Which robot hoover is the best?

[BigSigh2021]

I’m going to be looking out for decent Black Friday deals on robot hoovers. Recommendations please! Eufy? Roomba?

Which one do you have, and what are the pros and cons? Suction? Effectiveness with pet hair? Different surfaces? How thorough is it? How noisy is it? Does the charge last long enough? Does it always manage to return to its charger before conking out?

I’m not too fussed about fancy WiFi and linking to voice assistants, as I don’t use one.

Thanks is advance.

Next week Amazon should be offering 20-30% off warehouse products. These are customer returns and come with the same warranty but are half the cost.

I bought a Eufy with mop for £100 just before the summer. Works really well on hard floors providing the room is clear. It hates chairs and gets confused.

Definitely buy from Amazon Warehouse - you’ll save a fortune

We love our Neato hoover. It is a great shape for really getting into corners, and gwts right to edges with his little side brush. V intelligent, won't fall off the stairs, maps put the room and trundles pleasingly around chair and table legs. He sends you a map of what he's hoovered at the end of each session. With 4 kids, two dogs and a hairy cat he works very very hard. Ground floor overnight, upstairs during the day. He is possibly my favourite family member.

I've a robovac 5s and it's great.
It'll wet mop or just hoover,it can be set to repeat areas ('passes'), spot clean, ignore rooms or areas etc. The reason it can do all of this is due to the map function.
Highly recommended

I have an Ecovacs N79 and I love it. It doesn't do any of the fancy stuff like mapping or mopping, but he happily bumbles around with the youngest cat trying to attack him. Now all I need is to train the cats to tidy their toys away and I can let the deebot do an auto clean.

So, do you go for both a little mopping one, and a little hoovering one? And set them off separately. Or will one mopping/hoovering combo gadget do both tasks, well?

@PlausibleSuit

I had a Roomba for a while. It was... OK. It did a decent in-between job, I would say. I didn't find it hugely labour-saving, in all honesty.

It was very diva-ish and would get stuck all over the place. And it kept freaking out over imaginary 'cliffs' and refuse to do any work.

It stopped working entirely when we moved house and got new wifi. They don't connect to mesh wifi (mine wouldn't, anyway). So if you have that kind of system it would be worth checking it's compatible.

I ended up freecycling it and have replaced it with a normal vacuum and a rubber broom. I wouldn't buy another one.

I have a Roomba iRobot i7+ and it's exactly as you describe, it does empty itself (very loudly) which is a bonus.

I'm not sure if my expectations were too high, but it bumps into everything even though I clean the sensor frequently and it goes over and over the same areas but misses others.

Dh decided to buy the Roomba, and it's ok for an interim clean, personally I still use the usual vacuum for a good clean.

Got some Amazon vouchers for my birthday and am keeping a very close eye on the robot Hoovers so very excited to see this thread, thanks OP

I love how everyone describes their Hoovers 🥰

We bought a eufy and returned it after a week as it kept getting stuck on the island bar stools and the patio doors, couldn't get under the kitchen table and just kept hovering the same spots. I felt it wasn't worth the money if I had to pick everything up, put all the chairs in the table tops etc as I found it less effort and quicker to just Hoover normally.

I would maybe consider one that maps the room if this would solve the bar stool humping situation.

I'm dithering between a hoover one and a combo mop and hoover. Are the combos any good, or is it a bit like the combined washer/dryer scenario where separates are better?

I really like the mop/hoover combo,although it's more of a wet dust rather than a proper mop. Having lino and a lab means I only need to give the floors a mop once a month during the winter but can set it off to hoover everyday (Robovac 5s)

We have a Neato, which is a middle of the price range one, very pleased, can set up no go zones on the app to avoid kitchen stools etc.

We have two Eufys (got one then replaced with a more expensive one) and I'm still sceptical. It does an okay job but my husband (who does most of the housework and chose to get the robot) seems to spend as much time as he would vacuuming himself, moving stuff out of its way and then watching it go round and getting frustrated when it is using up energy going back over a bit it's already done and hasn't yet done another bit.

If there are lots of chairs or other things on the floor it can't get under or bounces off them and gets confused. So he puts all the dining chairs on the table, moves the desk chairs, piano stool and coffee table out of the room which seems a lot of work.

Plus the room has to be absolutely tidy to start off with, whereas with a normal vacuum you could just vacuum round a bag or box that was on the floor.

So he tends not to run it as often as he would vaccum before because he's waiting for time to tidy everything first. Also in the past I'd just do the kitchen for example, now it's all or nothing, the whole downstairs.

Ooh, a flurry of activity on the thread! Thanks for all the comments. I don't have the headspace to reply to everyone individually, but am reading them all and taking it on board.

What is Amazon warehouse? Never heard of it.

Intrigued a couple of posters have mentioned Neato - will go and look into those now....

What is Amazon warehouse? Never heard of it.

It's "open box" customer returns. You can sometimes get big discounts. A few times a year they offer a further 20/30% off Warehouse items. The warranty is the same, it's just a customer return.

www.amazon.co.uk/Amazon-Warehouse-Deals/b?node=3581866031&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&ie=UTF8

When I buy from Amazon I always look at Warehouse first as I've got the exact product I want for much cheaper.

@roses2

What is Amazon warehouse? Never heard of it.

It's "open box" customer returns. You can sometimes get big discounts. A few times a year they offer a further 20/30% off Warehouse items. The warranty is the same, it's just a customer return.

]]

When I buy from Amazon I always look at Warehouse first as I've got the exact product I want for much cheaper.

Thanks. Presumably it has the same guarantee etc it would normally have?

Sorry, can I do a mini-hijack and ask another question of robot hoover owners, do the mapping ones understand you have an upstairs and a downstairs? Presumably you just carry it upstairs and it knows where it is?

@FolornLawn, yes. With the robovac you can set up several maps and then you select from the app.
I can't help with other models

Any thoughts on the 30C max? What’s the difference between it and the 30C?

30 = boundary strips
C = connectivity
Max = higher power (2000 v 1500 I think).

Thanks!! You sound very in the know

This thread reminded me that I need one! I got a cheap 30c, £140 on Amazon. it's brilliant!
One question though if anyone can help?
I'm a little confused about the settings. I have wooden floors downstairs and a thick wool rug, do I need to always use it on boost so the rug gets more thoroughly cleaned or does it automatically work harder on the different surface... I'm confused!
Thanks!

@BigSigh2021 did you buy one in the end? I'm deciding between the Eufy X8 and the Roomba i7 or Roomba 976. I say deciding, what I'm actually doing is dithering.

Got a Eufy 30C. She was reduced on Amazon recently so I took the plunge. Love her!!

[quote FolornLawn]@BigSigh2021 did you buy one in the end? I'm deciding between the Eufy X8 and the Roomba i7 or Roomba 976. I say deciding, what I'm actually doing is dithering. [/quote]
Not yet but I think I'm going to go with Eufy X8. Also dithering!

Get on with it OP while they’re still on offer!