I found the most impressive robot vacuum under $500. Youve never heard of it.
I originally wanted to test the 3i G10+ robot vacuum because I heard about its debris compression feature, something I had on the brain after my disappointment with the Roomba 205 DustCompactor. The G10+ also compacts dust, sparing you from dustbin emptying for a few months and freeing you from the self-empty dock. I was curious, but what I wasn't expecting was the G10+ to deliver such a high-level experience overall, especially for less than $500.
The first sign of the G10+'s brainpower came during its initial mapping run of my apartment. It successfully divided every single room, aside from my very open-concept kitchen and living room. The LiDAR-powered smart mapping was even perceptive enough to label certain rooms as bedrooms and bathrooms, because it recognized beds and toilets.
The G10+ also steered around socks and fake pet waste (clumps of brown sugar). While it did identify most phone and laptop chargers in the app, it drove over some of them anyway. But even the most advanced robot vacuums I've ever tested don't have a perfect track record with cords. The Roomba 205 DustCompactor could barely make it to the right room without getting lost or stuck on a rug corner, so.
But the most surprising feature that 3i tucked in here has gotta be the livestream camera. I've never seen one of these on a robot vacuum that costs less than $1,000, let alone $500. It sounds ridiculously unnecessary at first, but I know pet parents understand the appeal of being able to remotely check on their pets.
I'm used to managing expectations hard when testing a cheap robot vacuum. But somehow, the G10+'s 18,000 Pa of suction power puts it in the highest percentile of all robot vacuums on the market right now — that's literally only 2,000 Pa less than my favorite robot vacuum of 2025 so far, the $1,599.99 Roborock Saros 10R. There are also multiple suction settings, and you can hear the motor ramp up and see the vacuum move more slowly and carefully over carpets. The G10+ also vacuumed my bath mats without upturning them at all, and that almost never happens.
During zone cleanings, the G10+ automatically cleans in a grid pattern like the Shark Matrix vacuums. The only time I really saw debris left behind was when I intentionally spilled a giant pile of rice on the kitchen floor, and the G10+ cleared about 90 percent of it in two passes.
The G10+ also mops. IMO, the singular, flat mopping pad design doesn't scrub as well as robot mops with spinning pads, especially along edges. But the G10+ does have a small spinning edge mop that extends to get a little closer to the wall (similar to the Roborock Saros 10). It actually detailed the wall where my bathroom floor meets the shower quite well.
The only "complaint" I could scrounge up about the 3i G10+ so far is superficial. The design is reminiscent of an antique robot vacuum from the early 2000s — it's just not nearly as sleek as most robot vacuums are nowadays. But its debris compression setup renders its curb appeal irrelevant. Because the G10+ doesn't need a self-empty dock, it can be stored under furniture (I put mine under the TV stand).
From reliable small obstacle avoidance technology to a livestream camera to wickedly high suction power for this price range, the 3i G10+ has more going on under the hood than any other budget robot vacuum I've tested. Simply framing it as a Roomba 205 dupe would just be disrespectful.