iRobot - 980

I hope you are right about Dreame as I just got L50 pro Ultra. After almost 10 years with Roomba 980 my biggest fear is that these tech filled toys cant live half of that

Before my roomba 980 was on schedule. The got less use once our son was bornand we ran it less often so not to disturb his sleep. But as he got a bit older we upgraded to Dreame with a mop. Running it as often we can (and not forget) manually. Hard tondo a schedule as we need to pick up a lot of baby stuff before it runs

My Roomba 980 was going strong 10 years later (with some maintenance) and I only got a new one cos after my son was born I wanted a mop

I have an iRobot roomba from about 2015. Still works great. It can connect to an app but doesn’t need to and has simple replacement filters and parts. Easy to clean. I did need to replace the battery once. I think the lower models with less connection needs must end up outlasting for this reason.

The 980 has two power levels, and can automatically switch to the higher power when it drives onto a rug. You can turn the boost off in the app. I would get the 980 and have the extra power option, even if you only use it occasionally.

980 checking in. It's a beast.

So my setup for 4 cats and a dog. 1500sq ft. Hardwood and tile, no carpet. Upstairs: iRobot i4 Roomba. Downstairs: iRobot 980. Downstairs: iRobot M6 mop. My Roombas (iRobots) are great to me because they run where I can't easily reach. They go under things (sofa, bookshelves, beds, etc). They run when I'm not home. They keep the "tumbleweeds" under control. When you get the map dialed in and your furniture / cables organized so they don't get hung up, they're great. Are they perfect? No. But can I tell if they don't run for a day? Absolutely. Whole house: Dyson Gen5detect. I *despise* this thing. Purchased in November 2023 when it was their top of the line product. I've had nothing but issues. Warranty replaced the whole machine in May 2025. This one is even worse; feels like a second cheaper run of the product. It even sounds cheaper when it runs (higher pitch), feels fragile, just doesn't suck as well as the first one, auto detect doesn't work, it won't switch to boost when running on auto., pushes around the dog hair... the list goes on and on. It's being replaced AGAIN under warranty as of August 2025. Robots run twice a day; mop runs once a day. Dyson is for every 3-4 days to catch what was missed and the stairs. At this point, my robots are doing the heavy lifting and we're looking at Sebos. Seems like bagless just will not last as long. Full stop. For the robots, yes bin size is important but HEPA is more important to me due to dander. You want something that will pack the bin full. My 980 thinks it's "full" when it's about 1/4 to half full because pet hair is fluffy and it triggers the full bin sensor. They fixed this on the i4 which will PACK that bin to bursting before it triggers full bin. Run time is less important; most robots have recharge and resume now if they map. I've also had an Eufy (I think it was an 11S?) For $200 I was impressed. I just missed the smart map; it was an old style where it bumps and then pivots to cover an area. It was annoying to watch after a "smart" robot vac. I've gifted these for housewarming gifts and the recipients (who also have pets) like them. I hope this helps.

I have a basic Roomba 980 that I purchased *refurbished* in 2020 that handles cat hair just fine. I’ve had 2-3 cats the whole time I’ve had it, and one was a long hair cat. Tile, LVT, or rugs - it doesn’t make a difference; it gets the fur up. I keep lurking and watching for the latest models so I can replace it when it croaks, but it refuses to die!

I have no experience with the current ones. Mine was manufactured ~6 years ago. But if you aren’t ready to get an expensive one yet, you might be able to start with a cheap one and see what you like or don’t like. I bet most will handle pet hair just fine. It’s long human hair that gets wrapped in brush and rollers on mine, and needs to be cut off! Pet hair has been zero problem, except needing to empty the dust bin more often, since it takes up more space than dust does.

If you can find a 980 for a reasonable price, it is definitely worth considering, especially since the 980 is still rarely beaten in carpet cleaning tests (usually only surpassed by the S9). Although 960s are typically more affordable (essentially an 880 with iAdapt 2.0), my 980 has not experienced any issues after 765 jobs, 610 hours of cleaning and 23,200 square metres cleaned. The only maintenance it has ever required was changing the brushes and cleaning the metal contacts that supply power to the motor in the dustbin.

I will say iRobot has been on a losing streak since the J7 but I have a 980 and a S9 my 980 has been cleaning for 650 hours at this point my S9 about half that I haven’t had a single problem with my 980 but I did have a problem with my cleaning head module on my S9 and they sent a replacement no problem

I have been using roomba 805s, two 960s and two 980s without the app - no wifi connection. They are probably the best irobot made, but they are really old. I recently bought a Matic vacuum (there is a reddit group for it) since the security is much better than other new robots. That was part of the design criteria.

Old ones. There are used bots for sale here. I still have a ten year-old Roomba 980, never connected to the Internet. If boundaries are needed, that's done with little infrared beacons. Also a Braava 380t mopping bot of similar vintage. That one navigates via a Bluetooth beacon. I also have an even older Neato. Its boundaries are laid out with magnetic strips. It's kinda dumb tho.

Longtime Neato, Roomba, and Braava owner here. Tried smarter bots and found the Ecovacs Deebot T30S disappointing but am very happy with two Dreame X50 Ultra bots, one white and one black. My Roomba 980 and Neato XV Signature Pro are still good for turning loose in areas the new ones can't get to by themselves. Tried a new Roomba Combo to future-proof those areas but it was basically a downgrade. We wore out the little Braava 380t, but I haven't looked for parts because the Dreame bots do a much better job with much less effort from me.

Both are equally repairable, the 980 is more powerful. Definitely look for one of those.

Not aware of any random navigation models avaliable with a self empty station. At least none that are currently avaliable and work adequately well. Even budget models are more often including lidar and app functionality. Your options are going to be limited no matter what, and all the random navigation models are going to be the cheapest of the cheap now and unlikely to perform all that well. It might be worth finding a used irobot roomba e5 or 800 series model or similar. Those are about the highest performance random navigation models irobot ever made. You could also look for a 980 which had smart navigation but works totally offline if you prefer.