When you add up all those little optimizations, the Q5 saves a noticeable amount of time compared with other bots. We found that the Q5 could clean our downstairs living space in half the time the Roomba i3 EVO took—although the i3 EVO did a more thorough job. The bigger your home, the more valuable that speed may be, as shark pet hair vacuum long as you’re willing to trade some cleaning performance. In one, we run the bot in a room with several chairs, stray USB cables, a sock, and a medium-pile area rug. Next, we pour about an eighth of a cup of all-purpose flour across an area rug and bare floor and let the bot try to suck it up for a couple of minutes.
It offers two levels of adjustable suction, for a total of 2000 Pa of suction power. It also features intelligent obstacle avoidance with infrared sensors. Few years, no ther product I’ve tested has advanced as quickly as the humble robot vacuum. Long ago, they were mostly annoying, expensive devices that fell off steps and got stuck on rugs. Now you can find robot vacs at every price point with an incredible array of features, including mapping capabilities, self-emptying bins, and even cameras. Some vacuums simply lack the ability to power through high-pile rugs or multiple surfaces, which to me, kind of defeats the purpose of an automated cleaning product.
Driven by data, run by a passionate team of engineers, testers, technical writers, developers, and more. Your browser is not supported or outdated so some features of the site might not be available. PCMag supports Group Black and its mission to increase greater diversity in media voices and media ownerships. Sign up for Lab Report to get the latest reviews and top product advice delivered right to your inbox. No review covers electric cords or objects not noticed, as a sock or a toy under furniture. April 25, 2019 – Added information about the new Shark model names, Shark R85, Roomba i Series, Roomba e5, and Roomba 675.
I have one gripe, which is that the onboard bin is still pretty small. You can make up for this by increasing the emptying frequency and power in the app, or setting up different zones so it empties after each room. However, it did pick up tumbleweeds of dog hair and adroitly swiped croissant crumbs from under the kitchen counter that other vacuums had left behind.
They are also sturdier than any bump-and-run models from any other brand we’ve tested, which more than offsets the Roomba line’s slightly higher sticker price. The Roomba 694 is the most current model with Wi-Fi (for on/off remote control through a smartphone app), but at times you might be able to find a more basic model, without Wi-Fi. This affordable robot vacuum is quieter and fits under more furniture than most models we’ve tested. While it works best in small spaces, it rarely gets stuck, and it does a good job on bare floors and short-pile rugs. This Shark robot vacfeatures side brushes, channel brushes and a multi-surface brush roll to handle dirt and debris on all surfaces. Use the SharkClean app on your connected smartphone or device to control when — and where — your robot vacuum cleans.
It’s also really, really loud when emptying and although the suction was pretty mega, our reviewer felt that the L10s Ultra is better suited to the hard floors since not all crumbs were lifted from deep-pile rugs. We also found the robot vacuum tends to try and climb up low-lying furniture, while the customization of maps in the app wasn’t as robust as we’d have liked. Speaking of results, the graph above shows you how each cleaner we’ve tested over the past few years stacks up on hardwood floors.