Agent Derek Meister - Geek Squad spoke to Bill about Shopping for a Robot Vacuum? Focus on these features - Unless you’ve got wall-to-wall carpet, get a vacuum/mop combo - Get a robot that can reach - dock matters as much as the robot - roller design translates to how autonomous your robot will be
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Shopping for a Robot Vacuum? Focus on these features.
https://lifehacker.com/tech/five-best-features-robot-vacuum
Robot vacuums and mops continue to get dramatically better ever year. If you're looking for the most autonomous robot right now, here are the features that'll matter most to you.
Unless you’ve got wall-to-wall carpet, get a vacuum/mop combo
Many robot vacuums now have AI added to their little robot brains that stopped toggling between vacuuming and mopping—instead, it identifies dirt/detritus, and uses whatever tools it has to fix the problem. The mops have become leagues better than they were,too.
Robots that only vacuum aren’t even cheaper most of the time. For every vacuum, there’s a vacuum/mop combo in the same price range. Unless you’re only working with carpet in your home, get the robot equipped with the most tools for handling your floors, which means a combo.
Get a robot that can reach
Robot vacuums are generally 11- to 14-inch pancakes of various shapes that surf your floor. In a big open space, they work well, floating over floor debris and stains and cleaning them. But a few years ago, robots were struggling to get up close to the wall and/or to other objects on the floor.
Over the last two years, the reach has become long and more accurate, so in most cases, modern robots can get up close to walls, but their arms can reach into areas the robot can’t reach.
The dock matters as much as the robot
To keep your robot functioning at peak performance and to keep your life easier, you want to look for specific features. I recommend docks that have removable trays in the base, so you can pull them out entirely to clean, rather than getting on the floor and trying to shove your hand into the back of the dock to try and clean it.
These days I also look for docks with a receptacle for cleaning fluid. This will auto-inject the cleanser into each batch of fresh water, so you don’t have to manually add it. In the best case scenario, this is a container you can refill with cleanser of your choice instead of a disposable, proprietary cleanser cartridge from the company.
Lastly, I cannot stress enough how important it is to check the water capacity of the dock.
The roller design translates to how autonomous your robot will be
Underneath all robots are the rollers, which are either singular or double. The rollers sweep debris off the floor and into the robot itself, aided by the robot's suction power. The rollers are also where hair gets caught, debris gets stuck, and paper clogs the robot.
The most effective rollers I’ve seen recently are a split design, where two rollers do not meet in the middle, giving debris an easier passage into the robot.
Rollers with silicone fins—which most older models (and all Roombas) sport—are easily sliced through by human and dog hair, meaning they need to be replaced often