Skip the self-empty base for a two-floor home.

Probably not. You’ll still need to empty the robot manually when you move it between floors, so the self-emptying feature buys you almost nothing.

Here’s the reality with a two-floor setup: most people don’t buy two robot vacuums. They buy one and carry it up and down. The self-emptying base is heavy and stays put. So every time you move the robot to the other floor, you either empty the robot’s bin by hand anyway, or you buy a second base — which defeats the purpose of saving money.

The self-empty dock shines when the robot runs on one level daily and you want weeks of hands-off dust removal. On a two-floor home, you’re already handling the robot regularly. Just get the standard dock and dump the bin when you switch floors. It takes ten seconds.

If you really hate touching dust, buy two cheaper robots without self-emptying bases — one per floor. That’s usually cheaper than one premium robot plus extra accessories.