Best Robotic Vacuums That Are Not Roombas
Worried about Amazon acquiring Roomba-maker iRobot? These robovacs won’t share your data with the tech giant.
By Daniel Wroclawski
Amazon’s $1.7 billion acquisition of iRobot, maker of the popular Roomba line of robotic vacuums, has sparked outcry from privacy advocates and critics of the tech behemoth, arguing that it will give the company too much data on consumers and too much sway over the robotic vacuum market. The acquisition will see iRobot’s robotic vacuums, robotic mops, and air purifiers join Amazon’s stable of smart home products, including Echo speakers, Fire TV sets and streaming boxes, Blink and Ring security cameras, and Eero WiFi routers.
Why the concern? The blockbuster deal will give Amazon access to the data that iRobot’s devices collect, including the maps of users’ homes created by Roomba bots. In fact, iRobot CEO Colin Angle said he was interested in sharing this data with tech companies to improve the functionality of other smart home devices, provided users give consent, all the way back in 2017. With so much data at stake, the deal has stoked digital privacy concerns from advocacy groups.
“This is not just about Amazon selling another device in its marketplace. It’s about the company gaining still more intimate details of our lives to gain unfair market advantage and sell us more stuff,” said Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen, in a statement released shortly after the acquisition was announced. “Federal regulators should not allow Amazon to suck up iRobot/Roomba. Amazon should not be permitted to leverage its retail market power to expand its market share of connected home devices.”
Keep in mind that no robotic vacuum in our tests receives higher than a middling Good score for data privacy, meaning none of their manufacturers’ privacy practices are particularly great, though their data security scores range from Good to Excellent. iRobot vacuums receive a Good rating for data privacy, as well as Excellent or Very Good ratings for data security, but those scores could change if and when iRobot comes under new management.
It’s also worth noting that Roombas can be used without a WiFi connection. They will still clean your floors quite well, but they won’t create “smart maps” of your home. These maps show a 2D view of walls and large permanent objects and allow you to divide up the map into labeled rooms. Instead, the bot will re-map your home in its internal memory every time it cleans. These maps also don’t include images of your home, unless you’re using a J-Series Roomba and have opted into the PrecisionVision Navigation—also known as the "Poop Detection" system (yes, really).
If you’re interested in a robotic vacuum but would like to steer clear of a Roomba, you’re in luck. iRobot may dominate the market, but there are many top-rated robotic vacuums in Consumer Reports’ ratings made by other brands, including Eufy, Roborock, and Samsung. That said, if you’re worried about Amazon, you might have equal concerns about the other major players in the robotic vacuum market. For example, Samsung and LG are both massive corporations in their own right.
Still, if the thought of Amazon adding knowledge of your living room arrangement to the information it already has on your buying habits and music preferences is too much to bear, here are five top-performing robotic vacuums from Eufy, Roborock, and Samsung, in alphabetical order below. For even more Roomba alternatives, check out our robotic vacuum ratings, which feature over 40 models.
Eufy 11S
CR’s take: The basic Eufy RoboVac 11S isn’t the strongest robotic vacuum you can buy, and it’ll struggle to thoroughly clean large areas. But this nimble, relatively affordable robot can be a great option for cleaning a few rooms at a time, or for patient owners. It’s one of the shortest and lightest robots that CR has tested, which helps it drive under furniture and wiggle away from hazards like power cords and carpet fringe better than most. It also earns an Excellent rating on our noise test, and sounds more like a small fan than a vacuum cleaner. The Eufy’s cleaning performance is respectable for its price, too. The main quirk is the semi-random navigation system. (This was the norm for robotic vacuums at one point but has become less common over the past five years.) The randomness might be aggravating; it drives until it bonks into a wall or piece of furniture, pivots, and then repeats the process until the battery runs out. In bigger spaces, it will often miss an area—or even an entire room—in a given session.
Eufy sells at least a half-dozen variants of this robotic vacuum. The 11S is the most basic and one of the few still available that doesn’t connect to the internet. It does come with a remote control, though. Other RoboVac variants, including the 30C, 35C, and 15C Max, do have WiFi connectivity, which allows you to use a companion app to turn the appliance on or off, steer it manually, and set a cleaning schedule. They still navigate semi-randomly, though. For a version of this bot with a longer run time, check out the CR-tested Eufy RoboVac 11S Max.
Eufy RoboVac G30 Edge
CR’s take: The Eufy RoboVac G30 Edge isn’t great on carpet, but it boasts top marks for cleaning bare floors. This model is top-notch at navigation—not all robotics are—earning an Excellent rating. It’s also great at cleaning along the edges of walls and corners, and runs rather quietly compared with competing bots. Unlike the other Eufy models on this list, the G30 Edge is WiFi enabled, meaning you can control it from your smartphone. It offers decent data security in our tests, but its data privacy could be better (though it’s not any worse than many competitors).
Roborock S7+
CR’s take: The Roborock S7+ is another great option for homes of any size. Its laser-assisted (lidar) nav system allows it to quickly and thoroughly clean a room, bumping into fewer walls and furniture legs than the other robotic vacuums we’ve covered here. It has a Smart Mapping feature as well, and comes with a dock that can automatically empty the bin. Its cleaning performance is strong across the board, too—on carpet and bare floors, with pet hair, and even up against edges. The S7+ also has a clip-on mop that will wipe your bare floors and lift itself slightly when it senses rugs to avoid getting them wet. We haven’t lab tested the mop, but some of our experts have used it at home and say it’s decent, and certainly more effective than not wiping your floors. On the downside, we haven’t collected enough information about Roborock bots to have a sense of how reliable they are or what the overall owner satisfaction tends to be (though user reviews are quite strong). A version without the auto-emptying dock is available, too; it’s simply called the S7. Roborock makes several similar models, including the flagship S7 MaxV Ultra (loaded with extra features that, eh, won’t really change your life), as well as a bunch of lower-end models that we haven’t yet tested, including the Q5 and Q7. But based on our experts’ experience with other Roborock models over the past few years, we expect them to work similarly to the S7.
Samsung Jet Bot AI+ VR50T95735W
CR’s take: The Samsung Jet Bot AI+ VR50T95735W is an all-around champ in our robotic vacuum tests, receiving high scores for its ability to clean carpet, bare floors, pet hair, and the edges of walls and corners. It also offers impeccable navigation and receives an Excellent rating for ease of use. Other than the Roborock model, this Samsung is the only model on this list that comes with a self-emptying dock for no additional charge. This robot also features WiFi connectivity with smartphone control via the SmartThings app. In our tests, its data security is quite strong, but its data privacy is middling. In our latest member survey, Samsung bots offer decent predicted reliability but lackluster owner satisfaction.
Samsung Jet Bot+ with Clean Station VR30T85513W
CR’s take: The Samsung Jet Bot+ receives high marks across the board in CR’s tests, standing out particularly in our tests for cleaning bare floors and edges, as well as for our noise test, where it receives an Excellent rating. Its only weak spot is data privacy, where it receives a middling score, but that’s common for the product category. This product is round in shape and has a side brush. Once the robot docks after cleaning, the self-emptying dock automatically empties the contents from the bot into an enclosed disposable bag in the base.
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