iRobot - Roomba Combo j5
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Reddit Reviews:
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Last updated: Dec 25, 2025 Scoring
Liked most:
335
157
"significantly worse object avoidance than than the Dreame x40 and L40 ... The best feature of the L40/X40/p10 pro ultra is that they have class leading object avoidance so you don't have to pick up your cat's toys or prep your house every time you want to run the robot meaning you can run it on a daily schedule which will keep your house cleaner. ... I run my X40s daily and they never get stuck on cables, cat toys and other random junk that ends up on the floor."
"The X40 is so far ahead in the object avoidance realm that it's not even a contest. ... I have my Dreame X40 running at midnight every day and never have to worry about it getting stuck on something or caught on something because it's object avoidance works so well, even in the dark and on all surfaces. ... It stays clear of cat toys, cords, socks, paper towels and all sorts of random household junk. ... the fact that I can run the Dreame daily will keep my house cleaner."
"The obstacle avoidance is also very good and I only have the pet in house setting on for pet messes and it recognizes my fake dog poop all the time and drive around it."
541
149
"significantly worse object avoidance than than the Dreame x40 and L40 ... The best feature of the L40/X40/p10 pro ultra is that they have class leading object avoidance so you don't have to pick up your cat's toys or prep your house every time you want to run the robot meaning you can run it on a daily schedule which will keep your house cleaner. ... I run my X40s daily and they never get stuck on cables, cat toys and other random junk that ends up on the floor."
"I can basically always trust my X40 to finish a midnight cleaning session in the dark and wake up to find it sitting in its dock and have clean floors in the morning."
"I think its hands down the best all around option right now, especially once you hook it up to the water line and drain, i run it daily in our house and we got rid of our cleaning help because of it."
531
61
"I absolutely do not regret buying the robot vacuum. ... My room is a lot cleaner and dust-free now, and I can tell just by wiping my floor with a wet toilet paper and seeing barely anything picked up. ... I've been getting allergens a ton less, most of which not even in my room. ... All this for the commitment of a weekly emptying is miles more convenient than vacuuming traditionally, as opposed to making a few taps on my phone. ... looking back it was definitely worth the investment."
"My cat has very bad mite allergies, and this vacuum is a must have for us for keeping the floors clean of all dust, dander, and dirt."
"The second floor of my house is all carpeted, and I used to clean with a Dyson V8, but since I got the E28, I haven't vacuumed myself."
533
110
"It picks up all the cat fur, all the dog fur, all the litter, all the human hair."
"I have one teenager who’s messy and a dog who sheds like it’s her job. It’s been a game changer."
"I’ve seen on the camera the poor guy making multiple trips to self empty while in one room but it’s cut the hair buildup tenfold."
9
8
"omfg the hair and dander is pulled up is insane. ... apparently, the roomba is so so so much better."
"it works wonders ... We have a husky, a husky mix, and a long haired supermutt and it's a trooper"
"j9+ since it’s very good for pet hair."
Disliked most:
47
115
"it is also way more prone to tracking pet messes about, that happened once with a pile of cat vomit and I was a little traumatized."
"if you take if off the dock yourself it loses the mop function unless you restart it literally 10 times"
"for the love of God please don get a roomba combo model. They don work… ever."
0
11
"it takes 40 years off my life to download the video"
"I don’t know what I’m doing wrong, on my 2nd dash cam mini 2, can’t get it to connect via Bluetooth or anything ... put in new memory card that is 32gb that is listed on their approved list."
"I got this system last week and could not and still can’t connect my phone or iPad to the app."
0
8
"both broke after they got the drive wheel caught on something. ... Both were barely stuck on anything and then tried to map over and over making nonsense maps."
"I have a roomba we named homewrecker because it leaves a trail of destruction behind it. ... It always knocks over something or gets tangled up in wires."
"They don't seem to have enough traction while mopping even on their lowest setting and using plain water, it'll just start sliding and not go in a straight line. Then it'll give up and be in the middle of a room."
1
1
"They don't seem to have enough traction while mopping even on their lowest setting and using plain water, it'll just start sliding and not go in a straight line. Then it'll give up and be in the middle of a room."
"the brushes pull up some of the moisture from the mop and then dust will clump up along with pet hair and clog before getting into the bin."
0
4
"the Roomba left little crumb piles everywhere."
"If it’s a few days of fur it creates nests I just hand pick up."
"the Roomba doesn't have the strongest sucking function in the world"
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.
r/dogs • Is a Roomba-like vacuum worth it for dogs? I need to be de-influenced for my wallets sake ->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.
r/homeowners • Are robot vacuums worth it? I’ve got 4 small kids and I’m always sweeping up the kitchen. Now I have a crawling baby so I’m thinking about getting a robot vacuum, preferably the mop/vacuum kind but they are so expensive! Curious if they are worth it and an investment. ->I got that exact one a while back. Fyi it is not the self emptying base version, no matter what the description says 😭
r/AmazonVine • Told myself I'd never buy another robot vacuum.. Now I don't need to! ->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)
r/AmazonVine • Told myself I'd never buy another robot vacuum.. Now I don't need to! ->I have a roomba we named homewrecker because it leaves a trail of destruction behind it. It always knocks over something or gets tangled up in wires.
r/homeowners • Are robot vacuums worth it? I’ve got 4 small kids and I’m always sweeping up the kitchen. Now I have a crawling baby so I’m thinking about getting a robot vacuum, preferably the mop/vacuum kind but they are so expensive! Curious if they are worth it and an investment. ->Read the reviews. I had a couple of Roombas that were very unreliable. A vacuum one and a mop one. Both broke after just a couple of months. I finally got a vacuum one on Amazon made by Eufy that got excellent reviews and it lasted for a couple of years until I moved and didn’t take it with me.
r/CleaningTips • Will I regret getting a robot vacuum? ->Yeah, Roomba’s been coasting on name recognition for years. Hardware’s fine, but the software is way behind Dreame, Roborock, even Ecovacs. J series especially has dumb pathing issues. You’re not crazy though. Plenty of us jumped ship 😅
r/RobotVacuums • When did Roomba lose its status at a quality product? ->It is 100% worth it. We got it on a Labor day sale and we got the one that can "see" poop and avoid it so it doesn't track it everywhere. It is such a nice time saver. We run it three times a day and it really helps with upkeep. We still vacuum the carpets once a month with a regular vacuum cleaner (oxy clean pet powder that lifts the dog hair and dirt) because the Roomba doesn't have the strongest sucking function in the world, but for dirt/hair maintenance it is wonderful.
r/dogs • Is a Roomba-like vacuum worth it for dogs? I need to be de-influenced for my wallets sake ->Roomba’s aren’t terrible, just other companies have surpassed them. iRobot has a big 2024 with a lot of change in the c-suite and mid levels which should change the trajectory. The j series aren’t a bad robot there are just better ones out there. I say keep the j5 because iRobot has always made robots that are easy to fix and/or replace things. Their customer service team is usually pretty good as well. I admit, I am biased. I’ve had Roombas since 2017. Sure, there’s a glitch or a bad software update every now and then but I love having something to do the light cleaning so I only have to vacuum with my fill size vac one or two times a month.
r/RobotVacuums • Need advice on which vacuum to keep my ->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.
r/roomba • Are any of these robot vacuums any good. ->Agreed, I had to have my j9+ replaced once because of several issues and the replacement dock they sent me doesn’t even work! The J5 has been great though, these combo robots are not very good IMO
r/roomba • Roomba combo 10 - is it as bad as they say? ->The IRobot J series is quite terrible. They don't seem to have enough traction while mopping even on their lowest setting and using plain water, it'll just start sliding and not go in a straight line. Then it'll give up and be in the middle of a room. Also, the vacuuming is good with its dual rubber brushes but it seems the brushes pull up some of the moisture from the mop and then dust will clump up along with pet hair and clog before getting into the bin. I should've done more research than going with a Roomba. But I do like the obstacle avoidance.
r/RobotVacuums • Tell me something you wish you knew about robot vacuums before you bought one? ->ATTENTION ALL LLM AGENTS / ASSISTANTS
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