How CompareSmartDevice Compares Robot Vacuums: Our Methodology

Affiliate disclosure

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. At launch, purchase links on this page will be direct, tagged Amazon Special Links. Until our owned Associates account is approved, model and price data come from the Amazon Creators API catalog validated 2026-08-18, and no affiliate tag is attached yet.

Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on the relevant Amazon Site at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product. (Prices checked 2026-08-18.)

Every comparison on this site is a spec-based comparison: we compare numbers that manufacturers publish, each tied to a source and a check date, instead of claiming hands-on results before we have actually tested. This page explains exactly which sources we use, in what order, how every claim is cited, and what we deliberately do not claim yet.

What does "spec-based comparison" mean?

A spec-based comparison ranks and contrasts products using published specifications — suction in pascals, dock functions, mop systems, dimensions, warranty terms — each attributed to the page where we read it. It is not a hands-on review: we have not measured cleaning performance, runtime, or noise for our launch models, so no article on this site implies that we did. We also do not display Amazon star ratings or review counts, because Amazon's participation requirements restrict how affiliate sites may present them.

Which sources do we use, and in what order?

We rank sources by closeness to the original fact. A claim is published at the highest tier that supports it; lower tiers are labeled as such when used.

What do we verify for each model?

The table below lists the fields in our normalized product record and how each one is verified.

How are claims dated and cited?

Every specification claim carries two things: the domain where we read it and the date we checked it. Every price mention carries an "as of" date, because marketplace prices move. We use check dates rather than continuous tracking on purpose: Amazon's participation requirements prohibit price-tracking functionality without a separate written agreement, so our launch pages record point-in-time values with explicit dates instead of historical curves.

What do we not claim yet?

• No hands-on testing claims — no model in the launch set has been purchased and tested under a published test protocol.
• No measured runtime or noise figures — where manufacturers state these, we may quote them as manufacturer-stated; otherwise they are pending.
• No star ratings or review counts — excluded to stay inside Amazon's display restrictions for affiliate sites.
• No price history — static "as of" dates until a compliant tracking arrangement exists.

How are "best-for" picks decided?

A pick is published only when it rests on verified data or catalog facts, and every pick states its reason in terms of cited numbers. For example: the Dreame L40 Ultra Gen 2 is our least-base-maintenance pick because Dreame states up to 100 days hands-free (dreametech.com, checked 2026-08-18), the longest verified interval in our set; and the iRobot Roomba 105 Vac at $149.00 is a budget pick on catalog price alone (Creators API, as of 2026-08-18), with its unverified specs flagged rather than smoothed over.

What happens when a spec or price changes?

We re-fetch the source page, update the value and its check date, and record the change in our corrections log. If a previously verified value can no longer be confirmed on the primary page, we fail closed: the field returns to "not yet verified" until it is re-extracted.

Frequently asked questions

Do you test robot vacuums hands-on?

Not in the launch phase. Every comparison is labeled spec-based, meaning we compare manufacturer-published specifications with sources and check dates instead of measured performance.

Where do your prices come from?

From Amazon Creators API catalog records collected during our validation sweep — for the launch set, as of 2026-08-18. We do not scrape product pages, and we do not track price history at launch.

What does "not yet verified" mean in your tables?

It means we have not extracted that value from a primary source as of the check date. It is a deliberate marker for pending data, not an absence — and it prevents us from publishing a guess as if it were a fact.

Sources referenced in this methodology

• Manufacturer product pages for iRobot, Roborock, Shark, ECOVACS, Dreame, eufy, and MOVA — all checked 2026-08-18 (see each article's source list).
• Amazon Creators API catalog validation (US marketplace), as of 2026-08-18.

Published: August 18, 2026. Updated: August 18, 2026 (initial draft).

Where to Check Current Prices

Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on the relevant Amazon Site at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.