Robot vacuum

shop gadgets is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Raed more

Best budget robot vacuum and mop

As with vacuuming, though, robotics has come to rescue. Robot mops don’t require cumbersome buckets or ringing out filthy mop heads. All you need to do is fill their tank with water, set them on the floor, press the start button, and get out of the way. Some will even vacuum or sweep the floor first, relieving you of that chore as well. They won’t eliminate the need to use an old-fashioned stick mop from time to time, but they can make the floor significantly easier to clean when you do. What is the best budget robot vacuum and mop?

Here are our current top picks for robot mops. This is an evolving category— manufacturers are still experimenting with what makes a good robot mop—so there can be a significant variance between products in terms of features and functions.

What is the best budget robot vacuum and mop

1. Best robot mop – iRobot Braava Jet M6

The iRobot Braava Jet m6, best budget robot vacuum and mop, is an excellent robot mop with plenty of smart features for automating a hated household chore. It’s ideal for homes with lots of hard floors.

iRobot’s Braava Jet m6 knocks its smaller sibling—the Braava Jet 240—from its perch as our favorite robot mop. This bigger unit can not only clean larger areas, it can work in tandem with selected Roomba robot vacuums, so that one cleans up particulate matter and then signals the other that it’s time to scrub. Yes, it’s an expensive one-two punch, but it sure beats manual labor.

2. Runner-up – iLife Shinebot W400

The iLife Shinebot W400, best budget robot vacuum and mop, diligently scrubs away stains from your hard floors. But it can’t get under most cabinets and between tight spaces, so it’s less than ideal for small bathrooms and kitchens.

The iLife Shinebot W400 uses a unique four-step mopping method that moistens the floor with clean water to loosen dirt and stains, scrubs them free with a microfiber roller brush, sucks the dirty water into the robot, and scrapes off any residue left behind. It also keeps clean and dirty water in separate tanks to avoid cross-contaminating your floors. The results come pretty close to what you would get using a push mop. The Shinebot w400’s bulk can be a hindrance in small spaces, though, so it’s best suited to homes with lots of wide-open floors.

3. Best vacuum/mop hybrid – Roborock S6

The Roborock S6, best budget robot vacuum and mop, is a fantastic robot vacuum with mopping capabilities that should be considered alongside bigger-brand-name alternatives.

The Roborock S6 combines a top-shelf vacuum with a better-than-most mopping function. As with most vacuum/mop hybrids, you attach a reservoir to the bottom for mopping, but the S6 allows you control how much water it dispenses with a simple switch. That makes it equally effective for light maintenance mopping and tackling stubborn stains. Plus, you get the advantage of the S6’s superb laser navigation and voice control, courtesy of Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.

How to buy best budget robot vacuum and mop?

Fundamentally, the robot vacuums in our guide all operate the same way: They autonomously maneuver around your home on a couple of wheels suctioning debris from your floors. Two to four brushes on the bottom—both rolling-style agitators and spinning side brushes—grab dirt from the floor and wall edges respectively, and guide it into the suction area or direct it straight to a small, filtered dustbin. When cleaning is complete, or their battery is running low, they return themselves to their charging dock.

But just how they get the job done can differ across manufacturers and models. Here are some features and functions to consider beyond the basics.

Control

Autonomy puts the “robot” in “robot vacuum.” Virtually all models include an “automatic” mode that requires you to do nothing more than press a button on a remote, in an app, or on the vacuum itself to clean a room. This is great for ad-hoc cleaning, but most models can also be programmed to clean on a schedule. The latter scenario is great if you want them to work when you’re not home or to create a regular cleaning routine. Some higher-end models also integrate with smart speakers, such as the Amazon Echo and Google Home, which allows to control them using voice commands.

Cleaning modes

Just as your stand-up vacuum can be adjusted to clean either carpet and hard flooring, so to can a robot vac. Most feature the ability to change suction and other cleaning functions to adapt to different floor surfaces, either automatically or with input from you. They may also have a spot mode for more concentrated cleaning on a small area (cleaning up a spill, for example), include options for single- and double-passes of a room, or offer an option to focus just on cleaning along wall edges and baseboards.

Navigation

The allure of robot vacuums is their promise to complete their task with minimal management from you. In order to do that, they must be able to navigate a room’s unique layout, maneuver around furniture and other obstacles, and avoid hazards such as falling down stairs and getting tangled in electrical cords.

Robot vacuums “see” the world through a combination of sensors. Cliff sensors let it know when there is an increase in distance to the floor—e.g., stairs or a sunken living room—so it doesn’t tip over the edge. Other sensors tell it when it has bumped into an object, so it can change direction, or is near a wall, so it can follow it. Still other sensors help the robot vacuum track how far it has travelled. Depending on the manufacturer and model, a robot vac might also include sensors that determine the amount of dirt present so it can adjust its cleaning mode accordingly.

Mapping

Manufacturers are increasingly including mapping capabilities in some of their robot vacuums. These models use an onboard camera or laser reflections to produce a 360-degree view of the room. This allows the robot vac to create a map of the space and locate itself within that map.

The advantage of mapping is the vacuum will know which areas it has already cleaned and which it hasn’t, to avoid going over the same spot unnecessarily. It also lets it know where to resume cleaning if it must stop and recharge midway through the task. This makes it ideal for larger rooms and—because it’s still something of a premium feature—larger budgets.

Boundary blockers

In an ideal world, you’d clear all your floors of clutter before using your robot vacuum. But we live in the real one and that’s not always possible or desirable. Knowing this, many robot vacuums include some way to block off areas you don’t want it venturing into, whether it’s a pet’s area, your kids’ room, or a cluster of device cords in the corner. Often it’s just a length of magnetic tape you stretch in front of or on a forbidden area that the vacuum’s sensors will detect and tell it to avoid. But some models employ virtual barriers, such as the ability to designate boundaries on a floor plan that signal the robot to steer clear.

Size

The dimensions of a robot vacuum matter for a couple of reasons. First, they will determine how well it can get into tight spots, such as under your kitchen cabinets and low-clearance furniture (couches and recliners). If it’s too tall, it won’t be able reach into these spots, or worse, it will get in and get stuck until physically free it. Second, the bigger the robot vacuum, the larger the dustbin. Robot vacuums don’t use expandable bags like many of their stand-up brethren do, so when it comes to debris capacity, what you see is what you get.

There is no sweet spot for robot vacuum dimensions that we could determine—it really depends on your particular room layout—but a diameter of 13- to 14 inches and a height of 3.5 to 4 inches are the most common measurements we encountered.

Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi-enabled robot vacuums allow you to control them with a smartphone app instead of, or in addition to, a physical remote. That convenience alone doesn’t really warrant the extra cost these models command, but some model’s apps also provide other perks, such as detailed cleaning histories and the ability to save and edit floor maps for better navigation. Those models are worth considering if you’re cleaning large, intricate spaces.

The best robot vacuums: Test results compared

Here is a chart showing the performance of the top-performing robot vacuums. While this doesn’t take into account our anecdotal tests, it provides a look into how well each picks up Cheerios, pet hair, and kitty litter. The Overall Score is an average of how much of the three materials the robot vacuum picked up; the Pet Hair Score is the percentage of the pet hair the vacuum was able to collect; and Cleaning Time is the average amount of time it took to perform all the tests.

	Overall Score	Pet Hair Score	Avg. Cleaning Time
Shark Ion R85	94	88	1 hour, 2 minutes
iLife V3s Pro	97	99	1 hour, 31 minutes
iLife V5s Pro	94.8	97.3	1 hour, 40 minutes
iRobot Roomba i7+	90.4	90.5	18 minutes
iRobot Roomba 690	89.2	73.3	1 hour, 12 minutes

The best budget robot vacuum you can buy today

1. Shark Ion R85 – The best robot vacuum overall

Cleaning Performance: 94 | Pet Hair Score: 88 | Average Cleaning Time: 1 hour, 2 minutes | Loudness: 59.2 dB | Bin Size: 625 ml | Smart Home Compatibility: Alexa, Google Home | Size: 12.8 x 12.5 x 3.4 inches | Weight: 5.1 poundsGreat pet-hair performanceDustbin is super easy to cleanEasy app setup and notificationsCan get stuck on thick carpet

Our best robot vacuum overall, the Shark R85 proved excellent at picking up pet hair and other debris around our home with a minimum of fuss. While it took about an hour on average to finish a run in our test space, it was much more thorough than all other robot vacuums. Our advice? Start it up, then leave the house to do some chores.

We also liked the notifications we received from the Shark Ion 85, as well as the ability to control it from our smartphone, as well as using it with both Alexa and Google Assistant. The R85’s dustbin was also very easy to empty — not a given with many robot vacuums — and you can purchase its charging base with an optional stick vacuum, so you can clean in between couch cushions and other spaces the robot vacuum can’t reach.

2. iLife V3s Pro – Best robot vacuum on a budget

The iLife V3s Pro is the best robot vacuum you can get for less than $200. Despite its low price, the V3s Pro consistently outperformed other robot vacuums that cost three times as much. It picked up nearly all the pet hair in our lab tests, and was also good in our at-home tests, too.

There are a few caveats when purchasing a robot vacuum this cheap, though. For starters, the iLife V3s Pro is slow, taking more than 90 minutes on average to clean our test space. Also, it can’t be controlled from your smartphone, so you have to use the included remote control, and you can’t connect it to Alexa or Google Assistant to turn it on or schedule cleanings. We also found that it was a bit louder than other vacuums. But it’s great at doing the one thing it needs to do well, and that’s picking up dirt. For this price, its downsides are tradeoffs we’re willing to make.

3. iLife V5s Pro – Good cleaner, so-so mopper

The second-best robot vacuum under $200 is iLife’s V5s Pro, which vacuumed nearly as well as the V3s Pro, picking up pet hair, Cheerios, and kitty litter with the same effectiveness. The main difference with the V5s Pro is that it has an added mopping feature. While this seems like a great idea — a vacuum and mopper in one — we found that the V5s Pro was pretty ineffective at mopping in our in-home tests, so this feature didn’t add that much value.

Like most budget robot vacs, the V5s Pro lacks a smartphone app, and doesn’t work with any smart home devices or virtual assistants like Alexa or Google Assistant. It’s also one of the slowest robot vacuums we’ve tested, taking even longer than the iLife V3s Pro. Still, for the money, it’s a very effective, and very inexpensive robot vacuum.

4. iRobot Roomba i7+ The self-cleaning robot vacuum

iRobot’s highest-end model makes our best robot vacuum list because it has a base with its own dustbin, so you can go multiple cleanings without having to empty out the bin. It edged out the Shark Ion R85 on our pet hair test, picking up just over 90 percent of all the fur on the floor.

It has a number of other features, such as the ability to map multiple floors and create virtual walls. The Roomba i7+ is also fast, finishing a cleaning run in less than 20 minutes. Still, its price — $1,099 — plus the fact that it wasn’t as thorough as other vacuums kept the i7+ from receiving a higher rating. You can purchase the i7 for $799, but that price doesn’t include the cleaning base, one of the main reasons for getting this vacuum in the first place.

5. Neato Botvac D7 Connected – A fast and thorough robot vacuum

The Neato Botvac D7 Connected makes our list of the best robot vacuums because it’s the fastest, and one of the smartest, robot vacuums we’ve tested. It finished our tests in an average of 10 minutes, 22 seconds, blitzing through pet hair, Cheerios, and kitty litter — and picking up a great deal of them, too. However, it wasn’t as effective as our top two picks, the Shark Ion R85 and the iLife V3s Pro, at collecting debris.

The D7 also has multi-room and multi-floor mapping, and can be controlled using Alexa and Google Assistant. We also liked how easy it was to empty its dustbin. At around $550, the Neato Botvac D7 connected isn’t the cheapest, nor the most expensive robot vacuum, but as a midrange model, it has all the features and performance that you could want.

7. iRobot Roomba 690 – A solid performer for the money

While it’s an older model, the iRobot Roomba 690 is still one of the best robot vacuums because it has powerful suction and is especially user-friendly. Once you set this vacuum up, it basically runs itself. This is a pretty smart model, too: You can also control the Roomba 690 from a convenient smartphone app, which also lets you schedule cleaning times and connect it with voice assistants.

The iRobot Roomba 690 did a great job on both carpeting and hardwood flooring, but it didn’t do as well with pet hair as our top pick, the Shark Ion R85. However, the Roomba 690 was able to power over various obstacles like thick carpet and wires without getting stuck. That’s more than we can say about other robot vacuums.

6. iRobot Braava Jet 240

The best budget robot vacuum for mopping

Average Cleaning Time: 15 minutes, 43 seconds | Smart Home Compatibility: None | Size: 7 x 6.7 x 3.3 inches | Weight: 2.7 pounds

A small subset of robot vacuums are mopping robots, which help you scrub your kitchen and bathroom floors clean. iRobot’s budget mopping robot vacuum, the Braava Jet 240, has been around for a few years, and is a small and fairly inexpensive mopping robot that’s somewhat effective.

Unlike other robot vacuums, you have to place the Braava Jet 240 in the room you want it to clean, and then it goes about its task in a snake-like pattern. There’s no remote control, nor can you control it using your smartphone or a voice assistant.

In our in-home tests, we found that the Braava Jet 240 was fairly good at cleaning up spills and stains, but won’t substitute for a real scrubbing with a mop. Plus, replacement pads will cost you an extra $24-$48 per year, which you have to factor into the total cost of ownership.