The iRobot Roomba 980 Robot Vacuum Cleaner

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

The majority of robotic vacuums require regular maintenance. This includes emptying the bin (and sometimes, rinsing it) and wiping the sensors and cameras. They also require to be connected. Many come with smartphone apps for scheduling, adjusting settings and more.

iRobot Roomba 980

The iRobot Roomba 980, the most recent in a line of top-of the-line robot vacuum with self empty vacuums, is a staple for every modern home. This model is equipped with a HEPA-filter to aid those suffering from allergies. On top of that it comes with a powerful battery that can clean up to two hours, and it automatically returns to its dock once its bin is full.

Smart mapping is another feature that allows it to identify areas in your home that require attention and creates an easy path to get around them. This technology is extremely effective in navigating around toys that are left on the floor or furniture legs that are sticking out from under things. It also comes with a sensor that can snap Roomba back to reality when it starts to wander away from its initial location.

iRobot also added a set of rollers underneath the Roomba which do not have bristles which makes them more likely to withstand tangles than previous models. These rollers are also taller and can be tucked under low couches or beds. They're designed to make this model more movable on various floor types.

The Roomba 980 differs from other high-end models due to its latest dirt detection feature, which makes use of a camera in order to detect embedded dirt. This is a significant improvement over the previous model, which relied on a sensor-driven pseudorandom coverage method to bounce around a room and clean everything at minimum three times from various angles.

In our tests of its performance it was found that the Roomba 980 did well on both hard flooring and carpets. It scored highly on carpets with low pile and on mid-pile. It was successful in collecting pet hair, however it struggled with the long and thick pet hair that was stuck together.

The Roomba 980 is still one of the top performing robots we've reviewed, despite these minor limitations. It's also less expensive than other top-of-the-line models. It has a lot of features you'd expect from a flagship model but does not have all the fancy apps or home integrations you'll find in other top contenders.

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