The 10 Best Robot Vacuums With Mapping

Which robot vacuum cleaners are built with mapping technology, and which robot vacuums with mapping are the best? We have compared 23 robot vacuums with mapping, picking and ranking the 10 best.

Top 10 best robot vacuums with mapping

Based on: 98,430 user reviews 64 expert reviews

Rank	Image	Robot vacuum cleaner	Score	Verdict	Price
1		‎Laresar L6 Pro	92	Good	$400
2		Roborock S8	92	Good	$750
3		Roborock Q8 Max+	92	Good	$820
4		Dreametech D10 Plus	90	Good	$400
5		Dreame L20 Ultra	90	Good	$1,500
6		Roborock S8 Pro Ultra	90	Good	$1,600
7		Dreametech L10s Ultra	88	Good	$900
8		Roborock Q7 Max+	88	Good	$870
9		Ecovacs Deebot T10 Plus	88	Good	$597
10		Samsung Jet Bot+	88	Good	$409

See all the best robot vacuums here.

Background

Have you ever wondered how robot vacuum cleaners can move from one place to another without crashing into furniture, running over pets’ tails, and generally destroying everything in their path? What keeps it from getting confused between what it has, and hasn’t, already cleaned?
When robot vacuums first hit the market, they only had the most basic technology. They were not that good with moving around and cleaning. They would often bump into items, and while they could clean large areas, they would keep cleaning the same places.
These days, however, robot vacuums are equipped with more advanced technology, including a navigation system, which is often enabled by algorithms and sensors. This navigation system allows the robot vacuum to cover all areas when cleaning your floor space, making it an efficient tool to keep your home neat and tidy.

What is robot vacuum mapping?

Robot vacuum mapping is what allows your robot vacuum cleaner to navigate around your house, and efficiently sweep and suction up dust, dirt, and debris. It’s the process where robot vacuums map the whole house when they do the initial cleaning. This process helps them understand what the floor plan of your house looks like.
When your robot vacuum cleaner maps your house, it becomes easier for them to clean all areas. High-end robot vacuum models can easily switch between cleaning hard floors and carpets, without cleaning spots that have already been vacuumed.
After your robot vacuum cleaner has mapped your house, you can save the map in its smartphone app. This is helpful for larger homes, especially if you want to assign your robot to clean specific rooms at a time. You can also pick particular zones for your robot to clean, if you want it to clean only one area.

Mapping and navigation

When a robot makes its way around your home to clean the floors and carpets, you might observe that it is able to avoid hitting furniture. When a robot’s battery runs low, it must return to the base to charge, but some robots can continue cleaning where they left off once they are done recharging. How does a robot do that?
A robot’s ability to make its way from one place to another, without hitting furniture, to travel to the charging base, and to avoid cleaning the same spot over and over again, is largely due to the navigation technology installed in the robot.

The different types of mapping technology

Different robot vacuum cleaners have various kinds of technologies to help them map a house, and navigate around the area. Here are four of these different types of mapping technologies:

The following diagram shows how the navigation system is distributed among the robot vacuum cleaners:

Camera-based mapping technology

Robot vacuum cleaners with camera-based mapping make use of a digital camera, that creates the maps by taking photos of landmarks around the house. While this does work pretty well, it tends to fail in the dark.

These are the 3 best robot vacuum cleaners with camera mapping technology:

Rank	Image	Robot vacuum cleaner	Score	Verdict	Price
1		iRobot Roomba j7+	87	Good	$580
2		iRobot Roomba i7	85	Good	$428
3		iRobot Roomba i7+	85	Good	$488

Gyroscopic mapping technology

Gyroscopic mapping technologies use sensors to calculate the distance between themselves, and the objects around the house. While this technology is affordable, thus lowering the overall cost of the robot vacuum cleaner, it doesn’t create the most precise map. Nor does it navigate the floor area as well as robot vacuum cleaners that are equipped with camera-based, or LiDAR-based technology.

These are the 3 best robot vacuum cleaners with gyroscopic technology:

Rank	Image	Robot vacuum cleaner	Score	Verdict	Price
1		Honiture G20	90	Good	$200
2		Tikom G8000	90	Good	$175
3		Eufy RoboVac G30	86	Good	$349

LiDAR-based mapping technology

LiDAR stands for “light detection and ranging”. It’s a technology that uses an invisible spinning laser that collects information about the size of obstacles in a room (such as furniture). Aside from mapping the house, it also has a methodical cleaning system that causes it to clean in straight lines instead of randomly. If you’re looking for a robot vacuum cleaner with precise mapping, look for one with LiDAR technology, as it has the most accurate navigation in comparison to other technologies.

These are the 3 best robot vacuum cleaners with LiDAR mapping technology:

Rank	Image	Robot vacuum cleaner	Score	Verdict	Price
1		‎Laresar L6 Pro	92	Good	$400
2		Roborock S8	92	Good	$750
3		Roborock Q8 Max+	92	Good	$820

Combined mapping technology

Some robot vacuum cleaners come equipped with two, or even three, mapping and navigating technologies. When combined with sensors, these technologies help the robot vacuum cleaner to navigate more efficiently.