The main benefit of this feature is the bot’s ability to avoid pet poop. In fact, iRobot is so confident in the Roomba j7+’s intelligence that it’s introduced the Pet Owner Official Promise (P.O.O.P), whereby iRobot will replace any j7+ that fails to avoid solid pet waste. This robot vacuum is constantly learning with every run too, making it one of the smartest we’ve seen. That’s why it earned a Tom’s Guide 2022 Award for Best robot vacuum. 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.
Our long-term tester also appreciated the convenience of running the device unsupervised. “I love that I can use the app to choose areas of the house I want it to focus on,” our tester said. The best part was that the tester always returned home to spotless floors. A Shark robotic vacuum is a disc-shaped vacuum that moves around your home on its own, sucking up the dirt, dust, and debris in its path. Shark robotic vacuums are compact with sensors that help them maneuver around and under obstacles in your home.
Shark’s ION and RV models offer more basic robot vacuums compared to Roomba’s full model lineup. That said, the Shark IQ with its self-emptying dust bin is a notable upgrade. Stick or sweeper vacuums are the middle ground between an upright and a handheld vacuum.
This prevented us from using many of the features that make robots like this more worthwhile. In general, all robot vacuums are going to struggle with cords, socks, and small toys. You should try to pick these up, otherwise your robot is very likely going to get stuck. If you’re still having trouble deciding the robot vacuum that’s shark pet hair vacuum best for you see our full list of robot vacuum reviews here or check out our guide on the best robot vacuums. Roomba e5 has a slight edge with a 90 minute run time, compared to the S9+, i7+, and i3+, which run for 75 minutes. Shark doesn’t disclose their official run times, but in our tests, it seemed to be pretty similar.
Lightweight and battery powered, they offer the convenience of a handheld but feature the upright construction of a traditional vacuum, making them better for cleaning up spills on hardwood floors. They are most commonly used for quick cleanup areas, such as kitchen and bathroom floors. Most stick vacuums have a dirt cup, as opposed to bags, to collect debris. If you want to take it up a step, some models will make a map of your shark robotic vacuums home, and you can instruct your robot vacuum to only clean the kitchen or just the living room and bedroom through the app. Others allow you to issue voice prompts to operate your robot vacuum with the help of voice assistants, such as Alexa, Google Assistant, or Bixby. Note that the commands you can use vary based on the manufacturer/model, so it’s worth researching the possibilities and limitations of voice compatibility.
The laser-nav bots also tend to bump into less stuff than the Roomba bots do and complete their jobs faster as a result. However, we still predict that Roomba bots on average will last longer than any of their competitors and work better at getting hair out of rugs. Since we first tested this model, iRobot has added smart mapping, which allows the i3 EVO to run through the shark canister vacuum house, without cleaning, in order to create a single floor plan that is saved in the app. We’ve concluded that the Roborock Q5’s smart mapping works better, but this new addition to the i3 EVO makes it slightly smarter than it was previously. Prices for robots with sophisticated navigation and smart-home features have fallen by half compared with just a few years ago.