Our review compares robot vacuums on customer satisfaction, so you can find out what other Aussies think about the compared brands before you go ahead with a purchase. Think of it as like asking hundreds of your closest mates which robot vacuum they think is best!
Canstar Blue surveyed 225 Australians for their feedback on a vacuum they have purchased and used in the last three years.
The winning brand is the one that receives the highest Overall satisfaction rating once all the scores from the Overall satisfaction criteria are combined and averaged.
Find more detailed information on our Most Satisfied Customer methodology.
Not sure which robot vacuum to buy? Check out our buying guide below.
iRobot managed to grab the top spot with five star ratings for overall satisfaction, performance, design, ease of use, features & functionality and battery & charging performance, with a four star rating for value for money.
iRobot is a leader in the world of home robotics and most famously known for bringing us the Roomba vacuuming robot, which now includes several series, the latest one being the Roomba j7+ robot vacuum. This model features a three-stage cleaning system for carpets and hard floors, including dual multi-surface rubber brushes and an edge-sweeping brush to clean along walls and corners. It also comes with PrecisionVision navigation to spot and avoid hazards in real-time, a Clean Base automation dirt disposal mechanism that allows the robot vacuum to empty itself for up to 60 days, and more.
Ecovacs was rated five stars for value for money, features & functionality and battery & charging performance, with four stars for ease of use, design, performance and overall satisfaction.
You may have seen ECOVACS DEEBOT robot vacs in one of ALDI’s Special Buys sales, or simply know of the brand as one of the more popular options available on the market. The ECOVACS DEEBOT range offers various advanced models, each with varying functionalities suited to modern homes and busy families, and one specifically designed for pet hair, with the DEEBOT X1 OMNI robot vacuum cleaner model featuring voice control, mop functionality, auto-clean station and 3D obstacle detection.
Aside from the major brands rated in this year’s review, there are several other brands worthy of your consideration, including:
Robot vacuum cleaners (or robot vacs for short) are self-navigating vacuum cleaners that offer continuous cleaning and automatic charging. They are designed to clean floors and carpets without anyone having to lift a finger. Robot vacs are typically disc-shaped and compact, usually no more than 10cm high, and no bigger than a frisbee to easily fit around those hard-to-reach places like under furniture. They use motorised wheels to glide across surfaces and pick up dirt and grime, so you don’t have to.
Robot vacuums can detect dirt, dust, and other particles and automatically set their cleaning path according to what their sensors pick up. They use those same infrared sensors to scan their surroundings and determine obstacles in their path, including ‘cliff sensors’ that detect sudden drops, such as the top of a staircase. Most also come with an inbuilt algorithm that scans and stores multiple maps of different floors of your home to achieve complete floor coverage and some models even let you customise which room you’d like the robot to clean on each floor (though this varies by manufacturer).
Robot vacuums can start for as little as $300 and reach upwards of $2,000. The higher priced models will generally come with a number of additional items like a dock, self emptying bin, remote application access and more. Australians spent an average of $573 on robot vacuums according to our most recent survey results.
Read more: Robot vacuum cleaner running costs
Yes, some models of robot vacuum now have mopping capabilities so you can have the best of both worlds in your home. Robot vacs with mopping capabilities have an additional attachment that works in the same way the vacuuming path does by detecting the areas of the floor yet to be cleaned. However, models with this feature may cost more as a result.
Many robot vacuum cleaners come with advanced features that allow for ‘hands-free’ cleaning. Some common features of robot vacuums to look for include:
This report was written by Canstar Blue’s Home & Lifestyle Content Producer Kate King. Kate holds a Bachelor of Creative Industries from QUT majoring in Journalism and Media and Communications, and has written for a number of publications over the past five years.
Samantha Howse is Canstar Blue’s Consumer Research Specialist, coordinating the consumer research program behind our customer satisfaction awards across Canstar and Canstar Blue in Australia and New Zealand. Sam has earned a Bachelor of Business (Marketing) from Griffith University and, with seven years in market research and 2 years in marketing, she is experienced in survey design, implementation and analysis, coupled with an understanding of marketing principles and best practice.
Here are the past winners from Canstar Blue’s robot vacuum ratings:
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