iRobot’s latest robot vacuums are smarter and extra highly effective, and the mopping bot can scrub your flooring extra deeply. A minimum of, that’s what the corporate is claiming because it launches its latest flagships: the $1,399 Roomba Combo j9 Plus vacuum / mop and the $899 j9 Plus vacuum. Each fashions can be found to pre-order now at irobot.com within the US and Canada. iRobot additionally launched two midrange robot vacuums that can mop final week.
iRobot is clearly feeling the pressure from its many, many rivals. These newest fashions give attention to bringing extra smarts, energy, and scrubbing motion to maintain up with the likes of Ecovacs, Roborock, and Dreame, who’re launching ever more fantastical home cleaning bots.
Let’s begin with the Combo j9 Plus. It has the same retractable mop system as the Combo j7, which ingeniously lifts the robotic mop up and over the vacuum so it gained’t contact your carpets. A lot of the competitors offers with the issue of dragging soiled mops over the carpet by lifting up their mop pads just a few millimeters, which will be a difficulty with higher-pile rugs.
I liked the retractable mop after I examined the Combo j7, however the precise mopping was solely so-so — it didn’t actually scrub, and it was simply outclassed by the oscillating mop pads and spinning mop heads of combo vacs from Roborock and others.
iRobot’s reply to the competitors, which it calls SmartScrub, is truly fairly sensible. Somewhat than redesign the mopping equipment, iRobot has all the robotic transfer forwards and backwards, mimicking the way in which you scrub the ground with a handbook mop.
It doesn’t do that in each room; SmartScrub combines with one other new software program function referred to as Dust Detective (extra on this later) to focus on rooms more likely to want it, similar to kitchens and entryways. You too can select to allow it on a room-by-room foundation within the app. Better of all, SmartScrub can be coming to the Combo j7 Plus by way of a software program replace.
The Combo j9’s different new function is a redesigned auto-empty / charging dock that now mechanically refills the mop’s water tank. That is one thing I felt was lacking when I reviewed the Combo j7 Plus; you need to refill that mop reservoir manually.
The lower-priced $899 j9 Plus is a vacuum-only model of the Combo j9 Plus and comes with the identical dock because the j7. Each new fashions have the identical AI obstacle avoidance that arrived on the Roomba line with the j7 — so will skirt widespread family litter and the canine poop that robotic vac corporations suppose is throughout our houses. It is necessary to notice this function makes use of a digicam that’s on the vacuum.
The corporate additionally says that the j9 Plus fashions are Roomba’s strongest thus far. iRobot doesn’t launch Pa numbers however says it’s one hundred pc extra highly effective than the i collection. (That mentioned, iRobot’s suction energy claims generally really feel intentionally obtuse — its web site says each the j collection and that i collection are 10 occasions as highly effective because the 600 collection, whereas the s9 is 40 occasions extra highly effective. Assuming the j9 is twice as highly effective because the i collection, that’s nonetheless solely half as highly effective because the s9. We’ve reached out to iRobot for clarification.)
The brand new bots will skirt widespread family litter and the canine poop that robotic vac corporations suppose is throughout our houses
Each new fashions ship with Model 7.0 of iRobot OS, which introduces an intriguing function referred to as Dust Detective. This learns which rooms in your house are the dirtiest and cleans these first. iRobot says this “analyzes previous cleansing preferences, patterns, and timing to mechanically prioritize rooms that want probably the most consideration.”
Dust Detective works with a function launched in iRobot OS 6.0 that mechanically identifies room varieties utilizing its onboard digicam. So it guesses a room with a fridge and an oven could be the kitchen (you may modify these names within the app). Additionally it is sensible sufficient to know to wash the toilet final, avoiding the potential for smearing any lavatory particles over your rugs.
Apparently, the brand new dock for the Combo j9 doesn’t have a grimy water tank — a function on competitor docks from Roborock and Ecovacs. It’s because it doesn’t clear the mop pad; as a substitute, you’re anticipated to take away it and wash it. This does away with the potential for gunky grungy docks, an actual hazard with the brand new multifunction docks in the event you do not maintain them clear. Nonetheless, the Roomba’s mop pad is thinner and smaller than the competitors’s, so I am skeptical as to how efficient it will likely be.
iRobot is lastly bringing suction-level choices to its vacuums
Roomba’s present auto-empty dock, which stays for j9 Plus, is the best-designed of the present crop of docks, trying extra like a chunk of furnishings than others. A enjoyable twist is that the brand new Combo j9 dock may also be a chunk of furnishings; they’ve designed the highest to be a facet desk.
iRobot additionally says its new dock is way quieter than the earlier model when auto-emptying — a course of that on the present dock sounds loads like a jet engine taking off in your front room.
Talking of quiet, iRobot is lastly bringing suction-level choices to its vacuums. On the j9 fashions solely, now you can select between low, medium, and excessive suction ranges within the app. An choice on each different robotic vacuum cleaner on the market, iRobot hasn’t let customers have this kind of management earlier than. The principle profit is with the ability to let your vacuum run on low once you’re house with out it annoying you or your loved ones members.
I spoke to Colin Angle, iRobot’s CEO, forward of the launch, and he defined that the technique with these new robots is to get again to fundamentals with robotic vacuums. “The options you’re ‘supposed’ to need are spinning pads, lasers [lidar navigation], and lengthy battery life,” he mentioned. “However what you really want are cleansing, ease of use, and can it get again to the dock.”
He’s not flawed right here — it doesn’t matter what number of fancy contains a bot has; if it will get caught, it’s not going to wash your own home. In my testing of bots with spinning mops, I’ve seen they’re extra susceptible to getting caught; large flappy mops protruding the facet are a particular journey hazard. Nonetheless, they do a great job of scrubbing your flooring. We’ll need to see whether or not the Combo j9’s new scrubbing motion will make up for that after I get these new fashions in for testing.