Are Robot Mops Actually Good?

Summary

The Wirecutter Show – "Are Robot Mops Actually Good?"

Date: June 19, 2026
Hosts: Christine Cyr Clisset, Caira Blackwell
Guest: Evan Dent (Wirecutter writer)
Producer: Rosie Guerin

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Episode Overview

This episode dives into the evolution of robot vacuums into combination vacuum-mop robots ("robovacs," "robomops," or "combo vac mops") and addresses whether these new devices are actually any good. Wirecutter writer and vacuum guru Evan Dent joins Christine Cyr Clisset to discuss how the category is shifting, who these devices are (and aren't) for, key buying tips ahead of a big sales event, and honest advice on what to expect from modern robot floor cleaners.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Shift to Combo Vacuum-Mop Robots

[02:17–04:42]

• Robot vacuums are now rarely vacuum-only. Nearly all new models are combo units—part vacuum, part mop.
• Evan: “A vacuum-only robot is a rarity now. I think one or two companies still make them.” [03:14]
• The main reason for this shift: Profit and differentiation. With vacuum-only models now so cheap (~$200), there’s little margin for manufacturers. Adding mopping functionality lets companies market "new" features and charge premium prices (sometimes >$1500 for top models).

2. Do Combo Vac-Mops Actually Work?

[04:55–06:18]

• The new robomops are best described as “decent.”
• Evan: “It forestalls bigger cleans ... It’s more of a maintenance cleaner. That’s the same for vacuuming and mopping.” [05:22]
• They’re great for busy people or families: set it and forget it, then return to a floor that’s “pretty much gone” of dirt and crumbs.
• Deep cleaning, sticky messes, or grime? You’ll still need to finish by hand.

3. Suitability for Different Homes

[06:18–07:40]

• Best for homes that are mostly hardwood or hard flooring, with minimal floor height changes.
• Although carpet detection is improving, thin or small rugs are often missed and risk getting mopped.
• These products are originally designed for Asian and European markets (few carpets), so adaptation to American, carpet-rich homes isn’t always seamless.
• Evan: "When they port it over to the States, it’s kind of fitting a square peg into a round hole. That’s probably part of why the carpet detection took so long.” [07:09]

4. Multi-Floor Challenges & Room Mapping

[07:44–09:54]

• Newer robots can save maps for multiple floors, but you’ll need to physically move the device.
• Some companies have attempted creative solutions—like robots with stair-climbing modules (“tank treads”) or even drones (!)—but these are impractical.
• Room-mapping features have become smarter: robots recognize beds, dishwashers, etc., and allow for customizable cleaning routines.
• Evan: "If you have a high-traffic entryway, you could say double mop this.” [09:06]

5. The Bulky Docking Stations

[09:15–09:54]

• Modern combo robots return to a sizable base station that washes and dries mops and has tanks for clean/dirty water and a dust bag.
• This can be inconvenient in small living spaces.
• Evan: “If it wasn’t my job, I wouldn’t really love having one in my home just because it takes up such a big portion of the room it’s in.” [09:44]

6. What to Buy Right Now: Recommendations

[11:48–13:20]

• Best vacuum-only pick: Roborock Q7 M5 Plus (~$300).
  • “It does as well as a thousand-dollar-plus machine just at vacuuming.” [12:10]
• Best value combo pick: Eufy Robot Vacuum Omni E25 (~$600, but look for sales).
  • “Can you set it out and then look at your shiny floors after and contentedly sigh? Yes. And it’s not going to totally break the bank.” [12:57]
• If you already own a vacuum-only robot you like, stock up on replacement parts now (filters, brushes); they may become hard to find as the market shifts away from vacuum-only models.

7. How and When to Get a Good Deal

[13:37–14:39]

• Look for sales during major events: Prime Day (late June), Black Friday, or immediately following a new product launch (as older models drop in price).
• Evan: "For the Roborock Q7 M5 Plus, $220 or under is going to be sort of the best price you’re going to get on that... The Eufy Robot Vacuum Omni E25: $600 or below." [14:02]

8. Why Are They So Expensive?

[15:02–16:14]

• Leading-edge models are loaded with features (e.g., advanced object recognition, multi-pass cleaning, fancy mapping).
• Evan: “It is very advanced tech at the highest level... but also just in terms of being able to navigate around messes that it can’t clean up.” [15:13]
• Some features seem more about signaling high-tech luxury (UV lights, etc.) than real-world cleaning advances.

9. Repairability & Longevity Concerns

[16:39–18:00]

• More features = more parts that can break. Warranties are typically only 1–2 years—not great for costly devices.
• Evan: "If you are proactive about cleaning your sensors, changing your filters... you can expect it to last a few years past that warranty. But in general... there’s just a lot that can fail." [16:47]
• Simple parts from brands like Eufy and iRobot are user-replaceable, but major component failures are often uneconomical to fix.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the new norm:
  "Even the base-level thing is going to have some sort of mopping on it."
  — Evan Dent [03:26]

• On cleaning performance:
  "Decent’s the exactly right word for it. They’re good enough. It forestalls bigger cleans."
  — Evan Dent [05:21]

• On combo robots' origins:
  "All the manufacturers now are based in China, and the United States is sort of far ahead of the rest of the world in terms of carpets and rugs."
  — Evan Dent [07:06]

• On expensive new features:
  "It is very advanced tech at the highest level... Apple-like, in terms of signaling a very high level of tech. When you see the actual things that are being introduced, they’re not that impressive."
  — Evan Dent [15:13]

• On repairability:
  “That’s the other problem with introducing all this mopping. It introduces so many more parts that can fail. So the warranties on these things are typically one to two years. Especially when you buy something so expensive, it’s disappointing.”
  — Evan Dent [16:47]

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Key Timestamps

• 02:17 – What’s changing about robot vacuums, and the vacuum-only model’s decline
• 05:21 – How good are combo vacuum-mops really?
• 06:34 – What kind of floors are best suited?
• 07:06 – Why combo robots are better suited for Asian/European markets
• 08:20 – Multi-floor cleaning and robot portability
• 09:22 – The base station: size, features, and drawbacks
• 12:01 – Evan’s best picks: vacuum-only and robomop combo
• 13:37 – Tips on when and how to get the best price
• 15:02 – Explaining high prices for top-tier models
• 16:39 – Repairability and replacement advice

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Takeaways

• Robot mop-vacs are now the standard; vacuum-only models are vanishing.
• They’re best for hard floors, maintenance cleaning, and light messes—not deep cleaning.
• Expect a fair amount of trial and error with rugs and multi-floor homes.
• Combo robots are expensive; wait for sales, and consider last-gen models for the best value.
• Repairability is limited, and warranties are short given the price—plan for possible replacement 2–4 years down the line.
• For vacuum-only users: stock up on parts while you still can.

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Wirecutter’s full recommendations and reported reviews can be found linked in the show notes or at the Wirecutter website.

Transcript

[Visible Advertiser]

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[Christine Cyrclassette]

I'm Christine Cyrclassette and you're listening to the Wirecutter Show. Hey there, it's Christine. We cover a lot of cleaning advice on this show, probably because we have a ton of great advice and recommendations on our site. And our listeners also seem to have lots of questions about cleaning. Today I'm talking with Wirecutter writer Evan Dent about one of the most iconic cleaning tools of the past few decades, the robot vacuum. Picture it the disc shaped bot that can roll around your home vacuuming up pet hair and Cheerios and dust while you're running errands or at work. If you have a robot vacuum, maybe you love it, maybe you hate it, maybe you're somewhere in between and and if you don't have a robot vac, maybe you've considered getting one wherever you land. The robot vacuum as we know it is probably going away or at least evolving into a new type of bot that combines vacuuming and mopping. I thought it would be a great time to talk with Evan now because one of the best times to buy a vacuum is during a big deals event like Black Friday, Memorial Day or Prime Day, which is coming up next week from June 23rd to the 26th. Evan recently wrote a piece about how robot vacuums are changing and he's going to walk us through what to know if you already own one and you want to extend its life and which models are worth looking for deals on next week and beyond. I'm here with Evan Dent, who tests all types of vacuums and floor care tools for wire cutter. Evan, welcome to the show.

[Evan Dent]

Thanks for having me.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

It's great to have you here. You have tested a lot of vacuums, including dozens of robot vacuums. Many people love or at least appreciate their robot vacuums because they clean automatically, if not always perfectly. I've seen plenty of these in the office bump into furniture nonstop, so I know that they have their errors. But robot vacuums as we know them are really changing. Tell me what is shifting and how

[Evan Dent]

is it shifting so in the last couple years, all these companies that are making robot vacuums have really shifted to these combination robot vac mops. There's no like, good way to say those, but robo combo vac mops, something like that.

[Visible Advertiser]

Yes.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

A little clunky sounding.

[Evan Dent]

Yeah. They vacuum and they mop. So it looks kind of like your typical robot vacuum, but there's a pad or these spinning things on the back of them or a roller mop underneath it and they will go and sort of vacuum and mop at the same time. You can set them to do different things. But a vacuum only robot is a rarity now. I think one or two companies still make them.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

So if you're going out to buy a new robot vacuum at this point, it's most likely that you're going to get one of these combos. Those are the ones that are like the most available right now.

[Evan Dent]

Yes. Even the base level thing is going to have some sort of mopping on it.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Why are manufacturers phasing out this category that just does the vacuuming and adding this mop feature?

[Evan Dent]

Part of it is if you have one, you're probably not going to get another one until it breaks. And then if it breaks, you might just say, I'm done with these entirely. The bottom of that market dropped out so much that a good one is around $200. So there's not a ton of profit incentive for them to keep making better vacuums so they can advertise advancements more easily with the mopping. And say, like this has the newest self washing mop system that we can charge you 1000 bucks for or $1500 for. Whereas just a vacuum, they're kind of topped out at around 200.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Is this manufacturers basically phasing out something that they're not making a lot of money on anymore and trying to add features to these mop vacs so that they can make more money and get people to buy new ones. Like what? Why? Because surely there are people that still just want the vacuum.

[Evan Dent]

They would say that they're making a better product, they're adding functionality so that, oh, this is better at mopping now. And now I can do two things in your home, but it is probably trying to make more money off the product and getting people to buy things

[Christine Cyrclassette]

more frequently because these are pretty expensive at this point. Our recommendation right now is around $600.

[Evan Dent]

Yes. And that's totally middle of the pack on the highest end. Like the newest of the new things that come out, I've seen as high as $1700.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Whoa, that's so expensive. You can buy a really, really nice canister vac or upright vac that cleans incredibly well.

[Evan Dent]

You could buy two.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

You could buy two, yeah. Okay. So these have been out for a few years. I remember us first reviewing them and our first take on the robot mop vax was we didn't like them. We thought they were kind of bad. But clearly things have been developing over the. I gotta know, what do you think about them now? Are they decent? Do you think that they're doing a decent job of vacuuming and mopping?

[Evan Dent]

Decent's the exactly right word for it. They're good enough. It forestalls bigger cleans. If you like having a shiny looking floor, that's sort of what the mop is going to give you. It's not going to get deeper set stains or even grimy kitchen areas. I'll go over after one's done and sort of put my own elbow grease into it and find that I'm still picking up stuff. So it's not perfect. It's more of a maintenance cleaner. That's the same for vacuuming and mopping. And actually the mopping makes them worse at vacuuming because they're slightly higher off the ground to fit that mop. So maintenance cleans in between things or if you're just super busy. Like I've talked to plenty of parents who are just like, I don't have time to do XYZ or you know, quite literally one of my colleagues is like, my kids spilled an entire bowl of milk and cereal and it's like we had to go. So I just set the robot off and eventually it picks it up. Like if you sat by and watched it, you'd be frustrated because it's going around the whole room and not getting everything. But if you don't have the time and you're going, it's fine to just leave it. And then you come back and it's pretty much gone.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

So this is like a something is better than nothing situation, which I've been there with young kids. It's definitely a reality. So what kind of homes are these vac mops good for? Like, if you have a lot of carpeting, is it going to work in your home or do you need to have all hardwood floors?

[Evan Dent]

Mostly hardwood floors. And I would say not a lot of level changes on your floors because you're going to have to sort of pick that thing up and move it along. But they've gotten better at recognizing where a carpet is. And not mopping it. I won't say it's perfect. I have a little thin thing in my kitchen that nine out of ten of them don't recognize. And it just mops it. It's not the end of the world. But, you know, if you had a nicer rug or carpet, you might be annoyed by that.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

I was reading one of your pieces about these machines, and you had mentioned that they are kind of designed for homes in Asia and Europe. Tell me more about that, because I thought that was pretty fascinating.

[Evan Dent]

So all the manufacturers now are based in China, and the United States is sort of far ahead of the rest of the world in terms of carpets and rugs, as opposed to more Asian European homes, which don't have those as much. So it's definitely designed for those Asian and European homes. And then when they port it over to the States, it's kind of fitting a square peg into a round hole. That's probably part of why the carpet detection took so long. It just wasn't something that they were focused on.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

And when you say that the US Is far ahead in terms of carpet, what does that mean?

[Evan Dent]

Just like more. We have way more carpets in homes than the rest of the world.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Yeah. All right. You mentioned these don't handle stairs very well. Tell me more.

[Evan Dent]

That companies are trying these kind of increasingly silly ways to make it so that you don't have to pick up your robot and bring it up the stairs. So three companies have put out these sort of modules that your robot vacuum will go into and then tank tread up the stairs very slowly. Not cleaning the stairs, just going up them. And then that thing will wait at the top of your stairs while it cleans upstairs and then go back down. I saw one company that had a drone for it, which extremely loud. Like, I could hear it from across the convention and not work well there. So I don't think it will work well in homes. But they are thinking of ways to do it.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

So it sounds like at this point, if you want to get one of these, just think about it for one floor. Right. One floor. Or you're gonna need multiple. For many floors. But probably like the floo that gets the most traction.

[Apple Card Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Evan Dent]

I mean, they have capability to save multiple maps. So if you wanted to take the effort to carry it upstairs and let it go, it'll do that. But then you're just going to have to keep doing that or get to. Which is. It's kind of ridiculous, but.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

So can you explain how they can map the different rooms and the different areas that they should be going on in a floor.

[Evan Dent]

They can take hints from what they run into in rooms and figure out what those rooms are. So, like, if it goes into a bed, it'll say bedroom, and if it runs into, like, a dishwasher, it'll say kitchen. So it'll map your home, mark off the different rooms, and then you can set different cleaning schedules or different modes for each of those rooms. So, you know, if you have a high traffic entryway, you could say double mop this. If you have a room with, like, a really nice carpet in it, you could just say, skip this entirely. But they're fairly good at that.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Now, I think that these robot mop vacs have some kind of large sort of like, housing that they return to, right?

[Evan Dent]

Yeah. So the old Roomba used to have this teeny little dock that you could even put under your couch or your table and it would just hide under there when it was done. But now it's this sort of takes up at least a corner of your room. It's a big dock that washes the mops and then dries them. And then it has a clean water tank, a dirty water tank. And most of them now also have a dust bag in them. So it's nice because you don't have to empty them all that often. Maybe like once a month, depending on how often you're using them. But it's not something you can hide away. If it wasn't my job, I wouldn't really love having one in my home just because it takes up such a big portion of the room it's in.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Yeah, that's been what's held me back because I have a relatively small apartment. If I had a bigger house, I wouldn't think twice. I would just do it. But yeah, that's definitely something to keep in mind. Okay, Evan, we're going to take a quick break, and when we're back, we're going to talk about the robovacs and mops that you recommend and what you don't recommend. Stay tuned.

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[Christine Cyrclassette]

Welcome back. We're talking about robovacs with Wirecutter staff writer Evan Dent. Evan, if someone wants to buy a robot vac either for the first time or to replace an older model, what do you recommend getting?

[Evan Dent]

So for a new simple vacuum only Robot, there's the Roborock Q7 M5 Plus. That is a bit of a mouthful. It does technically have a mop on it, but it's completely optional. It's an excellent, excellent robot vacuum. It does as well as a thousand dollar plus machines just at vacuuming and

[Christine Cyrclassette]

that one's about $300, $300 full price

[Evan Dent]

and it often goes on sale. If you have a robot vacuum that you like now, I would just buy extra parts for it while you can. These companies talk a big game about keeping those parts in production, but at any moment they could sort of go off their website and be harder to find. So stock up on extra filters, brushes, that sort of thing, and you can prolong the life of the current robot vacuum you have. And then if you're interested in kind of dipping your toe in a robot vac mop and you want something kind of close to the cutting edge. So the biggest thing of the past couple of years has been this roller mop that is self cleaning. So it goes down, hits the floor, picks up something dirty and then cleans itself before it goes back down. So you are technically always cleaning with clean water, which I think is a lot of people's worry about traditional mopping. So there's a cheaper version of that called the Eufy Robot vacuum Omni E25. Is it going to change your life? No. Can you set it out and then look at your shiny fours after and sort of contentedly sigh? Yes. And it's not going to totally break the bank.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

And if you were going to go with the first category, let's say you were going to go with that Roborock Q7 M5 Plus. Would you also recommend going ahead and buying extra parts at this point?

[Evan Dent]

I think it's always good to get extra parts right at the outset, but I wouldn't worry about it too much with that particular model.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Okay, so I want to talk about a personal obsession, how to get a deal on something. So part of the reason we're covering this right now is that Prime Day is coming up. These Amazon sales events and other sales events are oftentimes a good time to buy vacuums in general. So I'm curious, if somebody is in the market for a mop vac or just a vac, what do you think is a good price point to be looking for around a deals event?

[Evan Dent]

Yeah, so for specific models, I would say the Roborock Q7 M5 plus our deals team says $220 or under is going to be sort of the best price you're going to get on that, and that is a wonderful value. The Eufy Robot Vacuum Omni E25, $600 or below. Again, that's very expensive, but as new models come out, they sort of push these ones further down. So I, I anticipate that that will keep dropping. But $600 below is going to be a good deal for that EUFY Robot Vacuum.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

If somebody, let's say they are curious, they, they are thinking about buying one of these, maybe they're not ready to buy it right now. When are like other good times to buy.

[Evan Dent]

Black Friday is a good one. And then I would also say when new products release. So it's almost like a car dealership where last year's model immediately becomes cheaper when the new one comes out. But it's the most accelerated timeline that I've ever seen. I was told once that they come out every three months and I kind of scoffed at that. And then three months later I went to a trade show and I saw all new robots. So

[Christine Cyrclassette]

they are really expensive. You know, you mentioned earlier that the top of the line ones are 1,700. Even our main pick is $600. And that's just sort of the middle of the road, middle of the Pack. Why are they so expensive?

[Evan Dent]

That's a good question. It is very advanced tech at the highest level in terms of object recognition. So sort of the newest, most expensive ones will go around and it can see what's on your floor, tell you about it. If you lost an object, maybe it could find it for you. But also just in terms of being able to navigate around messes that it can't clean up, or like deciding to take on a second pass or a third pass because it can't handle that stain in one pass. So just the sort of knowledge on the machines and then the robotic parts that go on it. And I would say it's almost apple, like, in terms of signaling a very high level of tech. When you see the actual things that are being introduced, they're not that impressive. Like UV lights under the robot that detect hidden stains. And they're trying to signal that this is the best of the best, and they set that price even higher. So I would say even a year ago, it seemed like 1600 was sort of the high. And then we're going up to 17. So general inflation and tariffs and also sort of a signal that these are

[Christine Cyrclassette]

advanced and probably like a lot of tech, the prices will eventually come down.

[Evan Dent]

Yes, you can sort of see it trickle down. The stuff that was the biggest advance in years eventually comes down to a model that's definitely less than $1,000 and further and further down. So that EUFY I was talking about is sort of the lowest you could get for the roller mop, and it's still coming down from there with a bunch of different companies.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

Evan, with these new robot mop vacs, are there any issues or concerns around repairability?

[Evan Dent]

That's the other problem with introducing all this mopping. It introduces so many more parts that can fail. So the warranties on these things are typically one to two years. Especially when you buy something so expensive, it's disappointing. So I would say if you are proactive about cleaning your sensors, changing your filter is like taking care of it. You can expect it to last a few years past that warranty. But in general, between the computer parts, the mopping parts, plus the vacuum, there's just a lot that can fail.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

So if someone's mop vac fails, let's say after the warranty, can you fix it, or is it so complicated there's not much you can do? And it might be more expensive to fix it than to just buy something new.

[Evan Dent]

It will depend on the problem you're having. If it's a robotics or electricity problem problem, I don't think you'll be able to fix it yourself. If it's just a simple part, you can usually find a replacement and sort of. Some brands are better than others in terms of repairability at home. So something like eufy or iRobot. Actually usually it is simple enough to open up the robot and sort of switch out a part. But again, there's so much more complicated stuff with these higher end robots that the chances of having a problem that you can't fix or that is more expensive to fix than just getting a new one are higher.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

All right, Evan, thanks for joining us today. We want to have you back to do more of a vacuum deep dive, so we'll look forward to that.

[Evan Dent]

Thanks so much for having me.

[Christine Cyrclassette]

We'll drop a link in the show notes to Evan's reporting on Robo Mops and of course to all the products we talked about today. You can also find out more on our website. That's it for this week. Thanks so much for listening. The Wirecutter show is executive produced by Rosie Guerin and produced by Abigail Keel. Engineering support from Matty Mazziello and Nick Pittman. Today's episode was mixed by Katherine Anderson, original music by Dan Powell, Marian Lozano, Rowan Nimusto, Katherine Anderson and Diane Wong. Cliff Levy is Wirecutter's deputy publisher and general manager. Ben Fruman is Wirecutter's Editor in Chief. I'm Christine Cyrclassette. Thanks for listening.

[Visible Advertiser]

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