Need help choosing my first RoboVac
I have always resisted because I thought my house was too cluttered. I have done searches, read reviews and I am still confused. Our old lower/mid level Shark has not been sucking lately so I want to replace that but also finally get a Robovac. I recently decluttered so I think the Robovac has a chance of being able to do its job. I am not that interested in the mop feature although I would consider using it if I had it. Not sure of my budget. I would say $600 but if I could be really happy with something that is $900 I would consider it. Note, everything in our house seems to break much faster than it should as I have teenagers (they are in their early 20s but act like teenagers when using appliances). If a dryer is supposed to last 10 years, it lasts 5 in my house! Does not matter the brand or quality.
I would prefer to buy from Costco (assuming prices are comparable) but I do not see some of the models there such as the Roborock S20, they have the Roborock QX Revo and Revo Ultras. What is the difference?
I have large and small dogs that track in mud and dirt from the yard all day long. Only the small one sheds and it is not really too noticeable (except that my friend’s granddaughter was covered after she left our house recently so maybe I am kidding myself). I did a major clean three days ago and the floor is a mess again even with sweeping. The dogs do have accidents (two are rescues from bad situations) especially at night.
My first level is mostly older hardwood and a small amount of kitchen tile. I also have several very large (4 x6) muddy mats for the dogs (think oversized bath mats that have a high pile), and other mats that are low pile. Most of my kitchen is also mats (the idea being to get as much mud off the dogs before they enter the rest of the house). The kitchen is also two inches above the rest of the floors (the prior owners did this and basically installed a tile floor above the prior floor). Our kitchen is small and narrow, with several angles and a kitchen table and chairs (how does the vac clean under that if there is no room for it to move? It is a galley kitchen. The dining room is mostly a large chippendale type table with large chairs (same question as the kitchen table). Some of our furniture only has a two inch height gap so I assume the Vac cannot get under there? Others have gaps of about four inches. I assume most can clean under those?
In terms of the mop feature, I will probably keep the charging base in a corner of the dining room which has wood floors, is there a risk with the water?
I have carpeted steps (I assume I will have to continue to vacuum that) and upstairs is mostly wall to wall carpet. I don’t use the upstairs much, can I just once a week put the robot up there and let it vacuum and then bring it back down?