Robot vacuum deals have always been a pillar of Prime Day. Oddly, though, many of the best deals on robot vacuums ahead of Prime Day aren't from Amazon. Thanks to competing summer sales from Best Buy and Walmart, you have a handful of options to find the model that best suits your budget.

BEST BUDGET DEAL: The Wyze Robot Vacuum(opens in a new tab) is the rare ultra-affordable pick that can be sent to specific rooms — $165 $329 (save $164)

BEST SELF-EMPTYING DEAL: The Shark IQ RV1002AE(opens in a new tab) cleans competently, self-empties, and offers zone cleaning — $299.99 $599.99 (save $300)

BEST ROBOT VACUUM/MOP DEAL: The Roborock S6 Pure(opens in a new tab) can sweep and scrub specific rooms for less than $400 — $359.99 $599.99 (save $240)

Roombas generally don't have the ability to map and clean specific rooms until around the $500 price point. That's what makes the Wyze vacuum so impressive. Its LiDAR tower emits 2,016 laser pointers every second to generate a floor plan of your home. On the app, you can edit walls or re-label areas, or create a schedule.

ionvac Smart Clean 2000(opens in a new tab) — $97 $179.88 (save $82.88)

Eufy 11S(opens in a new tab) — $139.99 $229.99 (save $90)

Ecovacs G30 Edge(opens in a new tab) — $199.99 $339.99 (save $140)

Shark's largest self-emptying dock can hold 45 days of dust bin refuse before you'll need to deal with it.  The vacuum itself maps out your home, then follows that map with methodical row-by-row sweeping. In the Shark app, you can select specific rooms to clean.

iRobot Roomba i1(opens in a new tab) — $229 $399.99 (save $170.99)

Dreamtech D9(opens in a new tab) — $239.99 $299.99 (save $60)

Shark AI AV2001(opens in a new tab) — $249.99 $429.99 (save $180)

iRobot Roomba i3 Evo(opens in a new tab) — $299 $349.99 (save $50.99)

Shark AI AC22501S(opens in a new tab) — $395.66 $549.99 (save $154.44)

Dreametech L10 Pro(opens in a new tab) — $389.99 $489.99 (save $100)

iRobot Roomba i4+(opens in a new tab) — $489 $649.99 (save $160.99)

Shark IQ AV1010AE XL(opens in a new tab) — $393.50 $599.99 (save $206.49)

Eufy RoboVac X8(opens in a new tab) — $379.99 $599.99 (save $220)

Neato Robotics D9(opens in a new tab) — $499 $699.99 (save $200.99)

Amazon's 30% discount on Samsung's Jet Bot+ is a gem of a find compared to the full price listed on Samsung's own website. The Jet Bot+ uses LiDAR to map your home and cleans by identifying the type of surface and amount of dust it's dealing with. The compact Clean Station holds up to a month's worth of debris.

iRobot Roomba j7+(opens in a new tab) — $689.01 $799.99 (save $110.98)

Opting for a vacuum with LiDAR mapping is a smart move if you have a complicated floor plan. The Roborock S5 Max helps avoid a "bumper car" situation by remembering the layout of each floor of your home and steering clear of the virtual boundaries you set. It also brings mopping to the table, which the cheaper S4 Max does not.

Roborock E4 (opens in a new tab) — $219.99 $379.99 (save $160)

Roborock E5(opens in a new tab) — $239.99 $359.99 (save $120)

Shark AI VacMop(opens in a new tab) — $349.99 $479.99 (save $130)

Ecovacs T8 Aivi (opens in a new tab) — $499.99 $799.99 (save $300)

Ecovacs N8 Pro+(opens in a new tab) — $449.99 $599.99 (save $150)

The control of an upright vacuum comes with its own type of satisfaction. But if you're not one to classify cleaning as cathartic, a robot vacuum could erase that huge, agonizing task from of your chore list. (And did we mention the joy of having "first day clean" floors all the time?)

But whether robot vacuums are worth it or not comes with a caveat: It can't be just any robot vacuum. A cheap robovac that doesn't do the job right — scattering dust, bumping into walls, getting stuck on area rugs — might actually create more work for you.

Suction power: A vacuum is the one purchase that you hope sucks a lot. Suction power is typically measured in Pascals (Pa), with most current vacs ranging between 1,500 Pa and 3,000 Pa. Stronger sucking will be needed to pick up heavier pieces of debris (be sure to set a no-go zone around Legos) and to pull matted-down pet hair from rugs.

Floor type: Carpeting and high pile rugs will probably require stronger suction than hard floors, as well as special features like an extra-wide or self-cleaning brush roll to prevent hair from wrapping and clogging. Folks in homes with multiple floor types might consider a bigger, sturdier robot vacuum that can hurl itself and its wheels over mats, rugs, and transitions from carpet to hard floors.

Automatic emptying: Because robot vacuums are typically under four inches tall, their onboard dust bins are also small — which means they frequently require emptying. (Dustbins fill up particularly quickly in homes with pets.) A self-emptying vacuum takes that job out of your hands, emptying itself into a larger dustbin in its charging dock. These larger bins can typically hold weeks of dirt without needing to be cleaned or dumped out.

Home layout: Every robot vacuum is equipped with sensors and drop detection. But if your home has lots of rooms, lots of turns, or lots of close-together furniture, you'll have fewer navigation issues with an advanced model that uses intelligent mapping to remember exactly how your home is laid out, including labeling of specific rooms, mental notes of staircases, and ability to deploy zone cleaning.

Low-profile furniture: No one should have to be scared about what's accumulated under their couch over the past year. A robot vacuum measuring three inches or less in height should be able to scoot under most low-hanging couches and beds.

Battery life and square footage: One of the main complaints people have about their robot vacuum is that it craps out in the middle of the floor. Larger spaces require more time to clean, and it all depends on how annoyed you'll be if it only finishes a few rooms at a time. Average run times for the list below range between 90 and 200 minutes, which translate to about 500 and 2,800 square feet covered on one charge.

App control: WiFi-enabled robot vacuums can be synced with a smartphone app to control scheduling, manual start, cleaning settings, as well as telling your vac to make its rounds when you're not home. Low-end models that don't connect to WiFi will usually come with a separate remote. If you're used to asking Alexa or Google to turn off the lights or tell you the weather, a model with voice integration will blend in nicely.