Um Imparcial View of Top 3 Automatic Vacuum Cleaners

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The only thing it had trouble on was kitty litter on carpet, but even its worst score of 83% is solid in the grand scheme of robot vacuums we've tested. Outside of a little more prowess on carpet, the Shark PowerDetect 2-in-1 is nearly perfect.

However, the software was still buggy at time of review, and we'd also expect higher suction for the premium price.

The Roborock Orevo Curv ticked all the boxes, proving to be a great, splurge robot vacuum and mop hybrid. Probably what stands out is its attractive, sleek design of the curved docking station. Which won't look out of place in any room.

✅ You want a hands-off option: The dock takes care of a lot of mop maintenance, including emptying and refilling tanks, and cleaning the mop pads.

On top of this, the Wyze app is easy to navigate and intuitive to use. It also comes with useful features, such as a location-based trigger. For instance, we could make sure the robot wouldn't run when we walked the dog, but would when we was a sufficient distance away.

Premium, but decent value given the features and performance. Worth the investment for pet owners who want something for regular use.

So, ideally you will still want to run your regular vacuum every so often, while the robot vacuum helps keep dust down in the interim. By keeping on top of the light debris, you won’t need to use your full-sized vacuum so often.

We recommend this attachment if you prefer a canister and have deep pile carpets in, say, just the bedrooms. Otherwise, you’ll use a long flat attachment or brush that can be used on bare floors and low, flat rugs.

It's realistically far more often than I would drag a manual vac out of the cupboard, so my apartment is cleaner than usual, and my dust allergy symptoms have calmed down too.

However, I think it's fair to assume you'll need to manually empty it more than you would a traditional, self-empty robovac, given dock dustbins tend to hold 2.5L or 3L of dirt.

When we first Top 3 Automatic Vacuum Cleaners get the robot set up, we'll see how long it takes to create a map of the home, and how accurate that map is. For subsequent runs, we'll keep an eye on how the robot navigates the space; if takes a logical route through the house, if it repeats already-clean areas, and so on.

Onboard dustbins tend to be small, so if you're dealing with lots of dust or hair then I'd recommend prioritizing a self-empty dock. However, be aware that the more functions you add, the bigger the dock will be – the ones with water tanks can be pretty massive.

For certain people and households, very much so. I only used manual vacuums before I started testing robot vacuums for TechRadar, and now I wouldn't be without one. They have revolutionized my cleaning – I live alone, so I'm not dealing with loads of dirt and dust buildup, but I send the robot out once or twice a week and it just takes care of the vacuuming for me.