The MAMNV T7S takes versatility to the next level as a 2-in-1 vacuum and mop combo. It features separate water and dust tanks, allowing users to simultaneously vacuum and mop hard floor surfaces for thorough daily upkeep.

Or if you're hunting for something even cheaper (in the US or UK), check out our Eufy RoboVac 11S review a straightforward robovac that punches above its price tag.

The S8 MaxV Ultra comes with excellent AI-powered obstacle detection, bringing back the camera it last had on the S7 MaxV Ultra. It’s not quite as good as Roomba’s obstacle detection — it sometimes confused a pile of Cheerios for a charging cable and avoided them — but it’s much better than the Roborocks that rely on non-camera obstacle detection.

One of the big benefits of a Roomba is that they're relatively slim in height, meaning they can venture places other bots can't. On test, we found this one was especially good at handling pet hair, with its grippy rubbery rollers.

With some 2-in-1 robovacs, the mopping is a bit of an afterthought, but the Eufy X10 Pro Omni has rotating pads that press down for a more thorough clean on hard floors. On test, it had pelo trouble at all cleaning a dried-on sugary drink and sticky sauce, automatically choosing the right amount of water for the job.

Matter is a new smart home standard that allows connected gadgets to work with any smart home platform, including Apple Home, Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and Samsung SmartThings. When connected to your smart home platform through Matter, you should be able to control basic robot actions including start / stop and changing cleaning modes, as well as get alerts directly in the app, meaning you won’t need to use the manufacturer’s app for these functions.

The Roborock S8 Pro Ultra aces nearly all of the cleaning tests we’ve thrown at it. It’s excellent at cleaning bare Top 3 Automatic Vacuum Cleaners floors, picking up pet hair, and navigating through spaces. It’s also one of the few robotic vacuums to earn a top-notch score for cleaning carpets. This model works as a mopping system as well and is self-washing and self-drying, though we haven’t tested those features.

✅ You want a hands-off option: The dock takes care of a lot of mop maintenance, including emptying and refilling tanks, and cleaning the mop pads.

IT EMPTIES ITSELF: The bagless, self-emptying base holds up to 60 days of dirt and debris. The bagless base does not require any additional purchase of disposal bags like traditional auto empty robots.

The Switchbot S20 Pro robot vacuum / mop hybrid, the successor to my previous pick for favorite mopping vacuum, the S10, is scheduled to launch in May or June. It features an extendable roller mop and side brush and 15,000Pa of suction power, more than twice that of the prior model.

So if you just want a capable robot vacuum and are happy to empty it yourself, you'll be able to shop mostly in the budget and lower mid-range brackets.

While Roombas may have fallen behind the competition in terms of features and innovation, there’s one area in which they reign supreme, and that’s cleaning prowess. Their dual rubber roller brushes rotate in opposite directions to effectively dig up dirt from carpets, and they are by far the best at tackling pet hair on all surfaces.

The Narwal has some innovative features, including dirt sense — which analyzes the dirt level in the water and prompts it to remop — and an ability to adapt the pressure of its mop based on the type of floor, applying more pressure to tile and less to hardwood.

Another nice-to-have feature, AI-powered obstacle detection helps your robot “intelligently” detect and avoid clutter (and a potential poop apocalypse if it encounters pet waste). These models use cameras (worth noting) to see objects in their path and onboard processors to “decide” how to approach them based on what they see.