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Sabine Heinlein is a writer covering floor care issues. Keeping a multi-pet home clean is one of her closest obsessions.
The robot vacuum mop combo is designed to be a jack-of-all-trades wonder that can clean up any mess, wet or dry. Unfortunately, they don’t live up to the hype, so we don’t recommend them.
The appeal of these combination cleaners is obvious. After all, you can hand dirty dishes, smelly clothes, and cereal-covered floors to your machine, but what about soggy cereal and milk? Or applesauce that fell off a high chair, muddy dog footprints and the fuzzy dirt that accumulates over time on every unwashed floor?
The robot vacuum cleaner promises to clean them all. Over the past year or so, leading robot vacuum cleaner companies have begun producing these devices at a breakneck pace.
I spent six months testing 16 robot vacuum mop combinations. Unfortunately, I haven’t found a model that I would wholeheartedly recommend over a standalone robot vacuum and an old mop or dust mop.
Their navigation is unreliable, and most of them fail to avoid the most serious obstacles (cough, cough, fake poop).
We hope better models will appear soon. In the meantime, here’s what we know about these robotic vacuum mops.
I tested 16 robot vacuum cleaner combinations from companies like Roborock, iRobot, Narwal, Ecovacs, and Eufy.
Most of these robots have all the features of a traditional robot vacuum for picking up dry debris, including brushes, dirt sensors, and a dust bin.
The most basic models, some of which cost as little as $100, have a water reservoir and a static pad like the Swiffer, which they basically spray and wipe because the pad collects dirt;
More advanced models have pads that vibrate or move back and forth to wipe away dirt, as well as a self-emptying base.
The most exotic robot mop has two rotating mop pads that can return to the docking station during the cleaning process, drain dirty water, clean the brush, and automatically replenish the cleaning solution. Some have sensors that can detect spills and stains, and could theoretically differentiate between types of flooring, such as to avoid cleaning carpets. But most of these models cost over $900.
All the models I tested had apps that stored maps of your home, and almost all of them allowed you to mark rooms, designate off-limits areas, and schedule and control the robot remotely. Some models even come with built-in cameras so you can keep an eye on your home while you’re away.
I first tried out the nine robots in my multi-story home with pets, watching them work on hardwood floors, heavily textured tiles, and vintage rugs.
I noticed how the robot crossed the threshold and moved along it. I also documented how they interacted with their busy family, including a busy husband in the kitchen, two cranky bunnies, and two elderly cats.
This caused me to immediately reject five of them (iRobot Roomba i5 Combo, Dartwood Smart Robot, Eureka E10S, Ecovacs Deebot X2 Omni, and Eufy Clean X9 Pro) because they either malfunctioned or were particularly bad at cleaning.
I then ran a series of controlled tests on the remaining 11 robots over a three-week period at Wirecutter’s test facility in Long Island City, New York. I set up a 400 square foot living room and ran the robot on medium to low pile carpet and vinyl flooring. I tested their dexterity with furniture, baby bouncers, toys, cables and (fake) poop.
I measured the vacuum power of each machine using a protocol similar to that used when evaluating robot vacuum cleaners.
I observed how smoothly each robot vacuum combination worked during the test, noting each model’s ability to avoid obstacles and whether it was able to escape on its own if grabbed.
To test the robot’s floor cleaning capabilities, I filled the reservoir with warm water and, if applicable, the company’s cleaning solution.
I then used the robot on a variety of dry spots, including coffee, milk, and caramel syrup. If possible, I would use the model’s deep clean/clean mode.
I also compared their self-emptying/self-cleaning bases and appreciated how easy they were to carry and clean.
I reviewed the robot’s app, praising the ease of setup, the speed and accuracy of the drawing, the intuitiveness of setting up no-go zones and room markers, and the ease of use of the cleaning functions. In most cases, I contact the company’s customer service department to evaluate the representative’s friendliness, responsiveness, and ability to resolve issues.
I invited a group of paid testers with different backgrounds, body types, and mobility levels to try out the robot and share their impressions. They weren’t impressed.
Most combinations work well for either vacuuming or mopping, but not both (and certainly not at the same time).
For example, the $1,300 Dreame X30 Ultra removes the most dry debris but has the worst floor cleaning performance in its price range.
John Ord, Dyson’s chief engineer, explains that the need to install a water tank, liquid supply and mopping system will inevitably affect the performance of the vacuum cleaner – there is only so much technology you can fit into a tiny robot. Ord said that’s why his company is focusing on the robot’s vacuuming capabilities rather than adding floor-cleaning capabilities.
Most machines claim that they can vacuum and mop at the same time, but I’ve learned the hard way that wet spills are usually best dealt with in mopping mode only (or, better yet, by hand).
I tried cleaning up a tablespoon of milk and a few Cheerios with the $1,200 Ecovacs Deebot X2 Omni. Instead of cleaning it up, the car first smeared the spill around, and then began to rumble and gurgle, unable to dock or cross the threshold.
After cleaning, drying and trying again, I declared the robot dead. (The Deebot X2 Omni’s manual states that the machine should not be used on wet surfaces, and a representative told us that industry-wide practice is to clean up spills before starting the robot. Other companies, such as Eufy, Narwal, Dreametech and iRobot, claim that their the robot can handle small amounts of liquid).
While most machines claim to have some sort of detangling technology, only the Narwal Freo X Ultra was able to collect 18-inch-long strands of hair and put them in the bin (instead of winding them around the brush roll).
Even robots that cost over $1,500 don’t have magical stain removal abilities. In fact, most robots will roll over a dried milk or coffee stain once or twice before giving up, leaving the stain a ghostly reminder of breakfast or, worse, scattering it around the room.
The Eufy X10 Pro Omni ($800) is one of the cheapest models with a swivel stand that I’ve tested. It can remove lighter dry coffee stains by rubbing the same area several times, but will not remove heavier coffee or milk stains. (It does a surprisingly good job of making caramel syrup, something all the other machines can’t do.)
Only three models – Roborock Qrevo MaxV, Narwal Freo X Ultra and Yeedi M12 Pro+ – are able to completely remove dried coffee stains. (The Roborock and Narwal machines are equipped with dirt detection sensors that prompt the robot to pass by spots repeatedly.)
Only Narwal robots can remove milk stains. But the machine took 40 minutes, with the robot running back and forth between the spot and the docking station, cleaning the mop and filling the water tank. By comparison, it took us less than half a minute to scrub the same stain with warm water and a Bona Premium microfiber mop.
You can program them to focus on or avoid certain areas of your home, or to clean the bedroom last, and you can track them in real time on a small interactive map of your floor plan.
The robots claim to be able to avoid obstacles and differentiate between hard floors and carpets. But, unfortunately, they often get lost, tangled, entangled, or begin to drag on the wrong type of surface.
When I sent the Dreame L20 Ultra ($850) out to be mopped, it initially didn’t have the dry spot we applied because it got caught up in the blue masking tape we used to mark the area. (Perhaps he mistook the tape for a fallen object or obstacle?) Only after the tape was removed did the robot approach the spot.
On the other hand, only a few machines I tested reliably avoided our fake turds, including the L20 Ultra and its cousin the Dreame X30 Ultra ($1,300). These two even have little poop icons on their cards. (This pair also beat our vacuum cleaner tests.)
Meanwhile, the Ecovacs Deebot T30S got lost on the carpet, spinning and rubbing its pads against the carpet. He soon got stuck in the rocking chair (eventually he managed to free himself, but soon returned and got stuck again).
I watched other combinations spin endlessly as they searched for their docks or left behind an area they had been ordered to clear. However, they also often develop a magnetic attraction to obstacles that I want them to avoid, such as ropes or droppings.
All models tend to neglect baseboards and thresholds, which is why dirt accumulates along the edges of the room.
The Roborock Qrevo and Qrevo MaxV are relatively reliable navigators that can clear cleanly and find their way back to the dock without backtracking or getting stuck on the edge of the carpet. But unlike the Eufy X10 Pro Omni, which in my testing could detect obstacles the size of a rubber band, the Roborock machine climbed over cables and poop without hesitation.
On the other hand, they are good climbers and do not give up easily. Wrinkled pet rug? no problem! 3/4″ threshold? They would just bulldoze it down.
More advanced robots have sensors that supposedly allow them to detect different types of flooring, so they don’t start cleaning your Persian rug. But I found that when they were on the carpet, even with the robots managing to lift the mop pad (usually about 3/4 inch), the edges of the carpet were still damp. This can be especially problematic if the machine goes through light-colored carpet after wiping off coffee, brightly colored drinks, or urine.
The only machine that won’t get your carpets wet at all is the iRobot Roomba Combo J9+, which gracefully lifts the mop pad off your body. (Unfortunately, it’s not very good for cleaning floors.)
Some robots, such as the Ecovacs Deebot T30S and Yeedi M12 Pro+, only lift the mopping pad slightly. Therefore, you need to completely roll up the rug before washing it. Both robots sometimes began cleaning the carpet aggressively.
The robot, with a self-emptying base, weighs between 10 and 30 pounds and takes up about the same space as a large trash can. Due to the size and weight of these robots, they cannot be used on multiple floors or even in different parts of your home.
The robot makes noise while emptying itself, but this does not mean that it does not require intervention. You can put off emptying the dust bag until it explodes, but you can’t completely ignore the smelly bucket of water for mopping the floors in your living space.
Post time: Sep-24-2024