If you’ve read the reviews I’ve written over the past year, you might be under the impression that I hate robot vacuums. That’s not exactly true, but it’s not entirely wrong, either. I do hate a lot of them.

It drives me nuts that so many bots are so bad at so many basics. I don’t mean the midrange bots I’ve looked at lately, which aren’t pitched so hard as all-seeing, smart automatons. I’m talking about the high-dollar fancy lads, with features like extending mops and side brushes, huge docks that clean them out and scrub their soggy bits, and even stubby little roller legs for climbing.

I’ve watched one after another of those horrendously spendy robots suck (derogatory) at their jobs, spinning and lurching like bugged-out NPCs while trying to find the dock that’s right in front of them or dumping previously gathered debris around my house, all while sometimes costing way over $1,000. Who cares about advanced features if your robot vacuum, which is more expensive than a MacBook Air, is going to wreak havoc everywhere it goes?

Fortunately, in my testing, the $1,300 Eufy Robot Vacuum Omni E35 hasn’t had most of those issues. It does a great job at the basics, has a relatively compact dock, and actually seems aware, in its computer-y way, of everyday household floor clutter. The only other robot vacuum I’ve felt that way about is the Matic , which impressed me with its superb app and excellent navigation, but which some of the commentariat (including those who dwell here at Gizmodo) hate viscerally—in no small part due to its unusually boxy, tall form factor that makes it unable to clean the under-furniture areas that its hockey puck-shaped competition has no problem reaching.

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