The Best Robot Vacuum For Carpet
There's a robot that can be found for all carpet types, regardless of whether it's high-pile or low-pile. These intelligent appliances can navigate your home, suck up debris and even clean under furniture.
Many of them have advanced features, such as mapping, which helps them navigate your home and remember furniture positioning. They also can increase the suction power to take on dirtier surfaces.
iRobot Roomba 694
The Roomba from iRobot is a budget-friendly robot vacuum that works well on both bare flooring and low-pile floor carpet. It has a decent suction and can clean all kinds of debris, but it has trouble with bigger debris such as rice or sand. It also does a decent job at cleaning pet hair, but it's not impervious to tangling as top Roomba models, such as the j7 or I6.
The Roomba is easy to use. It has three buttons on the top cover. Clean, which launches a cleaning session, 'Dock,' which puts it in its charging station, and 'Spot,' which activates the targeted cleaning. It can be controlled via an app for smartphones that allows you to program or stop/start cycles and also adjust settings. It can also be paired with smart home devices like Alexa or Google Assistant for voice-controlled operation.
This vacuum cleaner is slower than other models, but it can be able to reach the majority of corners and crevices. It has a large bin that makes it easy to empty. It's compatible with virtual barriers and digital mapping, which allow you to make it impossible to clean certain areas or stop cleaning altogether in order to prevent it from getting stuck on something.
While it's not the best model in its price range however, it's superior to many other options. The Roborock E4 has a better cleaning performance than the Roomba 694, and it can clean both low-pile and bare carpets. It also has an efficient cleaning route and has longer battery life. It is also more robust, has fewer components that require regular maintenance, is priced less over its life and charges faster than 694.
It is also worth considering other models in the iRobot range, such as the v7 and the 981. They're more expensive but they are significantly better than the 694 in terms of performance on both low and bare floors, follow a more efficient cleaning route, have a bigger dirt compartment, are quicker to charge, can move more easily, and are more easy to connect with smart home devices.
Shark RV1001AE IQ
This budget self-emptying robot does an okay job on hard floors as well as carpets with a low pile. Its combination brush gets into edges and corners, and it automatically boosts suction when it senses carpet. It is also effective at cleaning dirt embedded in mid-pile carpet. The IQ's tiny dock footprint and self-emptying feature are both nice features. However, if you want to change the floor levels on the map, or set no-go zones you'll have manually reset it to do this, which can be a bit of a hassle.
The IQ's app has some advanced mapping and automation features but it's missing no-go zones that are available on iRobot models. The smart-pathing technology allows for superior maneuverability and the high-pile feature of its carpet cleaning mode is efficient however it can be stuck on rug tassels.
In our tests during our tests, the IQ was adept at handling pet hair well, clearing huge amounts of hair from bare floors and fair amounts of medium-pile carpet. It was less effective on shag carpets, where it was unable to reach dirt and dust that was embedded in the fibers. It was able to maneuver the legs of chairs, small spaces and even the base of an IKEA wooden step stool. It was slower on flooring that was not fully covered but it was able to recover speed and did better than other robots that we tested.
The IQ is a better choice than the iRobot Roomba 694 for most applications. It has a larger dustbin and lasts longer on charge, and is capable of getting over obstacles. It also comes with mopping attachments that are able to deal with sticky debris. The iRobot is, on the other hand feels more sturdy and has fewer parts that need maintenance or replacement and incurs fewer cost per year, and can create virtual no go zones using its companion application. It can even resume a cleaning session from where it left off in case it runs out of robotic cleaner and mop battery before finishing the job. The iRobot can also be controlled using voice commands, which is a huge benefit for many users.
Eufy 11S
The eufy RoboVac 11S robot vacuum isn't one of the most feature-rich models, but it provides excellent cleaning power for a low cost. It's designed for budget-conscious buyers who don't require a complex mapping system or an app to control the device. The robot can run for more than an hour and includes the remote, a cleaning tool, AC power adapter, charging base and extra filters.
The 11S is slim and elegant and has a tempered glass upper deck that resembles the brushed appearance of aluminum. It's a nice stylistic contrast to Roomba, Samsung, and Neato designs that are more industrial and utilitarian.
In our tests, the eufy11S was very effective in removing larger particles and fine dust on hard floors. However, it struggled to give high and medium pile carpets an effective deep clean. The device is capable to hit people and furniture in its route. However, it can detect obstacles using sensors. When it comes across them, it stops and lets out a loud sound so you can manually guide it around the obstacle and get back to work.
The BoostIQ mode is another fantastic feature of the Eufy11S. It lets you configure the robot to automatically adjust the suction strength based upon the type of floor and the level of dirt. The remote control makes it simple to direct the 11S to the desired location.
If you don't have many furniture in the space where you're looking to vacuum Single Room Mode is an excellent alternative. The eufy can spend up to 30 minutes cleaning the space it is assigned.
You can also select Edge Cleaning which reduces the time spent in each area to 20 minutes for maximum battery life. This option allows the eufy to move in a spiraling pattern by cleaning edges and corners.
Miele Complete C1
The Miele Complete C1 is an excellent mid-range robot vacuum that can be a great performer on carpet. Its performance is also exceptional on bare floors. It can pick up rice and other fine debris with ease. The suction power doesn't diminish as the dirt bin fills. Its allergy-friendly design and air-sealed body captures allergens to keep your family healthy. It uses an onboard HEPA filter and self-emptying dustbin, so you don't have to buy additional filters or a separate vacuum bag.
It's not as powerful as more expensive models, but it's great for tackling stains and deep cleaning. It comes with two cameras in front which provide a live feed to your smartphone. It also has one of the most advanced obstacle avoidance systems. It also has a big dustbin, a long runtime and a speedy, bump-free clean-up.
The Complete C1 is unlike most robots because it can switch between a standard head and a turbo head for various kinds of flooring. The turbo head is ideal for carpeting with high-pile or low-pile and the standard powerhead works well on floors that are unfinished and light carpets. It also comes with an automatic height adjustment system that allows it to adapt to different kinds of flooring without manual adjustments.
This model is included with the SBD 285-3 Classic Combination Floorhead, which can be used on both hard floors and carpets of medium pile. The powerhead can also be easily moved around and can reach hard-to-reach areas. It has five levels of surface adjustments and a switch that lets you turn off the brushroll to help prevent tangled hairs.
The Classic C1 also has a self-cleaning brush roll as well as an UtraClean mode that goes back and forth over the same area three times to give the best cleaning possible and a self-emptying bin that can be emptied with the push of one button. The sound level of this model is more pronounced than other models. However, its powerful motor with 1,200 watts of power and durable construction justify the extra cost.
If you're willing to spend a little more, the Miele Complete C3 canister robot vacuum is a great all-around robot vacuum. It performs better on carpets than the Classic C1. It is more efficient on all floors, feels more solidly built, and includes a HEPA filter.