The iRobot Roomba 980 Robot Vacuum Cleaner

Robot vacuums eliminate pet hair, lint and dust from the floor before they can settle. They can also avoid stairs and other obstacles such as furniture that is tippy.

Most robotic vacuums require maintenance. This involves emptying the bin (and sometimes, rinsing it) and wiping the sensors and cameras. They also need to be connected. Many come with smartphone applications to schedule, adjust settings and more.

Roomba 980 from iRobot

The iRobot Roomba 980 is the latest in the line of top-of-the-line robot vacuum and mop combo vacuum cleaners that are an essential part of every modern household. This model is equipped with a HEPA filter that can help those who are allergic. Additionally it also has a strong battery which can clean for up to two hours and it automatically returns to its dock when it is full.

Smart mapping is a different feature that helps it identify areas of your home that require attention, and then creates a path for cleaning around them. We've seen this technology in action and it does a great job of moving around toys that have been placed on the floor, or furniture legs that are sticking out from under things. Roomba also comes with a sensor that can snap Roomba back to reality when it starts to wander away from its original position.

iRobot also added a set of rollers underneath the Roomba that don't have bristles which makes them more likely to withstand the tangles that previous models. They're also taller than older rollers, near and will fit better under beds and couches that are low, and they're designed to help this model navigate more easily across a variety of floor kinds.

The Roomba 980 differs from other models with a high-end price tag due to its latest dirt detection feature that makes use of cameras to identify dirt that has been embedded. This is an improvement over the previous model that relied on a sensor-driven pseudorandom cover method to bounce around the room and clean the area three times, at different angles.

The Roomba 980 performed well in our tests on both carpets and near hard floors. Its score on low pile carpet was very good and it also scored a high score on mid pile too. It did a fair job of picking up pet hair, but it struggled with very long and thick pet fur that was stuck together.

The Roomba 980 is still one of the best performing robots in our list, despite these minor limitations. It's also less expensive than other top-of-the-line models. It comes with many of the features you'd expect from a flagship model, but it doesn't have all the fancy apps and smart home integrations you'll see in other top contenders.

The iRobot Roomba can be set up quickly and is available for use as soon as you are ready to. After taking off the pull tab for near the battery 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 large "Clean" button and let it go to work. It will automatically return to its dock when its battery is out or it's stuffed with debris. It also has indicators at the top of the device to indicate that its bin is full, it's time to recharge or if its Wi-Fi signal is not working.