UPDATE: Might. 1, 2025, 5:00 a.m. EDT A number of new mopping Roombas had been introduced in March 2025. I am within the strategy of getting my fingers on them for at-home testing and can replace this information with any standouts.
Regardless of the passion of actors in Swiffer commercials, few persons are smiling on the exercise that’s manually mopping their flooring.
Should you expertise related dread when confronted with vacuuming, the finest robotic vacuum and mop combos will cross these two chores off your checklist (three, when you depend digging your previous mop out of the closet as a chore in itself).
Are robotic vacuums good at mopping?
I am not saying you may anticipate a hybrid robotic vacuum to clean your kitchen grout with the identical tenacity you’ll get with a toothbrush, however robotic vacuums have gotten significantly better at mopping over the previous few years.
Since 2020-ish, most robotic vacuum corporations have added not less than one (a number of, most often) hybrid mannequin to their lineup, with costs starting from $200 to effectively over $1,000. You possibly can usually anticipate the mopping approach to get somewhat extra meticulous as the worth goes up, so the kind of mess that your 2-in-1 mannequin might want to conquer turns into a giant deciding issue. Are you principally involved with wiping up spur-of-the-moment spills, or will you be a stickler about dried-on stains that decision for extra heavy-duty scrubbing?
As a Dyson stan, I would not inform anybody to purchase the Dyson 360 Vis Nav robotic vacuum
Thankfully, each ends of the pricing spectrum present far more bang for his or her buck in 2025 than they did within the early 2020s. The mere presence of a fabric and a water tank is way from adequate at this level — now, the most effective robotic vacuums and mops are armed with extra mechanics making an attempt to imitate the elbow grease {that a} human with a mop or Swiffer would supply, like pressurized and/or spinning mopping pads (somewhat than lackadaisical, stationary ones). Most fashionable 2-in-1 robotic vacuums also can mop with actual germ-fighting cleansing answer somewhat than simply water — key in upping my very own private confidence in strolling round barefoot.
However arguably, probably the most pivotal shift 2-in-1 robotic vacuums noticed up to now yr is not on the robotic vacuums themselves however of their docks. Previous routinely emptying the mud bin, the most effective robotic mop combos additionally cross post-mopping upkeep off of your checklist by routinely washing and drying their mopping pads, then refilling themselves with clear water from the dock. With one in every of these fancy self-cleaning stations, your robovac shall be able to mop once more nearly instantly — a clutch change from an older, extra primary design that had us all selecting between manually washing a smelly mopping pad after every use, letting it mop with a unclean pad, or simply avoiding the mopping characteristic altogether.
Undecided how fancy of a hybrid robotic vacuum you even want at dwelling? I’ve examined 15+ of the most well-liked robotic vacuum and mop combos at a spread of costs by myself flooring at dwelling, narrowing down your choices to the highest 4 robotic vacuums that additionally wash your flooring thus far in 2025.
(Observe that every vacuum’s retail worth is listed by default, however I’ve additionally famous the commonest sale worth every vacuum incessantly drops to in “The Good” part. And sure, robotic vacuum offers are widespread all all year long — not simply throughout a purchasing vacation like Black Friday.)
Different robotic vacuums I am testing
I am at the moment testing the Roborock Saros 10 — the apparent foil to the Roborock Saros 10R. The Saros 10 is almost simply as sturdy a contender, however does a number of major issues otherwise than the 10R. (Some higher, some worse.) It was introduced at CES 2025 together with the Saros 10R and has the identical retail worth of $1,599. I finally assume the Saros 10R has a slight edge over the Saros 10 due to its superior edge mopping.
Credit score: Leah Stodart / Mashable
First issues first: Bigger properties with 10 or extra rooms would fare significantly better with the Saros 10 than the 10R. For some motive, Roborock put a cap on the variety of rooms that the Saros 10R’s app can maintain in a floorplan, which has been maxed out in my three-bedroom, three-bathroom condo when the again hall, kitchen, and front room are additionally included. (I needed to separate the kitchen into two to designate the eating room, however I obtained a “room limit reached” discover.) The room restrict is doubled with the Saros 10.
The principle variations between the Saros 10R and Saros 10 are associated to cleansing mechanisms and navigation. The Saros 10 has barely extra highly effective suction, cleansing at 22,000 Pa of suction energy in comparison with the Saros 10R’s 20,000 Pa. The two,000 Pa disparity is not something drastic whenever you’ve already hit the 20,000 Pa mark, and I have never seen the Saros 10 essentially doing a greater job on cat hair, tremendous kitty litter mud, protein powder, or massive particles like kibble.
Upon flipping the Saros 10 over, you may see that it trades the spinning mopping pad setup of the 10R for a D-shaped mopping pad. That singular pad scrubs by vibrating and exerting downward stress. Whereas the energetic mopping space is outwardly 26 p.c bigger than that of the S8 MaxV Extremely, I nonetheless do not assume this sliver of a pad supplies the varietal scrub that two spinning pads do. For dried-on stains, particularly, the additional bodily agitation that comes with spinning is extra thorough than an easy wipe.
On prime of the Saros 10, you may discover a small, retractable LiDAR tower that the Saros 10R does not have. Roborock carried its Reactive AI small impediment avoidance over from a lot of the 2024 Roborocks to the Saros 10, whereas the Saros 10R ditches the laser turret fully for what Roborock calls StarSight navigation. Each are extra correct than most different robotic vacuums you might purchase, however the Saros 10R’s StarSight has a greater monitor report with cords and pet toys in my dwelling.
The Saros 10R can also be not out there in white just like the Saros 10 is. That appears like an odd design selection contemplating white blends in with many partitions, and I believe that the white Saros 10 appears a lot extra subtle in my front room than the Saros 10R does.
I additionally just lately examined the $1,699.99 Dreame X50 Extremely. It grabbed consideration throughout its CES 2025 debut for its means to “climb,” although the tremendous print is that it will possibly’t scale thresholds taller than 6 milimeters (about 2.36 inches). The Roborock Saros 10 and 10R had been capable of hoist over the few thick doorway thresholds in my condo simply in addition to the X50 Extremely. Its mopping and vacuuming capabilities are higher than most mid-range robotic vacuums, after all, however they weren’t spectacular sufficient for me to recommend the X50 Extremely on this checklist over both Saros mannequin.
