Consumer Reports

Get a Robovac on a Budget

Testing robotic vacuums for under $300

If you have a full-size vacuum to deep-clean your carpets, you might consider getting a little helper for daily pickups.

Consumer Reports says that robotic vacuums are best for uncluttered rooms with either bare floors or low-pile carpet. Thicker rugs will make the robotic vacuum work harder, and it might not get to the rest of your room.

You can pay as much as $1,000 for a robo vac, but increased competition has brought prices down. Here are three that landed near the top of CR’s ratings - for less than $300.

With the prices lowering on these little vacuums, considering picking one up so they can pick up for you.

The Eufy RoboVac 11 has an impressive run-time - a little less than two hours on bare floors and just over an hour on carpets before returning to its docking station. The Eufy does an excellent job inhaling surface debris on carpeting and gets top marks for quietness.

The iRobot Roomba 618 does a top-notch job on bare floors. It quietly moves around, doing a good job picking up dirt even in corners. CR testers noted it does a good job of not getting tangled in the fringe of area rugs.

This is Shark’s first entry in the robot world - the Shark Ion 720. It sometimes scattered Consumer Reports test paper squares as it moved about, but eventually picked everything up.

Consumer Reports recommends that to keep any of your vacuums - large or small -  running their best, keep the filters clean and replace them according to manufacturer’s instructions. Your appliances will last longer in the end. 

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