The iRobot Roomba 980 Robot Vacuum Cleaner

robot vacuum with mapping vacuums sweep pet hair, dust and lint from floors before they settle. They can also avoid obstacles such as furniture that is slippery and staircases.

The majority of robotic vacuums require regular maintenance. This includes emptying the bin (and sometimes, rinsing it) and wiping the cameras and sensors. They also need to be connected. A lot of them have apps for smartphones for scheduling, setting up settings and more.

iRobot Roomba 960

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 is equipped with a HEPA filter that can assist those who suffer from allergies. In addition it comes with a powerful 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 assists in identifying areas in your home that require attention, and then creates a path for Best Buy cleaning around them. We've seen this technology in action and it does an excellent job of maneuvering around toys abandoned on the floor, or furniture legs that stick 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 has also added a new set of rollers underneath the Roomba's bottom, which do not have bristles, Best Buy and thus tend to resist tangles more than previous models. These are also a little taller than 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.

The Roomba 980 is distinguished from other models of high-end quality by its new dirt detection feature that makes use of cameras to detect dirt embedded. This is a significant improvement over the previous model, that relied on the sensor-driven pseudorandom cover method to bounce around a room and clean it at least three times from different angles.

In our tests of its performance, the Roomba 980 did well on carpets and hard flooring. Its score on low pile carpet was very good and it got a very excellent score on mid pile too. It did a fair job of removing pet hair, but it was struggling with very long and thick pet fur that was stuck together.

Despite these slight limitations, the Roomba 980 remains one of our top-performing robots, and isn't even nearly as expensive as some of the other top-of-the-line models in this list. It has a lot of features you would expect from a flagship model, but doesn't come with all the fancy apps and smart home integration you'd see in other top models.

The iRobot Roomba can be set up quickly and is ready to use right away. After removing the pull tab for the battery and yellow bin insert from its 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 its dock when it is running out of battery or becomes full of sand. There are also indicator lights on top that indicate when the bin is empty, or when it is in need of recharging or if it loses Wi-Fi.