There are tiers to robot vacuums—the higher the price range, the less amount of manual work you have to do. Usually, for under $250, you’re getting the bare basics with just a vacuum, a decent app, and no LiDAR to map your home or fancy features. But for a limited time, you can get the Roborock Q5 Pro for $159.99 (originally $249.99), its lowest price ever, according to price-checking tools. The Q5 Pro can also mop, has LiDAR to map your home, can do spot cleans and no-go zones, and has a dual brush for better cleaning.
I’ll keep saying this every chance I get: iRobots are overpriced products that have been running on their brand name for too long. There’s a reason they don’t publish their suction power (they’re not competitive). iRobot’s equivalent as far as price is the Roomba Y011, and it has no LiDAR, dual brush, or app features to do spot cleans or no-go zones. You’re much better off going with the Roborock Q5 Pro, which does have all of those features.
Roborock has been one of the many new robot vacuum brands that have been innovating and pushing the standards of robot vacuum technology, while iRobot has been getting complacent. Their app is user-friendly and with the LiDAR, maps your house so you can tell the Q5 Pro where to clean and where not to. The Q5 Pro has 5,500 Pa suction power and a 240-minute battery, which are impressive specs for its current price.
Because this is a budget-version robot, there is no self-emptying feature, so you will have to manually empty the dust bin when it fills up (but it’s bagless so you won’t have to spend money on new bags, unlike some other brands). It also automatically mops because of its design, meaning you will have to manually remove the mopping pad if you just want to vacuum.
For its current price, you won’t find better value for your money on any other robot vacuum.
