By Bryan Wall
Product Test Journalist | Kaipūrongo Whakamātautau Hautaonga
It seems everyone is jumping on the robot vacuum bandwagon nowadays, with models now available in big box retailers like Briscoes, Mitre 10 and Kmart.
These models tend to be in the lower price bracket, so might seem a good way to start automating your household cleaning.
But should you buy any of them? Are budget bots a time saver or a waste of money?
How we test robot vacuums
We test robot vacuums in our lab for you, scoring models for how well they clean hard floors and carpet, as well as how well they mop (if they have that function).
We also assess how well a model cleans into corners and along edges, if it’s any good at picking up pet hair, and how easy its app is to use. Battery run and charge time are also recorded, so you can see if a model has enough juice to do all its cleaning in one outing.
Looking for a robot vacuum?
Find out how 32 models rated when we tested them.
The worst two robot vacuums
Our two worst-performing robot vacuum cleaners are all budget models.
Rock bottom is the Kmart Anko robotic vacuum MT-300. It has the lowest performance score of all tested models.
Not all budget bots are bad
Thankfully, although some budget robot vacuums perform poorly, you don’t have to spend thousands to get a good home helper.
