What’s the best “budget” robot vacuum?

I bought my mom a (expensive) roomba but she returned it without opening. She wants to “get,a feel” of how they work before we drop almost $1000. Is there something in the $200 range that 9s “kinda” like a roomba
Thank you

I can't tell you which is "best" however there are many on ebay. A friend of ours received a roomba as a gift. They don't use it. Their house doesn't have enough open space to warrant such a device. The instructions tell you to put up any chairs off the floor before leaving.

I use a Neato D7. Not $200, though. I chose it as I wanted laser based mapping instead of camera based like a lot of lower priced models use, as I run it at night/in the dark a lot.

4 Likes

I've three long-haired cats that shed. I've used these very basic robot vacuums that have run every day for the last 5 years and are still going strong. They don't do any mapping (like gen 1 Roomba), but are great on tile, hardwood and low-pile carpet. At the time I paid about $200 each. I have one upstairs and one downstairs. I do need to empty the bin after every cleaning.

My maid says that when she vacuums she doesn't pick up much pet hair at all on the floors. She hasn't been here for the last 6 weeks, and my floors are still clean. I did run a swiffer wetjet two weeks ago and my floors seemed pretty clean.

4 Likes

I love my xiaomi robot vacuum

2 Likes

We have 2 Neato D3 vacuums and they do a great job, the only integration right now is with IFTTT, or ST. I'd love to see that app ported. We got our D3 for $300 although right now the cheapest I see is $400 and the D4 is only a few dollars more.

We have had very good luck with our Eufy Robovacs. They had a sale one the 15C Max recently and we picked up one (we have a much older model that is still humming along). The 15C Max is much quieter, but more powerful than our original.

If you want a Eufy though, hold for a sale. We got ours on Amazon for $170 (no special deal or such, just caught it at a good time apparently). They are currently at $260, but they go on decent sales on a regular basis. There are also even newer models or ones that can use magnetic border strips... but those all cost more.

The C Wifi is using Tuya stuff... but I just bypass it by using a Broadlink IR to tell them both to run twice a day (different floors of the house). Definitely has good WAF.

The first "robot" vacuum I tried was an Aldi rebrand of some random model, it was usable but not great. Ended up using a Broadlink IR blaster to enable remote on/off, that was as smart as it got. Since then we've switched to a Haier Xshuai C3, WiFi enabled so a lot easier to link up with. Cleans well. Probably in your price bracket if you can find one.

What I will say, keep in mind that a cheap robot hoover is not necessarily a good way to see if you like them. The really cheap units are useless as they'll push dirt around rather than clean, not to mention getting stuck on just about everything.

Interesting. The D7 has a Node-RED integration that works great. I didn't check to see what other models that integration works with as I only have a D7.

Once in Node-RED it is trivial to push the status to Hubitat (there are Node-RED Hubitat nodes for Hubitat integration).

Does the node red integration allow you to schedule it to run with no-go-lines? That is the main feature missing from the IFTTT integration.

Good question, and I'm not sure. I'll try it later. I normally only use it to check status, not to start it.

Edit: I just looked, and nogolines are one of the parameters, so I would guess yes. I'll try it sometime though to verify.

3 Likes

If so I might have to lookup how to setup node red.

@frmWink2Hubitat The cheap roomba's that run on a timer are great, if you're out of the home on a regular basis. You set the schedule for them to run while you're away from home as often as possible, and then the place is kept relatively vaccumed. For example if you work 9-5 M-F then have it run at say 10am every work day. Just have to remember to empty the bin now and then.

We have ours run at 8am... But now with them controlled by my Hubitat I also have them run again at 2pm. Gives them plenty of time to charge in between and will be done before we get home (well, if we were not mostly home as is now). Debating about giving the newer Robovac 15C a third run in the evening. It is quiet enough and better about bumping things than the older model.

Maybe not necessary, but might as well.

Any chance you’ve figured out how to integrate your D7 into Hubitat? My Neato vac (which we love) is literally the only thing between my ST hub and a garbage can.

I tried to port the ST code but was not successful.

Edit: I see you mentioned Node Red, just wondering if there’s any new news. Thx

Works fine for me in node-red, so I never looked further into a Hubitat integration. If I wanted it in Hubitat I would just go node-red to Hubitat at this point.

But I get that is not what you are looking for. Sorry I can't help more.

We enjoy our D3s as well and they are they only thing still on ST here too.

Hi Folks - Does anyone have zone based cleaning working (via any method); I've got a Home Assistant instance I tend to use for oddball integrations like this and tie in to HE but I can't get the Zone based cleaning working. All I really want to achieve is have some dashboard buttons to trigger specific zone cleaning...

If anyone is using Node-Red for this purpose; would you mind sharing a screenshot or export of the set up?

Thanks in advance!

@JasonJoel does the node red integration work locally? Or is it cloud dependant?

To anyone is there any robot vacuums that will work with local integration?

cloud