The iRobot Roomba 980 Robot Vacuum Cleaner

Robot vacuums nab pet hair, Robot Mop Vacuum Combo lint and dust from floors before it can settle. They also can stay clear of stairs and other obstacles, including tippy furniture.

Most robotic vacuums require maintenance, such as emptying (and occasionally, rinsing) the bin, and wiping sensors and cameras. They also require to be plugged in. Many come with smartphone apps for scheduling, setting up settings, and more.

iRobot Roomba 980

The iRobot Roomba 980, the most recent in a line of top-of the-line robot Mop vacuum combo vacuums, is a must for every modern home. This model is extremely powerful suction as well as a HEPA filter that can aid anyone who is concerned about allergies. In addition it also has a strong battery that can clean for up to two hours, and it will automatically return to its dock once its bin is full.

Smart mapping is a different feature that allows it to identify areas of your home that require attention and creates a path for cleaning around them. We've seen this technology in action and it does a great job of maneuvering around toys left scattered on the floor or furniture legs that stick out from under things. It also has a camera that will snap the Roomba back to the real world when it starts drifting from its actual location.

iRobot also added an additional set of rollers beneath the Roomba that don't have bristles and are therefore more likely to avoid tangles than previous models. They're also a bit higher than the older rollers, and will fit better under beds and couches that are low and are designed to let this model move more easily on varying floor kinds.

What sets the Roomba 980 apart from other high-end models however, robot Mop Vacuum combo is its integration of the new dirt detection feature that uses cameras to identify particles of dirt embedded. This is an improvement over the previous version which relied on an algorithm that was driven by sensors to bounce around the room and scrub the entire area three times at various angles.

The Roomba 980 performed well in our tests on both carpets and hard floors. It scored extremely well on carpets with a low pile, and on mid-pile. It did a fair job of removing pet hair, but it was struggling with extremely thick and long pet fur that was clumped together.

The Roomba 980 is still one of the best robot vacuum performing robots we've reviewed despite the slight limitations. It's also not as expensive as other top-of the-line models. It's got plenty of features that we'd expect to see in a top-of-the-line model, but it doesn't have all the fancy app-enabled functions or smart home integration that are found in other top models.

The iRobot Roomba can be set up quickly and is available for use right away. After taking off the pull tab for the battery and the yellow bin insert from the undercarriage, all you have to connect it to its Home Base docking station or a wall socket, hit its large "Clean" button and let it get to work. It will return to its dock when the battery runs out or it's stuffed with debris. It also has indicator lights on the top to indicate when its bin is full, it requires recharging or its Wi-Fi signal is lost.