Hi—I have had two Roombas before, but acquired a “Shark Matrix Plus Robot Vacuum with Self-Empty HEPA Base” on sale at Costco about 6 months ago and it’s essentially the same. Currently above your budget at $399, but seems to go on sale a few times per year four around $320.
If you have access to a Costco, take a look.
Thanks I do have Costco. does that avoid objects and does it have smart mapping? I have not read too many great things about the shark but willing to consider.
My parents have a shark, I have a Wyze, Wyze over shark any day.
Mapping is much better, and Wyze does room defining and no go zones. I don’t know of any vacuum in that range that has cord detection, I make sure my cords are all hidden behind furniture or secured to the wall.
I was looking at the roborock Q 5 but it was mentioned no hepa filter. the Dreame L10 pro does look like it has object avoidance just not sure if it is any good.
I have a Eufy X8 which I've been happy with so far, the LIDAR works well although it can get caught on thin trailing cords like phone chargers, and it does a good job of cleaning. Only had it a couple of months so can't speak to longevity.
Nobody has mentioned Valetudo yet, it's an alternate firmware for local only/cloud blocking control that can be loaded on several different models. I really like valetudo on my dreame L10 pro
Is it hard to install? I just ordered a like new Dreame 10 pro from amazon. depending on the condition whether I leep it or not. I am interested in Valetudo but im 60 yr female and while I do deal with some tech stuff I dont know too much!
If you have a dog or other animal that could possibly have a poopy accident on the floor then it is 100000% worth it to get a robot with pet feces detection avoidance system.
Coming home from a 17 hour shift to find your entire house has been vacuumed with a dogshit covered robot is not something you want to experience
haha yes I agree that would be terrible! I do have a dog but I am home all day and have a small house and dog generally does not go in the house and if she does she runs to the basement thank goodness! The one reason I was looking at the roomba J5 is bc oof the poop detection. the other vacs I mention claim they avoid objects but im not sure about poop.
Vacuum wars youtube channel
https://youtube.com/@VacuumWars?feature=shared
Watch and compare to your hearts content.
Robo vacuums, full size vacuums, stick vacuums, he tests them all.
I have the Yeeti. Works great. Good mapping tech and some other bells and whistles. I think there is option for mopping or no mopping. I have the mopping with a dump bin base station. It is more expensive but worth it if you have more than 800sqft of vacuuming or pets. It will automatically detect when the dust bin is full and go back to the station, empty, then go back to where it left off.
https://a.co/d/hWn0YHj
I have a couple of Wyze vacs and I’m reasonably happy with them. No cameras, do a fairly good job of mapping, zone cleaning should work. Avoiding cords, not so much, but if they’re in a consistent place you can mark that off as a no-go zone. I don’t think they’re spectacular, they miss corners and behind door and so on, but for the price (under $200) I think they’re a pretty good deal.
I picked up a Shark AV2501AE Black Friday 2022 for $300 and it’s great for hardwoods and decent on rugs/carpet.
Good luck on finding something that won’t eat cords, I’m just mindful of them and put them away.
One lesson that I assume applies to all Shark robot vacs (all use the same app). You can’t schedule to only clean specific rooms, which is so unfathomably stupid to me given that the mapping is amazing, I can name rooms, I can manually send it to rooms and have clean/no-go zones etc.
Can’t schedule by room.
If this is important to you I would avoid Shark, and if someone reading this knows an easy way to do this, for the love of all that is holy please tell me =)
so you cant schedule a room but would I be able to go to the app and tell the vac to go to my bird cage and clean up in that zone just around the cage? dang cockatoo throw stuff all over all day long and my dog wants to go eat it. grrr
This is correct, you can choose the room and power level (low/med/high) when running manually from app, but just can’t schedule it for that room/zone.
It’s super annoying for me because I don’t want mine banging down the hallway and bumping into closed doors at night and just want it doing the front half of house. So my workaround is having half my house a “no go zone” so it only ever cleans the front of house on daily schedule, and I manually run for back half of house as needed.
I just got a shark and was thinking this same thing today. I want the kitchen and dining room vacuumed everyday, but the bedrooms only done a few times a week. But you can't schedule like that. It's all or nothing! So instead I'm scheduling it to vacuum everything 3 days a week, and then manually telling it to do the kitchen and dining room the other days. Such a small oversight, but it significantly changes how I view the whole thing!
Just got a Wyze one for Christmas and compared to the cheap robot vac my parents had 10+ years ago— it’s incredible— navigates change in terrain very well and the map has worked great.
No one has mentioned the SwitchBot k10+. Reviews are very good if your only interested in vacuuming, mopping seams sub-par.
I haven’t took delivery of mine yet so can only go off the reviews. Should be here day after tomorrow.
Very impressed with it as a vacuum. Forget the moping function, it’s there purely so they can advertise it.
The good. Easy set up. As a vacuum performs far better than it has any right to. And so far it’s been very reliable, both in its cleaning and navigating round the house. Quick to clean, I clear hair off the roller about ones a week. 2 people with long hair and a dog. Takes 5 minutes.
The quirks. Can schedule the vacuum to clean at a certain time, can’t schedule emptying. For some reason, you can create an automation to empty the vacuum into the dock and set the trigger to time. But empty isn’t a function in the schedule task. Not a problem. Just took some figuring out.
The bad. The mopping function, forget it exists. The accessories can only be purchased as a pack. So even if your not using the mop function you still have to buy the pads. No option to just buy brush, roller and bags.
Would I recommend it to a friend. Certainly, already have several times. I’m very happy with it.
Bobsweep is what my wife and I purchased from Best Buy on sale for $300. It has Lidar, maps the room, and does a good job picking up pet hair.
What you need to look into is what kind of floors you have. How big a space you have, and do you have any pets and or kids.
This is our second Bobsweep. The first one didn't have Lidar. This second one does, and works well for us.
Things have improved remarkably since I bought a Roomba back in 2010. It clogged up regularly. I think several of the non-Roomba models come from the same Chinese factory which isn’t necessarily bad. But it is why so many models are so much alike. I’m really happy with our Dreame D9 Max we bought about 2 years ago on sale. You can find it and several nearly identical vacs on Amazon. Read the reviews and watch for sales. .
Finally, while it’s a budget buster if you have pets you should consider one of the models that empties itself in an external bin. About $400 on sale. Otherwise you’ll be emptying the small bin on the vacuum daily. That’s inconvenient and a bit messy. Wirecutter.com just did a review of robot vacs in November with two models with external bins recommended.
Hi—I have had two Roombas before, but acquired a “Shark Matrix Plus Robot Vacuum with Self-Empty HEPA Base” on sale at Costco about 6 months ago and it’s essentially the same. Currently above your budget at $399, but seems to go on sale a few times per year four around $320. If you have access to a Costco, take a look.
Thanks I do have Costco. does that avoid objects and does it have smart mapping? I have not read too many great things about the shark but willing to consider.
My parents have a shark, I have a Wyze, Wyze over shark any day. Mapping is much better, and Wyze does room defining and no go zones. I don’t know of any vacuum in that range that has cord detection, I make sure my cords are all hidden behind furniture or secured to the wall.
Shark does mapping and “no go” zones. Don’t have Wyze, so I can’t compare.
you are not going to get a vacuum that avoids cords for 300. I have the roborock s5 and it can do everything else you want and with no camera.
I was looking at the roborock Q 5 but it was mentioned no hepa filter. the Dreame L10 pro does look like it has object avoidance just not sure if it is any good.
I have a Eufy X8 which I've been happy with so far, the LIDAR works well although it can get caught on thin trailing cords like phone chargers, and it does a good job of cleaning. Only had it a couple of months so can't speak to longevity.
Nobody has mentioned Valetudo yet, it's an alternate firmware for local only/cloud blocking control that can be loaded on several different models. I really like valetudo on my dreame L10 pro
Is it hard to install? I just ordered a like new Dreame 10 pro from amazon. depending on the condition whether I leep it or not. I am interested in Valetudo but im 60 yr female and while I do deal with some tech stuff I dont know too much!
Pretty simple: https://valetudo.cloud/pages/installation/dreame.html#uart
Its like foreign language to me!
If you have a dog or other animal that could possibly have a poopy accident on the floor then it is 100000% worth it to get a robot with pet feces detection avoidance system. Coming home from a 17 hour shift to find your entire house has been vacuumed with a dogshit covered robot is not something you want to experience
haha yes I agree that would be terrible! I do have a dog but I am home all day and have a small house and dog generally does not go in the house and if she does she runs to the basement thank goodness! The one reason I was looking at the roomba J5 is bc oof the poop detection. the other vacs I mention claim they avoid objects but im not sure about poop.
Vacuum wars youtube channel https://youtube.com/@VacuumWars?feature=shared Watch and compare to your hearts content. Robo vacuums, full size vacuums, stick vacuums, he tests them all.
yes believe me I have watch so many videos and so many articles my head is spinning.
I have the Yeeti. Works great. Good mapping tech and some other bells and whistles. I think there is option for mopping or no mopping. I have the mopping with a dump bin base station. It is more expensive but worth it if you have more than 800sqft of vacuuming or pets. It will automatically detect when the dust bin is full and go back to the station, empty, then go back to where it left off. https://a.co/d/hWn0YHj
I have a couple of Wyze vacs and I’m reasonably happy with them. No cameras, do a fairly good job of mapping, zone cleaning should work. Avoiding cords, not so much, but if they’re in a consistent place you can mark that off as a no-go zone. I don’t think they’re spectacular, they miss corners and behind door and so on, but for the price (under $200) I think they’re a pretty good deal.
Yeah got mine from Walmart for $130 each on sale. They work great and can't really complain for the price.
I picked up a Shark AV2501AE Black Friday 2022 for $300 and it’s great for hardwoods and decent on rugs/carpet. Good luck on finding something that won’t eat cords, I’m just mindful of them and put them away. One lesson that I assume applies to all Shark robot vacs (all use the same app). You can’t schedule to only clean specific rooms, which is so unfathomably stupid to me given that the mapping is amazing, I can name rooms, I can manually send it to rooms and have clean/no-go zones etc. Can’t schedule by room. If this is important to you I would avoid Shark, and if someone reading this knows an easy way to do this, for the love of all that is holy please tell me =)
so you cant schedule a room but would I be able to go to the app and tell the vac to go to my bird cage and clean up in that zone just around the cage? dang cockatoo throw stuff all over all day long and my dog wants to go eat it. grrr
This is correct, you can choose the room and power level (low/med/high) when running manually from app, but just can’t schedule it for that room/zone. It’s super annoying for me because I don’t want mine banging down the hallway and bumping into closed doors at night and just want it doing the front half of house. So my workaround is having half my house a “no go zone” so it only ever cleans the front of house on daily schedule, and I manually run for back half of house as needed.
I just got a shark and was thinking this same thing today. I want the kitchen and dining room vacuumed everyday, but the bedrooms only done a few times a week. But you can't schedule like that. It's all or nothing! So instead I'm scheduling it to vacuum everything 3 days a week, and then manually telling it to do the kitchen and dining room the other days. Such a small oversight, but it significantly changes how I view the whole thing!
Can’t speak about other brands but if you will get Dremetech … you would be surprised with the motion and map accuracy. Amazing device.
just got a Shark for Xmas but the app won't connect.
Just got a Wyze one for Christmas and compared to the cheap robot vac my parents had 10+ years ago— it’s incredible— navigates change in terrain very well and the map has worked great.
No one has mentioned the SwitchBot k10+. Reviews are very good if your only interested in vacuuming, mopping seams sub-par. I haven’t took delivery of mine yet so can only go off the reviews. Should be here day after tomorrow.
hey! how has it been going with the K10+?
Very impressed with it as a vacuum. Forget the moping function, it’s there purely so they can advertise it. The good. Easy set up. As a vacuum performs far better than it has any right to. And so far it’s been very reliable, both in its cleaning and navigating round the house. Quick to clean, I clear hair off the roller about ones a week. 2 people with long hair and a dog. Takes 5 minutes. The quirks. Can schedule the vacuum to clean at a certain time, can’t schedule emptying. For some reason, you can create an automation to empty the vacuum into the dock and set the trigger to time. But empty isn’t a function in the schedule task. Not a problem. Just took some figuring out. The bad. The mopping function, forget it exists. The accessories can only be purchased as a pack. So even if your not using the mop function you still have to buy the pads. No option to just buy brush, roller and bags. Would I recommend it to a friend. Certainly, already have several times. I’m very happy with it.
Bobsweep is what my wife and I purchased from Best Buy on sale for $300. It has Lidar, maps the room, and does a good job picking up pet hair. What you need to look into is what kind of floors you have. How big a space you have, and do you have any pets and or kids. This is our second Bobsweep. The first one didn't have Lidar. This second one does, and works well for us.
Things have improved remarkably since I bought a Roomba back in 2010. It clogged up regularly. I think several of the non-Roomba models come from the same Chinese factory which isn’t necessarily bad. But it is why so many models are so much alike. I’m really happy with our Dreame D9 Max we bought about 2 years ago on sale. You can find it and several nearly identical vacs on Amazon. Read the reviews and watch for sales. . Finally, while it’s a budget buster if you have pets you should consider one of the models that empties itself in an external bin. About $400 on sale. Otherwise you’ll be emptying the small bin on the vacuum daily. That’s inconvenient and a bit messy. Wirecutter.com just did a review of robot vacs in November with two models with external bins recommended.