Product Overview
Roomba Combo 10 Max robot + AutoWash dock is our most powerful cleaning robot yet. It vacuums with 100% more suction power*, mops back-and-forth with downward pressure-and learns which rooms get dirty fastest and gives them the deep cleaning they deserve. With advanced smart navigation, it knows how to get around any home and clean each area in the optimal way. Even the dock is smart, automatic bin emptying, liquid refills, washing the mop pad, and pumping clean water through the dock to ensure it stays clean. When your cleaning robot is designed smarter, it makes your life easier.
Dimension
Product Height : 3.4 inches
Product Width :13.3 inches
Product Depth :13.3 inches
Product Weight :11 pounds
Features
AN EXPERT IN DIRT ELIMINATION. The 4-Stage Cleaning System features an Edge-Sweeping Brush for thorough corner cleaning, Dual Rubber Brushes that avoid pet hair tangles, strong suction that easily pulls embedded dirt from carpets, and SmartScrub that mops back and forth with precision.
KNOWS WHAT TO CLEAN – AND WHAT TO AVOID. Advanced navigation powered by detection sensors and camera allow it to navigate under and around furniture, recognize rooms, specific areas (like in front of the oven), and avoid obstacles like stairs, cords, or pet bowls.
SMART SCRUB MOPS BACK AND FORTH WITH CONSISTENT PRESSURE AND 2X DEEPER SCRUBBING*. Some areas of the home need a deeper clean–pawprints in the mudroom, spills under the kitchen table, tiles in your bathroom. Simply enable SmartScrub and your Roomba Combo® 10 Max will scrub back-and-forth, just like you would. *Compared to standard vacuum and mop mode for coffee and grime.
CLEANS YOUR HOME – AND ITSELF. The AutoWash™ Dock empties debris into an enclosed bag, refills the mopping tank, and washes and dries the mop pad all while its Self-Cleaning Cycle keeps the dock clean with the least amount of effort from you.
A CLEAN PAD. EVERY TIME. Automatically washes and dries the mop pad after each use. Plus, set it to wash its mop pad after cleaning specific rooms like the bathroom, so messes don't get spread around your home.
THOUGHTFUL MOPS DESIGN KEEPS CARPETS DRY. Unlike other 2-in-1s, its Auto-Retract Mopping System lifts itself to the top of the robot, preventing wet carpet messes. Your carpets stay dry with D.R.I. (Dry Rug Intelligence), only from iRobot. It seamlessly transitions from vacuuming carpet to vacuuming and mopping hard floors without any intervention from you.
PREDICTS DIRT. ELIMINATES IT. Some rooms you live in, others you don’t—and Dirt Detective knows exactly which rooms get dirty fastest. It prioritizes where to clean and automatically selects the right settings to give them the deep cleaning they need.
CLEANS WHERE YOU TELL IT TO CLEAN. Use the iRobot Home App or pair your robot with Alexa, Siri, or Google Assistant-enabled devices*. Simply tell it to clean the living room or by the dishwasher, oven or stove, toilet, even pet bowls, and you’ve got a cleaner home on command.
SEES THE DIRT AHEAD. Enhanced camera recognition pinpoints dirt ahead up to 8x more often* and automatically enables Dirt Detect™ Technology to repeat cleaning passes for a more thorough clean. *Compared to previous Dirt Detect™ Technology.
START CLEANING YOUR WAY EVEN FASTER. Straight out of the box, your Roomba robot vacuum will create a complete map of your home 7x faster than the previous mapping technology so you can clean wherever you want, whenever you want after just one run.
What's Included
1 Extra Microfiber Mopping Pad
1 AutoWash dock
1 Extra Dirt Disposal Bag
1 Extra High-Efficiency Filter
1 Extra Edge-Sweeping Brush
Reviews
20 Reviews Hide Reviews Show Reviews
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3 Overpromised and underdelivered.
Posted by Scott Quinn on Nov 4th 2024
The concept is incredible for this vacuum. Mop and Vacuum at once and I never have to do it again? Incredible! Wake up to a clean house. Sign me up! In actuality, the robot has given me many issues. When it mops and vacuums at the same time, it turns the dust bin to mud and then basically becomes like concrete and needs to be cleaned out by hand. I've run into many errors with the clean base and now need to have it replaced. There are many software errors. It's almost taken me as much time to tend to this thing as it would have taken just to vacuum and mop myself. I give it 3 stars because I'm hopeful that the unit is bad and just needs to be replaced. If it works much better, I will revise.
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4 iRobot Playing Catchup
Posted by Lauren Reynolds on Oct 21st 2024
This is a fantastic robot vacuum if you are upgrading from another iRobot Roomba model. With the addition of the AutoWash dock, iRobot has finally caught up to the competition in some key areas. However, I wish I could say I was impressed with all of the features. When compared to what other brands are offering at or below this price point, iRobot still lags behind. That said, the Roomba Combo 10 Max performs well overall, and I believe most people would be highly satisfied with its features. The best feature of the Combo 10 Max, in my opinion, is its obstacle avoidance. Over the past six years, I've owned several robot vacuums, and it's clear that iRobot has put significant effort into this aspect. It’s the best I've encountered. The primary reason I rated it 4 stars is because I prioritize this feature above almost everything else. As a parent of three, I don’t always have time to pick up every toy, and even when I do, there’s always something left behind under the furniture. You could have the most advanced robot vacuum in the world, but if it constantly gets stuck on a book or a small toy, it's essentially useless to me. I've used the Combo 10 Max for a few weeks now, and it hasn't gotten stuck once or sucked up anything it shouldn't have. The mopping performance of the Combo 10 Max is also impressive. However, there’s room for improvement in its water management. It tends to oversaturate the mop pad, especially if you send it for a second mopping session after already cleaning another room. This could pose a long-term issue, as the vacuum tends to suck up that excess water, leading to more frequent cleanings of the rollers and bin. In fact, this is why I had to exchange my first unit. There was excess water pooling on the floor, but iRobot’s excellent customer service resolved the issue swiftly. They sent me a replacement unit within a few days, and the second one has been great so far. iRobot’s commitment to standing behind their products and going above and beyond for the customer is something you don’t see much of these days, and it gives me peace of mind. While the Combo 10 Max has many strong points, there are a few issues that could be deal breakers for some users. Firstly, the mop dryer built into the dock is incredibly loud. After the vacuum is emptied, the mop is washed, and the dryer kicks in. The noise is nearly as loud as the vacuum itself when it's on its lowest setting. If the Combo 10 Max is in a common area of your home, you will definitely notice it. I find myself turning the dryer off 90% of the time, which only worsens its water management issues. I can’t let it run for the recommended 3 hours to fully dry the mop pad because of the noise. This is the most disappointing feature of the Combo 10 Max. Secondly, the lack of LiDAR severely limits the robot’s ability to navigate efficiently, especially in low-light conditions. It often appears confused, cleaning the same areas multiple times, which increases the overall cleaning time, even for smaller rooms. I think iRobot should explore additional sensors to help with room positioning. Lastly, the bump sensor on the front is quite aggressive. It sometimes hits furniture harder than I'd like. You can adjust the sensitivity in the settings, but then the robot might avoid tighter spaces, potentially missing key areas like the space under a kitchen table. Despite these drawbacks, I would still recommend the Combo 10 Max, especially if you're looking to upgrade. Be prepared to adjust its settings to find what works best for your space. While iRobot still has room for improvement—such as adding heated drying, better sensors, or more robust app features—the obstacle avoidance, build quality, and exceptional customer service make the Combo 10 Max a standout flagship vacuum from iRobot.
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4 Improves on earlier models
Posted by Laura Leach on Oct 19th 2024
Roombas are my preferred robot vacuums. We had some earlier models and tried other brands which I did not like. The initial setup using the iRobot app is very well accomplished. Packaging is all recyclable and setting it up tool very little time. Because this is replacing an older model that I plan on using elsewhere, I was able to import the floor map, so got to use it right away. One of the things I like about Roombas is how it connects to Alexa (As well as Google Home) so I can tell it to "Mop the kitchen" or "Vacuum around the dinning room table", as well as several other integrations.. This model is currently the top of the line for Roombas, that includes a mop which can raise when not needed and the base station is capable of emptying the trash receptacle on the vacuum and store in a much larger dust bin. The charging station is also able to refill the vacuum with either water or cleaning solution and also wash and dry its mop, which is new for this model. Opening the front door on the base reveals a clean water/solution tank, a slightly smaller dirty water tank (for when cleaning the mop) and the trash bag. All is serviced through the front door so the top of the base station is intentionally flat so one can use the space to put things like plants or decorative items on it. Suction is quite good, and it auto adjusts the level depending on dirt detected. Mopping works by moistening the floor with water or cleaning solution, and then dragging the mop on the back of the vacuum. Note that the mop itself does not spin. The mop is made with bacteria resistant fabric. If the vacuum's internal trash container gets full or runs out of liquid, it can go back to its base to resupply and then continue where it left off. I did have an issue where the vacuum ran out of battery in a room which should've had an easy and short access back to its base, and because the mop was extended, had much trouble charging it again. This happened the first time I let it clean the whole floor, but so far it did not re-occur. Another time it got stuck with gym equipment on the floor, where it climbed into it and lost traction. Unlike old Roombas, all new models use cameras to navigate (learning 'landmarks' within the house) and detect trouble areas and other things on its way. The problem with this is that if the room is dark or even not well lit, it might not work as expected. This is meant to require little maintenance but the rollers do get a good amount of dirt on them, but have the good design of usually not getting tangled in hair. However the side brush gets quite a lot of hair tangled on it that has to be cleaned manually. Parts that are meant to be changed on a given schedule are the side brush, rollers, HEPA filter (on the vacuum, attached to its dust bin). As for supplies, the mop lasts for a long while, and also needs vacuum trash bags for its base. Cleaning solution can be either water or one of the recommended Bona floor cleaners that are pre-mixed and ready to use. When the vacuum returns to its base, it will empty its internal bin into the base, and it does this by using a very powerful and very loud vacuum within the base. This can be startling, although it's quieter than on previous models. If it needs to clean its mop, the noise level is not too bad, but then it will run a loud fan for several hours. Overall it's a great vacuum and it's room map I think is the best system. My main issue is that it doesn't work at night with the lights off.
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5 Google clean the kitchen and it does. I love it.
Posted by Emma Powell on Oct 15th 2024
I love this Roomba Combo 10 Max. It’s not perfect, but it does an excellent job cleaning the floors and the voice integration with Google Assistant actually works smoothly. I can simply say, “Hey Google, clean the kitchen” and in a few minutes here comes the Roomba to sweep and mop it all up. I can even name a few rooms in one command and it’ll do each one I named and stay out of the others. The app allows you to easily make custom cleaning prompts if you’d like, but it’s nice to know that voice commands are pretty much ready to go after you’ve set up the map. The app can seem a little laggy at times, but it’s fairly easy to navigate through and edit your home map for proper room layout, names, and zones. Sometimes I wish it were a little more curious about exploring a room to map it out fully, but if you physically move the robot to an unexplored area it’s good about finding where it is and updating the map for later. The edge and obstacle avoidance sensors work well enough that I tested it out without moving or prepping anything and it was able to get around without needing much assistance outside of getting lost in some new areas. And if you have multiple rooms or levels in your house, the app allows you to save up to 10 different maps, which makes it handy to use for the whole house. You’ll have to physically move it between levels, but it should figure its way around as long as you select the correct map. It’s also quite athletic as it can climb over a 1” floor transition with relative ease, which is a big deal in my house. I’ve tried 4 other robot vacuums and they all struggle to cross over the transition bump into the kitchen/dining room, which makes this the first one I’ve had that can actually reach the whole house. And combined with a mop, my kitchen floors have never been cleaner. The mop works great with just water, which is another huge plus! This Roomba Combo 10 Max does a lot of things right, but one annoying thing is how long and loud it takes to dry the mopping pad after a run. You can thankfully turn it off in the app, but each time it comes back from a cleaning run it cleans and dries the mop head (which is great), but it makes an audible vibrating sound while doing so that takes over an hour to finish. At first I thought it was malfunctioning and shut it off in the app, but I’ve since found out it just takes a long time. If you’re in the market for a cleaning robot that feels like a true cleaning ally, you’ll like this Roomba. It automatically detects carpet/rugs vs hard floors flawlessly and it does an excellent job thoroughly cleaning both surfaces. I love that the mop works great with just plain water and with the automatic cleaning home base you might only have to change the vacuum bag and refill/empty the water tanks maybe once a month. It’s fairly low maintenance after the initial map setup and it’s pretty easy to use overall. It doesn’t allow me to send it to “clean in front of the dishwasher” like I read in one of the ads, but I can send it to a specific room which is good enough for me. I’ve tried 5 different robot vacuums from 3 different leading brands, and this is the first one that has met my vision of having a proper floor cleaning robot. It can scale the 1” transition to clean my kitchen and dining room, vacuums and mops well, can automatically change between mop and vacuum, can avoid obstacles and supposedly pet waste, and responds well to voice commands. I love it. Great job iRobot! CLEANING PERFORMANCE Excellent vacuuming and mopping performance. It’s so convenient having one machine that can do both and it’s genuinely neat to watch it lift and lower the mopping pad when it detects hard floors or carpet. What’s especially thoughtful is that the mop moves to the top of the robot so the wet pad doesn’t touch the ground when vacuuming over carpets and rugs. Judging from the corners of my hallways it does a great job cleaning dust from the edges of the floor and I especially like how “athletic” it is. The 1” high transition between my hallway and kitchen/dining room has proven difficult for most robot vacuums to climb over, but not the Combo 10 Max. It might not make it over on the first try, but it gets there fairly quickly and has never needed help or gotten stuck on it. And because it can climb over this dreaded 1” transition, it’s the first robot vacuum that can actually cover the whole main level of the house by itself. And it even does a good job of mopping the tiled and hardwood floors with just water. No special expensive cleaning solutions needed and that is truly fantastic! The only downside I found with cleaning vs others is that you cannot update the current ongoing cleaning run. If you want to make any changes you’ll have to send it back to the home base and start a new one. It’s a minor detail, but something to note. SETUP I was lazy about setting it up, but for a good reason. We recently finished a kitchen renovation and the house was full of construction dust and random stuff needing to be put away. I figured this would be a good test, because I doubt everyone places the home base 100% as recommended and my floors were in desperate need of a deep clean. After a few initial short exploration runs, I realized that having about 4’ of clear space in front of the home base and decent lighting were crucial for the Roomba to find its way around. It uses VSLAM instead of LiDAR to see and for obstacle avoidance, so it doesn’t do as well in the darkness as LiDAR guided units do, but it still does a good job navigating and mapping the house. I feel like keeping the rooms well lit is more important for the map exploration runs, but if it’s an area that’s already mapped it can find its way through the darkness fine. In terms of mapping, the app automatically detects and labels rooms and editing the map is straightforward. If there’s a part of the room that it seems to avoid mapping, simply physically move the vacuum to the location and it’ll explore it and automatically update the map when it goes back to the base. Thankfully this is an easy process, because as we’ve moved things back into the kitchen, the floor layout has changed significantly each day and it has done a good job of keeping up with it. We have stairs, a foyer edge to fall off, cables, random obstacles all throughout the house, and I have not picked up, blocked off, or moved anything. The Combo 10 Max successfully navigates around it all and simply goes back to its room when it’s done. I wish they made a drone to dust my cabinets. PROS - Excellent vacuum and mop performance - Mop works great with just water - Can scale 1” floor transition bump - Self emptying and cleaning base station are very convenient - Works great with Google Assistant voice command - Easy to setup cleaning parameters and favorites - Detects carpet vs hard floors well - Mop lifts to top of robot so rugs/carpet do not get wet - Obstacle and ledge avoidance works well - Long battery life - Automatically detects and labels new rooms decently - Easy to modify and setup map - Easy to expand map areas - Can store up to 10 different maps - Cleans in a pattern.. somewhat - Love saying, “Hey Google, clean the kitchen” and seeing it show up - Fairly low maintenance CONS - Pad drying makes a vibrating noise and takes a really long time - Bumps into walls/objects a little forcefully - VSLAM instead of LiDAR - Cannot modify ongoing cleaning mission - Does not live track robot location on a visual map - Basic looks - Marketing says I can specify “clean in front of dishwasher” but I don’t see the ability yet
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3 Missed the mark
Posted by Tracy Adams on Oct 8th 2024
Pros:
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4 Rrrooomba! Vac and Mop, all-in-one
Posted by Jacqueline Brooks on Oct 1st 2024
I've been wishing for a robot mop device for some time now. My home's main living space has all tile floors, and the square footage is larger than it seems to clean. Both dry sweeping and wet mopping can be exhausting. So, while I already own an iRobot RoombaS vacuum, I was super excited to now get this "2-in-1" vacuum plus mop combo device. The initial setup procedure was familiar to me from my previous experience with my current iRobot vacuum. You will need to download the iRobot Home app to your mobile device in order to access the customization options and controls for operating your Roomba. Setup will take a while ... connecting the robot to your network, performing the necessary firmware update, along with letting the robot finish charging, before sending the Roomba off to do its initial sweep mapping of your home's desired cleaning area. I needed to look up and refer to the more detailed user manual online for further instructions, as this Roomba Combo 10 Max is a new model in the iRobot brand. Pay attention to what the Owner's Guide advises regarding using a compatible cleaning solution. This iRobot Roomba comes with replacement parts included - a reusable washable mopping pad, filter, brush, and dust bag. So when you need to switch them out that first time, you'll already have them on hand. The power cord is heavy duty, and and the handy cord minder on the back side of the dock station keeps it neat and tidy, off the floor, and out of the way. I was even able to place the Roomba docking station in the same spot where I'd had my other robot vacuum set up at. Needless-to-say, my tile floors get filthy! Between my two dogs, and the dust and dirt from outside that invariably finds its way inside the house, it can be a real chore to keep up with this routine task. Not so much anymore though. I really like that this Roomba can do both - vacuum and mop - at the same time. There's also the option to simply choose just vac or mop. With the app, you can "tell" the robot which areas to focus on or set it to spend time doing a more thorough cleaning. And with the mopping roller mechanism being in the middle underside of the Roomba, I don't have to worry about the mop accidentally squirting cupboards or other things around my home I'd not want to get wet. The upgraded features of this Roombo vacuum are definitely an improvement from my previous model iRobot vac. The Obstacle Detection feature is particularly cool (and useful) with how the robot vacuum knows to not mop the area rug in my living room, to avoid the dog beds and dog food bowls, my workout weights, etc. So I don't have to be as thorough about picking up and putting everything out of the way before letting the Roomba begin its cleaning circuit. Though I will admit that the all-important mapping procedure could still use some improvement. And the robot does often bump into furniture several times before finally moving on. The loudness level of this Roomba Combo vac and mop is on par with how my previous iRobot vacuum sounded as it was operating. It did get much louder once the robot returned to the docking station and went through the dirt disposal process. However, during the mop only operation, the robot made much less noise; including when it returned to the dock in order to clean and dry the mopping pad. As before, while the Roomba is doing its thing cleaning around my main living area, the sound of the robot really bothers my one dog (my other dog is deaf). He just never seemed to get used to my previous robot vacuum either. Of course, worth noting is the high price point of this Roomba Combo 10 Max. While being both a vacuum and a mop all-in-one, it's still a costly high-tech device, which could prove to be a prohibitive consideration. However, I can attest that iRobot is known for being one of the best brands for this type of technology, and for good reason. They are built to last and are consistently innovating to improve upon what works, as well as, what could be done better.
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3 Functional, But Frustrating
Posted by Barbara Ramirez on Sep 30th 2024
[PROS] Thorough Learning Process: The initial setup with any robotic vacuum is to learn the surroundings. The Roomba Combo 10 Max did a good job at covering all of the areas and staying away from the barriers I purposely created for doorless rooms. Great Suction Power: As a vacuum, the Roomba gets the job done. There were several areas that contained tiny particles and dirt that were cleaned efficiently. Decent mopping ability: I tempered my expectations since this is not traditional mop or even a steam mop. It's been best for light to moderately light messes. Fresh stains are the easiest to the work with, but I have seen it at least loosen a few set it stains when using a solution. Convenient Design: I'm a fan of the compartments within the the base and how easily accessible different sections are. Refilling the tank, emptying bins, or cleaning different areas are simple tasks to do. Flexibility: Despite my setup experience, the app did give me a variety of control over how I cleaned. I'm able to do such things such as designate cleaning certain rooms along with utilizing commands through an assistant. [CONS] Poor Setup Experience with App: It took over an hour to get my Roomba connected to the iRobot app. As a 10+ yr IT professional, I did everything under the sun to troubleshoot the problem. I used different phones, reinstalled the app, changed Wi-Fi networks, re-docked the Roomba, and etc. During a few instances, it would recognize the Roomba, but would fail to complete the setup process when it came to the "verify" password stage during setup even though the password was correct. On one occasion, it would start moving and navigating on its own. I finally got it to connect during after another attempt of unplugging and re-plugging the base station power cable. I was hindered again once it came to the software update. I didn't want to use the product without the latest firmware so I opted to install it as soon as the it connected to the iRobot app. Sadly, this software seemed to have taken over an hour to install or at least stayed hung up for most it. [MIXED BAG] Auto Wash: The base station did a good job of removing debris, but the pad doesn't dry effectively. Although it's thin, air drying wasn't that effective. Intelligence Feature: The app is quick to inform me of actions I need to take. However, there's missing AI capabilities that I would have loved for it to have like identifying specific objects. Fortunately, it does have some features built in like dirt detection which works well in most cases. [CONCLUSION] When it's working, the Roomba 10 Combo Max is a fine piece of equipment. Unfortunately, I can't recommend it due to my experience and value received. The terrible setup process and app quirks overshadowed the good.
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4 Solid/advanced 2-in-1 vacuum but only okay mopping
Posted by Brenda Bolton on Sep 30th 2024
This is our third Roomba vacuum...each one has been an incremental step up in capability and functionality. And as much as we appreciate the convenience, I had honestly shied away from iRobot’s REALLY premium offerings because the price tag started to get a little eye-watering. However, when the 10 Max rolled around with its auto dustbin emptying feature and an onboard mop as well, we just couldn’t pass this one up. And, as a robot vacuum, the results were every bit as impressive as our top performing Roomba s9 was—but as a mop...well...let’s just say it’s nice to have the flexibility, especially with automatic and autonomous changeover between vacuuming and mopping on the fly, but the mopping results themselves just aren’t quite as impressive. Let’s start with the good stuff. iRobot has always impressed us with its mapping ability. Once you log into the iRobot app and set up your Roomba on your home network, the robot will start with a “mapping run” that gets the basic layout of your house. The mapping routine is smart enough to recognize stairs and other hazards, and the object avoidance that is now onboard means that the Roomba won’t get totally hung up on a few missed items left on the floor (or a “gift” from your pet sitting on the carpet just waiting to be ground down into the fibers). You even have the option for the Roomba to take still images as it passes throughout the house so it can learn the terrain and more effectively recognize thresholds between rooms or new obstacles/furniture placement. The mapping run on our main floor took about 1.5 hours to get the outlines down...I was impressed without precise the floorplan reported in the map reflected the layout of our house, but the Roomba also continues to learn, expand, and refine the map with every new routine so things only get better from here. Interestingly, the mapping routine also correctly identified the various rooms on our main floor (hallways, entry way, kitchen, dining room, living room, bathroom, etc.) and even did a pretty remarkable job at estimating where the dividing lines between the rooms should be drawn given that we have a wide-open floorplan. Of course, you can edit the room names and boundaries, as well as specify "keep-out" areas, no mop areas, and even create additional “clean zones” inside of your rooms for a particularly troublesome bit of real estate that might need some attention in between larger cleaning jobs. Our main floor is a combination of large area rugs, tile flooring, and carpeting at the threshold of a bathroom and two other guest rooms. The carpet cleaning routines and results were simply wonderful...even on a medium setting, and the onboard dirt sensors really do a GREAT job of detecting additional debris on the floor or dirt in the carpet and refocusing attention to clean up that spot. We have several large anti-fatigue mats in our kitchen and the Max 10 did a great job of navigating around and over those mats. Battery life was impressive as well—it was nearly 3.5 hours before the Max 10 first returned to its base for a recharge before finishing the “Vacuum and mop everything” program. However, when the mopping feature took over, we were not so impressed. The “mop” itself is really nothing more than a crescent-shaped swatch of microfiber fabric affixed to an automatic arm that lowers the mop into place. Water or cleaning solution (we added some Mr. Clean to warm tap water for the first week) are pumped into the Roomba from the base station which is then soaked into the pad. Once mopping begins, the pad is basically just dragged behind the Roomba as it makes its way around your flooring. Now, it was impressive to see that when the Roomba sensed carpeting or obstacles nearby, it automatically lifted the mop arm up and switched to vacuuming and back again. We were initially impressed at the thoroughness and sophistication of the mopping program that ensured the floor was as clean as possible first before getting things wet. However, on the “balanced” setting, there were really just a few stripes of cleaning fluid trailing behind the Max 10...I had to select the “Ultra” setting for liquid amount and “smart scrub” for repeated passes over sticky splotches to get a uniform trail of cleaning liquid to cover the Max 10’s path across our tile floor. Even then, there were still several dried spills that remained behind requiring hand-cleaning. I could see someone regularly using the vacuum for cleaning—even a deep cleaning...but the mop just didn’t seem to have the same level of oomph and cleaning vigor that the vacuum did. Once the Max 10 guides itself back to the base (which is enormous, BTW—so keep that in mind when you’re figuring out when to place it in your home), all manner of automatic maintenance tasks are carried out...the status of which are handily specified in the reasonably user-friendly iRobot app. First, the dustbin is emptied with a rather dramatic WHOOSH of suction...it’s abrupt and frankly much louder than the Max 10 even on maximum suction setting. While the robot is quiet enough in operation that you could conceivably run a cleaning routine at bedtime, the loud pre-approach noise that the robot makes as it aligns itself to the ramp and the dustbin suction would be loud enough to wake just about anyone up. The robot also does a little dance under the entryway to clean the rollers and mop head automatically...awesome, I hate regularly pulling that kind of gunk out by hand. The Max 10’s water tank is emptied into the waste-water bin and the dock’s liquid tank refills the robot for the next job. The dock will even actively start drying the pad...and drying it...and drying it...and drying it. Now, unlike the dustbin emptying routine, the sound the dock makes during active drying isn’t all that loud or intrusive—figure something on the order of a desk or table fan—but it does go on for a good 2-3 hours. The point is that if you are somewhat sensitive to running appliance noises, there’s enough going on after a cleaning routine that you probably don’t want to locate the base station anywhere near your bedroom. There are a few other gotchas here that you should also be aware of going in, especially if this is your first robot vacuum and you decided to go big with all the bells and whistles. First, the automatic dustbin emptying really is a nice feature—with our other two units, we have to wait for the cleaning routine to finish or listen for the empty dustbin signal on the Roomba or from within the app on our phone, and then manually remove and empty the dustbin and return it to the vacuum. Here, just let the Max 10 park itself and the onboard dustbin is emptied into a small cloth vacuum bag. Unfortunately, “small” is the operative term here. The bag itself is generously sized given that all the debris the Roomba can capture and hold also must ride onboard something with the circumference of roughly a medium-sized pizza. But the vacuum bag is not reusable—there is no zipper or Velcro tab to open and empty the bag, so once it’s filled (noted in the app or by the icon on the base station), you have to replace it, much as you would a traditional upright’s vacuum bag. I thought maybe I could stretch things out a bit by dumping the debris into a trash can through the bag’s inlet hole—but the neck in the vacuum bag is both quite narrow and extends into the bag itself rather than out, so emptying its contents into a trashcan isn’t all that easy or neat (ask me how I know). The floor/carpet rollers and small corner brushes are also consumables, as is the air filter inside the vacuum itself as well as the cloth mop attachment. You do get a few spares in the box—one extra vacuum bag, one 3-armed corner brush, and one additional mop head (which I suppose you could switch out with a wet one if you wanted to let it air dry rather than bake in the Roomba dock for 2-3 hours)--but long-term use will exact a number of recurring expenses, more so than you might be used to, so you need to figure that into your pricing considerations as well. Overall, there really is a lot to appreciate here. The self-guiding, self-mapping, self-correcting, self-cleaning, self-emptying features really are incredible time-savers; I just wish mopping was pulled off with as much aplomb as the vacuuming. We figured the best use of the mopping feature (at least in our case) going forward would be less about thorough floor cleaning and more about floor maintenance after we started with a nice, clean floor that might require a bit more intervention and manual labor. In fairness, the Max 10 did a good job of getting us most of the way there, but it didn’t quite knock everything out of the park, which is a bit disappointing given the premium pricing. If you can live with the somewhat lackluster mopping performance as a tradeoff for not having to run separate machines at all, or even manually having to reconfigure the one you’ve got to switch between vacuuming and mopping, the Max 10 is a really solid, feature-laden, if not somewhat pricey, choice for a nearly total hands-off cleaning experience.
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5 The iRobot with all the bells & whistles
Posted by Melissa Sanchez on Sep 25th 2024
I got my first iRobot Roomba two years ago. It was a game-changer to have this robot/vacuum/mop because of how much time it saved me. Living in a two-story house with a dog and a baby, I decided to get a second iRobot so I didn’t have to move the vacuum/dock up and down the stairs to keep the floors as clean as possible. I kept my eye on the subsequent models iRobot released waiting for just the right one. It wasn’t until I saw the features on the iRobot Roomba Combo 10 Max Robot + AutoWash Dock that I knew my wait was finally over. The features that convinced me were: •