The Best Robot Vacuum For Carpet
There's a robot to suit any carpet type, whether it's low-pile or high-pile. These intelligent appliances can will navigate your home in a way that is automated and pick up dirt and clean under furniture.
Many have advanced features like mapping, which can help you navigate your home and recall furniture positioning. They can also boost the suction power to take on dirtier surfaces.
iRobot Roomba 694
The iRobot Roomba is a budget-friendly robot vacuum that is effective on both plain flooring and carpets with low pile. It has a decent suction and can clean all kinds of debris, but it has trouble with bigger debris like sand or rice. It is capable of cleaning pet hair but is not as resistant to tangling as premium Roomba models like the I6 and j7.
The Roomba is easy to operate. It has three buttons on its top cover: 'Clean' launches a cleaning cycle and 'Dock' allows it to be put back into its charging station and 'Spot Clean' triggers an targeted clean. You can control it via an app on your smartphone that lets you to schedule cycles, stop and start them and adjust settings. You can also pair the device with smart home devices like Alexa or Google Assistant to control it via voice.
This vacuum is slower than others, but it is still able to reach the majority of crevices and corners. It has a huge dust bin, which is great for reducing the frequency with which you need to empty it. It is compatible with digital mapping and virtual barriers which lets you program the robot to stay out of certain areas or to stop cleaning completely to stop it from becoming stuck.
While it's not the best model in its price range but it's far superior to other alternatives. The Roborock E4 has a better cleaning efficiency than the Roomba 694, and it is able to clean both low-pile and bare carpets. It also has a more efficient cleaning path and has longer battery life. It also feels better-made and has fewer components that need regular maintenance, is less expensive to own over the course of its life, and charges faster than the 694.
It's also worth looking at other models that are more expensive from the iRobot line, like the 981 or the v7. The 981 and v7 are more expensive, but offer significant improvements in cleaning performance both on bare and low pile floors. They also have a bigger dirt compartment, charge faster, move more easily and are easier to pair up with smart home devices.
Shark RV1001AE IQ
This budget self-emptying robot does an okay job on hard floors as well as carpets with low pile. Its combo brush reaches into corners and edges and it automatically increases suction when it spots carpet. It also does a good job of cleaning embedded dirt on mid-pile carpet. The IQ has a tiny footprint and a self-emptying function. If you'd like to change the floor level or set no-go areas, you'll need to manually reset the map.
The IQ's application has advanced mapping and automation features but it's missing no-go zones, which are available on iRobot models. Its smart-pathing navigation system provides greater maneuverability, and its high-pile carpet mode is clean well, although it tends to get caught up on rug tassels, and its iHome speaker lets you operate the robot by voice commands.
In our tests during our tests, the IQ was capable of handling pet hair well, clearing huge amounts of hair from bare floors and fair amounts of medium-pile carpet. It was a little less efficient on shag carpets, which was a struggle to reach dirt and dust embedded in the fibers. It was capable of navigating the legs of chairs and tight spaces as well as the bottom of an wooden IKEA step stool. We did notice that it was a bit slower on floors with no flooring, but it regained speed and performed better than other robots we tested.
The IQ is a better choice for the majority of users than the iRobot Roomba. It has a bigger dustbin and a longer battery lifespan, and is better at navigating obstacles. It also comes with mopping attachments that are able to handle sticky mess. The iRobot is, however, feels more sturdy, has fewer components that require replacement or maintenance, incurs less cost per year, and can create virtual no-go zones using its companion app. It can even restart the cleaning process from where it left off in case it has run out of battery before it has completed the task. The iRobot can also be controlled using voice commands, which is a huge plus for many users.
Eufy 11S
The eufy RoboVac 11S isn't the most feature-rich robot vacuum around but it does provide powerful cleaning capabilities at a low price. This robot vacuum is designed for consumers with a tight budget who do not require a complicated mapping system, or an app to control it. The robot can run for more than an hour and includes an remote, cleaning tool, AC power adapter, charging base, and additional filters.
The 11S is slim and sleek with an upper deck of tempered glass that covers plastic and is made to look like brushed aluminum. It's a nice aesthetic different from Roomba, Samsung, and Neato designs that are more utilitarian and industrial.
The eufy11S was successful in our tests at removing larger particles and fine dust from flooring. However, it struggled to give medium and high pile carpets a thorough clean. It is also prone to smack into furniture and other objects in its path however, it is able to detect those obstacles using sensors. If it encounters them it ceases to move and emits an alarm so that you can manually guide it around the obstacle and get back to work.
Another great aspect of the eufy 11S is its BoostIQ mode, which allows you to set the robot to automatically adjust its suction strength to match the floor type and the level of mess. It's also simple to use the remote to direct the 11S to where you'd like it to go.
If you don't have much furniture in the room you'd like to vacuum Single Room Mode is an excellent mop robot vacuum option. The eufy can spend up to 30 minutes cleaning the space it is assigned.
Edge Cleaning is another option that can limit the time that is spent on each area to a maximum of 20 minutes. This will increase battery life. This feature allows the eufy to move in a spiraling fashion cleaning edges and corners.
Miele Complete C1
The Miele Complete C1 is an excellent mid-range canister robot vacuum and a top performer on carpet. Its performance on floors that are not bare is also impressive. It can remove rice and other fine particles with ease. The suction power doesn't decrease as the dirt bin gets full. Its allergy-friendly design and air-sealed body will trap allergens to keep your family healthy. It has an onboard HEPA and self-emptying bin so you don't need additional filters or vacuum bags.
It's not as powerful as pricier models, but it's ideal for fighting staining and deep cleaning. The two cameras on the front of the unit provide live feeds of images on your smartphone, and it features one of the top obstacles-avoiding systems we've seen. It has a large bin, a long runtime and a quick, bump-free cleanup.
In contrast to other robots, the Complete C1 can switch between two powerheads, a standard one and a turbo head to suit different flooring types. The turbo head is best with high-pile or low-pile carpeting while the standard powerhead is good for floors with no flooring and light carpets. It also has an automatic height adjustment system that enables it to adjust to different types flooring without manual adjustments.
This model comes with an SBD 285-3 Classic Combination Floorhead that can handle both hard floors and carpeting with a medium pile. The powerhead is also easy to move and can get into difficult spots. It comes with five different surface adjustments as well as a switch that stops the brushroll to prevent hairs getting caught in knots.
The Classic C1 also has a self-cleaning brush roll and an UtraClean mode that goes around the same area three times to give the most thorough cleaning, and a self-emptying dustbin that can be empty at the press of a button. Its sound level is a little higher than that of other models however, its powerful 1,200-watt motor as well as solid construction make it well worth the extra cost.
If you're willing to spend a little more then the Miele Complete C3 canister robot vacuum is a great all-around robot vacuum. It is more effective on carpets than the Classic C1. It is more effective on any type of flooring and is built more securely, and comes with a HEPA filter.