Best robot vacuum cleaner UK 2023

We put the top autonomous floor-cleaning bots to the test and rate our favourites from iRobot, Kärcher, Roborock and Shark
Best robot vacuum cleaner UKBest robot vacuum cleaner UK
Best robot vacuum cleaner UK

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Vacuuming is one of those household jobs that always needs doing. Whether it’s spilled crisps from the kids, pet hair from the dog or general dust from every day living, the floors always need a good clean.

The problem is that between work and other family and social commitments, it can be hard to find the time to make sure the floors in your home are pristine at all times - especially when there’s a sudden and unexpected mess created. And this is where a robot vacuum cleaner comes in.

These autonomous robots will effectively keep a house well swept on a continual basis while you go about your daily routine. This includes areas that are difficult to reach with a standard vac, like under beds and sofas. Although you may need to initially sync the bot to your wi-fi for full functionality, the vast majority of models are a breeze to use.

How do robot vacuums work?

Unlike robot lawn mowers that require the installation of a boundary wire, all a robot vac needs is a slim, unobtrusive mains-powered charging/docking station sited next to a wall to function correctly. Simply switch on the vac using the top-mounted button or, as is the most common method, via the accompanying app, and it will head off across the floor using its bank of sensors – and sometimes a camera or two – to map the room and navigate around obstacles like furniture and toys.

Granted, when you first set your new robot vac on its way, you may be alarmed by the haphazard nature of its cleaning. This is a normal process the robot undergoes while it maps the room it’s in. Although some models seem to use a more erratic room mapping process than others, they all get the job done eventually. The secret is not to watch it and just let it do its thing.

Robot vacs have brushes underneath and suction power to suck up any debris – in a similar way to a traditional vacuum cleaner – and also have inbuilt bins to collect debris. They’re also designed to be slimline, which means they can fit under most pieces of furniture for a real thorough clean.

When the robot vac has finished cleaning – or when the battery is running out of juice – it will return to its basestation for a full recharge, in readiness for its next outing.

We’ve chosen seven of the best robot vacuums that are available to buy right now.

How to choose a robot vac

Before you jump into the robot vac arena, we should point out a number of key considerations that may affect how well it performs. Depending on how dusty your home is, you may need to empty the robot vac’s dustbin on a daily basis and, if you have pets, possibly once or even twice during a single vacuuming session. This is because all robot vacs have small dust collectors – around half a litre – that can fill up very quickly.

If you have pets, we would always advise a robot vac with a separate bin that’s attached to the robot’s charging unit. With these models, when the robot’s own bin is full, it will return to its dock and empty its contents into a much larger bagged dustbin. All you have to do is throw the dust bag away every month or so and fit a new one.

Another thing to consider is the amount of clutter you have on the floor. Although many modern robot vacs are equipped with sensors and cameras to detect and avoid obstacles like furniture legs and toys, many will tangle themselves on loose wires, shoelaces and some items of loose clothing. Therefore, the more simple the room’s configuration the more efficient the cleaning process.

Most higher-priced robot vacs can detect heights like stairs and other drop offs but with some cheaper models you may need to draw a prohibited zone on the phone app – or simply block off the danger area with a household item.

Now you’re familiar with the most basic characteristics of robot vacuum cleaning, why not dip into this carefully curated selection of fine contenders and see which model is best for you.

All robot vacs have very small dust collectors which need to be emptied on a fairly regular basis. This is a big issue if you have cats and dogs because the robot’s tiny bin will soon fill up with bundles of hair, possibly within just 10 minutes. Roomba’s ‘plus’ models get around this issue by having an attractively-styled slimline docking system with a much larger (bagged) bin built into it.

Hence, whenever the J7’s small 0.46-litre dust collector reaches capacity, the machine trundles back to the charging base where all floor matter is automatically sucked into the larger bin. And that means you don’t have to keep emptying the small bin yourself. After a month, simply dispose of the larger bin bag.

Other great features include twin rubber brushes, excellent suction and full obstacle avoidance that will ensure the J7 skirts around wires, toys, even dog mess. A round of applause, too, for the developers of the iRobot Home app which makes it very easy to programme schedules and command the J7 to clean specific rooms on different days.

But for pet owners especially, it’s the brilliant bin-emptying system that really clinches this deal.

Germanic pressure washer specialist Kärcher bursts out of the blocks with a cracking robot vac that is both effective and relatively cheap to buy.

We should add that, unlike many robot vacs these days, this model doesn’t come with an automatic bin emptying system so you will need to empty it yourself. Hence if you have hairy pets in the home, you might be better served with a model like the iRobot J7+ or Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra. That said, this is still a brilliant option for homes with lots of hard flooring, shallow rugs and medium pile carpet. It also comes with a very discreet self charging base and a rear-mounted damp mop that collects the last vestiges of dust while removing most dry stains on hard floors.

The Kärcher RCV 3 uses LiDAR for navigation so it’s very quick at mapping rooms. Since it will also avoid obstacles like phone wires, socks, shoes, toys etc, cluttered homes won’t be too much of an issue though you’re advised to do a bit of manual clearing to ensure the robot gives the floor a clean sweep.

This model comes with a thoughtfully designed app that allows the user to create room divisions, set weekly cleaning schedules and command the RCV 3 to do a spot clean.

At a shade under £350, the Kärcher RCV 3 is great value and well worth investigation.

This model from vacuum cleaner specialist Shark claims to allow you to forget about cleaning the floors yourself for up to a month thanks to its capacity - now doesn’t that sound wonderful?

It comes equipped with an XL HEPA self-empty base, bagless 60-day capacity, LIDAR navigation and even home mapping.

This means, using the linked app, you can tell this vacuum which areas of your home to go to, and in what order. When it’s finished, it will return home to its base where it will then automatically empty its contents in to its bin.

The slight down side of this is that it the cleaning base does take up more space than some other standard models, but as long as you have the space for it, then we think this is definitely worth the investment because of how little you have to do to get a clean home.

Thanks to its ultra clean mode, it the Shark can tackle even the dirtiest of areas with ease, and while its no-tangle brush makes it perfect for homes with pets where there’s likely to be a lot of excess hair on the floor.

Packed with a maximum of 2500Pa of suction power, the Smart Dynamic Navigation-guided RoboVac G20 cleans more deeply and efficiently than previous Eufy robovac models – but it’s still available at a fantastic budget-friendly price.

Being only 2.85 inches tall, RoboVac easily glides under hard-to-reach areas like sofas, dressers and beds, and the sound it makes is no louder than the hum of a microwave meaning you can go about your day while it quietly cleans.

With four levels of selectable suction power – 600Pa, 900Pa, 1,500Pa and 2,500Pa – anti drop sensing for stairs, on-board voice reminders and app-enable scheduled cleaning and spot cleaning, this model is about as cheap as they come and yet, for the price, it offers surprisingly good performance.

If it’s about to run out of power, then it will return to its base to charge and will then return to the spot where it left off to resume cleaning.

It also has dynamoc navigation to clean as efficently as possible, as well as anti-drop technology.

This machine is the one for you if you’re shopping on a very tight budget. It might cost be available to buy for considerably less than some of the other models on the market but it still performs all the functions you would expect from a robot vacuum.

The Bagotte BG600 boasts 1,500Pa suction so it easily lifts dirt from hard floors and most thin-pile carpets. and though it offers strong suction Like most robot vacs, it’s also a very quiet, machine so it won’t disturb you while it goes about its daily business. - handy if you’re working from home and need to go in to an unexpected meeting.

This model is just 2.7’’ tall thickness too so it can easily and thoroughly clean the area under all of your most low furnishings. furniture. Moreover, it has numerous onboard functions, including auto, scheduling auto scheduling, spot, edge, single room and max cleaning modes, which you can switch between on the associated app to suit different levels of dirt and different floor types.

It offers 100 minutes of non-stop cleaning before it will need to be recharged at its base.

You can’t go wrong with this at the bargain price of less than £140.

This robot vacuum from market leader Roomba uses two rubber carpet rollers and an ‘Aeroforce’ cleaning system that automatically boosts suction when the robot detects carpets and rugs. air power for a deeper clean. It will easily move around an entire level of your home, keeping track of its location and recharging as needed. until the job is done so there’s next to no effort from you to get a home that’s gleaming.

Like most robot vacs, this one works best when used in tandem with iRobot’s excellent app (iOS and Android), which lets you create enhanced maps of your home as well as set custom cleaning routines.

Through the improved iRobot Home app or your Google or Alexa voice assistant you can simply tell your robot to clean and consider it done as well.

The app is also a place where you can create enhanced maps of your home, as well as set custom cleaning routines.

The box includes 2 two dual mode virtual wall barriers (batteries included), a high efficiency filter, extra side brush and a docking station for the best all-round clean while protecting your valuables. The tangle free extractors, meanwhile, also prevent hair and debris jams.

Aside from a veritable tranche of guidance tech including LiDAR and obstacle avoidance, this model both sweeps and wet mops. Moreover, when it returns to its charging dock, it empties the contents of its small on-board bin and deposits it into a large 2.5 dust bag which you won’t need to discard for at least a month.

But that’s not all because, aside from a vibrating rear-mounted wet mop that automatically raises a few millimetres when the robot is on a carpet or rug, its docking station is also equipped with a full cleaning facility comprising a large clean water reservoir and another for the dirty water. Hence, when the robot returns to its dock, a brush bar cleans the mop in readiness for its next outing.

Roborock also has one of the best apps in the business, providing the end user with the wherewithal to control the vac from afar, set schedules, assign different rooms to be cleaned, and select the vac’s three levels of suction power – it automatically increases suction when it detects carpet – and three levels of mopping intensity.

If you’re looking for a robot vac and mop that is truly hands off, the MaxV Ultra is arguably the very best model in existence, even though you do pay through the nose for the privilege.

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