Getting a utilitarian item like a vacuum or carpet cleaner can seem as unexciting as getting a roll of toilet paper in your stocking. But almost every home needs one to pick up stray pieces of schmutz. If you want a gift that will earn its price back every single day, you can’t do better than a reliable carpet cleaner. Your loved one might even start to think of it as part of the family. These are our favorite picks from iRobot, Roborock, and more.
Best Deal
Dyson V8 Motorhead
Photograph: DysonWhile newer Dyson vacuums have longer battery life and more high-powered features, the Dyson V8 is the best budget option in our guide to the Best Dyson Vacuums. It runs for up to 40 minutes on a charge and has the same convenient, modular design as other Dyson stick vacuums and converts into a hand vacuum to fit into awkward crevices.
Robot Vac Deals
Read our full Best Robot Vacuums guide to learn more.
Roborock S4
Photograph: RoborockWe’ve tried almost every robot vacuum from Roborock, and many of them are on sale along with this one. But we think the S4 offers pretty good value for the money, and especially at this price. It’s WiFi-enabled and the precision LIDAR navigation works better than some of the other affordable robot vacuums we’ve tried. It also has a larger dust bin and battery.
We also liked this pet-poop-detecting model, which came out last year. We said it was the best robot vacuum if you’d picked up a pandemic pet.
The Ecovacs Deebot T8 AIVI packs as many features into one small robot vacuum as it can. It’s a vacuum and a mop, it has a camera and a microphone—it can do everything but cater your wedding. It also has a long time run time and high-end navigation features. Just be sure you’re comfortable with having a mobile camera wander around your home.
iRobot no longer sells the E5 directly, and it’s an older model that uses reactive (i.e. random Ping-Ponging) navigation. However, it still has iRobot’s easy-to-clean rubber brushes and Dirt Detect to sniff out trouble spots on your floors.
Eufy Robovac 11S Max
Photograph: AmazonNo one who gets a Eufy has regretted it. This is an older model, but if all you need is a small, reliable robot vacuum to Ping-Pong around the kitchen table after dinner, it’s hard to beat.
However, I (Adrienne) have found that iRobot’s self-emptying bins are consistently the most reliable. This is a reasonable price for a still-effective older robot vacuum with iRobot’s proprietary rubber carpet roller.
Amazon (Click the Coupon Button), Walmart ($120)
Cheap robot vacs like this one from Yeedi use bounce navigation to move around your home, so they’re not as efficient, but if it means a cleaner home without you needing to do anything, that’s a win, right? The battery lasts a while, and there’s Google Assistant and Alexa support.
Cleaning Deals
Blueland Clean Up Kit
Photograph: BluelandUse code HOLIDAY20 at checkout
If you want to reduce your single-use plastics (and the shipping costs of water), Blueland’s cheap refills are one of our best eco-friendly cleaning products.
This incredibly cute little green deep cleaner is a viral hit on TikTok. Product reviewer Brenda Stolyar admits that it hasn’t completely transformed her old furniture, it does definitely get the job done.
