The iRobot Roomba 980 Robot Vacuum Cleaner

Best Robot Vacuum With Mapping vacuums eliminate pet hair, lint and dust from the floor before they settle. They can also avoid stairs and other obstacles, including tippy furniture.

Most robotic vacuums require maintenance, like emptying (and occasionally rinsing) the bin, and wiping sensors and cameras. Additionally, they must be connected to the power source. A lot of them have apps for smartphones to schedule, adjust settings and more.

Roomba 960 from iRobot

The iRobot Roomba 980, the most recent in a line of top-of the-line robot vacuums, is a must for any modern home. This model is incredibly powerful suction and an HEPA filter that will help anyone concerned about allergies. It also has a powerful battery which can be cleaned for up to two hours, and return to its dock automatically when the bin is full.

It also has the feature of smart mapping, which makes use of multiple sensors to help it determine the areas in your home that require attention and then create a clean path around them. We've seen this technology in action and it does a good job of moving around toys that are abandoned on the floor or furniture legs that are sticking out of the ground. It also has a camera that can snap the Roomba back to reality when it begins to drift from its actual location.

iRobot has also introduced a new set of rollers under the bottom of the Roomba that do not have bristles, and thus tend to resist tangles more than the previous models. They're also taller than previous rollers and can better fit under beds and couches with low sides and are designed to let this model move more easily across different floor types.

What sets the Roomba 980 apart from other models of this class Its main feature is the incorporation of the latest dirt detection feature that utilizes a camera to spot particles of dirt embedded. This is an improvement over the previous model that relied on a sensor-driven pseudorandom cover method to bounce around the room and scrub everything three times at different angles.

The Roomba 980 performed well in our tests on carpets and hard floors. Its score on the low pile carpet was impressive, and it also scored a excellent score on mid pile too. It did a good job getting rid of pet hair, but struggled with thick and long pet hair that was stuck together.

The Roomba 980 is still one of the top performing robots we've reviewed despite the slight limitations. It's also not as expensive as top-of-the-line models. It still has a lot of features that we'd like to see in a flagship model however, it doesn't come with all the fancy apps or smart home integration that you'll find in other top models.

The iRobot Roomba can be set up quickly and is ready for use right away. After you have removed the battery pull tab and yellow bin insert from undercarriage, all you have to do is plug it into its Home Base docking station or a wall socket, press its big "Clean" button, and let it go to work. It will automatically return to the dock when it is running out of batteries or is full of trash. There are also indicator lights on top that show the bin is empty, or when it is in need of recharging or when it loses its Wi-Fi.