The best budget robot vacuums

Today's robot vacuums are becoming a bit like cars: with all the features, upgrades, and fancy trimmings available these days, it's easy to forget that they can just be simple machines that get us from point A to point B. Yes, some bots blow hot air on their bums (mop pads) and deftly navigate dog poop, but there are plenty of basic budget robot vacuums that just do a decent job of cleaning your floor autonomously - as long as you tidy up first.

While higher-priced, higher-powered robot vacuums clean better, budget bots do a perfectly good job, especially if you run them regularly. The biggest downside of cheaper models is they get stuck on cables, socks, shoelaces, and other paraphernalia you leave lying around. If you're home and can untangle it, great, but if you're not, then it will just sit there stuck until its battery dies, and you have to charge it up again before it will clean your floors. 

Fancier models have obstacle recognition, and some even use AI-powered cameras to tell popcorn from poop and avoid the latter. If you want one of those, check out my Best Robot Vacuum buying guide. But if you think you can manage the task of picking up after yourself (and your puppy), a budget bot will save you a lot of money and still do a good job cleaning your floor. 

Here's a list of my favorite robot vacuums that don't cost a fortune and will still get the job done.

Best budget robot vacuum 

iRobot Roomba i3 Evo$300$35014% off$300$300$35014% offThis robot vacuum has superior cleaning power over the competition thanks to its wide, dual rubber brushes that get up more dirt and debris. While it can map, there are no keep-out zones.$300 at Amazon (with auto-empty dock)

iRobot Roomba i4 Evo$267$40033% off$267$267$40033% offThe Roomba i4 Evo robot vacuum (the Roomba i3 by another name and with a bigger battery) cleans just as well as the flagship Roomba j7 and can map your house for more accurate vacuuming. But there's no AI-powered obstacle avoidance or virtual keep-out zones, so you do have to clean up your clutter before you run it.$267 at Amazon