✔️ Weight: Lastly, the weight of a vacuum makes all the difference when lifting it up and down the stairs and around the house. A heavier, larger option may be great for power and durability, but it's not ideal if you live in a multi-level home or want to vacuum hard-to-reach places.

That said, the app lets you easily designate rooms, so assigning the vacuum to mop just the kitchen or the bathroom is straightforward.

Why we love it: While it doesn’t have some of the bells and whistles of pricier vacuums, like multiple suction levels, a HEPA filter or a brush roll that can be turned off, it does have five height options ranging from bare floors to high pile carpets, an 8-foot hose for cleaning above the floor and a large, easy-to-empty dust cup.

Great at cleaning a whole room, improving with each of its three runs as it learned more about where to go and what obstacles it faced

When we first get the robot set up, we'll see how long it takes to create a map of the home, and how accurate that map is. For subsequent runs, we'll keep an eye on how the robot navigates the space; if takes a logical route through the house, if it repeats already-clean areas, and so on.

Whereas most robot vacuum cleaners start out with Top 3 Automatic Vacuum Cleaners a robot body before adding a vacuum, Dyson seems to do things the other way around. It’s effectively a properly powerful, full-size Dyson, shrunk down to the size of a robot.

The Eureka J20 is the best robot vacuum for hard floors, thanks to a game-changing new 'RollRenew' mop style. With most robovacs, mopping is a bit of an afterthought, but that's not the case here.

All vacuums are tested exactly the same way for more accurate performance comparisons, and our tests are based on the ASTM International industry standard test methods.

If none of the robot vacuums above take your fancy, here are some other models worth considering. These robovacs all scored highly on test, but just didn't quite make our main guide.

Most robovacs fling large debris about the room rather than vacuuming it up, so this is very impressive. Another area where many robovacs fail is on cleaning around the edges and into the corners of rooms. Again, the Freo X Ultra shines here: the side brushes get right up to the edges of rooms.

Why we love it: We've tested many Dreame stick vacuums, robots and vacuum mops in the GH Cleaning Lab and can confidently say that it's one of our favorite brands because it performs well for the price in multiple categories, including robot vacuums, vacuum-mop combos and mops for hardwood floors.

Eufy’s X10 robot vacuum is the company’s latest high-end model, and it’s the most hands-off machine we’ve tested yet. Not only does it vacuum and mop, but it’s clever enough to re-fill itself with water, as well as wash and dry its own mops.

She has been in consumer journalism since 2020, reviewing and writing about everything from outdoor kit to mattresses and wellness gadgets, with stints on Tom's Guide and T3.

One thing to be aware of is that this robovac doesn't actually self-empty dust; there's no dock dustbin. Instead, the onboard dustin compresses its contents so it can hold more – Narwal claims up to seven week's worth of debris.