Best Robot Vacuum for Hardwood Floors

While vacuuming your floor, it is important to check in advance whether the vacuum cleaner is suitable for this. Especially on hardwood floors, as scratches and streaks can easily form here during vacuuming.

If you often have hardwood floors in your home and are looking for a new robot vacuum cleaner, I have good news for you. I have specifically researched the best choice at the moment. On this page you will discover the best robot vacuum cleaner for wooden floors and I will tell you exactly how I conducted my research.

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Best robot vacuum cleaner for hardwood floors at the moment

After testing dozens of robot vacuums on hardwood floors, I’ve come to the conclusion that the iRobot Roomba J7 is the best choice for wood floors. This robot vacuum cleaner has a very good suction performance on hard floor types and is equipped with soft rubber.

iRobot Roomba J7+

This Roomba robot vacuum prevents scratches on your floor and has good suction performance on hard floor types.

View at Amazon Read my review

🇺🇸 Available in the United States at Amazon and Walmart

Where the iRobot Roomba J7+ also excels in obstacle detection. The robot vacuum cleaner recognizes small objects, including cables, and avoids them. This prevents the robot vacuum cleaner from driving over cables and dragging them on the floor, resulting in possible scratches.

In addition to these specific benefits for hardwood floors, this Roomba robot vacuum also has the following benefits:

• Self-empty: Roomba J7+ comes with the Clean Base. This is a charging and emptying station where the robot vacuum cleaner can empty itself.
• Easy to use: The app is super simple and you can easily create cleaning areas.
• Brushes easy to clean: maintenance of the brushes and wheels is important to prevent scratches. That is no problem at all with this Roomba.
• Quiet for a robot vacuum cleaner: In addition, the robot vacuum cleaner is very quiet compared to other models.

What you have to take into account is the price of the vacuum cleaner. For the J7+, the Roomba with automatic emptying station, you pay an average of 999 euros. You can also choose to buy the Roomba J7 without an empty station. Then you are a lot cheaper.

Alternative Robot Vacuums for Hardwood Floors

Chances are you want to use a robot vacuum for more than just vacuuming hardwood floors. Think of rugs that you may also have on the floor or removing pet hair if you have a dog or cat in the house. I have therefore also highlighted an alternative choice for both needs.

Best Robot Vacuum for Carpet and Hardwood Floors

If you also have carpet on the floor in your home, it is smart to choose a robot vacuum cleaner that not only scores well on hard floor types, but also on soft floors. The Neato D8 is a very good choice: this robot vacuum cleaner is able to recognize floor types and automatically adjusts its suction power accordingly.

Neato D8

This robot vacuum cleaner automatically increases the suction power on carpet.

View at Amazon Read my review

🇺🇸 Available in the United States at Amazon and Walmart

Best pet hair robot vacuum cleaner for hardwood floors

Do you have a lot of problems with dog and cat hair at home? Then you should buy a robot vacuum cleaner that can remove pet hairs well. In my research, the Eufy Robovac L70 Hybrid comes out on top in the test.

This is a robot vacuum cleaner with a mopping function. This also allows you to mop your wooden floors after vacuuming. This Eufy robot vacuum performs well at removing both dog and cat hair. This robot vacuum cleaner also automatically adjusts the suction power for specific floor types thanks to BoostIQ.

Eufy Robovac L70 Hybrid

This robot vacuum cleaner with mopping function can easily remove pet hair.

View at Amazon Read my review

🇺🇸 Available in the United States at Amazon and Eufy

How do I test the best robot vacuum for hardwood floors?

As I mentioned in the introduction, I have tested many popular robot vacuum cleaners. To determine which of these robot vacuums performs best on hardwood floors, I tested the models on specific factors.

The most important research factors for vulnerable wooden floors at a glance:

• Suction performance on hard wood floors
• Navigation: wheels and obstacle detection
• Maintenance of wheels and brushes

Watch in the video below how I research vacuum cleaners on wooden floors!

Suction performance on hard wood floors

In all my vacuum cleaner reviews I test the suction performance on different floor types. I use floor boxes and a simulated living room. I check the suction power on hardwood floors with different types of dirt sizes.

I check the suction power on hardwood floors with different types of dirt sizes.

But I also check whether the robot vacuum cleaner can vacuum properly along the sides and whether it protects a vulnerable floor well.

Navigation: wheels and obstacle detection

Another important part is the navigation method of the robot vacuum cleaners. The type of wheels are very interesting here. In my opinion, it is a requirement that the vacuum cleaner is fitted with rubber wheels, which minimizes the risk of scratches.

In addition, obstacle detection also plays a very important role. Because, if a robot vacuum cleaner doesn’t recognize cables, it will drive over them and drag them across your beautiful floor. And yes, then the chance of a scratch on your floor is very high.

If a robot vacuum cleaner doesn’t recognize cables, it will drive over them and drag them across your beautiful floor

I often test the obstacle detection with three different objects: a cable, earplugs and a fake dog turd. Interesting fact: The Roomba J7+ is able to detect and avoid dog poop. If he does not do this, you can claim your warranty with iRobot.

Maintenance of wheels and brushes

Finally, the maintenance of the robot vacuum cleaner is also very important. You should regularly clean a robot vacuum cleaner. If you don’t do this, the robot vacuum cleaner can perform worse or even break. This can also cause problems with hardwood floors. If a wheel is full of hair, it can get stuck and cause scratches in this way. The same goes for the floor brushes.

To be able to assess this, I test how easy the various parts are to disassemble. I also check with every robot vacuum how often parts need to be cleaned and replaced. Take a look at the Roomba cleaning guide to get a good idea of what to expect.

Best Robot Vacuums for Hardwood Floors Compare

I have reviewed every robot vacuum cleaner for wooden floors. In the overview below you will discover the specific final scores per robot vacuum cleaner that I have highlighted in this survey.

Be careful with dark hardwood floors and thresholds

I would like to give you two more important tips if you have a dark hardwood floor and/or different rooms that are separated by thresholds.

• Dark hardwood floors: Not all robot vacuums can navigate dark floor types well. Do you have a dark wooden floor or laminate? Then pay attention to whether the robot vacuum cleaners are suitable for this.
• Wooden floors with thresholds: with every robot vacuum cleaner you have to deal with a maximum threshold height. Measure the thresholds in your home and match this with the maximum threshold height of the relevant robot vacuum cleaner.

Robbert Tigchelaar

Robbert Tigchelaar is the founder of Vacuumtester.com and is a true vacuum cleaner guru. With more than 10 years of experience in the world of electronic devices, he knows better than anyone what is important in a vacuum cleaner. When a new vacuum cleaner appears, he is eager to test it extensively.