This new robot vacuum can hold two months' worth of dust without the need for a bulky dock

• The 3i G10+ has a big onboard dust bin with dust compression
• It's designed to hold up to two months' worth of dirt in one go
• This removes the need for a bulky self-empty dock

If your home is on the smaller side but you still want a robot vacuum, typically you need to make a choice: opt for a bulky dock with a big dust cup that the robovac can automatically empty into, or take a compact, charge-only dock and commit to manually emptying the bot's small onboard bin on a regular basis.

3i has come up with a third option. Its newly announced G10+ robot vacuum has built-in dust compression, and aims to be the best robot vacuum for those with small homes.

Inside, you'll find a mechanical paddle that physically squishes the contents of the onboard dustbin as the bot goes about its cleaning, to maximise how much dirt it can carry. The onboard bin itself is also large at 950ml – bigger than that found on most cordless vacuums.

All that means that even though there's nowhere for the robot to dump its dirt in the dock, it still shouldn't need emptying too often. In fact, 3i suggests it can hold up to eight weeks' worth of dust and debris… although that will vary by how much there is in your home that needs sucking up. (Pet owners should expect to have to empty it more regularly, for instance.) If you're worried about debris being stored for so long, 3i has added a built-in UV light to sterilize the bin's contents.

There are further benefits to this setup. The dust squishing happens in real time as the robot cleans, and it's silent. You'll never have to listen to the (sometimes noisy) sound of your robot vacuum auto-emptying every time it parks up. And there are no dock dust bags to dispose of, or to remember to buy.

3i isn't quite the first robovac brand to explore the idea of dust compression, but it does look like the best current option for those with limited space. The Narwal Freo X Plus has onboard compression, but that model still comes with a bulky dock; one that has water tanks but no dust bag. The apparently-upcoming iRobot Roomba 205 DustCompactor Combo offers dust compression and a charge-only dock, but I'm not convinced that one will actually make it on sale, given the company's recent troubles.

Elsewhere, the 3i G10+ features an extendable side brush and mop for effective edge cleaning (the latter via a mop pad with an unusual protrusion), and a very-decent 18,000 Pa of suction. There's automatic carpet detection and intelligent suction and water flow adjustment based on the type of dirt the bot encounters, and the same LiDAR navigation system and AI-powered obstacle avoidance as 3i’s flagship model (the S10 Ultra).

It's also relatively affordable – the list price is $499, but it's launching with a discount that takes it down to $399 (usually an indicator that it won't generally be sold at list price). One of the things that often bumps up the price of today's flagship robot vacuums is a fancy dock that offers things like mop pad cleaning; if you don't necessarily want those things but are still keen on an advanced robot vacuum, this could potentially be a great solution.

The 3i G10+ robot vacuum goes on sale at Amazon US on 29 May. We're in the process of testing it, and will have a review live for you to read as soon as possible.

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