’s contents into its own dustbin every time the robot vacuum docks. And that dustbin is big enough that it will only need emptying once a month. I also appreciate that it's a canister and not a dust bag that eventually needs replacing, with more recurring purchases.

The water tanks are a little bit smaller than average. I have filled up the clean water tank after every other clean and emptied the dirty water tank almost as much. I do appreciate the fact the Yeedi S20 Infinity always washes and dries its mop roller, but it’s probably a major reason why it runs through water so quickly.

How Does the Yeedi S20 Infinity Compare?

With an MSRP of $1,599.99 at Amazon, the Yeedi S20 Infinity robot vacuum fits into the premium flagship level of robot vacuums, not only for its price but also its feature set. Not only is there the high suction vacuuming and spinning brushroll for mopping, but Alexa and Google Support are built in as is the ability to use two actual cleaning solutions. It's often discounted though, as it is now at the time of writing, with almost a third off the full asking price at Amazon.

The Yeedi S14 Plus is an interesting comparison, mostly because its MSRP of $1,199.99 is also out of reach for many, but the frequently discounted price of $549.99 puts it within reach of those that are price conscious. You don’t have any smart home ecosystem support and you can’t use a cleaning solution, but it’s still a very solid option that will get you most of the way there for a much smaller spend.

The Eufy Omni S1 Pro has a similar MSRP to the S20 Infinity, but is often discounted to as low as $900. It also uses cleaning fluid to help with mopping but doesn’t have the suction power of either Yeedi robot vacuums.

How I tested the Yeedi S20 Infinity

There is a lot that goes into how we test vacuums, which includes going through the app with a fine tooth comb, running benchmarks, and simply living with the product to see how it fits into everyday cleaning.

For the Yeedi S20 Infinity, I used it for a week running it every day in an area regularly occupied by five adults, two French Bulldogs, and a reclusive cat. I ran it typically with vacuum and mop functionality together, though I’ve run it with just one or the other for testing.

As far as targeted tests go, I tested it using a quarter cup of sugar, lentils, and cereal, testing with each type of substance individually on both hard flooring and carpet. I also tested the mopping by running two tests, first with a quarter cup of ketchup and second with the same amount of mustard.

The Yeedi S20 Infinity is available for $1,599.99 at Amazon.

Next, learn how to choose the best vacuum for every home and budget.

Shark has introduced an upgrade to the best-selling PowerDetect 2-in-1 robot vacuum range. The new PowerDetect ThermaCharged promises cleaner floors and fewer odors than previous Shark robots, leaving homes feeling spotless without having to lift a finger.

Now with heated mop washing and drying, the robot cleans floors with a roller that's always freshly sanitized, and banishes the nasty smells that come from leaving it dirty. And for the new release, Shark has discounted the PowerDetect ThermaCharged by a huge $400.

If you've been waiting for the chance to free up hours of your precious free time, this is it. The Shark PowerDetect was already one of our best robot vacuums after testing, and this new model is an upgrade that costs $100s less.

The Shark PowerDetect ThermaCharged Robot Vaccum: Everything You Need to Know

The PowerDetect ThermaCharged upgrades from the previous PowerDetect robot vacuum with heated mop washing and drying, promising cleaner results than all other Shark robots. Washing the mop with 185°F and drying it with 175°F air, it prevents the growth of mold, bacteria, and odors that thrive in cold, wet conditions.

It also comes in a new colorway, in a sleek but subtle black and gold. As a robot vacuum and its station are on show in your home at all times, it's a nice touch to go for one with more of a lush aesthetic.

Otherwise, its specs are the same as the model we tested – and we love how low-maintenance it is. It's designed to do as much of the work as possible, emptying its own debris and navigating around obstacles effortlessly.

It can vacuum and mop your floors so thoroughly that it removes old stains from hard floors, and pulls dust and debris from carpets. It even lifts itself over small thresholds and obstacles so that it hardly ever gets stuck, so you can confidently leave it running while you sleep and wake up to spotless floors.

The Shark PowerDetect ThermaCharged Robot Vacuum and Mop is discounted to $799.99 for a limited at SharkNinja.

What to Shop

A robot vacuum handles floorcare for you, freeing up your time while revolutionizing the amount of effort required to maintain our homes. We've tested 82 of the best vacuums and robot vacuums and here a few more of our top recommendations.

All prices were correct at time of publication.

Next, see why we rate the best Dyson alternatives and the best vacuums for pet hair so highly after our test sessions.

Like washing machines and dishwashers before it, the robot vacuum has given us back hours that would otherwise be spent on chores. You can now enjoy daily vacuuming and mopping without lifting a finger.

But they can be expensive, so when the big sales come around, I always shout about robot vacuum deals to anyone who wants an easier life at home. The Yeedi S14 Plus is discounted right now by a huge $700 for a limited time. Grabbing this early Amazon Prime Big Deal Day offer makes it significantly cheaper to reap the benefits of this award-winning technology.

Of the 22 we've tested, the Yeedi S14 Plus is easily one of the best robot vacuums, and it's never been cheaper than this.

The Yeedi S14 Plus will free up hours of weekly chore time

They're only small, but robot vacuums have evolved to house powerful motors and fast-spinning mop pads to leave our floors immaculate without us really doing anything. And the Yeedi S14 Plus is one of the most impressive of them all, as seen above in our comprehensive vacuum tests.

It boasts 18,000Pa suction – for comparison, most robot vacuums have around 5,000Pa to 16,000Pa, so it's one of the best vacuums for pulling up dirt, debris, and hair from carpets and hard floors. Surprisingly, not every robot can vacuum this well, as many of them tend to leave a mess behind.

Tester James Holland said in their review that this robot vacuum's raw cleaning power means it 'absolutely sucks up everything in its path. The three different substances that we use signify three different sizes of debris. And no matter which size we talk about, they were sucked right up.'

Another common robot vacuum drawback is their inability to get into the corners, but the Yeedi S14 Plus's side brush and mop rollers are extendable to overcome this, meaning it vacuums and mops your floors the right way.

And to keep things hands-free, the docking station empties the robot between cleans, washing and drying the mop pads to keep it at its best and prevent any nasty odors or mildew building up.

At this price, a robot vacuum wouldn't be able to clean half as well as the Yeedi S14 Plus, which is what makes this such a stand-out deal.

The Yeedi S14 Plus is available for $699.99 at Amazon, its lowest price ever.

More to shop

Still shopping around? Here are a few more of our favorites that we loved during testing.

All prices were correct at time of publication.

For more floorcare inspiration, we've tested the best vacuums for pet hair and the best Dyson alternatives.

The Yeedi S14 Plus robot vacuum is a strange creature. It’s more powerful than most of the competition out there, which doesn’t always work in its favor as you’ll see in our vacuum tests. It does a great job with edges and corners yet some parts including the mop roller aren’t removable.

If something happens, you better hope that the warranty will be honored. That’s a frustrating thing to consider if you’re looking for one of the best robot vacuums around. Luckily it gets discounted quite a bit so punches above its weight at its lower price.

Its shortcomings are pretty small, as long as you don’t want a bunch of extra features like voice assistant support or the ability to use it as a drone to spy on your pets. It has great object avoidance, runs fairly quietly, and is virtually hands-free in day-to-day use.

Yeedi S14 Plus: Specifications

Yeedi S14 Plus: Setup

One of the first things I appreciated about the Yeedi S14 Plus is the fact that its packaging comes without big styrofoam blocks. Yes, there’s a little bit of plastic covering on the robot and base station themselves, but the packaging to keep them safe and stable inside the box during transport is mostly made of cardboard and recycled materials – great news if, like me, you prefer to shop sustainably for your home.

Actually unboxing the unit is very straightforward with essentially the two pieces stacked on top of each other. The base station is a bit tricky only insofar that it’s a bit bulky and heavy, and the indented handle is halfway down the back. I had to feel around the back to find it and then hold the base station by that handle and the cavity for the robot vacuum to lift it out of the box.

Outside of that, everything is almost fully pre-assembled. All I had to do was plug it in, attach the baseplate, and place the robot vacuum in its cavity to charge. You also have to turn the robot vacuum on via a power slider situated under its top cover to actually use it as well.

Going through the app as part of your smart home setup takes a little longer, but is just as easy. Once the app was downloaded, I just had to follow the directions, half of which was pairing the Yeedi S14 Plus to the app (you press a button next to the power button and then put in the WiFi password in the app once they’ve connected).

Once I followed the online prompts, the Yeedi S14 Plus was ready to go. The final step is having it map your space, which takes a button press and a little bit of time to let it do its thing. Afterwards, manipulating the map including adding no-go zones or areas where it cleans a particular way is easy to add once you’ve finished mapping. It can map multiple floors as well.

Yeedi S14 Plus: Design and features

Since the Yeedi S14 Plus is of the mopping variety, the whole package is pretty big. The base station has two water tanks – one for clean water and one for dirty – that are transparent so you can tell when the clean one needs refilling and the dirty one needs emptying. Also contained in the base station is a 3L dustbag, which the robot vacuum automatically self empties into whenever it returns to base.

The base station also washes the robot vacuum’s mop roller whenever it returns home and then dries it to avoid buildup of bacteria, mold and mildew something I always appreciate. I also like that the insert for the power cable is recessed and the cable itself is angled so you can set the base station flush against the wall, though the cable itself is a bit stiff.

As far as the actual robot vacuum, there’s a lot going on. Interestingly, it’s completely flat up top, unlike most robot vacuums, so that it can actually go under furniture, where dust tends to build up, that other units can’t. In fact, I actually had to clean cobwebs off it for some of the pictures used in this review from the times it went under the couch to clean.

It has a lid held on magnetically, which hides the power and pairing button along with the smaller onboard dustbin that pulls right out if you need to empty it. The center of that lid is cut out for the main button, which is usually lit up and can be pressed for an automatic start.

Underneath is where a lot of the magic happens. The side brush sits on an extendable arm to get to edges and corners. The center brush roll uses bristles and rubber lining organized in a v-shape to avoid tangles. And the mopping brush, which this model uses in lieu of a flat mop pad or rotating mop pads, can extend outward like the side brush to also mop edges and corners. This is a stand-out feature, compared to other robots' limited mopping reach.

Also worth noting is the fact that this robot vacuum has 18,000Pa of suction power – that’s a lot – and 4,000Pa of downward scrubbing power. For reference, our current favorite is the eufy Omni S1 Pro, which has 8,000Pa suction. The brush roll can lift up 0.39 inches to avoid wetting carpets and it can climb 0.79 inches to get over certain types of obstacles like door thresholds.

The robot vacuum also likes to talk to announce what it’s doing, but it doesn’t support any voice assistants – a shame, as this is one of the main ways voice assistants can be used to streamline things at home. That said, the app is very easy to use, whether it’s starting a cleaning or scheduling it to run on certain days. There are plenty of options beyond that on how you want it to run. You can even make it wash or dry the mop roller manually.

What is the Yeedi S14 Plus like to use?

The thing that stood out initially when using the Yeedi S14 Plus is how quiet it is (for a robot vacuum). At around 60dB on average during use, it runs quieter than quite a few other robot vacuums I’ve used, That’s a godsend when you have a robot vacuum that takes about an hour to vacuum and mop about 750 square feet – a typical time for these types of mopping robot vacuums since they return to their base station regularly to clean off.

During use, the Yeedi S14 Plus does a stellar job sucking up any debris, from cut grass tracked in by dogs (or me) and hair, to dust and fallen food particles. There are some caveats as you’ll see in your specific tests below, though that really amounts to using an actual vacuum or mop for big spills or when deep cleaning your home. On a day-to-day basis, using this vacuum has kept me from having to really do any deep cleaning during the month and a half that I’ve been testing it.

The clean water tank does seem to run out quickly and I have to fill it up every week, but, again, that’s to be expected. As far as mopping the floors goes, the Yeedi S14 Plus delivers an even layer of water, leaving no other spill behind, that dries quickly making it ideal if you have floors that are susceptible to water damage, like when cleaning hardwood.

I have quite a few ledges in the areas that are ideal for testing due to having rooms that are a literal step down as well as a room at the top of a set of stairs. The Yeedi S14 Plus will go to the edge to clean but stays safely where it should. It also does a good job getting edges and corners thanks to the extendable side brush and mop roller.

I was also impressed with its object avoidance (shown above). Now, there are some things that robot vacuums have yet to master and it’s no different here. Cords, strings, long thin things will get stuck. I had the end of a dog toy as well as a backpack strap get caught when I wasn’t paying attention. Otherwise, however, it sees and goes around objects, which I tested not only with furniture but by placing shoes and smaller objects in its path.

Yeedi S14 Plus: Vacuuming tests

While the Yeedi S14 Plus does a good job in day-to-day vacuuming, leaving floors free of dust and debris, including edges and corners thanks to the extendable side and mop rolleres, the capabilities of this vacuum become clearer with some targeted tests.

Specifically, I ran six tests to get a better idea of its strengths and limitations. Those tests consist of having it vacuum up individually a quarter cup worth of sugar, lentils, and cereal, first cleaning hardwood flooring and then separately on carpet. All substances were placed so that some of it would be along a wall to see how the Yeedi S14 Plus would do with edges.

The Yeedi S14 managed to get into the edges between the trim and flooring just fine, no issues whatsoever.

The first thing that becomes apparent is that no matter the substance, the Yeedi S14 Plus’ 18,000Pa of power is more than enough. It absolutely sucks up everything in its path. The three different substances that we use signify three different sizes of debris. And no matter which size we talk about, they were sucked right up.

Interestingly, the results of this testing remained consistent regardless of whether it was on hard flooring – specifically wood flooring in this case – and carpet, except that some of the issues are a little exacerbated on hard flooring.

Now, the only issue the Yeedi S14 Plus had with the Honey Nut Cheerios was that, when I asked it to clean the area containing the cereal, it would do a certain amount of passes and then call it a day even if there were some left.

To do these tests, I always would select a zone to do a spot clean and have it clean that area. In general use, however, where it has free reign and is supposed to keep cleaning the entire floor, I have yet to find it to leave anything behind.

The Yeedi S14 Plus struggled the most with the lentils as these are lighter pieces of debris but still have enough heft to them that the overzealous sidebrush would just shoot them out all over the floor instead of just right in front of the vacuum. It’s good to remember that the side brush's sole job is to push debris in front of the roller brush so it can suck up whatever it passes over. Sending debris flying makes that job harder. Again, the vacuum would deem the job done once it had done a certain amount of passes in an area when cleaning a zone, meaning that there were lentils left on the ground.

The robot vacuum did a better job with sugar as the little specks were too light to be scattered by the side brush. Of course, when I asked the Yeedi S14 Plus to clean up the sugar as well as the lentils, I did find that it would dump a bunch of them on the base plate as it would back into the base station to self-empty.

It's important to note here that we run these tests to see exactly what a robot vacuum is capable of, but if you're not often needing your robot to vacuum large volumes of mess, this shouldn't pose an issue.

And while it can be frustrating, I think it highlights an important aspect of any robot vacuum, not just the Yeedi S14 Plus, that these machines, as much as they’ve improved over the years, just can’t be used for deep cleaning. During regular day use, I don’t have issues with the Yeedi in any of the facets mentioned in this section. But throw a scoop of anything on the ground and you’ll come away frustrated.

Yeedi S14 Plus: Mopping tests

The mopping tests, of which there are two, somewhat reiterate the final findings of the vacuum tests. And that’s the fact that the performance is there in spades, but just not for deep cleaning.

The first mop test was to clean up a quarter cup worth of ketchup, while the second was a quarter cup of mustard – I also added some coffee to the second test for a different consistency of liquid.

Now, the Yeedi S14 Plus didn’t have any issues spreading the substances in either test, something I have witnessed with other mopping robot vacuums, especially ones with a flat mop pad. And it could suck up just about anything on the first pass. It also did just fine getting any substance stuck near an edge – another issue with some robot vacuums. My floor did smell a bit like ketchup for a bit since this robot vacuum doesn’t use any cleaning solution.

Where it seemed to have issues was with the amount of substances and where it would get stuck. So yes, the ketchup, the mustard, and the coffee all came right up. And all was clear until the Yeedi S14 Plus would start backing into the base station to be cleared out. All of a sudden, a bunch of whatever it cleaned up would be left behind – a good reminder that a mopping robot vacuum isn’t quite the same as the best vacuum-mop combos.

After turning the robot vacuum over, it was clear that a bunch of the substances had also gone up the cavity for the roller brush, even though I had them only mop. This meant that not only did it leave a bunch of cleanup behind right in front of the base station as well as on the base plate, but that robot vacuum itself required some cleaning out. Leading me to the next section…

Yeedi S14 Plus: Maintenance

One of the nice things about a robot vacuum like the Yeedi S14 Plus is that, unless you try to clean up a quarter cup of ketchup with it you shouldn't have to clean the robot vacuum often. The clean water and dirty water tanks will need to be replenished based on how often you use them. Considering I run the vacuum three times a week, I typically have to take care of the water tanks once a week.

And the self-emptying feature on the base station means that after a month and a half of use means that I have yet had to empty the robot vacuum’s onboard dustbin nor have I had to empty the dustbag in the base station. Plus, the mop washing and drying that occurs after every mop use keeps the undercarriage relatively clean.

The roller brush that’s responsible for vacuuming uses that V-shaped bristle design that robot vacuums with “anti-tangle technology” use and I haven’t had to untangle anything from it other than things it shouldn’t have picked up in the first place like a backpack strap.

Now, when I had to turn over the Yeedi S14 Plus to clean out the ketchup, I had to disassemble what I could from the undercarriage and I learned a few things about how to clean this robot vacuum.

First, the side brush did have a collection of hair wrapped around it, but not the main roller. Removing the hair wasn’t difficult. However, I had to pull it off because I couldn’t remove the sidebrush, which is a concern if anything were to happen to it.

I also got to see that the mop roller isn’t removable either, though there is a scraper with a filter next to it that can be removed and cleaned. The vacuum roller brush is at least removable and easily cleaned as is a tray below it.

All in all, the maintenance on the Yeedi S14 Plus is easy because it’s mostly hands-off during regular use and pretty easy to clean if something happens. On the flipside, the fact that certain elements can’t be removed in case of some issue is of concern if common robot vacuum faults happen down the line.

How does the Yeedi S14 Plus compare?

With an MSRP of $1,199.99, the Yeedi S14 Plus is pricey, but less expensive compared to some of the competition. Yeedi products are also frequently on sale, so you should make sure to wait for a promotion before buying.

At the time of writing, it’s at its lowest price of $699.99 at Amazon, but it’s been discounted to the $900 - $1,000 range seven times since its release and spent most of the rest of the time around $1,200. This robot vacuum has been available on Amazon since early 2025.

Of course, the price history is not quite as transparent on its direct site, but it’s discounted from $1,199.99 to $899.99 currently.

The Eufy Omni S1 Pro is our current favorite. It has an MSRP of $1,499.99, but is occasionally discounted to as low as $899.99.This model also uses the mop roller technique for mopping and covers a lot of the same ground functionally, though it doesn’t have nearly the suction power of the Yeedi S14 Plus. It also has cleaning fluid refills that can add up. On the flipside, actual cleaning fluid means your floors are cleaned with more than just water and pressure. In essence, the Yeedi S14 Plus gets you most of the way there for potentially much less money.

Of course, you can find decent mopping robot vacuums for much less. If you’re going by MSRP, consider the Shark PowerDetect 2-in-1. Shark is a bit more established of a brand, which works in its favor, but this model also tops out at $999.99 and is regularly discounted to under $700. It’s low maintenance, does a good job generally with vacuuming and mopping, and has good object avoidance. It does, however, run a little louder and has issues with edge cleaning.

Should you buy the Yeedi S14 Plus?

The Yeedi S14 Plus has a lot going for it as a mopping robot vacuum. Setting it up is easy. Using it is easy. And cleaning is mostly as well. It does have some issues with medium size debris, but has a lot of suction power for all sorts of messes.

It’s not really made for high volumes of mess, but does an excellent job of keeping floors and carpets clean so that you can wait much longer between deep cleaning. Just don’t expect it to handle large cleanup jobs.

While it has quite a few features on hand like the mop roller washing and drying as well as auto self-emptying, it’s a little light on some of the features that the most premium models have such as voice assistant support. Opening an app is easy enough in my opinion so I didn’t really miss it.

I was particularly impressed by its object avoidance as that’s usually an issue – still, remove your cords – and the relatively quiet performance during regular use was a nice surprise.

I wouldn’t buy this robot vacuum at full price, but I think the Yeedi S14 Plus is a strong when discounted.

How I tested the Yeedi S14 Plus

There is a lot that goes into how we test robot vacuums, which includes going through the app with a fine tooth comb, running benchmarks, and even just living with the product to see how it fits into everyday cleaning.

For the Yeedi S14 Plus, I used it for a month and a half running it generally three times a week in an area regularly occupied by five adults and two French Bulldogs (with the odd appearance of a reclusive cat). I ran it typically with vacuum and mop functionality together, though I’ve run it with just one or the other for testing.

As far as targeted tests go, I did run it to pick up a quarter cup of sugar, lentils, and cereal, testing with each type of substance individually on both hard flooring and carpet. I also tested the mopping by running two tests, first with a quarter cup of ketchup and second with the same amount of mustard. I included a bit of coffee the second time around as well.

Next, learn how to choose the best vacuum for every home and budget.

Dyson's new robot cleaner is part of a suite of new floorcare appliances, announced at IFA in Berlin on Thursday, that promises to make cleaning easier and more effective than ever before.

The Dyson Spot+Scrub Ai features some major upgrades from their previous Dyson 360 Vis Nav, the most notable being the introduction of a mop and new, AI-powered detection.

As a home tech editor who's been testing and reporting on floorcare gadgets for more than two years, I'm intrigued to see if this new release lives up to Dyson's reputation, and if it could end up being one of the next best robot vacuums.

Dyson's new Spot+Scrub Ai promises to make automated cleaning even easier

The Spot+Scrub Ai is Dyson's first robot vacuum with a mopping function. It uses a microfiber wet roller that cleans itself on the move – not many other robot cleaners have this capability – making sure that each rotation delivers fresh, heated water as it cleans for a more efficient clean.

Dyson's last robot vacuum, the Dyson 360 Vis Nav, while offering some of the strongest suction we'd seen at the time of its release, let us down during testing because of its lack of a mop or self-cleaning station.

It seems as if Dyson listened to users' concerns and developed a more comprehensive system, one with more accurate navigation, an ability to clean itself on the move and in the station, and a dock that stores dust for up to 100 days.

On average, even our favorite robot vacuums (like the eufy Omni S1 Pro) only store dust for up to 60 days, making the Spot+Scrub Ai's station a marked improvement from competitors.

It also boasts 18,000Pa suction – which is at the higher end of what the most comprehensive robots offer these days – but suction power doesn't always equal cleaning power.

That performance also depends on the brushroll, but as the best Dyson vacuums have some of the most effective floorheads and attachments we've tested, I have faith that Dyson's latest robot won't be lacking in that department.

Navigation also plays a huge role when it comes to cleaning ability, and the predecessor Dyson 360 Vis Nav struggled here compared to the competition.

That's why I'm thrilled to see new AI technology being introduced in the Spot+Scrub Ai. It uses an AI-powered camera and LiDAR sensors to identify nearly 200 types of objects, including common household obstacles such as cables and socks, so it can most efficiently adjust it's cleaning, mopping or path for the most efficient and deep clean.

All this while building a layout of your home and automatically naming rooms so you can easily order zone cleaning at the touch of a button. That's in line with the theme at this year's IFA that AI in home cleaning is more advanced than ever, with AI systems now beginning to look after us.

While this is an exciting step for Dyson, many of these 'new' features have been seen in other robots from eufy, Dreame, and Roborock for some time, so I'm curious to get my hands on the new Dyson for full testing and see if it can outshine the current competition with these additional cleaning abilities now in play.

The Dyson Spot+Scrub Ai robot vacuum cleaner will be available in 2026.

What to shop

While we wait for the Dyson Spot+Scrub Ai to be released, here are some of the best-performing robot vacuum cleaners that we thoroughly enjoyed testing.

All prices were correct at the time of publication.

Next, learn more about the best vacuum-mop combos and the best cordless vacuums that we've tested and love.

Robot vacuums are evolving, with the tech world's latest advancements pushing the market to answer household needs like never before.

Every September, Berlin becomes the stage for the latest in home technology – and this year’s IFA has been dominated by robots promising to transform floorcare.

From tank-like stair-climbing vacuums to all-in-one cleaning solutions, brands are racing to overcome the biggest limitations of even the best robot cleaners. As a home tech editor and professional vacuum tester, here's what I was most excited about seeing at IFA.

The robot vacuums announced at IFA, pushing the boundaries of home cleaning

Among the exciting announcements I witnessed at IFA, including the AI home systems that are beginning to look after us, the latest innovations in the robot vacuum market stole the show.

Dreame and ECOVACS have announced some of the most exciting advancements, with stronger cleaning performances and measures to overcome what previous robots have failed at. It marks a significant step towards these automated helpers doing more work, with less input from us.

Dreame Cyber X

One major downside to robot vacuums is their inability to traverse stairs. Dreame's latest innovation solves this automated cleaning nuisance, with huge, almost tank-like legs that can roll up and down steps without any intervention from humans.

Instead of adapting their robot vacuums to do the job, Dreame's created a robust stair-climbing shell for its floor cleaning robots. These can attach to existing models, instantly upgrading how easily they can move across your home. Gone are the days when you had to carry your robot upstairs to clean your first or second floor. Now, it can do it by itself, sensing the height and depth of each step and climbing up like a smooth, silent mini tank.

The Cyber X can climb stairs up to 9.8 inches in height at 7.9 inches per second. That's impressive considering it's a world-first for steps of this size. Its rubber treads avoid damaging hardwood floors or delicate tile, meaning you won't have to worry about unintended scratches dampening the convenience.

There's no word just yet on exactly which models the Cyber X will be compatible with, and there isn't an official release date either. But I'm excited to witness such exciting developments in the world of automated cleaning and see with my own eyes how smoothly this contraption works.

ECOVACS DEEBOT X11 OMNICYCLONE

ECOVACS, one of the global leaders in robotic cleaning, unveiled their brand new flagship: The ECOVACS DEEBOT X11 OMNICYCLONE that can climb steps and thresholds up to 1.57 inches. It's similar tech to what we've seen in Dreame's X50 Ultra that can climb small steps.

It does this using ECOVACS' new TruePass Adaptive 4WD Climbing System. It's a mechanical lift system that doesn't rely on cameras or sensors, but small levers that automatically engage when needed.

This is a direct response to the common robot vacuum fault of steps and different floor types posing issues for a robot's navigation path.

Climbing abilities aside, this robot boasts some impressive specs for vacuuming and mopping your floors. The DEEBOT X11 OMNICYCLONE's 19,500Pa suction is stronger than any robot we've tested at Homes & Gardens – with our current favorite the eufy Omni S1 Pro only boasting 8,000Pa.

It also has a high-density nylon, reinforced mop to break down tough stains, that can adapt up to 0.6 inches to reach into corners and tight spots.

And in between cleans, the cleaning station has fast charging, which can power up the robot while simultaneously rinsing the mop pads or emptying the dustbin.

Next, discover how immaculately the best Dyson vacuums can clean your floors, or consider the best Dyson alternatives to do so on a budget.

Having spent more than a decade testing home tech, I’ve seen my fair share of 'groundbreaking' features, but few have failed to pique my interest quite as much as the Roborock Saros Z70 and its mechanical arm.

As the first consumer robot model capable of tidying, vacuuming and mopping, the Saros Z70 promises to solve one of my biggest gripes with all of the other best robot vacuums I’ve tested – having to clear the floor of clutter.

The robot automatically spots and picks up items like socks, tissues, and lightweight shoes and either throws them away, or stores them in the correct place.

Of course, such innovation does come at a price so, I’ve spent the past four weeks living with the Saros Z70 to see if it lives up to the hype, and its unique offering is worth paying a significant premium for.

Roborock Saros Z70: Specifications

Roborock Saros Z70: Setup

Unboxing the Roborock Saros Z70 feels more like unpacking a major kitchen appliance than a home tech gadget. The box is huge and heavy – at 47lbs, I struggled to lift it myself – and inside is the robot itself, its multifunctional dock, mop pads, a starter set of disposable dust bags, power cables, and a cardboard container with QR codes for the arm to practice with.

It's one of the more difficult builds I've done for a smart home setup.

It’s not difficult to get everything out, but it is time-consuming, not to mention messy. Every roller, sensor, and mop pad is wrapped in sealed plastic with foam spacers, and it took me at least 10 minutes just to strip everything down and sort the packaging before I even had the chance to plug it in.

The dock makes up the majority of this bulk, taking up about as much space as a side table. It needs to sit against a wall with access to power, and enough room for both its built-in ramp and for the robot to maneuver in and out of.

It’s also worth setting it up somewhere easily accessible, too, because it washes mop pads with hot water and uses detergent, so you’ll be topping up its tanks occasionally.

Once everything is unwrapped, the setup largely lives in the Roborock app. Like other smart home tech, you’ll need to create an account, connect the robot to your Wi-Fi network and – in my case – download a firmware update before you can get started.

Roborock’s app is one of the best in the business. It’s intuitive, well laid-out, and full of customization options. It walked me through the Saros Z70 setup smoothly, with the robot being connected on the first attempt. Which is rarely the case, sadly.

Out of the box, the robot had around 80% charge and that’s more than enough to run the first mapping mission. Unlike Roborock’s older models, the Z70 uses its trademarked StarSight Autonomous System.

It took just under 30 minutes to fully map my 700 square foot ground floor – and the payoff is a highly accurate map with nooks and crannies, walls, furniture, thresholds, and individual rooms all identified and labelled.

This new system also means the Saros Z70 does away with the protruding sensors seen on other models, which can so often get stuck under low furniture. You can then divide spaces on the app into rooms, set no-go zones, and even assign cleaning preferences per room. It's a sophisticated map that should ensure your robot vacuum stops getting stuck.

If you want to, then use the OmniGrip arm, you need to activate it via the app, as well as define where objects should be relocated – such as tissues into a bin, socks into a laundry basket or shoes on a rack. Roborock includes a cardboard box with QR codes to act as a target, although you can set your own zones instead. It’s clever, but it feels slightly finicky.

Overall, the setup is straightforward but not quick. From unboxing to the first mapped clean took me almost an hour. That’s much longer than the average 15 minutes and means you have to set some time aside to get it all sorted.

However, once it’s done, you won’t need to revisit setup often – except perhaps to tweak object zones for the arm – so it’s short-term pain for longer-term gain.

Roborock Saros Z70: Design and features

On first impression, the Roborock Saros Z70 is sleek and modern. There’s no tall LiDAR tower; instead, it’s a matte-finish disc in black or silver with sensors, camera,s and bump guards fitted around its circumference. I tested the silver mode,l and it looks slightly dated compared to photos I’ve seen of the full black model, but this is a minor complaint.

Thanks to the lack of LiDAR tower, the Z70 measures just 3.14 inches tall, making it one of the slimmest high-end robot vacuums available. It slides under sofas, sideboards, and beds easily, and its 13.8 x 13.9-inch size means it’s compact enough to maneuver around table legs and corners without bumping or scraping, but robust enough to not feel flimsy or like it could get damaged.

At 10.18lbs, it’s also relatively lightweight, which makes it easy to pick up and carry between floors if you don’t want to rely solely on multi-floor mapping.

On top of the disc is a plastic flap that protects the OmniGrip arm, which sits inside a small hatch. The five-axis arm folds into place neatly when not in use. The flap then opens automatically, and the arm, complete with cameras, LED lights, and weight sensors capable of lifting objects up to 0.66lbs, extends on its own. Or you can manually control it via the app. Just above this hatch is an emergency stop button, which sits below a dual power and dock button.

We were excited to test this model after Roborock announced a robot that could pick up objects, and it was great to see this futuristic tech in action.

Flip the Roborock Saros Z70 over and you'll find dual spinning mop pads, a FreeFlow main brush, the roller and a single rotating wheel. The base of the robot is fitted with a so-called AdaptiLift chassis that helps it climb taller thresholds (up to 4cm) and lifts its mop out of reach of carpets, making it easy and mess-free to transition between floor and cleaning types. This is something that often trips up other robots, excuse the pun.

Beyond design, the suction spec is one of the Saros Z70’s standout features – offering up to 22,000 Pa. Far higher than the 8,000 Pa eufy Omni S1 Pro, which retails for a similar price.

Elsewhere, you can control the Saros Z70 straight out of the box with built-in full voice control. You don’t have to connect it to use voice assistants, including Alexa and Google Assistant if you don’t want to, just say 'Hello Rocky' followed by one of the pre-programmed commands, and the robot is ready to do your bidding.

That said, it is compatible with smart home assistants if you prefer to control it that way. I should note that not all of the pre-programmed 'Hello Rocky' commands are obvious, so it’s worth keeping the voice command card that comes in the box handy while you get used to them.

Alongside app and voice control, the Z70 also doubles as a mobile camera to improve your home security. Through the Roborock app you can watch it drive remotely around your home with its Remote Viewing feature.

If you need or want to, you can also take over the robot itself and even remotely control the mechanical arm, with the built-in Remote Control feature. You can even make video calls through its front-facing camera. In practice, this is a bit of a novelty, but for pet owners or frequent travelers, the ability to see and not just clean your floors could be genuinely handy.

Onto the dock and the Saros Z70 offers everything you need to clear and clean your floors in one place – hot water mop washing, warm-air mop drying, automatic emptying, and detergent dispensing. While simpler models still require manual mop removal or water tank refills, the Z70’s dock is almost entirely hands-off.

What is the Roborock Saros Z70 like to use?

Using the Saros Z70 day-to-day is a mix of wow moments with occasional exasperation. Its navigation and mapping is among the best I’ve seen, with the robot easily navigating wires, chair legs, and toys, rarely needing rescue. The maps it created of my home were accurate, and I could quickly send the robot to specific rooms or ask it to skip others entirely at the press of a button. Noise levels were surprisingly good, too.

In quiet mode, the motor never exceeded 51 dB, but even in standard mode, the Z70 averaged only 58 dB. This means you can still watch TV while it cleans and there were times I forgot it was running, and it just appeared over a threshold (making me jump).

Its noise levels on maximum suction, and when emptying the dock dustbag, are slightly more intrusive – at 65 dB and 68 dB on average respectively – but both were still much quieter than the best handheld vacuums. The robot’s voice prompts can be a bit chatty, but thankfully, you can tone them down via the app.

Then there’s the mechanical arm. It’s great in theory, entertaining to watch and feels super futuristic – with a slow and smooth stretching motion that makes you feel like you’re in a sci-fi movie – but in daily life, its limitations quickly became clear. It reliably picks up socks and paper, but only about half the time.

If it picks up anything larger, like my seven-year-old’s T-shirt, it tends to panic and move round in circles saying it’s “trapped.” This is because larger items block its sensors and cameras and it can’t “see.” In my youngest child’s room, a quick vacuum run became an almost staged performance, adding to cleaning time significantly.

This feature, while clever, feels more novelty than necessity right now. Plus, it’s painfully slow. I could go around an entire floor of my house and pick up everything off the floor in the same time it took for the robot to take a single item to the storage basket. What’s more, no matter which types of shoes I placed in its path – Crocs, soft slippers, flip-flops – it could never quite manage to pick them up. In fact, it rarely identified them as shoes and just thought they were obstacles to avoid.

In terms of the Remote Viewing and Remote Control features, both are useful if you want to check in on it while you’re away or if you get a warning notification that the robot is stuck somewhere when you’re out of the house. I used the Remote Control via the Remote Viewing screen a few times, largely to move the robot from wherever it was stuck, and for picking up awkwardly shaped clutter when the arm was struggling to grab it. Both are fun but are nice-to-haves rather than must-haves.

Interestingly, the most truly impactful features that are more than worth the extra money are those found in the dock. It handles almost everything and my favorite feature is the mop washing and drying. It’s genuinely a gamechanger. The only times you really need to intervene is when replacing the dock dustbag, or topping up and emptying the water tanks. That said, the dock dustbag hasn’t needed emptying in the whole time I’ve had this robot, which is four weeks and counting. You can even get away with only managing the water tanks around once a week, but if you want to avoid mold and mildew I recommend keeping on top of it more regularly.

Generally speaking, the Saros Z70 is at its best when it’s left to run scheduled routines in fairly open spaces. Its navigation and dock features, coupled with its advanced sensors, make the robot accurate and reliable with minimal human effort and there’s a strong chance that anything you don’t like or want to change can be managed in the brilliant app. Just don’t expect miracles.

Roborock Saros Z70: Vacuuming

To put the Saros Z70’s vacuuming through its paces, I ran six tests, three on carpet and three on hard floors – sugar for fine debris, lentils for medium debris, and cereal for large debris. Each test involved scattering a quarter cup of each food stuff across the floor, including edges and corners and recording two runs.

When cleaning hard floors, the Z70 did well with sugar, collecting almost everything in a single pass. It did leave a faint trail in one corner, though a second pass caught it. With lentils, it impressed even more, pulling nearly everything in on the first attempt with very little scatter.

Cereal was the weakest of the three. The side brush sometimes flicked Cheerios across the room, and the suction pulled a few pieces halfway through before spitting them back out. A repeat pass usually fixed this, but it wasn’t spotless and often involved me having to finish the job with my best Dyson vacuum.

Carpet was a similar story. The Z70 picked up most of the fine debris, but I could still see granules left behind in the fibers. Lentils fared better, although it took two slow passes for a clean sweep. The cereal run was, again, the most frustrating, with large pieces occasionally getting dragged or half-chewed before being spat back out. Even weeks after the test, I’m still finding Cheerios stuck in parts of the vacuum or dock. This is where that headline-grabbing 22,000Pa suction didn’t quite live up to what I was expecting.

Pet hair was another weak spot. While the robot can grab surface fur easily, it struggles with embedded hair in rugs and thicker carpet unless you set it for a Deep Clean. This is easy to do and it works really well but I feel like, at this robot’s price, I shouldn’t have to.

After two weeks, I found myself still reaching for my upright vacuum to properly lift pet hair. Hair tangling is also an issue. Roborock’s “Zero-Tangling” brush didn’t quite live up to its name and twice in three weeks I had to stop, flip the robot over, and clear strands. This is far from a disaster, but it’s also far from the hassle-free experience I expect when looking for the best vacuum for pet hair.

Day-to-day vacuuming is much better, though. The Z70 genuinely slashed my manual vacuuming by about 70%. I could leave the robot to run and come back to visibly cleaner floors, especially in the kitchen and hallway. On average, I was still hauling out my main vacuum once or twice a week to finish what the Z70 couldn’t or to just deep clean carpets, but I usually run the vacuum twice a day minimum so this was a huge help.

Roborock Saros Z70: Mopping

To test the Roborock Saros Z70’s mopping skills, I poured a quarter cup of ketchup, and a quarter cup of mustard to clean my laminate floor. These thicker, sticky stains are a good way to see whether a robot mop can scrub or if it simply drags mess around.

With ketchup, the Z70’s dual spinning mop pads removed around 80% of the stain on the first pass, but a faint red smear remained. The robot returned for a second pass, and after about three minutes the area looked clean. That said, on closer look under bright light there was still a faint red residue that I had to manually mop to fully get rid of.

The mustard was more of a challenge. The pads picked up some of the stain immediately, but the yellow streaks were spread out in a thin film across the surrounding area. After two passes, most of the obvious mess was gone, but I had a similar problem with residue as I had with the ketchup test. Also, while the floor didn’t feel sticky afterwards, there was a noticeable odor until I manually wiped the area with fresh water and, even now, the vacuum still has an aroma of mustard. Despite me attempting to wash it all from the wheels, mop cloths and underside.

Outside of these tests, everyday mopping was impressive. The Z70 automatically drops its mop pads for hard floors, applies consistent downward pressure, and can lift them out of the way when it senses carpet. In my kitchen, it handled dried coffee splashes and dusty footprints in one pass. In my hallway, it left a uniform shine with no visible streaking. I absolutely recommend it for day-to-day cleaning and stain removal.

One of its biggest advantages is how dry it leaves the floor. After a full mop cycle, I could comfortably walk across the floor in socks within about five minutes. There was no sticky film, and thanks to the dock’s use of hot water and detergent, the air carried a faintly “fresh” scent – closer to just-washed laundry than the musty smell some robots leave behind.

Overall, the Z70’s mopping performance is better than most hybrids I’ve tested. It won’t replace a deep manual mop for heavy, sticky spills, but for day-to-day maintenance, it’s thorough, quick-drying, and reliable. I spent noticeably less time reaching for a traditional mop and I loved the fact the dock handled most of the mop and water maintenance.

Roborock Saros Z70: Cleaning and maintenance

One of the Saros Z70’s biggest selling points is how much of the routine it takes off your hands. The multifunction dock empties the dustbin, washes the mop pads with hot water, dries them with warm air, and even dispenses detergent. It's super easy to avoid common robot vacuum faults as it maintains itself well.

It works great and it made me realize how much time I spent before manually filling and emptying buckets and maintaining mops. Of course, it doesn’t remove you from the equation entirely, but it’s enough to be noticeable.

Even though the built-in dustbin is tiny at 0.19 quarts, the dock’s 2.8-quart bag solves that, lasting roughly six to seven weeks in a medium household. And if the integrated dustbin becomes too full mid-clean, the robot will go back to the dock, empty the bin into the dustbag and then resume its session.

After each mopping cycle, the cloth pads are flushed with hot water and they come out fresh and odor-free, even with daily use. Drying takes a few hours but is fully automatic, a big step up from earlier docks where damp pads quickly turned musty.

You’ll still need to roll up your sleeves occasionally. Long hair wraps around the roller brush, despite Roborock’s “Zero-Tangling” design. Over three weeks, I had to cut strands away twice, not bad, but not tangle-free. The side brush can also snag threads. The filter is washable and needs rinsing every couple of weeks, depending on dust levels.

Both the app and manual have clear guides for removing rollers, pads, and filters, and everything clicks in and out without tools.

Overall, the dock gets rid of most day-to-day chores by dramatically reducing both the physical and mental load, which means when you do need to intervene, it doesn’t feel that bad.

How does the Roborock Saros Z70 compare?

At $1,600-$2,600 (depending on promotions), the Roborock Saros Z70 sits firmly in the premium tier of robot vacuums.

The eufy Omni S1 Pro undercuts the Z70 at $1,499 and impressed us with its balance of vacuuming and mopping. It handled pet hair better and never once wrapped with fur in testing. Its mop pads also self-clean, though without the hot-water wash and drying cycle on the Z70 dock. Its 8,000Pa figure sounds modest compared to the huge numbers promised by the Saros Z70 but in real-world tests it picked up debris on carpet reliably. If you want consistent deep cleaning at a lower price, the S1 Pro may be the smarter buy.

Elsewhere, the Roborock Saros 10R is effectively the Z70 without the mechanical arm, coming in at around $1,300-$1600. It has an almost identical dock, mop system, and StarSight sensors, but its larger internal bin makes it less dependent on dock emptying. What it lacks is the novelty arm but if you don’t see this as essential – and for most people it won’t be – the 10R offers a similar experience for almost $1,000 less.

That leaves the Z70 in a strange position. It’s more futuristic and has a host of features that just about warrant charging the extra money for, but in terms of raw cleaning performance, especially on carpets and with pet hair, it falls short of cheaper models. You’re paying a premium for innovation and the “wow” factor, not necessarily better results.

Should you buy the Roborock Saros Z70?

The Roborock Saros Z70 is, without doubt, one of the most innovative robot vacuums I’ve tested. Its StarSight navigation is superb, its dock takes care of nearly all the messy upkeep, and its slim, tower-free design makes it easy to slot into most homes. On hard floors, its vacuuming and mopping performance is good, although not excellent, and the mop drying feature is a standout that keeps things fresher than other rivals I’ve used. If you’re tech-savvy and want to experience the future of home robotics, the Z70 delivers plenty of “wow” moments.

Yet innovation doesn’t always equal performance. The OmniGrip arm is more novelty than necessity right now and carpet performance and pet hair pickup are weaker than some cheaper competitors, which, when you’re spending more than $2,000, is a bit galling. For spacious, open-plan homes with mostly hard flooring or with fewer inhabitants, the Z70 makes sense and could genuinely reduce your day-to-day workload. For busier, cluttered households, or if you need deep carpet cleaning, you may find better value elsewhere.

How I tested the Roborock Saros Z70

I tested the Roborock Saros Z70 over a four-week period in my family home with a mix of hard floors and carpet, two children, and a dog. To measure vacuuming performance, I ran a series of tests, including scattering sugar for fine debris, lentils for medium debris, and Cheerios for larger debris across both hard floors and carpets.

For mopping, I made ketchup and mustard stains on my kitchen floor to see how well it could mop away larger, wet and stickier stains. Noise levels were then recorded using the DecibelX app throughout these tests.

Alongside these controlled trials, I used the Z70 for everyday cleaning, tracking how often I still needed to reach for a manual vacuum or mop, and making a note of how clean the floors looked after runs. I also kept track of how often I had to empty the bin, cut hair from rollers or manually maintain the robot and dock.

Next, browse our tested picks of the best Dyson vacuums and the best Shark vacuums.

Samsung has unveiled its most advanced smart home AI yet – a system that can read into your daily habits, spot when your dog is restless, and even alert you if an elderly family member may need checking in on.

It marks a significant leap from AI voice assistants and automated cleaning into something far more sophisticated: A home that anticipates needs, smooths routines, and supports your wellbeing.

At this year's IFA in Berlin, AI is everywhere. The biggest and most technologically advanced brands in the world are implementing artificial intelligence into every facet of our lives, from the best robot vacuums that monitor our movements to fridge-freezers that can learn our daily schedules.

AI in the home is learning more about our habits, health and wellbeing than ever

Two of the most striking AI-powered announcements at IFA are Samsung Family Care and Samsung Pet Care, proving that the smart home gadgets that transform our lives are dramatically evolving.

Using Samsung's Galaxy smartphones and the SmartThings App, you can check on your loved ones' activity and be alerted if anything unusual is happening. If AI detects it first, the SmartThings app will send you a notification to check on them. It'll also give you reassuring notifications, such as 'Mom is spending the day in a healthy way.'

And, with the Samsung Bespoke Jet Bot Combo AI Robot Vacuum, you can monitor your home from anywhere, including detailed information on your pets' activity. If your dog is bored or hasn't been walked enough that day, it will alert you – and even give you the option to send an automated message to another member of your household to walk them.

It marks an exciting, albeit somewhat unnerving, move towards home tech that overtly observes us. The AI advances I am seeing at the press preview in IFA, the world's biggest consumer technology innovation conference, show a trend of AI cleaning and other home appliances being programmed to notice patterns in human behavior. This means it can learn our schedules, and anticipate our needs – taking on some of our mental and emotional labor.

Among Samsung's new features is a sleep assistant that analyses REM data from a Galaxy Ring or Galaxy Watch8 for three nights, then recommends the optimal bedtime for your chosen wake-up time.

The system can also coordinate smart blinds, music, and air conditioning into a single ‘off’ button, streamlining a bedtime or morning routine in seconds. With compatibility across 80% of third-party devices, such as Philips Hue or Sonos Samsung’s ecosystem promises to connect almost every appliance in the house.

But as these devices become more intuitive, they also become more intrusive – collecting behavioral and biometric data.

As Fergal Glynn, Chief Marketing Officer and AI Security Advocate at Mindgard, says, ‘This is important because smart home AI knows things like your sleep habits, your pet’s moods, and even your relatives’ wellbeing. Without good protections, this can lead to privacy violations or even security threats if hackers get access.’

To address these concerns, Samsung has built its system on Knox, the security platform trusted by US and German governments. Knox Vault ensures sensitive data never leaves your device, storing it on an isolated chip rather than in the cloud. Knox Matrix, meanwhile, uses blockchain to detect and contain threats across a connected home. If one device – such as an air conditioner – were compromised, Knox would block access to others and prevent data from being exposed.

Essentially, Samsung can't access its consumer home tech AI's data, and the devices in your home will never upload it to the brand.

Knox is installed on every Samsung smart device by default, offering what the brand calls ‘an ecosystem of security’ alongside convenience. Third-party devices are protected, too, as all third-party information passing through the Samsung hub is encrypted and converted into Samsung’s own coding for protection.

Still, as AI Security Advocate Fergal warns, consumer trust depends on ongoing transparency, ‘As tech firms like Samsung aim to fill billions of homes with AI, how they handle our data shapes trust and security for everyone.

'People must be able to delete their data at any time. Poor data handling looks like collecting more than what is needed, or sharing it without consent. Weak encryption and rare security updates often open the door to hackers.’

As we're reimaging the sophistication of the smart home setup, data protection will continue to shape public perception of AI – and whether individuals trust these giant tech brands.

Samsung isn’t alone in reimagining how AI fits into daily life. At LG's IFA exhibit, orchestral music plays while AI fridge-freezers and washing machines light up in unison. Their new fridge-freezer can predict when you typically open the door and pre-cool food in advance to maintain the internal temperature. And their best washing machines and dryers sense fabrics and soil levels so that the AI software 'cares like you would.'

Miele has also launched their new best dishwasher with AI diagnostics that allows users to fix common faults without calling a technician, saving money and unnecessary service visits.

Its connected cookware also uses sensors and Bluetooth to regulate temperature and prevent spills – from keeping milk rice perfectly stirred to reducing energy use by up to 30%.

Elsewhere at IFA, Roborock announced a new 4-in-1 cleaning system designed to do the same.

Taken together, these innovations signal a shift in home technology – away from machines that simply perform tasks and towards appliances that adapt to our lives. They're no longer performing physical tasks, but doing the mental legwork, too.

Whether that future feels empowering or scary will depend not just on how useful the features are, but on whether tech giants like Samsung, LG and Miele prove they can keep our most personal data safe.

Explore Samsung's AI Home announcements at IFA 2025.

What to shop

If you're keen or intrigued by a connective, adaptable home environment, these smart gadgets will help you create your own AI-supported home.

Next, learn more about the smart home must-haves that can change your life at home.

Today at IFA in Berlin, which showcases the latest innovations in consumer electronics, Roborock unveiled a revolutionary 4-in-1 Homewide Cleaning Combo that combines a washer-dryer with a robot vacuum and mop to save you time on chores without taking up lots of space.

It's a compact machine at the forefront of a new generation of seamless, intuitive automated home appliances, which the brand named today as 'the future of home tech', and I can see why.

With it, you can load your laundry before you go to bed, and wake up to it washed and dried, with your floors vacuumed and mopped, all whilst saving space and cutting energy bills.

It speaks to a wider trend at this year's IFA of brands creating innovations that aren't just more 'powerful,' but more in tune with our human behavior, where the best robot vacuums make up part of a comprehensive system that does housework as you go about your day. And, you only need space for a regular washer to enjoy its benefits.

A smart system that saves space, reduces chore time, and cuts bills

'This is the future of home tech,' says Yuxin Li, marketing manager at Roborock, 'combining appliances together, saving space, saving on energy, and doing so much of the work for you.

‘Modern homes have less space, and instead of having all of these different appliances, we wanted to combine them into one smart system, especially for small homes and apartments.'

But don't be fooled – this isn't just a small space design. Anyone who prefers not to have appliances take up their precious space will appreciate an intuitive machine that drastically reduces how much time you spend on housework.

The combo unit is the same size as Roborock’s Zeo X washer-dryer, which doesn't include a robotic helper, and the team was determined not to compromise on either side of the design.

‘The biggest challenge was bringing it all together without making it taller or reducing the size of the drum, while making sure the robot dock is as comprehensive as it would be usually. It hasn’t compromised on functionality at all,' Yuxin proudly shares.

With the help of AI and automation, this is an engineering marvel, one that can drastically reduce how much time and effort you're dedicating to chores, and as part of your smart home setup, can be controlled from your smartphone.

The washer-dryer has sensors to identify soil levels and weight to determine the optimal wash cycle and the ideal dryer temperature. And at the same time, the robot senses what's on your floors, maps your home, and identifies behavior patterns to optimize its cleaning, vacuuming, and mopping.

What’s more, Roborock has built in a clever sustainability feature: Overflow water from the washer is recycled to wash the mop pads. The sustainability credentials go further, as the 4-in-1 design cuts down on the need to manufacture, house, and power separate appliances.

Answering my concerns on durability, Yixin explained that the dryer element and the motor will come with a ten-year guarantee – a strong statement of confidence given the number of moving parts involved.

Elsewhere at the enormous IFA in Berlin, which is the largest home and consumer electronics event in the world, Samsung erected a 'Smart Modular Home', complete with smart pillows to reduce snoring and improve sleep quality, and smart mirrors with daily weather displays. There was a 'smart' version of just about every domestic gadget you can think of.

Other floorcare brands such as Narwal and Tineco are showing off their multi-functional cleaning systems, while LG and Miele tout their AI-powered home appliances.

Tech brands are leading the charge for a new type of home living. Gone are the days where an appliance serves one simple function. We're now living in the future, where our homes listen to us, observe us, and work around us while we live our lives, becoming increasingly free from the constraints of traditional housework.

The Roborock 4-in-1 Homewide Cleaning Combo will be available in the coming year.

What to shop

While Roborock's 4-in-1 system isn't available just yet, the smart home world has already brought us some wonderful devices to ease the strain on our time and energy when it comes to housekeeping.

All prices were correct at the time of publication.

I'll be continuing to report on the latest smart home releases showcased at the IFA in Berlin this week. In the meantime, delve into the best pet vacuums and our tried and tested favorite robot vacuums, which can reduce your canister use by up to 90%.

Robot vacuums are sold as the ultimate time-saver by promising to take at least one household chore off your plate. In reality, having spent more than a decade testing them, they sit much more on a spectrum.

Some offer near hands-free cleaning, some need as much manual input as an upright vacuum, while others actually make the whole process harder. The Roborock Q7 M5 falls nearer to the latter.

For the past two weeks, I’ve been putting the budget-friendly hybrid model through its paces around my home, seeing how well it can handle a range of specialized tasks as well as the real-life impact of two children and a labrador living across three levels of mixed floors – to find out if it could be one of the best robot vacuums if you're on a budget.

One-minute review

The Roborock Q7 M5 cleans as well as you'd expect at this price point. Using it is a breeze – it has no issues navigating, and the smartphone app is intuitive and useful. But it occasionally misses debris when vacuuming, can smear stains when mopping, and requires a great deal of upkeep between cleans.

Instead, I'd recommend spending a little extra for the eufy 3-in-1 E20, the eufy X10 Pro Omni or the Shark PowerDetect 2-in-1 – all performed much better on test, and have more useful features such as actual self-cleaning or the ability to capture missed messes.

Roborock Q7 M5: Specifications

Roborock Q7 M5: Setup

Getting started with the Roborock Q7 M5 was straightforward, although not entirely without problems. In the box is the robot, its charging dock, a mop module with two mop cloth attachments, a moisture-proof mat, an adapter and the user manual.

The box is compact but each of these components comes wrapped in mixed plastics and polystyrene, with mixed recycling options. Plus it’s not immediately clear, out of the box, what each part is and the manual leaves a little to be desired. It’s full of diagrams and text, but it’s far from intuitive, with different components having random number and lettering labels. We’ve tested 82 of the best vacuums and robot vacuums, and this was one of the most confusing to get started with. For anyone new to robot vacuums, this could easily feel overwhelming.

Luckily, Roborock’s app fills this gap.

After plugging in the dock in a clear area with good Wi-Fi, as the manual suggests, I installed the app and paired the device by scanning the QR code found on top of the robot.

I then slid the dustbin and water tank unit into the robot, and attached the mop underneath using the Velcro strips. Once connected to Wi-Fi, the app (with the help of voice alerts on the robot) walks you through the setup and mapping process step-by-step. It took around 10 minutes to create a map of my downstairs, meaning the whole setup from start to finish only took around 15 minutes.

This map was detailed enough to identify rooms, hallways, and obstacles, and I was able to draw no-go zones directly within the app. There’s enough charge out of the box to create the first map of one floor, however if you want to run a first clean or map multiple floors, you will need to put it on charge, which takes around 30 minutes to get to 100%.

Overall, the setup was relatively painless but not as seamless as it could be. The app does most of the heavy lifting, while the manual and packaging let it down. For anyone comfortable with tech, it’s unlikely to be a problem, but if you’re less confident you may find the onboarding more daunting than necessary when adding to your smart home setup.

Roborock Q7 M5: Design and features

The Roborock Q7 M5 is a budget-friendly hybrid robot that offers vacuuming and mopping in a single device, via a detachable 0.50-quart dustbin that doubles up as a 0.37-quart water tank.

The robot measures 12.8 x 12.8 x 3.9 inches and weighs 7.28lbs, making it slim and light enough to move around, especially if the robot gets stuck somewhere, and means it will fit under most furniture. A raised LiDAR sensor – one of the most effective robot vacuum navigation types – sits on the top of the body, with bump guards and cliff sensors around the circumference.

The Q7 M5 doesn’t have a self-empty or self-clean dock, which isn’t a surprise at this price point but means you have to empty it yourself between uses.

Onboard controls are minimal, with just a power/clean button and a dock/stop button, It has a practical and functional aesthetic with a mix of matte and glossy surfaces. I tested the black model (it’s also sold in white) and its simplicity means it won’t look out of place in most homes.

The LiDAR system combined with the Roborock app gives the Q7 M5 a surprising level of control for the price. You can use it to identify rooms, spot and avoid obstacles, draw virtual boundaries, adjust suction and water flow levels depending on the floor types in different regions of the house and more.

You can even send it to clean specific zones, which is great for high-traffic areas or when spot cleaning in case something is spilled. Overall, the design is smart and practical and the features are well thought-out, but this robot doesn’t innovate much beyond the basics.

What is the Roborock Q7 M5 like to use?

Living with the Roborock Q7 M5 day-to-day was a mixed experience. On one hand, navigation is great. The LiDAR system means the robot doesn’t blunder around aimlessly. It cleans in logical, back-and-forth paths, avoids furniture well, and consistently found its way back to its dock. It also handled thresholds and uneven floors with ease, moving from hard flooring to carpet without needing help.

The app is a standout, packed with useful features you should look for in a robot. Setting schedules, sending the robot to specific rooms, and marking off zones you don’t want it to enter is quick and intuitive. As is adjusting suction and water flow levels. I loved that I could save different settings for different floors and in practice, this level of control made the Q7 M5 feel smarter than other robot vacuums I’ve used in the mid-range price bracket.

However, while mapping and controls are strong, the actual day-to-day use left me underwhelmed. Noise-wise, the robot registered between 72 and 76 dB, on average, during regular vacuuming before spiking to around 80 dB when clearing large debris like cereal from hard floors, which is what you'd expect in one of the best upright vacuums. It was loud enough to distract my family from watching TV when in the same room and meant we had to be selective about when we ran the device. There is a setting in the app that stops it running between certain times though, so this is a small complaint.

The robot avoided most obstacles well, particularly furniture but it was less effective for smaller items like toys. On more than one occasion I had to rescue it from entanglement and because of the sensor that protrudes from the top, there was one sofa in particular that the robot would always get stuck under. So much so, I resorted to blocking access to this sofa if we were out to avoid this happening. Not ideal.

Plus, with the accuracy of its LiDAR, I expected the Q7 M5 to be better at spotting hazards, or even recognizing areas where it had got repeatedly stuck previously.

Cleaning times varied by room size but the robot managed my 700 square foot ground floor in around 65 minutes on standard mode. Battery life was strong too and it never ran out of charge during my tests, with the claimed 180-minute runtime being true to form. However, for comparison, the eufy Omni Pro S1, which we rated five stars, completed a 500 square foot vacuum in 30 minutes.

The mop module uses a washable microfiber cloth and Roborock recommends dampening it before each use. This adds another step before every run and initially seemed like overkill, considering the robot has a built-in water tank. However, having tried mopping with and without completing this step, dampening it beforehand does improve its performance.

Even though the onboard controls are minimal, in practice, you’ll spend nearly all your time in the app. This isn’t a bad thing. The app is intuitive and well laid-out, and far more flexible than button controls could ever be. Voice assistant support via Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri Shortcuts adds another layer of control (and convenience), although in my experience the app was the most reliable way to use it.

Despite these largely positives, the real sticking point was effectiveness. After test runs, I often found myself following up with my best Dyson vacuum. Whether it was sugar on hard floors, cereal dust on tiles, or sticky mop residue, the Q7 M5 didn’t leave my floors in the state I wanted.

Add to this the fact that everything from dustbin emptying to mop cloth washing is manual and the Q7 M5 ended up adding to my chores, not reducing them. While such manual features keeps the cost lower, it undermines the hands-free appeal that makes robot vacuums so attractive in the first place.

In short, the Roborock Q7 M5 is great at finding its way around, but less great at delivering results. It’s a robot that looks clever in the app but doesn’t quite translate that into real-world performance.

Roborock Q7 M5: Vacuuming

To test the Q7 M5’s vacuuming performance, I used three standardized debris types – sugar for fine particles, lentils for medium debris, and Cheerios for large debris. Each was scattered in quarter-cup amounts across both hard floors and carpet.

When cleaning hard floors, sugar was its biggest challenge. Much of the sugar was left behind after a single pass, and even after multiple runs the robot failed to capture it all. Fine dust tends to get pushed around rather than lifted, and the edge performance was especially weak, leaving visible lines of debris at skirting boards and corners.

Lentils were handled better. The robot picked up most on hard floors with only a few stragglers remaining around edges.

By contrast, instead of lifting Cheerios cleanly, the Q7 M5 crushed them, scattering crumbs and dust that it then struggled to collect. The result was messier than when I started and I would have had better luck quickly cleaning the kitchen floor with a brush. I even found myself spotting crumbs and dust for a while, even after manual vacuuming.

Results were better on carpet, across the board. Sugar was still problematic but not as bad as on hard floors, and lentils were picked up well. Cereal was better than on hard surfaces too, mainly because the crumbs and dust couldn’t fly about as easily. Yet it still wasn’t perfect and with the exception of the lentil test, I had to manually finish the job in each case.

One positive was consistency. Once a room was mapped, the robot covered it well in neat lines, rarely missing areas. But coverage means little if the suction and brush design can’t actually pick up debris effectively.

Beyond the standardized tests, pet hair was dealt with well. It only wrapped around the roller on days when my dog was shedding a lot and even then I never had to cut it free. I could just remove it with my hand, meaning that at the very least, this could be a good choice in our hunt for the best vacuum for pet hair. More expensive models such as the Shark PowerDetect 2-in-1 struggled more here.

Ultimately, the Q7 M5 proved average at vacuuming. It can manage everyday crumbs and dust on carpet, but struggles with fine particles on hard floors and makes a mess of large debris. For a product positioned as a convenient choice, I noticed I was still vacuuming with my Dyson most days to achieve a good enough clean, which was disappointing.

Roborock Q7 M5: Mopping

To test the Roborock Q7 M5’s mopping capabilities, I created two stains: a quarter cup of ketchup and a quarter cup of mustard to clean my laminate floor, dried slightly to mimic real spills. I then sent the Q7 M5 over each in Mopping mode. Instead of lifting the stains, both were smeared around, leaving sticky streaks across the floor. The mustard, particularly, ended up leaving a yellow tinge to the floor that I had to scrub twice to remove.

In everyday mopping, performance was better but not significantly so. The robot left my floors looking and smelling clean, removing light dust but failing with any sort of mark or stain removal. The lack of any real friction or pressure from the mop cloth means the mopping function largely just drags a wet cloth across the floor, rather than scrubbing. The plus side was that the floors dried quickly, as they don’t get that wet.

Roborock claims the water flow can be adjusted in the app, and this does make a small difference, but even at higher settings, it didn’t remove stains as well as I’d have liked. The mop doesn’t dry itself either, so it must be removed and washed after each run, which adds another layer of maintenance.

Compared with competitors that have oscillating mop pads or self-cleaning docks – such as the iRobot Roomba Combo j9+ – the Q7 M5 feels rudimentary. For light surface dust, it just about suffices, but it’s certainly no substitute for manual mopping. In fact, after using it I often had to mop by hand anyway.

Roborock Q7 M5: Cleaning and maintenance

One of the big appeals of robot vacuums is that they cut the time you spend cleaning. Unfortunately, with the Q7 M5, I ended up spending more time not only cleaning my floors, but cleaning and maintaining the robot itself.

The dustbin fills quickly. By only holding 0.50 quarts and in a busy house full of people, dust, debris and pet hairs, we found ourselves emptying it every three or so cleans. Similarly, the 0.37-quart water tank is enough for a large kitchen but needs emptying after each use to avoid dirty water sitting in it for too long and leading to mold and mildew.

For all the convenience that comes with having a combined dust and water tank, you can’t just switch from one to the other in a single session because the dust and water mixes. This is highly unpleasant to clean and dispose of. In fact, I recommend cleaning and properly drying the water tank before vacuuming – and vice versa – if you don’t want to deal with what I can only describe as a sticky, dusty paste.

The mop cloth must be washed and air-dried after each time it mops the floors, too. The physical act of doing so isn’t difficult – you can just remove the cloth, rinse and put it in the washer – however, because of its poor performance, any wet spills (including the ketchup and mustard from my standardized tests) have a tendency to work their way into the roller underneath. This was not only unpleasant to manually clean, it also meant that I found marks on my carpet for a couple of days following the test because I’d failed to get rid of it all from the roller before setting it on its next vacuum cycle. This undermines the convenience factor significantly.

By comparison, higher-end models with self-cleaning docks can go days or even weeks without needing hands-on maintenance. With the Q7 M5, intervention is needed every time. If low-maintenance convenience is your priority, this robot will disappoint.

How does the Roborock Q7 M5 compare?

At $240-300, the Roborock Q7 M5 is the most affordable robot vacuum we've tested (that's still readily available online).

The Dreame D9 Max Gen 2, sold for around $150-300 depending on promotions, offers similar navigation and suction strengths, although mopping requires the same level of manual upkeep. We're still working on our review of this model but its price puts it at the same entry-level range.

Doubling in price is the eufy X10 Pro Omni, our favorite mid-range robot vacuum. It surprised us on test with good vacuuming and mopping abilities, and if you buy a $21.99 replacement roller from eufy, it never wraps with hair.

Should you buy the Roborock Q7 M5?

The Roborock Q7 M5 looks smarter on paper than it performs in real life. Its LiDAR mapping and app are genuinely impressive for the price, giving you room-by-room control, no-go zones, and customizable suction and water settings that rival expensive models. Navigation is reliable, and on carpet it manages crumbs and medium debris without much fuss.

However, where it falls down is its consistency. Fine dust on hard floors, larger debris like cereal, and anything beyond light surface dirt it struggles with. Mopping is basic and tends to smear rather than scrub, and because there’s no self-cleaning or self-emptying dock, you’ll be emptying the bin, washing the mop cloth, and cleaning the rollers by hand after almost every use. Noise levels are also higher than expected, which makes timing your cleans important if you don’t want to be disturbed.

At $240-300, it undercuts premium rivals by quite some margin, and if your goal is accurate mapping paired with a good app and complementary cleaning skills, it delivers. But for busy households, pet owners, or anyone looking for a truly hands-free clean, you may find it adds to your plate rather than clearing it.

How I tested the Roborock Q7 M5

I tested the Roborock Q7 M5 over two weeks in a family home with hard floors, carpets, two children, and a dog. I ran standardized vacuuming tests using sugar, lentils, and Cheerios on both hard floors and carpets, and standardized mopping tests using ketchup and mustard stains. Noise levels were measured with the DecibelX app.

I also used the robot in everyday cleaning, tracking how often I needed to vacuum or mop manually. Maintenance was monitored by recording how frequently I needed to empty, clean, or untangle the robot. This combination of controlled tests and real-world use allowed me to achieve good insight into its performance and practicality.

For more floorcare inspiration, read our tested guides to the best Dyson vacuums and the best vacuum-mop combos.

Robot vacuum cleaners already feel like a step into the future. These small, slick devices roam around the house, vacuuming and mopping whilst we go about our days.

But now, they're becoming even more helpful, as Dreame's latest model can actually climb steps up to 2.36 inches in height. And for a limited time, the Dreame X50 Ultra is discounted by a whopping $440.

The beauty of the Labor Day sale season means you can bring home one of the most technologically advanced and best robot vacuums at a steal of a price.

Why I'm buying the Dreame X50 Ultra at this bargain price

The Dreame X50 Ultra is the first (and only) robot vacuum to successfully climb steps and thresholds, up to 2.36 inches in height. For anybody that's used a robot vacuum to clean and mop your floors, you'll appreciate this is a gamechanger to avoid having to pick it up every time it gets stuck.

It's a major step, no pun intended, forward for robots becoming completely hands-free.

Technological advancements aside, this is also an excellent robot vacuum in terms of its features and spec. It boasts 20,000Pa suction, which is among the strongest in the market – our current best-on-test, the eufy Omni S1 Pro, has only 8,000Pa suction in comparison.

It has five cleaning modes, whether you want to mop hard floors, vacuum carpets without wetting them, or provide ultra-deep cleaning. And if you're looking for the best vacuum for pet hair, the X50 Ultra promises to tackle hair up to 11.8 inches long without getting tangled.

We're still in the process of fully testing the Dreame X50 Ultra, but it's shaping up to be one of the strongest options out there. Grab it now before the price shoots back up.

The Dreame X50 Ultra is available for $1,259.99 at Dreame.

More to shop

Still browsing? Here are a few extra options to consider from our rigorous testing.

All prices were correct at the time of publication.

For more floorcare inspiration, check out our guides to the best Dyson vacuums and the best vacuum-mop combos.

iRobot has announced the new Roomba Max 705 Combo, the latest and most advanced robot from one of the global leaders in robot vacuum cleaners.

It introduces a 'first-of-its-kind' cover to protect your carpets when transitioning from mopping to vacuuming, and its suction is said to be 175x stronger than iRobot's predecessors.

As a professional vacuum tester, I'm intrigued. iRobot has long been a favorite at Homes & Gardens, but the brand's latest release disappointed us on test, so I look forward to seeing whether the new Max 705 Combo could shape up to be the next best robot vacuum.

The Roomba Max 705 Combo promises powerful 2-in-1 cleaning

iRobot says that the 705 Combo's suction power is an incredible '175x stronger' than previous ones in its range. This is compared to the Roomba 600 series, which came out back in 2010 and shows a marked evolution for the brand.

'The Roomba Max 705 Combo combines more than three decades of our category expertise with the latest technology to deliver an elevated cleaning performance that no other 2-in-1 offers today,' says Gary Cohen, CEO of iRobot.

It's also said to have iRobot's most advanced mopping system yet – the PowerSpin Roller Mop with PerfectEdge – and promises deep corner cleaning and dry carpets thanks to its new mop cover, to help mop floors the right way without spreading dirty water around.

Like previous Roombas, the Max 705 Combo uses AI technology to build a 3D map of your home and identify obstacles to avoid – this includes pet accidents, which is vital if you're looking for the best robot vacuum for pet hair.

A major upgrade is the 75 days of self-emptying, heated mop washing and drying, self-cleaning, and auto-refilling that the new cleaning station can provide.

Robot vacuums are smart home must-haves if you prefer to be hands-off with your cleaning, and having more time between emptying and refilling your station is a nice touch (robot vacuums typically store dirty contents for up to 60 days).

My initial thoughts as a vacuum tester

Roombas certainly stand out from the 19 robot vacuums we've tested at Homes & Gardens. For a while the iRobot Roomba Combo j9+ was our all-time favorite, banishing pet hair and dust while looking stylish in the process.

But the most recent iRobot Roomba Combo 10 Max sadly didn't live up the brand's reputation, and we've since turned to other brands as our go-to recommendations, most notably the eufy Omni S1 Pro.

eufy robot vacuums have been a game-changer for pet hair cleanup, too, even in a home with constant shedding fur.

I'd be delighted to see the new Roomba Max 705 Combo steal the limelight again, but there's no denying that the market has caught up at a rapid rate when it comes to automated home cleaning technology found in robot vacuums.

Dreame's latest Aqua10 Roller, for example, has already devised the mop cover feature that's a first in the Max 705 Combo, and the Dreame can also clean its mop on the go for continuous fresh water on your floors. It also has a head-turning 30,000Pa suction, which is higher than any robot we've tested (iRobot hasn't announced the exact suction power of the Max 705 Combo).

We've also seen a Roborock robot that can pick up objects, showing the interesting new ways that this high-tech market is evolving.

iRobot's 'AI-driven' obstacle avoidance and mapping is standard in most robot vacuums, and it's one of the main ways to use AI at home. But while this feature isn't rare, we have found that Roombas excel in this department, and I'm excited to see whether the new Max 705 Combo can make things even more streamlined.

Ultimately, Roombas may have paved the way for robot vacuum innovation, but other brands have taken note and devised their ways to master automated cleaning. The competition is strong, so I'm excited to get my hands on the new Max 705 Combo to see how it fares.

The iRobot Roomba Max 705 Combo is available for pre-sale in the UK and EU to ship in the next 1-2 weeks, and will be available in the US later this year.

What to shop

In the meantime, here are the robot vacuums we've tested and recommend for spotless floors with minimal effort. All prices were correct at the time of publication.

Next, learn how to choose a robot vacuum cleaner, and the robot vacuum mistakes you should avoid at all costs.

Imagine waking to a home that’s already vacuumed, with clean air and your favorite music playing – without needing a single command. That’s the promise of new AI in the home: Intelligent systems that keep learning and act on your behalf.

Unlike routine-based smart devices, AI uses behavioral patterns and environmental data to adapt device actions in real time. It collaborates across systems, lightens mental load, and quietly makes life easier.

Here, learn more about the smart home must-haves with integrated AI that can transform daily life – and why it’s already more common than you think.

4 smart ways to use AI at home without lifting a finger

1. Ambiance

AI is rethinking how we control home ambiance, say experts.

‘Ambient intelligence is an emerging concept where devices passively understand who’s there and what they need – without commands or wearables,’ says Amod Kant Agrawal, applied scientist at Amazon.

This new tech doesn’t just respond, it anticipates. Wireless signals detect gestures and patterns, allowing systems to follow you with music or adjust lights based on activity, time of day, or even your tone of voice. You’ll find many of these developments in today’s smart home trends.

Samsung’s upcoming Ballie robot, for instance, projects images, feeds pets, and controls connected appliances as it moves with you. It’s a major leap from the routine-based systems in earlier smart tech gadgets.

Russell Goldman, interior designer at More Wow Design, explains, ‘AI adapts to our behavior. It knows when to dim the lights, play music to match your mood, or reduce allergens overnight. It’s perceptive, not programmed.’

2. Cleaning

Cleaning has become smarter and more intuitive. ‘AI learns patterns and adjusts over time – it doesn’t just follow fixed commands,’ says Patrice Williams Lindo, CEO at Career Nomad.

Many of the models in our best robot vacuums guide, including the iRobot Roomba Combo j9+, use cameras and LiDAR mapping to recognize objects such as cords or pet waste. ‘It’s not just reacting – it’s deciding,’ Patrice explains.

Roborock’s latest robot goes further with a mechanical arm that clears obstacles, informed by AI object detection. It solves one of the most persistent frustrations: Having to pre-clean your floor for the robot.

Air quality is evolving, too. ‘AI-driven purifiers now predict changes based on cooking habits or pollen levels and adjust automatically,’ Patrice says. And as we've discovered from testing the best air purifiers, this hands-free feature is becoming increasingly common.

3. Energy

Energy efficiency is one of AI’s most practical benefits. ‘AI maps when people are home, adjusts heating and cooling, and even times it to cheaper electricity rates,’ says Patrice. Ecobee’s Eco+ feature is a standout example – learning patterns and adapting in real time.

Russell Goldman sees the future in cross-system collaboration, ‘Your energy monitor will inform your thermostat. Your wellness tracker will inform lighting and air quality. AI isn’t isolated – it’s becoming a responsive network.’

This connected thinking is central to setting up a smart home. It’s also a major contributor to lower bills, especially when combined with smart plugs and appliance monitoring, which are helpful when cutting energy bills.

Looking ahead, Russell predicts AI-first design, ‘We’ll stop layering tech onto homes and start building homes for AI where even layout and airflow respond dynamically to our routines.’

4. Security

Traditional security systems alert you to motion, whereas AI systems tell you what’s happening. ‘Ring’s new AI-generated alerts describe scenes – like “A person is walking up the steps with a black dog” – reducing false alarms and adding clarity,’ says Patrice.

Devices like the eufy Security Video Doorbell E340 distinguish between people, packages, pets, and cars, and process data on-device, keeping footage private. These features are fast becoming standard across the best home security measures.

Amod points to passive sensing as a key upgrade, ‘Systems can track your phone or smartwatch and unlock doors as you approach – like keyless car entry, but for the home.’

Renters can benefit too. Many renter-safe home security systems now offer AI-powered features without requiring permanent fixtures. And for guidance, a military dad’s top security picks offer simple, effective upgrades with AI baked in.

Next, learn the smart kitchen tech that can transform your cooking, and the smart bedroom tech to improve sleep.

Leading smart home and floorcare brand Dreame has just announced a brand-new robot vacuum cleaner that promises to solve the 'dirty mop problem.'

This is thanks to a new feature in robotic vacuums: a mop that continuously cleans itself. It's a welcome new addition to a rapidly growing market that, with each new release, is taking more and more chore time off our hands.

As Homes & Gardens' resident vacuum tester, I'm a big fan of Dreame's floorcare gadgets, and I'm intrigued by this new release as it may end up being our next best robot vacuum. Here's everything we know so far.

The full low-down on the new Dreame Aqua10 Ultra Roller

The Dreame Aqua10 Ultra Roller promises to solve a recurring frustration with robot vacuum cleaners: the dirty mop spreading bacteria across the floors.

As even the best robot vacuums for pet hair can't clean their mop pads on-the-go, they must return to the station every time they need refreshing. But in between these self-cleans the robot continues to mop your floors, dragging germs in the process.

'We realized it’s not only about how strong the mop is – it’s about how clean the mop stays,' says Sean Chen, a managing director at Dreame.

'Most robotic vacuums – even advanced ones – rely on wiping with a single cloth. When cleaning heavy stains, the cloth keeps going even after getting dirty, sometimes creating more mess,' he continues.

This is certainly something we've noticed from our robot vacuum tests, especially those that don't include a cleaning solution. But surprisingly, the new Dreame Aqua10 Ultra Roller doesn't use a cleaning solution either, just fresh water.

Mopping aside, the Dreame Aqua10 Ultra Roller boasts 30,000Pa suction power. To put that into perspective, the eufy Omni S1 Pro is the single best robot vacuum we've tested, cleaning almost as well as a full-sized canister vacuum – and its suction power is just 8,000Pa.

Suction doesn't always translate to more effective cleaning, but in this case, it's an exciting prospect. It also has an 'AutoSeal Roller Guard' to prevent moisture dripping from the mop when moving from hard floors to carpets.

The mop washes itself with clean water as it spins at 100RPM, while a scraper removes dirty water into a separate tank. This means the roller is always touching the floor with fresh water – one of the major benefits of choosing floorcare gadgets when comparing regular mopping vs wet vacuuming.

This mopping function is a similar design to the Dyson WashG1. Dyson's first wet floor cleaner doesn't use cleaning solution either, but disperses fresh water across the roller and scrapes away dirty water just like the Dreame Aqua10 Ultra Roller. And while it didn't clean as well as the best vacuum-mop combos that do use a cleaning solution, it was still surprisingly adept at mopping and stain removal.

Perhaps more importantly however, the lack of cleaning solution means there are minimal recurring costs. But its stand-out specs don't stop there.

Just like the Dreame X50 that can climb over obstacles, the Aqua10 Ultra Roller can lift itself above thresholds of 3.15 inches. So – door mats, bumpy floors and cables shouldn't stop this robot from getting around.

All in all – the Dreame Aqua10 Ultra Roller boasts some impressive and potentially market-leading features, and we can't wait to get our hands on it to see for ourselves.

The Dreame Aqua10 Ultra will be available towards the end of 2025 at Dreame US and Dreame UK. Pricing information hasn't been released yet.

What to shop

In the meantime, here are three of our favorite robot vacuums with similar specs to the exciting Aqua10 Ultra Roller. All prices correct at time of publication.

Next, discover the common robot vacuum mistakes when choosing and owning a robotic cleaner, and learn about the Roborock Saros Z70 that can pick up small objects.

Robot vacuums might be saving you time, but security experts say they can leave your home open to hackers who can gain access to your floor plans, private footage, and sensitive household data.

In this guide, cybersecurity experts share three easy ways to secure your robot vacuum, plus insights about what your device might be quietly collecting behind the scenes.

Whether you’ve already invested in one of the best robot vacuums or are considering getting one soon, this advice will help keep your data safe from opportunistic hackers.

The data security risks of evolving robot vacuum technology

In May, I reported on robot vacuums being programmed to do other household tasks, such as charging your phone and streaming live videos.

But it raised an important question: Should we be excited or worried about this developing technology? The key risk to your home's security is the fact that Wi-Fi-connected devices such as robot vacuums can become a data gold mine for potential hackers.

Sally Applin, a technology anthropologist and researcher at HRAF, takes a broad view. She asks, ‘Does it have a microphone? Could it listen to the home? Does it have a camera? Could it photograph the home?'

Yoshiaki Shiokawa, a PhD student at University of Bath who has programmed robot vacuums beyond their usual vacuuming function, explains why these features exist.

‘We need to add cameras to understand what the user is doing and the environment,’ acknowledges Yoshiaki, adding, ‘These robots are also connected to the internet, so the security issues need to be considered.'

Poor data security is a common mistake that can lead to identity theft. And securing your home for the holidays can pose a risk, too, as hackers could know when you're out of the house.

So, when bringing a robot vacuum into your home, you need to know how to protect yourself and your home.

1. Set up a separate network

While robot vacuums might seem like a harmless smart home must-have, they’re part of what’s known as the Internet of Things – devices that connect to your Wi-Fi to automate everyday tasks.

But unlike laptops or smartphones, many of these gadgets don’t have the same level of built-in protection. That’s why experts recommend isolating them on their own network.

'Keeping these devices on a separate network from your primary devices can be an extra layer of safety,’ says Jenna Waters, an information security risk consultant at BOK Financial.

‘It helps protect your sensitive data if one of your smart gadgets gets compromised,’ she adds.

One practical way to do this is by setting up a guest network, or if you’re more tech-savvy, a VLAN. This kind of 'digital room' keeps your vacuum from communicating with your phone, laptop, or work files – so even if it’s hacked, the threat stops there. It’s one of the most important steps when learning how to set up a smart home.

Vlad Cristescu, head of cybersecurity at ZeroBounce, explains, ‘If a hacker ever gets in through your vacuum – yes, it happens – they’ll hit a wall.’

2. Adjust settings and update software

Once your vacuum is connected, it’s easy to overlook how many permissions it’s been granted, including access to your camera, microphone, or cloud storage. As soon as you set it up (and whenever you're setting up smart tech gadgets that transform your home), adjust the settings to maximize privacy.

'Disable any unnecessary features or settings on the device and adjust privacy settings to limit data collection and sharing,’ says Jenna. That includes turning off video recording if it’s not essential, and denying the app access to things like your photo library or location.

Updating your robot's firmware might not feel urgent, but it’s one of the most effective ways to stay protected. ‘Firmware updates often include security patches that close known vulnerabilities,’ Waters explains. Make it part of your digital decluttering routine – especially if you’re adding new smart home cleaning tools to your setup.

For robot vacuums that sync with a mobile app, regularly check for updates and don’t ignore push notifications asking for new permissions. Being able to control what your devices can access is a smart home feature designers love for added security.

3. Choose a different email and password

Robot vacuums usually require an account to function, which means your personal email might be tied to an entirely new data stream. Jenna advises creating a dedicated email address just for smart devices.

'It helps mitigate the risk of phishing or social engineering on your day-to-day email accounts,’ she says. That way, even if one device is compromised, the rest of your digital life stays protected.

Avoid common robot vacuum mistakes and choose a strong, unique password. According to Vlad, ‘If your vacuum asks you to set up an account or link to Wi-Fi, always reset the password. Don’t reuse a former one. Use a new, strong password – and store it in a password manager.’

If you’re comparing models, many of the best robot vacuums for pet hair offer password-secure options and support multifactor authentication.

FAQ

What do robot vacuum brands do with our home data?

Robot vacuums aren’t just mapping your floors – they may be collecting data on when you’re home, what your rooms look like, and even what’s said nearby. Some models include microphones or cameras, while apps gather usage patterns, device metadata, as well as door and window locations.

‘While this data is primarily used to improve functionality, many companies sell it to third parties or share it with supply-chain providers,’ warns Jenna. ‘It’s all outlined in the privacy policy – and by agreeing to it, you’re allowing that data to be used in ways you may not expect.’

For those looking to reduce exposure, choosing a camera-free model or one that works offline can help, as these small steps are some of the best security measures for a house.

What to shop

If you're still choosing a robot vacuum cleaner for your home, follow this simple advice to protect your data.

'It is recommended to stick to more reputable brands simply because off-brands may be less likely to have a robust security and privacy program,' Jenna advises.

'It's best to cultivate a zero-trust mindset when choosing any smart devices, including robot vacuums. Some robot vacuum brands prioritize data security and privacy, but it's still crucial to be aware of potential data security and privacy risks,' she continues.

So, here are three robot vacuums we've tested and loved from reputable brands, but for added security, be sure to read through their privacy statements before buying.

Next, learn a military dad's top security picks for the home.

A robot vacuum is a revolutionary addition to any home, but they can be vastly expensive. And, with the majority of people not willing to spend up to and over $1000 on one, it can be an unaffordable luxury.

But, right now, you can save almost $300 on one of our favorite and best-performing models, the iRobot® Roomba Combo™ j9+ at Walmart.

There's no time like the present to snap up this incredible deal and secure one of the best robot vacuums at a fraction of the price.

Save almost $300 on our favorite Roomba

If you've been debating whether you should buy a robot vacuum, now is the time to invest. After all, what's not to like about hands-free vacuuming and cleaning?

Alex David, our gardens contributor here at Homes & Gardens, tested this particular model for over a year, describing it as a 'lifesaver,' and even deeming it the 'best robot vacuum' he's ever tested. So, what makes it so good?

For starters, and most importantly, this robot can vacuum and mop floors, and does both well, effortlessly banishing dirt from carpet and hard floors. It also features three different levels of suction and an automatic Carpet Boost setting for effectively and deeply removing dust and debris from soft surfaces.

Plus, the clever Clean Base® Auto-Fill Dock powers your robot with no need to manually plug it in, with enough capacity to empty debris for 60 days, and refill water or solution for 30. As Alex says, 'I literally can't remember the last time I had to empty out this vacuum.'

It's not just Alex who recommends this model, either. Dan Fauzi, our in-house home tech editor and vacuum testing pro, says, 'A robot vacuum will drastically slash how much time you spend on chores. They don't tend to clean as well as your full-sized best vacuum, but the Roomba j9+ Combo comes close.

'It's one of the only robot vacuums we've tested that can pull pet hair from carpets – plus, it's stylish and the cleaning station doubles up as a side table. I don't remember the last time I saw this premium, high-performing robot sell for such a low price.'

So, what are you waiting for? Grab this great deal while it lasts – you won't regret it.

What to shop

Meet our experts

If you are planning on making a purchase, these are the robot vacuum mistakes you'll want to avoid.

As someone who loves to walk around barefoot but hates the feeling of crumbs, slight stickiness, and hair, my household vacuum can see a lot of action.

However, I am always busy (or feel exhausted from my busy schedule), so there is rarely space for daily vacuuming on my agenda. That's why I was so excited to test the Roomba Combo® 10 Max robot + Autowash in my home.

However, after two months of fighting with it, I have come to terms with the fact that it is far from the best robot vacuum. And while it offers some convenience, it is far from the household saviour I was hoping for, especially at the high price.

Roomba Combo® 10 Max robot: Specifications

Roomba Combo® 10 Max robot: One-minute verdict

For general lint and visible debris collection, this robot vacuum fares well and may be suited to someone who has either hard flooring throughout their home or carpets, but no furry pets.

Whilst the mopping works fine for light floor cleaning, messy spills will need to be done the old-fashioned way: By a human. It's worth knowing that the best vacuum-mop combos can complete great, deeper mopping without our intervention.

However, the main reason my review of this Roomba gets 3 stars is the glitchy mapping and navigation. At this price point, there are other Roombas, such as the Roomba Combo J9+ that we rated 4.5/5 stars, and best-in-class models from eufy, such as the Omni S1 Pro that we tested, which will give you the most automated bang for your cleaning buck and clean how you'd expect them to.

Roomba Combo® 10 Max robot: Setup

The Roomba Combo® 10 Max robot arrived in a large, moderately heavy box weighing around 15.5kg/35lbs (the vacuum alone weighs 5 kg, that's 11 lbs) and had lots of cardboard props to help keep it secure in transit.

As a regular gym-goer, I found it relatively easy to lift each part from the box, especially as the robot vacuum itself was packaged separately in its own heavy-duty compartment with a handle. Someone with less mobility or dexterity, however, may need assistance with this step.

Inside the box was the robot vacuum, the Autowash dock, two high-efficiency filters, two edge-sweeping brushes, two dirt disposal bags, two mopping pads, and the US plug cable (according to the website, in the UK, the UK plug cable arrives separately from the main packaging).

It also came with a quick start manual with five basic steps and easy-to-interpret graphics, including a QR code to help you download the required mobile app, which contains the full owner's guide at the bottom of the app's front page

With the physical components set up and the robot vacuum successfully plugged in and charging, the rest of the setup using the app was straightforward.

It was easy to set up an iRobot account and connect to my home Wi-Fi, ready to start mapping my home. I like that you can give your robot an actual name. As part of a long-running inside joke, my partner and I called our Roomba Combo® 10 Max 'Stephen'.

The iRobot app prompts you to start a mapping run, and tells you how to best prepare your home, such as opening all internal doors and picking up rogue loose objects, such as charging cables and shoes.

The Roomba Combo® 10 Max uses a camera and floor sensors to navigate your home, and has a large bumper bar on the front to help it map out your home by, for want of a better word, bashing its way around.

After the first mapping sequence, the vacuum had missed several parts of my open floor downstairs living space, prompting me to run an additional mapping run straight after the first to finish the job. Off it went again, driving around with seemingly little rhyme or reason, banging into walls and furniture.

On the second pass, the map was more complete, and I was able to label each of the rooms.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that the Roomba had successfully guessed what each of the rooms was, successfully labelling my dining space, living room, and kitchen, as well as identifying the flooring types (carpet in the living room and dining room, and hard floor in my kitchen).

To set up maps for other floors of your home, you need to carry the Roomba to your desired starting location and create a second floor in the map section of the app. The robot vacuum will then run through the same mapping sequence. I am thrilled to say that its stairs recognition works perfectly, and it did not tumble down my very steep staircase.

One of my biggest pet peeves is that you cannot ask the vacuum to remap just one area or room. Upstairs, the robot vacuum mapped my bathroom and home office perfectly the first time around, but didn't do as well navigating around my bed and under-bed storage in my bedroom.

To complete the map, the Roomba Combo® 10 Max robot had to remap the whole floor, a process that can take several hours depending on the size and complexity of your floor plan. For comparison, our testers have seen SwitchBots map a 500 sq. ft. space in around 10 minutes, and eufy cover the same in about 10-15 minutes.

Setting up the water tank in the Roomba Combo® 10 Max + Autowash is very simple. Inside the dock, which opens at the front with a stylish hinge door, there are two large transparent plastic drawers that you can remove fully from the dock. The clear plastic container can be filled using tap water, the lid clipped shut, and the container slid back into place. The gray plastic container is there to collect dirty water once the robot has finished mopping.

This Roomba does not come with any floor cleaning solution, with the instructions assuring that plain water should be enough for most messes. To find out more information, however, you need to do more online research to find the list of iRobot-approved cleaning solutions.

I did not test the mopping function with a cleaning solution, sticking with the recomendation of water, however it is sad to see that there is only one 'approved' option: The iRobot® Braava Jet® Fresh Liquid Floor Cleaner, availible at Amazon, and cleaning with other products (including the very popular Bona hardwood and Bona hard surface floor cleaners) or all-natural vinegar could damage your Roomba robot.

After creating your map and labelling your rooms, you can set up 'favorites' in the app. This is a mandatory step if you want to use the Roomba with a voice assistant and essentially forms the 'commands' that tell your robot exactly what you want it to do.

I set up favorites for each room, as well as each floor in its entirety. This is a very repetitive task, as you have to set up a favorite for every type of task. For example, 'vacuum the kitchen', 'vacuum and mop the kitchen', 'vacuum the living room', 'vacuum downstairs', and so on.

In the end, I added 13 favorites/commands saved. For each of these favorites, I could set whether I wanted just vacuuming, just mopping, or both, as well as the suction intensity, how many passes the robot completes, the amount of water, and the scrubbing intensity.

With these set up and paired with my home Alexa system, I can simply say, 'Alexa, ask Stephen to vacuum the living room' and he will get to work without me having to lift a finger. This voice command functionality is also available with Siri and Google Home assistants.

You can also set up one-off jobs in the app by clicking the '+ new job' button and selecting the rooms, suction power, and so on.

On each of the maps, you can add further detail, including 'do not enter' zones to keep your robot vacuum away from delicate areas, 'no mopping' zones to protect flooring, and 'clean zones', such as 'kitchen sink' or 'entryway' so that you can target high-traffic spots in larger rooms.

In theory, this is a fantastic option. In practice, however, the app is very clunky. When you set up a 'zone' a colored box appears on the map with four movable corners; however, the corners are difficult to move unless you perfect your finger placement, otherwise you simply end up dragging the colored box around.

I consider myself a tech-native, and it is not often that I struggle with new technology systems. This task, however, was so infuriating that I often gave up and just had the robot vacuum clean the whole room rather than targeted spots.

The eufy cleaning app, in comparison, is super user-friendly, our testers report, and there is no issue drawing or resizing a targeted square area to clean in its app.

Roomba Combo® 10 Max robot: Design and features

The Roomba Combo® 10 Max robot was the first product to use the AutoWash Dock, designed to refill and recharge the robot, wash and dry its mopping pads, and empty the dustbin and self-clean to minimize maintenance.

The enhanced Dirt Detect feature is designed to recognize large concentrations of dirt and debris and clean more regularly in those areas. The improved Carpet Boost function also increases suction power when it detects carpets.

It also has an auto-retract mop, which prevents the mop pad from accumulating dust and debris on vacuuming runs. Combined with carpet detection, this means the mop is automatically stowed away when the robot reaches carpet, keeping your softer flooring clean and dry.

Obstacle detection also means homeowners need to declutter and tidy up floors less frequently, with the built-in camera spotting items such as cables and navigating around them.

What is the Roomba Combo® 10 Max robot like to use?

To test the Roomba Combo® 10 Max robot, I used it to clean both floors of my home for one month. The robot has a scheduling feature, which I used for one week without fault. However, as I have an ever-changing daily schedule, I switched to using the robot vacuum whenever I needed it, often using my Alexa to send it off on automated tasks.

So far as noise goes, the Roomba Combo® 10 Max robot clocks in at around 58 decibels when vacuuming, making it quieter than the Shark Power Detect 2-in-1, which we gave four stars.

When it is emptying, however, this jumps to 74.5 decibels, which is classed as moderate to loud, around the same as a typical vacuum.

Given that the robot will empty itself after every cleaning run (with no option to turn this feature off), this is not a vacuum you can run late at night or early in the morning, lest it disturb people's sleep.

This tracks with the noise volume of other robot vacuums we've tested, however, some models, such as the eufy E20 3-in-1 have an app function that allows you to set a timed window permission for the auto-vacuum emptying, therefore stopping it from happening during evening or late night cleaning.

On average, the Roomba took 50 minutes to vacuum my lower floor, measuring approximately 356 sq. ft., when completing one pass around each room. For comparison, the eufy Omni Pro S1, available on Amazon, which we reviewed and rated 5 stars, completed a 500 square foot vacuum (and mopped a third of the space) in 30 minutes.

One caveat to this, however, is that the Roomba Combo® 10 Max decided on several occasions that it did not want to clean my kitchen anymore. Immediately after creating a 'smart map', the robot vacuumed and mopped the kitchen with no problems.

However, after a few days, it would start to clean only the entryway to my kitchen before declaring the job complete and returning home. Even after deleting the downstairs map and remapping the whole lower floor (again), the same thing occurred. It worked fine for a few days, then it decided to cut the task short.

It was like having a temperamental toddler who refused to finish a task.

It is worth noting that my kitchen is the room furthest away from my Wi-Fi router and the vacuum dock, however, this does not really explain why it worked some of the time, and not others. I have contacted Roomba about this mapping and navigation issue, and will report back and update this section when I have any further information.

All in all, however, it did a decent job of vacuuming visible debris such as lint and hair, however, a lot of human hair ended up tangled in the sweeper brush at the front of the vacuum. My partner and I both have shoulder-length, fine hair that falls out a lot, so having to yank hair from the mechanisms every few days upped the maintenance.

When asked to mop, however, it simply wet the floor, and wasn't able to scrub up mud tracked in from the garden on linoleum flooring, even on the highest water level with the scrub feature turned on.

Although I hate to be a downer, I have to mention that the robot also had a tendency to get stuck.

The robot has a bumper on the front half, which, when depressed upon bumping into something, seems to tell the robot which way to go to get out. If the robot cannot work out which way to go, it 'panics' (I cannot think of a better turn of phrase) and it suddenly attempts to reverse out of the situation.

If it is stuck against an empty wall, this is fine. But on two occasions, when the robot got stuck underneath a chair in my dining room and underneath my dresser in my bedroom, it started trying to reverse rapidly against my furniture, the wheels spinning desperately, unable to work out that there was something behind it.

In the end, it usually found its way out, but I did have to pause the programme through the app on one occasion and pull it out myself.

Then came the constant error codes. This might have been an issue with just my vacuum, but there were several instances where the robot suddenly lost the ability to navigate, find its way home, or return the mop pad fully to the closed position. These frustrating breakdowns always led to me manually returning the robot to the dock and, often, switching it off at the wall for a while.

Finally, there is one unnerving feature of the Roomba Combo® 10 Max robot that left me feeling like I was in an Episode of Netflix's Black Mirror.

After vacuuming my bedroom one day before guests arrived, I received an alert after the task was completed to say that the robot had not been able to vacuum one area because of an obstacle. On opening the app, I was shown a picture the robot had taken of the area under my bed. Knowing that the vacuum was taking pictures of my home set me on edge a bit. I have since learned that you can opt out of the feature, but finding the means to do so is not easy.

After googling, I found that you have to navigate to your account page, then privacy, then mapping features to find the off button.

This only happened once, but I would have been far more comfortable with a feature like the eufy Vacoom Omni S1 Pro, tested by head of Solved Punteha van Terheyden, which simply highlights the obstacle area on your home map.

Roomba Combo® 10 Max robot: Vacuum tests

On top of everyday use, I ran the robot through our series of 'pantry tests' to see how the vacuum fared against flour and dry cereal. These are also great for acting as stand-ins for dust and household debris, and part of how we test vacuums robustly.

To test the Roomba's vacuum capability, I first spread out plain flour and sugar on my low-pile home carpet. Using the Roomba app, I directed the vacuum to clean just that room using the standard suction setting and a single pass.

The vacuum picked up most of the flour on the surface, but was unable to get the particles left in the carpet's texture, even when I asked it to repeat the task. The results were the same when I repeated this test on flat linoleum flooring.

Other robot vacuums we've tested, including the eufy E20 combination robot vacuum we reviewed, usually fare better on hardwood floors, even if they struggle with the flour on carpets.

The cereal test was, in a word, disastrous. The Roomba Combo® 10 Max has an edge sweeping brush that spins very quickly at the front of the vacuum, and is designed to pull debris in away from the edges of walls to the rollers.

However, this revolving brush turned most of the cereal into mini projectiles, pinging most of them across my room. Those bits it did suck up were crushed, leaving some powder residue behind. As a final kick in the teeth, because it pushed some of the cereal into a line, when I asked it to do a second pass, it saw this line as an obstacle (as if it was a charging cable) and wouldn't go near it.

One point to obstacle detection, I suppose. No points to practicality. In the end, I scooped up the rest by hand and finished the job with my best cordless vacuum cleaner instead.

After this test, the robot also struggled to empty itself, attempting the self-emptying cycle three times before it threw up an error code. I had to manually remove the robot's dustbin to shift the chunks of cereal and clean the dustbin sensors.

Roomba Combo® 10 Max robot: Mopping tests

The mopping test with this robot was similarly messy.

The mop on the Roomba Combo® 10 Max robot consists of a microfiber pad that lifts up from the top of the vacuum and slots down beneath the vacuum at the rear of the device. It is a very high-tech-looking design, but it doesn't offer high-tech results.

To test this function, I splattered ketchup on my linoleum floors and asked the robot to use the maximum amount of water, two passes, and the scrubbing function to give it the best shot at tackling the thick, sticky spill.

Because the mop pad is small and at the back of the robot, the wheels, spinning edge brush (which still spins even when only mopping), and the rollers all reached the ketchup spill first. As a result, they all became caked in sauce.

The mop then spread the ketchup around the room as it passed back and forth over the mess. The 'scrubbing' feature is the robot simply moving back and forth in slightly janky movements, which was not enough to clean away the residue.

After deeming the job complete and attempting to return to the dock, I quickly realised it was trailing ketchup from the wheels onto my carpet, and I had to rush to pause the job and manually take the robot back to the dock myself.

I was then left with the task of cleaning up the rest of the ketchup myself. A quick swipe with a paper towel showed just how poor a job the mop had done, and I resorted to using my best steam cleaner and steam mop instead.

I ran the autowash function on my robot once it was back in the dock, but I still found myself having to remove the microfiber pad to wash in my washing machine. Had I left it, I fear it would have eventually grown mold.

For comparison, the eufy S1 Omni Pro, our best-in-class robot vacuum, cleaned up coffee, ketchup, sticky sweet drinks and mud during our testing and did not track any of it back to the dock. Its self-cleaning and drying mop function left the pads spotless and dry. It uses a eufy detergent in its water and adds ozone to tap water, increasing cleaning efficiency but the roller mop being at the front of the bot helps it keep the wheels clean.

The eufy X10, which we also reviewed, doesn't use detergent or add ozone to its plain water, and made poor cleaning progress with the ketchup test too, largely moving it around the linoleum floor and needing a manual clean-up session by our tester afterwards.

Back to the Roomba. I then faced having to disassemble to robot to clean the edge brush (which you need a flathead screwdriver to remove, whilst eufy robots click in and out without tools) and rollers.

A damp microfiber cloth was enough to remove the ketchup from the wheels, but the rough-textured rubber made it difficult to get all of the sauce out of the nooks and crannies.

Roomba Combo® 10 Max robot: Cleaning and maintenance

Generally speaking, the day-to-day maintenance of the Roomba Combo® 10 Max robot is minimal. You do not have to empty the dust bin or fill up the mop with water. After two months, I have yet to have to replace the filter bag inside the dock despite the amount of hair my partner and I lose.

The most common maintenance task was removing hair from the edge brush, as the spinning motion often wound the strands up into tight balls, however, this was really easy to do and did not require scissors, as with cleaning a beater brush on a standard vacuum.

The Roomba Combo 10 is also prone to leaving small bits of debris behind in its dock, which I had to vacuum out with my best handheld vacuum cleaner. After about one month of use, I also had to remove the dust bin from the vacuum itself to empty and clean it manually, as the suction on the dock was not fantastic. It removes most of the debris, but larger items (such as the cereal) tend to get stuck.

Besides this, occasionally wiping the front camera can help improve navigation.

How does the Roomba Combo® 10 Max robot compare?

Combined robot vacuums and mops are not hard to come by. One of our favorites is the eufy Omni S1 Pro, available at eufy, which also has an all-in-one base that requires little to no maintenance.

This robot vacuum-mop delivers a more thorough clean than the Roomba Combo® 10 Max robot, and it has a unique spinning mopping bar that’s really effective on tough stains.

Given that the eufy costs around the same as the Roomba Combo® 10 Max robot (typically $1,499.99 and $1,400, respectively), the performance of the eufy far outmatches the Roomba.

That being said, I have routinely seen the Roomba Combo® 10 Max robot on sale for as little as $800 across retailers (including the official iRobot website) and it makes me wonder why that is when others are only briefly discounted.

The iRobot Roomba Combo j9+ is another top-performer that we’ve tested, with a slightly lower price of $1,199. It’s highly efficient at both vacuuming and mopping, however, it doesn’t clean or dry its mopping pad, so you’ll need to do that manually after each mopping cycle. However, given the poor performance of the 10 Max robot, you're often doing this with this model, anyway.

Should you buy the Roomba Combo® 10 Max robot + Autowash?

If you are in the market for a robot vacuum and mop, the Roomba Combo® 10 Max robot is not the one in my opinion. The high price places it in our 'premium' category, but the results are far from stellar, and it is often more work than it is worth.

It might be self-emptying, look great, and work well with voice companions, but the cleaning functions, navigation and mapping are subpar.

The fact that it takes photos of your home is a little unnerving. It alerted me to blocks or obstacles this way.

With more negatives than positives, I have found myself reaching for my regular best multi-surface vacuum cleaner and steam mop instead, with our Roomba Combo® 10 Max robot, Stephen, collecting more dust than he vacuums in the corner of my dining room.

How we test vacuums

At Homes & Gardens, we have a dedicated and thorough procedure of how we test vacuums. At our test center, we test various substances on three floor types (carpet, wood, linoleum) to recreate real-life circumstances.

I tested the Roomba Combo® 10 Max robot + Autowash for two months, in my home on three different surfaces: linoleum, a pile rug, and short weave carpet.

If you are still in the market for a robotic vacuum companion, I suggest learning how to choose a robot vacuum cleaner to find a better-suited model for your home.

After collectively spending 1,000+ hours testing robot vacuums at Homes & Gardens, one thing has become clear: robot vacuums need a clutter-free floor.

This often means spending more time than you usually would to make sure your robot helper isn't coming into contact with any socks, shoes, or cables. Even the best robot vacuums can't do everything.

Until now. The Roborock Saros Z70 is the first consumer robot vacuum that features a mechanical arm to pick up small objects. It's a potential game-changer in the world of smart, hands-free cleaners, but is it science fiction come to life for real, or just an expensive gimmick?

What the Roborock Saros Z70 can do

The Roborock Saros Z70 has a five-axis mechanical arm that can pick up small objects weighing up to 300g / 10.6oz and move them out of the way for uninterrupted floor cleaning.

It uses a camera, precision sensors, and an LED light to determine its position and the weight of each object.

Recently, researchers programmed a robot vacuum to do basic household tasks, and there's even a Dreame robot vacuum that can lift itself over steps, but these don't come close to the Roborock Saros Z70's functionality to actually interact with your space.

It's incredibly impressive technology, and a first of its kind in the consumer market. Thanks to its AI software, it can identify and label up to 50 new objects and return each object to its rightful place.

So the new Roborock could potentially pick up rogue sandals and return them to your entryway, or move socks to the laundry basket – which might just be the best new laundry hack to save time.

'The Roborock Saros Z70 introduces a meaningful advancement in home robotics with the integration of the OmniGrip, a robotic arm capable of identifying and removing obstacles such as socks, towels, and small toys,' shares Quan Gang, president of Roborock.

'By addressing one of the most persistent challenges in autonomous cleaning, navigating cluttered environments, it shifts expectations around what robotic vacuums can do,' he adds.

The robot's environment sensors influence how it cleans, too. 'The Saros Z70 relies on the Starsight Autonomous System,' Quan explains, 'which uses AI to recognize 108 common household items. This allows the robot to determine whether it should vacuum, mop, or avoid an object altogether.'

And if you're looking for the best robot vacuum for pet hair, the Saros Z70 avoids picking up unintended items such as pet messes or glasses. It's programmed to only engage with items it has been explicitly programmed to handle.

Outside of this new exciting technology, the robot boasts some strong performance specifications. It has 22,000Pa suction, which is higher than almost every robot vacuum out there, and certainly higher than the eufy S1 Pro Omni's 8,000Pa, which is our best-on-test robot vacuum.

Is it a gimmick?

We find that an unexpected benefit of owning a robot vacuum is forcing us to declutter our floors more often. As robot vacuums must maneuver around small objects, it internalized a routine of doing a quick pass of the floors to pick up anything that might get in the way.

But now that the robot can do it for you, would this reduce how much we care about tidiness? Leon Huang, CEO of RapidDirect, a global manufacturer of custom components for robotics, smart home systems, and autonomous devices, shares this sentiment.

'It's definitely an advancement – but one that needs to complement, not replace, human cleaning habits. It’s about convenience, not delegation,' he warns. He continues that it's better to use these smart home cleaning tools to save time, rather than offload hygiene to them.

And considering its $2,599 price point, it needs to be able to complete these tasks well. 'Industrial robots have done this for decades. But as a home robot, success will depend on the accuracy of the Z70's sensors to determine object type, weight, and shape, and how quickly it can adjust in real time,' says Quan.

Hrishikesh Tawade, a robotics engineer at Ample who works on robot vacuums and their perception systems, shares this concern around efficiency. 'It can take about a minute to pick up just a single sock and put it in a bin. So a cluttered room could turn a 40-minute clean into a multi-hour affair,' he explains.

Obstacles are one of the main reasons why your robot vacuum gets stuck, but if it is now tasked with removing them each time, this could make the process of cleaning your floors even longer.

Regardless, it's exciting to imagine what this could hold for the future of home robot helpers. 'Whether or not the Z70 is the model to buy, its very existence signals that mainstream home robots are shifting from simple avoidance to active manipulation,' shares Hrishikesh.

Leon agrees, adding, 'If done right, this is far from a gimmick. The ability to pick up clutter before vacuuming means the Z70 could handle a full floor clean, start to finish. That’s a big deal in terms of real autonomy.' It's shaping up to be one of the best decluttering methods for our floors.

Personally, as somebody who tests and reviews vacuum cleaners daily, I'm hugely impressed by Roborock's innovation. Even if it isn't the fastest yet, this technological advancement will improve chore time management, particularly as a robot vacuum can run while you're asleep or out of the house.

'Looking forward, this development opens the door to a new class of service robotics in the home, robots that don’t just clean, but interact with their surroundings in nuanced, context-aware ways,' shares Quan Gang.

'It’s a foundational step toward autonomous systems that can manipulate objects safely, make decisions with discernment, and operate collaboratively in dynamic domestic spaces.'

What to shop

Intrigued? Here's what you can buy right now to automate a large portion of your floor cleaning.

Meet the experts

Next, browse through our tested picks of the best vacuums for pet hair, or learn why having two vacuums is better than one.

Keeping floors spotless can feel like a never-ending task. The time spent cleaning up after everybody in the house can quickly add up, and before you know it, the mess has returned.

That's why it might be time to rethink your approach. As a professional vacuum tester, I can tell you the secret solution is not to have one great vacuum. Instead, you should be pairing one of the best robot vacuums with one of the best cordless vacuums.

This might seem like overkill, but hear me out. The robot will keep your floors spotless, while the small, light, cordless stick is on hand for any mess the robot can't handle. It's the perfect way to cut down on your chore time.

Why having two vacuums is better than one

Nobody wants to be vacuuming every day. What we actually want is clean floors every day, rather than the time spent on chores that could otherwise be spent living.

To cut down on how often you should be vacuuming, let a robot do it for you. It can run daily so that you can comfortably walk around barefoot without that constant layer of fine debris bothering you.

And for all the places the robot can't clean – stairs, furniture, mattresses, awkward corners – a cordless stick can take care of it quickly and conveniently without the hassle of plugging it into the wall or winding and unwinding the cord.

Immaculate floors, minimal effort

Your robot vacuum will handle the day-to-day maintenance, even when you're sleeping or out of the house. The best robot vacuums for pet hair can pick up after your furry friends, and many of our favorite models have a mop, too, for spotless and sparkling hard floors.

Then, whenever the robot misses something (which they often do), or you see some crumbs on the sofa, that's when you reach for the cordless vacuum. That's the beauty of such an agile cleaning tool, and the reason why they're the best lightweight vacuums you can buy.

You can grab it and clean it in a moment's notice. No cord, no lugging a hefty appliance out of storage. They're also the quietest vacuums, and as somebody with suspected ADHD, a cordless vacuum actually helps me clean.

This setup means you'll spend hardly any time cleaning. Part of why vacuuming is such a cumbersome task is owed to the build-up of dirt, but with a robot vacuum, this is completely avoided. You can reduce chore time by up to 90%, as we learned when reviewing the excellent eufy Omni S1 Pro.

You'll also enjoy the extra storage space, as it's much easier to hide your vacuum when storing a cordless stick than one of the best upright vacuums. And while the robot vacuum's cleaning station will take up floor space, these are often used as side tables, with the best example being the luxuriously stylish iRobot Roomba Combo j9+.

Making full use of recent technological advancements can genuinely improve your life. Your floors will be cleaner, you can finally get rid of your old vacuum that's taking up too much space, and you'll have more time to spend on the things you truly enjoy.

What to shop

We've tested 31 cordless vacuums and 18 robot vacuums, so we know which ones get the job done. And as the chief vacuum tester at Homes & Gardens, here are my recommendations to get the most for your money.

Happy to spend a little extra for the best-of-the-best? Pair the eufy Omni S1 Pro with the Dyson V15 Detect and you'll have the cleanest home you've ever seen.

Our expert tester, Head of Solved, Punteha van Terheyden found the Omni S1 Pro slashed her canister vacuum cleaning needs by a whopping 90%.

When you think of robots, what springs to mind? As a home tech editor, robot vacuums are my front runner, but following the CES 2025 tech conference and the unveiling of the most advanced multi-tasking robot vacuum in the world, I'm having to rethink my definition of what that is.

Leading robotic and interactive tech company SwitchBot showcased the K20+ Pro, with a world of multi-functionality now built in as standard. As if vacuuming and mopping your floors and emptying itself wasn't enough, this stackable robot can now also cool and purify your air, patrol your home, help with deliveries, hold your phone or tablet to assist you when you're filming content or making videos to send to friends and family and help you put laundry away.

As Homes & Gardens' home tech editor, I've written about and had plenty of hands-on experience testing and reviewing the best robot vacuums, and I'm intrigued to see how the widened scope of multi-functionality in the Switchbot K20+ will perform in real time.

What can the SwitchBot K20+ multi-tasking robot do?

CES brings together the latest in home tech and this year, I was most intrigued to hear about the K20+ Pro, which is the first of its kind in the world of robot vacuums because of its immense scope in helpful house functions.

Previously, I'd seen robots like the Samsung AI Bespoke Jet Bot watch your home and talk to your family, and the iRobot Roomba Combo j9+, which has a station that doubles up as a table.

But the level of multi-functionality in the K20+ hasn't been achieved before and I'm excited to imagine new ways of using this automated, free-roaming and AI-learning tech to improve my home experience.

Much like the Switchbot robot vacuum K10 pro combo, the K20+ Pro works as any robot vacuum would, moving around the house as it vacuums and mops the floors. But that's essentially the foundation for whatever additional device you want to stack on top, whether it's an air purifier, fan, humidifier, or camera.

You can attach a mount for your phone and tablet to stream a show or video call a friend while your hands are occupied, like when cooking or exercising. Or you could utilize the surface to deliver drinks to somebody in the house, take dry laundry to the bedroom, or bring food from the door to the living room.

The unexpected benefit of this Robot vacuum and its ability to carry items around the house will surely make a difference for anybody with limited mobility. SwitchBot also has a line of home automation gear like smart locks, allowing you to open the door from anywhere whenever a delivery comes. You'll be able to speak to the courier and ask them to place it on top of the K20+ robot.

As somebody who's often moving air purifiers, fans and humidifiers from room to room, I love the idea of a robot that can do it for you, learning which rooms will need cooling or refreshed air quality over time and changing its routine accordingly.

I can also imagine the peace of mind from being able to check on different rooms or even speak to your pets while you're of the house, all in one fancy machine.

My only concern is that, from the experience I've had with robot vacuums, I appreciate that these devices move slowly. Sending items to other rooms or a camera to patrol them won't be a quick movement, and most of the time it'll likely be a task that you could do quicker yourself, or don't mind waiting for.

Also, combining so much variety into one appliance raises the question of how effective each component will be, a sentiment that John Yensen, tech enthusiast and president of Revotech Networks shares.

'I do wonder how packing so much functionality into one device comes at the cost of quality and performance,' he says. 'Consumers will need to see strong performance in all areas to justify the cost.'

'And as someone who lived in a small apartment for four years, this device would need to be a manageable size,' he adds. 'It might deter potential buyers if it's too large, no matter how advanced the features are.'

The different devices can't all run at the same time, so there'd also need to be enough space in the house to store those that aren't being used.

Our Head of Solved Punteha van Terheyden has been testing robot vacuums for months, and her thoughts on the concept are both curious and cautious.

She says, 'First and foremost it would have to be able to clean the floors well. I've used certain robot vacuums that have left a fair amount of mess behind, and if this multi-tasking robot is as hands-free as it claims, I'd hope to not have to use my own cordless vacuum to clean up after it.' This was a problem Ottilie Blackhall, news writer on Solved, also shared in her SwitchBot K10 pro robot vacuum combo review.

'But as long as it can vacuum and mop, the rest should be straightforward,' continues Punteha. 'It's not too difficult to find good-quality purifiers, fans and cameras, so I trust that these elements wouldn't be the snag in this otherwise great idea.'

Punteha has been testing another Switchbot robot vacuum at home for a month and found its function to be excellent.

Personally, I'm excited to see where this advanced tech can take us next. Having a fully automated helper around the house will undoubtedly transform how much work we have to do ourselves. I just hope one day it will be able to do the dishes!

The SwitchBot K20+ Pro will be available in spring this year direct from SwitchBot and other major retailers.

For more automated inspiration, check out our tested guide of the best robot vacuums for pet hair.

The rise of robot vacuums is a welcome innovation for those of us who dread the chore (and let's be real, who actually enjoys vacuuming?). One of the leading brands in the world of self-powered vacuums is Shark, who continues to release high-tech iterations of the smart robot vacuum – and considers some high-profile figures among their fans.

Kris Jenner is just one of Shark's users, having recently shared a promotional video for the Shark PowerDetect Self-Empty Robot Vacuum (available on Amazon). As Jenner jokingly states in the clip, it 'leaves no crumbs,' reaching every crevice of space for spotless floors.

With sale season in full swing, we are in luck – while this cult-favorite vacuum typically retails for $799.99, it is currently retailing for half price, at a reasonable $399.99.

Shop Kris Jenner's Vacuum Edit

Some of the main selling points include the vacuum's NeverStuck Technology, which lifts & lowers to maneuver over obstacles, as well as its DirtDetect Technology, which senses hidden debris and then boosts suction. Meanwhile, the EdgeDetect technology uses blasts of air to remove debris from corners and edges into its cleaning path.

You can also set cleaning schedules and timers while the vacuum itself holds up to 60 days worth of dust and debris. Additionally, there's a built-in odor neutralizer, ensuring that vacuumed rooms smell fresh and clean after use.

With boxing week due to wrap up in just a few days, we would make a move on this deal before it's too late. Shop the Shark PowerDetect Self-Empty Robot Vacuum below on Amazon, along with some essential accessories we have rounded up below. They're everything you need to prepare your home for a fresh start ahead of 2025.

If you have a mixture of carpet and hard floors in your home, chances are that you have to vacuum and mop on a regular basis – but what if there was a gadget that could take care of both chores for you?

Robot vacuum-mop combos have become popular in recent years, and the latest models are more self-sufficient than ever. They have self-emptying bases that can also refill, clean and dry their own mop pads. The downside, however, is that these high-tech machines are quite pricey, often costing more than $1,000. So when I saw that Shark recently released a 2-in-1 vacuum robot and mop at a more reasonable price point, I knew I wanted to try it out.

I tested the Shark PowerDetect 2-in-1 Robot Vacuum and Mop with NeverTouch Pro Base for two weeks in my multi-pet home. Here’s how it performed in terms of vacuuming, mopping, and overall maintenance, to find out if it’s worth your money as one of the best robot vacuums.

Shark PowerDetect 2-in-1 with NeverTouch Pro Base: Specifications

Shark PowerDetect 2-in-1 with NeverTouch Pro Base: Unboxing and setup

This Shark robot vacuum-mop combo is easy to set up. Once you remove all the packaging, it’s just a matter of plugging in the base and setting the robot in place to charge. Within an hour or so, it had enough power for me to begin its mapping run, which you have to do before robot will clean.

The Shark app will prompt you to start a mapping sequence, and it tells you how best to prepare your home — make sure doors are open, power cords are tucked away, floors are relatively obstacle-free, etc. The initial mapping run uses a camera on the front of the robot, so it goes pretty quickly and creates a rough outline of your home.

Once it’s completed, you’re able to label rooms and create 'no-go' areas that the robot will avoid. For instance, I made my home office a 'no-go' area, as the floor is always a mess and I know the robot would probably get stuck in there.

Once the map is complete, the app prompts you to do a 'carpet detection' run, which allows the robot to avoid rugs while mopping. The robot actually vacuums the floors while doing this step, which I didn’t expect, so it takes a lot longer than the initial mapping run. I ended up cancelling it and having it finish another time when I was going to be home.

The final step in the setup process is to fill the base’s water tank. It has a handle that makes it easy to lift and carry to the sink and easy to fill up. One thing I did find confusing is that the robot comes with a jar of cleaning solution, but there are no directions that tell you how much to put in or if it’s supposed to go in the tank at all. I looked through the app’s FAQs and product manual but couldn’t find any guidance on how much to use.

After that’s all done, you can set up schedules for vacuuming and mopping. The app allows you to schedule up to two cleanings per day, and you can select specific rooms to clean, as well as whether you want the robot to vacuum or mop. I did find it a bit frustrating that the vacuum and mop setting is only available for whole-home cleaning. I would have liked the option to run both cleaning cycles in just one or two rooms. Ultimately, I scheduled the robot to vacuum on certain days and mop on others.

This is where more expensive vacuums such as the eufy Omni Pro S1 and X10, both of which H&G has reviewed and loved, come out on top. The AI tech in both and the accompanying app can setup a Smart cleaning schedule for you, or you can dictate which room it vacuums or mops (it auto detects carpet vs hard floors). You can also easily customize your cleaning cycles to particular rooms, whole floors or a particular zone you draw on the map. The S1 also auto-detects spills when mopping and concentrate its cleaning on that area.

Shark PowerDetect 2-in-1 with NeverTouch Pro Base: Design and features

Shark has offered previous robot vacuums with mopping abilities, but there are a few features that are new to the Shark PowerDetect 2-in-1 Robot Vacuum and Mop. Perhaps the biggest update is its NeverTouch Pro Base, which minimizes the amount of maintenance you have to do manually and how often you have to clean your robot vacuum.

Not only does the base hold up to 60 days worth of debris in a two-liter tank, it also has integrated clean and dirty water tanks. It’s able to automatically fill up the vacuum’s on-board mopping tank, and it also washes and dries the mopping pad after use. This means it can start a mopping run all on its own with no manual intervention required, and prevents the build-up of bacteria, mold and mildew that cause bad smells on mopping pads.

Another key feature is this robot’s PowerDetect sensors, which are able to detect dirt and stains. The robot is able to optimize cleaning in these areas, increasing suction power or going over the debris again for a deeper clean. It’s also equipped with advanced edge cleaning technology that uses a burst of air to get debris away from walls for a more thorough clean.

Finally, this vacuum-mop combo has new 'NeverStuck Technology' that helps it detect and avoid obstacles, as well as lift itself over thresholds and raise its mopping pad to avoid getting rugs wet while cleaning.

What is the Shark PowerDetect 2-in-1 like to use?

To test the Shark PowerDetect 2-in-1 Robot Vacuum and Mop, I used it to clean the downstairs level of my home for several weeks. I scheduled the robot to vacuum three days a week and mop once, and I had it run early in the morning so it wouldn’t disturb me during the day. The vacuum is quite noisy during operation, around 62-65 decibels (the volume of laughter and similar to other robot vacuums we've tested), and even more so when it’s emptying its dust bin or cleaning its mop pad. It also emits a low hum for several hours while it’s drying the mop.

While I generally let the robot clean on its pre-programmed schedule, you can also start a clean through the Shark app at any time. You’re able to choose a whole-home clean, specific rooms, or just a spot clean, and you can select whether you want the unit to vacuum or mop the floors. When it’s just vacuuming, the robot actually leaves its mopping module on the base, which I thought was an interesting touch and clever, to avoid the mop getting dusty or covered in debris.

The eufy Omni Pro S1 on the other hand leaves its mophead on the robot even when vacuuming, but lifts it up and away so no debris can get caught on it.

This Shark robot just under two hours to vacuum all the rooms in the downstairs of my home, which is a little over 600 square feet. For comparison, the eufy Omni Pro S1, which we rated 5 out of 5 stars, completed a 500 square foot vacuum (and a mop of third of the space) in 30 minutes.

Nevertheless, I was impressed that the Shark unit was able to easily climb over the thresholds between rooms, as they’re quite high and have been a problem for other robot vacuums I've tested. The robot’s NeverStuck technology also proved to be quite effective as the vacuum never got stuck on any obstacles throughout the course of testing, even when there were dog toys or stray socks on the floor.

Shark PowerDetect 2-in-1 with NeverTouch Pro Base: Vacuuming tests

In addition to using the robot for everyday cleaning, I also put it through a series of tests to see how it would fare against different types of debris.

To test the Shark’s vacuuming ability on carpeting, I spread out coffee grounds, uncooked rice, pet hair, and a few puffs of fiberfill from a stuffed toy that my dogs had recently ripped open. Using the Shark app, I directed the vacuum to clean just that room. It sucked up the vast majority of the uncooked rice and all the puffs of fiberfill, but it didn’t fare quite as well with the coffee grounds. I would estimate that it picked up around 80% of the coffee, but there was still a noticeable amount left on the low-pile rug.

Additionally, while it managed to pick up the majority of the dog hair, a lot of the strands ended up wrapped around the vacuum’s brushroll. As someone with two long-haired dogs, this was a major downside for me, as I’d likely need to clean off the brushroll at least once a week to keep the vacuum working properly. For this reason it might not be the best robot vacuum for pet hair. The eufy Pro Omni S1 on the other hand has a rubber brushroll, free from bristles, which meant over months of testing no hair got tangled in it.

I ran the same tests when cleaning hardwood floors in my home, and I also spread a few teaspoons of coffee around along the edge of the wall to test the robot’s edge-cleaning abilities. The vacuum performed better on the hard floors, picking up the majority of all the debris. There were a few stray pieces of rice and a spattering of coffee grounds, but the vacuum was able to pick up more than 95% of everything I spread around the floor.

However, I was disappointed in its edge-cleaning abilities, especially since that’s one of the key features advertised on this model. Only around 50% of the coffee grounds along the edge of the wall were vacuumed up, and the rest was just spread around the area.

Shark PowerDetect 2-in-1 with NeverTouch Pro Base: Mopping tests

I also tested out the unit’s mopping abilities on my hardwood floors. The mopping pad is made from microfiber and moves in a back-and-forth scrubbing motion to help remove dirt from the floor. It’s also able to swing out from under the vacuum to get closer along the edges of walls. However, I think it’s worth noting that, unlike more expensive robot mops, this model doesn’t suck up the dirty water as it cleans.

To assess this unit’s mopping abilities, I created a few stains on my floors. I let some mud dry into a caked-on mess, and I also spread a few tablespoons of ketchup on the floor. Using the Shark app, I directed the robot to spot-clean the area, and it went to work scrubbing at the stains.

I was impressed by the robot’s stain-detection abilities—as soon as it drove over one of the stains, it would immediately stop and go back over the area, rotating in circles to ensure every inch was scrubbed thoroughly. It made several passes over both stains, and when it was satisfied that the marks were gone, it did one final pass over the whole space. When all was said and done, there was no dirt or ketchup left on the floor. Impressive!

Shark PowerDetect 2-in-1 with NeverTouch Pro Base: Cleaning and maintenance

One of the best things about this vacuum is that there’s no daily maintenance needed. You don’t have to empty its dust bin or fill up its mop with water—the NeverTouch Pro Base takes care of all that for you.

Over the two weeks that I tested this robot, the only thing I had to do was cut hair off its brushroll, but you may not have this issue if you don’t have pets. You will eventually need to empty the base’s dust bin, empty the dirty water tank, and refill its clean water, but the brand says these chores generally only need to be done once a month. On a day-to-day basis, the robot is truly hands-off to operate.

There are a few long-term maintenance tasks that you’ll want to keep in mind, though. The instruction manual suggests cleaning the base ramp and replacing the mop pad every three months (a few replacements are included with the robot). You may also occasionally need to clean off the unit’s dirt detection sensors or the base charging contacts—all of which is explained in the manual.

How does the Shark PowerDetect 2-in-1 compare?

Most robot vacuum brands offer models with both vacuuming and mopping abilities, and one of our favorite options is the eufy Omni S1 Pro, which also has an all-in-one base that requires little to no maintenance. This robot vacuum-mop delivers a more thorough clean than the Shark PowerDetect, and it has a unique spinning mopping bar that’s really effective on tough stains. It also cleans the mopping bar as it works, ensuring dirt doesn’t get spread around your floors. However, the main downside of this model is its price point—it retails for $1,499 at full price, making it more than double the price of the Shark PowerDetect 2-in-1.

The iRobot Roomba Combo j9+ is another top-performer that we’ve tested, still with a hefty price point of $1,199. It’s highly efficient at both vacuuming and mopping—it performs particularly well on pet hair—but it's not as self-sufficient as the Shark or eufy. It’s able to fill its own on-board water tank, but it doesn’t clean or dry its mopping pad, so you’ll need to do that manually after each mopping cycle.

Shark PowerDetect 2-in-1 with NeverTouch Pro Base: Verdict

If you’re in the market for a robot vacuum and mop and want one that’s low-maintenance, the Shark PowerDetect 2-in-1 Robot Vacuum and Mop with NeverTouch Pro Base is one of the more affordable options out there today. It’s fully self-sufficient, maintaining its own mopping pad and vacuum with virtually no manual intervention, and I was quite impressed by its thorough mopping abilities—it was able to completely remove tough stains from hardwood floors. Plus, it navigated around my house flawlessly, avoiding all sorts of obstacles and climbing over tall thresholds.

However, this vacuum-mop combo does have some shortcomings to note. For me, the biggest downside is that its brushroll quickly gets tangled with long hair, so it may not be the best option for households with pets. The vacuum also doesn’t do a good job cleaning along the edges of rooms, and it’s quite a bit noisier than other robot vacuums, both while cleaning and doing maintenance at its base.

Not for you? Learn how to choose a robot vacuum cleaner to find a better suited model.

Dealing with chronic pain is a full time job in itself, so with a young child, a busy house with two cats and a real full time job here at H&G as head of Solved, vacuuming has been the bane of my life for years.

I can't stand up for longer than two minutes and my wrists, ankles and knees give way constantly thanks to a genetic disorder. Vacuuming was so hard for me. Then I was lucky enough to be sent four top-notch robot vacuum and mops to test thoroughly and review. It is no exaggeration to say these robot vacuums have absolutely changed my life, and help keep my floors clean and sanitized.

Splashing out on one of the best robot vacuums will be the best investment you make this year for your home.

Why splashing out on a robot vacuum is so worth it

Why I love my robot vacuums

I now have two robot vacuums in my home, one upstairs and one down. I've kept my 5-star eufy Robot Vacuum Omni S1 Pro, featured in the video above, downstairs as the mopping capabilities are brilliant for cleaning the linoleum floors in my kitchen. My two cats go in and out all day, tracking muddy paw prints around the space.

Before, I had a good enough health and pain day to mop once a month at best. I cycled between using a traditional mop and bucket, available at Walmart, and a Swiffer Mop with disposable wipes from Amazon in the end as I hated the wet dog smell the mop would get no matter how well I tried to dry the head.

With the eufy, it not only has an automatic mop drying function to ensure no damp or musty smell develops, but it also turns your regular tap water in its clean water bin into electrolyzed Ozone, using patented tech. This gives my floors a far superior clean to other mops I've tried, literally drawing black water from the floors with its antibacterial properties. It uses the same Ozone clean water to clean the mop head when it's done.

When it comes to the robot vacuum element, all three I've linked above are brilliant.

I'm using the SwitchBot Floor Cleaning Robot S10, currently heavily discounted on Amazon, upstairs and I truly love it. It looks modern, has superior anti-collision tech and comes with the bristle-free rubber brushroll, which I have found in my testing to be much better than robot vacuums that have bristles. The bristles will cause hair to wrap around it, even if the design boasts 'anti-hair wrap' tech. The Switchbot robot vacuum K10 pro combo is a great option, too, which Ottilie Blackhall, news writer on Solved has been testing. You can read her SwitchBot K10 pro robot vacuum combo review to find out more.

The rubber brushroll is elite and the Omni S1 Pro and the SwitchBot S10 both have it. You can also buy it separetely for around $20 from eufy to upgrade your eufy X10 Pro Omni robot vacuum and mop, currently heavy discounted at Best Buy.

The difference robot vacuums have made for me

First, my canister use is down by 90-per cent. I only need my Miele vacuum, which is designed especially for, and one of the best pet hair vacuums, now for stairs and sofas or vacuuming upholstery.

Secondly, I run the vacuum daily, and the mopping multiple times in the week. Each function takes around 15 minutes for 500 square feet at home.

Third, there is a lot of internal shame and guilt that can come with being disabled and now, I no longer have to feel wretched that either I can't vacuum when my house needs or, or I have to ask my husband to do it on top of everything else he does to keep our household running.

Finally, the apps for all these robot vacuums I've tested are spectacular. A credit to their developers because they are so easy to use. Some apps drive you around the bend, but these apps are as smart and intuitive as their robot vacuums. Hurrah!

• Shop the eufy S1 Pro Omni for $999.99 at eufy or Amazon
• Shop the eufy X10 Pro Omni for $549.99 at eufy or Amazon
• Shop the Switchbot S10 for $699.99 at Amazon

FAQs

Are robot vacuums worth it?

If you have been debating whether robot vacuums are worth the spend, trust me, they absolutely are. If I had to hand these back tomorrow, I would buy them full price to keep the unexpected benefits of Robot vacuums and the brilliant tech they're loaded with. So to be able to buy with some of the best vacuums deals and best robot vacuum deals, it's a no-brainer for me.

Do robot vacuums work?

Categorically, yes. The best ones we've reviewed rival canister vacuums and reduced my canister usage by 90%. Look for features such as object collision technology and for mopping, being able to add a cleaning solution to the clean water tank will help it do a better job.

Do robot vacuums work on carpet?

In my experience, yes. I found I had to tweak the settings via the app to get the best results for my home, for instance, putting the eufy X10 Omni Pro on Turbo, rather than Standard suction. Give yours a good chance and test out all the different options and settings available to you.

Can robot vacuums go over rugs?

Yes. The good ones, such as the three I've focused this article on all work perfectly fine over rugs, with and without tassels on the end. They can lift up their front to get over bumps and ridges, and if they do become a bit tangled on a tassel, they will reverse back and free themselves. I have been testing mine daily for nearly 12 weeks and have yet to free any of them from a rug.

Do robot vacuums need Wifi?

Yes. Most need it for the apps to connect to the robots.

Next, learn about Roomba vs Shark vacuums.

Having tested my first robot vacuum and mops this winter, I have become an immediate convert, as having these gadgets has reduced our canister vacuum use by 90%. The appeal of having a secondary vacuum upstairs therefore, was too much to resist, especially as I have two cats.

The eufy X10 Pro Omni fared great overall, but I reckon it’s slightly better suited to homes with more hard flooring than carpets, though there are easy settings you can tweak on the app, and an affordable eufy rubber brush head you can swap out to for very effective vacuuming results on your carpets.

It's usually half the price of its newer and flashier sister (the S1 pro) but delivers the majority of the bells and whistles, including self emptying and mop drying, great collision avoidance as well as being an easy-to-unblock-and-care-for robot vacuum. With its small footprint in the home and excellent mapping skills, it deserves a spot as one of our best robot vacuums.

And right now, there are Black Friday Deals for the best robot vacuums up for grabs with an extra $250 off this one in particular, making this a brilliant time to upgrade your cleaning game. You can shop these deals easily on my quick links, below:

• Up to $250 off the eufy X10 Pro Omni at Amazon
• Up to $250 off eufy X10 Pro Omni at Best Buy

The eufy X10 Pro Omni robot vacuum and mop is a brilliant buy overall

Setting up the eufy X10 Pro Omni robot vacuum and mop

The eufy X10 Pro Omni robot vacuum comes with a self-emptying docking station, electrical cord, and ramp. It doesn’t use any mopping fluid as standard, or come with spare brushrolls or mop heads, unlike its newer sister the eufy Omni S1 Pro, which I also reviewed and loved.

This X10 Pro Omni was an easy setup, going from box to charging in under 10 minutes. This was largely thanks to its large, visual start-up diagrams sheet, which came doubled up on a part of the cardboard box to save on paper, a nice touch that's better for the environment than separate cardboard or booklet.

Only one step was unclear so I used the QR code on it to read the expanded instructions online. The blue things it tells you to remove in step five, by the way, are foam squares to protect the device’s various ports and tech in transit.

Then we were off. It arrived with 1% charge and took a couple of hours to get to 45%. It needs at least 30% to map and get going on its maiden clean.

I tested the eufy X10 Pro Omni on the top floor of my home to see how good its anti-cliff technology really is, and watched as it impressively did what I can only describe as an abrupt, powerful, emergency stop at the top of the stairs during mapping to avoid a long tumble down. It automatically allocated the area a ‘no-go zone’ (something you can also do for it manually on the app) for its future reference.

Mapping 500 square feet took around 15 minutes and was accurate, identifying furniture and noting it on the map over time as well. The eufy app is excellent, allowing you to connect it to an unlimited number of its robots in your home and edit the map. As I already had another eufy robot vacuum, the Omni S1 Pro, the WiFi on the app connected automatically, putting my new X10 Omni Pro robot vacuum on the same network as its sister technology, downstairs.

For anyone loading the app for the first time for setup, WiFi setup is easy. Just select your network and pop in your network password. If your house is particularly large, you might need to set it up near your router as weaker WiFi signals can delay the app.

Vacuuming on carpet with the eufy X10 Pro Omni robot vacuum and mop

On its maiden voyage on my mostly carpeted, rug-free top floor, the brush roll head was wrapped with hair within the first 10 mins. I only realized as it encountered a blockage that I cleared (a beaded necklace in my daughter’s room) so I spotted it when I turned it upside down.

This is where the eufy Robot Vacuum Omni S1 Pro, the flagship model I previously tested, has an immediate and clear edge on this X10 Pro Omni, its older sister. Whilst the S1 Pro has a rubber brush roll, free from bristles and does not trap any hair, and two spinning arms at the front, helping catch any and all debris in its path, this one only has the spinning arm on one side and a rubber brush head with added bristles that makes it a hair-wrapping magnet.

I have two cats that shed, long hair myself and a daughter who brushes not only her long hair all over our home, but her Barbie and dolls’ hair too. This model is touted for being great for pet hair and I didn’t actually see any in the brush roll so the powerful suction tech does work brilliantly for pet hair.

Most robot vacuums have between 2000-13,000 Pa suction power so this one, at 8,000 Pa is on the more powerful end. However the longer human hair did get caught.

After its third vacuum, the brush roll was wrapped in hair and I removed the brush roll from its housing and with a pair of hair scissors, manually worked to get rid of it all. Yuck.

This is one thing I hate about even the best vacuums, be it best cordless, robot or otherwise. It took me a couple of snips to remove the hair from the length of the brushroll, however it took a further 10 mins of careful and precise snipping and pulling to get the hair untangled and free of the metal ends fixtures.

Engineers at eufy told me there is a mechanism in the base station that reverse-rolls the brushroll to pick off and suction up any hair at the end of every vacuum cycle. However, I didn't find this very effective.

The good news is, you can buy the bristle-free rubber brushroll from eufy at $19.99 to enjoy the same truly hair-wrapping-free vacuuming power as the S1 Pro. I was sent one to test and there was no more hair wrapping during vacuuming. Hurrah!

With the Omni robot vacuum’s cleaning intensity and suction speed set to Standard, it left a bit to be desired, as there was visible debris it did not pick up from the carpets, probably due to the trapped and wrapped hair on the bristles. It was stark enough for my husband to ask when I was going to set the robot vacuum on its first cycle – I already had and he didn’t realize because of the debris.

On following cleans, it picked up bigger debris but struggled on the smaller stuff in Standard mode. It also caught pet hair and fluff or other soft debris on the mops during vacuuming and either dragged them around, or dumped them somewhere along the way. It is supposed to lift up by 12mm to prevent this happening, but I noticed it only happened on its maiden clean. I have put this down to there likely being a good amount of pet hair around, and dust in places we don’t vacuum daily, such as under sideboards and my daughter’s bed.

Still, overall, the vacuum’s effectiveness on carpet in Standard mode left a lot to be desired. Whilst overall, the upstairs floor of my home looked tidier for the vacuum clean, on closer inspection it was clear it needed more work. This is despite the vacuum returning to base to empty itself half way through the clean so clearly it was picking up a lot of stuff.

However, the great news is when I tested this robot vacuum on Turbo suction mode and Deep Clean with zero hair on the rubber brushroll, there was an enormous leap in performance, leaving no loose debris on carpet. There was no cause for me to get my Miele canister vacuum out to finish the job.

Since realizing this, I now only use the turbo and deep clean settings for vacuuming carpets with the eufy X10 Pro Omni.

Noise levels of the eufy X10 Pro Omni robot vacuum and mop

I did find this model quieter than the S1 Pro. Around 50-55 dB (a quiet conversation) rather than 60-70+ dB (conversation in a restaurant). The eufy Omni Pro X10 robot is still comfortable and fine to converse over, even with the vacuum a few feet away. I was also able to work at my desk without it being intrusive. The video below, and the picture above shows it vacuuming in my study, where I am filming and photographing it from my desk.

With the S1 Pro, which could go up over 70 dB when vacuuming, I found it was harder to watch TV or have a conversation, even whilst it was on quiet mode.

During mopping, mop cleaning, and mop drying there is very little, if any noise. As the unit is set up in my primary bedroom, I was able to fall asleep with the mop drying going on. It can be set to take two, three or four hours to dry, FYI.

Vacuuming on hard floors with the eufy X10 Pro Omni robot vacuum and mop

Where this robot vacuum excels in my view is hard floors. It picked up absolutely everything in its path. Whilst the object collision technology was mostly great, avoiding people, pets, doors, and stairs, it is a little bumpier by nature than the Omni S1 Pro. Still, this X10 Pro vacuum moved easily around and under many items of furniture in our bedrooms.

It only became confused in a couple of areas of my home, where it had to transition from our linoleum en suite bathroom floor to carpeted bedroom floor. I don’t think it was the change in floor type that confused it as it did fine from the carpeted hallway into the linoleum family bathroom. I think it was the splayed white wooden legs of a vanity table immediately to the right, as it entered the bedroom from the bathroom.

It couldn’t fit through them, so it headed back to the bathroom and round and around at least four times till it figured it out and went back to its docking station. It found this space really hard to understand so I marked it as a no go zone on the eufy app (meaning it couldn’t enter underneath the vanity from the side, only the front) and that resolved the issue.

It does a little bit of bumping into baseboards though, which the S1 Pro, the other eufy model I reviewed recently, does not. The S1 Pro has excellent object collision avoidance technology – promising to recognize at least 100 different types of objects even at night.

This eufy Omni Pro X10 robot vacuum has similar tech, yet it also bumped into a couple of areas where there was a reflective surface, such as the chrome on the bottom of my walk in-shower.

In the scheme of what this unit is capable of, that’s not a problem in my view. It has rubber strips on its front and top edge to avoid causing damage or scratching if it does have a little fender bender, and that’s effective. It has not bumped into people or pets in a month of testing, so in real-world terms, no harm done!

I also ran a few tests to help me compare its vacuuming to the flagship eufy Omni S1 Pro:

• Test 1 – Cereal on hard floors: I used a half cup of round cereal. It picked it all up and the few pieces it flicked away instead of suctioning up were still picked up by the end of the vacuum cycle. I did the test on standard and turbo mode with good results on both.
• Test 2 – Cereal on carpet: It performed largely the same as on hard floors, but fared better in turbo mode in picking up on the first round.
• Test 3 – Flour on hard floors: I used a teaspoon of flour and it picked it all up, again on two passes. Flour is a good substitute for dust in vacuum testing, however, it's worth noting in a normal day-to-day situation, that much dust won't accumulate on three square feet.
• Test 4 – Flour on carpet: Having learned my lesson on another other eufy robot testing I did, I used just a teaspoon of flour rather than a cup. It performed fine, picking up 80 per cent on the first pass. I ran a secondary pass to pick up the rest and it managed to do so just fine. This is a setting you can tweak in the app mid cycle if needed.

Mopping with the eufy X10 Pro Omni robot vacuum and mop

I have a messy kid and two cats who love staying out all night and tracking muddy paw prints into my house first thing in the morning.

Regular mopping fared great with this eufy robot, leaving my floors clean and quickly dry. The self-cleaning and mop-drying functions are my favorite features of the mopping system, meaning I do not have to wash, ring out or figure out how to dry the mop heads without them smelling like damp, wet dog.

I ran some other measured tests too. As my cats' paws are generally dry by the time they get upstairs, I brought mud, mixed with water, in from the back yard and spread 100 ml of it on the bathroom linoleum. The mop tackled my proxy-wet-and-muddy-paw-prints with ease on the first pass.

The manufacturer notes not to let the machine mop up excessive amounts of liquid so I tested it with just 100 ml of ketchup and milky coffee on linoleum, which it picked up without issue in one round of mopping on standard mode.

However, as the eufy X10 Pro Omni robot does not come with a cleaning solution, and doesn't have eufy's awesome Eco-Clean Ozone (a built-in ozone generator in the station's clean water tank that creates ozone to deeply clean surfaces) it didn't smell clean on that first round.

I sent the mop back around for a second load of mopping via the app and here, it cleaned the floor to what looked like an acceptable standard. I could no longer smell any of my test materials in the bathroom, the floor looked clean and was non-sticky to touch.

However, when I got down to floor level, I could smell ketchup so I used an anti-bacterial multi-purpose cleaning spray, and with some white tissue, wiped the floor in the area the spills had been previous to robot mopping. It brought up what looked and smelled like all three of my cleaning test materials, as you can see pictured below:

I asked eufy's team if it’s safe to add a cleaning solution into the clean water tank and one of their engineers advised, ‘Unlike the S1 Pro, the X10 doesn’t have an automatic cleaning solution dispenser, as it’s designed as a 5-series model focused on essential cleaning needs.

'However, X10 does support adding cleaning solution, but we recommend only using eufy's own RoboVac Hard Floor Cleaning Solution (2 Bottles) at a 1:200 ratio to avoid any risk of corrosion to internal tubing.'

I did not have this solution to test with, but it compatible with the X10 Pro Omni, X8 Pro, X8 Pro SES, X9 Pro, G10 Hybrid. The S1 Pro I tested last month came with eufy cleaning solution included, and I found it to draw black dirt straight out of the hard floors of my home. The Omni Pro X10, without cleaning solution, pulls light gray dirty water, so I do rate their solution.

Whilst this Omni doesn’t have black dirty water on emptying after regular, and not spillage-type mopping, this might also reflect the fact we wear shoes sometimes in the kitchen downstairs, and not upstairs so downstairs is just dirtier overall than my hard floors upstairs.

I noticed on usual day-to-day mopping, which I run cycles for every other day, also lifted dried toothpaste speckles in my daughter’s bathroom, and dusty grime around the back of the loo from a sticky cleaning supply spill I hadn’t noticed. Great stuff, as I can’t get be on my hands and knees to clean it myself due to disability and chronic pain.

I also highly rate the ‘edge-hugging mopping’ function, which adds five minutes to the mopping time for every 100 square feet of cleaning. It cleaned off any dust on the sealant around the edge of the linoleum bathrooms floors, where the floor meets the baseboard and somewhere I have probably neglected… forever.

The two round spinning mop heads retract upwards 12mm during vacuuming and to avoid making the carpet wet or picking up dirty, debris or hair and I like this feature a lot. Nobody needs regular moisture on carpets, which means a risk of mold in the fibers or underlay. I also want clean mop heads to work on my hard floors and having mop heads that touch the carpet on every clean would be, well, gross.

The Omni Pro X10 self cleaned and dried its mop heads after use and I have used it at least every other day during a month of testing in my home and am yet to have any problem with the mop head. Unlike the flagship model, it doesn’t come with spares but you can buy X10 pro mop pad replacements on Amazon for around $22.99, though during Black Friday this is reduced to $15.99 for eight.

It is worth noting that in the base settings, you can choose between 2, 3, and 4 hour auto mop drying. It’s not very noisy at all and I was able to sleep easily while it was going on in my bedroom, which is where our upstairs eufy robot lives. The cord is 57 inches long, the base unit needs 50cm clearance on the front and both sides. I don’t have that clearance space to give it on its left side, but it functions fine, just FYI.

Maintenance and cleaning of the eufy X10 Pro Omni robot vacuum and mop

It's pretty self sufficient and just needs empty of dirty water tank, and topping up of the clean.

The mop self-cleans and dries.

It's easy to remove the brushrolls and free any blockages, or remove hair as I've explained earlier in this review. I highly recommend upgrading to the rubber-only brushroll, and cleaning solutions to notch it closer to the Omni Pro S1 functionality and effectiveness.

My verdict

The eufy X10 Pro Omni is a really solid robot vacuum and mop and shares a lot of great features with its more expensive big sister, the Omni Pro S1.

All the automation advanced technology you get with this one at this price point makes this a 4.5/5 stars for me. It’s comfortable and quiet to have running at all hours of the day and night, and is reliable, doesn’t get stuck under things and won’t be nipping by anyone’s toes. It reduced our canister vacuum use down by 75 per cent, as we still need to do a couple of weekly cleans with our Miele vacuum canister.

The eufy app is also a credit to its developers as it is so intuitive, easy to use and as far as my two months of daily use of it go, glitch free. You can pick a floor, a room, or drop a one-off cleaning zone square onto the map and it’ll head there for a targeted clean. This is especially handy for our house with two cats and a busy kiddo and plenty of debris and spills.

You can also up its suction, or the number of times it cleans an area mid cycle, as well as prompt self-emptying, mop cleaning and drying.

As a person with physical disabilities, chronic pain, and an obsession with cleanliness in my home, I am thrilled to have access to this robot vacuum.

How we test robot vacuums and mops

In order to test this robot vacuum fully, I tried them out in my home for a minimum of one month. This included using all of its functions, all of its levels, over hard floors and carpet.

This included daily vacuuming, and mopping every other day.

I considered its object collision, mapping, app functionality, suction power, debris removal, mopping effectiveness, ease of cleaning and maintenance, the cost of additional parts and replacements or top ups. Throughout my testing, I compared it to the flagship model, the eufy Omni Pro S1 and had a great base of comparison having run the same tests, over the same period, in my home.

I also made sure to measure the amounts of cereal, flour, and liquid spill test materials to be able to make objective comparisons of this robot vacuum's efficacy.

Whilst some of our other experienced vacuum testers also have access to a test center with different types of flooring, I do not live near, but made sure to test on hard floors and carpets. I also have two cats so using the robot vacuum daily was an important test to see how much my canister vacuum use would drop. I saw a reduction of 75 per cent, which in any household is significant, but particularly effective for me as a disabled and mobility-limited person.

To learn more, visit our in-depth guide on how we test vacuums. Our vacuum jargon-busting guide is also thorough and helpful in figuring out the tech-y words manufacturers often use in their product information.

Next, if you've always wanted a Dyson vacuum without the Dyson price tag, delve into our best Dyson alternatives for stellar technology at a fraction of the cost.

As someone with two cats, a messy eight-year-old child, and a personal aversion to crumbs, debris and mess, the canister vacuum in our house usually gets trotted out multiple times a day.

But as a disabled person with limited mobility, chronic pain and a genetic disease that leaves me prone to dislocating my joints during simple activities, vacuuming is physically very hard. That’s why I was thrilled to test the eufy Robot Vacuum Omni S1 Pro with self cleaning, emptying and mop drying.

It has all the bells and whistles you’d expect of a top-of-the-range and pricey robot vacuum to rival the OG Roomba, and I hoped it would be the key to unlocking easier daily cleaning in my home without pain. I'm thrilled to report it really has.

Overall, I can confidently declare it to be one of the best robot vacuums on the market, entirely worthy of its price-tag. I’m really thrilled to have one at my disposal, but my Miele canister vacuum is staying put for large powdery spills.

What I loved about the eufy Robot Vacuum Omni S1 Pro

eufy Robot Vacuum Omni S1 Pro: Specifications

Setting up the eufy Robot Vacuum Omni S1 Pro

It came in a large, moderately heavy box (the vacuum and its docking station alone weighs 13.8 kg, that's 30.4 lbs) with lots of internal packaging to keep it intact in transit. As I have chronic pain, I was unable to lift it out, but my husband did so with ease.

Aside from the base unit and robot vacuum itself, it came with a spare mop roller, one bottle of its non-toxic cleaning fluid for mopping, a UK and US compatible lead for the mains at 56-inches long, full manual and a large nine-step A3 document with simple Quick Start instructions and graphics, which made setup an absolute breeze and not at all overwhelming.

I’ll be honest that I put off starting the review for my first ever robot vacuum as I had no idea what to expect in terms of setup, and needed the time, mental energy and a low-enough-pain-day for it. Thankfully, it was easy and quick, taking 15 minutes overall. If we hadn’t needed pictures or have our excited daughter wanting to get involved, setup would have been complete in under 10 minutes.

Each step was simple, went exactly as described or pictured on the Quick Start sheet, and the vacuum came already loaded with 57% charge. It charged to full within 90 minutes, which it encourages users to allow before mapping or using for the first time.

The accompanying eufy app (available on Apple store and Google Play) was simple to sign up and use, leading to the vacuum precisely mapping our downstairs area, which has linoleum floors in the kitchen-diner and bathrooms, and carpet, plus a medium-pile large area rug in the living room, and jute in the entryway. To add an extra floor, the base unit needs to be taken upstairs to allow the robot to return to base and therefore save the map. Its stair detection tech was superb and it mapped upstairs as easily as it mapped down.

The app also allows you to add multiple vacuums with ease, skipping WiFi password-requesting after the first robot is on board.

It took my eufy Robot Vacuum Omni S1 Pro 7 mins to map our 500 square feet ground floor accurately and about the same upstairs. We lifted everything we could off the floor and out from under our three sofas so even if later on there are things under there, the robot knows the layout of our ground floor well.

It maneuvered easily around the dining table, chairs, and switched between flooring with ease, including the in-built jute portion of our entryway flooring. I also discovered later that if we moved something in our home, such as our cat-scratching post, it would automatically re-map the change and remember it, meaning it didn't skip any areas just because something had moved.

Vacuuming with the eufy Robot Vacuum Omni S1 Pro robot

It navigates within two inches of an obstruction such as a chair leg, then spins around it with next to nothing clearance so its two spinning brush arms can go all around without missing any flooring.

It handled the fluffy 2-inch tassels of our area rug with ease, and usually did not get tangled or stuck. When it did get itself into a pickle, it reversed and went around, or lifted up its front end, untangled itself and carried on. If you ever saw Batteries Not Included, it looks like one of those flying robot-aliens when they lifted their front legs up in excitement. The clearance was impressive.

The two spinning brush arms that sit on the front corners of the vacuum protrude out further than the body of the robot vacuum, meaning it can clear debris right up to walls, baseboard and doors without scratching anything.

When it ran over a phone charger wire, it reversed back to eject it. A few of my daughter's loose Barbie hair got tangled around those arms but with a one-button click and clean system, it was easy to remove the arm and clear the hair. The minimal amount of hair on those front arms did not impede its spin or function.

The only item item that confused the robot in my home was a rogue rubber door stop. It gently nudged it three times then changed course.

During month-long testing, I encountered one blockage in the rubber roller – which by the way is the key to not getting tangled with hair and in my view worth its weight in gold. After it announced the block and paused its vacuum cycle, the app prompted me with step-by-step instructions to fix the blockage. It was easy and resolved the problem.

Afterwards I put it back together and turned it the right way up, and clicked the confirmation on the app screen that I'd cleared the blockage and on went the clean. The red tabs and indicators make it really easy to see which parts you need to push, pull, squeeze or lift to maintain it. That makes it a breeze to clean and maintain – more on this later.

The noise levels were as loud as a vacuum cleaner, according to my Decibel X phone app, but it sounds quieter than my Miele Complete Cat and Dog C3 vacuum, which we've also reviewed, though it turned out to be around 10 decibels louder than its older sister, the eufy X10 Pro Omni robot vacuum and mop at the same suction setting.

The mopping function itself was quiet, but noisy when the dirty water drained at the base station. My decibel app found that to be as loud as a hairdryer (60-80 decibels) but that was short lived, lasting only 20-30 seconds. I tried to avoid this during my husband’s video meetings in the kitchen, but sometimes it cut in to them and he had to mute himself.

I love how accurate the Pro S1's mapping has been, allowing it to move underneath our sofas, which have half a foot of clearance from the floor. The height of this robot is 3.77 inches and that means the minimum clearance it needs is 4 inches.

Its sister, the eufy Omni, for comparison, banged into my highly-reflective chrome shower door, though it largely avoided other obstacles around the home. I don’t have anything that fits this description in our home to test it out. They recommend 4.3 inches clearance for smooth cleaning under furniture, but also say its infrared tech will help it see in the dark if you decide to runs yours overnight. I found it to work just fine in bright light, daytime and dark. The only area it got stuck on was under my TV stand so I marked it a ‘virtual no go zone’ on the map which stopped it getting wedged.

After testing the eufy Robot Vacuum Omni S1 Pro in my home over the course of a month, I found our cadence of use to be vacuuming every evening before my daughter went to bed, and mopping once midweek in the day time, and again on the weekend or when there were spills, such as a bright blue crushed ice drink, below.

The eufy S1 Omni Pro robot vac cleaned it up on a zoned clean, which is when you draw a box on the map via the app, for it to do a targeted vacuum, mop or combination with ease. It left no sticky or blue residue and did not spread it at all. It also was clear to me the robot’s sensors were detecting exactly where spilled liquid was, as it went over that section in close detail till it was all mopped up.

This robot vac has excellent 3D MatrixEye™ Obstacle Avoidance collision sensors and technology and didn't bang into anything over the course of a month of daily cleans. I did, however, find clearing the floor or side tables and toys off the ground made the cycle a little quicker, as the robot didn't have to navigate around lots of stuff it didn't expect to find.

If it was quieter, I wouldn’t bother clearing stuff off the floor to speed it up. I should make it clear that the noise levels are not painful or bothersome. I just can’t watch TV at a normal volume and have to speak louder to my husband or daughter during it.

Test 1: Cereal on kitchen Iinoleum floors

I poured a cup of dry cereal over the kitchen floor and set a zoned clean on Standard suction. It handled the volume of cereal with ease and only bumped a few pieces of the cereal debris forward or to the side, taking in 99% of the debris on its first sweep.

During this test, I realized I had zoned the space inaccurately so after it had completed and returned to base, I set it on a room vacuum for the kitchen only, and it set to work. It grabbed all the extra cereal with ease, and some rogue cat litter. I noticed at a lower volume of cereal, it didn’t ping any of them outwards.

However, when it returned to base and commenced dust collection (it’s self emptying function) it spat out a quarter cup worth of cereal.

It is worth noting I checked the robot and the base unit after the same happened following a flour vacuum test, and noticed there was a lot of cat fur, about two handfuls, blocking the dust tube, as well as a hair band, and a square of plastic. After a month of regular testing, this problem did not occur again no matter what I tried, so I’m putting the self-emptying fails that day down to a rogue blockage.

The plastic I had found in the self-emptying chute was an unusual blockage that the eufy engineering team did not expect to occur. I also checked with the eufy engineering team, who viewed my footage of the fail, pictured above, and they told me the volume of flour I'd used in the test was likely too high, and may have clogged the robot's filters, stopping its usual suction prowess.

Our home tech editor, Dan Fauzi, adds, 'When I test vacuum cleaners, I use flour as a stand in for dust in a test center. The volume of flour used in this test is more than normal and isn't representative of a typical household's level of dust.'

I agree with them both and used less moving forward.

The small square opening of the self-emptying function, which is around 1 inch by 1.5 inches, is a key part of the self-emptying function so it became clear to me why the intense spitting out of vacuumed contents had occurred at the base earlier in testing.

It was obvious too that it also picked up a lot of cat fur from our carpets, though I used my manual floor fur scraper and collected a decent amount following a vacuum on Standard suction.

I have not seen a better result for removing pet hair from my carpets than hand scraping, using a pet hair scraping tool from Amazon, even with my canister pet vacuum. The next time I’m in the market for a vacuum, I’m definitely coughing up for one of the best pet hair vacuum cleaners as even when I had professional cleaners in every other week, they would vacuum the house top to bottom and still scrape a bucket load of fur from the carpets.

I was really pleased to see the robot vacuum’s anti hair-wrap technology, which is a rotating rubber brush rather than a bristled one, stayed entirely fur and hair free. I shed hair and so do my cats, and I am usually cleaning my canister vacuum's floorhead and brushroll mid vacuum (learn more with our vacuum jargon buster).

To compare, after a month of use, there was no hair wrapped around the rubber brushroll, whereas after the first use, its sister robot vacuum the X10 Omni Pro had hair wrapped around half of its rubber and brush combo roller.

Previously, when I had a budget cordless vacuum I purchased for under $200, I had to remove the brushroll every month, and over a trash bag, cut a nauseating amount of human and pet hair out of the brush to get it functioning.

This SI Pro robot vacuum has zero hairs caught on the brushroll or the front arms after a month of use. Impressive.

Test 1.1: Cereal on carpet

I used an eighth of a cup of cereal on the same amount of floor space, this time on carpet, it did a great job clearing it on Standard suction and only pinged a few pieces away from itself, which it collected on its next run. Even when the cereal was right up against the edge of something such as our sideboard, the robot vacuum did not falter or miss.

It became clear this robot vacuum can handle larger debris particularly well, which I would consider more typical of everyday spills than large volumes of flour, especially if you have kids, grand kids or pets running around. Most household vacuum manufacturers warn against using their vacuums on dense dust for the same reason: thick dust can clog filters and bust motors.

It is worth noting that I have never spilled a whole bowl, or cup full of dry cereal or flour anywhere in my home naturally, so my debris tests were on the over-zealous side. In normal every day spills, the eufy Robot Vacuum Omni S1 Pro did brilliantly, never leaving any debris behind.

Having cleared the earlier blockage in the dust-emptying chute, I was interested to see what it did after it returned to base post-cereal-on-carpet vacuuming. It did not empty itself on this occasion, as it needs to vacuum a certain square footage before emptying. I prompted it to on the app instead, and it didn’t kick out any debris. Hurrah!

As an aside, this is a worthy moment to note this appliance’s brilliant battery power. It used just 4 per cent during these tests and returned to 100 percent within 10 minutes. The real-life benefit is if you have a large home, the robot should get through a lot of cleaning before it needs to pause for a battery recharge. It will still periodically return to base to empty its dustbin, dirty water and clean its mop.

Test 2: Flour on hard floors

On Standard suction mode, it tripled the spread of the flour debris field and pushed flour particles over other clear areas of the cleaning zone in the kitchen. This made the kitchen floor slippery and a bit of a hazard.

On Turbo suction mode, it picked up more of the flour debris but on Max Power, it started puffing flour out of it vents creating a real mess on the floor and in the air, so I switched it back to Standard suction mode via the app. Afterwards, there were areas of flour in kitchen zones I hadn’t spread it for testing, that were visible to the eye, as pictured below:

The flour was even pushed by the robot vacuum into the crevices of the linoleum floors, which is designed to look like wood flooring. The robot was unable to suction that up. My Miele canister vacuum for pet hair made light work of the floor and cleared the crevices and floor debris in one pass.

Again, it's worth noting that it's not a usual amount of day-to-day dust spillage, and I haven't had any problems on day-to-day cleaning, which is why I have rated this a 5 star robot vacuum.

Test 2.2: Flour on carpet

Given what I experienced during the first round of tests, I used much less flour on my carpet, around an eighth of a 1/4 cup. The robot did not pick it all up on standard suction mode, or turbo, though the mode turbo fared a bit better. I have asthma and so does my daughter so I didn’t use the max mode again as I didn’t want more flour particles in the air.

After a month of testing I am yet to have to empty the docking station, and the manufacturer says it holds up to 68L of dust. That's a lot...! After this testing experience, I am going to review how much flour we use in our testing as I don’t think this is an entirely representative or helpful medium. If you drop a bag of floor, you’ll likely sweep the majority, then hoover the residue.

Mopping with the eufy Robot Vacuum Omni S1 Pro

Eufy’s mopping mix cartridge, which comes included, just needs to be turned upside down and placed in the tank area as indicated. Then, fill the removable clean water tank, pictured above, with tap water to the max fill line.

The base station comes loaded with Eco-Clean Ozone™ tech that electrolyzes your tap water in the machine for extra cleaning power. This acts as a sanitizer, killing germs on your floors, your machine, and in the mop-cleaning cycle.

The Pro S1 robot vacuum took just 3 minutes to mix and go, mopping the kitchen diner in around 10 mins. I set it to 2 out of 4 for wetness and the mix dried in under 10 minutes, leaving a subtle but slip-free shine and no sensation of stickiness that some chemical cleaners can leave.

It is very lightly fragranced but not enough of a fragrance for even my hound of a nose to pick up on any particular scent. The Eufy multi-surface non-toxic floor cleaner is the only one recommended for use with this system by the manufacturer, and it’s around $22 for a single Eufy hard floor cleaner 600 ml refill on Amazon.

Over the eight mopping cycles I ran on my 250 square feet of hard floors in a month of testing, around half a tank of water was used. It is not possible to tell within that, how much of the mopping mix was used up. I am yet to be prompted to replace the Eufy cleaning solution. When I have real world usage to report, I will update this article.

The mop function is self emptying into the docking station and it has a separate dirty water tank to avoid nasty smells being spread. Similarly, the auto-drying function on the mop roller is fantastic, the noise unobtrusive and excellent, meaning the foam mop brushroll doesn't end up smelling like a wet dog. It still looks pristine.

Using the eufy Robot Vacuum Omni S1 Pro with pets in the house

My two cats were both freaked out and intrigued by our new helper but after some initial heckle-raising, they quickly relaxed and popped up on higher surfaces to watch our robot vacuum, which we have now affectionately nicknamed Euphegenia Doubtfire, at work.

The eufy Robot Vacuum Omni S1 Pro does not overlap its mopping, and made clean, joined up lines with ease, clearing my cats’ muddy paw prints in one pass. It also mopped around their food mats without disturbing their water bowls or knocking their shallow food plates. I forgot to lift these off and away for its maiden mop.

On every mopping cycle, the robot’s sensors were able to distinguish between the jute doormat in the kitchen and hall, the linoleum floor, and the spot where the carpet of the living room meets the hard floors, which is separated by a set of doors we usually have open.

Even when it navigated up to my cats' scratching post, it hopped up – it can rise 1.5 inches – and gave that a good vacuum too.

It tackled sticky, sugary liquid spills with ease, and much like the tests available to view on the manufacturer’s website, blasted through coffee, milk and ketchup stains with zero issue, residue or spread.

The manufacturer does warn not to use the robot on too much liquid as that may damage its motor. This just means much like a normal, manual mop-worthy household spill, use paper towels to collect some of the excess liquid first.

The eufy Robot Vacuum Omni S1 Pro on different surfaces

During vacuuming, it had no problem going over our medium pile area rug, which has a changing design that includes ridged arcs, as well as horizontal and vertical lines. It actually fared impressively better than when I manually vacuum between the ridges with my Miele corded canister pet vacuum as I find it physically difficult to push over the ridges.

Cleaning and maintaining the eufy Robot Vacuum Omni S1 Pro

I'll be honest, that there hasn't been much for me to do. The mop self cleans and dries, the rubber brushroll is anti-hair tangling, and the vacuum and mop both empty into the base tower.

So far, all I've had to deal with was the rogue plastic blockage in the chute. I also emptied the dirty water tank, for my own curiosity, rather than needing to because it was full. I emptied it down the toilet and cleaned the inside with dish soap. Simple.

When the 64-liter dust bag gets full, I'll just have to bin that and replace it with a new bag. Whilst the filters are free for life, you will have to purchase the dust bags and mopping solutions when you run out and generic ones are not advised by the manufacturer.

Having had both a bagless and bagged vacuum before, I’ll take the cost of a vacuum bag any day as I loathe the filth and dust of cleaning a bagless vacuum dust bin.

My verdict eufy Robot Vacuum Omni S1 Pro

I suffer chronic pain from a genetic connective tissue disorder and vacuuming is especially hard on my body, leading to pain flares and injuries such as dislocations. And yet, vacuuming remains one of those household chores that is vital daily in our home because of our two cats and averagely messy eight-year-old child.

When I was in better health, I vacuumed daily, if not twice daily to keep our home clear of dust, crumbs and fur, but my health has declined so much I rarely have days where I feel well enough to even vacuum the living room. I now can no longer put weight on my right foot, which makes any kind of housework extremely challenging.

This robot vacuum is therefore a really welcome and helpful addition, alleviating the daily vacuuming person-power our busy little household needs, and tackling it well. I love the automation, the bells and whistles it has for self emptying and mop drying, and the easy-to-use and very handy app. You can even set daily cycles up so the robot sticks to a particular cleaning schedule that helps you keep on top of cleaning.

I adore also how effective the robot and mop is and am not holding the flour blooper against it. Nothing in my testing found it was unable to handle day-to-day debris, dust and mess (human, pet and otherwise).

After the eufy Robot Vacuum Omni S1 Pro mops finishes, the level of debris collection and cleanliness is akin to when we used to have a professional cleaner come in weekly for a thorough clean. I really love this robot vacuum and it has replaced our need for a canister vacuum downstairs almost entirely.

We will keep our Miele canister vacuum as the robot can’t do the stairs or deal with excessive powdery-filled mess.

If you’re considering investing in a robot vacuum and mopping system to help you keep on top of household cleaning, this one is absolutely worth the spend, especially if you have pets, or like me, are disabled or in pain.

Next, delve into our best Dyson alternatives, fully tested by our experienced home tech team for an awesome but more budget-friendly vacuum for your home.

Gone are the days of tangled cords and cumbersome handles; robot vacuums are the new frontier when it comes to keeping our homes tidy. As evidenced in a recent clip posted to Instagram, Courteney Cox is on board with the trend. The Friends star has partnered with Shark to promote their new PowerDetect vacuum.

Better yet, it might just be one of the best vacuums of 2024. According to the video, the 2-in-1 mop/vacuum is 'built to satisfy a clean freak.' In other words, it's not just clean – it's Monica clean. A level up from its predecessor, the Shark Matrix 2-in-1, the PowerDetect Vacuum is essentially self-sufficient, from the cleaning process to docking. Its NeverTouch design ensures that we, well, never have to touch the item. After each round of cleaning, the vacuum can return to its base and empty debris, refill the water tank, and clean the mopping pad to ensure it is ready for its next use.

It's a natural collaboration for Cox, whose Friends character, Monica Geller, was quite the cleaning fanatic. 'I am often linked with cleanliness based on some of the characters I’ve played, but my dedication to tidiness extends way beyond those roles, and Shark’s new PowerDetect line is an amazing new product for people who love to have a clean home,' Cox states of the robot vacuum in a press release. 'The new Shark PowerDetect line of vacuums have quicky become two of my must-have products.'

When it comes to Shark and Cox, cleanliness is of utmost importance and choosing a vacuum cleaner is a huge part of that. 'With the launch of Shark’s new PowerDetect Robot and Cordless vacuums, we knew we needed to partner with someone that had the same standard and commitment to cleanliness, and who better than Homecourt Creator and Founder, Courteney Cox,' continues SharkNinja CMO, Adam Petrick. 'We’re looking forward to highlighting the incredibly innovative PowerDetect line and its various uses with Courteney in the coming months.'

In terms of appearance, the PowerDetect looks quite similar to the Shark AI Ultra, which Homes & Gardens' contributing reviews editor Camryn Rabideau praised for its design, saying that it's 'one of the best robot vacuums you can buy today.' In her Shark PowerDetect 2-in-1 Vacuum and Mop review she explains, 'While other self-emptying vacuums capture dust and debris in a vacuum bag, the Shark actually has a bagless design, saving you from having to buy replacement bags,' she explains in her review.

The PowerDetect measures at 18.8 in L x 14.33 in W, and like other iterations, comes in a sleek, black finish. Since emptying the debris from a vacuum is not the most pleasant of tasks, this one does it automatically every 60 days. Additionally, it is one of the best robot vacuums for pet hair, capturing up to 99.97% of dust, while Odor Neutralizer Technology keeps homes smelling fresh.

As far as upkeep goes, we recommend stocking up on some cleaner refill, which is available to purchase below for $11.99.

Though a single vacuum can't completely transform your cleaning routine, the Shark PowerDetect is the closest thing. It vacuums, it mops, and it even cleans yourself. If you want to be like Monica and Courteney, this is the perfect start.

Congratulations: you've just bought a home with a pool. It looks great, adds a bunch onto the resale value, and is perfect for entertaining family and friends. But before you start doing victory laps, spare a thought for your pool vacuum.

Pool vacuums are a tedious but essential part of pool ownership. Without one, all the chlorine in the world won't save you from dirt collecting up the sides and pooling in the bottom.

There are two options: a manual vacuum - which takes a little elbow grease - or a robot vacuum - which takes a lot of money. I spoke to a pool expert about the benefits and drawbacks of both types to help you choose.

What's the difference between a manual pool vacuum and a robot pool vacuum?

The difference between the two types is fairly straightforward. A manual pool vacuum is a suction pump on the end of a long pole, used to remove algae and dirt from the bottom and sides of a pool.

A robot pool vacuum does the same thing, but automatically. You just have to put it in the pool and it will work by itself, vacuuming the pool for you and saving the labor.

What are the benefits of a manual pool vacuum?

The biggest benefit of a manual pool vacuum is that it's cheap. Robot pool vacuums can cost hundreds if not thousands of dollars, and you can find pool vacuums for under $100.

Another benefit is that you can see your work and easily fix it. A robot vacuum can't 'see' what it's doing, and they often miss patches. With a standard pool vacuum, you have total control over your work and can quickly clean up anything you've missed.

What are the drawbacks of a manual pool vacuum?

Unsurprisingly, manual pool cleaners take a little elbow grease. Depending on your pool size, if you have overhanging trees, and how much chlorine you use in your pool, vacuuming with a manual pool vacuum will probably take half an hour to an hour of cleaning. It's not an everyday task, but you may find that vacuuming your pool by hand once a week is a little effortful and time-consuming when all you really want to do is swim.

Manual pool vacuums also run on the pump for your pool, sucking dirt and algae into your pool filter. In the short term, there's nothing wrong with this, but in the long term, you need to keep an eye on your pool filter and regularly clean it by hand so that everything is working effectively.

What are the benefits of a robot pool vacuum?

Robot vacuums take all the hassle out of vacuuming your pool. They do the work for you, saving you from a tedious chore. Pool expert Rafi Friedman told me that 'Robotic pool vacuums require much less time and effort to use effectively. Once you've set them up and programmed them, your work is done, aside from perhaps plugging it in to charge between uses.'

Unlike some hands-free suction vacuums, robot pool vacuums can clean the bottom, sides, and steps of the pool, saving you from the fiddly work on these surfaces. They're also almost silent, unlike manual vacuums which have to plug into the pump. This means you can run them early in the morning or late at night when you aren't using the pool, so it always looks at its best.

Robot pool vacuums also have their own filters and pumps, so you don't need to play around with the pump pressure on your pool or clean your pool filters after you use it. In fact, they are usually more powerful than a manual vacuum, which often makes for a better clean. All in all, pool expert Rafi told me that 'I definitely recommend robotic vacuums for those who can afford them. They're generally quite reliable, and they take a lot of the work out of pool ownership.'

What are the drawbacks of a robot pool vacuum?

Robot pool vacuums are very expensive, and prices tend to start from $500. It's a lot of money to spend when you could buy a manual vacuum for ten times cheaper and do the job yourself.

While it's great that robot vacuums have their own filters, these are small and quickly fill up with leaves, so it's another chore to empty them, too.

While these pool vacuums are less effortful than a manual pool vacuum, they're not entirely automatic. You still have to place them in the pool and fish them out when they're done, as well as rinse them off and put them in storage.

They also tend to take longer than manual pool cleaners, though if you run them in the evening while you cook or watch TV this shouldn't be an issue.

Pool vacuum FAQs

What is a suction pool vacuum?

Suction pool vacuums are like a hybrid of manual and robot vacuums. Like robot vacuums, they work unattended, but like manual vacuums, they work by using your pool pump to suck up debris. They're a hybrid of the two styles with all the benefits and drawbacks of both. You need to know what you're doing with pool pumps to get one working, but once you do it will clean your pool without you having to intervene.

For more help with your pool vacuum, take a look at our deep dive into why your pool vacuum may not be working.

Robot vacuums are the ultimate 'hands-free' appliance, doing the bulk of your floor care for you while you go about your life, especially when their docks empty and clean the robots for you.

But you still need to look after them. A dirty robot will lose suction power and spread germs across your home, not to mention the inevitable wear and tear on the precious materials.

Even the best robot vacuums require regular maintenance. Read on for how to clean your robot vacuum in six steps.

How to clean a robot vacuum cleaner

We spoke to Elizabeth Shields, operations manager of Super Cleaning Service, on the ins and outs of cleaning a robot vacuum to help keep your cleaning supplies clean and increase the lifespan of your automated appliance.

She begins, 'Each brand has its own way of designing and building its vacuums, and that can affect how you clean and maintain them. For example, iRobot and eufy are easy to use and clean with removable brushes, filters, and dustbins,' she explains.

Punteha van Terheyden, Head of Solved at Homes & Gardens has tested and reviewed several eufy robots, with two still operating daily in her home months later. She says, 'The eufy app, in fact, alerts you when a particular area of a robot or dock needs cleaning, and provides you with pictures and animations showing you the process, making it very easy to complete the cleaning.'

Other brands might not make it as easy to access the different parts, or know what to do, but will make up for it by using designs that are easy to take apart and reassemble or by including special cleaning tools or colorful markers on elements that can be removed.

Elizabeth warns against doing this infrequently, 'If you let dirt and grime build up in your robot vacuum, it can cause problems down the line. So, try to clean it after every few uses to keep it working at its best.'

Many of the best robot vacuums have great apps that will prompt you when cleaning or maintenance is needed.

To deep clean a robot vacuum, you will usually need:

• A trash bag, such as these extra strong bags from Walmart
• A clean, dry microfiber cloth, also at Walmart
• A small pair of scissors. Nail scissors, from Walmart, are usually small enough for the job
• Warm water with a few drops of dish soap, such as Dawn, from Walmart
• A screwdriver set, from Walmart, to remove and reassemble parts easily

1. Power off

Before you start disassembling or trying our cleaning tips, 'power down your robot and unplug it from the charging dock,' says Elizabeth. This simple precaution will help to avoid electrical hazards and accidents.

2. Empty dustbin

We all do this as part of our regular maintenance anyway, but it's important to make sure the vacuum's dustbin is fully empty before cleaning the rest of the robot. Neglecting to do so is one of the most common vacuum cleaner mistakes.

Elizabeth explains, 'You’ll usually find this compartment at the back or underneath your vacuum. When you’re done vacuuming, make it a habit to remove the dustbin and empty the contents into a trash bin.' Being able to skip this step is one of the top reasons why you need a self-emptying vacuum, such as the eufy Omni Pro S1, which we reviewed and awarded 5/5 stars.

Elizabeth continues, 'If you notice that there’s some residue sticking around in there, rinse it with some mild detergent and water. Just make sure it’s dry before you put it back in place.'

Many of today's robot vacuums, like Yeedi S14 Plus, empty themselves into the charging station. These will most likely be empty when you come to clean them, so you might just need a rinse like mentioned above. Remember to empty the station, too, giving the interior a similar dusting with a dry cloth to keep it in good working order.

3. Disassemble and clean parts

To deep clean your robot vacuum, it is best to take it apart, removing the rollers, brushes, and filters according to the manufacturer's instructions (you can often find these manuals online at iRobot, Shark, eufy, Dyson, Roborock, and Proscenic if you have lost the copy that came with your appliance).

Elizabeth advises, 'Then, take your time to inspect them carefully.' This is where you'll find trapped debris and tangled hair. Remove the clogs as carefully as you can using a brush or scissors if needed, trim away hair from the brushes, and be careful not to clip the brushes themselves.

If your robot vacuum doubles up as a mop, now's a good time to clean those parts too. Mopping pads can be washed with mild soap and water, or can be thrown in when doing laundry. As with washing microfiber cloths, avoid using fabric softener when washing these pads to ensure they remain absorbent for fresher floors.

Cleaning filters is usually straightforward, but it will depend on their material. Our guide on cleaning vacuum filters breaks down each type to ensure you don't damage this vital component.

4. Check the wheels and sensors

While you have your robot vacuum upside down, check that the wheels and sensors are not clogged with hair or grease. Before tipping it over, lay down a towel underneath if yours has a mop function to catch any residual water.

The wheels can easily get hair and threads wrapped around the axles, limiting their movement and forcing your vacuum cleaner to work harder, increasing wear and tear. You should be able to pull this away with your fingers, but you may need to cut through with a small pair of scissors or a seam ripper, which is the perfect hair wrap fix.

The sensors can be wiped over with a soft cloth to remove any film that could be hindering your vacuum's cleaning efficiency. Buff it dry to ensure watermarks don't lead to uneven cleaning, avoiding a common counter-productive cleaning practice.

5. Wipe exterior

Before you can reassemble, wipe down the exterior of your robot vacuum with a clean cloth dampened with warm soapy water and wrung out, suggests Elizabeth.

She explains, 'This will get rid of any dirt or residue that might be clinging on. Never use any harsh chemicals or scratchy materials that could damage the finish.'

Don't forget to remove dust from the charging station, too, for a clean home.

Then, to finish, Elizabeth says, 'Put everything back together, ensuring any washed components are fully dry, and reinstall any accessories or attachments that you removed while cleaning.'

With everything physically reset, check your vacuum's control app for any firmware updates for a thoroughly refreshed cleaning tool.

Now you've covered your robot's cleaning needs, learn how to clean your vacuum to update your other equipment.

Samsung has announced a whole new wave of AI home appliances. At their launch event on March 27, the global tech brand unveiled the latest additions to their 'Bespoke' range (Bespoke being Samsung's range of products that utilize AI).

The announcements included a new robot vacuum cleaner, washing machines, and fridges/freezers. We've already seen what Samsung's AI tech can do in the Bespoke Jet AI Vacuum and found it impressively intuitive, albeit expensive.

The new range boasts eco-conscious features, with AI chips being able to minimize power usage by adjusting the settings throughout the day. They're also designed to sense and detect user patterns to optimize their performance. 

It's an exciting step for tech to be able to respond to our behavior and learn from it. Samsung aims to have AI built into every home appliance to create what they refer to as a 'connected ecosystem,' as all of Samsung's Bespoke AI appliances can connect to each other in the SmartThings app or can sometimes even be controlled via each other.

Samsung's new range of Bespoke AI home appliances

The new products include a 3-in-1 robot vacuum, and new lines of washing machines and fridge/freezers. Read on to hear what they can do.

Samsung AI Jet Bot Combo

We've already covered the Jet Bot Combo robot vacuum in more detail, but it's essentially a 3-in-1 cleaner that can vacuum, mop, and sanitize using steam. Steam cleaning is a unique feature for a robot vacuum, and will likely be a big help when it comes to tackling tough stains on hard floors. 

I saw the Jet Bot Combo in action, and it's definitely a sleek appliance to have in the house, regardless of how it cleans your floors. But the most surprising revelation was that it can be used for remote communication: pre-record messages and the robot can go to your kids' rooms and tell them to wake up. It's an odd thing for a vacuum cleaner to be able to do, but maybe this is the way all future home appliances are heading. And unlike any of the current best robot vacuums, it even has audio and motion detection.

Samsung Bespoke Family Hub Refrigerator

We've seen Samsung's screened refrigerators before, but the new range has the added feature of 'AI Vision.' Now, there's a camera on the top of the fridge interior that can identify and track food that's put in. 

At the event, I saw this in action. The product demonstrator added a cucumber, and the fridge identified it immediately and prompted him to enter a use-by date so that the fridge could keep track. 

With this information, the fridge can then recommend recipes based on what you have. You can cater these recipes to specific requirements, like being vegan, celiac, high protein, or if you just hate mushrooms. And if you don't have all the ingredients, your fridge gives you the option to select which ones you need to buy, and it will then display a list of supermarket vendors you can order from right the fridge's screen.

It all sounds very convenient and high-tech, but watching the demonstration left me wondering whether this would be more effort than it's worth. There's only one camera, so if any top shelves are full, the fridge will struggle to identify new objects placed below. Unless you enter the correct use-by date each time you put something in, your fridge will have an inaccurate view of its contents and will give untimely alerts. But having recipes recommended to you based on what you have will be huge news for anybody who struggles to make do with what they've got. 

It also has a water dispenser between the door panels so that you can access it without opening the fridge properly. This will undoubtedly save energy down the line, as will the 'AI Energy Mode' that optimizes energy based on how you and your family use it. There's also an energy saver mode, which is effectively like the 'low power mode' on a smartphone: you can save up to 50% of the energy during periods when the fridge isn't being opened and closed as much.

Samsung Combi Fridge/Freezer

Instead of a screen, the new fridge/freezer is designed to be one of Samsung's most energy-efficient yet. It has an 'A' energy rating, decreasing energy consumption by 55.9% compared to their previous models. 

This is in part thanks to the new AI Inverter Compressor with larger rotating parts, meaning that it can keep the power longer and use less energy while keeping the temperature in the fridge cool.

It has separate air flows for the fridge and freezer compartments so that there's humidity in the fridge and dry air in the freezer. It also has the same AI energy tech as the Family Hub, with options for energy-saving mode or optimized performance.

Samsung Bespoke Washing Machines

The washing machine lineup is designed with energy efficiency in mind. It boasts a new AI Ecobubble feature, which is said to be a more efficient and effective way of penetrating clothes.

The 'Bubble Shot' sprays soapy water inside the drum on top of the clothes and pulls it through a circulation pump, penetrating the detergent and enhancing overall washing efficiency. 

Like many smart washers these days, it also has an 'auto detect' function, where you can put in a load of detergent once, and it determines the right amount to use each time. During the demo, the experts explained that, if using all the features together, you can save up to 70% on energy—but I'd imagine this would involve using eco cycles rather than the more intensive ones.

If you're wondering how to choose energy-efficient appliances, Samsung have come up with their own answer for you. And with all this talk of the new AI-designed Jet Bot Combo, you may wonder: are robot vacuums really worth it? They're big investments, so it's probably smart to see what the experts say first.

Samsung has unveiled a new range of home appliances with AI built into them. The 'Bespoke AI' range is designed to learn patterns in user behavior to then automatically optimize its own performance while recommending improved settings.

The line-up includes large appliances like fridges/freezers and washing machines, as well as cleaning tools like a cordless stick vacuum and a robot. 

At the Samsung Home Launch Event, the Jet Bot Combo caught a particular amount of attention thanks to a few surprising features we wouldn't normally expect from a robot vacuum cleaner.

What is the Bespoke Jet Bot Combo?

The Jet Bot Combo looks and sounds like an impressive robot. It's effectively a vacuum that can also mop and steam-clean floors by itself. Steam sterilization is a feature rarely found across robot vacuums, so it will no doubt be a big advancement for automated home cleaning.

Thanks to its AI capabilities, the Jet Bot Combo can drop the mops in the cleaning station while it vacuums the house and then mop only the non-carpet or rug areas when it's done. If it detects a tough stain, Samsung claims it can go back to the station, attach the mops, heat them with high-temperature steam and water, and then tackle the mess.

Like most robot vacs, it empties by itself into the cleaning station. But where the Jet Bot Combo stands out is in its ability to be self-sufficient for up to 2 months with two tanks for water: one for clean water and one for dirty water.

This'll likely be a savior for large, busy households that often see messes and spills, where frequently picking up the vacuum and mop isn't always an option.

This AI robot vacuum can interact with your family

But the Jet Bot Combo can do more than cleaning. Unlike any other robot vacuum, it has a camera for home monitoring, and you can record messages for remote communication with people at home. 

At the event, the Samsung product trainers explained that you can use this function to ensure your kids get out of bed when you're not in. You can remotely send the robot to specific rooms in the house, where it will relay whatever messages you've pre-recorded for them. 

The Jet Bot Combo also has audio and motion detection so that you know, in real-time, whether the kids really did get up. You could also use this feature to check on elderly family members or even for home security, but any remote viewing in a break-in would likely be limited from a robot vacuum cleaner.

While Samsung's announcements showcase impressive developments in combining AI with home tech, they do raise the question of whether some of these features are necessary. A robot that can tell a family member to wake up relies on the robot first of all being upstairs, and once you consider the speed at which robot vacuums travel, it could easily be achieved with a text or phone call. And with a phone call you can at least say more than pre-recorded messages. 

Audio and motion detection could become helpful in certain scenarios but, considering how much this will have contributed to the overall cost, it largely seems like a feature that'll be under-utilized most of the time.

That said, the Bespoke Jet Bot Combo's cleaning power sounds like it could be one of the best we've seen in a robot vacuum so far. We'll test it once it's available to see for ourselves.

Once released, the Jet Bot Combo could potentially be one of the best robot vacuums available. AI is becoming more commonly seen in our appliances, and hopefully, it'll make our home maintenance even easier as time goes on. 

Robot vacuums are supposed to be a dream come true. Letting a robot take care of this time-consuming household chore is marketed as though you're living in the future. You can head out for a coffee and come home to spotless floors – what's not to love?

Enter Dyson's latest robot, the Dyson 360 Vis Nav. Dyson claims that the Vis Nav has 2x the suction of any other robot vacuum. It’s equipped with intelligent navigation that includes no less than 26 sensors. The brand claims it intelligently prioritizes high dust areas.

However, historically, robots have been Dyson's Achilles' heel. Their robots have never dominated the market in the way their upright and cordless vacuums have, and the robots they have put out have often been far below the standard of iRobot, Roborock, and Shark. It will take a lot for the 360 Vis Nav to end up in our guide to the best robot vacuums, let alone the best vacuum cleaners.

Product specifications

Who will the Dyson 360 Vis Nav suit?

The Dyson 360 Vis Nav will suit anyone with a big budget looking for all the latest robot vacuum tech. But if you want a robot that’ll empty itself or mop floors, this isn’t for you.

It’ll work best for households where it can be scheduled to clean several times a week, to keep on top of that daily dust and dander. But if you’re expecting to ditch your regular vacuum, think again. You’ll still need to vacuum the areas it can’t, and do a deeper clean periodically.

Dyson 360 Vis Nav: Price and availability

You can buy the The Dyson 360 Vis Nav for around $1,199.99 at Dyson, Target, Amazon and Best Buy.

That price puts it above most other robot vacuums on the market. It's no surprise from Dyson (historically one of the most expensive vacuum brands), but the 360 Vis Nav is only their second entry into the world of robot vacuums.

The frontrunner in this market is iRobot Roomba. At the lower end, their models start from around $275 with the Roomba Combo Essential Robot, all the way up to $1,399 with the Roomba Combo j9+ Auto-Fill Robot Vacuum and Mop.

The Roomba Combo j9+ (review here) currently hails at the top of our tested list of the best robot vacuums and it's also able to mop and empty itself. Other iRobots we've tested, like the Roomba s9+ and the Roomba j7+, are both available for less than the Dyson 360 Vis Nav, while offering some of the best cleaning performance and home mapping we've seen from a robot.

Dyson 360 Vis Nav: Unboxing and setting up

As you’d expect from a high-end brand, the Dyson robot vacuum arrived impeccably packaged, although the truly eco-conscious won't appreciate the protective molded plastic in the box. Nevertheless, removing it and assembling the charging station was swift.

There were two parts to click together and a charging cable to plug in, and then I simply needed to select a convenient spot to place the charging dock. It needs about 20 inches of free space on either side so that the robot can easily navigate back to its starting position.

While the robot charged up, I downloaded the free MyDyson app, which is crucial to get the most out of the robot vacuum and access all its features. Connecting the robot to the app was a seamless process and took just a few minutes. It’s definitely the easiest robot vacuum I’ve set up in several years of reviewing them.

Once connected to the app, you can easily program a cleaning schedule, so that the robot will clean on certain days and times. You can also choose between the four power levels which are auto, quick, quiet, and boost.

The final task in setting up the robot is getting it to map your home. You can start mapping via the app, and during the process, the robot doesn’t vacuum, it concentrates on creating a map of your rooms including any obstacles like furniture. If you intend to use it in a split-level home, you’ll need to create a new map for each level.

I found the app intuitive to use and once the maps are set up, you can customize your floor plan by splitting it into rooms. Then, creating zones and no-go areas is straightforward. You can even set it to vacuum at a different suction level in each room.

Dyson has always been a floor-cleaning brand that focuses not only on performance, but also on the visual design of its appliances, and this Dyson robot is no different. The bright blue-purple color is a world away from the sea of black-and-white robot vacuums currently flooding the market. It also makes this robot easy to spot as it goes about its business. However, it will always need to be on display, so the vibrant color so it won’t be for everyone.

Dyson 360 Vis Nav: Design and features

The 360 Vis Nav is a more basic cleaner than other robots in the market. There's no cleaning station, no mop, no fancy camera to see what's happening in your house like with the recently announced Switchbot K20+ Pro.

It simply vacuums – and Dyson calls it 'the world's most powerful robot vacuum.' Our home tech editor Dan Fauzi visited the Dyson labs once and they based this label off rigorous, standardized tests and found that the 360 Vis Nav does have the highest suction of any robot vacuum at the time it was released.

This doesn't mean it's the most effective cleaner however. Other robot vacuums can clean more thoroughly thanks to brushroll design, floor mapping and how it decides to tackle each section of the floor.

The robot vacuum has a runtime of up to 65 minutes before going back to the charging dock. And like most robot vacuums, it has 360-degree vision for navigation and it's controllable through an app, in this case the MyDyson app.

Test 1: Carpet

To find out if the 360 Vis Nav is a great vacuum for carpet, I used our classic test method of scattering oats and crumbs around the carpet to see how well it could pick them up. Having read the marketing info from Dyson, I was hopeful that this might be the first robot vacuum I’ve reviewed that efficiently cleans the edges of a room. But sadly, it seems even Dyson can’t engineer a robot that’s as good as a human using a vacuum.

I found that my carpets were generally left looking clean and refreshed, with all visible debris removed. However, I scattered some oats and crumbs along the baseboards to test edge cleaning, and the spill was only about 70% removed when vacuuming the room on auto mode, which is in line with the results on hard floors.

Having said that, I could see from the dust bin that while it didn’t necessarily remove all the surface debris I purposely scattered at the very edges, it did remove other deeper debris and fluff that I couldn't see.

Test 2: Hard floors

To find out if the 360 Vis Nav is a strong vacuum for hardwood floors, I scattered a mix of flour and larger crumbs like oats onto hard floors and a rug. I specifically made some of the spillages in corners, along baseboards, and around chair legs to see how well it collected the mess from different spots around the room.

At times it avoided furniture with a kind of swift maneuverability that I’ve rarely seen from other robot vacuums. When it did bump into something, it was more a light touch than a knock.

However, this wasn’t always the case, as a low profile lamp base proved more difficult for it to detect and avoid. And on one occasion it mounted the lamp base and spent a while figuring out how to maneuver away. That said, in general, it didn’t repeatedly and aggressively bash into all the furniture like many robot vacuums I’ve reviewed. I also found that it maneuvered with ease between cleaning wood floors and cleaning a thick pile area rug.

It doesn’t clean the room in systematic rows like my usual robot, and I must admit this seemingly random pattern made me dubious about its ability to thoroughly clean every inch of the floor. However, at the end of cleaning, a quick check of its activity in the app, shows a map of my floor plan, that details the level of dust it encountered across the entire floor space, giving me faith that it had covered the whole area.

Once it had cleaned the room and returned to the charger, I checked the results. The debris along the baseboard and into the corner of the room hadn’t been 100% removed, probably more like 80% in some cases. And around the leg of a sofa, it was only partially collected. Even a light sprinkle of crumbs wasn’t fully removed from the fibers of a long pile rug. So, I had to grab another vacuum and do it myself.

What is it like to use?

It avoided falling down any steps during the several times I used it upstairs. What’s more, it didn’t once get itself stuck anywhere or wedged into a tight spot and require rescuing, which is rare for a robot vacuum.

When vacuuming in auto mode, I could hear the suction level automatically increase to boost mode as it reached the debris. However it’s worth noting that this higher suction level also increases the fan speed and can, at times, blow some of the debris around the floor, similar to what we've seen in other robots like the Eufy S1 Pro Omni.

To double check this result and give it the best possible chance, I set up this test again and selected ‘boost’ mode for maximum possible suction. The results were similar though. And shockingly, this high suction mode drained the battery within just 12 minutes, so it had to return to the charger.

Each charge took approximately 90-100 minutes before it regained enough juice to carry on the clean. It returned to the charger twice when cleaning my 18 x 16 ft living room on boost mode. So all in all, the total clean took a desperately long 3 hours 42 minutes, and that's just for the living room, begging the question if a robot vacuum is really worth it at this price.

Thankfully, if you’re in a hurry and need the floors spruced up quickly before guests visit, there is a ‘quick’ mode and this took just 14 minutes to clean the same room. Although it did seem to avoid cleaning all the way up to the baseboards during this speedy clean.

On average it spent 30-37 minutes cleaning the room on auto mode. And from my experience with this vacuum, auto mode seems to be your best option. It’s the best compromise between prolonging battery life and achieving a decent clean.

The vacuuming time you’ll get when in auto mode will vary depending on how much dirt it encounters on your floors. Dyson says the Vis Nav can vacuum for up to 40 minutes in auto mode, which considering it took 30-37 minutes just to clean a 290 square foot room in my house, still means it’ll have to return to the charger several times to fully clean the main floor of an average home.

Having said that, I timed it on floors that were already pretty clean and it managed to vacuum for almost 60 minutes on auto before it returned to the charger. And on this occasion it only spent 45 minutes charging, before continuing the clean.

My home is more split level than most, with small steps between various rooms. So I had to make a couple of different maps for the different areas, and this proved pretty straightforward. The first few times I took it to another floor I also took the charging dock too. However, when I took it upstairs and left the charger downstairs, I discovered that it’s not possible to initiate vacuuming via the app unless the robot is on the charging dock.

This means that if you don't take the dock to other floors of your home along with the vacuum, then you can only start cleaning via the button on the top of the vacuum. And you therefore don’t get to make use of mapping functions, such as restricted areas, or different suction levels for different rooms.

Cleaning and maintenance

The circular dust bin detaches at the press of a button and you can carry it to the trash with the pop up handle. Then by simply sliding the switch on top of the handle, it automatically ejects all the dust and debris. It can also be wiped with a damp cloth should it need a more thorough clean.

Cleaning your robot vacuum cleaner becomes an easier task if the parts are easy to disassemble. The washable filter should, according to Dyson, be washed once a month. Pressing the top of the filter unit causes it to pop up. Then it’s just a case of lifting it out and removing the filter. Sensors also need a wipe on a monthly basis so it makes sense to do both jobs at the same time.

The brushbar is equally easy to remove and is washable. Though you’ll only need to do this if and when you think it needs a wash. Thankfully, my long hairs didn’t get wrapped around the brushbar, which saved me the job of cutting them away. All in all cleaning and maintenance is straightforward, with all parts easily accessible.

How does it compare?

If you’re not ready to put your trust in a robot and you’d prefer to do the cleaning yourself, I’d highly recommend taking a look at the Dyson Gen5detect. Not only is it cheaper than the Dyson 360 Vis Nav, but unlike a robot vacuum it can be used all around your home, from floors and upholstery to shelves and dog beds.

Alternatively, if you’re looking for additional functionality, the iRobot Roomba Combo J9+ has plenty to offer. Not only does it vacuum, but it also mops and empties its own dust bin. What’s more, the wood-topped charging base can even be used as a side table. So fans of a more understated design will probably prefer it to the more garish, colorful Dyson.

Should you buy the Dyson 360 Vis Nav?

Okay, here’s the thing, the Dyson 360 Vis Nav isn’t perfect, but no robot vacuum is. We’re a long way off these little independent floor cleaners matching up to a full size vacuum. But in comparison to other robot vacuums, it’s up there amongst the best for daily cleans.

I particularly like the user friendly app and easy setup. And if you schedule it to clean frequently, it’ll do a great job at tackling daily dust and dander. It’s just not the best option if you spill a box of oats or need to do a deeper clean.

It’s most efficient when used in auto mode, boost mode drains the battery far too quickly. And despite Dyson’s claims about its impressive edge cleaning, I was underwhelmed. That said, it’s a decent robot. Whether the price tag is justifiable though, will depend on your budget.

How did the Dyson 360 Vis Nav fare over time?

I continued to use the Dyson 360 Vis Nav for around six months after I finished testing. But in the end I reverted back to my older Eufy model, the Eufy X8 Pro. I found the eufy model was less temperamental, gave a more efficient and thorough clean, and on the whole was more user friendly.

The Dyson was a bit too clunky, bashing into some pieces of furniture more than I would like. It took longer to clean, too.

How I tested the Dyson 360 Vis Nav

I tested the Dyson 360 Vis Nav in my own home for two weeks. My home has a mix of carpets, area rugs and hardwood floors so I was able to find out how effectively the robot vacuum is able to clean different surfaces.

To gain a fuller understanding of the robot's abilities, I scatted oats, flour and crumbs across the house in varying places, like near furniture and baseboards, to see how it handles tighter spaces and edge cleaning.

I got a Nimble T7 Robot Vacuum and Mop for Christmas − courtesy of VacTidy, rather than Santa Claus. My package made it through customs and arrived just in time for the holidays. While my little cousins played with their new toys, I played with mine, putting this combination cleaner through its paces. 

I tested the VacTidy Nimble T7 in my family home, which features a mixture of carpet, tile, and wooden floors. My mom keeps the place pretty spotless, so I had to manufacture messes, scattering rice grains and spilling sauce across the surfaces. While the VacTidy Nimble T7 struggled to target mess and navigate awkward corners, it made a good go of quick, light cleans over the festive season.  

I'm part of the product testing team here at H&G. Together, we've reviewed the best vacuums on the market, which is how I can spot a flaw in design from a mile away. The VacTidy Nimble T7 can clean quickly, but not intelligently. It's designed for light maintenance, not deep cleans.

If all you want is a decent robot vacuum that won't break the bank, you might get a lot of use out of the VacTidy Nimble T7. For something smarter, I'd recommend one of the best robot vacuums, instead. 

VacTidy Nimble T7 Robot Vacuum and Mop Specifications

Unboxing the VacTidy Nimble T7 Robot Vacuum and Mop

The VacTidy Nimble T7 arrived double-wrapped in two cardboard boxes and cushioned by egg crates, presumably to protect against knocks and bumps in transit. Each component, from the base to the body to the cleaning tools, was individually wrapped in plastic. This is always disappointing to see, especially when so many of the best vacuum brands are making good use of sustainable packaging.

On the plus side, this machine comes with an illustrated instruction manual, as well as a quick start guide. I wouldn't throw these away, especially if this is your first robot vacuum. There's a very good troubleshooting section towards the back of the manual. Whenever I ran into trouble with my remote control, or struggled to charge my machine, I could quickly locate an answer to my question.

The first thing that struck me about the VacTidy Nimble T7 was its height – or, rather, the lack thereof. This robot vacuum is less than three inches tall and slots easily beneath beds and sofa seats to clean hard-to-reach corners. The machine boasts four cleaning modes − automatic, room, edge, and spot − and claims to clean all kinds of floors, from high-pile carpet to wood and tile. 

You can switch between cleaning modes using your remote control, which comes with batteries included, or via the VacTidy app. I'm always a bit skeptical about cleaning apps, but this one ticks all the main boxes. You can use it to check your charge or schedule cleanings while you're out of the house, so that you come home to nice, clean floors. If you prefer, you can activate voice command to take control of cleaning: the VacTidy Nimble T7 is fully compatible with Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant. 

Test 1: Carpet

Like I said, my mom takes a lot of pride in keeping her house clean, especially over the holidays. I knew I'd have to make my own mess, so I took a handful of wholegrain rice and scattered across the living room carpet. I wanted to see how the VacTidy Nimble T7 coped with larger pieces of debris: these rice grains were a stand-in for the sorts of everyday mess made by crumbs and small stones. 

I activated the VacTidy Nimble T7 and used the remote control to maneuver towards the mess. I set the vacuum to clean on automatic and watched as it made its first few sweeps. Occasionally, the grains of rice were spread around, instead of sucked up, but I was otherwise satisfied with the quality of the clean. Then the Nimble T7 decided (prematurely) that its work was done and went careening round the corner.

That's the problem with automatic mode. It's an effective setting for a casual clean, but it fails to target specific areas. That's an issue with robot vacuums as a whole, though, not just with the VacTidy Nimble T7, so I'll let it slide. I switched to the spot clean function and managed to pick up most of the mess.      

After three of four minutes of cleaning, I was left with a few rice grains and some unsightly streaks on the carpet. This might not be a dealbreaker for you, but it certainly was for my mom. She made a great point that vacuums are supposed to keep things neat, not just clean. If she were cleaning with her upright vacuum, she could have swept up the mess in a matter of seconds in three neat lines. 

Then, there's the noise. My cousin, who's a bit of a tech whiz and came out to have a go on the Nimble T7, was making all kinds of helpful quips and comments. I wanted to write them down and remember them for this review, but I couldn't always hear him over the noise of the vacuum. According to the VacTidy website, the Nimble T7 shouldn't exceed volumes of 68 dB, which is no louder than a normal conversation. To me, it sounded more like the whir of a washing machine, or an induction hob: hardly deafening, but quickly irritating. I wouldn't want to run the Nimble T7 while I was on the phone or working from home.  

In order to test the Nimble T7's edge cleaning function, I ran one final carpet test. I scattered another handful of whole grain rice where the carpet met the kickboard. I wanted to see whether this robot vacuum could clean as effectively in tight corners as it could in wide open spaces. 

After a few bumps against the baseboard, the VacTidy Nimble T7 made a slow, straight line across the carpet. The whirring fans worked to whip the rice grains out of the cracks and into the dust bag. When the vacuum came close to the stairs, it sensed the drop, and backed away before it fell. 

The VacTidy Nimble T7 made it through the edge cleaning test in one piece, but it didn't make the most thorough job of cleaning. A good chunk of the rice grains stayed stuck between the carpet and the kickboard. I had to pick them out with my fingers, even though the whole point of a robot vacuum is to enable hands-free cleaning. 

Test 2: Tile

The VacTidy Nimble T7 is a combination cleaner: not just a robot vacuum, but a robot mop, too. I moved from the carpeted living room into the tiled entryway to test this new function on a different floor. 

I stuck the washable rag onto the tacky strips to avoid scratching the tiles. All I had left to do was open the lid of the dust box (which doubles as a water tank), fill it with water, and seal it shut until I heard a click. I inserted the mop pad holder and attached the washable rag to avoid scratching the tiles. 

I took a bottle of ranch and squeezed it straight onto the black and white tiles. The color contrast helped me to keep track of the ranch as the VacTidy Nimble T7 went to work.

The robot mop made a few big streaks right through the center of the spill. When it tried to sweep off in the other direction, I used the remote control to direct it towards the mess. On the whole, the VacTidy Nimble T7 made a better mop than vacuum, but it didn't always clean intelligently.

While the vast majority of the ranch was cleaned up in the first few seconds, some was smeared across the tiles, and still more was stuck between the cracks. In the end, I had to grab our hand-held mop from the cleaning closet to pick up the rest of the mess. As a mop and as a vacuum, the VacTidy Nimble T7 seems better suited to cleaning dust and dirt than actual spills and stains.

Test 3: Hard wood floors

My parents have a laundry room round the back of the house, all kitted out with hard wood floors, so that's where I took the VacTidy Nimble T7 for its final test. I squeezed a bottle of dish soap onto the floor and set the robot mop to clean. I wondered whether the ranch from the entryway would end up smeared across the hard wood floor, but there was little to no cross contamination.  

After a minute or two of mopping, I was left with a little bit of foam, but a far cleaner floor than I'd found before. The VacTidy Nimble T7 cleaned most effectively on hard wood floors – probably because there were no long carpet fibers to wrap around dirt or cracks in the tiles to trap spills and stains.

Cleaning the VacTidy Nimble T7 Robot Vacuum and Mop

The VacTidy Nimble T7 requires different styles of cleaning as a mop and as a vacuum. Following my tile and hard wood floor tests, I detached the washable rag and the mop pad holder to get a good look at the water tank. I rinsed it out and left it to dry on the countertop. As for the body, I dried it with a soft cloth to avoid mold and odor and give it a bit of a buff after a few hours' hard work. 

Cleaning the vacuum dust box is a far less involved task. I simply pressed down on the dust box button the remove the box and opened the cover to clean it. I found that the VacTidy Nimble T7 had picked up a fair amount of unseen dirt and dust, as well as hairs, without getting too tangled in the brush roll. I combed through the filters to remove as much of the mess as I could. Cleaning a robot vacuum is never a pleasant task, but it was quick and easy with the VacTidy Nimble T7. 

How does the VacTidy Nimble T7 Robot Vacuum and Mop rate online?

The VacTidy Nimble T7 boasts hundreds of four- and five-star reviews online, praising its ease of assembly, value for money, and its particular proclivity for picking up hair. Several customers commend the efficiency of a two-in-one robot vacuum and mop, eliminating the need to switch between different devices. However, several other customers have noted the same erratic cleaning patterns that I spotted on test, as well as a limited runtime and problems with the charging portal.

How does the VacTidy Nimble T7 Robot Vacuum and Mop compare to other robot vacuums?

One of the VacTidy Nimble T7's biggest selling points is its status as a combination cleaner. The iRobot Roomba Combo j9+ does a much better job of both tasks. It's simply a better cleaner, and boasts a larger dust bin and a longer runtime than the VacTidy Nimble T7. It incorporates smart mapping technology to navigate tight corners and avoid obstacles to clean your home efficiently and effectively. However, it's nearly $1400, so it's not surprising that it's better. A fairer comparison is the Shark AI Ultra 2-in-1 Robot Vacuum, which also mops, though it's still significantly more expensive than the VacTidy Nimble T7. 

Should I buy the VacTidy Nimble T7 Robot Vacuum and Mop?

The Nimble T7 Robot Vacuum and Mop retails for $259 on the VacTidy site, and around half that price on Amazon. It's certainly on the more affordable side for a robot vacuum. If you're looking for a second pair of hands to give each room a quick onceover and pick up any dirt you might have missed, then you could get a lot of use out of the VacTidy Nimble T7. I scheduled a cleaning in the living room while I made my dinner in the kitchen, and came out an hour later to a nice, clean carpet.

The VacTidy Nimble T7 excels in these sorts of areas: aesthetic, additional. I wouldn't rely on it as my primary cleaning companion or wait for it to pick up spills and stains that I could clean myself, more quickly and easily. If you've got some cash to spare, and you want spotless floors, you'll be far better off with one of the best vacuums.  

It might seem almost impossible to mess up vacuuming your home, but there are some common vacuum cleaner mistakes we might be making regularly that prevent us from having a truly clean home. 

Even the best vacuum cleaners and cordless vacuums need to be used correctly to pick up every speck of dust and debris from our floors, and using them incorrectly could even be making our spaces dirtier, experts warn.

This is what you need to be aware of when it comes to your vacuum, and how to vacuum correctly every time.

Vacuum cleaner mistakes

Using a vacuum correctly is the simplest and best cleaning tip any expert can offer – here’s how to avoid the most common mistakes, and get the most from your vacuum cleaner.

1. Not cleaning your vacuum

Cleaning your cleaning tools is one of the most overlooked home chores but not doing so could result in a far dirtier home than you realize, begins Diana Ciechorska, professional cleaner and general manager at Park Slope Cleaning. 

‘Lots of folks overlook a simple yet vital task – keeping their vacuum in good shape. Over time, this can make the vacuum less effective,’ she explains.

‘Make it a routine to clean your vacuum. When the dustbin is full or the bag is packed, clear it out. Those filter things? Clean or change them like the manual says. And don't forget to check for anything blocking the hoses or brush rolls. Regular cleaning means your vacuum keeps doing its job well.’

Diana reminds us to read the manual when it comes to general maintenance. ‘All the best tips and tricks are in there,’ she says. 

2. Not taking time to vacuum properly

‘Vacuuming properly’ involves a few steps, from knowing how often to vacuum to understanding what not to vacuum. Most importantly, however, it is about taking your time to vacuum and not rushing the job, says Vanessa Bossart, CEO and founder of Sparking Clean Pro. 

For instance, some people may run the vacuum quickly over every inch of their space and call it a day, or mistakenly push the vacuum forward quickly and drag it back slowly. Vanessa recommends maintaining a slow but steady pace both ways to give your appliance the best chance of picking up all the debris – especially when vacuuming and cleaning carpets.  

3. Using the wrong type of vacuum

'Vacuum cleaners all have the same purpose, but it’s important to choose one that suits the floors in your home, as using an overly powerful vacuum can sometimes do more bad than good,’ shares James Higgins, manager and flooring specialist at Online Carpets. 

‘For instance, upright vacuums are best for carpets, as they are typically more powerful than cordless vacuums. If you have thicker carpets or rugs, it’s important to use a vacuum that is best  suited for this type of surface, and allows you to pick up all dirt and debris within the thick fibers.’

You might also want to consider your lifestyle when picking a vacuum. The best vacuum for pet hair might be better suited to a home with cats and/or dogs, while a good robot vacuum might be a good additional cleaning tool if you are constantly trying to clean when you’re too busy.  

4. Vacuuming large or sharp debris

A vacuum is designed to pick up dust and debris so it is common to assume you don't need to pick anything up before you start cleaning.

David Bringer, CEO and appliance expert at Bringer Appliance Repair suggests that not doing some damage control before you start vacuuming could damage your machine and even scratch your floors: 

‘Vacuuming over hard objects like rocks might seem harmless, but it can damage your vacuum cleaner. Avoid this by picking up visible, hard objects before vacuuming. If you have hardwood floors, consider sweeping before vacuuming to prevent potential damage to your vacuum – even if you have the best vacuum for hardwood. 

‘It only takes one encounter with a hard object to send your vacuum for repairs or replacement.’

5. Not emptying the vacuum often enough

Vacuums all have a max fill line on the side of the canisters, and almost all of us are guilty of ignoring it at least every once in a while. This could be detrimental to cleaning your home, however, James King, cleaning expert and operations manager at Deluxe Maid, warns:

‘When the bag gets too full, its suction power decreases as there is less room for air to flow through,’ he explains. ‘The vacuum doesn't pick up dirt as well, and it may even overheat, risking durability and shortening its lifespan. 

‘The fix is simple here. Embrace the habit of checking and emptying the bag or canister when it's about halfway full. You can also keep spare bags or a clean canister ready for replacement.’

Doing so regularly will also stop a vacuum cleaner from smelling, too.  

6. Not using the right attachments for each job

Vacuums usually come with a wide variety of attachments and embellishments to help you reach every nook and cranny in your home – be it your stairs, under your furniture, or vacuuming upholstery. 

Millie Hurst, Solved section editor at Homes & Gardens reminds us that these attachments wouldn't come with the vacuum if they weren’t necessary:

‘The different attachments and vacuum heads are all designed to prevent you from damaging surfaces when removing dust in your home. The upholstery attachment, for instance, won't be as harsh on your sofa as the regular floor head, where the beater brush may pill fabric or scratch leather. 

‘Remember to swap them out whenever you start a new task,’ she says. ‘The manual will inform you as to what’s what if you are not sure.’ 

FAQs

No matter how well you look after your vacuum and avoid these common vacuum cleaner mistakes, your vacuum will eventually reach the end of its life. Signs it’s time to replace a vacuum include the suction not being as strong as it used to be despite regular cleaning, batteries not charging or lasting, overheating, or components failing and being difficult to replace. Continuing to use a vacuum like this is a mistake in and of itself, and it might be time to consider a replacement. 

If you've been wanting a robot vacuum to take some chore time off your hands, you might be curious whether a Roomba, the brand that's almost synonymous with the robot, is right for you.

I've spent around 1000 hours testing 30 vacuums over the past five years, and iRobot Roomba is easily one of my favorites in the robot market. They make some of the best robot vacuums, particularly the best robot vacuums for pet hair that money can buy, but this is reflected in the price tag.

I was given a sample of the iRobot Roomba Combo j9+ back in November of 2023 and I've been fortunate enough to keep hold of it since then for daily use. These are the results of my rigorous, lengthy testing and everything I've learned during this time.

iRobot Roomba Combo j9+: Specifications

Who would it suit?

This robot suits those in small homes and apartments with mixed flooring. It does a largely great job on all floor types and types of dirt, but it's very expensive, so it won't be suitable if you're on a smaller budget.

Setting up the iRobot Roomba Combo j9+

Setting up this robot was the best unboxing experience I've had with a robot vacuum, but it still took a while before it was running. It was a little tricky to wrangle the box upstairs to my apartment, but that's also typical for a vacuum of this size.

Once upstairs, I cleared a space for it and got to work. One of my criticisms is that you need a lot of clearance for the clean base. It needs four feet to the left and one foot to the right. It makes sense – the robot needs to be able to see where it's going – but it's a little frustrating in smaller homes. There's a corner of my living room that's the perfect size for this vacuum, but with the way the walls line up I couldn't place the clean base there. Instead, it's slightly awkwardly in the middle of the wall. It's something that's worth considering when choosing your robot vacuum cleaner; if you don't have this space, it won't work to its full effect.

Once everything was in place, set up took me about an hour. Aside from attaching the mop and putting the robot in its base, there's actually very little to do. The only big thing was filling up the water tank for the mop. But while the instructions were clear, most of my time was taken up with setting up the app.

Again, this is very simple, but there's a lot of hoops to jump through as you have to sign up for an iRobot account. It feels like a way to get my email rather than having any particular benefits, and a decent chunk of the app is dedicated to selling other iRobot products, which is frustrating.

The j9+ then ran a cleaning and mapping run for 39 minutes. The map didn't look quite right, so I then sent it out on another mapping run for 9 minutes. All in all, very easy to set up, if a little long.

What is the iRobot Roomba Combo j9+ like to use?