UPDATE: Nov. 3, 2023, 3:00 a.m. EDT This post has been updated with the best early Black Friday robot vacuum deals including self-emptying robot vacuums, hybrid robot vacuums, and cheap standalone robot vacuums from iRobot, Shark, Roborock, and more.
An overview of the best early Black Friday robot vacuum deals:
Robot vacuums feel like they’re everywhere and nowhere all at once in the good year of 2023. Shopping holidays have gone hard in this category for years, but you still may not know anyone who actually has one. If you’re wondering if robot vacuums are actually worth it, your best bet is to scope out Black Friday robot vacuum deals to try one yourself, already.
By Black Friday, we mean the entire month of November. Retailers like Walmart, Target, and Best Buy have all already cut the virtual ribbon on their Black Friday sales, so unless you’re waiting for a very specific premium robot vacuum deal (like the Roomba Combo j9+‘s first discount, if that even happens), there’s no real point in waiting until Black Friday — and denying yourself several weeks of one less chore — to buy a robot vacuum.
Below, we’re tracking the robot vacuum deals live ahead of Black Friday. Early deals are organized into three sections — standalone robot vacuums, self-emptying robot vacuums (that don’t mop), and robot vacuum/mop hybrids — and listed in order of price. We’ll update this list with more models as they go on sale ahead of Black Friday.
Early Black Friday standalone robot vacuum deals under $300
Why we like it
The limbo period between Amazon’s second Prime Day of the year and Black Friday is Shark’s time to shine, apparently. For a solid cheap Shark option, skip the outdated $129 Shark ION and opt for one from the newer Matrix line instead. For less than $200, the RV2300 model (without an auto-empty dock) secures LiDAR-powered smart home mapping and virtual boundaries, plus Shark’s Matrix technology, which tackles debris from multiple angles in a crosshatch pattern to grab anything that was missed on the first pass.
Shark itself claims that the Matrix dishes out 50% more suction power than the Roomba i3 — and when the Roomba i3 costs $100 more even on sale, we’d understand if that’s an experiment you’re willing to test.
More robot vacuums on sale for under $300
Early Black Friday self-emptying robot vacuum deals under $500
Why we like it
Shark released several iterations of its flagship robot vacuum in 2023. This chic black and silver RV2310AE model is on sale at Amazon for less than $300 — a 40% price cut and a record-low price (according to camelcamelcamel) by far. Home mapping and virtual boundaries guided by 360-degree LiDAR are present here, plus Shark’s newest claim to fame: its Matrix cleaning technique that vacuums in a crosshatch pattern to grab any debris missed from the first angle.
More self-emptying robot vacuums on sale for under $500
Early Black Friday self-emptying robot vacuum deals under $700
Why we like it
The s9+ hasn’t been the latest or greatest Roomba since iRobot started rolling out its j Series robot vacs in 2021. But it should still be a serious contender if you have pets or lots of thick carpeting in your home — especially when on sale for $599.99, which is just $100 away from the $499.99 it hit during Prime Big Deal Days. For reference, the only Roombas with stronger suction power than the s9+ are the j9+ and Combo j9+, which go for $899.99 and $1,399.99, respectively.
More self-emptying robot vacuums on sale for under $700
Early Black Friday robot vacuum/mop hybrid deals
Why we like it
iRobot has also started pushing out Black Friday deals, but more quietly than the big retailers. One discount flying under the radar that needs to be called out is on the Roomba Combo j5+, which is one of five new Roombas just launched in September. At nearly 40% off, the Roomba Combo j5+ is sitting at $499.99 — the same sale price that the less-fancy Roomba Combo i5+ is currently seeing.
Both models mop and require you to be home to manually click the water tank on, and both can map your home and avoid (or tackle) carpeted rooms on command. But there’s one huge difference between the Combo i5 and Combo j5: The j5 Series are the cheapest Roombas that use iRobot’s obstacle avoidance tech to avoid eating phone chargers or smearing pet waste if the vacuum finds an accident before you do. This capability, which we first experienced when testing the Combo j7+, is an absolute game changer if your previous gripe with robot vacuums was that you had to clean up before sending them out to clean.
More robot vacuum/mop hybrids on sale
Topics
Black Friday
Robot Vacuums