Battery life is also important; the size of your home determines what is sufficient. The longer the robot mop can run on one charge, the better it is for larger homes. We consider a battery life of 60 minutes to be sufficient for small homes and apartments, though, ideally, we like to see results in the 90-minute range. To test battery life, we fully charge the robot before running a cleaning cycle. We then let it clean for as long as it takes to completely run down the battery. The Samsung Jetbot Mop doubles as a wall scrubber (Credit: Angela Moscaritolo)

The Braava Jet m6 is an excellent standalone robot mop if you have mostly hardwood, laminate, or tile flooring. With long battery life and the ability to cover 1,000 square feet in a session, the m6 is suitable for both apartments and larger homes. It's also a nice addition if you already own an iRobot Roomba i, j, or s series robot vacuum. You can link them in the app and configure the mop to start a run once the vacuum finishes cleaning your floors.

If you don’t want to put any effort toward cleaning your floors, and you’re willing to pay for that convenience, then the Ecovacs Deebot X2 Omni should be at the top of your list. It scrubs and cleans well and navigates efficiently, so it works in homes with lots of room and plenty of floor space. It also handles pet hair without tangles in case you have furry roommates. With sensors and a front bumper, when you start the robot, it just heads out and figures out a way to cover 90-95% or more of most floor spaces around most obstacles. It can detect some obstacles and avoid bumping into them, but even when it does bump, it is very gentle and there has been zero damage to baseboards or furniture.

Cons: the app kinda glitchy. Sometimes the connection with the robot is lagging. Battery life cleans our entire downstairs (1000sq ft) with one charge and has more juice left but not enough to do say a dry mode immediately followed by a wet mode. We have a semi professional GE cafe range and with no zone set up it tries to go under it even tho the top part is too high. The robot has also "mapped" through the sliding glass door and it does try to get out through the glass. So we had to set up a zone for that. Speaking of zones, my last complaint is one time I put it in our downstairs bathroom and closed the door and ran it, and it lost all mapping we previously had done - you can't bring it up and down stairs without redoing the mapping. The robot comes with a dry tank for vacuuming and a tank for mopping. The wet tank features two circular mop pads on the bottom that spin to scrub hard floors with a cleaning solution or just plain water. Bissell makes several different solutions you can use when mopping, including multi-surface, pet multi-surface with Febreze, and sanitizing formulas.We also like the "spot" cleaning feature, where you set it in one area, and it runs in increasing and then decreasing circles thoroughly around that spot (about a 3-foot diameter area) for a deeper clean, either in vacuum or mop mode.

Because it has all the features of the standard Roomba j7+–a self-emptying dustbin, AI-powered obstacle avoidance, and a poop-evasion guarantee–in addition to mopping abilities, the Combo j7+ is an excellent option for homes with a mix of hard floors and carpeting. Some high-end competitors on this list offer more scrubbing oomph and require less mop maintenance, but the Combo j7+ is a top choice for efficient double-duty cleaning runs. If you have older kids who are good at doing chores like vacuuming and mopping, you can skip the robot, but if your kids are too busy or not good at chores, then the robot may be a really good idea. Wet mopping can use a low, medium, or high water use setting. The cleaning with the high water use setting is very good indeed. Medium is great for dusting floors or when there is no major mess. Low mode mops less well, but the battery will run longer with it if you have a big house. The target audience is pet owners, so, yes, if you have a pet this will work for you--but if you don't have pets, it's a great product at a great price regardless

Are Robot Mops Worth It?

Like most other robot vacuums, the SpinWave features a main brush roll on the bottom, plus dual edge-cleaning brushes. Really quiet operation--not silent, but quiet enough you can watch TV or take a phone call with it running We test robot mops in our actual homes, keeping the following criteria in mind: battery life, navigation, ease of setup and operation, and performance. Powered rotating spray mop, for washing hard floors including tiles, stone, laminate and delicate wood This is a handy feature that’s rarely found on comparable models. On some other units, the manufacturer recommends that you fold the edges of area rugs underneath themselves to stop a carpet robo-cleaner from rolling over them when they’re mopping. However, this ridiculous solution is totally unnecessary when you have a machine like the SpinWave on the job. Sleek Design

While it works just fine as a vacuum, the SpinWave excels as a mop. While mopping, the SpinWave simultaneously sweeps, collecting a limited amount of dry debris. But for the best results, you should run it as a vacuum first before sending it out to mop. Like most floor-cleaning robots, the SpinWave requires regular maintenance, which includes emptying and washing the dustbin after every few sessions, and periodically cleaning the brush roll and caster wheel. You'll also need to occasionally clean the edge brushes, or replace them altogether, to maintain optimal performance. Bissell offers maintenance instructions in the SpinWave manual, and how-to videos in its app.Dry vacuuming performance is excellent. Definitely not as good as with our Miele cannister vac, but we have to use the Miele way way less now. It easily removes crumbs, hair, fur, bulkier items up to the size of about a large marble, smaller leaves, pine needles, and definitely dust dust bunnies. The carpets look fresh vacuumed texture-wise, too. But I had too many issues with this that I decided to return it. It would constantly drop wifi connection. When this happened, it would not run according to the programmed schedule. Most of the time, you'll probably run it in Auto mode so it mops everywhere, but Bissell recommends using Spot mode with its sanitizing formula to clean up concentrated messes, like pet accidents. To do this, simply place the robot in the center of the area you want to clean, then select Spot mode in the app. Your floor will likely be wet and slippery after running the SpinWave in Spot mode, so use caution until it dries. The Ecovacs Deebot Ozmo N8 Pro+ excels at both mopping and vacuuming, making it an excellent choice for homes with multiple flooring types. In testing, it had no problem traversing tile, laminate, and carpet, or the transition strips that separate them. With 2,600Pa of suction power and the ability to empty its own dustbin into a hypoallergenic bag, it's also a compelling option for allergy sufferers and pet owners. You can even deploy your unit while you’re at work. When you come home, you’ll be ecstatic at the sight of freshly mopped floors or clean carpets (depending on which mode you activate). It’s even for people who work from the comfort of their own homes. Its super quiet operation means you can run it during Zoom calls without the shrill shriek of an overly loud vacuum cleaner disturbing an important meeting.