From premium models that mop and empty themselves to brilliant budget buys under £200, these are the robot vacuum cleaners our expert recommends.
If I had said 30 years ago that by 2026, highly sophisticated and often extraordinarily cheap domestic robots would be pouring out of China, the idea would have seemed laughable.
Now, of course, the country is leading the charge in electric cars and much else. China has particularly cleaned up in the market for robot vacuum cleaners, which they totally dominate. Pioneer brands like iRobot in the US and Dyson in Britain are now rather secondary.
The sheer number of Chinese manufacturers and the innovative touches they add is both impressive and confusing to buyers.
Roborock, one of the fastest-growing brands at the premium end of the market, even has a stair-climbing robot vacuum coming out later this year. There’s also a vigorous price war going on.
The more refined models are being cut from well over £1,000 to well under, and there’s a whole clutch of very good products at less than £200.
As ever, I do recommend buying from a vendor offering easy no-questions returns, such as Amazon.
Roborock’s Saros 20 (1), which I have tested and is absolutely first rate, is currently down from FRP £1,309 to £998.99 and has the ability to climb over obstacles up to 8cm. It’s quite enchanting to watch it at work. The front wheels turn a strange somersault during which they get longer and haul the vacuum up a small step – it looks like something from a Transformers cartoon.
Another of the high-end new companies, Dreame (pronounced Dreamy) has an excellent model, the L50 Pro (2), which I’ve also used and can thoroughly recommend. It’s currently £529, down from RRP £649.
Among the best of the cheaper robots, the Proscenic Q10 (3) is insanely good value at around RRP: £169.99. It has hard floor mopping as well as vacuuming – mind-blowing for the price.
If you are a Dyson lover, its new Spot + Scrub AI (RRP £1,049.99) has some novel features, namely the ability to use AI to understand the nature of specific stains and adapt its cleaning routines accordingly. I haven’t tested this latest model, so I’m unable to give it an independent recommendation.
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