The iRobot Roomba 980 Robot Vacuum Cleaner
Robot vacuums remove pet hair, dust and lint off floors before they can settle. They also can avoid obstacles like stairs and other obstructions, including tippy furniture.
The majority of robotic vacuums require maintenance, like emptying (and occasionally, rinsing) the bin, and wiping cameras and sensors. Also, they need to be connected to an electrical source. A lot of them have apps for smartphones for scheduling, adjusting setting and more.
iRobot Roomba 980
The iRobot Roomba 980 is the latest model in the line of top-of-the-line robot vacuum cleaners that are an essential part in any modern home. This model comes with a HEPA-filter to assist those who suffer from allergies. Additionally, it also comes with a powerful battery that can clean for up to two hours and it will return to its dock when it is full.
Smart mapping is a different feature that assists in identifying areas in your home that require attention and creates an easy path to get around them. This technology is very effective in navigating around toys that are left on the floor, or furniture legs sticking out from underneath objects. It also has a camera that snaps the Roomba back to its original position when it starts to drift 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 withstand tangles than previous models. They are also taller and can be placed under low couches or beds. They're specifically designed to make this model more maneuverable on different flooring types.
What sets the Roomba 980 apart from other models with a higher-end price tag, though, is its integration of the new dirt detection feature that uses cameras to identify bits of embedded dirt. This is an improvement over the previous model which relied on an algorithm that was driven by sensors to bounce around the room and scrub the area three times, at different angles.
The Roomba 980 performed well in our tests on both carpets and hard floors. Its score on low pile carpet was excellent and it scored a high score on mid pile too. It did a good job of removing pet hair, but it struggled with very thick and long pet fur that was clumped together.
Despite these minor shortcomings, the Roomba 980 remains one of our best robot vacuum and mop for luxury vinyl plank floors-performing robots, and it's even close to being as expensive as the other top-of-the-line models in this list. It's still packed with a variety of features that we'd like to see in a flagship model however it lacks all the fancy app-enabled functions or smart home integration are found in other top models.
The iRobot Roomba can be set up quickly and is available for use immediately. After taking off the pull tab for the battery and the yellow bin insert from its undercarriage, all that you need 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 automatically return to the dock when it runs out of battery or is full of sand. There are also indicators at the top of the bin that let you know when the bin is empty, or when it requires recharging, or if it loses Wi-Fi.