I earned a BS in journalism from West Virginia University, and started my career writing for newspapers in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. If your home is not as dirty or dusty, you can probably get away with using the marking plate with its smaller dry dustbin. It works quickly and quietly, reliably sucking up pet hair and dust from hard floors and low-pile carpeting. On a subsequent test, it ran for an impressive 166 minutes, though it got wedged under my TV stand and required my help getting out.

BISSELL® SpinWave® Robot is a true multi-functional cleaner as it combines two functions in one: once the dry tank is on, the robot will provide up to 130 min. The bin with the mopping functionality has two mop pads attached as well as a reservoir to pour in the water / cleaning solution mixture while the other skips all that when you just want to do basic vacuuming. In this review, I’ll put the bot to the test in my home to see what it does well and what it struggles with, how well it cleans overall and how easy it is to set up and operate.

I watched the robot mop the same 4-inch x 1-inch corner for about 10 minutes before it finally maneuvered its way out to the rest of the floor. During anecdotal mopping sessions across my home's flooring, the robot often became hopelessly confused. For me, to create a format, I actually had to send it out twice, but after that, I had an accurate map of my space. The SpinWave lets you start, stop, and schedule cleaning sessions from your phone, and offers far superior mopping abilities.

It has a bumper that covers its front half to safely navigate with, as well as a protrusion on top that I can only assume is for its 360-degree LiDAR system. Many robot vacuums struggle when it comes to cleaning under furniture, behind couches, or between the legs of chairs. But, it’s held back by the fact that it tends to get stuck on the kind of obstacles it should go around and its app’s learning curve.

The SpinWave doesn't come with a separate remote control, so you'll need to use the app to take advantage of all of its modes and features. Like most other robot vacuums, the SpinWave features a main brush roll on the bottom, plus dual edge-cleaning brushes. The Bissell SpinWave is our top overall pick among the eight robot mops we tested for all the reasons above: It offers powerful scrubbing action and a separate attachment for vacuuming, and it has basic app controls that make it convenient to use, even when you’re not home.