The best all-in-one robot vacuum deals happening for Prime Day
Robot vacuums have come a long way since their bump-and-roll days, when they had to be rescued whenever they encountered a sock or a particularly scary-looking chair leg.
Today, high-end robot vacs have advanced sensors that help them nimbly navigate your home, charging docks that suck the dirt out of the bin so you don’t have to get your hands messy, and self-filling water tanks so they can mop more of your floor in one clean.
The problem with all these fancy features is that they can cost over $1,000 for the privilege of less hands-on time with your floor cleaner. However, this Prime Day, we’re seeing the first serious discounts on several of these high-end, multifunctional cleaning robots.
Both the Roborock and the Dreame are slightly older models, but as I point out in my guide to budget robot vacuums, going with a generation or two behind the current model is the best way to score a great price on a great robot vac. These vacuums should last years, so it’s not like buying last season’s Prada slip-ons.
The Roomba Combo j9 Plus is iRobot’s top-of-the-line model and my top pick if you’re looking for a Roomba. While it doesn’t have as many fancy features as the Roborock or Dreame, it is a very powerful vacuum and has the best AI-powered obstacle navigation of any robot vacuum I’ve tested.
Its dock also looks really nice (comparatively), and its retractable mopping system — while quite small — works well. Roombas are also some of the most repairable robots I’ve tested, meaning you can keep them running for years.
The Dreame L20 Ultra was my top pick for a robot vacuum and mop until Dreame launched the X30 Ultra, followed quickly by the X40 Ultra. (Yes, I think they may be breeding.) But both will cost you over $1,000, whereas the still-excellent L20 is only $699 today.
The L20 has many of the same features as its siblings, including oscillating mop pads that automatically disengage when vacuuming carpet and that can extend to scrub your baseboards. You can read more about the differences between the L20 and the others in my review of the X30.
The Roborock S7 Max Ultra is not Roborock’s top-of-the-line robot vac (that’s the S8 MaxV Ultra, which is not on sale), but it’s a very capable bot. It’s a version of the excellent but now discontinued S7 MaxV Ultra. The most noticeable difference is that it doesn’t have a camera; instead, it uses 3D lasers to spot objects it needs to avoid while cleaning your floors.
The S7’s sonic mopping made it the first robot vacuum I tested that could really mop your floors rather than just drag a damp cloth around. While others have caught up since (after all, the S7 is two years old), it still does a great job. Roborock also has the best app of all the robot vacuum makers, with tons of customization features that are easy to access.
