Every single day—weekends, weekdays, rain or shine—whichever robot vacuum I’m testing starts up at 9 am. It’s always a relief. I let out a sigh and get back to whatever I was doing, satisfied that at least that particular chore is off my plate. When I began testing robot vacuums eight years ago, it felt like more hassle than it was worth. I would clean up the floors and carefully maintain all the sensors. Now, I’ve relaxed a bit. (Okay, I still care, robot vacuum makers, but just a little less.) Even if it gets stuck on my daughter’s newest knitting project or can’t mop the kitchen because the water tank needs emptying, I just let it do its thing.
Robot vacuums have come a long way. They navigate through surprising obstacles like Lego bricks, stuffed toys, and heaps of shoes much better than they did just a couple of years ago. As a busy parent with two kids in elementary school and a dog, I need all the help I can get. Maybe it’ll clean the whole house, or maybe just 50 to 65 percent of it. But when you’re constantly battling chaos, consistency is what really matters.
It took a while for me to find my groove (and to gather enough robot vacuums to have one for each room and floor in my house). After chatting with many families and even trying to pass along used vacuums, I’ve pinpointed a few reasons why a robot vacuum might not be the best fit for you.
You live in a small space. If vacuuming only takes you about an hour, it might not be worth the investment.
Your home has a tricky layout. Many homes from the 1970s have odd designs—a sunken living room, an elevated playroom, bedrooms upstairs. While stair-climbing vacuums are becoming a reality, for now, it’s often not worth the hassle of moving a vacuum from room to room.
You have rugs with odd tassels. The shag carpeting trend of the 1970s is not kind to robot vacuums, nor is low furniture.
You dislike maintenance. If you truly can’t stand emptying the dust bag or refilling the water tank, you might want to address other issues before thinking about a robot vacuum.
Even I don’t rely solely on my robot vacuum. I also have a Dyson stick vacuum, a carpet cleaner, and a regular broom and mop tucked away in the closet. If my kid makes a flour mess while experimenting with pancakes, I’m not pulling out my phone to tell the robot to spot-clean it; I’m grabbing a traditional vacuum.
Robot vacuums aren’t the best for deep cleaning. No matter how much marketing hype there is about suction power, they simply can’t match the clean you get from even a small handheld vacuum. It’s just a matter of physics—the motor and battery in a robot vacuum are smaller.
Even the most advanced navigation can’t account for everything in a busy home filled with kids and pets. If I have guests coming over, I still need to make the rounds, putting away cushion forts and cleaning up wood shavings that my dog decided to bring inside for a cozy chew.
