It’s about time a company made a robotic vacuum regular people can afford

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EufyMy problem with cleaning has never been the act itself, but finding the time.

Instead of cleaning as I go, I tend to let a week's worth of crumbs and dust accumulate before cleaning on Sunday afternoon.

My routine has changed, though, since Eufy, a smart appliance offshoot of the tech accessory maker Anker, sent me their robotic vacuum: the RoboVac 11. After trying it out for a little over a week, I'm very impressed.

It's not that the RoboVac 11 has done something unexpected, but instead that it does a thorough cleaning job at a relatively inexpensive price.

The vacuum has five modes: auto cleaning, spot cleaning, max cleaning, edge cleaning, and single-room cleaning. I stuck with auto cleaning, since I live in a small apartment and wanted to test the most basic setting. It's surprisingly simple to start your first cleaning: attach two of the included "side brushes" to the corresponding slots on the bottom of the vacuum and push the power button on top.

During the initial cleaning the RoboVac 11 took a minute or two to properly map out my apartment, but it didn't have any navigational problems afterward. I was curious how it would transition from cleaning my hardwood floors to the handful of small rugs I have around my apartment, but I shouldn't have worried. The RoboVac 11 had no problem going from one to the other and cleaning both.

In fact, this vacuum is so powerful it climbed the lip between my kitchen and bathroom without any help. I watched, assuming it would struggle, but it didn't seem to have any issues, which was both surprising and impressive.

I try to be a thorough cleaner, but it's a pain to clean under my dresser, bed, or fridge. The RoboVac 11 cleaned all of those areas without a hitch, in fact it even cleaned between the legs of my desk chair. The only time the vacuum got stuck was when it lodged itself under my radiator, a space it could just barely fit.

While the RoboVac 11 impressed me on a technical level, that wouldn't mean much if it didn't clean very well. As I said earlier, I try to be a pretty clean guy, but I can honestly say my floors have never been cleaner. Nooks and crannies I tend to forget about were suddenly spotless. The RoboVac 11 is even improving my general tidiness, as I'm afraid of it tugging on wires I have sitting on the floor of my apartment.

If you've been considering picking up a robotic vacuum, but have been put out by the high cost, Eufy's RoboVac 11 is a great option. Its intelligence exceeded my expectations, and it takes care of tedious chore with a single button push.