Budget robot vacuums: 8 tested under $300
Eight sub-$300 robot vacuums, three weeks, one very patient dog. The cheap models that clean like the expensive ones — and the two to avoid.
A robot vacuum under $300 used to mean a dumb puck that ate charging cables and got lost under the sofa. This year the lidar models crossed the price line, and the difference is night and day. We ran eight of them daily for three weeks across wood, tile and a rug that sheds worse than the dog.
How we scored them
Every model ran the same three-room course twice a day with pre-weighed test debris. We measured pickup weight, coverage from the app maps, noise at one meter, and real battery from full to dock. Price counts too: value is a quarter of the final score.
The two to avoid
Two models finished their runs with more debris on board than in the bin — both rebadged versions of the same 2022 chassis. If the listing does not name the navigation system, assume it is random-bounce and keep scrolling.