The best cheap vacuum cleaners for 2025

How we test robot vacuum cleaners

Our method for evaluating robot vacuum cleaners is simple, but amazing. There are two types of tests we run. The first process is to discover how well a robot covers the floor while cleaning. We have built an industry standard test room as specified by the International Electrotechnical Commission for this purpose only. The IEC is an international standards body responsible for managing robot vacuum test procedures, among other things, for vacuum manufacturers.

Inside this room are objects designed to simulate the typical obstacles that a robot vacuum cleaner encounters to navigate while cleaning. These obstacles include wall edges, table and chair legs, sofas and other furniture, and so on, plus bare tiles and wood floors, as well as carpets. We mount LED lights at 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 have a light trail, created by LEDs, that shows the exact areas where the robot traveled (and its object position) during its runtime. We can also see the areas of the floor where the vacuum can be missed or stuck. You can see the browsing 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 a vacuum is able to pick up from the floor. To imitate small particle soil, we use a mixture of play sand and landscape sand. For the larger granular soil, we use raw black rice grains. The robots then run straight across three types of floors (low pile carpet, medium pile carpet and bare wood floors).

We also check for the specific width of the nozzles of each vacuum. We built an adjustable tool to ground our test floors. It allows us to place a strip of a precise area of ​​land to match the dimensions of the nozzles for each robot. The land mass is not chosen at random. We measure a proportional amount that is related to the material of the floor, the type of debris, plus the width of each vacuum mouth.

We do three cleaning runs (at least) for each type of floor. We also run cleaning tests with sand and rice separately. That comes to at least 18 heads per robot vac. We weigh the dust of the robot before and after each run. From there we can calculate the percentage of debris collected for each cleaning run and the average amount of dirt that a machine manages to remove. Also, we ran anecdotal (visual) pet hair tests for each robot, on all three floor types.

Our test of rice-based medium-sized particles didn’t show enough differentiation between each cleaner, which says they can all handle larger particles without problems. For fur removal for pet owners, we judge anecdotally.

How we test cordless vacuum cleaners

Putting cordless vacuum cleaners through their paces is not as complicated as it seems try a robot vacuum cleaner cleaner, but it still takes a lot of time and careful effort to find the best cordless vacuum cleaner. We make each vacuum in a straight line across three different surfaces (hardwood, low pile carpet, midpile carpet). On all three test beds, the test area is the same length (30.25 inches).

As in robot testing, the width of the test bed is proportional to the width of the vacuum nozzle. We measure this width ourselves. We also use the width of the nozzles, plus the type of floor, to calculate the density of the soil for each test, for the IEC lines. We use the same types of soil here too; sand, rice and animal hair. We do three runs (at least) for each type of floor. We also test the suction power with sand and rice separately. That comes to at least 18 tests per vacuum. We weigh the vacuum cleaner dust 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 that a vacuum manages to remove. In addition, we do anecdotal (visual) tests for pet hair for each vacuum cleaner, on all three types of floors to help you select the best cordless vacuum cleaner.