The iRobot Roomba 980 Robot Vacuum Cleaner

best robot vacuum cleaner and mop vacuums sweep pet hair, lint, and dust from floors before they settle. They can also stay clear of obstacles like furniture that is tippy and stairs.

Most robotic vacuums require maintenance. This includes emptying the bin (and occasionally, rinsing it) and wiping the cameras and sensors. They also need to be plugged in. Many come with smartphone apps for best robot vacuum cleaner scheduling, adjusting settings and more.

Roomba 980 from iRobot

The iRobot Roomba 980 is the latest model in the line of top-of-the-line robotic vacuum robot mop cleaners that are an essential part in any modern home. This model is equipped with a HEPA-filter to help those who are allergic. On top of that it also has a strong battery that can clean for up to two hours and it will return to its dock when its bin is full.

Smart mapping is a different feature that assists in identifying areas in your home that require attention, and then creates an easy path to get around them. We've seen this technology in action and it does an excellent job of maneuvering around toys left scattered on the floor, or furniture legs that stick out from under the furniture. It also has a sensor that snaps Roomba to reality if it begins to move away from its initial location.

iRobot has also added a new set of rollers under the bottom of the Roomba that don't have bristles and, therefore, tend to be more resistant to tangles than the previous models. These are also a little higher than the older rollers and can better fit under low couches and beds and are designed to help this model navigate more easily on varying floor kinds.

What makes the Roomba 980 stand out from other models with a higher-end price tag Its main feature is the inclusion of a new dirt detection feature that utilizes a camera to spot tiny bits of dirt. This is a significant improvement over the previous version which relied on the use of a sensor-driven pseudorandom cover to bounce around the room and scrub the area three times, at different angles.

In our tests of its performance, the Roomba 980 did well on both hard flooring and carpets. Its score on low pile carpet was very good and it also scored a good score on mid pile too. It did a fair job of removing pet hair, but it had a difficult time with very long and thick pet fur that was clumped together.

Despite these slight limitations, the Roomba 980 remains one of our best robot vacuum cleaner-performing robots, and isn't even far from being as costly as the other top-of-the-line models in this list. It comes with many of the features you'd expect from a flagship model, but doesn't come with all the fancy apps or home integration that you'll get from other top models.

The iRobot Roomba can be set up quickly and is ready to use immediately. After taking off the yellow bin insert and pull tab from the undercarriage, you just plug it into a wall socket or its Home Base docking stations, press the "Clean button" and let it do its job. It will automatically return to docking station when it has run out of battery or is full of sand. There are also indicators on top that show when its bin is empty, when it needs to recharge, or when it loses Wi-Fi.