Looking for a rec for my particular home

So the early Prime deals have me looking at new robovacs again. I have an off-brand vac (Uoni) a few years old that works fine, but I rarely use it because emptying it is a hassle and it tends to get confused by obstacles. It mops, but I've never even tried using that feature. (We don't need it much, and I have no interest in trying to clean the thing out after that. :) ) So self-emptying and self-cleaning are really key. I wouldn't mind a no-bags system, as long as emptying the base is reasonably easy.

Here's the situation:

House: Single story; close to 3000 square feet. I don't need to do the whole house every day, so splitting the job into 2-3 sections is fine. That said, I'd prefer something that's reasonably fast and has reasonably solid battery life, so running it won't take all day.

I have no pets and no young children. Cameras aren't important, although they don't bother me, either. The Chinese government is welcome to observe my mess. 😄

There's a lot of clutter and a lot of electronics with wires, and I don't want to deal with much manual cleaning before running the robot. Obstacle avoidance is extremely important.

The entire house is tile, with a few low-pile area rugs. That said, we don't wear shoes in the house and don't eat or drink much outside the kitchen area, so mopping ability is definitely secondary to vacuuming ability. There aren't any high thresholds or steps, or low furniture to crawl under. (I think there's one sofa that no robots would fit under, and any robot would fit under the beds and other sofas.)

I can handle a complex app, so reliability, features, and connectivity are more important than simplicity.

I have a Costco membership, so if they offer a good model with that easy return policy of theirs, I'm here for it. I also have Amazon Prime and Target Circle discounts, and local return facilities for them, so they're fine too. Of course, I would very much like to not have to use anyone's return policy -- I definitely want a reliable and sturdy unit if I can get one.

Price isn't a major factor. I'd prefer to keep it under US$1000. Of course, I feel like my needs are relatively simple (with the possible exception of wanting top-notch wire avoidance), so if there's a $500 bot that meets my needs 90% as well as an $800 bot, I'd probably take the cheaper option.

So. . .thoughts? Recommendations? Models to avoid?

Posted Sep 30, 2026, 3:52 AM UTC

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