iRobot - Roomba 985

Get the straight vacuum. No combo because you lose suction. I had a 985 that is still running but was relocated to my son’s campus housing. That thing was not smart, but did an outstanding job. I have a J9 now. I feel like it does the job more efficiently, but is not quite as powerful. I still love it for cleaning up after my cat and dog though.

How do you check battery life? I have a 985 from Costco bought in 2019 and we went from a 1 bedroom apartment to a house and it’s still chugging along. I maintain it and clean it out after every run.

Same situation with short haired dogs. We use a J7+ (auto empty) and a 980. Both pick-up well. If you want to minimize cost, a used 980. It maps and has boosted suction and suction is the major factor on hard floors. ( We also use self modified non-HEPA filters for maximum suction). We've been pleased with several different Roomba models over the years and consider them a nessessity with multiple shedders.

I still have an old Roomba 980 which I bought in 2018 or do. This far it still goes strong. Running daily. The biggest downside is that every week I have to flip it and clean the front wheel, the small brush that brushes dirt to the suction part and the rubber roller connections. But if I had to pick something now I would pretzels go towards a roborock dítě to the price difference and iRobot loading their advantage and it being part of Amazon now.

I’m still running a 980!

MOST DURABLE? Alright then, new robot vacuums wont really do that. I know i will get downvoted for this but if you dont need self emptying, mopping etc, just pick up a second hand Roomba 500 series, they are known for being extremely reliable. Some 600 series like 675 or 690 are 500 series with wifi and some minor improvements, they are pretty common, cheap and easy to repair. Want mapping? Roomba 980 or any 900 series roomba (do note that roomba 900 series doesnt have keep out zones). 900 series are known for being reliable and just good robots over all. Why did i recommend these? Because newer robor vacuums these days have too many moving parts, and they work best at homes. While the roombas i listed above were also made for homes, old irobot was different than current day irobot, more reliable and roombas are pretty modular, you can take then apart and drop in a replacement part easily. They can work decently in commercial environments, especially 500/600 series. This subreddit is mostly "against" irobot, so i'll say this, i am not paid by irobot, i am a 14 year old on the internet who is passionate about this stuff :)) Edit: Check out Makita's industrial robot vacuums as well. Way more suited to commercial use.

MOST DURABLE? Alright then, new robot vacuums wont really do that. I know i will get downvoted for this but if you dont need self emptying, mopping etc, just pick up a second hand Roomba 500 series, they are known for being extremely reliable. Some 600 series like 675 or 690 are 500 series with wifi and some minor improvements, they are pretty common, cheap and easy to repair. Want mapping? Roomba 980 or any 900 series roomba (do note that roomba 900 series doesnt have keep out zones). 900 series are known for being reliable and just good robots over all. Why did i recommend these? Because newer robor vacuums these days have too many moving parts, and they work best at homes. While the roombas i listed above were also made for homes, old irobot was different than current day irobot, more reliable and roombas are pretty modular, you can take then apart and drop in a replacement part easily. They can work decently in commercial environments, especially 500/600 series. This subreddit is mostly "against" irobot, so i'll say this, i am not paid by irobot, i am a 14 year old on the internet who is passionate about this stuff :)) Edit: Check out Makita's industrial robot vacuums as well. Way more suited to commercial use.

My wife won a Roomba 981 as a sales target bonus in 2016. It’s still going strong, doesn’t seem like it will ever die. Which sucks because I want to buy a new one with all the bells and whistles but she thinks it’s a waste of money if we already have one. Not that her point isn’t without merit, but there’s a reason ours is called “50 First Dates” in the app. It will start a job in the home room for a random amount of time then switch to a different room and do that for 5-10 minutes, then come back to the original room and start it again. Even at low suction it’s so loud and annoying in its random cleaning methods that we can’t program auto cleans so we start jobs when we’ll be out for at least 3 hours so we don’t have to watch, listen, or point at it and laugh. That said, it cleans very well and despite its quirks we can’t seem to get rid of it. The thing won’t die. I desperately want it to, but it lovably keeps trucking along, getting all the pesky dirt we can’t even see and keeping the place tip top. With the new combo-mopping, auto dumping and filling, and obstacle avoiding features out now I may be able to convince her to get 50 First an assistant, but until she dies she will always run the house.

i rarely use my stick vacuum since getting a robot vacuum. i’ll have to use it to clean around my bird cage because the robot vacuum can’t get all of the seeds out of the edges of the carpet but that’s about it. they are great if you have dogs that shed a lot, or even if you don’t. i have the eufy s1 pro which has the best mopping technology out there, and it keeps my hard floors so clean, but even before that when i had just a basic roomba 980 just having the vacuuming itself is a game changer. they don’t really “deep clean” and i still will go through and mop the edges of my hard floors and i will shampoo my carpets once in a while because i rent and they are old, but it will definitely give you more free time especially if you are someone that likes to have super clean floors all the time and you have pets. it also encourages you to keep your floors picked up so that the robot doesn’t get stuck on anything which will make your home feel cleaner as well. one of my favorite things about a robot vacuum is how it can get underneath the bed and other pieces of furniture that would normally be difficult to clean under. i would never be able to vacuum all the way under my bed, and now it gets done every day

I would suggest going on Ebay and buying something higher than a Roomba 670 (if you want WiFi connectivity). You can pick these up for a little over $10.00 plus about $35 for shipping and handling. Make sure it includes the charging dock. I would buy a used Roomba over buying a used Roborock. The Roborocks DO navigate better, but the Roombas clean better and they are far easier to maintain. The upper 900 series Roombas 980 and up do navigate well, but not as well as a Roborock. The Roborocks are extremely difficult for most people to maintain as the robot has to be tore almost completely apart to clean the screen on the suction fan.

I have a 900 series and a j7. I don’t really have an issue with either one. They rarely get stuck and complete jobs regularly. However I recently bought a Roborock and it is definitely better. The app is much more advanced and lidar seems to be more efficient and accurate.

Firstly going by the suction numbers alone never tells the full story. That's all marketing. Both will probably vacuum well and the roomba probably has a slight edge on deeper carpet. Both should work offline with basic functions. No idea about home assistant compatibility. Longevity, well, frankly thats not a guarantee on any model from any brand. I've had a roborock for a few years and its been perfectly reliable for me. But again, that varies. And I've heard you can get parts on ali express. Your 900 series roomba was probably one of the most reliable generations of robot cleaners made. Irobot is still pretty good with spare parts. But I've seen some of their newer models aren't built modular anymore. Plus the company has had a rough couple years financially and are struggling to compete. If they went under...well spare parts may get more difficult to find. The unfortunate reality is more money doesn't buy you more reliability, expecting 3 to 5 years is a little more reasonable these days. Planned obsolescence etc but it's industry wide.

We have a Roomba 9xx series that runs every night. It does an acceptable job of cleaning up the cat hair and crumbs, and lets us get away with only using a proper vacuum once a week.

The later Roombas with a camera/vision system are pretty good at avoiding things that could cause snags/clogs. I used to be vigilant with clearing the floor and even putting dining chairs on the table, but now I just have my Roomba run every night with dog toys, kid toys, wife's shoes and purse, chairs, charger cords, laundry baskets, and everything else blocking its path. It probably only cleans about 60% of the area I want it to, but I can still feel a noticeable difference when I walk barefoot through the house.