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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To ask if your robot hoover or hoover-mop works?

57 replies

Oncemorewithsome · 05/07/2026 09:48

We are a busy (read messy!) household with kids and really busy work lives. I’m keen to look for ways to keep things ticking over.

Do the robot hoovers work? What happens if it encounters a toy/sock/piece of lego? (Yes, yes I know… but real life here, this will happen at some point!).

What about the mop function?

What make do you have?

If you have a picture perfect, tidy at all times home please scroll by because sadly this won’t be the lived reality for our new pet robot 😁

OP posts:
putthehamsterbackinitscage · 05/07/2026 11:32

I have had robot hoovers for years now and swapped last year to a hoover/mop combined with base station tanks.

Hoovering - great but will eat socks or small toys and cables eg phone charger plugged in and trailing.

Mopping - more of a faff - use recommended cleaning solution and it mops ok but you do get build up at the edges of the room, and the dock can leak/overflow when it rinses pads (probably due to cat hair blockages).

it does help keep us cleaner though and when it does I will replace but possibly go back to just hoover….

7238SM · 05/07/2026 11:45

We have an eufy X10 Pro Omni which mops and vacs. DH did a lot of research before we got it. It can raise itself on/off rugs and knows not to mop those. Some vacs get jammed on rugs. Its never got trapped in a corner but that might have only been a problem with earlier/cheaper robo vacs.

I think the mop heads need changing now, so occasionally something dried on the floor needs an extra scrub, but otherwise we are really pleased with it. Our downstairs is all tiled, a few rugs and 1 level, so its perfect for that. We have dog toys around which have never been a problem- it can see the obstacle and goes around them. It can also detect smaller things apparently (like dog poo!) although that's never been tested. I'm unsure how small it can detect and if it would see lego though, you'd need to read the spec or watch youtube reviews.

We tend to prep the room and run it when we are out. We pick up shoes, dog bed and things off the floor for a better clean. We did try running it at night without tiding up beforehand but the dog went ballistic thinking if was some sort of robo intruder! Sometimes we run it during the day with stuff still on the floor, and it just goes around them.

Yellowpingu · 05/07/2026 13:17

I only use mine when I’m in and I have a quick clear of things on the floor like shoes and toys. I do this because the roller brush once got jammed by a mouse the cat had bought in. Wasn’t pleasant! Wouldn’t be without it though, it’s usually on every other day.

scoped · 05/07/2026 13:20

Eufy (hoover only) - very handy for just keeping on top of things and making place look clean although you need to run a real hoover round the edges of rooms once in a while just to make sure all good. If it eats something it doesn't like it stops and beeps to tell you - cables are the worst offenders round here, but is still loads easier than the alternative!

Aposterhasnoname · 05/07/2026 13:45

Just got a roborock vac and mop which was heavily reduced on prime day, relegated my eufy vac only model upstairs.

So far, I love it. The vac part is brilliant, better than the eufy, which is really good, leaves lovely straight vac lines on the carpets. The mopping is really just a wipe with a damp cloth, but it’s good enough for day to day use, better than expected anyway. Mine doesn’t rinse the mop pad, you have to take it off and rinse it by hand.

we do clear the floors for it though, but that said, we’ve had robo vacs for many years, so keeping the floors clear is just normal for us, we just automatically do it. You soon get used to it.

wouldnt be without my robovacs, the eufy is pootling round upstairs as we speak.

WhatTimeDoYouCallThis · 05/07/2026 13:49

Our robot hoover is good for a quick clean up but doesn't do a good job with hairs that have been walked into the pile - so have to regularly use a traditional hoover

sunshine244 · 05/07/2026 13:54

Best thing i ever bought is an eufy with vacuum and mop. My halls, kitchen, porches are all hard floors and the mopping is fantastic for clearing up after dog and kids. I am always surprised how dirty the dirty water tank is even with daily mopping and a no shoe household. The mop cleaning at the end is good but I do pop them in the washing machine weekly.

Hoovering is decent but misses the edges in certain places.

I've found it makes the kids tidier as they know eury will eat things like lego etc. I jave it set up activate downstairs at 9am once everyone has left the house. It's become part of the daily routine to do quick floor check before leaving the house. Can move to other floors too and ir keeps the maps separate.

sellingsoup · 05/07/2026 13:55

Oncemorewithsome · 05/07/2026 09:48

We are a busy (read messy!) household with kids and really busy work lives. I’m keen to look for ways to keep things ticking over.

Do the robot hoovers work? What happens if it encounters a toy/sock/piece of lego? (Yes, yes I know… but real life here, this will happen at some point!).

What about the mop function?

What make do you have?

If you have a picture perfect, tidy at all times home please scroll by because sadly this won’t be the lived reality for our new pet robot 😁

They are pretty good but can miss corners

midJulytarget · 05/07/2026 13:56

I have a basic Eufy and love it. Was only £99 on Amazon. Doesn't mop though.

You have to move cables and small things out of the way. I wouldn't go out with it on, in case it got stuck on something and overheated (it probably wouldn't but just in case, eps if it got stuck on a switched on cable).

It even picks up my very long hairs, and it's easy to empty. It's great! Wish it could do stairs too though.

Edit: it's noisy though! Don't believe the Amazon listing which says it's quiet.

Zanatdy · 05/07/2026 13:57

Got my son and his gf one for Christmas and it’s fab. Bought one for my new house. Hopefully the mop function works well as have all LVT downstairs in new place so be handy if it can mop whilst I sit and watch TV!

SisterTeatime · 05/07/2026 14:05

I’ve got the Eufy Omni X10 and I love it. It does need some TLC in terms of changing mop pads etc. it is not quiet, and when emptying its dust bag it is NOISY! Occasionally tries to hoover up something it shouldn’t and does get clumps of cat hair stuck but it is low maintenance compared to my hateful old Dyson.

I usually put a drop of Milton in the dirty water tank which means the water collected in there doesn’t smell.

It’s a real timesaver. If it could go up and down stairs I would be in heaven.

BoredZelda · 05/07/2026 14:10

I have a robot bc upstairs and a vacuum/mop downstairs. The vacuum is brilliant, we rarely have to get the big hoover out. The mop is passable. I still need to give the floor a good mopping about once a month, but it keeps the floor clean enough daily.

violetcuriosity · 05/07/2026 14:44

I got a roborock and I’m really impressed

Bennybannsider2 · 05/07/2026 14:47

Another vote for eufy vacuum only. I think mine does corners ok, and doesn't get trapped in rugs. But it will eat cables (abandoned phone charger leads) and get stuck.

Moltenpink · 05/07/2026 14:53

I have a cheap robo hoover (Lefiant) and I would say it doesn’t replace a proper vacuum with the Henry, but it’s better than nothing (the container is always full of dog hair after). It gets stuck on socks, blamkets, shoelaces etc so I do a 60 second tidy before I start it up and throw cushions in front of places I don’t want it to go!

Sahara123 · 05/07/2026 14:54

I had a robot vac once, I found it was more trouble than it was worth to be honest. It got stuck under the sofa, it tried to eat cables etc - there was always something we’d missed. Final straw was that my two cats were both scared of it, that was the end of my robot hoover !

DistantEarlyWarning · 05/07/2026 14:54

I have a Roomba and a Braava. Love them. The Roomba vacuum occasionally misses areas, but otherwise it’s great. If there’s something in the way it will generally avoid it, but I do tidy up first so this happens rarely. It sends a rather disapproving message asking whether it’s a new obstacle that I want to add to the map. 😀

The Braava mop is a little more highly strung and fairly frequently gets itself jammed under the sofa or gets stranded on the door mat despite me telling it not to. But it works a treat, and I just run around the edges with a cloth.

Etherealcelestialbeing · 05/07/2026 14:58

I love my Roborock Hoover-mop.

It lifts the mops when going over rugs. Gets right into the corners. Empties itself and steam cleans the mop pads at the end of the run and during if needed. It runs on the AI tech cycle now so some areas get more intensive cleaning than others.

It does pick up small things - my DC are crafters and it will hoover up small beads/ scraps of paper etc. occasionally it gets stuck on bigger pieces and it does wrap cables around its side sweeper. If it gets caught though, it just stops in place, sends a text and we set it off again when we get home.

The DC are in a routine of picking up after themselves now and we all grab floor items if anyone shouts ‘Mopsy’s out!’

Huge time saver. We change the clean/dirty water tanks once or twice a week and empty the dust bag every couple of months.

nam3c4ang3 · 05/07/2026 14:59

We have a Eufy S1 pro. Good and runs daily.

Etherealcelestialbeing · 05/07/2026 15:01

Also if a room is particularly messy, I just close the door so it can’t get in or skip the room on the app and it gets done another time. It is generally very good at going around furniture - our dining table configuration tends to change a lot and it copes really well.

MagnusSkipton · 05/07/2026 15:05

Robot hoovers are great and I wouldn’t be without them - they are great at teaching kids to pick up their crap and put it away otherwise it gets eaten 😈. In my experience robot mops are a bit useless and I have given up on them. I bought a steam mop instead - bloody brilliant.

DogGawn · 05/07/2026 15:47

we returned the Eufy as it just stank and kept breaking

we’ve got a shark ninja one now which was cheaper and never breaks - it’s not as clever as the Eufy. The Eufy was super smart. The Ninja just does the same thing even if you’ve moved stuff around. But it does hoover and then you can send it around again to mop and it does a v good job.

DancingNotDrowning · 05/07/2026 16:02

We have an eufy X10 Pro Omni which I bought to replace a cheaper eufy because I wanted to upgrade to something that mapped the space and could sent exclusion zones.

i didn’t want a mop function but given the functionality I did want this was the only choice.

it’s good but doesn’t replace the full hoovering that gets done 2 x per week.

BertieBotts · 05/07/2026 16:11

We've had various ones. Started off with a cheap €99 Dirt Devil with manual empty, manual charge and have upgraded as and when we thought we would use different features when we saw a good deal. I would defo recommend this approach as not so much to lose out on if it turns out you just hate it, or it doesn't work for you. And, a cheap one with barely any features will do 99% of the job. IME the upgrades don't improve things massively in relation to the original functionality.

We are a bit messy/disorganised with multiple ADHD kids etc. Socks are normally a bit too big to bother it, though if caught at the wrong angle it might try to eat it and then get upset or just trundle around with it stuck for ages, but it makes a different noise when something is stuck, so you'll usually notice. Small lego pieces like the 1x1 blocks will just get eaten. If you have manual empty you might notice in time to rescue them, although self-emptying models will suck it into a bigger hoover bag which means they will be gone forever. Bigger lego pieces like 2x2 blocks will usually get stuck in the rollers and it will make a loud noise or error and you'll have to flip it over and get them out. This is also an issue with random bits of cardboard, bread sealing metal foldy clip things, pen lids, burnt chips or dropped bit of dry pasta, hairties with decorations and other small toys. Toys which are too big to fit underneath it (which is normally about 2cm) will either get pushed out of the way or treated as an obstacle and cleaned around, they aren't in danger at all. We used to have endless fun when DC were toddlers just filling the room with various balls and letting the hoover bump into them.

The main issue is charger or headphone cables - it gets horribly tangled in these as they often wrap around the little brushes, which damages the cable as well. Or things like if you have plastic bag storage and a bit of a bag is hanging out and touching the floor, or a bit of thread trailing from a pile of clothes etc, it can suck this up and disrupt the whole pile.

We tend to do a bit of a tidy around/sweep for stuff the hoover might eat before we put it on. The DC fairly quickly got trained in what this means as well.

It doesn't do as good of a job as a proper hoover, because the motor is much smaller and less powerful, so if you are expecting it to take over from your main hoover, I would forget that as a goal. However, it does an excellent job of removing 90% of the small bits of grit, dust and dirt which seem to constantly accumulate, and it definitely reduces the amount that we need to do a full/proper hoover. In fact most of the time I can get away with just spot cleaning with a handheld one, but I do like to get the "big" hoover out every so often to do more of a deep clean.

Unless you have one with a programmable schedule (and we don't use ours because of the need to do a "hoover sweep" first) you do need someone to be organised enough to remember to turn it on. DH is happy to run it during the evening while he does something like play games or watch TV with headphones. I hate this but tolerate it because I would forget to run it otherwise. I would prefer to put it on just before we go out or program it to run overnight when we are asleep, but I forget to do that, and DH is reluctant to do it overnight in case we forget to prep the floor for it, and because we can hear when it gets something stuck and sort it out. I dislike the fact that it runs for a long time and makes a noise the whole time, even though it's not as loud as a proper hoover.

We did upgrade last year to one with a mop function and while I admit this is slightly better than not mopping at all, it is pretty gross because it's just slugging dirty cold water over everything realistically. I would not describe this as a "mop" function more "wipe with a dirty cloth". It is just not practical for it to return to base to clean the pads as often as you would need to if you were actually cleaning a floor adequately. We do fill it with a dilute floor cleaning solution but it gets gunked up constantly and sometimes when it's running I'll walk past it and the pads absolutely reek like a honking cloth which hasn't been washed in months. And this is with changing them fairly regularly, we got a set of replacement ones so I swap them out and put them through a hot wash.

Mop function not functional enough to justify the faff, IMO.

TrickorTreacle · 05/07/2026 17:14

I had a Roborock Q7 Max a few years ago for £299 reduced from £399. The vacuum part worked superb but the mop part never did. The tank would stay full, not wetting the mop by a single drop. All floors are hard / vinyl.

I had it for a year then flogged it to CEX. They gave me a pretty good rate of £259 no quarrels so didn't lose much on it at all.

I went back to manual mops. Tried all singing and dancing mops e.g. spin mop, squeezy sponge mops etc. At the end of the day, I found that just a plain mop with a separate non-matching bucket worked the simplest and quickest.