From the looks of 4th of July sales from major merchants, it appears Independence Day 2020 will include independence from pushing a vacuum around. There are so many 4th of July robot vacuum deals already floating around, especially Roomba deals, that if you’re in the market for an automated vacuum cleaner, you have plenty to choose from and some of the best prices we’ve ever seen.
Today’s Best 4th of July Robot Vacuum Deals:
- Ecovacs Deebot 500 Robot Vacuum — $160, was $280
- Eufy RoboVac 11S Robot Vacuum — $180, was $220
- iRobot Roomba 614 Robot Vacuum — $224, was $250
- iRobot Roomba 675 Robot Vacuum — $269, was $300
- Roborock E35 Robot Vacuum — $320, was $400
- Neato Botvac D3 Robot Vacuum — $370, was $400
- iRobot Roomba 960 Robot Vacuum — $449, was $650
- iRobot Rooma i7 (7550) Robot Vacuum — $799, was $1000
How to choose a new robot vacuum:
There are loads of good choices among this year’s crop of 4th of July robot vacuum deals. Because prices and features can vary widely, here are some major factors to consider as you look for a robot vacuum to set you free from manual floor cleaning.
- Your floors: As a category, robot vacuums are best for hard floors and low-pile carpeting. If you have medium-to-thick-pile carpets and rugs, look at the more powerful models, preferably those that mention their carpet-cleaning prowess directly. If you have a house full of shag carpeting, don’t even start looking — no robot vacuum will be satisfactory.
- Battery life: Robot vacuum batteries are generally good for 60 minutes to 150 minutes of maximum running time before they head back to their docking stations to recharge. Because most robot vacs automatically detect floor types or extra-messy areas and boost the power, battery life can vary. Some of the more expensive models have a recharge-and-resume feature with which, after going back to recharge on their own, the vacuums head back to where they left off and keep working, repeating the process until floors are clean.
- Navigation: Less expensive robot vacuums ramble around your home, moving from room to room cleaning as they go until they reach a point where nothing more has been sucked up for a while and return to their docking station. More advanced models create internal room maps and use efficient laser-directed self-navigation techniques to make the short work possible of completing the job.
- Pet friendliness: If you have animals that leave lots of hair and dander around the house, be aware that hair can get tangled with the vacuum brush rollers and the wheels. Look for models — there are many — that claim pet-friendliness, which usually means they don’t get tangled up with pet hair.
- Air filtration: This factor is also matters for pet owners, but anyone who wants the cleanest air possible in their homes should seek robot vacuum models that specifically mention and detail their air filtration or purification features. Some models claim HEPA-level filtering, the ability to trap 99.99% of all particles as small as 0.3 microns, including airborne dust, bacteria, toxic substances, and allergens.
- Dust bin: All robot vacuums have dust bins that collect the dust, dirt, and debris they pick up as they do their work. Sizes vary, but robot vacuum dustbins are much smaller than the relatively large vacuum bags in mom’s upright vac. Depending on your floor’s messiness, you may have to empty the robot vac’s dust bin every time you use it. A very few advanced models have a self-emptying with which the vacuum’s dust bin empties into a larger holding bin in the docking station.
- Connectivity: Virtually all robot vacuums work with mobile apps that configure, control, and schedule them. Many also include an infrared remote control. Wi-Fi connectivity is a common with robot vacuums and most models are compatible with Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, or both, and will respond to simple commands to start, stop, pause, or return to the docking station.