iRobot - Roomba® Plus 505 Combo robot + AutoWash™ dock

I got the 505! This is my 3rd robot, my second roomba. My first one was a Neato D4. First impressions: Room mapping was super quick and accurate! My apartment is not big (2bed 2 bath) and the 505 mapped the whole apartment in ~18 minutes. Cleaning: So far so good! Mops really well and it reaches the corners with high precision Overall, Im very impressed so far. I will do more testings over the week. Highlight: the noise! It is super quiet, my cats and my dog are not even disturbed with the noise.

Push for the 505. Although it does have lidar, the 405 does not have the obstacle avoidance tech of the J9. The 505 does.

Personally, I would only consider the 505 mop combo at this time. At $599 currently, it’s discounted but I wouldn’t say extraordinarily so. The 405 mop combo is similar to the 505 and has a much better discount at $399. For me, though, the lack of obstacle avoidance in the 405 is a deal-killer. The 505 also has heated drying of the mop pads and can swing one of the mop pads out to reach corners, something the 405 also lacks. Not as big of a deal to me as the lack of object avoidance in the 405.

I just bought the 505 a couple of weeks ago. And I’m returning it. The side brush keeps falling off while vacuuming. This is our 4th or 5th Roomba. And this new model is the only one where the side brush snaps on, instead of using a screw. Our house is new, we don’t even have furniture yet, and still the Roomba keeps losing the brush mid job. I’m bummed because I was really liking the way it avoids obstacles and how good the vacuum feature is, but without the side brush it just leaves all the corners and edges dirty. I can’t be looking after it monitoring where and when the brush falls off.

I was torn between this and the 505 but it seems like all the 505 has is heated pad drying which I don't really think is all that important. But yeah It goes back constantly to refill like every 10 minutes for about 6-700 square feet. So it works but definitely adds time.

Just exchanged my 405 for a 505 and I gotta say the object detection is much better. The 405 did pretty well but the object had to be tall enough to get detected by the lidar. The 505 was able to completely avoid a sock, cord and flip flops I threw on the ground. Also shows avoided obstacles in the app.

It's much much quieter is the first thing I noticed the 900 was so freaking loud on carpet. I couldn't hear anything and had to scream just to hear what I was saying. I could easily be on a phone call while 405 is going on carpet and barely be bothered. Can't tell how well it vacuums yet it has 4 different settings of suction. It defaults to the third highest and I just left it at that. It did pick up some test things I threw on the floor just to see. So I think it's probably pretty good at least as good as the 900. Might try out the high suction tomorrow to see if it's really loud. The mopping I'm undecided so far. I've never had a mopping robot so nothing to compare it to except good ole elbow grease mopping. Which I know is going to always be 10x better. But it seems like it doesn't store water it just wets the pads because it starts off out of the machine with decent wetness but then as it goes you can see the water decrease that it leaves behind. My floor is also reasonably clean right as I used my bissel vac mop the other day. But I did clear out the dirty water and it was pretty dirty so it's doing something haha. Will it lift up some caked on mess I don't know.

I upgraded to the 505 shortly after this. But the 405 was great the whole time I used it the 505's been really good. I had to replace it once because one of the mop spinning motors stopped working but it was pretty seamless replacement process

My J7 also quit a couple of weeks ago. We are 1 week in to a new 505. It has a slicker app. Always knows where it is. With the lidar, it barely hits anything. All that said, it's not cleaning as well as the j7 did. We have all hard floors with area rugs It turns the suction up and down (I'm assuming to save battery) as it transitions from hard to carpet. In effect it just leaves a pile of junk next to all the rugs. It does a slightly better job in the kitchen where there are no rugs, but it always leaves noticable missed dirt that it has hit, but just pushed around. Not sure that I would not recommend, but I also wouldn't actively recommend either

I’ve had the newest Roomba505 auto empty, auto wash, vacuum and mop combo for a couple of months now and I freaking love it. I got an email this morning they’re trying to suck me into buying another with a big sale right now... $599 for that one I think? I paid more a couple of months ago but it’s been totally worth it. It deals with the dog hair (I’ve got two sheps) better than the older roombas and so far hasn’t gotten tangles around the brush or the mop heads.

My mom didn’t like the s9+ I gifted her, long story. I got her the Roomba 505 and she loves it!! The switch to LiDAR was a huge improvement.

Sorry but that doesn't mean the 505 is more "upscale". It's just a different segment as it offers vac + mop. 705 only offers vac (no mop) but it's much better as a vac than 505 is. 705 Combo will be following soon.

Oh finally we're speaking! - Roomba classic dual rubber brushes - DirtDetect - PrecisionVision RGB camera Seems like a mix of iRobot IPs on a Picea-iRobot jointly designed shell. Looks like there is no side wall sensor (unless it's hidden behind the black number) which would be a downside for me. But overall, much better than the initial series Roomba 105-505. Will there be a Combo version of 705? Curious to see 805/905/1005.

I just had my fifteenth back surgery and fused at L1/2 and L4/5. I bought the 507 from Costco (same as the 505) for vacuuming and mopping. Very fast to map, cleans great.

I sent mine back, ordered a 505

I had a 105 and that does not avoid any cable / plant obstacles, in this respect the j7/9 are way better. The rest of the time the navigation on the 105 is sensible, only on 1st run did it behave really oddly. I returned the 105 for 505.

My 505 doesn’t seem to have any sign have matter support.

Odd, I have had much better obstacle avoidance on my 705 and 505. My j7 was fine, but I see a major difference in the newer models.

I would stick to iRobot’s newest generation line as it’s clear it’s the direction they want to head. The 405 Combo is great, but I’d recommend springing to the 505 for the obstacle avoidance technology.

405 Combo has spinning mop pads that do not extend and basic obstacle avoidance (read none besides bumping and infrared distance and lidar), the 505 Combo has a front facing camera for obstacle avoidance which is far superior as well as an extending mop pads which can go into corners/tight spots. The 405 Dock doesn’t use hot air to dry the pads whereas the 505 Dock does. VacuumWars puts it quite well https://vacuumwars.com/irobots-new-2025-lineup-buyers-guide/#:~:text=The%20405%20introduces%20spinning%20mop,it%20the%20most%20advanced%20option.

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.

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

I’ve had a Roomba for over 10 years now. It’s 100% worth it. I got it when I was a single cat lady in my 20s working long hours. Now I’m married and we have 2 kids, a cat and a dog. We upgraded to the Roomba that maps the house and empties itself in the docking station. It vacuums the whole house 3x a week and does the high traffic areas 5 nights a week after the kids go to bed. I do wish the mop version (Brava) worked better. I have not gotten that damn thing to properly map my house to mop for me and the solution that they sell for it makes all of our house shoes squeak for days.

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 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.