Best Robotic Vacuum-Mop Combos, Lab-Tested and Reviewed
Just two models—from Dreame and Samsung—earn our recommendation
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It’s great to have a robot vacuum that can help you sweep up your floors, but, as useful as they might be, they’re not designed to tackle wet messes such as spills or your dog’s muddy paw prints. A robotic vacuum-mop combo, however, is well-suited for these scenarios.
Recently, we’ve seen a surge in the popularity of robotic units that feature both vacuuming and mopping functions. These 2-in-1 products are a growing trend among cleaning devices generally, from stick vacuums that handle both wet and dry messes to all-in-one washer-dryer combinations, says CR market analyst Allie Chilicki.
Many new robotic vacuums now have a mop built into them, and depending on the manufacturer, are marketed as “2-in-1,” “hybrid,” or “combo” machines. While these robotic vacuum-mop combo units are supposedly more convenient and versatile in their cleaning functions than their robotic vacuum–only counterparts, many also come at a higher price, Chilicki says.
We test these robotic vacuum-mop combo units primarily on how well they vacuum up debris, mop up stains, navigate through spaces, and avoid obstacles. (We’ll dive into more details of how we test robot vacuums and mops at the end of this article.) What we’ve found is that the mopping abilities of these units vary greatly. Models with spinning mop heads that agitate stains tend to clean more effectively, according to Paolo Fu, the project lead for testing of robot vacuums and mops at CR.
We also noticed that current robotic vacuum-mop combos aren’t as effective at vacuuming carpets as the dedicated robot vacuums we’ve tested. The combo units struggle to suck up debris from carpets, offering middling performance at best. If you don’t have many carpeted areas in your home, most of these hybrid units do a solid job of vacuuming bare floors and picking up pet hair in addition to mopping.
Based on our test results, we currently recommend two robotic vacuum-mop combos, shown below in alphabetical order. Both are ahead of the pack when it comes to mopping up wet messes. They’re also above par in their vacuuming abilities and are easy to use.
If you’re curious about how all the combo units we tested perform, consult our full ratings of robotic vacuum-mop combos. It should be noted that, as good as a robotic vacuum or a combo unit is at cleaning, these appliances are still designed primarily for routine cleaning and touching up your floors. For a deep-cleaning session, especially if you have carpets, you’ll need an upright or a canister vacuum to do the job. Check out our comprehensive vacuum ratings, which include our reviews of upright, canister, stick, robot, and handheld models from more than 20 brands.
The Dreame L40 Ultra isn’t the cheapest robotic vacuum-mop combo we tested, but we found its performance nearly as impressive as the Samsung Jet Bot VR7MD96514G below, which costs up to three times a much. It’s top-notch at vacuuming up pet hair and debris from bare floors. It’s also a speedy cleaner. In our tests, it takes around an hour to vacuum and mop a 600-square-foot room, which is significantly less time than it takes for most of the models we tried. (The higher-rated Samsung, for one, takes twice as much time.) However, its mopping ability isn’t as effective as that of the Samsung, although it’s still very good compared with the other models.
The Dreame L40 Ultra’s base station automatically empties dirt from the dustbin, washes and dries the mopping pads, and refills the vacuum with water and cleaning solution. There’s a camera on the vacuum that allows you to monitor and interact with your pets when you’re not home. You can purchase a TriCut Brush separately, which automatically cuts and directs human and pet hair to the vacuum’s dust box, minimizing the chances of hair getting tangled in the brush roll.
Yes, the Samsung Jet Bot VR7MD96514G is definitely on the pricier side, but it demonstrated that it can earn its keep: Its mopping ability is the best among the units we tested, and it’s excellent at removing dried stains. Both contribute to it being the highest-scoring robotic vacuum-mop combo in our ratings. It’s also impressive at vacuuming up debris from bare, non-carpeted floors and picking up pet hair, though it’s only so-so on carpet and at capturing dirt along the edges of a room.
This model comes with a cleaning station that automatically empties the vacuum’s dustbin, refills its water tank, and cleans and dries its mopping pads. It uses lidar sensors to map and navigate through your home. In our tests, it’s decent at covering as much cleaning area as possible and avoiding getting entangled in obstacles.
How CR Tests Robotic Vacuum-Mop Combos
Cleaning efficacy is a significant factor in our testing of robot vacuum-and-mop combos. For our carpet tests, we assess how well these hybrid units pick up debris such as cereal, rice, peas, flour, and hair from medium-pile carpets. For bare-floor cleaning, we scatter sand across laminate flooring and measure the amount the models can vacuum up. We also judge these robotic vacuum-mop combo units’ ability to vacuum up pet hair and clean along the edges and corners of a room. In the mopping tests, we evaluate how effectively they remove dried coffee stains from tile floors.
Other criteria we consider include the robots’ ability to successfully navigate through the spaces of a home and avoid any obstacles that they might encounter, such as power cords and carpet fringes. We also evaluate how easy robotic vacuum-mop combos are to use, judging how difficult it is to remove the vacuum’s dustbin, clean its filter, and empty its water reservoir, as well as whether the model has convenience features such as a charging station that automatically cleans and dries the mops. Given that all robotic vacuum-mop combos have WiFi connectivity, we also score the models on their digital privacy and security measures. Lastly, we consider how noisy each combo unit is when operating on its highest suction setting.
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