The Best Robot Vacuums, and How Much Dock You Actually Need

Start with the dock, because it decides how often you deal with the robot. Then check the four numbers below against your home.

• Dock. Charging-only means emptying the bin after almost every run. Self-emptying (the Q10 S5+ and RV30 Max Plus) means changing a bag every month or two. A washing dock (the RV50 Pro Omni and Saros 10R) also cleans and dries the mops, and needs a floor spot about the size of a side table.
• Navigation. Buy LiDAR or an equivalent laser sensor. A robot that maps the room cleans in rows, goes back to the dock on its own and lets you block off a pet bowl or a tangle of cables in the app. Every pick here maps.
• Height. Measure the gap under your lowest sofa, bed and cabinet. A robot needs its full height plus a little room to get under. Most are about 3.9 inches; the Saros 10R is 3.14.
• Thresholds. Measure your tallest door strip and rug edge. Under three-quarters of an inch, any robot here will cross it. Taller than that, only the Saros 10R is built for it.
• Mop and carpet. A mop that drags across a rug leaves it damp. The simplest answer is a robot that steers around carpets you've marked on the map; the best is one that lifts its pads or leaves them at the dock.

Ignore the suction figure on the box. Roborock says its numbers come from a standard lab test (IEC 62885-2) at maximum power with a full battery; TP-Link doesn't say how it measures. Pascals from two makers aren't comparable, and past a few thousand they tell you little about how clean a floor gets.

For most people, yes, and it's the upgrade we'd make before any other. A robot's own bin is small: the RV30 Max Plus holds 300 milliliters, about a cup and a quarter. In a home with a shedding dog, that fills in a single run, and a robot with a full bin stops picking up. A self-emptying dock moves each run's dirt into a sealed bag ten times that size, so the robot starts every clean empty.

There are two reasons to skip it. If you live in a small apartment and will run the robot two or three times a week, emptying a bin is a short chore. And the bags are a running cost: each dock uses its own replacement bags, sold in packs by Roborock and TP-Link, and you'll go through six to eight a year.

A robot vacuum needs a few minutes every week or two, whichever dock you buy.

• Brushes. Pull hair off the main brush and side brush every couple of weeks, even on anti-tangle models. Both makers sell replacement brushes, side brushes and filters as kits.
• Filter. Tap the dust out of the filter when you change the bag. Both Tapo robots here use an H11 HEPA filter.
• Sensors. Wipe the LiDAR window and the cliff sensors underneath with a dry cloth. A dusty cliff sensor can make a robot think it's at the top of the stairs.
• Washing docks. Empty the dirty-water tank after a few runs, rinse it and refill the clean tank. Roborock and TP-Link each sell a floor cleaner made for their docks; we'd use that or plain water.
• Mop pads. On the Q10 S5+ and RV30 Max Plus, rinse the cloth pad after each mopping run and let it dry before it goes back on. Both makers sell spare washable cloths, so you can rotate two.

• Roborock Q10 X5+: the same size, dock and LiDAR as the Q10 S5+, but its mop drags a cloth instead of vibrating. It lists for less, and if you rarely mop, it's a fair swap.
• Roborock Q7 M5+: an older, smaller self-emptying robot with a 3,200mAh battery and a mop that doesn't lift. The Tapo RV30 Max Plus does the same job for less.
• Tapo RV20 Max and RV20 Max Plus: slimmer, at 3.27 inches, but both showed as unavailable on TP-Link's US store when we checked, so we couldn't recommend them.
• Roborock Q10 S5 and Q10 X5 (no dock): also unavailable on Roborock's US store when we checked, and we'd pay for the dock anyway.
• Roborock Qrevo S5V: a full washing dock with 12,000 Pa suction, but it lists for more than the Tapo RV50 Pro Omni, and at that money we'd rather pay for the Saros 10R's height and climbing.
• eufy, Shark and iRobot: we didn't include them this time. Their US lineups and model numbers vary from one retailer to the next, and we'll add them once we've read each spec sheet in full.

Yes, on low and medium pile. The Q10 S5+ and both Tapo robots raise their suction on carpet automatically. Thick shag and rugs with long tassels are the exception: robots can stall on them, so mark them as no-go zones in the app. If you mop, choose a robot that lifts its mop or leaves it at the dock, or one that steers around the carpets on its map.

For daily floor cleaning, mostly. A robot that runs every day keeps crumbs, dust and pet hair under control better than a big vacuum once a week. It can't do stairs, upholstery, the inside of a car or a deep spring clean, so keep a cordless stick or a small upright for those.

Most robot vacuums connect only to a 2.4 GHz network, and TP-Link and Roborock say so for the robots here. If your router combines 2.4 and 5 GHz under one name, setup can fail. Many routers let you turn on a separate 2.4 GHz network in their settings; connect your phone and the robot to it for setup.

Daily, in a home with pets or kids; two or three times a week otherwise. Set a schedule in the app for a time when no one is home and the floors are clear, and the robot keeps up so you rarely need a deep clean.

Only within one brand. Makers measure pascals in different ways, and not all of them say how, so 15,000 Pa from one company and 10,000 Pa from another don't compare. Mapping, the brush design and whether the robot runs with an empty bin matter more to how clean the floor gets.