Robot vacuums are usually sold as a way to save time, but after owning one for a while, I’m starting to wonder how much time they actually save.
Yes, I no longer have to vacuum the entire floor myself every day. But the robot also comes with its own list of chores.
I still have to remove hair from the main brush, clean the side brushes, wash the mop pads, empty and rinse the dirty water tank, wipe the sensors, clean the dock tray, replace filters and dust bags, and occasionally rescue it from a cable, sock, rug, or random piece of furniture.
Most of these jobs only take a few minutes, but they add up. And if I ignore them for too long, the robot starts cleaning worse, smelling bad, or throwing error messages.
At the same time, I still think it saves me time overall. The biggest benefit isn’t necessarily the total number of minutes saved. It’s that the floors stay consistently clean without me having to decide when to vacuum. I can do a little maintenance once or twice a week instead of manually cleaning the whole house every day.
But I’m curious where everyone else stands.
Does your robot vacuum genuinely reduce your workload, or has maintaining the robot become another household chore? What model do you use, how often do you run it, and how much maintenance does it need each week?
And most importantly: if your current robot broke tomorrow, would you immediately buy another one?

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When nobody imitates or copies you, there is usually a reason, Roborock.

Some models, like the Saros 10 and 20 Sonic, use that small, thin vibrating mop that they patented, I think, back with the Roborock S7. That model scratched my entire floor, by the way, but that is another matter.

I assume it is not the same as the Roborock S7 and that it has improved.

It seems like the patent cost them a lot, and they want to differentiate themselves through marketing from dual spinning mops and roller mops. But I think the small mop surface and its limited ability to hold water, because it is so thin, make it nowhere near as efficient as dual spinning mops, at least.

Hello! I was wondering if anyone has any experience using robot vacuums to help with cat fur & litter around the house, and would be able to give me a good recommendation. I’ve seen a lot online that are good for cat fur, but haven’t seen much talk about litter so that would be a great help, thank you! :)

I have decided to purchase a robot vac because I hate vacuuming and I was extremely excited until I hit analysis paralysis with the overwhelming number of options available. I have never had one or even know anyone who has so it’s all very new to me.

I have a glorified studio with two large carpeted rooms, almost no hard floors, a cat and long hair so definitely focused on vacuuming power and avoiding tangles, and don’t care about the mopping function at all. A relatively smart one that won’t melt down if I leave my shoes somewhere different would probably be better. Longevity and cheaper upkeep in filters etc would also be very appreciated.

My budget is around 800nzd (500usd) and I may have more limited access to models and deals because nz isn’t even on the map half the time rip me.

Thank you to anyone who takes the time to read and help me!

This is the Eufy E25 ($600) which I've had for about three weeks.

Before this I had a Dreame L20 Ultra that cost me over $1,000. After just two years it turned into a useless hunk of plastic. It couldn't even handle basic tasks anymore such as picking up pet hair so I finally gave up on it.

One of my biggest frustrations with robot vacuums is that for all the AI and obstacle avoidance they advertise, they still don't seem to know when they should or shouldn't try to climb over something. Low-profile stuff like the barstool base and dog bowls in the video seem to confuse them every time. I've also noticed it tries to go under my bed even though it clearly doesn't fit. Instead of realizing that after the first attempt, it'll keep backing up and slamming into the bed frame over and over as if the outcome is somehow going to change.

I know I could just make those areas no-go zones but I really prefer not to. Besides the fact that it's difficult to get the boundaries precise enough to work the way you want, dirt and dog hair just end up collecting around those spots because they never get vacuumed.

More than anything, I don't want to feel like I have to babysit a robot vacuum. The whole point is to be able to start a cleaning cycle, leave the house and be confident it'll finish without getting itself stuck on something.

Before I return the Eufy E25, it would be great to hear from anyone who's dealt with similar obstacles. Is there a robot vacuum that actually handles this well or is this just where the technology is right now?

Thanks!

Robot proofing

Hi Reddit!

I got a Roomba Dustcompactor 205 (vacuum only) from eBay, used,about 6 months ago. It's been running fine until this week.

When it's on the base and I try to start a cleaning cycle, it will say "cleaning started", then the two top buttons will flash red, and then it will say "charging", while the buttons continue to flash red. The app also loses connection with the robot for a few minutes when this happens. I don't get any error message from the vac or in the app.

If I start the cleaning cycle with the robot off the dock, it runs like normal.

I've done a full factory reset, and pulled the battery out for a few minutes, alcohol and magic eraser on the contacts, different plug for the dock.

Spent a couple hours with Roomba support, and they were going to warranty the thing until they decided the eBay seller wasn't legit enough.

Anybody have any guesses of what to try? AI thinks it's a failed mofset in the robot or base, but I haven't been able to find actual discussion about this sort of issue.

Thanks, internet friends!

Can anyone help? My unit is only 1 week old and I have loved it already, but it has docked itself twice and still reads robot not in dock.

I did see on my phone this morning it said the app had updated.

I want a robot vac I can just put in a room with a door. I don’t want it running in the middle of the night, I don’t need to set up barriers. I want it to be an adjunct that I can just move around room to room when I want. Which should I buy? I had an old roomba which was great for years until it died. Tried a Eufy but it died as soon as warranty had expired.

Thoughts?

My current robot technically cleans the floor, but every run still leaves me with a second cleaning job.

We have a dog and a cat, and it always misses the same areas. Kibble and little bits of litter stay along the walls, stuff collects around table legs, and the area near the pet bowls looks clean until you get close enough to see everything pushed into a line. If I leave it for a few days, we start getting tiny ants around the food area. Then I'm back with the cordless vacuum doing the spots the robot was supposed to handle.

I'm looking at the L60 Pro Ultra, Roborock Qrevo Edge and Narwal Freo Z Ultra. The main things I care about are how close they get to walls and furniture, whether they actually pick up small particles instead of moving them around, and how often the roller needs hair cut off it. I know none of them are going to replace deeper cleaning completely. I just don't want to keep fixing the same spots after every run.

Has anyone used more than one of these in a pet home?

So a few weeks ago my roborock s8 pro ultra ran through a pile of liquid poo and back then it had charging issues but after I finally jusg said eh screw and set it back up the charging issues are completely gone some how

I don't know what happened, but after the mentioned update, my Aqua 10 Ultra Roller started to behave as if it had "gone crazy". Many other users have noticed this (Reddit, Dreame forum...) Before this update, it cleaned quite well. (I clean the sensors and lidar regularly. This is not my first robot vacuum cleaner and I do not underestimate maintenance.)

I reported some time ago that after this update, the side brush does not work on carpet and that the machine has a problem with low-lying places.

Today I noticed other problems (with navigation and more...)

Now I will summarize all the problems that I noticed after the above update:

1. The side brush does not work on the carpet despite the settings in the application, so vacuuming the carpet near the legs of furniture is ineffective...
2. It does not recognize low spaces and does not always lower the lidar and crashes.
3. It crashes into furniture more often.
4. Sometimes it walks jerkily, or spins in place for a longer time.
5. Sometimes it skips a certain part of the room for no reason, e.g. 1.5x2m.
6. When mopping, it starts with an almost dry mop, even though the humidity is set toe.g. 22, so it leaves dry lines behind.
7. When cleaning the mop, the water is cold despite the setting at 100° C.

I understand that what such a machine can do is not easy at all. I admire it.

Since all this started right after the mentioned update, I think it is not a hardware problem...

I trust the Dreametech team to fix these flaws in a short time and we will be able to fully enjoy these amazing devices.

Is there currently a model that can do both for 3000sq feet that doesn’t require you to switch to the mop attachment? I need things to help me out so my budget is like $1000. Another thought was to buy two. One for only vacuuming and one only for mopping with big reservoir that complete 2000? sq feet of hard floor without a refill if such model does not currently exist.

Looking for advice from people with similar setups. Here's what I'm working with:

• 2,800 sq ft single-story home
• Common areas are tile with several large oriental rugs (some with fringe, if that matters for tangling)
• Bedrooms are mostly carpeted
• 3 adults and 1 dog in the house, so decent amount of pet hair and foot traffic
• Budget is $400-800

I need something that can handle the transition between tile and rugs without getting stuck or high-centering on the rug edges, and that has enough suction for pet hair on both surfaces. Mapping/room selection would be great since I'd want to run it in specific zones rather than the whole house every time.

Bonus points if it also mops the tile, but not a dealbreaker.

Anyone have a model that's worked well for a similar layout? Also curious if fringe on rugs has caused problems for anyone since a couple of ours have it.

Thanks in advance!

I searched in the past post and there wasn’t any current answer, so I‘ll try my luck as well.

I am looking for a robot vacuum that doesn’t habe internet.
Not one that doesn’t need to use it, but one that does not have an internet card or bluetooth. I don’t want it to be able to connect to any networks at all.

Any tips?
Thanks

Hi all,

We got the Eufy Omni E28 a year ago and were very very happy with it for pretty much the whole time. It went around our dogs and their toys easy, detected cables and was extremely fast to position itself. I don't know what update or whatever happened, but the past few months its been devolving. It's going all the way across the room to position itself, it will literally run into our dog if she's laying down. Runs over toys, and it just got itself tangled into cords it's never had an issue with.

We clean the spinning thing at the top, and the camera at the front every time we clean the unit. The AI.See function is on. I can't see anything else that might be going on settings wise.

Has anyone else had issues with their vac?

I have been resisting getting a robovac for a long time, but recently picked up a Mova p50 pro ultra. It performs better than I expected overall in my limited testing so far. I did notice that it leaves a bit of a drip when it mops, and sometimes pushes small debris around with the brush and ends up missing it, otherwise no major issues. I saw mixed reviews on multi floor usage and it going crazy looking for the non-existent dock, but haven't tested it yet. It was on sale on Amazon Canada for $570 when I bought it.

I like that it has a setting to go wash mops after every room and a sensor (whether that works well or not) to go wash mops mid-room if needed.

My space: predominantly hardwood with a small area rug around a coffee table. Some high heat cooking resulting in occasional cooking oil spatter on the floor. A toddler that sometimes gets food/drink on the floor that usually gets spot cleaning attention right away. Two long haired adults, no pets. Occasionally moving obstacles like dining chairs/toy bins. About 1k square feet main floor, where the unit lives, with a slightly smaller second floor with largely hard wood and some tile.

Requirements: adequate vacuuming and mopping, low maintenance (I like that this model washes/dries the mop pads with hot water, we'll see how tangle-free the roller actually is), not loud operation. Multiple floor capability. The current unit is sufficiently quiet. I wish it's voice feedback could be made quieter though (maybe it's a setting I haven't found).

Max budget: Cad $700-800. Could probably stretch a bit further for something life-changing, but don't really want to.

Is there something out there worth upgrading to, or did I hit a sweet spot, give or take, in terms of price/performance? Not going to deal with the hassle of a return/replacement for a marginal improvement, but for a significant one would consider it.

Buying my first robot vacuum and starting to think I'm overcomplicating this.

I live in a two bedroom place with mostly hard floors. No pets, no thick rugs and no tall thresholds. I mainly want something that can vacuum every day, do a basic mop run and keep the floors from getting noticeably dirty between deeper cleans.

A lot of the recommendations I keep seeing jump straight to the higher-end models, but I'm not sure my place would actually use most of what I'm paying extra for.

I've been looking at one of the more budget-friendly options because it seems to cover the basics without pushing the budget too far. My only concern is buying the cheaper one and then realizing a few months later that something I assumed was standard is missing or annoying.

For a simple hard floor layout, where does spending more actually start to matter?

We recently got a MOVA P10 Pro Ultra Gen 2 (less than a month ago) At first everything was working fine, but after some cleaning runs it started to skip random areas of rooms leaving them uncleaned, for some reason this only happens with the automatic schedule, if I send the robot manually to clean a specific room it does it without any problems

Any ideas why this happens and what could I do to fix it?

My home's carpet area is 2750 sq ft. Fed up with maids' tantrums and inefficiencies. Planning to purchase one robo cleaner. Pls suggest

1. Which brand is best in terms of price, quality, and after sell services ?

2. Which one has higher threshold limit ?

3. Higher number of maps allowed ?

Thanks in advance

I've been looking for a robot vacuum. One thing I'm still trying to figure out is the dust bags.
I have both a dog and a cat, so there's always fur around the house. For those using a dock with dust bags, how long does one usually last? Do they fill up pretty quickly with pet hair, and do you end up spending more on replacement bags than you expected?
I noticed some newer robot vacuums, like the Ecovacs x12, have switched to a bagless dock. Has anyone here used one? I'm curious how it's been compared to the usual bagged setup.