Few people are champing at the bit to go over their freshly vacuumed floors with a manual mop. It's not that the act is particularly cumbersome, but there's just something about taking the time to pull yet another handheld device out of a closet that rightfully earns a collective groan. Isn't that why the robot vacuum has become a well-loved household tool over the past decade?
Then, the inevitable happened: hybrid models, which add mopping to the menu, flooded the market. Now, for many brands smaller than iRobot, Samsung, and Shark, mopping robot vacuums are the norm.
Are mopping robots worth it?
A mopping robot's value is pretty indisputable if it'll do the wet scrubbing that you yourself aren't about to do.
Think about the last time you pulled your mop out of the dark, dark place where it's kept. That's a trick question — most of you probably don't even have that memory. The mop and bucket is a logistical headache. If you're going to pay to take the tedious motion of vacuuming off of your to-do list, you may as well let the same bot finish the job with a nice sparkle. These hybrid bots may not scrub with as much oomph as your own two hands, but they can make your floors shine a bit more than they normally would.
How do robot vacuum mops work?
At their core, robot vacuum-mop combos are really just robot vacuums with an attached water reservoir. Thus, they work just like robot vacuums but dispense water for mopping when they're not sucking up dust. When you want to finish your freshly-vacuumed floors with a shine, you fill the water tank up and attach a cloth or pad to the bottom and the bot will navigate your floors to clean up the extra dirt. Some, of course, are better than others at lifting the cloth when they approach carpet and ceasing water flow automatically.
What should you look for in a robot vacuum mop combo?
Choosing the best robot vacuum mop for you really depends on your lifestyle and the budget you’re working with. Whether you’re looking for something that will tackle big messes with ease, or something that you can set and forget, there are a few key factors to keep in mind:
Battery life — If you’re hoping to swap your mop and bucket for a hybrid robot vacuum, the device you choose should have the battery life to cover your entire surface area, with enough juice left in the tank to seal the hard floors with a wet polish. A 100-minute battery life should be sufficient for most apartments, or if most of your cleaning will be done on a room-by-room basis. Battery life of 170 to 200 minutes isn't hard to find and would be ideal for square footage over 1,500. The best robot vacuums recharge on their own and automatically resume cleaning.
Floor-type sensors — A robot vacuum's ability to adjust suction based on floor type is important even just in the dry sweeping realm. But for robot mops, this is what will keep your carpets from getting soggy. Most hybrids automatically start to mop once their water tank is attached, but only the smarter ones know to pause the water flow and lift their wet cloth above the carpet. Bots that remember your rooms or follow virtual boundaries can be programmed to avoid carpeted areas while mopping altogether.
Smart mapping — A robot vacuum's navigation tech decides whether or not it's equipped to adhere to virtual boundaries (or stuck with those ugly magnetic strips). Currently, the golden standard is LiDAR: a laser that scans different points in your home to determine where walls are. Once the robot vacuum has made its rounds and got its bearings, it draws a floor plan that you can refer to in the app to send the bot to clean specific rooms or set up zones that you'd like the bot to avoid, like a pile of toys or your pet's water bowl.
Dust bin size and automatic emptying — You’ll want to make sure the dust bin and water reservoir in your robot vacuum-mop combo are an appropriate match for your home. If you’re living in a flat, apartment, or other small space, you probably won’t need a massive vacuum reservoir. If you’re hoping to cover an entire house, you’ll probably want to look for something that you won’t have to empty out after every single cleaning session. A self-emptying vacuum would be ideal, which automatically empties its debris into a dock and leaves you off the hook for a month or two.
There are of course other things to keep in mind, like price and storage, but this is a good place to start.
What is the best robot vacuum and mop?
We’ve outlining some of the top-rated robot mop combos on the market right now — including the standout features that set them apart. If a model listed below looks awesome but out of your price range, click on it. Amazon is known to inflate original prices and keep things permanently on sale for upwards of £200 off.
These are the best robot vacuum mops in 2022.
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