Independent smart-home reviews · September 2026
We explain how robot vacuums, pool robots, handheld vacuums and air purifiers actually differ — which specifications matter for your home, and which are marketing. There are no prices and no purchase links anywhere on this site, because nothing here is for sale.
We do not earn commission on anything we recommend, and we do not publish prices. If we recommend a model, it is because it fits the situation we described — not because it converts.
When a manufacturer does not disclose a figure, the table says "Not published". We do not estimate missing specifications, and we flag where a number comes from third-party testing rather than a brand claim.
Each score is broken into five weighted factors you can read on the review itself. Every recommendation states who it is for, and who should skip it and buy something else.
Four categories
Each category page opens with a situation-based quick-pick table, follows with a side-by-side specification comparison, and ends with a full review of every model including who should skip it.
Five current models, compared on the specifications that decide whether a robot gets used: body height, threshold clearance, brush design and how much of the job the dock takes over.
Top rated: Roborock Saros 10R (9.2)
Read the 2026 comparison →
Five cordless pool robots compared on suction, coverage zones, shallow-water handling and how easily you get the machine back out of the water.
Top rated: Beatbot Sora 70 (9.1)
Read the 2026 comparison →
Five cordless stick vacuums compared on the things that decide whether you use one daily: weight, dust capacity, runtime with the powered head, and brush design.
Top rated: Levoit VortexIQ Pro (8.9)
Read the 2026 comparison →
Four current models compared on the only metric that makes purifiers genuinely comparable — verified clean-air delivery — plus filtration stages, noise and running costs.
Top rated: Levoit Vital 200S-P (8.9)
Read the 2026 comparison →Which one is right for you?
Most people arrive knowing their problem — a shedding dog, a small flat, a pollen season — rather than the model they want. These entry points lead straight to the models that suit that situation, and to the reasons why others do not.
Latest reviews
The most complete all-rounder of 2026: a 3.14-inch body that reaches under low furniture, a lifting chassis that clears door tracks, and a brush system built to shed hair instead of collecting it.
Best for: Mixed flooring, pets and awkward thresholds
Read the full review →The one to buy when leaves are the actual problem — the JetPulse system pushes surface debris toward the intake before it ever has a chance to sink.
Best for: Leaf-heavy pools and full-surface coverage
Read the full review →The model to choose when mopping is the point rather than an afterthought — the roller rinses itself with fresh water as it moves instead of smearing the same dirty pad around the floor.
Best for: Homes where mopping is the main job
Read the full review →The model for pools that are not simple rectangles — AI mapping, obstacle detection and plant-debris recognition handle multi-level layouts and odd shapes.
Best for: Multi-level pools and awkward shapes
Read the full review →The most capable robot here at physically getting where it needs to go: a 3.13-inch body that crosses 3.47-inch obstacle steps and presses its mop down at 15 N while scrubbing with 104 °F water.
Best for: Awkward floors, thresholds and obstacle courses
Read the full review →The one to choose if your pool has a platform or a tanning ledge — ultrasonic sensors identify ledges and shallow areas instead of driving over them blindly.
Best for: Pools with platforms, ledges and shallow ends
Read the full review →Ranking reflects our editorial rubric only. It is not a claim of laboratory superiority, and it is not influenced by any commercial relationship — this site has none.
Buying guides
Each guide takes one real-world situation, explains which specifications actually matter in it, and recommends a small number of models with the reasoning made explicit — including what you give up by choosing each one.
Hair wrap, odour, and the tools that actually survive a shedding season. How to build a cleaning setup around a pet rather than around a vacuum spec sheet.
Read the guide →CADR, the coverage illusion, carbon volume and the ioniser question — how to choose a purifier for allergy season without overpaying for airflow you do not need.
Read the guide →Dock footprint, storage, cord-free compromises and the two-tool setup that actually makes sense under 700 square feet.
Read the guide →How we work
We do not run a laboratory, and we do not claim to. What we do is take the strongest available evidence, apply the same rubric to every model, and show our working so you can check it.
Published specifications first
Every claim starts with the manufacturer’s own specification sheet. If the figure is not published, we write "Not published" rather than estimating.
Independent measurements where they exist
For categories where third-party laboratories publish measured results — tangle percentages, airflow, runtime, CADR — we use those in preference to marketing claims, and cite them.
Owner-reported reliability
Long-run reliability rarely appears on a spec sheet. We weigh documented owner experience on failure points such as dock hardware, battery packs and brush wear.
A published rubric, applied identically
Five weighted factors, the same for every model in a category, with the breakdown printed on each review so you can see exactly where a score came from.
Our recommendations are based on independent research and are not sponsored.
Read our editorial policyShort answers on our methodology, our funding model and what you will not find here.
Three things. We publish no prices and no purchase links, so nothing on the page is trying to sell you something. We take no sponsored placements or paid reviews, and say so on every page. And when a manufacturer does not publish a specification, we write "Not published" instead of estimating it — which is why some cells in our comparison tables are deliberately empty.
No, and we would rather say that plainly than imply otherwise. We do not run a laboratory. Our analysis combines manufacturer-published specifications, independently measured third-party test results where they exist, and documented owner-reported reliability — scored against a published rubric you can read on our How We Test page. Where a number comes from a third-party test rather than a manufacturer claim, the table says so.
Because they change faster than we can verify them, and a stale price is worse than no price. Prices also vary by retailer, region and promotion, which makes any single number misleading. We describe models by what they are good at instead, and leave the commercial detail to the retailer and the manufacturer.
Every product is scored out of 10 against five weighted factors: cleaning or performance, ease and maintenance, feature depth, value for its tier, and support and reliability. The breakdown is published on each review card, so you can see exactly why one model outranked another — and disagree with our weighting if your priorities differ. The column order in every comparison table follows that score, never any commercial relationship.
Specifications were last reviewed in September 2026. Category ranking pages are revisited when a manufacturer launches a replacement model or materially changes a specification. Because we do not publish prices, updates are driven by product changes rather than by shopping seasons.
