iRobot - Combo i5 Robot Vacuum and Mop

Avoid that, it's a generic (ODM) model based on the same platform as the Xiaomi E10/12, which if I remember correctly is from 3irobotix or SilverStar. Look up some reviews of those Xiaomi models on Amazon and you'll understand how much of a poor product it is. Get a "real" Roomba, they're much better than that. Some examples are the i3/i5, or if you need the mop, the Combo i5 or Combo j5. If you can spend a bit more, the j7 is another good one.

Yes. Roomba 105 navigates smarter but sucks (negatively) at vacuuming and would be a nightmare with hair tangles in the brush. Roomba i5 has more basic navigation, but is a much more "thoughtful" machine in terms of actual cleaning capabilities.

They still have the same dual roller design that my old Roomba i5 (no station) has, and let me tell you - it's anti-tangle my ass. I have to dismantle the whole robot after cleaning because although the hair doesn't tangle around the rollers, it makes up for it by tangling heavily around roller axles and inside the roller (roller ends are hollow) and also around the small tri-brush arm. It then just drags long hair all over the place. So unless you don't have long hairs in your household, it's maybe worth it.

It’s a iRobot Roomba combo i5! Got it a few years ago for Christmas. But I barely use the mop function because this model uses gravity to wet the rag and it just isn’t wet enough to effectively mop. But the vacuum works great! Having a self empty bin is also super convenient

I hope they find a decent US or EU buyer. I’ll buy most Chinese products all day long, but I don’t trust having my entire house’s LIDAR scans or photos/videos in the possession of a company that can be easily forced to hand all data over to their government, no matter their policy. That makes most of the great robot vacs a non-starter for my wants & needs, so I got a roomba i5. It’s been great despite this sub’s negative feedback toward the brand!

All the i and j7 and below series vacuums have the same motor. Only the s9 and j9 have more suction, the s9 is actually better suction. On hard floors any of them will pick up the hair. The s9 will do very well on the area rugs. Not worth buying the combo models.

Combos from iRobot aren’t that great, to be honest. The i5 as a vacuum isn’t bad at all. It’s the lower mid level but no less cleans decent. J5 and j7 are great mid to middle upper levels. I have limited experience with a combo and I wasn’t a fan. The vacuuming aspect of things is great.

I have the one that empties itself, i5. Works great. Sometimes I send the 890 in to pre-clean and it has a big bin.

Don't get the I5. I bought one and had to return it after less than a week because the side brush kept getting caught in the bumper. Apparently, it's a known defect for that model.

Something tells me that They are slowly getting rid of modularity :( See the new i5 revision. There’s little to no modularity

I think the key is consistently running it. I have a Roomba i5 (we named it Jeff Goldbroom) and it doesn’t get clogged and does a good job of keeping things clean— if we run it every day. If we let it go for a few days, the floors don’t get all the way clean until I run it, declog, run again. 

I don't know. I have a roomba 767 and I5 and they work well, but both my cats are long haired and frequently pull out tufts of knotted fur (or i cut them of) and those really mess up the rubber brushes. The one regular brush on the 767 holds up much better, but needs more cleaning. If yours just shed loose single hairs it should be fine, but min are outside a lot and get all kinds of stuff messing up their fur.

I have a couple of roombas's, one 767 and an i5. The 767 I got new about 4,5 years ago, the i5 I bought used two years ago. Both are still on their original batteries and has had little maintenance other that brushes a filtes. I did have the fan motor stop working in the i5, but i was able to fix that by taking it apart and reassemeling, IIRC a contact had worked loose somehow. IMHO the brushes are my main eco concern with these, the rubber ones get ruined relly fast by long hair and larger debris. The actual bristle brush on the 767 is far more robust, I've not replaced that one yet. The roombas specifically seem to be resonably reparable, wheels, motor assemblies and so on can be replaced if they break and there seems to be guides on youtube for everything. The roombas specifically will work without an internet connmection, but you loose the app functionality. They can still be controlled trough Home Assistant thought, just reqires inital wifi setup with the ap then can be blocked in the firewall from acessing the internet and only talk locally to Home Assistant.

I have a Roomba i5 with a cleaning base and love it. I *do* have to clean hair out of the wheels at least once a week but it does a good job getting under my couch and other places the kids don't sweep. Do *not* get a vacuum that doesn't empty itself. You're going to see this thing run home to empty itself a few times during its run.

1. A little over 2k sq ft. Older home, not open layout at all. Current Roomba i5 is constantly getting lost and unable to get back to its base. Mix of hard floors and area rugs. 2. One story. 3. Two short transitions. 4. Three shorthair cats 5. No kids. 6. Real hurdle is cat litter and the need for no go zones 7. Budget is $400 Caveat: I have a shark matrix on the way which I got for $200. Will return if I can get something better suited with great value. I have used the mopping feature on my Roomba only once because I have to block its access to the rugs and it did a crap job anyway. And TIA!!

I got that exact one a while back. Fyi it is not the self emptying base version, no matter what the description says 😭

That's correct for the self-emptying version. However, they simply did not ship the self emptying version. :( (If you get the self empty version, I'll be livid)

There’s actually a roomba that does both vacuuming and light mopping (think of it like roomba swiffer). It has a reservoir of the liquid at the charging station and a bag dispenser for the dust as well. I never felt older than when I got genuinely excited for a roomba like I would for a console when I was younger. That’s my “treat yourself” buy when I get my next bonus lol

iRobot already did that with their first generation iRobot Combo (R11xx). The Roomba Essential was also not made by iRobot. Now it seems none of them will be. I just don't understand the end game for iRobot. Are they just gonna be riding on the brand name from now on and slowly disappear into nothingness because why would OEM give 3rd party better tech and design than they use in their own robots? iRobot, as much as they've been weird and stubborn with some things, I still love their core design of robots since introduction of E series and later i. I loved how they ALL had identical main roller brushes, identical side brushes, identical filters, identical dust bins, identical almost everything. Not only it's cheaper for them to supply 1 type of each part, it's easier for users, for regular maintenance and repairs. I work in this part of the industry and I can't stress enough how many times customers/consumers have no clue what device they have, be it robot vacuum or a regular vacuum. If you just need to tell "I have a roomba" and that's all it's needed to know which part you supply. So many Chinese robots as well as ones from other well known brands like Electrolux, Philips and Rowenta have different parts for almost every model and it's soooooooooooo annoying.

I’ve had robot shark and roomba. I believe running them daily has prevented us from being buried in dog hair and 100% recommend a robot vacuum. My dogs are very housebroken and I’ve never had the poo every where situation.  Overall, I think the shark works a little better, but I think the roomba’s features and app are better. I just upgraded to the dual vacuum/mop roomba and it’s not perfect but I’m happy. I still have to real vacuum once a week as it doesn’t get all the hair all the time, but the literal basketball was of hair I pull out of the canister every few weeks tells me it’s working pretty damn good. 

We started with one iRobot, it worked great! Later decided on a brava (iRobot mop) and it worked amazingly! I was in my doctorate program and didn’t have time to clean the floors. We have two small dogs and five children. The floors are one thing I don’t have to worry about anymore. We recently moved and purchased two combo vacuum and mop, one is iRobot and the other is ecovacs. I like the ecovac more, it seems smarter, however they both do a great job. We have three stories so there are robot vacuum on each floor, they run every day, this keeps the stairs pretty clean and I vacuum the stairs once a week. Our original robot is eight years old and runs fine with daily use.

I have a Roomba and their mop version too. love them, been working well for two plus years with regular part replacement (filters, rollers etc).

I have one basic Roomba that moves around randomly and another that supposedly maps the space. The cheaper, random movement robot is vastly superior in all ways.