Pick by floor type and obstacles first, dock second, and suction last. Above roughly £600 almost every model cleans hard floors well, so the money is really buying dock automation, better obstacle avoidance and the ability to climb thresholds. Carpet, pets and door thresholds are what genuinely separate models.
Start with your floors, not the spec sheet
The single best predictor of whether you will be happy is the mix of surfaces in your home. Hard floors throughout is the easy case and almost any current model handles it. Deep carpet is harder: mopping robots need to lift or detach their pads to avoid dragging wet cloth across the pile, and that mechanism is what you pay for. Homes with raised thresholds between rooms are the hardest case of all, because a robot that cannot climb simply never cleans the far room.
- Mostly hard floors: almost any model works; spend the money on the dock instead
- Mixed carpet and hard floor: require mop lifting or detaching, not just "mop mode"
- Raised thresholds: check the published climb height against a tape measure
- Pets: prioritise anti-tangle brush design over headline suction
Suction numbers are the least useful figure on the page
Pascal ratings are the industry's favourite marketing number and the least comparable one, because manufacturers measure them differently and rarely publish the method. The range across current models is wide — we recorded 18,500Pa on the Roborock Qrevo S Pro, 22,000Pa on the Saros 10, 25,000Pa on the Qrevo Curv 2 Pro and 30,000Pa on the iRobot Roomba Max 775 Combo — but reviewers do not report cleaning results in that order. Brush design, pressure on the floor and how well the robot detects carpet matter more. Treat suction as a rough tier indicator and nothing finer.
The dock is what you are really buying
Between about £600 and £1,300 the robot itself changes less than the base station does. A full dock will empty the bin, wash the mop pads in hot water, dry them so they do not go sour, and refill the clean-water tank. Wash temperature is the figure to compare: we recorded 75°C on the Qrevo S Pro, 80°C on the Saros 10 and the Roomba Max 775's AutoWash, and 100°C on the Qrevo Curv 2 Pro's Dock 3.0. Hotter washing means less hands-on cleaning of the tray, which is the job owners abandon first.
- Self-empty only: cheapest, still needs manual mop washing
- Wash and dry: the meaningful upgrade for anyone who mops regularly
- Hot wash at 80°C or above: noticeably less tray maintenance
- Every dock still needs bags, filters and its own periodic clean
Climbing and obstacle avoidance decide the frustrating days
A robot that gets stuck is a robot you stop using. Two mechanisms matter. The first is chassis lift: the Saros 10's AdaptiLift handles roughly 4cm, and Roborock publishes a higher double-step figure for the Saros 20, though the exact numbers differ between Roborock's own page and TechRadar's review, so we do not state a single figure. The second is obstacle recognition, which is what keeps a robot from spreading a dropped sock or something worse across the floor. Camera-based recognition is better at this than LiDAR alone, at the cost of a camera in your home.
What prices actually look like right now
Checked on 16 September 2026, the UK market runs from about £329 for a Dreame L10s Ultra Gen 2 to £1,599 for a eufy Omni S2 or Roborock Saros Z70. The mid-market is crowded around £550–£700: the Roborock Qrevo S Pro at £379.99, the eufy X10 Pro Omni at £599, the Roomba Max 775 Combo reduced to £599 from £799, the Qrevo Curv 2 Pro at £679.99 and the Saros 10 at £699.97. Be careful with brand-run sales: we found the same Dreame model listed at three different prices on the same day across the manufacturer's product page, its own category listing and Currys. Always open two sources before buying.
Ignore the launch price, check the current one
Robot vacuums discount harder and faster than almost any other appliance. The Roborock Saros 20 launched around £1,300 and reviews still quote that figure, but it was £998.99 when we checked. A model that looks unaffordable in a six-month-old review may be in budget today, and a 'deal' may simply be the new normal price. The review is still useful for how the robot behaves; the price in it is not.
Questions people ask
Is a robot hoover worth it if I have carpet throughout?
Yes, but buy for carpet specifically. You want strong carpet detection, an anti-tangle brush and, if you want mopping at all, a pad-lifting or detaching mechanism. A robot that drags a damp pad over carpet is worse than no mop at all.
How much should I spend?
For hard floors and no pets, around £350–£500 buys a robot that cleans well. If you mop regularly or have pets, the £600–£800 band buys a wash-and-dry dock, which is the upgrade owners notice daily. Above £1,000 you are mostly paying for climbing ability, arms and newer obstacle recognition.
Do I need the camera models?
Camera-based obstacle recognition genuinely avoids more hazards, especially pet accidents and cables. The trade-off is a connected camera mapping your home. If that matters to you, a LiDAR-only model still navigates well; it just recognises fewer specific objects.
What is the real ongoing cost?
Budget for dust bags, filters, mop pads, brushes and eventually a battery. A self-emptying dock reduces your effort but adds consumables. Parts availability over several years matters more than anything in a starter bundle.
Why do the same model's specs differ between websites?
Because they genuinely do. We found a current Dreame model listed as both 28,000Pa and 20,000Pa, and self-empty intervals quoted as both 100 and 75 days on pages from the same brand. Where sources disagree we leave the figure off the model's page rather than pick one.