The current Vacuum Wars Best Budget Robot Vacuum For Hard Floors (Hardwood, Tile Floors, Laminate Flooring) ranking based on our own independent evaluation.
Eufy L60
TOp Performer
Eufy L60 with Self-Empty Station
Hands-Free
iRobot Roomba Combo i5
best Budget for hard floors
iRobot Roomba 694
High PErforming Roomba
iRobot Roomba 692
Great on Hard Floors
Discovering the Ideal Inexpensive Robot Vacuum for Hard Floors
Looking for a robot vacuum that’s easy on the wallet and good for cleaning hard floors like hardwood, tile, or laminate? You might not get all the fancy features of the expensive ones, but you can still find a vacuum that gets the job done well. Here’s a simple guide to help you choose a budget-friendly robot vacuum that’s right for your home.
Suction Power
A robot vacuum needs enough suction power to pick up all the dust, pet hair, and crumbs it encounters. It turns out that even the less expensive robot vacuums can be pretty good at this. While they might not have the strongest suction or the agitating brush rolls that are particularly helpful with carpets, many will still clean hard floors well.
Navigation and Battery Life are a Team
Budget robot vacuums usually utilize random navigation, where they wander around the area in random patterns. This means they might take a bit longer to clean everything since they don’t use a map of the room as they go. They can still get around to cleaning the whole area; it just might not be as quick or as planned out as the more expensive vacuums. This means that you will want a robot vacuum with a good battery life so that it will be more likely to finish the area before the battery is depleted.
Robot Vacuum Smart Features
Budget robot vacuums are starting to come with some smart features. You might be able to start them, schedule cleaning times, or check on their progress with an app on your phone. This means you may find it easier to use your robot vacuum and customize your cleaning routines – which should lead to more frequent vacuuming and a cleaner home.
Mopping Capabilities
A robot vacuum with mopping capabilities will be helpful with dried-on residues and fine dust. While mopping capabilities found on a budget robot vacuum will be simpler than what is found in more advanced models, it’s still a positive add-on that will help you maintain cleaner floors.
Robot Vacuums with Auto Empty Bins
It doesn’t seem too long ago that auto-empty bins were strictly for premium robot vacuums, but they are starting to become more prevalent in budget robot vacuums now as well. A vacuum that empties itself into a bigger bin at its charging station means you don’t have to deal with the dustbin as often and you may just be more likely to run the vacuum more often since you are “hands free.” Provided that the robot vacuum is doing its job well, this is really handy.
Conclusion
You don’t have to spend a lot of money to get a robot vacuum that cleans hard floors, laminate floors, or hardwood floors well. Look for one with good suction, enough battery life to clean your rooms, and some smart features to make things easier. They might move around in random patterns and not have fancy mapping, but they’ll still clean your floors. If you can spend a little more for an auto-empty bin, we think you may be happy with that too. Choosing a vacuum like this means you can keep your home clean without spending too much.
Still robot vacuum shopping? Check out our robot vacuum reviews, comparisons and guides.