iRobot - Combo i8+

Been using this for a week now. Upstairs, I have the Ecovacs Omni X2—similar power on paper. But in reality? The Omni X2 *mops the floor* with the bObsweep when it comes to mopping. No contest. It’s also leagues ahead in object detection. Not even in the same universe. But here’s the thing—the bObsweep *crushes* carpet cleaning. And that’s all I needed for the lower level. No need for mopping down there. Once the room is mapped and obstacles are removed, this is, hands down, the best robot vacuum I’ve ever used. It replaced my Roomba i8+, and my carpet has *never* been this clean. Noticeably less dust in the air too. The vacuum runs in a quarter of the time, at a quarter of the noise level compared to the Roomba. And it doesn’t slam into everything like the Roomba does. I run it every day now, and I don’t even notice it’s on. At first, it did try to take on a surge protector full of wires—which, weirdly enough, my Roomba never attempted. Somehow, the camera and LiDAR didn’t see the brick with cables. But once I zoned that off in the map? This thing *flies* through the room. No bumping, no babysitting, no frustration. Unlike the Roomba, which constantly needed rescuing. Four years of dealing with that pain in the a$, and now? *Game changer.* If you need a *mopping* vacuum bot, look elsewhere. If you want the best *pure vacuum* bot for the money, you won’t find anything better—not even within $300 north of this price. When it was on sale for $300, I thought it was too good to be true. And yeah, it’s not really a $1200 bot—the mopping and object detection don’t stack up at that level. But as a vacuum? At $300? Absolute steal. The price isn’t $300 right now, but it’ll drop again soon. It keeps going in and out of sale. Just a heads-up for anyone looking for reviews—hope this helps! I took a leap of faith and purchased - as a vacuum bot only - and feel like I won the lottery.

I like my irobot roomba i8+

Hence my comment about my roomba i8+... and vacuums much faster and much better than all of the newer models with a single anti tangle roller! I've never had any problems with my Roomba having tangles maybe the early ones in the early 2000s so pretty much what happens is I vacuum with it all over the house and then mop with the other one because I can't mop and vacuum my entire house with the same machine at this time.. the dreamy x 40 was the only one that could actually vacuum and mop almost my whole house.. but I was terribly paranoid about the extending arm because people were saying it was breaking on them?!

I still have I8+ roomba and still use it to vacuum as most robots these days are kinda slow because of having to think so hard lol.. most won't clean to the edges sufficiently dreame x40 did cuz of arm but didn't like spin brushes leaving a gap when mopping...narwal z had for 8 mos no real problems but again vacuuming seems better with 2 rollers like roomba's..but does decently enough when mopping and vacuuming..all of them get stuck sometimes 🤔 but freo z does have great obstacle avoidance but uses a bunch of water.. e25 liked but mop didn't extend and vacuum was meh.. have 3i s10 now but it does get stuck in a few places ..doesn't like some carpets but does have water recycling and drawing it from the humidity in air..super cool! also have checked water quality and it is great! for mopping..doesn't leave weird mottleing on my white tile.. but have been hearing people having to return them cuz things go wrong with them?. I also use this one in mop and vacuum mode after roomba goes 1st cuz that seems to help it go closer to cabinets.. I clearly have an issue cuz I want to keep them all! They need better battery life, and faster processing to finish jobs..seems more innovation more problems so depends on your particular house but don't give up the roomba just yet lol I've had mine since it came out!! And it keeps going even with same battery it came with but I take care of it / them maintenance wise..

I’ve been researching high-end robot vacuums, but I keep running into a wall of mixed or negative reviews, even for the flagship models. Here’s what I’m seeing: • Roborock (Saros 10R) – Looks premium, but people mention poor suction and airflow. Mopping seems average. • Roborock (Qrevo S) – Looks premium, but is terrible at avoidance, gets tangled in cords, socks, pushes around objects. Disappointing mapping, and bad at dog hair pickup. • Dreame (L50, X50) – Specs look great, but I keep seeing complaints about software glitches and reliability issues. • Ecovacs (X9) – Persistent reports of customer service problems and inconsistent performance. • Eufy (E28) – Decent contender, but feedback seems hit-or-miss. For context: I currently use a very old Roomba i8+, and honestly, it still does a solid job picking up dog hair. I have a long-haired Malamute/Husky mix. I just think it’s time to upgrade to something with better suction, airflow, mopping, and maybe, a larger dustbin. Never used a Robo-Vac with mop, so that will be a new feature for me. What’s making this harder: YouTube reviews all seem promotional or overly positive, which makes it tough to get real-world insight. Questions: So here’s what I’m asking from actual users: Have you owned multiple brands? If so, which did you prefer and why? If you had to switch to another brand, or go back to one you left, would you? If so, Which one? What’s the one robot vacuum you’d actually recommend after owning and using it? I’m ready to buy, but not ready to regret it. Your honest feedback could really help me (and probably others too). Thanks in advance!

Same. I have no complaints with it and I take very good care of it maintenance wise. It would be nice if it didn’t use the bump feature, but as far as picking up my pet hair and vacuuming the tile floors and carpet, it’s fine. I just wanted to upgrade to one that works just as well or even better to include adding a mop function as this would be my first. I don’t need the best, but I would like the best overall. It doesn’t need to be the best mopping and the best vacuuming, or one over the other. I am good with a really good vacuum and mop combo. So far from what I’ve learned, and from what others have told me, it seems like I want a roller style mop, or a tank track style mop, dual brushes for vacuuming, and possibly an extending feature for the sweeper.

Over time and with the passage of I don't know how many robots in my house, I would say more than 15. There are none silent Roomba😂 I had the i8+ and although it had a camera and made a map of the house, it still collided with everything and made a lot of noise both when walking and when vacuuming. It sucked well, but the scrubbing was horrible. Right now I have a Dreame L20ULTRA. The truth is that I always have it in silent mode or at most standard mode. It makes little noise, sucks well and scrubs better. For now, of all the ones I've tried, I can only recommend that one.

I've had good luck with roomba's for longevity.. had an 870 vacuum only, 10 yrs and i8+ for 7, vacuum only ( but can't vacuum my Persian rug but neither can most robot/mop ones. dreame x40 did good .. but I feel like they all are kind of hit or miss at this point

I8+ WAS GREAT FOR ME!

Get one that self-empties! Mine was no help until I got one that self-empties that I can program with an app. It's currently broken and I FEEL the difference. It was expensive (roomba i8, costco, $600 like 5y ago) but so worth it.

I’ve a roomba i8 and find it pretty good. It mops and vaccuums

We have Roomba i8 and are pretty happy with it. Would give two key pieces of advice: get one with a base that the vac returns to and empties the hopper, get one with a decent mapping ability. With two dogs, I can’t imagine having to empty the hopper regularly. With good mapping, we are able to tell it to avoid certain tricky areas. Also, we clean ours pretty regularly to keep rollers free of hair tangles, and other things it shouldn’t have tried sucking up.

I have a Roomba i8 going on 5 years, no issues.

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

We have the mop vac combo (forgive me, I don't remember what exact model, but I DO know it is the self emptying combo w\ the removable dust filter "trash' bags, and has a grey "tweed" designer -look on the top. That probably makes no sense). At any rate, I LOVE the vacuum feature, esp the self-emptying component. However, the few times I have attempted to use the mopping feature, it has not worked well at all. Admittedly, my model could be a slightly older model, like maybe last year's, so take that for what it's worth. It starts off fine, but after no more than 10 min if that, it seems to get stuck. What it's stuck on is beyond me because it happens in dining room each time & sounds like it's spinning it's wheels (like a car stuck in mud). There are no rugs, chairs are moved out of the way & there's no visible debris obstacles like  one of my son's marbles or a plastic milk cap or anything. Literally just hardwood flooring. I've tried rebooting, I've tried popping the water/mop pad on & mopping immediately (thinking it would help reduce soaking & "puddling" near the wheels), I've tried wiping the wheels and following behind it to wipe up the drag marks of water. But it still spins & does nothing. I can't complain too much as I won it at my husband's  Xmas work party raffle, and like I said the vac feature is excellent. Since we have a young son & a dog that sheds constantly, I'm ok w/just the vac👌

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 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.

The I and J series clean so much better than the 2 Essential. Even the lowest priced I series is well worth the extra money.

The comment about robot vacuums only being for small places is probably based on the old random pattern robots. Most robots now map and do well in large houses. It sounds like most mapping robots would work for you, since you don't want mopping, have hardfloors, and no pets. So anything with lidar (prefered) or vslam navigation. Obstacle avoidance might be a useful feature for cords, shoes, toys etc. left on the ground. It might be worth looking into a Eufy L60, iRobot Roomba j series, Roborock Q series, or shark. I'm biased because I have three robot vacs (Roborock S6, Ecovacs x1 omni, and iRobot Roomba j5+ combo) and my roomba j5+ is the only one that is reliable and working at the moment

iRobot is likely the longest lasting brand, there are many accounts of people having these bots for so many years and well over 1k hours.. iRobot are still providing parts for 12+ year old bots. Where is the planned obsolescence there?

The combo 10 max (almost the same obstacle avoidance as all other modern/j-series iRobot models) initially scored in vacuum war's top ten for obstacle avoidance. It's also the only brand that guarantees avoidance of pet poo. Battery is debatable, but it's also a non-issue for most because of charge and resume

All have pretty poor customer service. I have three bots (Ecovacs, Roborock, and iRobot) and recommend the roomba i or j series for vacuum only (especially if you have carpet). It's designed for longevity rather than features. My j5+ has been reliable and kept up with 2 shedding dogs (long hair border collie cross) and two people

once you get a i/J series with a Clean Base. you will never want to go back. When shedding season start , you can setup a daily clean up. and a weekly maintenance of the robot.

I guess I’m the outlier here but I love mine. I have the self emptying, mapping Roomba. It mapped my space great and does a really good job cleaning. Self emptying is the best upgrade, as I previously had a much cheaper model and haaaated emptying that thing constantly.

I have a Roomba that I picked up from Costco. It can be controlled via app and it has a self emptying base.

They \*could\* but I doubt very much that they do; it would cost a lot. The biggest privacy risk is revealing a map of the layout of your home if your online account is hacked. I have an iRobot Roomba that empties its own bag into a base. Love it. Love not having to vacuum under beds and sofas. It took some prep to make my home ready for it--furniture needs to be high enough (and legs wide enough apart) for it to run up under. Lamp cords need to be secured. Don't run it automatically or when you're not home. Do clean the hair out of it after it runs (takes only a couple minutes). I run it once a week. I spend 3-4 minutes putting things like litter baskets and chairs up off the floor so it has a better reach, then schedule it to run 3x. Then turn the schedule off again and return loose items to the floor. Spend about a minute getting hair out of its rollers. I've had several good looks inside my Roomba and didn't see anything like microphones or cameras. Its bump sensors are not cameras. It does have an internet connection and so can be voice-controlled if you connect to Alexa or Google Home. But that is optional. If you only operate it with the app or onboard buttons, it cannot be voice controlled.

We’ve used a self emptying Roomba for years. 3 dogs, a Basset, a Lab, and a Terrier. All are moderate shedders and fur accumulation is a problem. All three are indoor/outdoor dogs and mud is a consideration for us. We have area rugs from Costco that help dry paws and pick up some dirt. We launder them at a coin-op each month to save wear and tear on our washer. The Roomba is fine for keeping visible areas tidy, but one pass on the floor and the internal bin will fill with fur and dust. We still vacuum with a stick vac in corners and under furniture, Roomba can’t reach. No mopping robot can keep up with mud from paws if you live in a rainy muddy area. Invest in a good Swiffer wet mop or a light weight bucket based mop.

I started with a eufy and it was pretty good on all hardwood floors. It would pile some fire up in the corners I could pick up. But then I upgraded to a roomba with the self emptying thing and I love it. The app and tutorials are very helpful.

I have the Wyze robot vac and a roomba self emptying vac. I vastly prefer the performance of the wyze vac.

I have a self emptying roomba vacuum. It runs daily at 9:30 am, recharges and empties itself, then finishes rhe rest around 2 in the afternoon. I live on a horse farm with 4 dogs and 5 cats and only if its muddy do shoes come off at the door. That robot is a wonderful thing.

I have an IRobot Roomba self emptying one! It literally just got done vacuuming. Genuinely LIFE CHANGING. I got mine as a Christmas gift and it’s great but I’d probably go with the Shark 2 in 1 self emptying robot mop/vacuum when my Roomba dies. I run mine at least 2 times a day and I think it helps keep it where hairballs don’t build up and get stuck in it.

Two huskies here. We have a self emptying Roomba. We run it 5 days a week. I have to keep up with the replacement parts, or it starts just wadding up hair and leaving it in chunks. But even that cuts manual cleaning time, because I can just take the hand vac to the chunks. We've had it since 2021.