Here are the robot vacuums we tested with our new testing methodology that didn’t earn a spot on our main best list. Some of them may still be worth buying for the right use case.
3i S10 Ultra: We haven’t reviewed many robot vacuums from 3i, but the company has some unique offerings including the S10 Ultra, which it claims is the first water recycling robot vacuum in the world. What that means is that it’s capable of purifying and distilling its own wastewater extracted from the robot, as well as utilizing water vapor and condensation from the air to refill the robot’s water tank with clean water. It’s a fascinating implementation that can help cut down on how much water gets wasted on mopping.
In terms of performance, the S10 Ultra is a capable robot vacuum, removing 93.45% of sand from hardwood floor, which is the third highest score on our list. However, carpet performance wasn’t as good, at 37.68% low-pile and 17.68% mid-pile, resulting in a 49.6% average. That said, it has all the key features you’d expect from a higher-end robot vacuum, including advanced lidar navigation, dirt and liquid detection, a self-cleaning spinning roller mop and AI obstacle avoidance. Our lab technician, Schylar Breitenstein, noted that the app wasn’t very user-friendly and that she had issues with connectivity to Wi-Fi. Obstacle avoidance was also a let down, with a complete failure for all six obstacles. The bulky and heavy base station weighs 50 pounds and takes up significant space. All this keeps it off our best list.
Ecovacs Deebot X9 Pro Omni: It comes with premium features, including advanced navigation, an all-in-one docking station, self-emptying and a self-washing mop. In performance, it falls in the middle of the pack, at 88.32% for hardwood, 45.22% for low-pile carpet and 20.87% pickup for mid-pile. This gives it an average of 51.47%, placing it in the top five in terms of performance. Navigation isn’t as strong, with 76.42% room coverage in our heat map and a couple key missed spots. It also only avoided two out of six obstacles, making it hard to recommend with its $1,300 price tag.
Switchbot S20: The Switchbot S20 comes in two models, one with a regular mopping and self-emptying base station and another with a water refill station that can hook up to a water connection similar to a dishwasher. Both will run you $800, making it relatively affordable next to other robovacs we’ve tested. We tested both models, though we weren’t able to fully complete lab testing the water hookup feature. In terms of performance, it’s the second worst robot vacuum we’ve tested, scoring 21.90% on hardwood, 42.9% on low-pile carpet and 10.72% on mid-pile carpet for a average of 25.17%. It does a bit better in navigation, covering 79.3% of the test room, putting it just behind the Mova Z60 and it also excels at obstacle avoidance, managing to avoid five of six obstacles. Unfortunately, weak performance keeps it from earning a recommendation.
Narwal Flow: The $1,500 Narwal Flow is similar to the cheaper SwitchBot S20, with two models that include an auto-refilling base station. Where they differ is in performance. The Flow does better, scoring 93.43% on hardwood, 46.09% on low-pile carpet, but much worse on mid-pile at 8.12%. In navigation, it falls in the middle of the pack at 77.11%. It fares quite poorly at obstacle avoidance, failing to avoid all tested obstacles, which together with the low mid-pile carpet performance, serves to keep it off our list.
Narwal Freo Pro: The Fro Pro is a more affordable alternative to the Flow, running you $700 at full price. In performance, it’s unfortunately a big letdown, scoring the lowest average score at 20.17% pickup across flooring types. It also fares poorly in individual scores at 37.33% hardwood, 20.87% low-pile carpet and 2.32% mid-pile carpet. In room coverage, it managed 73.8%, but there were some notable missed spots compared to other models. In object avoidance, it did better than the Flow, avoiding two of six obstacles.
The Narwal Flow comes in two models: one with an optional water refill and drainage system (right) and one with a regular tank (left).
The Eureka J15 Ultra will run you about $700 at full price, putting it lower than the Dreame X50 Ultra and Mova Z60 Ultra, and even less when it’s on sale but in terms of performance, it didn’t live up to our expectations. While it scored our highest low-pile carpet pickup score at 60.58%, it picked up just 1.74% on mid-pile, oddly giving it our lowest score for that category. It also only picked up 60.58% from hardwood, giving it an average of 40.97%, the third lowest score we tested. Navigation was decent at 76.47% coverage in our test room, but the object avoidance was a complete failure, with the J15 Ultra failing to avoid all six of our test objects.
