iRobot - Roomba Combo j8 Enhanced

If just pet hair (short haired or long haired?) a Roomba J series especially the J8 enhanced (at Costco) or j9 would be just fine. If you’re wanting a combo robot, avoid iRobot at this time. I say that as their mopping robots just aren’t that great.

In that case, it’s likely personal preference. I’m partial to iRobot and have been loyal for the better half of a decade. I wouldn’t recommend a combo robot. If you’re wanting just daily or several days a week cleaning - go for the j8 enhanced, j9 or the s9. Roborock has a pretty good rep and Narwall (spelling?) has a good rep for combo robots. Just see what your cleaning needs are. If price isn’t an issue get the most powerful one. IMO, no such thing as too clean 🤣

Of course, the dock also charges, so any robot you’d get would also need to have a place to plug in and without a dock, you’d need to plug and unplug it manually every time you use it. The batteries in the roomba don’t last all that long, but it doesn’t matter when the roomba takes care of charging as needed on its own with the dock, so it’d be pretty tedious. Honestly, I had an older roomba years ago without a dock and it just wasn’t remotely worth the trouble and I never used it. I love my roomba (a J8, I believe, and it has a dock) but being real-these vacs can’t clean everywhere and they don’t even clean that well-they can’t get behind doors, in between smaller gaps in furniture, they just randomly miss big areas, etc. They really only make sense because they do a decent job cumulatively keeping your floor 80% clean when they can frequently run themselves unattended, getting the places they missed the day before, powering and emptying themselves as needed. In my experience, these things are just not worth it unless you have the dock. Robot vacuums were interesting but poor-functioning toys before docks. They’ve graduated from toys to tools BECAUSE of the docks. IMO, you’re probably better with a stick vac given your small place and how much you’d have to manually babysit a roomba without a dock. Not to mention you still need a stick/hand vac with a roomba to hit the perma-missed places now and then.

My J8 leaves hair clumps even when run daily.

J8+ is meh for Pets. Have a yellow lab and the j8+ barfs hair clumps all over one of our rugs.

J8+ barfs hair clumps over one of our rugs

I maintain it routinely. Filter, rollers, brush, etc. it’s a machine that doesn’t have enough suction.

What kind of dog do you have? We have a 62 lb Lab who seems to shed constantly. If I run the vacuum every day it’ll do the rug just fine. May leave 1-2 ropes. If I don’t run it every day, there will be more. The borders of the rug is where there are always ropes. I can run the robot twice and there will be ropes. I can run the Dyson then the robot and there will be ropes. I can pull the edges up, dyson under the rug, then Dyson the entire top of the rug and the robot runs—guess what I get along the edges? Ropes. Watching it carefully, the robot runs along the edge and there is a gap that it doesn’t have enough suction to pull a quarter ounce rope of dog hair. And when it passes by and the side brush pulls it under it’s a 50/50 chance for the robot to suck it up—on a hardwood floor or short nap rug. You can say what you want that Roomba has the best suction and if you look at Rtngs or vacuum wars they may in those particular test environments. However in real life my J8 is a fail in this use case. And if I run my 960 in the same area…no ropes. This is rug that’s about 3/8” and is light in weight. Roomba as the market leader should have a machine in their current lineup that has enough power to complete this mission. For a $500 machine to fail this is a design failure. I’d take it back to Costco but at a year, I’m not that type of person. I may buy a S9 but it’s not a great solution either as it’s no longer supported by Roomba, the J9 may or may not be suitable, the Dyson 360 would be worth a shot with its powerful vacuum but the navigation seems to still be a work in progress and for some reason, I’m hesitant to buy a roborock. I’d test them one by one but am not into tying up the capital. Roombas have been around for 23 years. For apologists to say they are still working the kinks out in the vacuum function, is a bit of a stretch at this point.

Coming in late. This helps on the main rug but we still get ropes around the edges and I can run the J8+ twice or three times and it will leave some every run. Thinking of trying a J9+ as they are supposed to have more suction.

I have a iRobot j8+ from Costco. Works great for my needs. It only vacuums and has auto-empty and obstacle avoidance.

I got J8+ for $399 from my local Costco last month.

Me too. It was right next to the J6 for the same damn price. It did have the star and the price ending in .97 though, so I think we got a deal.

Full carpet… ooof. My J8+’s do really well on GSD(2) hair, double coats and all. But we are 80/20 Hardwood. I may be the weirdo and recommend a bi weekly maid that knows you have a fantastic fluffball, so they can deeply check the carpet for hair.

iRobot Roomba combo and Braava are really just automated swiffer mops that do not suck up the dirty solution off the floor. They spray the floor and drag an absorbent pad over it instead. If you have a handheld swiffer with the solution sprayer, you will find that the Roomba mop models work almost identically. These will do a general clean but do not scrub the floor and cannot clean up spilled food or drinks. Some other companies have spinning mops with a wet vac dirty water tank that do a much better job on spilled food and drinks.

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.

Irobot has a camera for object avoidance. I think it works pretty great.  It worked perfectly in the beginning, but God forbid when you are training the ai(?) by reviewing the photos you ever allow anything as "not an obstacle" then it will run over similar things forever. Like string, after I told it a cord off the ground was not an obstacle. :(

Get a roomba with the self-emptying base station. Pays for itself 10 times over.

I have a j series its super easy to get long hair out of the rollers/wheels/whatever. Wife went through chemo and it was a test for the robot...both survived!

YES. It is most definitely that bad. It’s bad on hard floors but god forbid you run it on a carpet. I have a video of it just plowing through fake dog poop on carpets. Edit: I have owned both the roomba j series and dreame l series, and both are so so much better.

Roomba J series would work

If you don't care about mopping, then I would suggest considering a roomba j series. The dual rollers, bin design (reduces filter clogging), dirt detection, and bin sensor for auto empty make it well suited for pet hair. Hair will still accumulate inside of the rubber rollers and require maintenance. VacuumWars recently found that the similar combo 10 max picked up 100% of 2.5 inch hair from carpet, which was much better than many modern flagship models from competitors. I have 3 robovacs (Ecovacs x1 omni, Roomba j5+, Roborock S6 pure) and rate the j5+ highly. I have 270 hours on it so far with no issues

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

Obstacle detection/avoidance of the j series is good, it's the navigation that is problematic (hard hitting walls/furniture, poor coverage, and getting lost) I feel that this model needs better anti-tangling tech to be more competitive

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 😅

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.

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.

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.

We love ours. We have one for upstairs and downstairs. Don’t try to get a cheap one, we did that and went through a couple of them pretty quickly. Now we have two good ones (iRobot) with the bin that they self empty into when they get full. We have three kids, two dogs, and a cat that sheds more than both dogs combined, and having robot vacuums has been a game changer. Before we got the one with the bins, it would get full and need emptying before it finished a whole cycle. Now it goes and empties itself and then goes back to cleaning. It’s some trial and error at first. Just run it the first few times when you’re watching it to see where it has any problems. Then you can try to adjust any problem areas. Our upstairs vacuum doesn’t go into the bedrooms because the kids have lots of tiny Barbie shoes and stuff. We have them clean up good and just regular vacuum real quick every other week or so (and we keep bedroom doors closed so the pets don’t go in there to keep hair shedding out). But the robot keeps the main areas of the house from getting hairballs and dirty. We recently got a robot mop as well, and that has been awesome! I feel like it’s just like having any other vacuum. You have to get everything picked up off the floor before you start. You wouldn’t start regular vacuuming with things still on the floor. If there are areas that it gets stuck often, either block it off or try to adjust any problem areas. We usually pull all of the dining room chairs away from the table so that it can get a good clean under the table and around it. We run the vacuums & mop anytime we leave the house, and it’s so nice coming home to freshly vacuumed and mopped floors!

I bought one well over a year ago possibly on year 2. iRobot self emptying. If it only lasted a year I’d buy another one. It works as well as it did when I bought it. I replace the rollers and the brush thingy like twice. Get the iRobot replacement the knock off parts lasted like a week. I have all tile. Bedroom is carpet. If it runs everyday it’s not a problem on carpet. If it’s a few days of fur it creates nests I just hand pick up. I don’t have to do this if it runs daily. Completely worth it. I also live near a beach and it straight picks up all the sand too. It’s great. Never not having one.

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.