The news that has been recently circulating in my newsfeed? iRobot — the company behind Roomba vacuums since 2002 — has filed for bankruptcy. Which could be bad news for me, because I use my trusty Roomba 505 every single day. As a parent (pet and human), it saves my life as it cleans the entire downstairs of my home every evening. Vacuums and mops, that is.

You're probably asking, "Does this mean I won't be able to use my robot vacuum anymore?" Well, I'm wondering the same! If you own any product from iRobot, whether that's a brand new model or a 10-year-old but gold vacuum, here's what you need to know.

Ignore the sales: now is not the time to buy

The company iRobot officially filed for bankruptcy on December 14 2025. The next day, on December 15, they announced in a press release the plans for the business and what this means for current and future customers.

I'd recommend holding fire if you are planning on investing in one of these over the next few months; instead, check out our guide on the best tried and tested robot vacuums for other suggestions. It's best to hold fire until we know more about Roomba's plans, as we're still in the very early days.

The future of iRobot

iRobot has officially been purchased by Picea. This means that iRobot will be a private company, meaning its shares will no longer be listed on any national stock exchange. This will affect shareholders, but for common customers, this won't prove to be a huge issue.

Who is Picea? Currently, this company — based in China and Vietnam — manufactures robot vacuum cleaners. To date, they've sold over 20 million robotic vacuums, so it's safe to say they know a thing or two.

Information from iRobot's Third-Quarter 2025 Press Release, and iRobot's Long Term Growth Plan Press Release.

iRobot, the company behind the Roomba robot vacuums, has filed for bankruptcy. The company declared it would go private after being bought by Chinese manufacturer Picea Robotics.

After initial concerns about bankruptcy raised in March 2025, the maker of Roomba vacuum cleaners voluntarily entered a pre-packaged Chapter 11 process in the District of Delaware today (Monday, December 15).

According to the bankruptcy filing, iRobot has estimated assets between $100 million and $500 million. In addition, the Massachusetts-based firm has struggled with increased competition from lower-priced rivals and surging U.S. tariffs. It is reported that the firm expects to complete the bankruptcy process by February 2026.

iRobot launched 35 years ago, and has become well-known for its popular and extensive range of robot vacuums/mops. It launched its very first Roomba robot vacuum in 2002, and has subsequently sold millions on a global scale. The company's USP focuses on smart-home capabilities and advanced tech features and many of its products have been reviewed positively — including by Tom's Guide.

In fact, the company released a new line-up of Roomba models possibly as a last-ditch attempt to save itself. However, despite its impressive robovacs, this proved unsuccessful in turning around iRobot's fortunes. Previous talks with another potential buyer also fell through in October seemingly leaving iRobot with no alternative.

What it means for customers

So what does this news mean for customers who currently have a Roomba robot vacuum? Will it still work, and how does this affect its functionality?

According to the company, iRobot will continue to operate during the Chapter 11 transition "with no anticipated disruption to its app functionality, customer programs, global partners, supply chain relationships, or ongoing product support". In addition, iRobot is hopeful that they will be in a better position to deliver on long-term strategy under its new ownership.

“Today’s announcement marks a pivotal milestone in securing iRobot’s long-term future, states Gary Cohen, chief executive of iRobot. “The transaction will strengthen our financial position and will help deliver continuity for our consumers, customers and partners."

This should come as some reassurance to existing customers who have come to depend greatly on their Roombas to tackle their smart cleaning needs.

While the future of Roomba is still uncertain, we will update you once we hear further developments.

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Even the tiniest pet can produce mountains of hair around your home. Seriously, if you collected it all, you could probably make a second pet to keep your furry friend company.

Tackling pet hair is one of the biggest challenges for even the best robot vacuums, which is why we build pet hair tests into our standard testing. So if battling pet hair is your top priority when shopping for a robot vacuum, this guide is for you.

The five vacuums featured in our guide all aced our pet hair tests, featuring large-capacity self-emptying dustbins and powerful mops that can break down dribble and tracked-in paw prints.

Our new top pick is the Roborock Saros 20, which surpasses its predecessor, the Saros 10R, with market-leading suction and unbeatable obstacle avoidance. On a budget? The cheapest option we can wholeheartedly recommend for pet hair is the Eufy Omni C28.

Best overall

In a market full of high-spec robot vacuum mop hybrids, not all prove worthy of being the best for pet hair, but the Roborock Saros 20 is our exception. With its class-leading 36,000 Pa suction, it excels at pulling up embedded pet hair and debris from carpets and hard floors alike.

The Saros 20 ousts the Saros 10, which won the top spot in our guide for a full year until its successor was released in early 2026. On specs alone, it's the most powerful robot vacuum we've tested, and its StarSight system uses advanced 3D and RGB cameras for mapping and obstacle avoidance, so you can trust it to navigate around pet bowls, toys, and furniture without getting stuck. Another addition is its anti-tangle tech. The robot uses a main brush and a side brush to sweep up hair, preventing it from tangling or wrapping around the vacuum brush, which is a common issue we encounter in robot vacuum reviews.

In our reviewer's 710 square feet of lower-ground flooring, the Saros 20 tackled everything from scattered kibble to fine dog hair without missing a beat. After a week of regular cycles, she barely had to think about maintenance. Where the Saros 20 stands out is its ease of use. The self-emptying dock handled dustbin chores, and removable filters prevent allergens from re-entering the air. In addition, the mop pad washed itself automatically, and thanks to its AdaptiLift Chassis, the Saros 20 was able to mount double-layer thresholds of up to 1.77 and 1.57, so it cleans multiple rooms efficiently with no manual intervention.

Where the Saros 20 does fall short is mopping. Although it features a hygienic self-cleaning roller mop, which is generally our preferred mop style, this did miss a few spots in our tests. For a flagship model of this price, that's disappointing, so if mopping is a top priority for you, we recommend taking a look at the Dyson Spot+Scrub AI.

Read our full Roborock Saros 20 review

Best budget

We test robot vacuums at all prices, but it's our pet hair tests that regularly expose the downsides of a cheaper robot vacuum. With the average budget model offering lower suction, they can struggle to pull out deep-rooted fibers from carpets and around baseboards. But if you're on a budget, the Eufy Omni C28 proves you don’t have to spend a fortune to achieve great pet hair cleaning power.

Scoring an impressive 87% in our pet hair test, the Omni C28 holds its own among a selection of expensive contenders. During testing, the vacuum stayed on top of tracked-in debris and daily shedding, handling everyday mess without hassle. It's also self-emptying, and the brand claims you'll only need to empty its bin bag every 75 days, although this will depend on the amount of pet hair you're dealing with! One of the big advantages of having a self-emptying vacuum with a bin bag design is that it keeps pet hair and dust from the air when you empty the dock, which is ideal for those who suffer from allergies.

We encountered a fairly common issue in our pet hair tests when reviewing the C28. The strong jet of air released during cleaning would sometimes blow pet hair into areas the vacuum had already covered, which brought its overall score down. This won't be so much of an issue on carpets, where pet hair will cling to your floor.

Mopping was good, not great, and our reviewer felt that the Eufy's navigation system didn't compare to the smooth operation of more premium Roborock models. But for a vacuum of this price, we'll take some bumping and chaotic navigation, so long as it actually cleans — which the C28 does.

Read our full Eufy Omni C28 review

Best for carpets

The Roborock Qrevo Curv 2 Flow steps up as a carpet-cleaning powerhouse, delivering a formidable 20,000Pa of suction and all the carpet power we needed. It even comes with a live video function and an in-built pet mode that lets you check in on furry friends remotely.

In everyday use, the Qrevo Curv 2 Flow’s cleaning abilities impressed us. During our hands-on rounds with test debris like Cheerios, cat litter, and layers of pet hair, it tackled most messes with confidence. While it excelled at vacuuming up dry debris and lighter pet hair, it sometimes struggled with dense clumps, especially those that tend to tangle. This is likely to pose more of a challenge on hard floors, where hairs can gather in corners or along baseboards, but on carpets, it provides plenty of suction to pul embedded pet hairs from deep in your carpet strands.

Pet households will appreciate the generous dustbin bag, which means fewer trips to the trash and less hands-on time dealing with full bins. For high-shedding pets or busy owners, this translates to noticeably reduced maintenance over the course of a week.

If edge performance is a priority, the Qrevo Curv 2 Flow does fall short of Roborock’s flagship Saros 20. Unlike its sibling, it lacks an extendable side brush, so it leaves a bit more debris along walls and corners. This may matter in deep-cleaning routines.

For pet owners with lots of carpet and a desire to outsource daily vacuuming, the Qrevo Curv 2 Flow delivers robust cleaning and hassle-reducing capacity. Just factor in the premium price and be aware of its limitations with dense pet hair and edge cleaning.

Read our full Roborock Qrevo Curv 2 Flow review

Best for hard floors

The Dyson Spot+Scrub Ai makes hard floors look spotless. When we put it to the test, we found that its roller mop removed every trace of dried tea stains, thanks to its heated mopping system that sprays 140°F water directly onto the floor. So if your pets track mud and dribble water over your hard floors, it's up to the task.

In our hands-on tests, we watched it power through daily dust, crumbs and hair, methodically tracing the outside of rooms and then mopping and vacuuming back and forth to ensure not a strand of pet hair was missed.

What sets the Dyson apart for fur-prone homes is its Fluffy Optic roller. A vivid green LED lights up debris along walls, baseboards, and in corners, making fine dust and stray hair visible and easily captured. If you've got a Dyson vacuum, this might well be a feature you already enjoy to ensure you don't miss a spot, so it's great to see Dyson adding it to its robot vacuum lineup, too.

Maintenance is refreshingly hands-off. The bagless self-emptying bin quickly docks and vacuums itself out, so you don’t have to empty a messy dust cup after each cleaning. This upgrade saves time and hassle for busy pet owners. However, the dock is bagless, which means allergens may re-enter the air when emptying into your trash.

The 18,000 Pa of suction is good, but not great. For deep carpets we'd recommend the Roborock Qrevo Curv 2 Flow or the Roborock Saros 20 over the Dyson, although neither aced their mop tests in the way the Spot+Scrub did.

The main trade-offs: it’s large and commands a premium price, which may be overkill for smaller homes or those with mostly carpet. For pet owners who want immaculate hard floors and minimal daily upkeep, the Dyson Spot+Scrub Ai is the clear winner.

Read our full Dyson Spot+Scrub AI review

Best for odor

The best robot vacuums for pet hair should stay on top of dirt and dander, but very few can also erase odors. That's where the Euft Omni S2 comes in. With in-built fragrance diffusers, it could be a real game-changer for those who have become a bit nose-blind to the pet smells in their home.

Fragrance diffusers aside, the Omni S2 offers a formidable 30,000 Pa suction and an impressive 89.25% overall cleaning score in our lab tests. Its generous 84 ounce dustbin means far fewer emptying sessions, and in hands-on use, the S2’s self-emptying dock smoothly pulled all of the debris from the robot after each cleaning run.

When it comes to mopping, the S2 proves it’s more than just a strong vacuum. On hard floors, it left no streaks or residue. In our sticky ketchup spill test, the S2 fully lifted the mess in a single pass, something few competitors manage. It handled tracked-in pet mud effectively, reducing the need for manual spot-cleaning.

Against rivals, the Omni S2’s suction is a clear step above the budget-friendly Eufy C28. However, it's a very expensive pick, almost matching our top pick — the Roborock Saros 20 — despite offering lower suction power.

Navigation is where the S2 shows its quirks. It tends to skirt around tightly grouped debris at the edges, and while it rarely tangled with pet hair, the airflow sometimes left strands along baseboards. Obstacle detection is generally reliable, though the S2 occasionally hesitated near chair legs. For most homes, these are minor trade-offs, and easily overlooked if your priority is odor-erasing tech and powerful mopping.

Read our full Eufy Omni S2 review

Also tested

Although we put plenty of robot vacuums designed for pet hair through extensive testing, not every model made the final selection, despite a great performance.

However, if you're still looking for an alternative to suit your needs or budget, check out our other options below.

How we test the best robot vacuums for pet hair

We spent hundreds of hours putting a variety of robot vacuums through first-hand testing in both lab and real-world settings.

In our lab testing, we replicated common household flooring surfaces and debris by sprinkling an area of flooring with about 20 grams each of pet hair on both hardwood and low-pile carpet.

We then ran the robot vacuum in a specified 5 x 5 ft area, to measure how effective each vacuum is at picking up dog hair (primarily sourced from an English Cream Golden Retriever), 20 grams of kitty litter, and 20 grams of Cheerios cereal.

In evaluating the best robot vacuums for pet hair, we chose them based on their scores in our pet hair pick up lab tests, kitty little or cereal and tufts of pet hair on each. Additionally, we evaluated user experience, ease of setup, and smart features including ability to avoid objects, ease of emptying, noise level and overall value.

While real-world testing isn’t as rigid as our lab tests, it is primarily based on user experience in real homes — and with real pets! Similarly, we narrowed down our top performers based on extensive criteria.

For instance, how powerful is it to get rid of pet hair and dander on different floor surfaces? Is it able to cross thresholds well? Does it navigate and avoid obstacles well? Is it easy to set up, and connect to the app?

These are just some of the questions our team of reviewers answers when evaluating each robot vacuum and determining which is the best model for pet parents.

How to choose your best robot vacuum for pet hair

Before buying a robot vacuum for you and your pets, there are a few factors to consider. How many pets are in your home and how much are they actually shedding? Is it long-haired or short fur and are they shedding on a regular basis?

Secondly, what type of floors do you have around the home? If you have mainly hard floors, having one of the best robot vacuum and mop hybrid models would be essential for both pick-up power and scrubbing pet messes or any other stains on floors. Plus, choose a robot vacuum that is user-friendly, and easy to operate.

In any case, here are the top features you should be looking for when buying a robot vacuum for pet hair.

• Suction
  It's important to consider suction power, as this will determine how thorough your cleaning results will be. Ideally, a model of 10,000 Pa range is adequate for pet hair. While more advanced models like the Roborock Saros 20 has 36,000 Pa suction.
• Specialized brush rolls
  A good robot vacuum should be well equipped to handle plenty of hair. Look out for anti-tangle brush rolls to prevent any clogs or hair tangling.
• Dust capacity
  A smaller dustbin will need emptying more often, especially if you have multiple pets! Opt for models with large capacity dustbins to reduce the frequency of emptying out.
• Self-emptying
  You can find this feature on many premium models, and some can even hold up to 75 days worth of waste before needing emptying. Essentially, the robot vacuum will empty itself into a larger dustbin in the charging base once it’s full, saving you the trips to the trash can. If undecided, check out our guide on whether robot vacuums with self-emptying bases are worth it.
• Smart features
  Some of the most common features you'll need are mapping, scheduling, no-go zones, target rooms, and multiple floors. You can also find advanced models that come with an extendable sweeper arm, a flexi-lift chassis, or built-in cameras, should you wish to spy on your pets when you're not home. But don't be swayed by things you won't use; you'll save money by being focused.
• Battery life
  Another factor to consider is the battery life, especially if you'll be using it on a daily basis. If that's the case, it's worth buying a robo vac that comes with a base, so it can charge itself between runs. This way it won't run out of charge mid- cleaning, and delay your session.

So, you've finally got your Roomba robot vacuum running around your home, keeping your floors and carpets spick and span. But when it comes to keeping the vacuum itself clean and running smoothly, you’re not quite sure where to start.

Regular maintenance doesn’t just improve your Roomba’s performance — it also helps reduce dust, allergens, pet hair, and bacteria in your home’s air, making for a cleaner and healthier living space. Even the best robot vacuum needs proper care to stay efficient and last longer.

In this article, we’ll explore the best practices for cleaning your robot vacuum, ensuring it remains a reliable partner in your cleaning routine for years to come.

What you'll need

• Brush or vacuum with a hose attachment
• Small bowl and cloth (preferably microfiber)
• Magic Eraser or melamine foam
• Round Roomba brush cleaning tool
• Warm water and soap

FAQs

How often should I clean my Roomba?

In general, it's recommended to clean your Roomba two to seven times a week, depending on your household size, activity level, and whether you have pets.

Do I need to take any safety precautions?

You should avoid any contact with water or liquids when maintaining your Roomba. Instead, wipe it down with a dry cloth instead of spraying or pouring substances on it.

Turn off the power before doing any maintenance to ensure safety. Roombas are designed for dry environments, so don't use them in wet areas.

Now you've learned how to empty your Roomba, why not check out some of our other robot vacuum articles? Check out how to clean your Roborock vacuum — 5 essential maintenance tips and wet and dry vacuum vs robot mop: what's the difference?

And for those with pets, take a look at the best robot vacuums for pet hair.

While emptying your Roomba robot vacuum may sound like a basic task, there's a right and a wrong way to go about it—and doing it correctly is essential for keeping it running smoothly.

Of course, with so many options on the market, from older models requiring manual emptying to the best robot vacuums featuring self-emptying bins, the process can vary depending on your device.

This guide will outline how to empty both standard and self-emptying Roombas, along with maintenance and troubleshooting tips.

How to manually empty a Roomba

How to empty a self-emptying Roomba model

There are, of course, a few more steps should your Roomba model be of the self-emptying variety, such as the i5+ and j7+. These vacuums come with the Clean Base, which includes bags that hold debris up to 60 days.

The Clean Base needs regular maintenance, like checking the bag's capacity and replacing it when it's full — the base usually alerts you.

If you're experiencing trouble with the robot emptying its bin into the base, pressing the Home button while it's on the charging base can start a manual cycle.

Make sure your robot and base are aligned correctly and free of obstructions, and make sure you've got any available software updates through the iRobot HOME App.

How often should I empty my Roomba?

Your Roomba's emptying frequency depends on its model and your house's conditions.

Roomba models without a self-emptying feature should be emptied after every use, especially in homes with pets or high foot traffic.

Frequent emptying minimizes the risk of clogs and reduces wear on the motor and filters, extending the device's lifespan.

In Roomba models with advanced navigation, an empty bin is also essential for smooth operation. A full bin can cause the vacuum to stop unexpectedly and hinder its cleaning pattern.

Now you've learned how to empty your Roomba, why not check out some of our other robot vacuum articles? Check out how to clean your Roborock vacuum — 5 essential maintenance tips and wet and dry vacuum vs robot mop: what's the difference?

And for those with pets, take a look at the best robot vacuums for pet hair.

Many of the best robot vacuums have advanced features like obstacle avoidance, a self-emptying bin, and mopping — but cost upwards of $1,000. However, the powerful and versatile iRobot Roomba Combo j5+ offers many of these same features for less than half the price.

It can detect poop on your carpet and send you an alert without plowing over it (and making a huge mess). You can talk to the bot through the Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant bots, which makes cleaning easier. And, the iRobot Roomba Combo j5+ can mop and vacuum.

While a few performance issues do exist, overall the iRobot Roomba Combo j5+ is is one of the best cheap robot vacuums you can buy.

Roomba Combo j5+: Price and availability

The Roomba Combo J5+ (which includes the self-emptying base) normally costs $729, but at the time of this writing, was just $449 at Best Buy and other online retailers. That’s because the J5+ is an older model — it came out in 2023, so it’s nearing the end of its cycle.

Roomba Combo j5+: Design

The first thing you might notice about the Roomba Combo j5+ is that it’s remarkably similar to the more expensive iRobot Roomba j7+ with one caveat: While both models can mop the floor, the iRobot Roomba j7+ Combo can retract the mopping arm when it detects carpet. With the Roomba j5+ Combo, you won’t have that luxury. You have to swap out the dustbin for the mop bin -- which is not that laborious unless you want the robot to do every last task for you.

In almost every other way, the Roomba Combo j5+ looks and operates in a similar way to the Roomba Combo j7+ .

A small camera and a light on the front of the vac help with mapping the room and detecting objects. (Both the Roomba j5+ and Roomba j7+ can even detect poop.) Both robot vacs share other design features, including the silver top and the undercarriage that has the wheels, suction, and a tri-stroke brush. Let’s just say you are in good hands here: The Roomba Combo j5+ is about as smart as it gets and is well-designed, relatively quiet, and a top performer.

The Roomba Combo j5+ comes with the Clean Base for automated self-emptying. When the Roomba Combo j5+ gets full, it will head over to the base and discharge its own dustbin. You can also empty the dustbin by hand, but the Clean Base makes it far easier and lasts about 60 days before you need to actually do some work and empty it out.

As we mentioned in our iRobot Roomba j7+ review, the new base has a nice lid with a leather pull tab. When you use it and drop the lid back into place, it makes a satisfying thwump sound to let you know it’s all sealed and ready to use. Replacement bags for the Clean Base cost about $14 for three right now on Amazon, which is a pretty good deal.

Roomba Combo j5+: Vacuuming performance

This might be as expected, but the Roomba Combo j5+ performed admirably and even well above par in most of our tests, earning an overall score of 85.29.

That’s a little lower than the iRobot Roomba j7+ which scored 91.81 overall. It’s also not as high as the more capable iRobot Roomba s9+ which scored a whopping 96.83 overall score.

Compared to the best overall robotic vac, the Roborock S4 Max with an overall score of 96.25, the Roomba Combo j5+ is still on the upper end of the floor cleaning scorecard. Keep in mind that most of those competing models (even those from Roomba) still cost more. In fact, the Roomba s9+ is $400 more but performed incrementally better than the Combo j5+.

That means, comparing the Roomba Combo j5+ to other models comes down to a price-versus-performance decision. The Roomba Combo j5+ won’t clean your floors with as much precision as the spendier options, but it is a solid performer for the price. There were only a few minor frustrations to know about, as explained below. Overall, it worked like a champ -- detecting objects easily, routing itself around obstacles like cords and furniture, and passing all of our tests with mostly flying colors. Overall, it’s a smart floor-cleaning bot.

I tested the Roomba Combo j5+ over several weeks and sectioned off an area of my house on both carpet and hardwood, sequestering the bot in a 5 foot x 5 foot area. In six different tests, I dropped 20 grams of pet hair, Cheerios, and kitty litter onto both areas and let the bot do its work. In all cases, if the dustbin on the vac filled up but the job wasn’t finished, I emptied the bin and let it keep going until the bot said the floor was fully cleaned.

I decided to have a little fun with the general testing. For the mopping function, I tested the Roomba Combo j5+ in my upstairs bathroom and asked it to do two passes. I sprinkled a little dirt on the floor and the mopping function kicked in as expected, added some slight wetness to do the cleanup. The Roomba Combo j5+ is not a full mopping robot like the iRobot Braava jet m6 in terms of spraying a solution and mopping thoroughly. Instead, it uses a pad on the mopping dustbin to augment vacuuming with a wet mop. You can use approved cleaning solutions either made by iRobot or others to make the mopping more effective.

In my tests, the dirty floor looked shiny and clean after using the wet mop dustbin but it did get a little old having to swap out the trays every time I wanted to introduce some mopping. I also cooked up a piece of sausage that looked identical to dog poop, then placed it on the bathroom floor. Time and again, the bot detected the object and avoided it every time, which was really helpful: Having a robot vac grind dog poop onto your floor is not fun.

Cleaning performance: Carpet

The Roomba Combo j5+ was a top performer on carpet, comparing favorably to other models that cost at least $100 or $200 more. For example, the Roomba s9+ costs $400 more than the Roomba Combo j5+ but that more capable scored a similar 90 on the Cheerios test on carpet. Again, the higher-end bots will perform better, but at a higher price.

As with the hardwood floor test, the only real struggle was when it came to pet hair. On carpet, pet hair tends to clump up easily and, because it’s so light, will flutter away. The 80.25 rating seemed low until I realized that meant there were only a few small clumps left. The Shark IQ model is about the same price as the Roomba Combo j5+ (e.g., under $400) but did perform better on most of the flooring tests, scoring closer to almost 100 on the hair, Cheerios, and kitty litter tests. The Shark IQ doesn’t have mopping functions and can’t detect poop, though.

Cleaning performance: Hardwood

In terms of hardwood floor cleaning, the Roomba Combo j5+ also struggled with pet hair. Since both units are so similar, it wasn’t a surprise that the Roomba j7+ also had similar issues with pet hair on hardwood floors, scoring just 72.50. The reason? Mostly, you can blame the tri-fold brush which tends to scatter light and fluffy objects like pet hair instead of sucking them into the the dustbin. The top-end Roomba s9+ scored a 97 on the hair test, so you can see how the price-versus-performance decision starts to take shape.

Curiously, the Cheerios score was quite high (at a stellar 95) on the Roomba Combo j5+ when we did the hardwood floor test. As the test concluded, there were only a small handful of Cheerios remaining. Only a few models, including the Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid, scored higher with a 98.7 on the cereal sweep-up test. One reason the Roomba Combo j5+ worked so well sweeping up the Cheerios is that it kept trying and trying -- the bot made multiple passes to make sure no cereal piece was left on the floor. And, the Cheerios are heavier than the pet hair, so they didn’t scatter quite as much and succumbed to the suction easier.

iRobot Roomba Combo j5+: Setup, app and mapping

You are in good hands when it comes to the Roomba Combo j5+ design and performance mostly because iRobot has been doing this for quite a while. That history and credibility is also helpful when you go through the initial setup, use the app, and perform the mapping functions. There’s no question iRobot has some of the clearest guidance around.

It starts with the out-of-the-box experience, which is nearly perfect. Each item is easy to find, and the dustbins snap into place without any fuss. One minor gripe is the one included mop pad is tucked away inside one of the cardboard pieces, so it is a bit hard to locate. There’s one extra tri-fold brush which is a nice bonus even if you might not need it for months or even years.

The app is a joy to use from start to finish. All of the scheduling functions worked as expected, allowing you to quickly select the day and time, which room to clean, whether to use one or two passes, and even marking the no mop zones with a few clicks. In a small room, the mapping took only about 10 minutes, In a large living room, the time was more like 30 minutes. Mapping functions worked remarkably well, identifying the edge of a living room with ease and then never going into that area. You can configure multiple robo vacs as well and choose between them.

The Roomba Combo j5+ is ready for the coming AI revolution: It works with Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant in some surprising ways. For example, speaking to Alexa, we asked the robot vacuum to start cleaning in about 20 minutes, which requires a little more machine learning intelligence than normal. That worked perfectly, Asking the bot to stop and return home to charge also worked, and turned into a great AI pony trick for house visitors.

Roomba Combo j5+: Verdict

This all adds up to a powerful and capable performer. The Roomba Combo j5+ detected objects during our tests and avoided them, ran according to a set schedule, and responded to voice commands each time without fail. While it’s not one of the best robot vacuums for pet hair — the bot struggled a bit on both carpet and hardwood floors — that’s still in the same scoring range as more expensive models, such as the Roomba j7+ and Roomba j9+ bots.

For a lower price, the Roomba Combo j5+ does just about everything as the more expensive Roombas. It didn’t score as high in our clean-up tests, but can double as a wet mop. While the Roomba Combo j7+ is more capable -- it can detect carpet and withdraw the mopping arm automatically, for example -- the differences are marginal at best. In fact, for the price, the Roomba Combo j5+ is highly recommended unless you only want top performance.

Choosing a vacuum cleaner might not be everyone's idea of excitement, but after years of wrangling with dust bunnies and pet hair tumbleweeds, I've come to appreciate the art of finding the right cleaning companion. 

While our in-depth list of the best vacuum cleaners or the best roombas should be your obvious starting point, we can't account for the individual quirks of your living space or cleaning habits. And let's be honest, even the fanciest vacuum can turn into a glorified dust collector if you're not sure how to clean your Dyson's filter (or any brand's filter, for that matter). 

Whether you're dealing with hardwood floors or thick carpet, the right vacuum can make a world of difference. So, let's break down the key factors to consider when choosing a vacuum that'll work for your home, to keep it spotless. 

Now that you've chosen your ideal vacuum, make sure to maintain it properly. For hands-free cleaning, check out the best robot vacuums. If your current vacuum is struggling, learn the surefire signs it's time to replace your vacuum cleaner. And for Dyson owners, don't miss how to clean a Dyson vacuum. 

As the senior smart home editor here at Tom's Guide, I spend my days testing out some of the best robot vacuums. Roomba's J9+ Combo and Shark's PowerDetect 2-in-1 are two of the highest-performing hybrid options you can buy for under $1,000. They also happen to be my go-to robovacs with mopping capabilities, which is why I've kept them set up in my smart home long after their review period.

Now that the new Roomba Combo 10 Max has replaced the J9+ Combo as the brand's flagship model, the price of the older model has been slashed down to just $899, $100 less than the new Shark PowerDetect 2-in-1. However, it should be noted that you can find both models on sale frequently, so be sure to check prices before buying. 

While you'll save some cash upfront, keep in mind that the Shark's higher cost nets you a NeverTouch base. This cleans and drains the mop on its own for weeks on end, whereas the J9+ needs its mop pad cleaned by hand after each session. 

Still, that's not the only place where these two robots differ. Read on to see how they stack up in terms of price, design, and features so you can decide which is the better fit for both your smart home and your wallet. 

Roomba J9+ Combo vs Shark PowerDetect 2-in-1: Specs compared

Roomba J9+ Combo vs Shark PowerDetect 2-in-1: Price and availability

Both the Roomba and Shark are available on Amazon. The J9+ Combo costs $899.99, while the Shark PowerDetect 2-in-1 costs $999.99. Although the Roomba is cheaper, Shark's robot offers a much better value since its base has self-cleaning mop and deodorizer functions for a truly hands-off hybrid robot vacuum experience.

These vacuums go on sale often, with the Roomba currently cut down to just $599, so be sure to check out our best Robot Vacuum deals page to see if any discounts apply.

Winner: Shark

Roomba J9+ Combo vs. Shark PowerDetect 2-in-1: Design

Roomba's thinner robot and sleek Clean Base have a more premium design. The robot's docking station maintenance panels are easily accessible through a front-facing cabinet drawer. This leaves the wooden top available as a table for holding decor. Overall, this looks less like a machine and more like a piece of furniture that blends into any environment.

The slimmer J9+ glides smoothly like a hockey puck under the couch or even the tight underhang along kitchen cabinets with ease. It navigates your space using sensors in addition to a camera with an LED headlight to locate and avoid potential obstacles. There's only a single operation button at the top, with a clear dividing line where the mop pad is. The J9+ doesn't ditch its pad at the base—instead, its signature feature is a convertible pad that folds down and drags along the back. When it detects carpet, it folds atop itself to prevent spilling even a drip.

Shark's robot looks more industrial, which prioritizes function over design. It's by no means an ugly-looking machine and is easier to use if you want to plop it down and throw it into vacuum or mop mode with a press of its vacuum, mop, or home button. Its LiDAR turret sticks out as it navigates your space, and the more plasticky finish reminds you that it's a gadget above all else. While the robot has to drop its pad off at its base when mopping near carpets, Shark's NeverStuck leg gives it a leg up on the J9+. This lifts the machine over saddles and carpets effortlessly, whereas the Roomba tends to bump into them and force its way over.

The Shark returns to its NeverTouch base, which is bigger than Roomba's Clean Base but has more functionality. On the top of the base sits three panels consisting of a larger debris chamber towards the back, two water tanks in the front (for dirty and clean) with easy-to-grip handles, and a circular indent for the odor-neutralizing canister to keep scents at bay.

Although its bigger it still fits into the crevices and overhangs in my kitchen but cant easily squeeze under my couch like the Roomba can. Overall the Roomba's retractable arm, slimmer design, and front-side access that leaves the top as a decor display space give the Roomba the edge in the looks department. That said, the Shark is the better option for those who prioritize functionality.

Winner: Roomba J9+ Combo

Roomba J9+ Combo vs. Shark PowerDetect 2-in-1: Performance

Roomba's flagship provides stronger suction on carpets and wipes the floor with the Shark when it comes to removing granular kitty litter from a rug. Its retractable mop pad means it doesn't have to waste time returning to the base for the pad between runs. Unlike with the Shark, you can adjust its water levels with granular control, plus its obstacle avoidance is backed by Roomba's exclusive P.O.O.P. guarantee. Should the J9+ run over pet waste, you'll be sent a new replacement. With that said, it trails behind the shark by a few points in every other category and requires that you wash its mop pad by hand each time.

Shark's AI technology goes beyond boosting carpet suction. Its mopping performance is much more thorough as StainDetect could identify adhesive residue and pass over it several times while the Roomba left it behind. It also extends its pads outward in corners for better reach in underhangs. It's overall the stronger cleaner of the two, picking up more material in almost every scenario save for its Kryptonite—kitty litter in the carpet. I find both vacuums do an incredibly thorough job, but the Shark has better debris pickup scores and mopping performance.

Winner: Shark

Roomba J9+ Combo vs. Shark PowerDetect 2-in-1: App and smart home features

Both systems work with Alexa and Google Assistant for voice controls and triggering routines. The iRobot app takes things further by recommending cleaning schedules, identifying which rooms get the dirtiest (then cleaning them extra), and performing maintenance checks all on its own. Plus, it supports multi-floor mapping, so you can use it on your main floor and carry it up or down.

Shark's app is easy to use and matches most of the Roomba's advanced features. This includes creating advanced schedules, marking rooms, and implementing No-Go zones. However, you will have to place the bot down for a dry vacuum or mop session on other floors of your home.

Winner: Roomba

Roomba J9+ Combo vs. Shark PowerDetect 2-in-1: Verdict

The Shark offers a more streamlined experience that you can set and forget for up to a month at a time. Its minimal maintenance means you deal with it just once at the end of the month to replace the water tanks and empty the dust bin. It even has an allergen filter and deodorizer built-in. For the most hands-off robot vacuum experience that includes mopping, the PowerDetect 2-in-1 is the hybrid robot vacuum you should buy.

iRobot's Roomba is just as capable in its performance. It also doesn't need to return to a base to deep clean—it can make that decision to raise the mop on the fly when moving between hardwood and carpets. If you're willing to wash the mop pad after each session the $100 you save is nothing to scoff at. That's especially true f you mainly do dry vacuum runs because it has the same 60-day dustbin capacity.

Back at the start of the year, CES 2024 showed off game-changing new capabilities coming to the next generation of the best robot vacuums. While the category has matured gradually over the past 20 years, its features rarely tread new ground. Improved suction power and 2-in-1 models that double as robot mops are great on paper but lack oomph.

Self-emptying and cleaning base stations are arguably the latest and greatest addition to the robot vacuum experience. They demonstrate just how useful these bots are when they can be left to function independently for weeks at a time. However, these still add new chores to your plate, like cleaning out debris bags and replacing water tanks for 2-in-1 robot vacuums. 

That's all about to change with a mix of AI advancements that adjust cleaning power to the level of your mess and innovative design changes. Read on to see how these upgrades will save you time, improve cleaning performance and set new standards for the industry moving forward.

Advanced AI

Artificial intelligence will make our robot vacuums work better by making them more contextually aware of the mess within their environment. For example, they can sense stains and adjust their mopping power to apply some real elbow grease to thicker substances like sauce. Over time, deeper learning algorithms can predict which areas need a more thorough cleaning and scrub harder.

This was best demonstrated by Samsung's new Bespoke Jet Bot Combo AI+ at CES 2024. In addition to AI-powered smart mapping and obstacle avoidance, this model seeks out stains. Once it finds one, it returns to its dock to heat the mopping pads with hot enough water to create steam. It can then apply pressure with a 170 RPM spin rate to scrub the problem spot off the face of the earth.

Beyond automatically selecting the most optimal cleaning settings, AI helps robot vacuums "see" more. Refined object recognition powered by this AI and a mix of sensors helps these bots identify and avoid obstacles like cables, socks, toys, and pet poop to clean without making a further mess. This greater level of understanding and on-the-fly adjustments let you go about your day knowing that the job will get done right without any effort from your end.

Self-cleaning mops with direct plumbing hookups

Self-emptying dustbin stations are relatively standard, but hybrid robot vacuum models face a challenge. 2-in-1 designs are forced to deal with wet mops that need cleaning after each job. Even Roomba's flagship J9+ Combo requires you to change out its pad by hand when it finishes its session. Companies on the cutting edge of features like Roborock have added automated mop pad washing and drying functions to their base stations so you just have to swap clean and dirty water tanks.

New 2-in-1 robot vacuums have plumbing hookup kits built into their design to connect directly to your waterline. This eliminates the need to refill and monitor a clean water tank. Plus, if you have a drainage system, you don't need to deal with dirty water collection either. This will get you fully self-sufficient vacuuming and mopping functionality for months at a time since you only need to remove the vacuum debris bag once it's full.

Part health monitoring

Robot vacuums will be able to diagnose issues and monitor part health. You'll receive notifications when it's time to replace individual parts, like a roller brush, and even get a walk-through of the process. This will cut down on time spent troubleshooting and ensure your vacuum functions at peak performance at all times. 

More from Tom's Guide

• Best robot vacuums
• The best new robot vacuums at CES 2024
• Samsung's new AI robot vacuum and mop can seek out stains

I’ve spent the past two weeks using iRobot’s Roomba J9+ Combo hybrid robot vacuum and mop to clean my home. My mixed living space is this robot’s ideal layout since it consists of hardwood with area rugs throughout my main floor and a fully carpeted basement. Its impressive motor has been powerful enough to suck up the most granular of debris while simultaneously polishing my hardwood flooring with a mop that the J9+ drags along its back. Once this Roomba detects carpet it lifts and folds the mop upward on top of itself like the roof of a convertible car to protect rugs from water. 

At $1,399 ($999 on sale) this pricey robot vacuum and mop needs to compete with the versatility and wealth of smart features of premium rival options. While the J9+ is loaded with cleaning modes, iRobot made some questionable design decisions like requiring you to detach and wash the reusable mop pad after each job. Does the J9+’s jack-of-all-trades approach provide an effective cleaning performance that has what it takes to be one of the best robot vacuums we tested? Or does its pursuit to be an all-in-one machine make it a master of none? Read on to find out what I thought of it after using it for two weeks.

iRobot Roomba J9+ Combo review: Price and availability

The Roomba J9+ Combo robot vacuum I tested comes bundled with the Clean Base and costs $1,399 on Amazon.com but it can often be found for $999 or less on sale. The dock automatically refills the robot’s onboard water tank with clean water while also extracting the dirt and debris from its onboard dustbin into a bag.

iRobot Roomba J9+ Combo review: Cheat sheet

Who is the iRobot Roomba J9+ for? Homes with a mix of hard and carpeted floors that can benefit from advanced obstacle avoidance and automatic cleaning optimizations.

What does it cost? $1,399 (or as low as $999 on sale) for the robot and auto-emptying base.

What do we like? Impressively thorough cleaning performance that adjusts power levels and passes automatically to ensure your floors are spotless with a retractable mop.

What do we not like? Can’t set and forget it since the mop pad requires you to manually remove and wash it after each cleaning session.

Bottom line: Other premium robot vacuums will have a hard time beating the J9+’s versatility across surfaces and performance. However, it could be smarter with a self-washing mop.

iRobot Roomba J9+ Combo review: Design

The Roomba J9+ arrives in a hefty 30-pound box that includes both the vacuum as well as its Clean Base docking and refill station. Since everything comes fully assembled I simply slid out the docking station, plugged it in a few inches off my living room wall, and rolled the bot onto its station to begin using it. iRobot’s smartphone app streamlines the setup process down to just two minutes by using Bluetooth to discover the bot and connect it to your Wi-Fi network. With this cloud connection established, you can control the robot and receive cleaning updates from anywhere you have internet or mobile data access.

This round robot vacuum is 17.2 x 18.1 inches and 9 pounds — chunkier than slimmer bots I’ve used in the past from Shark and RoboRock. Still, the beefy J9+ glides smoothly like a hockey puck under the couch or even the tight underhang along kitchen cabinets with ease. It navigates your space using sensors in addition to a camera with an LED headlight to locate and avoid potential obstacles. It had no problem curving around power strips, shoes, and even rubber dog poop in its way.

On the top of the robot, you’ll find a single button to kick off cleaning jobs, a wall follow sensor, and the mopping pad plate which rests atop a swinging arm. Flip the J9+ over and you’ll see the rubber multi-surface roller brush for long hairs in the center, the edge-sweeping brush that pushes the debris inwards towards the vacuum, and wheels. Also dotted along the bottom are sensors that track your floor in the space and look out for cliffs. On the back right side of the bot is a button that releases the onboard water tank and dust bin combined into a compact crescent shape.

The robot’s auto-filling Clean Base stands at a tall 13.3 inches high with a high-end aesthetic complete with a lined panel design and a wooden top surface. You can use this space to display decorations like photo frames and plants which gives the station added functionality and a unique style that doesn’t stick out as obnoxiously as the plasticky base on the Shark IQ or Roborock’s notoriously oversized docking stations.

The Clean Base functions as a storage cabinet — you pull open the front door and slide out the refill tank to fill it with up to one month’s worth of water or cleaning solution. Below this tank is a bag system that stores your debris for up to 60 days so you just pull out the bag when it's full and replace it.

iRobot Roomba J9+ Combo review: App

The iRobot app is simplified to two tabs which makes it easy to navigate. From the My Products tab (essentially your main menu) you can send the bot out, schedule cleanings at certain times, or create automations to clean in specific conditions like when you leave home for work. You can also connect it to the best smart home devices like an August Smart lock, Ecobee smart thermostat, or MyQ Garage Opener to detect when you unlock the door, aren't occupying your space, or open your garage door so these actions serve as cleaning triggers.

You can see the live status of every action your J9+ takes from dampening up the mop pad to when it returns to its base. iRobot will send you notifications as it cleans and recommends optimal cleaning times. Although it looked a bit lost at first, it took the bot just under 10 minutes to learn and map out the length of an 800-square-foot single-floor living space, which is fast and a third of the time it took the Shark IQ.

Once your home is mapped you can switch to the My Home tab to create room labels as well as keep out or no mop zones to send the J9+ to specific areas. I experienced no hiccups telling Alexa to send the Roomba out to clean my kitchen or living room. The vacuum’s Dirt Detective feature learns from each cleaning job to automatically prioritize the dirtiest rooms and selects the ideal suction and cleaning passes for each.

I was impressed with the J9+’s onboard object recognition. Throughout sessions, this robot vacuum takes pictures of out-of-place objects for Obstacle Image Review. This system has you swipe through images to confirm if the robot accurately identified and avoided a hazard or made a mistake to help it clean smarter over time. Obstacle Image Review registered things like the Roku Streambar power cable running across my living room, the base of a stool and a power strip. I marked the Roku power cable as a temporary object and picked it up which resulted in the Roomba going back and getting deeper into the corner of my living room where the wire was on the following passthrough.

iRobot Roomba J9+ Combo review: Performance and test results

Like the Shark IQ I tested earlier in the year, the Roomba J9+ Combo cleans floors in a tight row pattern and finishes along wall edges. It effortlessly avoided stairs even in the dark, which can be terrifying when you’re investing well over $1,000 on a device. Plus, it easily climbs over saddles like the ones that divide my bedroom and bathroom from my hallway which other robots can struggle with.

Roomba J9+ Combo Hardwood test results (out of 100)

Roomba’s J9+ Combo has two cleaning modes; vacuum and mop or vacuum only. When vacuuming hardwood floors the mopping pad drags along the backside of the robot so it sucks and mops as it moves around. When the sensors detect carpeted flooring the J9+ lifts the swing arm mop over the top of itself in one smooth motion. In our 5x5 hardwood test space the J9+ easily cleaned a majority of the Cheerios and most granular pebbles of kitty litter with impressive scores in the high 90s.

However, the J9+’s middle-of-the-road pet hair cleaning score on hardwood came as a surprise. Instead of swallowing up the strands it pushed and clumped the pet hair along its front bumper down to the edge of the space and then would do a 180-degree turn. This would be fine if it returned and sucked it back up. Unfortunately, this just corralled much of the pet hair to the outside while leaving nearly a full quarter of the starting amount behind. I would say this is still decent from a budget robot vacuum but this performance is mediocre for the four-figure price.

I put the J9+ Combo’s mopping capabilities through the ringer by spilling a variety of substances on my kitchen’s wood floor. The mop pad slips over a set of compact plastic rails that clips it in place so you just pull it off to wash it once you're done. From pasta sauce to the melted chocolate shell of a Magnum ice cream bar the J9+ had no issue cleaning light messes on default settings using its wet mop and in a single pass without streaking. You can use the app to adjust liquid levels and cleaning passes by room or zone for a lighter or more thorough cleaning.

Now a heavy pour of Smucker's caramel sundae sauce proved to be a bit thick and sticky and required me to activate the J9+’s SmartScrub feature. This sends the J9+ back and forth for a deeper clean with added pressure that eliminates grime and gets a majority of caked-on stuff. The robot blasted through the sundae sauce cleaning well over 90 percent of the mess. I could still smell caramel and found faint streaks on a paper towel but not enough to make my sneakers stick to the floor. For the future, I’d manually mop up sticky messes before sending this out. A self-cleaning spinning mop would be nice but Roomba’s flat pad system is still plenty effective.

Roomba J9+ Combo Hardwood test results (out of 100)

The J9+ mops your hard floors within millimeters of the edges where carpet or rugs start without bringing the wet mop onto them. Once it ensures the hardwood floors are fully clean it retracts its mop overhead and begins to vacuum rugs and carpets while adjusting the power to reach the necessary amount of force for a deep clean.

Carpet cleaning performance is thorough as you can see from those crisp rows of suction in the thick shag test area in the picture above. Like on hardwood, Cheerios proved to be a give-me for the robot which sucked them up gently without running them over and crushing them into sand. Even if it had, the vacuum would still be incredibly thorough as shown by how it sucked up virtually all the kitty litter intertwined into the carpet. I had to swipe my hand across it with force to shake out a few loose specks. That’s because it passes once and then back and forth with adjusted power on carpet a handful of times which nets that overall deeper clean than budget models.

The Roomba did much better at pet hair on carpet which is strange considering the texture usually clings on to fur more than a flat hard floor. My guess is that it's more uneven surface slightly raised the bumper so that the vacuum could run over and suck up the hairs. These hairs were also intertwined within the carpet’s fiber which held them in place and made it easier to grab since they didn’t glide around.

iRobot Roomba J9+ review: Verdict

If you can stomach its price tag then iRobot’s J9+ Combo is an intelligent hybrid robot vacuum that can do it all — mop, clean, and effectively map out your space so all the heavy lifting is off of your shoulders. It has strong suction performance, especially on notoriously difficult carpets where it automatically optimizes its settings for the deepest clean. It would get a perfect score if you could set and forget the bot instead of having to worry about manually removing and washing its mop pad each time. 

If you have hardwood floors or tile throughout your home then the impressive carpet cleaning and retractable mop doesn’t carry nearly as much weight. You can save a few bucks with even cheaper hybrid vacuum options, and we suggest checking out the Roborock S7 Max Ultra ($1,099, Amazon). Not only does it wash and dry its own mop but also has live view through a built-in security camera to patrol your home. But if you want to ensure your floors are spotless with meticulous pass-throughs — and don’t want to deal with emptying out the vacuum for up to two months at a time — you’d be hard-pressed to find a better performer than the J9+ combo.

Amazon Prime Day deals are underway as of October 10, bringing discounts to all kinds of products and devices—including Roomba robot vacuums. Amazon’s latest sales event, also called Big Deal Days, is an opportunity to save on Roomba's top-rated robot vacuums and robot mops that make cleaning a breeze.

Whether you've never owned a Roomba before, or you want to upgrade your current robot vacuum to one of the best models on the market, you'll want to take advantage of Prime Day Roomba deals. Several of the best Roombas are on sale, including our overall favorite the iRobot Roomba j7+. The iRobot Roomba j7+ is on sale for $399 at Amazon, taking $250 off the regular price.

Alternatively, if you want a Roomba robot mop instead of a robot vacuum, Amazon has a great deal on the iRobot Braava Jet M6. The Braava Jet M6 is on sale for $349, which is a 22% discount on what we'd consider one of the best robot mops for hassle-free floor cleaning. 

These are just some of the Prime Day Roomba deals I'd recommend. Below are all the best Prime Day Roomba sales you can shop right now across a variety of budgets.

Prime Day Roomba sales — Quick links

• iRobot Roomba j7+: was $649 now $399 @ Amazon
• iRobot Braava jet m6: was $499 now $399 @ Amazon
• iRobot Roomba 694: was $274 now $199 @ Amazon
• iRobot Roomba j6+: was $799 now $399 @ Amazon
• iRobot Roomba s9+: was $999 now $599 @ Amazon
• iRobot Roomba i6+: was $799 now $738 @ Amazon
• iRobot Roomba i4+: was $599 now $349 @ Amazon
• iRobot Roomba j7: was $599 now $392 @ Amazon
• iRobot Roomba i4 Evo: was $382 now $199 @ Amazon
  

Best Prime Day Roomba deals

Be sure to check our iRobot coupon codes page for other discounts from iRobot.

Unlike robot vacuums, robot lawnmowers haven't taken off in quite the same way in the U.S.. That's partly due to cost — most models start at around $1,000, compared to less than $200 for a robot vacuum — and setting up a robot lawnmower is frankly a pain in the grass. 

The biggest pain point: you have to run a wire around the border of your property, which acts like an invisible fence for the lawnmower. If you have a large yard, it can take a long time, and if the wire breaks, you have to go inch by inch to find the rupture. 

Update: The Work Landroid Vision is one of our picks for our Best of CES 2023 Awards. See what other products debuting at this year's show made the final cut.

Worx's newest robot lawnmower, the Landroid Vision, does away with all that. Much like some of the best robot vacuums, it has a camera in the front that lets the mower know when it approaches the edge of your yard — no wire needed. We took a closer look at this new mower at CES 2023. It's cool, but if you want one, it'll cost you a lot of green.

Even more so than the Husqvarna Automower 435X, the Landroid Vision looks like the Christian Bale era Batman's Tumbler, with a splash of orange paint. It has a grille-like front bumper with two red slots just above; these are used to recharge the robot when it's docked. There's a small display and control knob on top. With all its odd angles and appendages, I think it looks a little too busy, in fact. 

Jutting out from the front of the Landroid Vision is a wide-angle HD camera mounted on a silver bracket; this scans the ground in front of the mower for anything that doesn't look like grass. When it encounters something — say, your garden bed or a baseball — the mower will turn to avoid it. It's similar to the technology in the Roomba J7+ robot vacuum. You can also mount two lights on either side of the camera, so that you can mow in the dark.

Like other robot mowers, the Landroid Vision moves in a random pattern around your yard, so if you want to know how to stripe your lawn, you'll have to look elsewhere. And, similar to other robot mowers, the Vision has a spinning disk on its underside with three razor blades, which are designed to just trim your grass a little bit at a time. The blade deck can be raised from 1.5 to 3.5 inches. 

The Landroid Vision can also be controlled via a smartphone app, which will let you schedule when the mower makes its rounds. If you need for the mower to cross a boundary, such as a walkway, you can set up RFID tags, so it knows where to go.

While the Vision docks automatically to recharge, I like that its battery is removable, and can be used in other Worx products, such as its leaf blowers and other power tools. 

Worx has not set an official release date yet for the Landroid Vision other than this spring; the mower will be available in three models that can cover 1/4, 1/2, and a full acre, respectively. Prices will range from $2,399 to $2,999, which places it in the upper echelon of robot lawnmowers. You can get a good lawn service to take care of things for a long time for that amount of money, but then you won't have the Batmobile trimming your grass. 

Read more

• 7 lawncare mistakes you're probably making
• How to store a lawnmower and protect it during the winter
• 5 reasons to buy an electric lawnmower
• How to put lime on your lawn and when to do it
• When should you stop mowing your lawn for the winter?
• How to make your grass greener in 8 easy steps

I first started reviewing robot vacuums six years ago, which means I've watched them progress from bumbling overpriced frisbees to genuine household helpers. While early robot vacuums often bumped their way around my living room, gobbling up wires and spreading messes in their wake, the smartest models you can buy in 2026 offer AI-driven obstacle avoidance, retractable mops that can scrub away dried-down dirt, and "all-in-one" stations that empty the dust, wash the pads with hot water, and even refill their own tanks.

In other words, if you've been holding off, I really think 2026 is the year to make the switch to robot vacuuming. And if it's been a few years since you've upgraded, the latest tech could seriously change your cleaning routine.

But which to buy? Well, that's where I come in. As I said, I've been testing the good, the bad and the ugly in robot vacuums for six years, and I've carefully whittled down dozens of robot vacuum reviews into our top six picks.

The best overall? For most people, I recommend the Shark PowerDetect UV Reveal. Shark really knows how to make a machine that caters to the average buyer, with above-average features that make it feel worth the splurge. However, it's not a cheap pick, which is why I recommend the sub-$300 Dreame D10 Plus Gen 2 for those on a budget.

For the nitty-gritty, as well as my other four top picks, just keep reading.

The best robot vacuums you can buy

Best robot vacuum overall

The Shark PowerDetect UV Reveal stands out as our top pick for robot vacuums, with a 90% overall score in our controlled tests and incredibly strong performance in our real-world testing. It's the best on the market for most people.

Handling everyday debris and pet hair is where the Reveal truly excels. In our tests, it achieved a perfect 100 for pet hair removal. The integrated UV light made hidden stains, forgotten spills and dried-down dog dribble visible, something we tested didn't know he needed until it spotlighted a mess he’d missed under the couch.

Long-term maintenance is refreshingly simple. The 60-day bagless dustbin proved itself over weeks of use, with reviewer Jason noting that it was able to keep up seamlessly with his 1,300 square foot floorplan — the battery proving sufficient for cleans exceeding two hours. If you're dealing with a larger floorplan, it's up to the task.

While it's not the most premium or the best value option in this guide, we do think it's the best option for the average buyer. As the brand so often does, the Shark PowerDetect UV Reveal strikes a smart balance. Its mop pad isn't the most advanced on the market compared to the likes of the Dyson Spot+Scrub, but it does offer the self-cleaning and drying features we're seeing on flagship models in 2026. As for the UV-reveal light, that's a feature we've not seen before in our countless robot vacuum reviews.

There are trade-offs. While reviewer Jason caveated that his carpet is incredibly deep, the Shark's score of 55% in our kitty litter tests did significantly drag down its overall score. Annoyingly, Shark doesn't share the PA suction ratings of its robot vacuums, but the powerful Roborock Qrevo Curv 2 Pro offers an astonishing 20,000, and is our top pick for deep carpets.

The Shark PowerDetect UV Reveal is a great fit for buyers after reliable, whole-home cleaning with minimal upkeep. If you want a robot that covers all bases, at a price that feels reasonable, it's our top recommendation.

Read our full Shark PowerDetect UV Reveal review

Best robot vacuum for pet hair

If you’re tired of battling pet hair stuck in your carpet or wrapped around your robot’s brush, the Roborock Saros 20 delivers a real solution. In our tests, its astonishing 36,000 Pa of suction power (the highest in this guide) made a noticeable difference in pulling up pet hair. Its dual-tangle brush design worked reliably to keep fur from winding around the roller, even after heavy use in a home with multiple pets.

The dual-tangle brush system isn’t just a spec; it shows up in daily cleaning. Over weeks of repeated sessions, we found the Saros 20 rarely needed manual brush clearing, and the vacuum consistently filled its bin with pet hair that other models left behind. Its suction remains strong on both carpets and bare floors, making it a good fit for households that constantly battle pet hair and dander.

For many pet owners, homes can often double as obstacle courses. The Saros 20 sensed errant toys and food bowls with impressive reliability, navigating around them to keep cleaning on track. In homes where pets are always underfoot, this level of obstacle avoidance takes the stress out of automated cleaning.

The one place the Saros 20 stumbles is mopping. In our trials, its mop often missed patches of dirt and left streaks behind. Buyers expecting a spotless mop finish will likely be disappointed and may need to rely on a separate mopping routine for best results. If mopping is a top priority, we suggest checking out the Dyson Spot+Scrub.

At its price point, the Saros 20 is a premium choice. Budget-focused buyers might turn to models like the Dreame D10 Plus Gen 2, or the mid-priced Roborock QV 35S, although neither can match the Saros’s pet hair pickup or obstacle avoidance.

Read our full Roborock Saros 20 review

Best budget

The Dreame D10 Plus Gen 2 is the best robot vacuum we’ve tested under $300, combining a truly affordable price with cleaning performance that rivals far pricier models — especially on hard floors. In our lab tests, it outperformed plenty of more expensive competitors when picking up dust, debris, and hair from wood and tile, making it a smart choice for value-focused shoppers who still want floors to look freshly cleaned, day after day.

Getting started is refreshingly simple. our tester was genuinely surprised by how quickly the Dreame mapped her space — and the results were accurate, even around furniture and in odd-shaped rooms. The Dreame home app is one of the easiest we’ve used: everything is clearly labeled, scheduling is straightforward, and there’s no lag or confusing menus to slow you down. For anyone wary of complicated tech, this is a set-and-forget robot.

The D10 Plus Gen 2 is also compact. At just 13.8 x 13.8 x 3.8 inches, it tucks neatly against a wall or under a side table and feels unobtrusive in smaller apartments. Our tester found it looked sleek in real living spaces, so you don’t have to worry about an eyesore in your entryway.

In day-to-day use, the Dreame consistently kept up with routine messes. This robot handled pet hair, crumbs, and fine dust with ease on hard floors, and impressed us by matching, if not beating, models costing hundreds more. We found its cleaning pattern efficient, rarely missing obvious debris, and the bin system simple to maintain.

There are trade-offs for the low price. The Dreame D10 Plus Gen 2 undercuts premium robots like the Shark PowerDetect UV Reveal, but gives up higher-end extras such as a UV light to reveal stains or a 60-day bagless dustbin. If you want the ultimate hands-off experience or hidden-stain detection, you’ll need to pay for it elsewhere.

The biggest compromise is in mopping and carpet performance. The D10 Plus Gen 2’s mop is very basic — fine for light refreshes, but not up to tackling dried spills or heavy grime. Its suction (6,000Pa) can’t compete with powerhouses like the Roborock Saros 20 (36,000Pa) for pet hair, and it struggles with high-pile carpets, unlike deep-cleaning options such as the Roborock Qrevo Curv 2 Pro. If you have mostly rugs or need to scrub sticky stains, this budget pick isn’t the best fit.

That said, the Dreame D10 Plus Gen 2 still feels thoughtfully designed for budget-minded users. It’s discreet, straightforward, and stylish enough for most homes—qualities our reviewer appreciated daily.

If you want dependable, everyday cleaning at a wallet-friendly price—and can live without premium bells and whistles—the Dreame D10 Plus Gen 2 is the smartest budget robot vacuum you can buy right now. For advanced mopping, deep carpet, or heavy pet hair, consider spending more on a specialized model, but for simple, reliable upkeep, this is our top value pick.

Read our full Dreame D10 Plus Gen 2 review

Best robot vacuum for carpet

The Roborock Qrevo Curv 2 Pro stands out as a strong option for deep carpet cleaning, whether you're dealing with thick rugs or wall-to-wall carpet. With 25,000Pa of suction power, it delivers robust overall cleaning performance that makes a noticeable difference.

In daily use, tester Matt found that it excels at pulling up embedded dust and debris from dense carpet fibers, while still providing solid performance on hard floors. Reviewers consistently praise how it tackles carpeted rooms, noting its effectiveness on a variety of fabric surfaces.

A key distinction is the adaptive chassis, which lets the Qrevo Curv 2 Pro confidently manage door thresholds and uneven carpet transitions. Matt found that it navigated thick rugs and furniture legs without getting stuck, making it well-suited for homes filled with plush carpet or mixed flooring.

Compared to our top pick, the Shark PowerDetect UV Reveal, the Qrevo Curv 2 Pro offers stronger suction, a clear advantage for deep carpet cleaning, even though its overall lab cleaning score is slightly lower when you factor in other floor types.

One limitation is the single brush arm. It occasionally leaves clumps at the edges, so if you’re picky about perfect side pick-up or often clean along baseboards, this trade-off is worth noting. This also impacted mopping performance. Reviewer Matt noted a range of "small but perceptible sticky smears from the spinning mops" after our ketchup tests, suggesting this is not the vacuum for tackling wet messes.

If deep carpet cleaning is your top concern, the Qrevo Curv 2 Pro offers strong performance compared to budget models for carpeted homes. But if you're dealing with mostly hard floors, you may prefer the Dyson Spot+Scrub.

Best robot vacuum and mop hybrid

If you want a robot that truly vacuums and mops, the Dyson 360 Vis Nav Spot+Scrub Ai stands out for tackling dried-on messes, including stubborn kitchen stains, where many hybrids struggle. In our tests, it wiped away dried sauce and sticky spills with a single pass, giving it a clear edge in real-world mopping effectiveness.

What sets the Dyson apart is its mopping system. It uses high-temperature water, which helps break down grime and leaves floors feeling hygienic. And unlike any other vaccum featured in this guide, its rolling mop bar is constantly fed with a flow of clean water, meaning it's more likely to pick up dried-down messes, and less likely to spread dirt around your floors.

I tested this vacuum in my own home, and found that wherever the Dyson cleaned, it picked up dust and debris impressively well, handling everything from crumbs to long strands of hair without issue. Suction is only ok, though. With 18,000 Pa, it's not quite so powerful as the similarly-priced Roborock Qrevo Curv 2 Pro.

Navigation is another win. Mapping was accurate even in oddly shaped rooms, and setup was quick. I barely had to intervene after initial setup, a testament to how little hands-on maintenance is needed once it’s up and running, and in my continued daily use it very happily navigates around obstacles and changing floorplans with no drama.

For busy homes, the bagless, self-emptying dock is a genuine convenience. It automatically empties debris, reducing touch points, so you don’t have to worry about changing bags or frequent emptying. Still, there are trade-offs. The Dyson is larger than most robot vacuums, so it’s more noticeable in the room and may not fit under every piece of furniture. Its drying cycle after mopping can be noisy and takes longer than you might expect, which may bother those sensitive to sound or who need quick turnaround times between cleans.

The Spot+Scrub Ai is best for buyers who want strong, consistent hybrid cleaning and minimal daily fuss. If you don’t need every bell and whistle but value real mopping performance and low-maintenance vacuuming, this robot nails the hybrid brief.

Read our full Dyson Spot+Scrub Ai robot vacuum review

Best value robot vacuum

While the Ecovacs Deebot is still our top pick for budget buyers, if you can afford to splash out on some key extras, you'll see the difference with the Roborock QV 35S. For one, it has a self-emptying dock, and its spinning mop pads are a big step up compared to the likes of the Deebot's basic pad.

When we tested the QV 35S on hardwood floors, its 10,000Pa suction was impressive, pulling up nearly all visible debris in a single pass. In home use, it rarely left behind dust bunnies or tracked-in grit, a level of performance that’s unusual for entry-level bots. You'll need stronger suction for deep-pile carpets, but it also fared well on shallow rugs, picking up an average 84% of debris across our three tests.

Navigation is another high point. The QV 35S proved adept at maneuvering around chairs in our testing area, rarely getting stuck or confused even when running with no pre-set map. While it has a bumper on the front, reviewer Ashley noted that she never saw the Roborock use it due to its excellent sensors.

Ashley also enjoyed using the Roborock app during testing. Its mapping process took under 15 minutes, and controls stayed intuitive throughout. Its 180 minutes of battery life is also impressive, and the QV 35S could comfortably cover large areas on a single charge.

The QV 35S includes a self-emptying dock and performs well on hardwood floors. You’ll give up advanced mopping and luxury extras, but for the money, this bot automates the basics better than most.

Read our full Roborock QV 35S review

Also tested

We've tested many robot vacuums at Tom's Guide. While most perform great, they aren't as easy to recommend for everyone. That's due to a lack of features at higher prices or more niche use cases that aren't as versatile as the top models in our list. Still, the models below are worth checking out if money isn't an issue.

How we test

Over the past 10 years, we've tested dozens of robot vacuums, both by performing objective tests as well as real-world setups.

Each model we review is first evaluated to see how well it can pick up three types of debris. We measure out 20 grams of Cheerios, 20 grams of kitty litter, and 20 grams of pet hair.

Next, we scatter each individually across a hardwood floor, and then weigh the contents of the robot vacuum's dustbin to see how much of each it picked up. We then repeat the same three tests on a low-pile carpet. Afterwards, the robot vacuum receives a cleaning performance score, which is the percentage of debris it was able to collect.

After we record each robot vacuum's scores, we let these machines loose in our tester’s home to see how each holds up in terms of navigation, obstacle avoidance, and coverage in real-world testing. Any special features such as app control, mopping functions, and self-emptying bases are factored in too. This all adds up to weeks of testing; it takes time, but helps ensure we're evaluating them all properly.

After extensive testing, we’ve compiled several buying guides to showcase our results, including the best Roombas, the best cheap robot vacuums and the best robot mops. We can even tell you what it's like when you use a robot vacuum in your home for the first time. So if you want to know more about robot vacuums so you can decide if one is right for you, you’ve come to the right place.

How to choose the best robot vacuum

Before you start shopping for a new robot vacuum, you should consider what you need from it and how much you’re happy to spend. Here are some of the most common features you can find in robot vacuums.

Robot vacuum FAQs

Truth be told, now's not a good time to buy a Roomba. Once synonymous with the very best robot vacuums, iRobot Roomba went into administration in 2025, and was acquired in February 2026 by major Chinese technology company Picea. We reached out to iRobot, who confirmed that it will be "operating as before", and said "there are no changes to existing models or our support of them". But, with that being said, we're seeing a lot of classic iRobot models such as the J9+ Combi and the i3 being taken out of circulation.

With that in mind, the three models I've included in this guide are still readily available to buy and also almost permanently heavily discounted. The most recent model we tested, the iRobot Roomba Plus 505 Combo, offers the latest Roomba tech and scored very highly across the board when we tested it in 2025. More interested in mopping? The Braava Jet M6 has been a favorite of ours for years, and is heavily reduced at a number of a retailers.

But a lot's changed since we tested these robot vacuums, and the brand recently announced a new range of budget-friendly models (the first to be released under the brand's new ownership), which we expect to launch later this year. Can't wait for then? Take a look at the three best Roombas I recommend below.

The best Roombas you can buy today

The best Roombas you can buy today

As part of a series of newly-launched robot vacuum mops from Roomba in 2025, the iRobot Roomba Plus 505 Combo is by far one of the best robot vacuums we’ve tested.

Our tester, Annie, (who is also a busy mom to a toddler and dog), put the Roomba Plus 505 to good use in her home. After months of testing she was impressed by its sheer cleaning power, mopping results and pet hair pick-up. In other words, a great overall robot vacuum to suit every task.

Not only was the Roomba Plus 505 able to do a thorough clean on her carpets, it did a good job of tackling messes on hard floors, particularly in corners. It also managed to maneuver its way over thresholds and around doors and other obstacles without any problem.

Perhaps what impressed our tester the most though, was its excellent mopping results that actually scrubbed floors well. Promising ‘70x more suction’, our tester could clearly see where areas had been scrubbed, and was glad to see floors were left dry and free from wet streaks. What’s more, the Roomba Plus 505 tackles pet hair really well, and Annie didn't find a single strand of her dog's hair tangled in the brush at all. Impressive!

She also loved the fact that it empties its bin, fills itself with clean water, and empties the dirty water away for up to 75 days. In fact, the only downsides Annie noted was the ‘spot cleaning’ mode to be a little hit and miss, and the App could be glitchy at times. However, for an overall, robot vacuum and mop hybrid to handle everyday cleaning, the Roomba Plus 505 was good enough to retire her cordless vacuum.

Read our full iRobot Roomba Plus 505 Combo review.

Best premium

One of iRobot's more premium models, the J9+ Combo is pricey, but it vacuums and mops homes with a healthy mix of carpet and hard floors thoroughly while avoiding obstacles. Its retractable mop design folds over the top of the bot like a convertible car's roof. This completely avoids spilling even a drop of water on carpets — but it requires you to manually remove and clean the mop pad after each job, which is some outdated tech compared to more modern releases from brands like Dreame and Dyson.

The J9+ had no problem sucking up nearly all of the Cheerios and kitty litter placed on both surface types. It even ripped through 93 percent of pet hair on carpet which is where most models struggle.

Our tester, Hunter, noted that only place this Roomba dropped the ball was when collecting pet hair on hard floors. While it managed to collect around 80% of the hair it struggled for the majority of the cleaning and often pushed it all together in clumps.

Its onboard AI powers advanced obstacle avoidance and uses a camera to detect dirt and optimize cleanings ensure that your floors are left clean and shiny. The algorithm's "SmartScrub" feature can even determine how effective a mop passthrough was to apply more pressure like a human would. If your home is equal parts hardwood to carpet then the Roomba J9+ Combo can't be topped.

Read our full iRobot Roomba J9+ Combo robot vacuum and mop review.

Best robot mop

The iRobot Braava jet m6 is, in essence, the Roomba s9, but solely for mopping. This impressive bot uses the same advanced navigation found in the Roomba s9 and Roomba i7 to clean and map your home. It’ll save a map of your home’s layout that can be customized, giving you the power to command the Braava jet m6 to clean specific rooms while avoiding no-go areas such as pet food bowls. While this is a handy feature in a vacuum, it’s nearly essential in a mop. No one wants to deal with a wet rug.

The square shape of the Braava jet m6 means it cleans well along baseboards. We like the easy-to-fill removable water tank, too. Like some Roombas, when the mop’s battery gets low, it’ll head back to its base, recharge, and then get back to work. Perhaps the neatest feature of the Braava jet m6 is how it works in tandem with the Roomba s9 and Roomba i7. When the vacuum has finished cleaning and returned to its base, the mop goes to work.

Like the Braava jet 240, the Braava jet m6 uses proprietary wet and dry cleaning pads that are available in reusable or disposable versions.

The m6 is at the top of our list of the best robot mops; as we found in our Braava jet m6 review, it was the best at both mopping and sweeping, and all of its smarts made it the easiest to use, too.

Read our full iRobot Braava jet m6 robot mop review.

How we tested

Our list of the best Roombas has been compiled through a combination of hands-on testing alongside extensive online research. Those which are tested in-house must demonstrate high levels of pick-up on everyday debris, including Cheerios, kitty litter and dog hair across both carpet and hardwood floors. We also take into account the effectiveness of the navigation as well as how much noise it makes on route. Speed is also considered as part of this test.

On top of that, we give the overall design a once-over, checking how easy the dustbin and filter are to remove and refit, as well as factoring in the settings and features on offer. We also test the app to see how easy it is to navigate and how intuitive the Roomba is to use on the whole.

Those models which are assessed based solely on online research need to have a proven track record in performance. We check this by referring to online reviews which must be commendable as well as consistent. Specifications are also compared to find the models which have the most to offer. Battery life and dustbin capacity are considered along with special features such as obstacle recognition and self-emptying bases.

How to choose

Choosing the best Roomba for your home and lifestyle is as easy as considering what features matter most to you.

If you want to tell your bot exactly which rooms to clean, the Roomba j7+, s9+, the Roomba i7+, or the Braava jet m6 are good options. These use advanced camera navigation, allowing them to create and save accurate maps of your home.

From there, you can customize a map by naming specific rooms and creating no-go zones to keep the robot from pushing Fido’s food bowl across the floor.

If the last thing you want to deal with is a dustbin full of everything that was just cleaned up, the automatic, self-emptying Clean Base that’s available with the Roomba j7+, s9+ and the Roomba i7+ will be right up your alley. The base uses bags that seal shut when removed, keeping the dust and allergens at bay.

Struggle with pet poop collisions? Then the answer is easily the new iRobot Roomba j7+. With obstacle avoidance technology, this problem is a thing of the past. In fact, iRobot is so confident in the Roomba j7+’s intelligence that it’s introduced the Pet Owner Official Promise (P.O.O.P), whereby iRobot will replace any j7+ that fails to avoid solid pet waste.

And if want to control your Roomba or Braava from your phone, the Roomba 675 up to the Roomba s9+ can be controlled via the iRobot app.

Every model (except the Braava jet 240) is WiFi connected, meaning you’ll be able to start or schedule a cleaning when you’re not home. Afterall, there’s nothing better than coming home to a clean house.

The one exception is the Braava jet 240. This mopping bot connects to the iRobot app via Bluetooth instead of WiFi. The removable battery and nature of this mop make it an unlikely candidate for a completely unsupervised cleaning session.

Features to look out for

• Self-emptying
  This is available on some of the more premium models, such as the iRobot Roomba s9+ mentioned above. When the dustbin is full, the Roomba will return to its charging base to empty itself into a larger bin. This means you don’t have to empty it so often, and it’s ideal if you suffer from allergies as dust isn’t released into the air as frequently.
• WiFi connectivity
  Most Roomba vacuums come with WiFi connectivity. With this, you can connect your vacuum to your smartphone, which allows you to better monitor and control it.
• Hybrid models
  Hybrid models are available which can mop as well as vacuum. In our experience, these generally aren’t as good as dedicated models though.
• Mapping
  As the name suggests, with mapping your Roomba can map-out your home. It does this using sensors prior to calculating the best cleaning route. It can record obstacles, such as the stairs, and this opens up the no-go zones and targeted room features for some models.
• No-go zones
  With no-go zones, you can mark rooms or areas where you don’t want your Roomba to go. It’s great if you want to avoid pet bowls or an expensive rug, for instance.
• Targeted rooms
  Using this, you can set where you want the Roomba to focus on cleaning — ideal if there’s an unexpected mess.
• Multiple floors
  If you have lots of floors, look for a Roomba which can support multiple maps. That way, you’re not restricted to just one floor.
• Scheduling
  You will find this feature on pretty much every robot vacuum with WiFi connectivity. Once it’s connected to your phone, you can set up cleaning schedules to best suit your routine.
• Dust capacity
  Smaller dustbins naturally need emptying more often — unless you’re lucky enough to own a self-emptying model. 400ml is a good size of capacity for guidance.

Hybrid robot vacuums — ones that can both vacuum and mop — have become increasingly popular, but iRobot was the one company yet to release a hybrid model — until now.

The Roomba Combo j7+ is the first from iRobot that can handle both your hardwood floors and your carpets in one go, which could save you from yet another household chore. 

We had a chance to see the Roomba Combo j7+ in action; here's our initial thoughts, as well as when this new robot vacuum will be available.

Roomba Combo j7+: Price and availability

The Roomba Combo j7+ is available for preorder starting today (September 27) for $1,099 on iRobot.com. It will start shipping on October 4, at which time it will also be available in Canada, Europe, and at other online retailers.

Roomba Combo j7+: Design

The Roomba Combo j7+ looks a lot like its non-mopping sibling, the Roomba j7+. For that matter, it looks like many other robot vacuums: It's a large black circle with a shinier circle in the center. It's a very clean look for a robot vacuum.

What sets the Combo J7+ apart is a semicircular panel on the top rear of the vacuum; when it senses that it's on a hard surface, like a wood or tile floor, this panel— which has a small pad — lifts up and then slides underneath the robot so it can start mopping the floor. Unlike other robot vacuum hybrids, iRobot says its approach helps ensure that your rugs don't get wet.

When it reaches a carpeted surface, the mopping panel lifts back up to its resting area atop the robot. Watching it during our brief hands-on session, it's both neat to watch but also seems a little fussy. 

The Roborock S7 — our current favorite robot vacuum/mop hybrid among the best robot vacuums — also has a mop head that lifts up, but in this case only raises by 5 millimeters. However, the S7's design also allows for its mop to oscillate, which helps to remove more stubborn spots.

iRobot says that the Combo J7+ should do good job mopping, but it won't be quite as thorough as its dedicated iRobot Braava Jet m6+. 

As with the Roomba J7+ and iRobot's other premium robot vacuums, the Combo J7+ has a self-empyting base, so you can have it vacuum your floors up to a month before you have to remove the dust bag from the base. Like other self-empyting bases, the J7+'s is as loud as a traditional vacuum; fortunately, this only lasts for a second or two. 

While the Combo J7+ can empty itself of dirt and debris, you'll have to add water to it each time you send it on its rounds; it has a small removable reservoir in its rear.

Roomba Combo j7+: Features

The Combo J7+ has the same smarts inside as the non-Combo version of the J7+, which makes it one of the more intelligent robot vacuums out there. One of its most-touted features is the ability to avoid pet poop and other things that might have been left on the floor by accident, such as pet toys, socks, and cords. 

You can also command the J7+ to clean specific rooms, as well as specific areas in rooms — such as around a dining room table, or in front of your kitchen counter. If you happen to be sitting in a room that the robot is about to clean, but don't want to be disturbed, you can tell the vacuum/mop combo to skip that room temporarily. 

All this can be done in the iRobot app, or through Alexa, Google Assistant, or Siri. 

Roomba Combo j7+: Outlook

It was only a matter of time before iRobot released a hybrid mopping/vacuuming robot, and the Combo J7+ has a unique take on how to avoid wet carpets. iRobot says it's best for those who want something that can both mop and vacuum, but don't have enough space for two bots. 

At $1,099, the Roomba is a little more expensive than the Roborock S7+ ($949), which might be better at scrubbing your floors, but doesn't look to have the same smarts as the Combo J7+. We'll reserve our judgment to see where it ranks on our list of the best Roombas until we've had a chance to test out the Roomba Combo J7+ to see how it performs.

Price: $649.99 ($599.99 at Walmart)

Modern society is built around multitasking, so why expect anything less from our robot vacuums? The Roborock S7, the latest hybrid robot vacuum and mop from Roborock, does just that. Previously, we would never have allowed an unsupervised hybrid robot to run wild around our house with a full tank of water. But, the S7 is smart enough to raise its mop when it detects carpet, making it an intriguing solution to a long-standing hurdle.

In addition to mopping smarts, the S7 offers strong vacuuming performance paired with fast mapping and an app that’s full of customizations. While it’s not perfect, in our Roborock S7 review, we finally found a hybrid robot vacuum and mop we can trust.

• Best robot vacuums
• What you need to know: Robot vacuum buying guide
• Best robot mops

The Roborock S7 also earned a Highly Recommended nod for the Best robot vacuum award in the Tom's Guide Awards 2021 for smart home devices.

Roborock S7: Price and availability

The Roborock S7 was released on March 24, 2021, and is available at Amazon for $649 and Walmart.com for $599. It's currently available in white and black. There's also the option to buy a compatible Auto-Empty Dock either as a set or independently. On its own, the dock costs $299 from Amazon.  

Roborock S7: Design

The Roborock S7 doesn’t break any new design ground. At a glance, it could be mistaken for the Roborock S6 MaxV, minus that model’s dual front cameras. Both vacuums are 13.9 inches by 13.8 inches around and stand 3.8 inches tall, fairly large as robot vacuums go. Neither could fit through the legs of my dining room chairs the way smaller bots, like the 13.3-inch Roomba i7+ can.

However, the S7 looks classier than both its sibling and the Roomba i7+. It’s clad in shiny white plastic with brushed silver trim around the top, A raised disc in the center features the Roborock logo and conceals the Lidar sensor. Silver buttons for spot cleaning, power/start cleaning, and docking are placed near the front. A bright orange button at the rear releases the onboard water tank.

While its look isn’t revolutionary, the Roborock S7 has a few design touches that give the bot a premium look and suggest power under the hood. First, there are concentric “ripples” that spread outward from the logo disc — a subtle nod to the sonic vibrating mop on the machine. Much like the iRobot Roomba s9, there’s a curved light that moves and changes color when the robot is in action. Though much smaller than the light on the Roomba s9, a white light zooms from left to right in normal vacuum mode. In spot cleaning mode, it changes from green to blue and back again.

Those premium touches continue on the underside of the Roborock S7 where a red, studded, rubber-finned brush roll sits between two large black rubberized wheels. The company calls it a floating brush and says it’s able to get closer to the ground for better cleaning. The brush housing moves easily, but doesn’t feel fragile. A five spoke brush with rubber bristles sits to the left of the brush roll. A bevy of sensors are placed around the edges, including one that detects carpet near the omni-directional wheel in the front.

The Wi-Fi indicator light and dustbin are hidden under the thin plastic hood. The bin is easy to remove for emptying and can be cleaned under running water. It’s completely separate from the water tank, meaning you don’t have to manually switch out a dustbin for a water tank in order to change cleaning modes.

Unlike other hybrid models that just drag a microfiber pad around, Roborock has equipped the S7 with a sonic mopping system which offers multiple scrub settings via a removable half-moon-shaped mopping plate and reusable microfiber pad. But here’s the extra nifty feature: the mop part automatically raises up 5 millimeters (0.197 inches) when carpet is detected or when the bot is returning to the dock. The company calls it VibraRise technology, but what impressed me was that it actually worked consistently.

Roborock S7 review: Cleaning performance

Vacuuming with the Roborock S7 was a fairly quick exercise. It’s a relatively fast and thorough cleaner that offers strong overall performance. Because it uses Lidar for mapping, the vacuum was able to completely map my first floor in one run. Once a map is established, the S7 cleans methodically, outlining the edges of a room, then working in an S-shaped pattern. It’s gentle, too. Like most mapping robots, it slows down as it approaches a perceived obstacle. I watched it carefully approach a stepstool, clean underneath it, then back away. It bumped into the stool legs a couple of times, but never enough to move it.

In our lab tests, the S7 earned an overall score of 92.97 — not quite as good as its vacuum-only sibling, the S4 Max, but slightly better than the iRobot Roomba i7 and Roborock S6 MaxV.

This vacuum performed best on hardwood, earning an average pick up rate of 95.4%, but it held its own on our carpet tests with an average pick up rate of 90.54%.

*Same test performed in a larger 15’ x 15’ area.

On hardwood, the Roborock S7 picked up 96.8% of the Cheerios strewn about the test area. That’s nearly identical to the S4 Max’s score on the same task and just one point below the S6 MaxV. However, the S7 rolled over and crushed several Cheerios during our hardwood floor testing, making more of a mess that it then had to clean up.

Speaking of messes, though the Roborock S7 picked up 96% of the dog hair on hardwood, much of it was wrapped around the rubber brush roll and the front wheel. Thankfully, both the brush and the wheel were easy to remove and clean.

*Same test performed in a larger 15’ x 15’ area.

A big highlight of the Roborock S7 is its ability to automatically detect carpet and increase suction accordingly. That increased suction bore out in the scores on two of our three carpet tests. The S7 earned a perfect score cleaning up Cheerios from our test carpet, even though it resembled a 4x4 on rough terrain as it rolled over cereal pieces before picking them up.

Likewise, the S7 was equally impressive in the kitty litter test, picking up 96% of the granules, one point better than the Roborock S4 Max. When it came to dog hair, the S7 stumbled, cleaning up 75.6% of the hair. The vacuum tended to roll over the hair, pushing Fido’s fur further into the carpet, thus making it harder for the vacuum to pick up.

*Same test performed in a larger 15’ x 15’ area.

Roborock S7: Mopping performance

Throughout my testing of dozens of robot vacuums and robot mops, I’ve typically found hybrid vacuum and mop robots to be jacks of all trades but masters of none. The Roborock S7 is a pleasant surprise. First, it’s smart enough to avoid mopping most carpets. While the 5 millimeters the mopping plate raises itself doesn’t sound like much, I found it was enough to avoid getting my carpet wet. A slightly thicker door mat felt minimally damp after the S7 traveled across it, but less wet than if I’d stepped on it after walking in the door during a rainstorm. However, the mopping attachment tended to catch the edges of area rugs, causing the corner to temporarily roll up underneath the vacuum before the bot freed itself.

Like the Roborock S6 MaxV, the S7 is able to both vacuum and mop at the same time. Unlike the S6 MaxV, it did both tasks well. The Roborock S7 vacuumed up a pile of breadcrumbs on my kitchen floor and mopped it clean. It was in this instance where I saw the best use of simultaneous vacuuming and mopping: The damp mop pad was able to catch the miniscule crumbs that the vacuum didn’t.

The VibraRise auto-lifting mop pad combined with the carpet detection makes the difference with the Roborock S7. In my Roborock S6 MaxV review, I lamented that the bot could detect carpet, but couldn’t use that information to keep the mop off the carpet. While lifting the mop pad 5 millimeters isn’t going to save every area rug from getting mopped, it does help.

In the Roborock app, you can choose between Standard mopping, which vacuums and mops simultaneously, or Deep Mopping. With Deep Mopping, the S7 will move in a tighter pattern and cover the specified area twice. I didn’t notice a big difference in cleaning between the two modes other than the vacuum not running. In both modes, you’re able to choose your preferred “Scrub Intensity:” Close, Mild, Moderate, or Intense. I was able to see and hear the difference in the mop vibration as switched between scrubbing options. According to Roborock, the sonic vibrations range from 1,650 to 3,000 times a minute. By comparison, the vibrating mopping attachment sold by Ecovacs to attach to the Deebot Ozmo T8 oscillates at 480 times a minute and doesn’t raise its pad.

Roborock recommends running the microfiber pad, detached from the mop plate, under water before using. I found this solved a problem I’ve had with other hybrid mops like the iLife V5s Pro — namely, not getting the floor wet enough to look like it’s even been touched by a mop. On the S7, water drips onto the pad while it’s mopping via the electronically-controlled water tank. Like almost all robotic mops, water —and only water — is allowed in the S7. While water alone isn’t going to make your floors look brand new, it’s good enough for getting light spots off the floor and in between more thorough mop and bucket cleaning sessions.

Roborock S7: Setup, app, and mapping

Getting the Roborock S7 up and running took less than five minutes once it was situated on its dock and charged. Like other recent Roborock robot vacuums, it’s controlled via the Roborock app (Android and iOS). While I loathe the idea of creating yet another account with credentials to keep track of, that’s what you have to do here. Once the account is set, adding a new robot and connecting it to my home wifi network was quick as the app walked me through the process.

The Roborock S7 supports four separate maps. I used one map for the first level of my home and one for each test area. The S7 is smart, but you’ll need to tell it which map to use if you move it to a different location. To do this, you’ll have to go into Settings > Manage Maps or access it from the Edit Map button on the main device page. Then tap Restore to make the map you want to use active. From here, you can also instruct the bot to create a new map. It feels a little tedious, but it offers more control than the iRobot Home app, which doesn’t let you choose to make a new map — it just decides to do it.

Once a map is created, the Roborock app will attempt to divide it into rooms. Don’t expect a miracle, especially if your home has an open floor plan. Thankfully, Edit Map > Edit Room allows you to merge, divide, and name rooms. Room division is far from perfect and I was dismayed to run into the same dividing issue that I did with the Roborock S4 Max: the “Reset failed” error, which is triggered by rooms having more than one entry point. My solution was to draw one line through the center of the map and then divide and merge rooms as needed.

Particular about exactly how much vacuuming and mopping you want in each room? The Roborock app allows you to customize the vacuum power and scrub intensity in each individual room or throughout the whole level. Only need cleaning around the kitchen sink and table? Set up one or more zones to be cleaned and specify how many times (up to three) you’d like the Roborock S7 to clean that zone.

Perhaps more important than go-to zones are no-go and no-mop zones. While the Roborock S7 detects carpet and shows it on the map, drawing a no-mop zone around it isn’t perfect. I used the carpet demarcation on the map as a guide for a no-mop zone in my dining room. While the S7 mostly stayed away, it interpreted the no-mop zone as starting about 6 inches in from the edge of the rug. However, thanks to the auto-rise mop plate, my rug stayed dry. The no-go zone worked similarly; I boxed out my dog’s food and water bowls, but made the zone a little too large, causing the S7 to miss the floor next to the bowls. It’s definitely a trial and error process.

Thankfully, the app shows you exactly where the Roborock S7 has cleaned, including the path it took from the dock. You can track the vacuum’s progress right in the app and, should it get stuck, you’ll know where to find it. It’s a nice feature and gives you a clearer picture of any spaces the robot might have missed due to obstacles or other minor calamities.

Roborock S7 Auto-Empty Dock

We found the self-emptying base for the Roborock S7 straightforward to assemble. You attach the two major parts into an L-shape using the supplied screwdriver which comes as part of the base. It’s nice that you can fit the screwdriver back into place should you ever need it again as well. Before operating the robot vacuum, you need to remember to remove the plate covering the air inlet in the dustbin for it to be able to auto-empty. This is a small, but essential modification to use the base.  

The dust bag in the base is easy to fit in place and you simply pull it up to remove. It holds up to 120 days of dust before needing replacing and seals itself shut on removal to prevent dust from going everywhere. These are widely available to buy on Amazon starting from $20.99.  

The filter is also easy to remove from the base, although I couldn’t take it apart easily for cleaning — which appears to be possible in the manual. You can also remove the dust bag canister to clean the dust inlet should that get blocked. The canister isn’t easy to grip from the outside as you attempt to remove it, but if you pop open the lid you can grip it from the inside which is much better.

When we used the S7 with the auto-empty dock, we found the robot returned to its base successfully each time and didn’t nudge it out of place as it parked. You can auto-empty straight from the app, or the robot vacuum can do so automatically with each run (you can switch this off in DND mode). There are four self-empty settings available (Smart, light, balanced and max), which adjust the power accordingly.  

We tried the Light setting at first, which was quite loud — just a bit louder than you would expect from an upright vacuum. It took less than a minute to finish running. However, we were disappointed to see that the dust and debris was mostly caught under the robot vacuum the first time we ran it. We tried it again in Max mode, which lasted just under 30 seconds and didn’t sound much louder than the Light mode. It worked this time — no dust to be found under the robot vacuum.

The self-emptying base is definitely useful to have, particularly if you’ve got allergies and don’t like the maintenance of emptying your robot vacuum’s dustbin. If you’ve already got the Roborock S7, it’s also nice that you can buy the base separately and upgrade for $299 (Amazon). Be prepared that the two together are fairly bulky in size and will make an impression, but it’s not overly obtrusive and looks quite smart.

Roborock S7 review: Verdict

The Roborock S7 is the first hybrid vacuum and mopping robot that I’d actually let mop my home unsupervised. The auto-rising mop plate and carpet detection work consistently well. While the mop isn’t going to clean your floors well enough to eat off of them, it does a good enough job to fool houseguests. Plus, it’s a solid, fast cleaning vacuum with loads of in-app customizations. The auto-empty dock is a useful addition if you struggle with allergies and want to simplify its maintenance as well. 

If you don’t need the mopping, take a look at the $429 Roborock S4 Max, which is our current favorite robot vacuum. But if you want your robot vacuum to multitask, the Roborock S7 offers strong overall vacuuming performance with predictable water-only mopping that won’t soak your rugs.

Vacuuming is one of those chores which can easily be forgotten. After all, there’s no hurt in leaving it for a day or two or even a week right? The problem is, the longer you leave it, the more obvious it becomes. Until one day you realize you unexpectedly need to host and there’s crumbs and fluff everywhere. Unfortunately, we all need to make time to clean with our vacuum cleaners, but that’s not the case with a robot vacuum cleaner.     

Can your robot vacuum replace an upright vacuum? Not exactly. While a robot vacuum can pick up everyday dust and debris, it’s not as strong as it’s upright counterparts. For this reason, it’s best at complimenting your vacuum cleaner. It does come with its benefits though. A robot vacuum cleaner can be set on a schedule, so it will clean automatically. Some can even empty themselves via the charging base. Still not sure if a robot vacuum would be right for you? Here are some factors to consider if a robot vacuum is worth it.

• The best robot vacuums, tested and reviewed
• Robot vacuum buying guide: What to know before you shop

What’s on your floor?

Before buying any kind of vacuum, mop, or even a Swiffer, think about what you’re trying to clean. Is your home full of bare floors or wall-to-wall carpet? Is the centerpiece of the living room a thick shag rug? Have decades of linoleum created a large threshold to your kitchen?

Modern robot vacuums have improved performance on multiple surfaces and rarely need a fully lit room to do their job. Models such as the Roborock S4 Max and the iRobot Roomba 694 are even able to automatically detect carpet and increase suction accordingly. In our lab, we test robot vacuum performance on both hardwood and low-pile carpet because many vacuums perform better on one than the other.

Most robot vacuums are able to climb medium-height thresholds, but you’ll want to measure your threshold and check the robot’s specs.

However, shag rugs are still a hard no. Roller brushes on the robot may damage the rug, and its wheels don’t offer enough clearance to drive over the rug easily. Additionally, the robot is likely to get stuck because the shag blocks its sensors.

Who’s in your home?

Furry household members are one of the top reasons to invest in a robot vacuum. Frequent vacuuming cuts down on dust, dander, and hair and keeps it from getting ground into carpeting. 

Consider how much time you spend vacuuming each week to keep up with Fido and Fluffy. Don’t forget — Fido is often not the only shedder in the house. Girls with long hair outnumber the boys in my home and I’m routinely finding hair everywhere — thankfully the robot vacuum collects most of it.

How much time do you want to spend cleaning?

One important difference between robot vacuums and traditional vacuums: Since they’re unmanned objects, they’ll try to pick up whatever is in their path. That means the kids — or more likely, you — will have to clean their rooms before letting the bot loose. If your children leave Legos and other toys around, be sure to get them out of the way before unleashing the cleaning beast. (be sure to check out our tips for using a robot vacuum for the best performance).

Any vacuum activity, whether traditional or robot, requires a bit of pre-cleaning. Shoes, children’s toys, dog toys, and other items should be picked up off the floor and moved out of the way. Then you still have to actually vacuum the house.

With a robot vacuum, you’ll have to do all of your pre-cleaning before the vacuum runs. If it’s on a schedule, you’ll end up on your own pre-cleaning schedule. But the good news is that then your work is done. Plus, if the robot vacuum supports no-go zones or room-specific cleaning, you can toss the stuff in a corner and deal with it later.

Mobility considerations

While robot vacuums are often considered a timesaver for busy people, the machines may also be of use to older adults who can no longer maneuver a traditional vacuum. The compact dustbins on robot vacuums are typically easy to remove and shake into a garbage can. If bending down is an issue, a robot vacuum with a self-emptying base, such as the iRobot Roomba i3+, might be the answer. The Clean Base on the i3 uses a vacuum bag that only needs to be replaced every one to two months, depending on use. The small bag in the base is less of a hassle to use than even the onboard dustbin.

Most robot vacuums weigh between 4 and 9 pounds, making them relatively easy to pick up for maintenance. Since they’re so compact, they’re easy to place on a table while popping out the brush rolls to remove hair.

Should you buy a robot vacuum?

Robot vacuums have improved exponentially in the last few years. Earlier models would clean the same spot over and over while missing another area entirely. Plus, the balance between suction power and battery life has improved, with many models offering mid-cleaning recharge, meaning the robot will go back to its dock, charge, and then continue the cleaning job where it left off. Many robot vacuums are able to map your entire living space and give you control over which rooms get cleaned and how often it happens, but all that technology doesn’t come cheap.

Meanwhile, the best vacuums tend to offer more suction at a lower price, but they also require more manual labor. In fact, they’re all manual labor. There’s not yet a way to tell your Miele Complete C3 Calima canister vac to clean your living room without a lot of human intervention and elbow grease — much less give it a weekly cleaning schedule.

Though they don’t fully replace the deep-cleaning power of a traditional vacuum, we think robot vacuums are worth it for regular vacuuming in between occasional deep cleaning sessions, without the hassle of lugging a vacuum out of a hall closet and doing it yourself. They’re especially handy for households with pets, which can accumulate fur and dander easily. Plus, you can get a robot vacuum to clean up before unexpected company drops by.

• The best Roombas
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Robot vacuum owners who share a house with furry friends fear one thing—pet poop. Not only is running over pet poop over likely a death sentence for your robot vacuum, but it would also smear a disgusting mess all over your floors. The iRobot Roomba j7+ seeks to fully eliminate this fear with new obstacle avoidance technology that promises to specifically identify pet waste and other objects and veer around it. While it’s not the first robot vacuum to avoid treacherous obstacles, it learns from its cleaning runs, which earns it a spot on our best robot vacuums list. Paired with a new self-emptying Clean Base, our iRobot Roomba j7+ review found a robot vacuum that’s ideal for homes with accident-prone pets and the people who love them.

• Check out the best vacuum cleaners right now
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iRobot Roomba j7+ review: Price and availability

The iRobot Roomba j7+ includes both the robot vacuum and the self-emptying Clean Base. It’s available for $624 on Walmart.com. The Clean Base comes with one dust bag installed and a spare tucked away under the lid. iRobot estimates that each bag will last up to 60 days before needing to be replaced. Additional bags are available in a pack of three from iRobot.com for $19.99. Don’t want the roar of the self-emptying Clean Base? The Roomba j7 is available without it for $492. Make sure you check our iRobot coupon codes page for ways to save on your purchase. 

iRobot Roomba j7+ review: Design

iRobot switched things up with the Roomba j7+ by moving the navigation sensor to the very front of the robot, recessed into the top of the front bumper. This change gives the bot its obstacle detecting ability — the superpower of the Roomba j7+.  The sensor is made even more noticeable by the LED headlight that illuminates the vacuum’s path while it cleans. Though the light was jarring at first, especially in rooms that weren’t well lit, I got used to seeing the Roomba j7+’s headlamp explore my floors quickly.

Aside from the sensor placement, the iRobot Roomba j7+ looks strikingly similar to the Roomba i3+, with its disc within a disc design. But the Roomba j7+ has traded basic grey for classy matte black with a dark grey brushed metallic-looking center disk. In the center sits the iRobot logo, with a single button for starting and stopping cleanings above the logo. That button is outlined in white light when the vacuum is cleaning, blue when heading back to the dock, and red when there’s an error. 

The underside of the iRobot Roomba j7+ is nearly identical to the Roomba i3+, with a tri-spoke brush on one side, an omnidirectional wheel at the top, and two green rubber roller brushes in between chunky black rubberized wheels. A bevy of sensors dot the edges. 

While the robot vacuum component of the iRobot Roomba j7+ may not look too different, the self-emptying Clean Base has gotten a much-needed makeover. The new Clean Base is shorter and more squat than the previous iteration, measuring just 13.25 inches high compared to the older base’s 19-inch height. The top of the new Clean Base opens via a classy brown leather pull tab. In addition to the dust bag that’s in use, there’s storage for spare bags. It’s a small touch, but when you’re only emptying the bag every two months or so, it can be hard to remember where you left the extra dust bags. 

One thing the updated Clean Base has in common with its predecessor: It’s still incredibly loud. Every analogy to planes taking off still feels apt. Mercifully, the bin emptying process is short, lasting less than 10 seconds.

iRobot Roomba j7+: Vacuuming performance

The iRobot Roomba j7+ turned in a solid performance in both our hardwood and carpet lab tests, earning an overall average score of 91.81. It was slightly better than the Roborock S6 MaxV’s score of 90.56 and the similar, but non-mapping, Roomba i3+’s score of 90.1. But it wasn’t quite as good as the 96.25 earned by our current best overall vacuum, the Roborock S4, nor did it surpass the Roomba s9+’s score of 96.83. 

But even though it can avoid pet waste, it wasn’t as good as the best robot vacuums for pet hair, as it only picked up 82.5 percent of our dog’s fluff.

Still, the Roomba j7+ was a relatively fast cleaner as it zigzagged back and forth across my floors. It didn’t get tripped up by rugs and, thanks to its upfront camera, didn’t get tripped up by small obstacles, such as the fake dog poop I dropped in its way. It did not recognize a medium-sized dog toy as an obstacle, however, with software updates, it should learn to recognize objects such as these as well as shoes and socks down the line. 

Despite its obstacle avoidance technology, the iRobot Roomba j7+ was remarkably forceful when it bumped into furniture and walls. The test corral is made of four pieces of wood that are partially held in place by walls on two sides and five-pound weights on the other two sides. The Roomba j7+ repeatedly slammed into one of the weight-secured sides hard enough to push the weight out of place. Though it approached walls and furniture more gently after mapping, the initial force of it took me by surprise.

Like most robot vacuums, the iRobot Roomba j7+ did best on bare floors. It picked up 97.3% of the Cheerios strewn about the test area, just edging out the Roborock S4 Max, but falling just below the S6 MaxV and the Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid. The Samsung JetBot AI+ and the Roomba i3+ earned perfect cereal pickup scores on hardwood.

On dog hair, the Roomba j7+ was equally impressive, cleaning up 92.5% of the golden retriever hair in the test area. While it didn’t pick up all of it, like the Roborock S4 Max and the Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid did, it out performed the Roborock S6 MaxV’s 78% pickup rate.

Comparatively, the Roomba j7+ could have been better on kitty litter on bare floors. While it picked up a respectable 94.45%, the Roomba s9+, the Samsung JetBot AI+, and both the Roborock S4 Max and S6 MaxV all did a better job. It came close to the Roomba i3+, which cleaned up 95.7% of the litter.

The iRobot Roomba j7+ mostly held its own in the carpet lab tests, earning a 99.35% pickup rate for cereal and a 94.75% pickup rate for kitty litter. Its scores are almost identical to its sibling, the Roomba i3+, which earned a perfect 100 picking up cereal on carpet and a 94 picking up litter. The Roomba j7+ stumbled a bit with dog hair, collecting 72.5% of the fur off of the carpet test area. Though it performed better than the Roomba i3+, it was below the Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid’s score of 89.5 and the Roomba s9+’s impressive 97% clean up rate.

iRobot Roomba j7+ review: Setup, app and mapping

The iRobot Roomba j7+ is controlled by the iRobot Home app (Android and iOS). The app has plenty of features presented in a non-intimidating way, but if you’re looking for more granular controls like the ones found on the Samsung JetBot AI+, such as cleaning around furniture or cleaning around walls last, you’re out of luck.

Connecting the iRobot Roomba j7+ to the iRobot app and my home network was quick and easy, thanks to on screen prompts within the app that guide you through the process. The robot connected on the first try and I was invited to give it a name.

After charging it, I sent the Roomba j7+ on a mapmaking mission. When exploring a new place for the first time, the mapping process can be expedited by sending Roomba j7+ on a mapping-only run. 

Other robot vacuums like the Samsung JetBot AI+, the Roborock S6 MaxV and the Eufy X8 Hybrid use a LiDAR sensor to quickly map a floor’s layout — typically generating a nearly complete map after just one run. iRobot used VSLAM technology in earlier models and the company says the Roomba j7+ uses PrecisionVision Navigation. This is why Roombas need light to clean accurately, while other bots do not. It’s not a big trade-off, as after three runs the app generated a faithful map of my first floor. More impressively, it created mostly accurate room divisions in spite of my mostly open floor plan.

I was able to easily add and remove room divisions, too, though the experience differed compared to other robot vacuum maps. Instead of manipulating the line to create the room division, the app gives the impression of moving the map around underneath the line. If you think about the map as one layer and the dividing line as a layer on top of it, it’s the feeling of moving the bottom layer to satisfy the top layer instead of the other way around. It’s a little disorienting to get used to, but it worked well.

The big new feature in the iRobot Roomba j7+ is obstacle avoidance. iRobot advertises it with its “Pet Owner Official Promise” or “P.O.O.P.” The company promises to replace your robot should the unthinkable happen in the first year of ownership. While the Roomba j7+ did avoid my fake dog poop obstacle multiple times, it also identified cords and other lower stakes obstacles like tennis balls. But it didn’t just alert me to the presence of obstacles — it asked how it should handle those obstacles in the future.

After a cleaning run, a phone notification popped up asking me to review the obstacles found by the bot. The app displayed an image taken by the Roomba j7+’s camera with the offending item highlighted. Then I was given four options: Temporary obstacle here; Add Keep Out Zone; No obstacle here; or I’m not sure. After labeling a tennis ball as a temporary obstacle, the app offered the option of cleaning that area again. 

The Samsung JetBot AI+ offers the same tidying up service after encountering obstacles and it’s helpful. But what I found more useful with the Roomba j7+ was the ability to automatically add Keep Out Zones after it identified an electrical cord. It is very much a set-it process and way easier than trying to guesstimate where a no-go zone should be drawn on a map. Another bonus — it saves time picking up for the robot before letting the Roomba j7+ loose in the house.

In addition to room-specific cleaning and setting a regular cleaning schedule, the Roomba j7+ is able to start or finish a cleaning based on the location of your smartphone or the actions of other smart home IFTTT devices, such as a smart garage door opener.

The Roomba j7+ also has Imprint Smart Mapping, which allows you to trigger the iRobot Braava jet m6 robot mop to wash the floors after vacuuming.

iRobot Roomba j7+ review: Verdict

I’ll say it — iRobot’s “P.O.O.P” promise seems hokey. But I was impressed with the Roomba j7+’s mapping prowess and cleaning smarts. It performed nearly as well as the $1,100 iRobot Roomba s9+, but includes obstacle avoidance and a more attractive Clean Base. The Roborock S6 MaxV offers similar cleaning performance and obstacle detection, including identifying objects as pet waste, but it doesn’t learn from its cleaning runs like the Roomba j7+. However, the S6 MaxV has been available for a while and the price has dropped to $489, making it a more affordable option. 

While its pet hair performance on carpet could be better and, at $849, it’s not the cheapest option, there are more than enough upsides to the iRobot Roomba j7+ to heartily recommend it and to warrant a place amongst our best Roombas. 

When it comes to the best robot vacuums, the choice for many consumers comes down to Roomba vs. Shark. Both companies have robot vacuums with a self-cleaning base, which means you don’t have to empty the vacuum after each use. Both companies’ robot vacuums can be controlled by your phone, Alexa, or Google Assistant, and both Shark and Roomba’s vacuums have mapping. 

But which robot vacuum is best for keeping Fido’s fur off the floor? Read on to find out.

• The best robot vacuums in 2021
• Robot vacuum buying guide: What you need to know
• The new Roomba j7+ is the first robot vac guaranteed to avoid pet poop

Roomba vs. Shark: Price

The first difference between the Shark IQ and Roomba’s offerings are readily apparent—the Shark IQ with Self-Empty Base is $479 while the Roomba s9+ with Clean Base costs $1,099, more than twice as much. Things get even better with one of our Shark promo codes, letting you snap up a Shark vacuum for significantly less than Roomba models go for.

That’s a lot of kibble. The older Roomba i7+ with Clean Base hits the sweet spot between the two at $799.

More recently, iRobot introduced the Roomba i3+, which has a starting price of $599; that’s $100 more than the Shark, but far more palatable. 

Roomba vs. Shark: Design

The Roomba s9+ is the best looking robot vacuum we’ve seen, but the Shark IQ is no slouch either. Next to each other, they look like the robot vacuum equivalents of Brad Pitt and George Clooney.

The round Shark IQ classes up your floors dressed in a tasteful mix of glossy black and matte black plastic with brushed silver accents on top. The underside of the IQ features two large, grippy rubber wheels on either side and a small caster wheel up front. Two single spoke brushes spin near the front of the bot, feeding debris to the V-shaped bristle-and-fin brushroll in the center. While we’ve seen this combination on other robot vacuums, this one seemed especially prone to getting pet hair stuck around it.

The Roomba s9+ is clad in matte black plastic with a recessed brushed bronze disc in the center that’s outlined in white light when the vacuum is cleaning. It’s iRobot’s first D-shaped vacuum and the company says this shape will allow the bot to get closer to corners and edges. The corners are softened so the vacuum looks more like a circle that was gently stretched out to a square on one side. The underside reveals two bright green rubberized rollers that span nearly the entire length of the vacuum’s straight edge. One end of each roller is partly hollow, making it difficult to remove the hair and fur that collect inside of it. A small five-spoke brush sits near the front of the s9, just to the left of the rollers.

Though both vacuums measure 3.5 inches high, the Roomba s9+ is much heavier, weighing 8.2 pounds, compared to the Shark IQ’s 5.87 pounds. If you’re moving the vacuum between floors frequently, you may want to give your back a break. 

The self-emptying bases are what really set the Shark IQ and the Roomba s9+ apart. The Shark base has a much smaller footprint, which we preferred as it was less of a tripping hazard. While both hold up to 30 days worth of dirt, the Roomba Clean Base uses a bag to hold it all while the Shark Self-Empty base is bagless. On the Shark base, one button near the handle releases the bin from the dock; a second at the base drops the bottom out to release the debris. The force with which it opens is surprising. Gravity dropped most of the debris into the trash can, but a thin puff of dust also flew up into the air. For people who are especially sensitive to pet dander, this is a less than desirable feature. 

The cube-shaped vacuum bag inside of the Roomba Clean Base seals itself when you remove it, trapping everything the robot vac collected inside. While having to purchase disposable bags isn’t ideal, it kept us from sneezing. The bags are available in packs of three for $14.99.

Roomba vs. Shark: Cleaning Performance

When Rex’s shedding season comes, you’re going to want a robot vacuum that can clean up his fur as fast as it falls. Though easily visible on bare floors, pet hair can become entangled in carpet fibers, making it both less visible and harder to remove. Plus, dust and dander can settle in rugs, leaving you sneezing long after Rex has gone to doggie daycare. 

In our lab tests, the Roomba s9+ vacuumed up an impressive 97% of dog hair on carpet and 99% of the dog hair on hardwood for an average score of 98%. On a similar test performed in a larger space, the Shark IQ cleaned up just 50% of dog hair on carpet and 83% of hair on hardwood, earning an average score of 66.5%. For comparison, the Roomba i7+ picked up 93% of dog hair on carpet and 88% on hardwood for an average score of 90.5.

Feline pursuits suited the Shark IQ a bit better in our tests. The Shark collected an average of 77.5% of kitty litter on hardwood and carpet, though it was still no match for the Roomba s9+ which earned a perfect kitty litter pick up score on both surfaces. The Roomba i7+ was, once again, in the middle, picking up an average of 87.6% of the litter.

We have yet to test the Roomba i3+, but when we do, we’ll update this chart. 

*Same test performed in a smaller 5 x 5-foot area.

Roomba vs. Shark: Features and App

Along with self-emptying bases, the Shark IQ, the Roomba s9+, and the Roomba i7+ all offer floor mapping, selective room cleanings, scheduling capability, and recharge and resume cleaning. The Roomba i3+ offers all of the above except selective room cleanings.

With the s9+ and the i7+, Roomba offers more granular control, letting you create “Keep Out Zones” and “Clean Zones.” One creates a safe space for your dog’s pile of toys, while the other focuses on areas that get the most traffic, such as an entryway. Neither option is available with the SharkClean app or the Roomba i3+. 

Customize the amount of suction you want on the Shark IQ by selecting Eco, Normal or Max modes. Unsure which areas of your home need more attention? The Roomba s9+ has a feature that automatically detects when there’s more debris, such as kitty litter, in an area and applies extra suction in addition to going back and forth over the area. 

Need to quickly vacuum a small area thanks to Cleopawtra knocking over a bowl of nuts? Both the Roomba s9+ and the Roomba i7+ feature an onboard button for spot cleaning. Simply put the robot where the mess is and it will clean the area using a spiral motion. The Shark IQ only offers two cleaning pattern options: manual and mapping.

We greatly preferred the mapping ability on the Roomba s9+ and the Roomba i7+. Both created accurate maps of our first level in three runs. The Shark IQ was a different story. After several issues with our first two Shark IQs, the third bot finally completed a map after 11 runs.

Roomba vs. Shark: Maintenance

Pet hair, especially longer dog hair, is a frequent nemesis of robot vacuums since it tends to get wrapped brush rolls easily. This was true with the Shark IQ, the Roomba s9+, and the Roomba i7+  which all accumulated a lot of hair around their brush rolls. Thankfully, releasing the brush rolls on all three vacuums was easy and then it was just a matter of pulling the excess hair off the center and the spokes on the edges. A lot of hair collected inside the partially hollow spoke on the s9+ and i7+, but it wasn’t difficult to remove. Similarly, the cap on one side of the IQ’s brush roll can be quickly removed to get at hair wrapped around the barrel.

The Shark IQ also gathered quite a bit in its front caster wheel. So much, in fact, that we had to remove the wheel to clean it out. Thankfully, the wheel is meant to pop out for just that purpose. 

Cleaning was easy with both robot vacuums, which meant it didn’t take long to send them back to work.

Roomba vs. Shark: Which is best for you?

Like most family members, pets often forget to clean up after themselves. That’s where the robotic help comes in. But no matter which robot vacuum you choose, it’s likely that when the self-emptying dock roars to life the first time, your dog will freak out. Don’t worry, he’ll get used to it (my dog certainly did) and you’ll come to appreciate that his fur isn’t flying all over the house. 

Unfortunately, this is barely a fair fight. The Shark IQ just doesn’t offer the same level of performance as the Roomba s9+ or even the Roomba i7+. We were rooting for the underdog, but mapping and performance issues held it back. For keeping your home fur-free, we recommend the Roomba s9+.

Finally there’s a robot vacuum with a self-emptying dustbin that won’t suck all the money from your bank account: the iRobot Roomba i3+. So long, wastebasket dust cloud! Check ya later, dustbin-induced sneezing attack!

Though the feature list on the latest Roomba is a bit sparse — especially compared to other robot vacuums we’ve seen lately —our iRobot Roomba i3+ review found a good robot vacuum paired with an auto-emptying Clean Base for just under $600. It may not dazzle you with a long list of fancy features, but it gets the job done, which is why it's on our list of the best robot vacuums.

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iRobot Roomba i3+: Price and availability

Priced at $599.99, the iRobot Roomba i3+ is the least expensive robot vacuum with a self-emptying dock ( the Clean Base) in iRobot’s lineup. It’s also available without the Clean Base for $399.99. For $200 more, the iRobot Roomba i7+ with Clean Base adds custom mapping and room-specific cleaning. Should you decide to buy the self-emptying base later, it’s available for $249.99.

To keep the dust as far away from you as possible, the Clean Base uses disposable vacuum bags. One comes installed on the Clean Base and there’s an extra in the box. iRobot says one bag used with the Roomba i3+ will last approximately 60 days. Bags are available in packs of three for $15 on Amazon.com or $5 more on iRobot’s site.

iRobot Roomba i3+ review: Design

Tired of shiny black plastic bots? Then you’ll like the look of the iRobot Roomba i3. The first thing I noticed is the light grey outer circle on the top. It looks like woven fabric and I couldn’t wait to touch it. Spoiler alert: it’s plastic. But it’s textured so you can get a good grip on the bot when you need to pick it up. It’s complemented by the inner dark grey circle with the iRobot “R” logo in the center. Above that, there’s a large Clean button with smaller buttons for home and spot cleaning on either side. The Roomba i3 borrows the matte black found on the classy Roomba s9 to encase its sides.

At 13.26 inches, the iRobot Roomba i3 sits right between the 13-inch Roomba 675 and the 13.3-inch Roomba i7. The Roomba i3 and the i7 are both 3.6 inches high, while the 675 is a tenth of an inch taller. While the Roomba i3 had no problem cleaning around my kitchen baseboards and travelling under a living room chair, it was too tall to attack the dust bunnies under my couch.

The underside of the iRobot Roomba i3 is almost identical to the Roomba i7. For starters, both robots share bright green accents. There are the bright and dark green rubber brushrolls between the wheels and a bright green hub on the white tri-spoke side wheel. A removable caster wheel sits at the front and a removable, washable dustbin at the rear. Upon closer look, the Roomba i3 has fewer sensors around its edges than the Roomba i7. Still, the two vacuums are so similar that they share replacement parts including the brushrolls, side brush, and filter.

The wide V-pattern on each roller points away from the other, presumably to draw more debris inward when spinning. Upon closer inspection, I noticed the dark green roller brush has been updated to more closely resemble the light green one. The early version of the Roomba i7+ we tested had a roller with deeper fins, which tended to get long hair wrapped around it more easily. 

iRobot Roomba i3+ review: Self-empyting base

iRobot calls its auto-emptying dock the Clean Base, though there are technically two different models: one for its i- series of bots and one for its s- series. The big difference between the two is the placement of the dustbin port on the bottom of the base.

The Clean Base accompanying the Roomba i3 is matte black with a subtle, thin shiny black strip around the upper half. There’s no chance of missing the Clean Base as it’s 19 inches high, 12.2 inches wide and 15.1 inches deep. Though large, the convenience of it is hard to beat.

iRobot says the disposable vacuum bag inside the base traps 99% of pollen and mold. When you remove the bag from the base, a small plastic door slides up to cover the bag opening. As an allergy sufferer who frequently deals with dust (usually while reviewing robot vacuums), I’m a big fan of auto-emptying bases — particularly the iRobot and Ecovacs models that use disposable bags.

That being said, you probably don’t want to run the Clean Base when people are sleeping. It’s loud. Think tuned-up sports motorcycle at 10,000 rpm loud. Thankfully, it only runs for about 14 seconds. That’s long enough to clean out the onboard dustbin each time, leaving only minimal dust residue in the dustbin.

iRobot Roomba i3+ review: Setup and mapping

Connecting the Roomba i3 to the iRobot Home app (Android and iOS) was relatively easy, but not as smooth as my experience with other iRobot devices. I followed the onscreen prompts on my iPhone 11 Pro, but the app seemed to get stuck at the “Connecting to Wi-Fi… This could take a few minutes.” screen. The odd part was that the Roomba i3 cheerfully announced that it successfully connected to Wi-Fi long before the app caught up. It was long enough that I thought something had gone wrong. It hadn’t. So while the screen was correct — it did take a few minutes — I haven’t experienced a robot declaring itself ready so long before an app. 

Once connected, the $200 price difference between the Roomba i3 and the Roomba s9 and Roomba i7 becomes more evident. The Roomba i3 will generate a map of where it’s cleaned, but, unlike the Roomba i7, Roomba s9, and Roborock S4 Max, you’re not able to save and edit maps of your home. It’s most like the Neato D4 in this way. It’ll show you where it’s been, but you can’t tell it where to go. As a result, there’s no option for room-specific cleaning or area divisions. Nor is there an option for no-go zones or virtual walls. At least the Neato D4 includes those. If you want a virtual wall for the Roomba i3, you’ll have to spring for the $59 Virtual Wall from iRobot.

While the Roomba i3 doesn’t save maps, you can view a history of where the bot has cleaned. It was helpful to see where the vacuum travelled and where it didn’t quite reach — like in the maze of chair legs under my dining room table. Still, I preferred being able to identify rooms and choosing the order in which I wanted them cleaned using the similarly-priced Roborock S4 Max.

The map will also show where the Roomba i3 detected more dirt and spent more time cleaning, which isn’t an option with the Roborock S4 Max. The i3 correctly detected where I left a small line of breadcrumbs as an area that needed more work. While the i3 didn’t spin in a furious circle to attack the dried bread like the Roomba 675, it did pick them all up. 

iRobot Roomba i3+ review: App

The iRobot Home app was recently revamped and now includes “Favorites” for customized cleaning runs. Since there aren’t any custom cleaning options for the Roomba i3, it’s not currently possible to create any favorite options aside from the default, “Vacuum Everywhere.” However, there is a splash screen when you try to add a new Favorite that says it’s coming soon and promises options for different time durations.

The app does allow you to schedule the Roomba i3 to run almost as often as you’d like — even multiple times a day. If that’s too much work, the app integrates with other smart home devices, like the August smart lock, the Ecobee smart thermostat, or Leviton smart power switches. The bot can be triggered to start cleaning when you leave home and stop cleaning when you return. Can’t find your phone? Order the Roomba i3 around via Alexa or Google Assistant. 

Like its more expensive siblings, the Roomba i3 has iRobot’s Imprint Link technology, which means it’s able to connect with the Braava jet m6 mopping robot. When set up in the app, the Braava jet m6 will begin cleaning once the i3 has completed its job. It worked seamlessly and quickly. Almost as soon as the i3 had docked and emptied its bin, the Braava jet m6 was off of its dock and going to work.

iRobot Roomba i3+ review: Cleaning performance

Remember sophomore year of high school when you bombed your chemistry final and it brought your entire GPA down? The iRobot Roomba i3’s lab test results feel a lot like that. Though it earned impressive marks on nearly every debris test we threw at it, the Roomba i3 was not good at picking up dog hair on carpet. How bad was it? The Roomba i3 earned an overall average pick up rate of 90.12. If we dropped the dog-hair-on-carpet score, its overall score would be 96.54. Unfortunately, this isn’t high school.

On the plus side, the iRobot Roomba i3 earned a perfect 100% average picking up Cheerios cereal on both hardwood and carpet, a feat only matched by the Shark Ion R85. The Roomba i7, which is similar to the Roomba i3 picked up an average of 93.1% of cereal on hardwood and carpet.

The Roomba i3 travels in mostly orderly rows while it cleans, though sometimes I struggled to see the method in its cleaning logic. In our square test area, it had a tendency to take off on a diagonal path before returning to its serpentine lines. Unlike the Roborock S4 Max, it didn’t fully outline an area before filling it in, like a child coloring neatly. However, the Roomba i3 got the cleaning job done, particularly on our hardwood test, where it trounced big brother Roomba i7 on all three tests. In addition picking up 100% of the cereal strewn on the floor, it bested the Roomba i7’s pickup rate by 2 points and its pet hair pick up rate by 5 points. Only the Roborock S4 Max performed better on the litter and hair tests. However, both the Roomba i3 and the S4 Max collected a fair amount of hair around their brushrolls. 

Despite the Roomba i3’s struggle with dog hair on carpet, it performed well on the other two tests, earning a perfect 100 for picking up cereal and an admirable 94% pick up rate for kitty litter. It was once again several points better than the Roomba i7 (87.3) and just one point below the Roborock S4 Max. 

But that 58% dog hair pick up rate. Woof. The result was surprising enough that we re-ran the test three times. Each time, the Roomba i3 picked up a similar amount of hair. The Ecovacs Deebot Ozmo T8 also earned a 58 on the same test, but it had a similar score of 57.5 on hardwood for pet hair. If you have lots of pet hair and lots of carpet, you should probably consider a different bot.

Overall, the Roomba i3 was a strong performer in our tests, but it was a bit loud. I found myself turning up the TV volume to hear Schitt’s Creek over the vacuum’s din. While the Roomba i3 is not quite as loud as the Roomba s9, the Roborock S4 Max is noticeably quieter.

iRobot Roomba i3+ review: Verdict

Despite a few hiccups, we recommend the iRobot Roomba i3+ robot vacuum. The auto-emptying Clean Base is a mechanical miracle for those with allergies. And, at $599, it’s the most affordable Roomba with this feature. The vacuum itself is a decent performer and thorough whole floor cleaner.  Should you spend $200 more for the older Roomba i7+ with Clean Base? If single room cleaning and mapping is important to you, then yes. If a self-emptying base isn’t important to you, check out $429 Roborock S4 Max. It’s a top performer and offers saved maps and room-specific cleaning.

At this point, we’re almost used to Roomba sticker shock, like the $1,099 Roomba s9+. For those without corporate bailout money, the company’s $269 Roomba 675 means you don’t have to mortgage your house in order to clean it. You know what’s even better than a sub-$300 Roomba? One that performs well. Thankfully, we found in our iRobot Roomba 675 review that this bot is impressive enough to join the Roomba s9+ on our best robot vacuums list.

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iRobot Roomba 675: Price and availability

The iRobot Roomba 675 is currently available at Amazon and BestBuy for $269. It’s also available via iRobot.com, but it’s $30 more there (take a look at our iRobot coupon codes page to see if you can get a lower price). The Roomba 675 is similar to the $249 Roomba 614, but includes Wi-Fi connectivity, meaning you can control it remotely via the iRobot app on your smartphone. The Roomba 614 can only be controlled via the buttons on vacuum or by a separately purchased remote control.

iRobot Roomba 675: Design

If you asked a child to draw a Roomba, chances are that it would look very much like the iRobot Roomba 675. It’s round with matte grey plastic around its sides and a shiny black top. In the center of the lid there are three buttons arranged in a concentric circle: Clean, Spot and Dock. Near the front, you’ll find a recessed matte grey carrying handle. We appreciate the inclusion of the handle, which makes it easier to carry up and down stairs. The whole bot feels sturdy and solid. This was especially noticeable when it was bumping into chairs and startling the dog.

At 13 inches in diameter, the Roomba 675 is slightly wider than the Eufy RoboVac 11s (12.9 inches) and much wider than the 11.8-inch iLife V3s Pro. The Roomba 675 is noticeably taller than both of those vacuums, too; its 3.7-inch height stopped it from traveling under a low-clearance couch that the 2.87-inch RoboVac 11s easily tackled.

On the underside of the Roomba 675, you’ll find two large, rubberized wheels on either side and a spinning caster wheel at the front. iRobot uses a dual brush roll system on the Roomba 675 that’s similar, in theory, to the dual brush rolls found on higher-end vacuums like the Roomba i7. The smaller brush is composed of rubber fins and the larger has bristles interspersed with hard plastic fins. By comparison, the Roomba i7 and Roomba s9 use two rubber brush rolls. Both brushes on the Roomba 675 were easy to remove for cleaning, but untangling hair from the rollers was tedious, even with the included cleaning tool. It was much easier to remove hair from the three-spoked rubberized side brush that’s off to the side on the front of the machine.

The dustbin on the Roomba 675 resides at the rear of the bot and was much sturdier than other dustbins such as the one on the Eufy RoboVac 11s. A push button releases the bin from the vacuum. Unlike the Roomba 690, we had to use a little force to fully remove it. Once removed, the dustbin is open on one side with a half-height gate holding back most of the debris. To fully empty it, you have to open the gate. However, the gate doesn’t stay open on its own, causing it to repeatedly fly shut while we tapped the bin into our garbage can. We definitely preferred the dustbin on the iLife V3s Pro, which opened like a small lunchbox. 

The dock included with the iRobot Roomba 675 is small and unobtrusive, but we wish it included a wrap for cord storage like Neato uses for their robot vacuums. Not only does it look better, but the Roomba 675 got tangled in its own cord on two separate occasions. 

iRobot Roomba 675: Setup and app

Setting up the iRobot Roomba 675 was incredibly quick and easy aside from one small hiccup. After plugging in the base, I turned on the 675 and placed it on the base contacts to charge. When I checked on it a few hours later, I realized it hadn’t charged at all. I re-seated the bot and waited for the faint charging indicator light to start pulsing. It lit up for a minute or so, then went dark again—giving me no indication of whether it was charging or not. Thankfully, there is another way—the app.

I connected the Roomba 675 to the iRobot app (Android and iOS) by following the on screen steps, which took approximately 2 to 3 minutes. Once the bot was connected, I could see from the app that it was charging and my problem was solved.

Controlling the Roomba 675 from the app is straightforward. There’s a large “Clean” button on the robot’s homescreen. Along the bottom of the screen are options for scheduling, cleaning history, help and settings. Should your Roomba go rogue, the Settings page is where you can locate it by making it play a sound. The only way to start a spot cleaning is from the button on the vacuum.

Connecting to the iRobot app means you can start, pause, resume and dock the Roomba 675. You can also schedule it to run at a specific time once a day-- ensuring that you’ll always come home to clean floors. Though the Roomba 675 won’t create a map of your home, it will alert you on the app when it requires your attention, such as if it gets stuck on a rug. The bot itself gave a more detailed explanation of which error it had encountered and advised us to move the vacuum to a different location and restart. Tapping the app notification took us to a help page specific to the error  which explained how to fix it, what caused it, and further steps to take if the error persisted.

Don’t feel like looking at your phone? Order the Roomba 675 around using Alexa, Google Assistant, or IFTTT. In addition to using your preferred voice assistant to start, pause, resume, stop, and dock the Roomba 675, you can also ask it to locate the vac when it’s hiding out of sight. This will trigger the vac to make a series of four pleasing, but robotic, tones to help you locate it.

The cleaning history on the app reveals how many “Dirt Events” the Roomba 675 has encountered-- both in total and on individual runs. When the bot decides an area has excessive dirt or debris, it’ll spin around and clean that section more thoroughly. I watched it in action when the 675 did several pirouettes on the rug in my front entryway before continuing along on its run.

iRobot Roomba 675: Performance

Unlike iRobot’s more recent, more expensive options, the Roomba 675 doesn’t offer mapping or advanced navigation. In other words, the Roomba 675 won’t clean in a predictable, snake-like pattern. There may not be a clear method to its cleaning maddess, but I observed it methodically working its way along baseboards and around chair legs. It would hew along the edges of an area until it encountered a wall or other obstacle directly in front of it, then it would head off into another direction. This type of navigation is on par with other non-mapping robots such as the iLife V3s Pro and the Shark Ion R85.

When cleaning my mostly open floor plan first floor, the Roomba 675 didn’t miss many spots, but it also didn’t try to clean the thick shag living rug that has felled many other robot vacuums. However, it also didn’t fully climb up onto a memory foam bath mat in front of the bathroom sink. It pushed the mat around a bit and the rear of the vacuum occasionally went over it, but, as a whole, the Roomba 675 avoided the 0.5-inch thick rug.

In our lab tests, the Roomba 675 proved itself to be a capable performer, earning an overall average pickup score of 89.7, which was better than the Eufy RoboVac 11s’s 85.8 overall average, but below both the iLife V3s Pro (97) and the Shark Ion R85 (94).

*Same test performed in a smaller 5 x 5-foot area.

Cleaning up pet hair was the Roomba 675’s biggest weakness. It picked up 77% of the dog hair on hardwood and only 71.5% of the hair on carpet, earning a 74.25% overall average. But much of the dog hair was wrapped around the brush rolls and side brush, which made cleaning the vacuum itself a pain. On the carpet test, the 675 even left a small section of the hair completely untouched. By comparison, the less expensive iLife V3s Pro performed much better, cleaning up an average of 99.5% of dog hair on hardwood and carpet.

On our hardwood floor tests, the Roomba 675 was just shy of perfect on the cereal clean-up test, earning a 99.75% pickup rate. Both the Shark Ion R85 and the Eufy RoboVac 11s earned perfect scores. The Roomba 675 had a tendency to run over and crush many of the Cheerios before vacuuming them up, leaving cereal dust in its wake. On the plus side, it sucked up nearly all of that dust before it was done, leaving our hardwood test area looking and feeling clean.

*Same test performed in a smaller hardwood floor area.

The iRobot Roomba 675 performed slightly better on carpet on the cereal and kitty litter tests. It joined the Shark Ion R85, the iLife V3s Pro, and the Eufy RoboVac 11s in earning a perfect cereal pickup score. I also noted that it didn’t create as much cereal dust as it did on hardwood. 

If your cat tracks litter all over the house, you’ll want the Roomba 675 following it around. The bot picked up an impressive 96.1% of kitty litter in our lab test, earning a top score and besting the Shark Ion R85 (93%). 

*Same test performed in a smaller carpeted area.

One fun thing that sets the Roomba 675 apart from other robot vacuums we’ve tested: the company wants you to tinker with it. When I unboxed the vacuum above the typical end user agreement notice sticker it reads, “This robot contains an electronic and software interface that allows you to control or modify its behavior, and remotely monitor its sensors. For software programmers interested in giving your iRobot robot new functionality, we encourage you to do so.”

iRobot also sells a wide variety of replacement parts for its robots, including wheel modules, brushes, and extended batteries should a modification experiment go wrong.

iRobot Roomba 675 review: Verdict

There’s a lot to like about the iRobot Roomba 675. Though at $249 it’s not at the top of our list of the best cheap robot vacuums — the $159 iLife V3s Pro holds that crown — but the Roomba 675 includes advanced features like automatic dirt detection and Wi-Fi connectivity that are found on more expensive robot vacuums. It’s a solid cleaner and offers good floor coverage considering that it’s a non-mapping robot. While we would opt for the Shark R85 or the V3s if you’re battling pet hair, the iRobot Roomba 675 is a solid choice for affordable automated vacuuming.