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If your floors never stay clean for long, thanks to pets, kids, or just everyday life, it might be time to let a robot vacuum take over the dirty work. These smart little machines roam your home on their own, tackling dust, crumbs, and fur, so you can skip routine cleanups and focus on more important things.
Over 5 months of hands-on testing, we put 14 top robot vacuums through real-world challenges to see which ones cleaned thoroughly, and which could actually finish the job without constantly getting stuck.
The best robot vacuum for most people is the Roborock Q5 Max+. It's one of the more affordable options that still delivers standout carpet cleaning, strong suction, and smart mapping to help clean every inch of your floors.
If you're looking for the most inexpensive robot vacuum you can still count on, the Eufy 11S Max is the machine for you. It's not as smart as others that cost hundreds more, but it performs best where it counts, cleaning.
If you want to take your hardwood cleaning to the next level, the Roborock Q7 Max+ is the most affordable robot vacuum with a mopping feature that can actually remove dried spills.
Robot vacuums aren't perfect for every vacuuming task, like cleaning stairs and in tight areas, so consider our cordless stick vacuum reviews for options you can grab when you need to vacuum hard-to-reach spots. For deep-cleaning, a good corded upright vacuum might be the way to go.
Editor's Note: We gave our robot vacuum test plan a full refresh, digging deep into every feature and function that matters. This review was updated on June 21, 2025, to reflect our full overhaul of the whole lineup.
Occasionally randomly aggressive to furniture, subpar pet hair cleaning
Clumsy navigator, requires frequent manual cleaning, dock feels light and cheap
Lack of brush roller means it struggles to clean carpet, horrible at cleaning pet hair
Poor pet hair collection, bad filtration, occasionally unresponsive to remote commands
Poor obstacle avoidance, not great on carpet, can't set virtual barriers
Bottom Line
A high-performing robot cleaner that does it all — with a price tag to match
An impressive product, earning high scores in cleaning performance, especially for the cost
This smart rock star of a robot does it all with minimal upkeep, though we don't recommend it to pet owners with lots of carpet
Stellar cleaning, navigation, and self maintenance skills mark this robot as a winner but its performance is pricey for its occasional mopping inconsistencies
An impressive mopping product that does most everything else well, but wouldn't recommend for pet owners as it doesn't pick up fur well
A competent and convenient robot, the high price tag doesn't support just-above-average cleaning performance
With its unique aesthetic and strong performance across the board, it's hard not to be charmed by this robot, though we definitely miss having a dust bin auto-empty feature
Solid cleaning and convenience scores paired with a midrange price point are what we like, but this robot's poor navigational skills and clumsiness can be annoying
We experienced occasional connectivity and noise issues but enjoyed its reliable cleaning performance as well as its bag-free auto emptying dock
Convenient functionality, all-in-one capabilities, and an extensive app are the high points, but it has mediocre cleaning abilities, a hefty price tag, and a bulky storage footprint
A simple, respectably performing budget option that doesn't need internet or app connectivity
This small, low profile unit is easy to maintain but has limitations when it comes to cleaning performance and app reliability
A basic and budget-friendly remote-controlled robot that struggles with carpets but handles hard flooring well
The simple, straightforward usage and entry-level pricing from a popular brand are appealing, but don't ignore its minimal features and poor navigational skills
The Roborock Q5 Max+ is one of the most effective robot vacuums that I have tested, outcompeting others that cost more than twice as much. Where most robot vacuums fall short, this one shines, lifting deeply embedded sand from carpets, giving it the edge and performing the best in our carpet cleaning tests. It even left satisfying checkerboard vacuum lines, leaving no carpet untouched. Pet owners will appreciate how it picks up every visible strand of fur, even long hair that often gets missed. All this cleaning power makes this particular product a smart investment for most busy households and families with pets. There's nothing more rewarding than coming home after a long workday and seeing how clean my place looks after this vacuum has done its job. While it's not the smartest robot vacuum out there, it's noticeably better at avoiding trouble. Instead of ramming into furniture or getting tangled in cords, it approaches obstacles more gently and backs off before getting stuck. “It's a subtle difference that goes a long way in providing a reliable clean while I'm out of the house,” noted another tester.
The biggest drawback to this model could be its lack of mopping capability, which is becoming a more common feature in robot vacuums. If mopping is important to you, the Roborock Q7 Max+ can mop your hard floors, but it isn't quite as good with pet hair. While the Q5 Max+ utilizes an accurate LiDAR sensor to map your walls and furniture, it can sometimes miss low-to-the-ground clutter since it doesn't have advanced cameras and programming to spot obstacles. If you want a robot that can fully detect everything, you'll have to invest at least another few hundred dollars to get this tech. To sum it up, another tester put it simply, “This is the most affordable vacuum I can trust to clean my floors and not try to eat my teenager's socks.”
We were impressed by the nice, tight lines and turns this solid model makes as it completely cleaned our floors, both in our homes and during our challenging lab tests.
Considering its entry-level price point, the Eufy 11s Max is surprisingly good at cleaning. It thrives on hardwood, sucking up 91% of the mess I put down in my tests, which outperformed the majority of the lineup. It is the best basic model for people who just want some help reducing their time sweeping or pushing vacuums. When I picked up shoes and socks first, this vacuum visually cleaned every spot of my carpet it rolled over, even cruising under couches that taller models can't fit under. It also hugged walls and slipped into small areas, generating a pleasant, low-pitched purr that was quieter than all the other robots we tested. With no app, this robot was made with simplicity in mind, which another tester appreciated, saying, “I like that I can just turn it loose to knock back the mess without needing to install a special app on my phone to control it.”
The Eufy 11S Max relies on basic bounce-based navigation, moving along until it hits an object and then turns around and ventures in a different direction, much like a pinball game. This often leads to it missing spots at random. Because of this low-tech approach, it's also not the best object avoider. It barreled into shoes, spun in circles on our fake poo, and eventually zoomed off to eat a sock in our obstacle course tests. You'll have to develop a thorough tidy-up routine before letting this robot loose to avoid these hang-ups. When the battery runs low, it heads back to its dock—but it doesn't remember where it left off. So in bigger homes, some of those farther-out rooms might not get as much love as they should. The Roborock Q5 Max+ offers a smarter alternative with LiDAR mapping and progress tracking, ensuring it finishes the job thoroughly, though you'll have to pay a couple of hundred dollars more for the increased intelligence. The big deciding factor is if you're willing to spend the time to pick up stray socks or cords before letting the vacuum roam. If that doesn't bother you—and you don't mind the occasional hiccup—the 11S Max is a great little helper that's often on sale for around $150, making it an easy entry point into the convenience of robot vacuums.
You can see the bounce navigation design at work here. Where the 11s Max did roll over the mess, you can see its decent cleaning performance. You just can't rely on it to hit all spots every time.
The Roborock Q7 Max+ is the best affordable cleaner with an effective mop function, making it an all-around winner for homes with kitchen spills, muddy shoes or paw prints, or simply a desire to mop the tiny dust that vacuums can miss. With 30 electronically controlled water flow saturation levels, you can tune the flow for improved mopping, ensuring you don't end up with standing water left on your floors, as many cheap gravity-fed mops often do. With my floor plan mapped in a user-friendly app, I could easily customize room layouts, telling the robot to mop specific areas while avoiding spots like entryway shoe piles or pet feeding zones, helping it steer clear of trouble. During my carpet tests, this model didn't always collect every bit of rice or Cheerios on the first pass, but it consistently grabbed them on the second pass, leaving my carpets cleaner than other models that cost twice or even three times as much. Like other Roborock vacuums I've tested that use LiDAR-based laser mapping systems, this model is a sharpshooter with room navigation, identifying my furniture and walls with pinpoint accuracy.
Because it doesn't have premium cameras and additional sensors, this model can run over small objects (like our fake pet poo!) but performs better at recognizing larger items, such as shoes or cords, when they come into contact with it. The biggest drawback is this robot's mediocre ability to collect pet hair, as it often runs directly over dog hair with little success. What's worse, detangling both the spinning side brush and main brush roller was a nightmare requiring patience with scissors to clear wrapped hair from the ends of the brush. If you need a mopping robot vacuum that's also awesome with pet hair, the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra is worth a close look. It costs more than twice as much, but it self-washes and dries its own mop pads, saving you even more time with tedious tasks. Either way, if you're on the fence about mopping, another tester put it this way: “If a robot vacuum can reduce the number of times I need to manually mop, that's a win for our house.”
The Roborock Q8 Max+ was recently released. This updated version has all the great features of its predecessor, like mopping capabilities, advanced app capabilities, and LiDAR-based mapping. It now has dual rollers as compared to the Q7 Max+. We are hopeful that this will solve hair tangle issues, and after our extensive testing, we will update you with our findings in this review.
With the exception of pet hair, this affordable vacuum crushed our dense-debris tests on carpet and hard floors, plus it out-mopped pricier models.
The DREAME X40 Ultra is by far the smartest, most effective cleaner and best mopper my team and I have tested. It's so smart that it knows to grab its own mop pads to mop hard floors. But that's not all: After mopping, it returned its wet mop pads to the dock for a self-wash cycle with water heated to a bacteria-killing 158° Fahrenheit. Then it dried the wet pads with hot air! While it's a standout mopper, it also thoroughly cleaned my carpets. It features an extendable arm that whisked coffee grounds from deep corners, a unique design that improves on the downfall of the circular design of the robots, where most can't simply reach these difficult spots.
So, how might all this manual labor-saving technology work out in your own home? As a navigator, this robot cruised around my floor plan using LiDAR lasers to identify walls and furniture. I was amazed by its one-pass accuracy, and its app makes it easy for me to create schedules, adjust suction power for specific rugs, and set up barriers where I don't want the vacuum to roam. Meanwhile, its AI and camera-based object avoidance can recognize more than 120 common household objects, including small items like Legos, which means I didn't have to run around prepping my floors before a vacuuming sesh. This robot is the only product in the lineup that completely avoided all 12 obstacles in our testing, making it the most reliable choice for busy, high-traffic homes where kids and pets constantly drop toys or move things around.
The only major drawback of the DREAME X40 Ultra is its high price point. As one fellow tester put it, “If my bank account were larger, this is the robot vacuum mopper I'd buy and I wouldn't even think twice.” As for perfection, this DREAME combo isn't flawless. It didn't clean as much mashed-in dog hair from my carpets as I would have expected for its premium price point, and the system isn't maintenance-free. There are clean and dirty water jugs in the dock I had to fill or empty, and if you leave the dirty water jug in the dock too long, it can start to stink. But this is still less maintenance than needed from other vacuum/mop combos like the much more affordable Roborock Q7 Max+, which, by the way, is a great alternative for those looking for a more modest mopping investment. Still, X40 Ultra is the robot vacuum all of us coveted, hoping for our turn to take it home so we could nearly eliminate manual floor cleaning from our chore lists.
The DREAME X40 Ultra is a competent carpet cleaner, outstanding hard floor mopper, and a cautious navigator you can trust to avoid stray socks and random puppy poo, making it a reliable time-saver for busy households with kids and pets.
Credit: GearLab Staff
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In addition to in-home testing, we put every robot vacuum through a series of meticulous tests in our lab and warehouse.
Credit: GearLab Staff
How We Tested
We start by purchasing some of the most in-demand robot vacuums from the most reputable brands. We make sure we include options at all price ranges, including those with and without self-emptying docks and mopping capabilities. That means we put 14 models through our side-by-side tests to push their abilities to the limits, resulting in 5 months of direct time with these robots in our testing lab, warehouse, and the homes of multiple testers. We measured and weighed their abilities to collect different types of debris on carpet and hard floors to evaluate their core floor cleaning abilities, which is the single most important reason to own a robot vacuum.
In addition, we tested their ability to map multiple floor plans and environments, assessing how they can navigate among unexpected typical objects, like shoes, clothing, and cords. We considered how well each model generated floorplan maps and communicated with us through their respective apps, which we also used to designate areas to avoid and to schedule each robot. For models with mopping features, we tested how well they handled both wet spills and dried-on coffee stains. Additionally, we cleaned each robot to assess how easily they can be maintained over time. Finally, we recorded the decibels of noise they produce while running and using their docks, so you'll have an idea what living with a robot vacuum might be like in your own home.
Many of these robot vacuums might look similar, but we put each through a series of side-by-side tests that reveal performance differences, even among models from the same brands.
We tested these robot vacuums using six different performance metrics:
Cleaning performance (40% of overall score weighting)
Navigation (30% weighting)
Pet Hair (10% weighting)
App Performance (10% weighting)
Mopping (5% weighting)
Noise (5% weighting)
Roborock Q5 Max+iLife V3S Pro
This test shows the time-lapse path of two robots as they vacuumed the same room, revealing how thoroughly they navigate around a room.
I'm Genaveve Bradshaw, GearLab's lead robot vacuum tester and Senior Review Analyst. I've spent months putting these 14 models through challenging cleaning tasks, logging hundreds of hours testing their abilities to clean specific messes in controlled tasks as well as in uncontrolled environments to see how they behave. I rely on robot vacuums in my own home to cut down on how often I need to manually clean. Between all the dirt I track in from outdoor adventures and my dog—fittingly named Roomba—constantly shedding, there's always something on the floor.
I've been testing vacuums for years, so I know exactly what to look for, especially as they evolve and become even greater.
Credit: Matt Lighthart
I'm joined by Review Editor Kyle Hameister, who has used, tested, and reviewed robot vacuums since 2016, so he has a longstanding recognition of how their quirks and abilities have evolved over the years. In his own home, he's worked robot vacuums long enough to wear out their batteries and replace them.
Review Editor Chris Maxcer has spent years testing, comparing, and contrasting the features and abilities of different types of vacuums. When an appliance doesn't perform as expected, he won't stop looking for reasons to explain why, whether it's due to low suction or a poorly designed pre-filter.
In the last year, our team has completely revamped our robot vacuum testing with increased hands-on experiences and meticulous measurements to provide you with actionable data and insight you can use to find the right vacuum for you.
Analysis and Test Results
Depending on your home and cleaning needs, you may prefer one robot vacuum over another. Take a look at our test metrics below to learn which important factors matter most to you and find the model that fits best.
Worse Value
Better Value
What's the Best Value?
Robot vacuums have one of the widest price ranges among household appliances. Due to the technology involved (including sensors, lasers, cameras, and the software necessary for smart mapping and object recognition), the costs can quickly add up once you start checking the boxes for fancy features. However, if you don't need all the bells and whistles, the Eufy 11S Max does a surprisingly good job picking up what it rolls over, especially on hard floors. This is the most affordable vacuum we recommend, and a great place to start if you don't have the funds to invest. Others in this price range typically don't have a brush roller, a key feature that is necessary to dislodge the dirt on the ground, which often leads to poor cleaning performance from other budget vacuums.
The Roborock Q7 Max+ is a hybrid robot that features a mop, so considering its dual-purpose capabilities, the vacuum packs a valuable price. For just a bit more than the most basic models, this model gives you a major boost in performance, one that's often more noticeable than the smaller gains you'd get from jumping to much pricier premium vacuums. You'll spend less time prepping your space compared to the Eufy, since this model is smarter and navigates more independently. It's still a budget model in the sense that it doesn't have cameras and advanced AI to help avoid everything, but you'll have to invest multiple hundreds of dollars more to get those premium features.
Roomba Combo 10Roborock Q7 Max+
Performance results from our side-by-side tests can be very important factors when we consider the value of each model. The Roomba Combo 10, despite its mopping feature, falls short of expectations—especially when compared to the Roborock Q7 Max+, which delivers stronger performance at roughly half the price.
What You Need To Know About Docking Stations
While all robot vacuums come with a charging dock, there is a significant difference between a basic one and the all-in-one stations that come with higher-end models. Simple docks just recharge the vacuum, meaning you'll need to manually empty the dustbin yourself, sometimes after every run. In contrast, more advanced docks can do much more: they can empty the vacuum into a larger dust bag, wash and dry mop pads, and even store clean and dirty water for mopping. The less you want to deal with your robot, the more helpful these smart stations become, but they also bump up the price, so it's really a balance between cost and convenience.
Below are a few robot vacuums to highlight the key differences between their docks. You can find the model you're interested in listed in the spec rows of the comparison table at the top of the review.
Maintenance Features
Dock Debris Capacity
Dust Bin Capacity
Automatically Washes Mop Pads
Dock Storage Footprint
DREAME X40 Ultra
3.2 L
0.3 L
Large
Roborock Q5 Max+
2.5 L
0.8 L
✖
Medium
Roborock Q7 Max+
2.5 L
0.5 L
Mops, but does not wash pads
Medium
Narwal Freo X Ultra
✖
1.0 L* (based on compactor system, but did not work well)
Large
Eufy 11s Max
✖
0.6 L
✖
Small
iLife V3S Pro
✖
0.3 L
✖
Small
Cleaning Performance
At the core of any robot vacuum's job is cleaning, so to put that to the test, I spread a measured mix of common household messes (sand, rice, and Cheerios) across both carpet and hard floors in a controlled area.
Because it was such an effective cleaner, we were always happy to see the Roborock Q5 Max+ cruising around our offices and warehouse.
Credit: Matt Lighthart
I gave each robot vacuum up to 10 minutes to tackle the mess on its highest suction setting. After it finished, I weighed how much debris it picked up, which gave us a clear way to compare how well each product actually cleaned.
Cleaning Performance
Product
Carpet Cleaned
Hard Floor Cleaned
Roborock Q5 Max+
84
92
DREAME X40 Ultra
77
90
Roborock Q7 Max+
80
85
iRobot Roomba i3+ EVO
77
87
RoboRock QRevo Master
77
86
Shark AI Ultra 60 Day
73
89
Eufy 11s Max
69
90
Roborock S8 Pro Ultra
69
89
Narwal Freo X Ultra
61
93
iRobot Roomba Combo 10 Max
74
76
Wyze Robot Vacuum
59
73
Eufy x10 Pro Omni Vacuum & Mop
52
69
iRobot Roomba QO120
55
63
Lefant M210
42
72
iLife V3S Pro
38
62
Carpet Cleaning
Both the Roborock Q5 Max+ and Roborock Q7 Max+ performed best on carpet, picking up 84% and 80% of the mess, respectively. The Q5 really impressed me with how well it handled embedded sand, a usual struggle with any vacuum, not just these small robots. It seemed to dig deeper, and I think that's thanks to its decent suction power and two rollers that help to agitate the carpet more than others. The Q7 only has one roller, and while it still picked up rice and cereal after a couple of passes, it didn't quite reach as far down into the carpet fibers. If you've got kids or pets tracking in dirt, both will leave your floors looking clean, but the Q5 might do a better job pulling up the stuff you don't see.
You can see the iLife struggle with rice, leaving white specks behind after each pass. In contrast, the Q5 Max+ leaves smooth, defined cleaning paths, and its crosshatch pattern helps ensure a more thorough clean by approaching debris from multiple angles.
Credit: Matt Lighthart
The iRobot Roomba i3, DREAME X40, and Roborock Qrevo all sucked up 77% during this test, each having their own cleaning characterisitcs. I appreciated the Roomba i3 most, as cleaning all the pieces of rice and Cheerios off the floor made the room look cleaner compared to the other two, which left a small handful of rice or Cheerios behind.
The worst performer in our carpet test was the iLife V3S Pro, which left entire sections untouched. The Lefant M210 wasn't far behind—it managed to pick up a few Cheerios but struggled with anything more embedded. Neither model has a brush roller, relying instead on open suction slots, which means they can't agitate carpet fibers to dislodge debris. As a result, both had a hard time with heavier materials like sand and even moderately settled messes like rice.
If you prioritize carpet cleaning, make sure that any model you choose has a spinning roller brush at its suction intake to avoid mediocre results on carpet. The small inlet on the Lefant M210 also made it more likely to get clogged.
Credit: Genaveve Bradshaw
High Pile, Shag Carpet? Don't Count on a Robot.
They don't have the suction and deep-agitating rollers necessary to suck debris buried under longer carpet fibers. Some even struggled to move on shaggy rugs, so you still need a quality upright vacuum or a good canister vacuum for effectively cleaning thick rugs.
Many robot vacuums struggle to move on thick carpets and most are utterly ineffective.
Credit: GearLab Staff
The Roborock Q5 Max+ was the only model that attempted to clean thick carpets, but we still recommend upright vacuums for any serious cleaning of thick rugs or carpet.
Hard Floor Cleaning
The Narwal Freo X Ultra collected more debris on hard floors than any robot we tested, sucking up 93% total, and tidying up nearly as well as if we had swept it ourselves. This model dynamically adapts its cleaning method based on the room's dirtiness, which appears to result in some unusual navigation on hard floors — but it certainly gets the job done well. The Roborock Q5 Max+ and DREAME X40 Ultra were no slouches here, and at a glance, all three of these models left floors that looked similar. We could only determine a difference after we weighed the collected material.
The Freo X Ultra got a little random, but we can't fault its ability to clean hard floors.
Credit: Matt Lighthart
For its more affordable price point, I have to give a shout out to the Eufy 11s Max: It vacuumed our hard floors as well as the most expensive model we tested (90% pick up), making it a great buy for households needing help with their hard floors. In fact, if you're willing to run it a bit more frequently to compensate for its random navigation, its vacuuming abilities could approach stellar status.
The iRobot Roomba QO120 didn't impress in our timed test. It picked up less debris than average, likely due to its slow pace and some quirky navigation decisions. The sped-up video below shows it has decent suction when it rolls over debris, but it also gets stuck focusing on the perimeter, both of which probably explain why it only picked up about half the mess I laid down during testing.
The Roomba QO120's suction appears good enough to suck up debris on hard floors, but it needs more time than premium models to successfully cover an entire floor.
Credit: Genaveve Bradshaw
The Lefant M210 and iLife V3S Pro continued to be at the back of the pack. While hard surfaces are easier to clean since the dirt has fewer places to hide, a level of suction power and dislodging is still required to be effective. These seem to have neither. The Eufy x10 Pro is a pricey robot worth calling out because it delivered below-average results on both hardwood and carpet. It didn't seem to have enough suction to lift heavier sand, leaving noticeable patches behind during my hard floor testing.
Edges and Corners
Robot vacuums have a hard time sucking debris from wall edges because they try to maintain a small gap to avoid scraping. Plus, unlike many manual stick vacuums, robot suction slots are rarely positioned close to the edges of their own frames — they're more centered underneath. As for corners, their circular designs make it hard to reach directly into 90-degree junctions. To increase effectiveness, most models use spinning side brushes to whisk dirt away from walls and out of sharp right-angle corners, allowing them to run over and suck it up.
To test the edge and corner performance, we sprinkled coffee grounds throughout to see which could get the deepest clean.
The DREAME X40 Ultra, with its unique extendable side brush, had a clear advantage when cleaning along baseboards and corners. It didn't leave any piles of debris along the template walls, and I especially appreciated how thorough it was around the edges of the test area. If cleaning every inch of the floor is critical to you, the Roborock QRevo Master and Eufy x10 whisked corners admirably clean, too, leaving only about a half-inch of coffee grounds in the corner and less than a quarter-inch along the walls. Other products might clean well along one wall but miss spots along others, or miss many areas altogether, which means when you run them on a schedule, you can't really trust they'll hit all the baseboards and tight spaces every time.
These two models completing the same edge and corner test reveal the worst and best performances with coffee grounds in a dedicated, confined space.
Credit: Matt Lighthart
Interestingly, while the Narwal Freo X Ultra was a master at cleaning the open areas of hard floors, it struggled to clean edges and corners, delivering the worst performance. It left random coffee grounds 6 inches away from the walls and 5 inches out from the corners, which means you'll likely need to manually vacuum your edges and corners more frequently. Performing similarly, the Shark AI Ultra cleaned very well in the middle of hard floors but also left debris 4.5 inches away from corners.
Overall Cleaning Performance Scores
Below are the cleaning scores for each vacuum. This score takes carpet, hardwood, and crevice/edge cleaning into account.
Key Cleaning Performance Takeaways
The Roborock Q5 Max+, DREAME X40 Ultra, and Roborock QRevo Master all clearly rose to the top of our cleaning charts, consistently tidying our carpets and hard floors better than any other robot vacuum. The Q5 Max+ is a standout value, often on sale for under $400, while the other two models cost $900 or more.
The Eufy 11S Max outperformed other budget models in testing, especially on hardwood floors, where it picked up debris more thoroughly than expected. It's a great choice if you're on a budget, particularly if most of your home has bare floors.
Due to their lack of brush rollers, the Lefant M210 and iLife V3S Pro both struggled to thoroughly clean carpets with no hope of improvement with more passes. They were a bit more effective on hardwood, where agitation isn't quite as critical, but we wouldn't recommend these budget options over the Eufy 11S Max.
The iRobot Roomba QO120 was a disappointment, struggling to perform as well as most other models in our timed tests. The key problem with the QO120 is that it's a very slow cleaner. Additionally, based on my experience with this robot, it seemed overly focused on the edges and didn't spend enough time in the middle of the floor. I noticed the same thing during navigation testing, so it feels like a fundamental issue that makes it hard to rely on for regular cleaning.
One outlier is the Narwal Freo X Ultra. It was the most thorough cleaner on hard floors but didn't perform as well on carpet, likely because it focused on edges and missed the center. Its intelligent dirt detection seems to work better—or “feel” the mess more easily—on hard surfaces, making it a great fit for homes with mostly bare floors. Carpeted areas may need more frequent runs to get the same level of cleanliness, which left us frustrated due to its high price tag.
Navigation
While overall cleaning performance is key, it doesn't matter how powerful a robot vacuum is if it can't reach the mess. A vacuum's ability to navigate rooms and avoid obstacles is crucial to making sure it actually cleans your floors, not just parts of them.
Object Avoidance
There's nothing more frustrating than coming home from a long workday to a robot that's stuck partway through its cleaning routine, leaving you annoyed and with dirty floors. To see if these products can actually complete the job, we put them through an obstacle course, placing common household objects they're likely to encounter.
Obstacle Avoidance
Dog Poo
Socks
Hat
Charging Cords
Shoes
Star Rating
DREAME X40 Ultra
1
2
3
4
5
Roborock Q5 Max+
✖
1
2
3
4
5
Narwal Freo X Ultra
✖
✖
1
2
3
4
5
Shark AI Ultra 60 Day
✖
✖
✖
1
2
3
4
5
iRobot Roomba i3+ EVO
✖
✖
✖
✖
1
2
3
4
5
iRobot Roomba QO120
✖
✖
✖
✖
✖
1
2
3
4
5
The only robot vacuum that avoided every single obstacle in our test was the DREAME X40 Ultra. It uses an AI-powered object avoidance, backed by a color camera that helps it recognize and steer clear of over 120 common household items. A few other tech-packed robots have similar specs, but this model was noticeably smarter, not even touching the objects, and hands-down the most dependable at navigating clutter. Considering it's the most expensive robot in our lineup, it's nice to see that high-end tech is actually making a difference with this product.
The Eufy x10, Roborock QRevo, Roborock Q5 Max+, and Roborock S8 could avoid getting hung up on all objects besides the fake dog poo. Honestly, that's impressive, given how often I've got shoes and socks scattered across the floor or random cords hiding under desks and TV stands, which is where most other vacuums in this lineup stall out on their first confrontation with one of these items.
If you don't have a dog or don't have to worry about an upset stomach from your dog, any of these vacuums should handle your space just fine. They may sometimes bump into things, but I've found they get out of most situations undeterred to finish their cleaning job. Most come with a premium price tag over $900, but the Roborock Q5 Max+ is a nice surprise. It performs reliably while costing half as much as the next model.
To ensure that we're evaluating the same household situations for each machine, we run each model through a room with the same common household objects positioned in the same places.
Credit: Matt Lighthart
The iRobot Roomba QO120 could never consistently avoid any of our objects in our tests. On top of that, the robot knocks into things with vigour, often knocking over my shoes and sucking up my socks. It even rammed rather hard into me!
I've never been very impressed with the AI under the hood of Roombas. They tend to bump into objects without recognizing them, spin around as if they're unsure of where they are, or get hung up at the slightest obstruction. The poor performance from the budget Roomba QO120 wasn't too surprising, but I didn't expect the pricier midrange iRobot Roomba i3+ EVO to fare just as poorly. This vacuum was incredibly needy during testing, constantly getting stuck and requiring help, only to get stuck again in the same spot. It doesn't seem to learn or adapt well, especially compared to other brands like Roborock and DREAME, where I've actually seen their navigation improve over time.
The premium-priced Narwal Freo X Ultra rolled over fake poo and cords but was able to avoid a sock.
Credit: Matt Lighthart
Whole Room Coverage
Most modern robot vacuums that utilize LiDAR laser-based navigation are very effective at covering floors completely, partly due to the accuracy of LiDAR and partly due to smart programming that leverages LiDAR data. They can often work back and forth with tightly controlled passes to suck debris from all available portions of floor at least once, if not several times.
Whole Room Coverage
Product
Room Coverage
Narwal Freo X Ultra
92
Eufy x10 Pro Omni Vacuum & Mop
90
Shark AI Ultra 60 Day
90
RoboRock QRevo Master
89
DREAME X40 Ultra
89
Roborock Q5 Max+
88
iRobot Roomba Combo 10 Max
87
Roborock Q7 Max+
85
Roborock S8 Pro Ultra
85
Wyze Robot Vacuum
84
iRobot Roomba i3+ EVO
82
iRobot Roomba QO120
78
Eufy 11s Max
74
iLife V3S Pro
69
Lefant M210
59
The Narwal Freo X Ultra was the most meticulous in its coverage, navigating 92% of the office, though the differences among the top navigators are admittedly small. What sets the Freo X Ultra apart is its increased attention around furniture, where it makes tight, scrupulous turns around chairs or tables to grab every stray crumb.
The Lefant M210 performed the worst in terms of room coverage, failing to cover more than 41% of the floor we tested. Lefant reports that this model uses anti-collision infrared sensors, but in our experience, it seems as if it relies heavily on bumping into objects to spark a new path direction. In some situations, it repeatedly bashed itself against table legs, even as it occasionally attempted to use more ordered zig-zag patterns to cover a room.
Narwal Freo X UltraLefant M210
These time-lapse room-coverage photos show the difference between the best coverage (Narwal Freo X Ultra) compared to the worst (Lefant M210) — even though it was small enough to fit under a table.
Similarly, the Eufy 11s Max and iLife V3S Pro struggled to completely cover our floors due to their random bump-based navigation. If you choose these vacuums, just know they won't consistently clean your entire house, including far-off rooms in larger homes, due to their sporadic navigation.
Charge And Resume?
Many budget models like the Eufy 11s, iRobot Roomba QO120, iLife V3s, and Lefant M210 don't remember where they've been. Once their dust bin is full and they head back to the dock, they stop cleaning entirely. After you empty them, they just start a new run instead of picking up where they left off, so in larger homes, some rooms might never get touched.
Overall Navigation Scores
The best navigators combine total room coverage that passes over every inch of possible floor space with the ability to avoid unexpected objects.
Key Navigation Takeaways
The DREAME X40 Ultra is the ultimate assurance that your robot will complete the job and clean your entire house. Whatever is left on your floor, whether a surprised, unfortunate mess from your furry loved one or the staggering amount of Legos and small toys that seem to always accumulate fast on the floor, this vacuum can dance around them all. No rescuing from you, you just let it run and forget about it!
The RoboRock QRevo Master, iRobot Roomba Combo 10 Max, and Roborock S8 Pro Ultra are a step down in both price and performance. They still cover my whole house thoroughly and avoid most common household obstacles, though they tend to bump into smaller objects and occasionally need a little help getting off a charging cord or shoelace. When it comes to navigation, premium prices tend to correlate with smarter robot brains and improved convenience.
With lower-cost models, like the Eufy 11s Max, you get less advanced programming, meaning more hang-ups, missed spots, and clumsy collisions with furniture or anything left out. In testing, I saw more glitches and confusion overall. What does that mean for you? You'll likely need to tidy up before each run, and even then, these bots can still get stuck on things like a loose backpack strap. Premium models usually come with smarter navigation and fewer headaches. Whether the extra cost is worth it really comes down to how much involvement you're okay with.
The Eufy 11s Max has its upsides, but avoiding items left on the ground is not one of them.
Credit: Matt Lighthart
Pet Hair
For the many dog and cat owners out there, pet hair performance can be the single most important factor for choosing a robot vacuum. As another pet owner put it, “If I can automatically clean up just half of the pet hair my dogs shed, that can save our household 90 minutes of manually vacuuming each week!”
To see how well each robot helps out pet owners, we worked a generous amount of fur (4 grams) into our test carpet. We also added in bright, long hair extensions to see how they handle other types of hair. The results? Performance varied a lot from one vacuum to the next.
Percent of Fur Cleaned from Carpet
Product
Pet Hair Cleaned
Roborock S8 Pro Ultra
92
Narwal Freo X Ultra
90
Roborock Q5 Max+
82
iRobot Roomba i3+ EVO
70
Shark AI Ultra 60 Day
64
iRobot Roomba Combo 10 Max
62
Eufy 11s Max
60
Eufy x10 Pro Omni Vacuum & Mop
52
Wyze Robot Vacuum
50
DREAME X40 Ultra
48
Roborock Q7 Max+
44
iRobot Roomba QO120
40
iLife V3S Pro
38
RoboRock QRevo Master
34
Lefant M210
24
The Narwal Freo X Ultra and Roborock S8 Pro Ultra were stellar standouts, collecting 90% or more of the pet hair from our test carpet while tangling the least amount in the roller, making these two machines great options for pet owners — and for families with long hair, too.
We weigh each batch of dog hair before mashing it into our test section of carpet, then re-weigh the collected amounts to determine each model's effectiveness.
Credit: GearLab Staff
Hair Tangling Problems With Robot Vacuums
Long human hair and pet fur often get caught in a robot vacuum's rollers, accumulating over time and potentially affecting its performance. We track this in our testing and reflect it in our scores, so you'll know which models might need more hands-on maintenance.
When I took a closer look at the data and design of these machines, however, the Narwahl Freo X Ultra is clearly the best robot vacuum for long hair. It uses a unique-shaped roller brush with a floating end that guides long hairs toward a suction tube. Instead of tangling in an attachment point at the end of the brush roller, the hairs spin their way off at the end of the brush and get sucked into the dustbin — tangling just 4% of the long hair I tested! This is one of the lowest rates of long-hair tangling I've ever seen on a household vacuum that uses brush rollers.
With its innovative free-floating brush roller design that nearly eliminated hair tangles, the Narwal Freo X Ultra is a great choice for households with long-haired family members.
Credit: Matt Lighthart
As for the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra, it is also surprisingly good at avoiding hair tangles: It uses an innovative dual overlapping brush roller design to move long hair into its dustbin.
At the other end of the spectrum, the Eufy X10 Pro Omni Vacuum & Mop was a disappointment, tangling nearly half of all the long hair extensions it sucked up. The iRobot Roomba QO120 tangled nearly as often. Both of these models would be poor choices for those with long hair in their homes because you'll likely need to frequently clear their roller brushes by disassembly or scissors.
For those with long hair in their homes, the Eufy X10 Pro Omni was the worst long hair tangler we tested.
Credit: Genaveve Bradshaw
Overall, the Lefant M210 was the worst robot vacuum we tested for pet hair. On my carpet, it left behind more than 3/4 of the pet hair I put down. What's worse, this wasn't a case of poor navigation. This model cruised over much of the hair but simply failed to suck it up. The lack of a roller brush to agitate carpet to kick pet hair loose for its suction seems to be the biggest issue with this model.
Even the best models sometimes get hair clogs, but others constantly create infuriating hair tangles we needed to clear by hand.
Credit: Matt Lighthart
App Performance
A great app experience can make or break the overall utility of a robot vacuum.
Basic Features To Look For In A Robot Vacuum
Set Schedule: Easily program cleaning times to run automatically. We especially appreciate it when we can schedule specific rooms for more frequent cleaning, such as the family room or kitchen.
Adjust Flooring Type: It is beneficial to set flooring types, especially if you have a mopping vacuum, so that you can separate the cleaning cycles. This prevents the robot from vacuuming with a sopping wet mop pad.
Create Barriers:Do you have a sensitive dog that needs its own space or delicate furniture that should be avoided? Setting up barriers, or no-go zones, can be a helpful way to prevent a rambunctious robot from entering and bumping into everything.
Adjust Suction: Whether you need a deeper clean or want to reduce noise levels, adjusting suction can be a handy feature. Bonus points if the robot automatically adjusts its suction based on the type of debris or flooring for more efficient battery use.
Notifications: We appreciate good communication from our cleaning helpers, so notifications are key, whether it's letting you know the robot is stuck or reminding you to empty the bin, dock bag, or water tanks.
We score each app based on how easy it is to navigate the app, change settings, and use it reliably.
The incredibly interactive app for the Dreame X40 Ultra impressed us more than any other, delivering the best app experience of all the robot vacuums we tested. Its clear, visual map layouts make it easy to customize cleaning to fit your home and routine.
This app video shows the DREAME X40 Ultra as it maps a portion of our warehouse floor plan (on the left), which I could then modify to adjust cleaning zones, create barriers, or make invisible walls.
Credit: Matt Lighthart
You can track cleaning progress in real-time and even see through the robot's onboard cameras as it navigates, perfect for checking on pets or spotting obstacles like a stray toy or surprise mess.
App Features
Virtual Assistance Integration
Do Not Disturb Mode
Video Monitoring
Child Lock
DREAME X40 Ultra
RoboRock QRevo Master
iRobot Roomba Combo 10 Max
Eufy x10 Pro Omni Vacuum & Mop
Roborock Q5 Max+
✖
Lefant M210
✖
✖
✖
Eufy 11s Max
✖
✖
✖
✖
iLife V3S Pro
✖
✖
✖
✖
While many robot vacuums come with decent apps, Roborock's app consistently stood out for its reliability and intuitive design. Every Roborock we tested—from the mid-priced Q5 Max+ to the high-end S8 Pro Ultra, ran smoohtly. The app never glitched across months of testing—a refreshing change from other brands whose apps often freeze, lag, or stop responding altogether, which gets frustrating fast. We loved how easy it was to change suction settings or start a spot clean—nothing was buried in menus, unlike in the clunky Roomba app.
You can switch between 2D and 3D map views, with additional layout options that help visualize your space more clearly. It's also simple to label furniture, divide rooms, and fine-tune cleaning zones. For those who want to be extra hands-on, the “Pin n Go” feature even lets you manually direct the vacuum to a specific area using on-screen controls.
The Dreametech and RoboRock apps provided the most detail around robot activity, including mapping paths, square footage cleaned, real-time alerts, and battery life. Roomba apps tended to be reasonably serviceable, but lacked the features and details we expect from leading brands.
Credit: Matt Lighthart
Some options like the Dreame X40 Ultra and Roborock QRevo Master have cameras to snap photos and videos of obstacles. The QRevo even has a fun feature to find your pet if you want to check on them while you aren't home. I particularly enjoyed the live video monitoring on the Dreame X40 Ultra, as it was the least glitchy and had the clearest view. The iRobot Roomba Combo 10 Max and Eufy x10 Pro also have live video monitoring.
These models feature cameras that offer a live view of where the vacuum is headed, and can even find your pet while you are away!
Credit: Matt Lighthart
Robot vacuums might look smart, but the tech still has its quirks. We're not past the early days yet, and it shows—some models get confused mid-clean, restart routines unexpectedly, or freeze up after returning to the dock. Even when the app seems to be working fine, the robot can still have trouble communicating or following instructions. To rule out phone or Wi-Fi issues, we test every vacuum on the same network and devices, but more often than not, the hiccup comes down to clunky programming.
The Eufy x10 Pro Omni app checks all the right boxes and has an awesome interface, but I started to get annoyed by its reliability issues, making it hard to use. Over the course of three months, it sometimes struggled to load maps or connect to the robot. This is a prime example of why we test these robots over multi-month test sessions and provide ratings as part of our evaluations.
Not all robot vacuums are “smart.” The Eufy 11s Max and iLife V3S do not have an app, so they drastically limit their customizability and convenience. You can schedule automated cleaning, but you're stuck with a basic daily run—you can't adjust how often it cleans certain areas, add extra passes for problem spots, or set it to avoid delicate zones like you can with more advanced models. They also don't have advanced features like a child lock or video monitoring. Though the Lefant M210 has a virtual assistant and 'Find My Robot,' it continued to beep and clean despite my attempts to repeatedly change commands on the app, proving that having an app means little if it isn't reliable..
Mopping
Even though we turn to robot vacuums primarily for sucking up dry materials like dirt, hair, and crumbs, models with mopping features can take your hard floors to the next level by cleaning up sticky messes, dried liquid spills, and fine dust. If a model has a mopping function, we evaluate its abilities by testing it on wet spills and on dry stains.
Separate Your Vacuuming And Mopping Schedules
With hybrid robot mop vacuums, running both modes in one go can backfire, especially if mopping starts before vacuuming. This often leaves the robot dragging a soggy mop pad across your floors and, worse, onto your carpets. To avoid this, I recommend you set separate cleaning schedules: run a vacuum-only cycle first to pick up debris, then follow up later with a mop cycle. This keeps your mop pads cleaner, protects carpets from moisture, and results in a more effective clean overall.
Mopping Scores
Product
Dry Stains
Wet Stains
DREAME X40 Ultra
8.5
9.5
Roborock Q7 Max+
8
8.5
Narwal Freo X Ultra
8.5
7
RoboRock QRevo Master
6.5
6.5
Roborock S8 Pro Ultra
7
5
Eufy x10 Pro Omni Vacuum & Mop
4
4.5
iRobot Roomba Combo 10 Max
3
4.5
We also consider additional features like automatic mop pad washing and drying, which can save you a lot of time and hassle. Who wants to manually clean mop pads? We do not.
Only a few robot vacuums with mopping features were particularly good, but they can reduce the frequency of manual mopping you might need to do in your own home and help collect fine dust.
Credit: Matt Lighthart
The DREAME X40 Ultra stands out for its mopping skills, tackling both wet spills and dried stains with dual spinning pads. It cleans its own mop pads with hot water and dries them with heated air, and the app notifies you when to refill or empty the water tanks. A thoughtful touch: it can leave its mop pads at the dock to avoid dragging them around, or lift them 10mm to vacuum carpets, though this height might not clear thicker rugs if the pads are wet.
Here, the Dreame's mop pads are waiting on the dock for their next clean-up mission.
Credit: Matt Lighthart
The Narwal Freo X Ultra can also wash and dry its own mop pads, but it includes a cool smart environmental sensor: It will adapt its mop water levels to the environment! For instance, if your floors are sunny and warm, it will add more water to its mop heads. If the robot detects higher humidity levels, it will reduce mop saturation to prevent standing water on floors.
The Narwal Freo X Ultra is one of the few robot vacuums that can self-clean its mop pads. Of course, you will still need to take care of dumping the dirty water and filling the clean.
Credit: Matt Lighthart
Despite these two models with super smart mopping brains, the far simpler and more affordable Roborock Q7 Max+ delivered outstanding performance with a basic mop pad — but it is a much more manual process. You have to manually remove the mop pads and wash and dry them yourself. In addition, if you're mopping up spilled milk, the vacuum runs at the same time, too, which can suck the milk up into the dustbin, which can require extra cleaning to extract and dry out. To spare yourself the extra work (and your sanity), we recommend using this vacuum only on dried messes like tracked-in dirt or crusted spills. That said, for dry stains, it did great—removing nearly all of them on the first pass!
The more expensive mopping models can remove and wash their own pads, but more inexpensive models like the Roborock Q7 Max+ require manual removal and washing.
Credit: Genaveve Bradshaw
The iRobot Roomba Combo 10 Max can also self-wash and dry its own mop pads. Instead of raising its mop pads, this model has a nifty trick of completely moving its mop to the top of the robot so that it can keep the mops out of the way when cleaning carpets or floors you don't want to get wet. Unfortunately, the Combo 10 Max turned in the worst performance scores of our mopping tests, struggling to fully clean dry stains and leaving patchy messes when it came to full-floor mopping coverage. Occasionally, I could task this machine through its app to “Smart Scrub” a particularly stained area, but it delivered big inconsistencies in how much attention and scrubbing power it brought to each task.
Likewise, the Eufy x10 Pro struggled to apply enough pressure with its rotating pads to tackle tougher stains. When I checked the pads mid-clean, they barely felt damp—hardly enough moisture to stand a chance against the dried-up coffee.
The Eufy x10 Pro Omni handled light and medium dried stains easily but struggled to apply enough pressure and/or moisture with its dual rotating mop pads to clean heavier stains.
Credit: Genaveve Bradshaw
Noise
Most robot vacuums are louder than you'd expect, especially when running at full suction or emptying into the dock. If you're working from home or trying to focus, it's not the best time to run a cleaning cycle. While a few models are quieter than others, in general, it's smarter to schedule cleaning when no one's in meetings, napping, or just trying to enjoy some peace.
We measure the decibels each vacuum produces while running. Producing the lowest 51.3 decibels, the Eufy 11s Max was the quietest robot vacuum we tested, followed by the 52.1-decibel Lefant M210. Both were relatively unobtrusive—no annoying clicks or clunks—and often blended into the background like white noise. They were easy to ignore while chatting or moving around the house, though you still might not want them running while working or studying when quiet focus really matters.
Vacuums that tend to have lower suction power are often quieter to operate, making them more pleasant to be around. We find that most robot vacuums are relatively quiet compared to typical upright corded vacuums, but some, like the Eufy x10 Pro Omni, are downright obnoxious.
Credit: Matt Lighthart
The loudest was the Eufy x10 Pro Omni, which produced an ear-ringing 88.3 decibels — though we also recorded spikes of over 100 decibels. What's even worse, it squeaked and produced an annoying high-pitch whistle. We do not like to be around when the x10 Pro Omni is working a task.
At 66 decibels, the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra was another loud model we tested — but it's still quieter than some upright vacuums.
Credit: Genaveve Bradshaw
How to Choose the Best Robot Vacuum
The sub-market of robot vacuums is a relatively new development in the wider world of more traditional vacuums, but after more than a decade, they've evolved quickly. They're inherently tech-heavy and have required a ton of iteration to get to where they are today, giving us many choices that can help keep our floors clean.
Can a Robot Vacuum Replace Your Upright Vacuum?
The short answer is, unfortunately, no. They still struggle with high pile carpet, tight spaces, and can't vacuum stairs. Robot vacuums are comparatively small products that inherently lack the same cleaning, lifting, and suction power as their larger counterparts. Think of them more as a way to keep the dust and hair that accumulates with daily life under control, between the deeper cleans of your primary cleaning device. They're complimentary, not a full replacement.
It Starts and Ends with Convenience
The big draw of a robot vacuum is that it can clean your home with minimal effort from you, and more often than you'd probably haul out a bulky upright or canister vacuum. Most models can learn your home's layout and let you set schedules or no-go zones through an app. Still, you'll need to do some prep, like picking up stray socks or cords and emptying the dustbin. Higher-end models offer features like object recognition and self-emptying docks, but those come at a premium. It really comes down to how much work you want to do versus how much you're willing to pay to have the robot do it for you.
The iRobot Roomba Combo 10 Max returns to its dock to auto-empty its dustbin so you don't have to manually empty it yourself after every vacuuming session.
Credit: Matt Lighthart
What Type Of Flooring Do You Have?
The other main consideration is the type of flooring in your home or business. Some models perform better on carpets, while others excel on hard surfaces. Some models have mopping accessories, and most bog down on thick, shaggy rugs. Pet hair is a principal concern in many homes, but only a few models do an effective job of removing it without clogging or tangling.
Rest assured, we put every robot vacuum through a gauntlet of tests to reveal their strengths and weakness so you have the information you need to make informed decisions. While the DREAME X40 Ultra tangled long hair in the middle of its brush roller, it was easy to cut away.
Credit: Genaveve Bradshaw
Conclusion
Hopefully this review has helped you decide which robot vacuum is the best fit for your needs and budget, regardless of whether you are looking for the absolute best of the best when it comes to these automated assistants or you're shopping on a tighter budget.
—Genaveve Bradshaw, Chris Maxcer, and Kyle Hameister
