Amazon robot vacuum deals for hardwood floors
Best Buy robot vacuum deals for hardwood floors parquet laminate flooring
Walmart robot vacuum deals for hardwood floors
Arguably the most flex-worthy of all floor types, hardwood deserves attention both in terms of compliments and in terms of cleaning. It's basically begging for the daily care that you may not feel like providing, but that a good robot vacuum will.
Robot vacuums for hardwood floors should not only leave your home looking clean (duh), but they should also clean without leaving behind any scratches. And in a perfect world, they will also make your hard floors shine. When the vacuum is done, your floors should look like you just applied a fresh coat of polish and elbow grease, all without getting up from the couch.
Any avowed hardwood floor enthusiast is likely to be just as meticulous about dried shoe prints, wine spills, or that stubborn thin layer of dust as they are about visible, chunky debris. A robot mop's wet scrub tops off a robot vacuum's dry sweep with a satisfying shine, lapping up minuscule particles as well as spot-cleaning spills when necessary. That's why we recommend a robot vacuum and mop for hardwood and tile floors.
To find the best robot vacuum for hardwood floors, we tested out our favorite vacuums on combination flooring types, paying special attention to how well they treated hard floors and cleared away pet hair.
Here are our top picks for the best robot vacuums for wood floors in 2023:
Read our full review of the Roomba Combo j7+.
The Roomba Combo j7+ is for folks who are down to pay a little extra to skip scanning the floor for phone chargers or socks before sending their robot vacuum on a cleaning run.
The j7+ isn't the vacuum for high-pile carpets, but its performance on low-pile and hard floors (and an ability to easily switch between those surfaces) is reliable, especially with Dirt Detection that triggers multiple passes across serious messes.
The Combo j7+ is the first truly hybrid model from iRobot, and its value lies not only in its cleaning (which is certainly satisfactory) but in its object avoidance. The Combo j7+ looks nearly identical to the original, but with the addition of what looks like the spoiler on a sports car. That's the retractable mop.
iRobot's PrecisionNavigation allows the j7+ to perceive obstacles that other robot vacuums plow right into. Those smarts extend to sensing carpet in mop mode, too: Instead of letting the mop hover and risking drips, the Combo j7+ lifts its mop on top of the vacuum itself. It's the botvac to get if you're nervous about pet waste being smeared or about a shoe being dragged across the floor.
Finally, unlike most robot vacuums, the j7+ uses dual brush rolls, which help it scoop up debris from a variety of floor types. So whether you're worried about pet hair on hardwood floors, scuffs on tile, dust hiding inside carpets, or all of the above, this vacuum is up to the challenge.
Read our full review of the Roborock S7.
We recommend the Roborock S7 for people who'd prefer the water stains and footprints on their tile to be treated to a deeper clean than just the light wiping of a cloth.
The mopping feature on many hybrids is a glorified mop dragging. If you'd prefer your tile be treated to a deeper clean, Roborock's sonic mopping actually deploys some elbow grease, scrubbing up to 3,000 times per minute to go after dried-on stains and footprints. You won't have to worry about getting your carpet or rugs wet — VibraRise tech automatically lifts the mop and adjusts suction power if carpet is sensed.
Between that mindful mopping, strong suction, and accurate LiDAR mapping, the Roborock S7 is major for folks dealing with both carpet and hard floors. With its self-empty dock (a wise bundle for people with shedding pets), the S7 and S7+ are budget-friendly triple threats. Because Roborock has several newer models now, the S7 models can almost alway be found with $250 or more discounts.
The Roborock S8 Pro Ultra is ideal for those who want a true hands-off cleaning experience, including not having to touch soggy mopping pads. But as the priciest contender on anyone's list, the S8 Pro Ultra probably isn't a necessary upgrade for small spaces that won't use a ton of mopping water on one round, or anyone who already has the S7 MaxV Ultra.
Roborock takes autonomous care of your hardwood floors past just the mopping itself. Its latest flagship hybrid, the Roborock S8 Pro Ultra, empties its own dust bin, refills its own water tank (swapping dirty water for clean when necessary), and not only washes, but also dries its own mop pads, correcting the biggest downfall of the older S7 MaxV Ultra. The dock, though still obnoxiously sized, has also undergone a chic redesign to better disguise the triad of water tanks. Boosted suction on carpet is also more intense: 6,000 Pa versus the older model's 5,100.
At $1,599.99, the S8 Pro Ultra is currently the most expensive robot vacuum on the mainstream market. Its menu of specs is almost identical to that of the Ecovacs Deebot X1 Omni, which is frequently on sale for less than $1,000 after a year on the market. But even on sale, we'd probably still advise opting for the $1,599.99 Roborock to avoid the IRL frustrations that come with the X1 Omni.
This packed budget model is a stellar find for folks who would like to try the triple threat that is room mapping, mopping, and automatic emptying, but who definitely don't want to spend more than $500. With patience and the acceptance of clearing obstacles off the floor before starting a cleaning, the Yeedi Vac Station could be a game changer.
Autonomous wet and dry cleaning plus auto-emptying is typically a pricey checklist, but this Yeedi makes the whole process hands-free for less than $400 on sale (which it almost always is).
The presence of room mapping is also impressive at such a practical price point, despite undercooked quirks like only having the capacity to hold a map of one story at a time. The shaky navigation is less annoying when you can still enjoy the convenience of targeting specific rooms and setting virtual boundaries in the app.
Read our full review of the Shark AI Ultra 2-in-1 vacuum cleaner.
We suggest the Shark AI Ultra 2-in-1 if your main concern with a robot mop is whether it actually scrubs (and can do so with more than water) and can be sent to specific rooms in a map on command. The AI Ultra 2-in-1 will be particularly appealing to anyone who doesn't want to spend more than $500, as even the model with a self-emptying dock can be found under $500 on sale.
The AI Ultra 2-in-1 is probably best for homes without a heavy rug situation, as the bot requires you to manually point out rugs or carpets in the app and can't vacuum while the water tank is attached.
Shark wasn't a competitive player in the hybrid game until a release in October 2022. The latest Shark AI Ultra 2-in-1 rocks improvements galore over several predecessors (like adding a mop to Shark's smartest model) and can be purchased with or without a self-empty dock.
The Matrix Clean system shines during both wet and dry cleaning, making this an ideal hardwood floor robot vacuum and mop. In Matrix mode, you can see the AI Ultra 2-in-1's mopping pad pulsate back and forth across hard floors — if you watched for a minute straight, you'd see it vibrate 1,000 times. Matrix mode also impacts the movement of the vacuum itself: once you've designated a spot, the AI Ultra 2-in-1 will mop in large circles to ensure it doesn't miss a spot. The vac completes the same crosshatch pattern during dry vacuuming, loosening and lifting debris from multiple angles and delivering 30 percent better carpet cleaning compared to the older RV Shark models.
Read our full review of the Eufy G30 Hybrid.
The Eufy G30 Hybrid is best for those whose wood floors only span a room or two and don't require more than a light gloss to grab daily dust or the wiping up of an occasional spill.
Of the many options on Eufy's long and confusing list of various robot vacuums and hybrid models, the G30 Hybrid satisfies the basic suction and mopping checklist for people who don't want go all out on a robot mop purchase.
The G30 can’t create a map of your home, which means no smart room mapping for specific room targeting or zone cleaning. In addition, the 2,000 Pa suction power is on the low end for a robot vacuum in 2023. However, this could be a fine choice for apartment dwellers who don't have many rooms or much carpeting, anyway, and just want a quiet robot vacuum for reliable daily upkeep. For a smarter robot vacuum from Eufy, consider the more expensive L35 Hybrid+ (which has an automatic emptying option).
The Mashable shopping team has tested dozens of robot vacuums from brands such as iRobot, Roborock, Ecovacs, Yeedi, and Shark. These reviews have included the latest high-end models as well as budget robot vacuums. Whenever we test a new robot vacuum, we spend a minimum of two to three weeks analyzing how well it cleans a variety of floor types. Based on these cleaning tests, we can then consider them for inclusion in reviews like this.
Obviously, robot vacuums for hard floors need to be able to clean effectively without leaving scratches or damaging precious hardwood. They should also be able to clean up common types of debris such as dust and pet hair.
Our testing revealed that two features were especially important when choosing robot vacuums for hardwood floors: powerful suction and mopping. Without sufficient suction, robovacs will push around debris without sucking it up into the dustbin. And without mopping, these vacuum cleaners could only provide a surface-level clean.
Other factors we take into consideration when testing robot vacuums include:
LiDAR and room mapping capabilities
Overall user and app experience
Special features such as onboard cameras or self-cleaning
Cat and dog hair cleaning
In general, robotic vacuum cleaners will perform better on your hard floors. If you want a vacuum that can handle both hard floors and carpets, then we recommend investing in mid-range or high-end robot vacuums with strong suction power.
Given the velcro-like grasp that carpet fibers can have on debris, most robot vacuums do perform better on smooth flooring like hardwood, tile, and laminate floors than on carpet. But the fact that hair, crumbs, or kitty litter have nothing to get stuck in can also pose a problem: debris slides across the floor like a tumbleweed, and not every combination of suction power, brush rolls, and side brushes is competent enough to grab that debris instead of pushing it around.
All robot mops (including hybrid robot vacuum-robot mops, like the ones listed below) are able to mop with just water, alleviating concerns about topcoat-damaging ingredients like vinegar, ammonia, or other alkaline products. Brands like iRobot, Shark, and Roborock do offer a dedicated hard surface cleaning solution that better breaks up grime and leaves a fresh smell behind if you'd prefer an amplified clean. Aside from the solutions designed for these specific vacuums, instructions typically strongly advise against adding any other type soap to the water tank to avoid messing with the vacuum's interior parts.
As for worries of nicks in your maple, robot vacuums are purposefully designed to work on hardwood floors without scratching them. They have rubber wheels and gentle rubber brushes that pull in dirt without gnawing at your floors. Most recent models, even ones that aren't super advanced otherwise, also have carpet detection features that will avoid using their most intense, potentially-scratchy suction on floors that aren't plush. Connected robot vacuum apps also typically allow for manual toggling of cleaning intensity in the areas of your choice.
The latest robot vacuums aren't the lazy bumper cars that you may have heard about or experienced in the past. The right ones are beasts.
Many higher-end robot vacuums do have heightened dirt detection features that help them to scope out problem areas that require extra attention. Smart robot vacuums that navigate based on a self-made map of your home actually know where they're going and can be sent to certain rooms on your command. Otherwise, the method is essentially a random "hope this works" pattern that covers less than the side-by-side lines you would probably do if you were the one controlling the vacuum. Though the robots try to hit every spot with this method, they're bound to miss every now and then.
Leah Stodart is a Senior Shopping Reporter at Mashable. She covers shopping trends, gift ideas, and products that make life easier, specializing in vacuums, TVs, and sustainable swaps. She graduated from Penn State University in 2016 and is watching horror movies or "The Office" when she’s not shopping online herself. You can follow her on Twitter at @notleah.
Oak Miller Kern is the Deputy Reviews Editor at Mashable, where she's been covering products and shopping since 2019. If there's a hot new product or a trend going viral on TikTok, Miller's ready to put it through the wringer to see if it's worth the hype.