Best Holiday Deals on Robotic Vacuums
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Black Friday and Cyber Monday have come and gone—but some robotic vacuums are currently priced even lower than they were on Black Friday.
"If you're thinking about getting a robotic vacuum, the prices now are the lowest we've seen in years," says Kelly Moomey, a market analyst at Consumer Reports.
Here, we round up some of the best holiday deals we've seen on robotic vacuums that perform well in CR's tests. They're from brands like Eufy, iRobot, Samsung, and Shark, and they're listed in alphabetical order.
Robotic vacuums are meant for maintenance cleaning only and can’t compete with the deep-cleaning capabilities of a full-sized upright or canister vacuum. So if you're buying a robot for yourself (or a loved one), you'll eventually have to haul out a larger vacuum for that purpose.
Still, if you constantly have smaller messes like spilled Cheerios or a pet that sheds, a robotic vacuum can help keep them at bay. To determine which robotic vacuums deliver the best results, we put them through a series of tough tests, including ones that evaluate how they navigate a room and how easy they are to operate out of the box.
Prices can fluctuate, of course, so we’ll continue to monitor holiday sales and add any new deals we find through December.
Eufy RoboVac 30C
The deal: $179 at Amazon
CR’s test results: Eufy RoboVac 30C
This model is under 3 inches tall, which may allow it to clean under low furniture. Some Eufy models don't connect to WiFi, but this Eufy 30C can be programmed with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. On average, our testers found this vacuum to run about 68 minutes before it needed to dock again and charge. It earns an Excellent rating in our tests for cleaning bare floors, leaving our lab floor spick and span.
iRobot Roomba 690
The deal: $279 at Target
CR’s test results: iRobot Roomba 690
If you’re in the market for a robotic vacuum and you don't mind that it's not the latest model, the 690 is a solid bet. At $279, it's about $70 less than its usual price and will set you back about as much as the lowest-priced models in our ratings. The average run time for this robotic is 72 minutes, fairly long for a single charge.
iRobot Roomba 960
The deal: $394 at Amazon, $400 at Best Buy and Bed Bath & Beyond
CR’s test results: iRobot Roomba 960
Though this vacuum isn’t the newest, it has held strong in the top tier of our ratings for two years. The sale price is between $100 and $150 off the usual full price. This model earns an Excellent rating in our bare-floors test and does a superb job cleaning carpet, though you might have a little difficulty cleaning pet hair out of the brush roller.
iRobot Roomba e5
The deal: $279 at Bed Bath & Beyond
CR’s test results: iRobot Roomba e5
This high-scoring model usually costs about $500, but at $279, it's a steal—and is even cheaper than what we found on Black Friday. This model isn’t as “smart” as the top of the line i7+, but it performs well cleaning carpet and earns an Excellent rating in our bare-floors test. It has an average run time of 56 minutes, typical for robovacs.
Samsung Powerbot R7040
The deal: $279 at Amazon
CR’s test results: Samsung Powerbot R7040
The Powerbot R7040 is one of the best robotics on the market. It aces our carpet and bare-floors tests, and earns an Excellent rating for being easy to use. You can program it by using the Samsung Smart Home app on your smartphone.
Shark Ion 700
The deal: $159 at Walmart
Consumer Reports tests a similar robotic, the Shark Ion 720, and we expect the Ion 700 to perform similarly. The 720 earns an Excellent rating for navigation and is terrific at cleaning bare floors. Pet owners will need to manually remove pet hair from the brush roll. This $140 discount is available until Jan. 14.
Shark Ion 750
The deal: $229.99 at Amazon and JCPenney
CR's test results: Shark Ion 750 Connected
The Shark Ion 750 is discounted roughly $70 more than it was last year at this time. This model earns an Excellent rating for noise and is terrific at cleaning bare floors. Our testers did have to manually remove pet hair from the brush roll, though.
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