The best cheap vacuum cleaners of 2025
We test all vacuums on both wooden floors and carpets.
How we test robot vacuum cleaners
Our method for evaluating robotic vacuum cleaners is simple but exhausting. There are two types of tests we run. The first test is to understand how well a robot covers the floor while cleaning. We have built an industry standard test room as specified by International Electrotechnical Commission for this purpose only. The IEC is an international standards body responsible for managing robot vacuum test procedures for, among other things, vacuum manufacturers.
Say hello to our robot vacuum test room. There are items inside that may seem a bit strange. They are designed to simulate furniture and obstacles that the robot will encounter in the real world.
Inside this room are objects designed to simulate typical obstacles that a robot vacuum cleaner encounters to navigate while cleaning. These obstacles include wall edges, table and chair legs, couches and other furniture, etc., plus bare tile and hardwood floors as well as carpet. We install LED lights on the top of each vacuum cleaner. The dimensions of the lights correspond to the measured nozzle width of each particular robot vacuum we test.
As the robots move through the room while cleaning, an overhead camera captures a long-exposure image of the entire room in low light. This photo will then have a light trail created by the LEDs that shows the exact areas where the robot traveled (and the position of its nozzle) during operation. We can also see areas of the floor where the vacuum may have missed or blocked. You can see the navigation results of all the robot vacuum cleaners in our test group in the gallery below.
The second type of test reveals exactly how much physical debris the vacuum can pick up from the floor. To mimic dirt with a small particle size, we use a mix of play sand and landscaping sand. For the soil with larger particles, we use grains of uncooked black rice. The robots then move in straight-line mode across three types of flooring (low-pile carpet, medium-pile carpet, and bare hardwood floors).
More from our vacuum robot test setup.
We also control the specific nozzle width of each vacuum. We constructed an adjustable soiling tool for our test floors. It allows us to lay down a strip of precise soil area to match the nozzle dimensions for each robot. The soil mass is also not chosen randomly. We measure a proportional amount that is related to the floor material, the type of debris plus the nozzle width of each vacuum cleaner.
We clean three times (at least) on each type of floor. We also perform sand and rice cleaning tests separately. This makes at least 18 tests per robot vacuum cleaner. We weigh the robot’s dust bin before and after each launch. From there, we can calculate the debris collection rate for each sweep and the average amount of dirt the machine manages to remove. We also release anecdotal (visual) pet hair tests for each robot on all three floor types.
Our rice-based test for medium-sized particles didn’t show enough of a distinction between each cleanser, which says they can all handle larger particles without issue. For pet owners, hair removal is anecdotal.
How we test cordless vacuum cleaners
We perform straight line tests on all three floor types.
Cordless vacuum cleaners aren’t as complicated as they seem to be robot vacuum testing cleaner, but it still takes a lot of time and careful effort to find the best cordless vacuum cleaner. We drop each vacuum into a a straight line on three different surfaces (hardwood, low pile carpet, medium pile carpet). On all three test beds, the test area is the same length (30.25 inches).
We tested the vacuum’s ability to clean sand and rice.
Just as with robot tests, the width of the test bed is proportional to the width of the vacuum nozzle. We measure this width ourselves. We also use the nozzle width plus the type of flooring to calculate the soil density for each test, as per IEC guidelines. We use the same types of soils here; sand, rice and pet hair. We perform three runs (at least) on each floor type. We also test the suction power with sand and rice separately. This means at least 18 vacuum tests. We weigh the vacuum cleaner’s dust bin before and after each run.
From there, we can calculate the percentage of dirt and debris picked up for each run and the average amount of dirt the vacuum manages to remove. We also conduct anecdotal (visual) pet hair tests for each vacuum on all three floor types to help us choose the best cordless vacuum.
English