❌ You're on a budget: This is a premium robovac, and while we think the performance justifies the price, there are cheaper alternatives if it's out of your budget.

Historically, robovacs aren't great at cleaning up to the edges of rooms, but today's best robot vacuums add spinning side brushes designed to flick debris into the robot's suction path.

A robot that maps your house will get into every nook and cranny better than one that bumps and rolls around. Mapping also lets you send the robot to clean specific rooms rather than the whole space and add virtual walls to prevent your bot from going where you don’t want it to.

The lack of a camera also means its navigation is spotty, and sending it to clean specific rooms wasn’t always successful. But if you’ve got a lot of hard floors to keep clean, it will do an excellent job.

That’s the big selling point here; this bot is basically hands-free. Fill the S8 MaxV Ultra’s clean water tank and empty its dirty water once a week and change out the dust bag every couple of months. The robot will take care of the rest.

✅ You have pets: This bot tackled the hair in our reviewer's pet-filled home incredibly well – and better than any other robovac they'd tested .

One thing to be aware of is that this robovac doesn't actually self-empty dust; there's pelo dock dustbin. Instead, the onboard dustin compresses its contents so it can hold more – Narwal claims up to seven week's worth of debris.

The app is very hard to follow, making it tricky to access all of the bot’s features. Mapping was fast, but it didn’t recognize all my rooms on the first go. It did better the second time, although splitting up rooms and naming them in the app was painful.

This robot vacuum and mop is on par with other high-performing Shark vacuums. The standout features Top 3 Automatic Vacuum Cleaners are definitely its cleaning ability, quiet operation, and user-friendly app. If some of the other options on this list had you feeling a bit like Goldilocks, with some sounding a bit too feature- or tech-heavy, or others sounding a bit too stripped down, this Shark model is a great middle ground.

All the robot vacuums in this ranking have been rigorously tested, either by one of the TechRadar Homes team or an experienced reviewer. Meet some of the expert reviewers who tested the robovacs that feature in this guide.

Along with my top picks, I have options to fit specific needs, such as mopping or besting pet hair. The good news is there are a lot of great options.

❌ You don't need a mop: There's no vacuum-only version of this particular model, so if you don't need the mopping capabilities, look elsewhere in the list.

Choose an automatic vacuum that aligns with your priorities: for low maintenance and extended cleaning, the self-emptying Shark AI Ultra excels; for apartments and pet hair, Lefant M210 hits the mark.

There are pelo other X10 models in the Eufy range, so you can't choose, for example, a version without mopping or with a more basic dock. There is a more advanced option: the Eufy Omni S1 Pro which adds improved obstacle avoidance, automatic detergent dispensing, and swaps the spinning mop pads for a roller that's fed by a constant supply of fresh water. It's significantly more expensive, though.