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In response to
"Anyone here have a consumer reports acct? What do they recommend for their top 3 robot vacs? Does this list represent their top picks? -- (link*)"
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Beryllium
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Posted by
budice
May 16 '23, 09:09
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Best Robotic Vacuums of 2023
Consumer Reports' tests reveal today's top-performing robot vacuums from brands like Eufy, iRobot, and Samsung
By Liam McCabe
Updated by Mary H.J. Farrell
Updated February 14, 2023
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Robot vacuum on wood floors
Robotic vacuums can complement regular vacuuming and require little attention, though their built-in smarts could raise privacy concerns.
Photo: iStock
The best robotic vacuums Consumer Reports tested are great for touch-ups and spot cleaning, which can be especially helpful in keeping up with pet hair. Their built-in and app-enabled smarts allow them to find their way out of tight spots and around some obstacles, but keep in mind that connecting any device to an app entails privacy concerns. To learn more, see our full ratings of robotic vacuums,
How We Picked the Best Robotic Vacuums
To determine the best robot vacuums (listed below in alphabetical order by brand), we filtered models based on their Overall Score—which is based on our rigorous lab testing and our member surveys on reliability and customer satisfaction, as well as price and available features.
As you scroll through the models, we recommend considering the model’s weight and size, noise level, reliability, and pet friendliness (if you have a pet). You can find our ratings across these criteria and more in our comprehensive ratings of robotic vacuums.
How Consumer Reports Tests Robotic Vacuums
To rate robotic vacuums, we lab-tested dozens of models on how well they remove debris from carpet and bare floors, how well they avoid common obstacles and navigate space, how easy they are to use, and to what extent they provide data privacy and security across more than 70 indicators. For example, we attached a tracking device to robotic vacuums we tested to rate their navigation skills, and we challenged them to clean up a mix of cereal, rice, and yellow peas to rate their cleaning capacity. To learn more about how we rate and test robot vacuums, consult our vacuum buying guide. On top of these calculations, we factor in the reliability and owner satisfaction score of robotic vacuums from surveys based on members’ experiences with more than 9,000 robot vacuums.
As with all products that CR tests, the ratings robotic vacuums earn across our series of tests and our surveys inform the overall score for each model.
Eufy 11S
Eufy 11S
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CR’s take: The basic Eufy RoboVac 11S isn’t the strongest robotic vac you can buy, and it’ll struggle to thoroughly clean large areas. But this nimble, relatively affordable bot can be a great option for cleaning a few rooms at a time, or for patient owners. It’s one of the shortest and lightest robotic vacuums that CR has tested, which helps it drive under furniture and wiggle away from hazards like power cords and carpet fringe better than most robotic vacuums we’ve tested. It also earns an excellent rating on our noise test, and sounds more like a small fan than a vacuum cleaner. The Eufy’s cleaning performance is respectable for its price, too. The main quirk is the semi-random navigation system. (This was the norm for robotic vacuums at one point but has become less common over time.) The randomness might be aggravating—it drives until it bonks into a wall or piece of furniture, pivots, and then repeats the process until the battery runs out. In bigger spaces, it will often miss an area—or even an entire room—in a given session.
Eufy sells at least a half-dozen variants of this robovac. The Eufy 11S is the most basic and one of the few still available that doesn’t connect to the internet. It does come with a remote control, though. Other Eufy variants, including the 30C, 35C, and 15C Max, do have WiFi connectivity, which allows you to use a companion app to turn the appliance on or off, steer it, and set a cleaning schedule. They still navigate semi-randomly, though.
Eufy Clean G40+
Eufy Clean G40+
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CR’s take: There’s a lot to like about the affordable Eufy robovacs and apparently our members agree. Eufy gets top marks in both predicted reliability and owner satisfaction based on our surveys. New to our ratings, the Eufy Clean G40+ does not disappoint, unless you have a lot of carpet. Its ratings on the carpet cleaning test were only so-so. It does great on bare floors, however, and is almost as good at picking up pet hair. And our technicians found it fairly easy to empty the bin once the Eufy made its rounds. You’ll also appreciate how it navigates a room and ducks under furniture.
The Eufy Clean G40+ follows a grid pattern and has WiFi capabilities, if that floats your boat. If you have concerns about your data privacy, though, you should know that its score in that regard was lackluster. Its score for protecting your data was also middling.
Eufy RoboVac X8
Eufy RoboVac X8
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CR’s take: The Eufy RoboVac X8 uses LIDAR, a remote sensing technology, to navigate and move in a gridlike pattern. It excelled at most pickup tests in our labs—carpet, bare floors, and pet hair—but was not as powerful as other models at picking up dirt embedded in carpets. Its side brush is able to pick up debris along the edges of a room, but it has a tendency to scatter debris. The size of the dirt bin is decent compared with other models in our tests and it can run for more than an hour without needing a charge.
In our digital labs, data security was so-so and data privacy was even worse. It’s something to be aware of if you use the WiFi connectivity to get frequent software updates. But our members find Eufy to be a reliable brand, and it checks all the boxes for owner satisfaction.
iRobot Roomba S9+
iRobot Roomba S9+
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$999.00
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CR’s take: If you’re after the maximum pickup that a robotic can offer, the Roomba s9+—iRobot’s top-of-the-line robotic vacuum—should be on your shortlist. The big upgrade here is the cleaning power. Thanks to stronger suction and wider brushes, it outperforms all the other Roomba models we’ve tested (and most robotic vacs from other brands, too) on our carpet and edge-cleaning tests. Another selling point: Once the vacuum is docked, a vacuum in the docking station automatically sucks the contents from the bin into an enclosed, disposable bag in the base. It still doesn’t clean rugs anywhere near as thoroughly as a traditional vacuum cleaner, but if strong cleaning is one of your priorities in a robotic vacuum, you should consider this pricey bot.
iRobot Roomba i4+ Evo
iRobot Roomba i4+ Evo
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CR’s take: The iRobot Roomba i4+ Evo is one of our top-scoring iRobot models and costs a bit less than its top-ranked sibling, the iRobot Roomba S9+. And like the other iRobots we test, it gets high (but not top) marks from our members for predicted reliability and owner satisfaction. It scored very well on all our cleaning tasks and excelled at cleaning bare floors. This robovac uses smart mapping technology to move in a gridlike pattern. Once the vacuum is docked, the debris is automatically sucked into a disposable bag in the base. Replacing the bags, however, is an added expense.
Data security was commendable but in the analysis by our digital labs, digital privacy was only so-so. That’s a trade-off that you may or may not want to make for the convenience of a mostly hands-off vacuum.
Samsung Jet Bot AI+ VR50T95735W
Samsung Jet Bot AI+ VR50T95735W
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$643.98
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$999.00
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CR’s take: The Samsung Jet Bot AI+ VR50T95735W is an all-around champ in our robotic vacuum tests, receiving high scores for its ability to clean carpet, bare floors, pet hair, and the edges of walls and corners. It also offers impeccable navigation and garners an excellent rating for ease of use. It comes with a self-emptying dock for no additional charge. This vacuum also features WiFi connectivity with smartphone control via the SmartThings app.
In our tests, its data security is quite strong, but its data privacy is middling. In CR’s latest member survey, Samsung robovacs receive a middling predicted reliability rating and a poor owner satisfaction score.
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