I tested 25 robot vacuum and mop combos and found 5 that actually scrub

Who it's for:

Shoppers looking to squeeze the longest feature menu out of a sub-$1,000 budget should look to Eufy's newest flagship model. With small obstacle avoidance and a fully self-sufficient mopping system, the X10 Pro Omni is way more autonomous than the similarly-priced Roomba Combo j7+ or Roborock Q8 Max+. The X10 Pro Omni has amazing battery life even when using its highest suction mode, making it ideal for tackling lots of square footage or multiple stories without needing to charge.

If your home is anything like senior shopping reporter Leah Stodart's — where a chaotic underbed storage situation and rogue extension cords make it tricky to run many robot vacuums when you're not home — you'll want to prioritize AI-powered small obstacle avoidance, like Eufy has given the X10 Pro Omni.

Why we picked this:

Eufy's CES 2024 contribution should be more expensive than it is. Not to be confused with the (less impressive, more expensive) Ecovacs Deebot X2 Omni, the Eufy X10 Pro Omni is the brand's first self-emptying hybrid model that also self-refills the water tank and self-washes and dries the mopping pads, all within that same self-empty dock. That fully self-sufficient mopping system is a feature we've seen before, but one we've never really seen before below $1,000.

While its dual spinning mopping pads are exceptional scrubbers, Eufy's carpet cleaning deserves equal attention. On paper, 8,000 Pa of suction is beastly at any price point. During in-home testing, it successfully cleared a thick, purposefully-spilled heap of rice from a medium pile runner and soil from a flat weave rug. It only struggled on deep cleaning spilled flour, but a powdery spill shouldn't be a common occurrence.

Stodart came across one quirk that hinders Eufy's impressive suction power from cleaning to its full potential. Its obstacle avoidance camera was working so hard to not get stuck that it mistook a small fluffy bath mat for clothing and gave up on one section of the bathroom all together, leaving strewn kitty litter untouched. Unfortunately, Eufy's app doesn't let you dismiss a perceived obstacle as "incorrect," so the bath mat needed to be moved.

Read my full review of the Roborock Saros 10R.

If you ask me, the Roborock Saros 10R is the best robot vacuum you can buy in 2025. On top of super strong suction power and special features for corner cleaning, the Saros 10R also self-empties and self-washes and dries its mopping pads. It's pricey, but a worthwhile investment for people who are picky about their cleaning and are willing to pay for the most thorough automated cleaning on the market. The livestream camera complements the heavy duty cleaning nicely for pet parents, in particular.

The Saros 10R has a few standout features that make it such a full-fledged floor care suite. It sets itself apart from other robot vacuums in terms of corner cleaning, thanks to an extendable side brush and extendable side mop. The vacuuming one reaches out from underneath the vac several inches further than the average crappy robot vacuum side brush, sweeping directly in corners and along wall edges. The mopping one is a spinning pad that expands the mopping radius further than the vacuum's circumference, allowing it to scrub areas that most round robot mops miss, like under the lip of kitchen counters. It's not exactly the same level of detailed edge cleaning that I can achieve with my Dyson stick vac, but it's a world of a difference over bots that just skim the edges and hope for the best.

The Saros 10R dishes out 20,000 Pa suction power — double the oomph of my favorite robot vacuum from 2024 (the Roborock Qrevo Master — and automatically works harder when the vacuum senses carpet. Besides the attentive cleaning skills, there's one more cool feature that makes the Saros 10R such a good pick for people with pets: a livestream camera that gives you the POV of the vacuum as it's cleaning. It sounds super extra at first, but it's actually a really comforting tool for checking on pets when you're not home.

Who it's for:

If your main concern past wet and dry cleaning is keeping your phone chargers and other cords safe, you're probably looking at a Roomba Combo j5+ versus j7+ showdown. Unless your home has lots of hard floors that you can foresee needing to be mopped outside of a set schedule, opting for the Combo j5+ is the move — it goes on sale for as low as $399.99 whereas the Combo j7+ and its mopping arm go for $698.99 at the lowest.

Why we picked this:

The Roomba Combo j5+ checks off several bullet points that take a robot vacuum from cumbersome to competent, namely smart mapping, mopping, automatic emptying, and most notably, small obstacle avoidance. iRobot's small obstacle avoidance technology is simply the best we've tested, which is reason enough to choose it over a competitor depending on the level of lived in a home is. In my experience, the j Series Roombas have a near-perfect track record when identifying various chargers and extension cords, when other brands missed a few.

The real kicker, though, is that it's that robust of an option for just about $400 if you can find it on sale. That robust feature list and digestible price point make it a serious contender for "the best Roomba for most people."

In terms of mopping, the Roomba Combo j5+ is sufficient but basic. The main difference between the Roomba Combo j5+ and Combo j7+ is the mopping mechanism: The Combo j7+ has a mop that automatically lifts when carpet is sensed while the Combo j5+ is a Swap and Mop model requires a person to manually click the water tank on and off. That manual involvement does make mopping a little less spontaneous, but it's still sufficient for spills here and there, as well as daily surface-level dustings.

Other versions of the Combo j5:

• Roomba Combo j5 (without self-emptying dock): $529.99 or $299 on sale

Who it's for:

The most expensive Shark robot vacuum would best appease the crowd that expects the full hands-off robot vacuum experience — not just as in automation of the cleaning itself, but in automation of dustbin and mopping pad maintenance. As the only Shark that can wash and dry its own mopping pad and refill its own water tank, the PowerDetect NeverTouch Pro would be really handy in larger homes that have a significant amount of hard floors that would probably require a fresh mopping pad on a daily basis.

Why we picked this:

A self-washing and drying mopping pad situation is the current gold standard for hybrid robot vacuums, and Shark offering a premium model that hands-off solves my biggest gripe with Shark's previous fanciest hybrid, the Matrix Plus 2-in-1. While I enjoyed the Matrix Plus 2-in-1's thoroughness in taking double passes when vacuuming or scrubbing, the manual intervention the mopping pad and water tank required was so frequent that it made me want to skip mopping altogether. Now, the PowerDetect refills its own water tank from a larger tank in its dock and clicks its pad on and off by itself according to its upcoming task, so it's always on call to do either. I also appreciate how Shark rigged the PowerDetect with large wheels that fully hoist the vac over carpet to keep it dry during mopping mode. It does this by itself, too — no need to designate carpeted areas by hand in the map.

Speaking of those wheels, these hydraulics did not come to play. With their help, the PowerDetect has been one of the only (if not the only) robot vacuums to actually be able to get up and over a fluffy rug or bath mat and vacuum them without leaving them looking like a small tornado went through the room. Shark calls it "NeverStuck" technology, and so far, that's been accurate. Corner cleaning has been just as surprising, considering many premium bots I've tested can't seem to nail that — the PowerDetect reliably scoops up kitty litter lodged against the wall and crumbs lodged under the cabinets. Throw Shark's iconic "no bullshit" spot cleaning in the mix, and this self-cleaning self-care suite is so reliable otherwise that I don't even care that it hasn't mastered the art of dodging phone chargers.

Other versions of the PowerDetect NeverTouch:

• Shark PowerDetect NeverTouch (self-refilling but no self-washing or drying mopping pad): $899.99 or $549.99 on sale

Note: I have not tested the Aqua10 Ultra Roller in person yet, but it's on the way.

The Dreame Aqua10 Ultra Roller is the robot vacuum to splurge on for the most heavy-duty clean possible. It would be ideal for large homes with lots of floor type changes and homes with rooms separated by a 3-inch step or a sliding door.

Dreame just dropped the Aqua10 Ultra Roller in Sept. 2025, but I can already tell that it's going to be the face for a whole new wave of premium robot vacuums. (This is CES-level innovation months before the 2026 event even happens.) The wicked combination of 30,000 Pa suction power and tenacious roller mop (that rinses itself as it goes) make it the most robust robot vacuum on the market right now. That's significantly more powerful than the Roborock Saros 10 and Saros 10R that I obsessed over earlier in 2025, but adds 10,000 Pa and 8,000 Pa (respectively) to their suction power — yet somehow costs the same, and actually goes on sale way more often.

Dreame first became known for climbing robot vacuums with the release of the X50 Ultra at CES in 2025, but I wasn't sold on the "climbing" capabilities when the extent of the thresholds it could scale maxed out at 2.36 inches. The improved ProLeap system seen in the Aqua10 Ultra Roller bumps that to 3.15 inches, which still won't cover stairs, but could make more steep doorways and sliding door tracks possible.