Buying guide — home appliances

How to choose a robot vacuum

Start with a map of your floor: furniture, thresholds, rugs and obstacles, then compare the model's tested performance, parts cost and map-data policy.

Published 2026-09-07 · Updated 2026-09-10

Map your home before comparing robots

• Physical access. Measure the robot's full height against the lowest furniture, its width against narrow passages, and the maker's stated threshold limit against every transition strip.
• Navigation evidence. Check the exact model manual for room maps, no-go zones, obstacle handling, resuming and operation without an account. Do not infer behaviour from “laser”, “camera” or “smart” alone.
• Cleaning on your floor. Look for repeatable tests of the exact model on your hard floor, carpet, edges, debris and hair. Suction numbers and brush materials are not comparable performance results by themselves.
• Mopping behaviour. Verify water control, carpet detection or avoidance, pad lifting, detergent restrictions and whether the pad is washed or only wetted by the dock.
• Dock footprint and cycle. Measure lid/bag access and cable space, then verify which dust, water, washing and drying steps the exact dock performs.
• Consumables and service. Price the named filter, main brush, side brush, pad, bag and battery for one year in your market; record official part numbers and warranty exclusions.
• Map privacy by vendor. Read the exact privacy and support pages before connecting Wi-Fi. iRobot, for example, states that its Smart Maps are stored in its cloud and that disabling mapping stops spatial-data transmission but also disables named map features. This is not a rule for every robot.
• Do not compare a robot with an upright vacuum. The international standard that measures the performance of household dry-cleaning robots, IEC/ASTM 62885-7, says in its own scope that "due to the nature of the way this product operates in the home, comparisons with other types of surface cleaning appliances (e.g. dry vacuum cleaners) should not be made unless otherwise indicated", and that the cleaning performance methods "are only used to make comparisons with other dry cleaning robots and not with manually operated vacuum cleaner products". A pascal figure held up against the vacuum you already own is not a comparison; the only meaningful one is robot against robot by the same method.

Evidence to compare

Before the robot comes into your home

• Draw obstacles, cables, thresholds, rugs, stairs and low furniture on a simple floor plan.
• Confirm each map, mop and dock function in the exact model manual.
• Read the current privacy policy and identify what stops working if cloud mapping is disabled.
• Save local prices and part numbers for consumables and the battery.
• Get the warranty provider and return terms in writing.

Where to read what the machine actually does

Use the exact model page, manual, parts catalogue, app support and privacy policy. iRobot's Smart Maps privacy page is a direct worked example of cloud map storage, transmission controls and the features lost when mapping is disabled. Replace it with the relevant vendor's own current policy for another product. Require the applicable conformity document for your market instead of a generic organisation homepage. The scope of the performance-measurement standard is published on the IEC/ASTM 62885-7 page.

Limits of this guide

• This is a criteria guide, not a laboratory test. WESH has not tested any product itself and reports no measurements.
• No price appears here. Price, availability, shipping and tax are set by the merchant at checkout.
• Specifications change between revisions and markets. Check the merchant product page and the manufacturer spec sheet before buying.
• WESH gives no medical or engineering recommendation and does not warrant that a product suits your case.

Brand names are the property of their owners and are used to identify a category, not to imply endorsement or partnership.

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