I recently purchased the new Roomba Plus 505 Combo Robot Vacuum & Mop with the AutoWash Dock, and honestly, I'm loving it! After getting the Roomba 105 with the auto-empty dock for our upstairs a few weeks ago, I knew I wanted something even more powerful for downstairs. We live in the city, have a dog, and often have family over who don't always remember to take their shoes off - so keeping things clean can be challenging. One of the biggest highlights for me is the combination of the LiDAR sensor and the Clearvision AI cameras. This is currently the only model that has both features, and together they make navigation and obstacle avoidance fantastic. The vacuum maps our home accurately and typically moves around effortlessly. Sure, sometimes the pathfinding can get a bit quirky, but overall it's impressive. It’s really nice to see Roomba stepping up their game, catching up to competitors, and rebranding as a more modern and user-friendly company. My only real frustration was during the initial firmware update, which seemed to take forever. The app kept saying the update was "almost complete" with less than a minute left, but I ended up having to force-close and reopen it. After doing that, the vacuum was immediately ready to go, and thankfully, it’s been smooth sailing ever since. The mopping feature was surprisingly good - the back-and-forth scrubbing motion cleans much better than I expected. That said, the dock's water bins do feel a bit cheap for the original price point ($999), though I managed to get it on sale for $599, which helped ease that disappointment. I was also initially skeptical about the single brush roll design, but Roomba definitely stepped up the suction power compared to previous models, and other brands. It picks up dirt and debris without needing multiple passes, performing just as well as other vacuums I've used in this price range. Overall, I'm really happy with this purchase and can't wait to see what new products Roomba brings out next!

Best Robot Cleaner I’ve Ever Owned – Set It and Forget It Perfection I’ve owned several robot vacuums over the years, and the iRobot Roomba 505 Combo Vac & Mop is on a completely different level. This thing doesn’t just clean—it handles business. The vacuuming is powerful and consistent, and the spinning mop pads actually scrub instead of just dragging a damp cloth around. Floors come out visibly cleaner, especially in high-traffic areas and around the kitchen. The AutoWash Dock is a game changer: it self-empties, washes the mop pads, and even heat-dries them, so there’s zero smell and zero maintenance on my end. Navigation is impressively smart thanks to LiDAR. It maps the house accurately, avoids obstacles, and doesn’t get “lost” like older models. I can run it at night or when I’m out, and I come home to floors that look freshly cleaned—no babysitting required. What really sold me is how hands-off the whole system is. No constant emptying, no dirty mop pads, no daily fuss. It feels like having a silent cleaning assistant that just works. Bottom line: If you want top-tier performance, real mopping (not gimmicks), and true automation, this Roomba is worth every penny. Once you use it, you’ll wonder how you lived without it. Highly recommended.

A huge step in the right direction for Roomba, this had a new App that brought a lot of new room and mapping changes which were needed, obstical detection and a refreshed user interface. I would have liked an onboard twater tank for the mop pads but, it definitely kept my hardwood floors clean with 2 German Sheppards and chocolate lab Still. If it were $100 cheaper it would be a solid buy but I have more value on customer service and parts arability so it was good for me.

The iRobot Roomba 505 Combo Vacuum & Mop is great. Once the layout of the house was completed by defined specific areas it’s great in keeping high use areas clean and tidy. It’s low clearance allows it to vacuum and clean areas one normally would have to move furniture etc to clean under and around to remove “Dust Bunnies” I highly recommend it to help save time in keeping a clean house. With the layout of our house we keep it’s based in the Laundry Room out of the way in a secure area,

First Impressions At a glance, the Roomba Plus 505 Combo Robot appears to be high-class, premium, and well-designed, but once you touch and see it up close, you'll find it was a grand cost-cutting illusion. Yet all plastic, it is all well-made, and I don't worry about the build. The luxurious, textured patterns with a copper-accented logo, juxtaposed against smooth, glossy, and matte finishes, make for a truly pleasing and modern aesthetic that blends seamlessly with any home. The tanks are easy to remove and refill, thanks to sealed clipping lids. Setup is easy and self-directed, but a manual would have been beneficial. What You Get You will find an impressive floor cleaning machine that is intelligent, efficient, and seamlessly integrates into any smart home. A machine that handles floor mopping, sweeping, and vacuuming chores to lighten your load around the house. All carpets remain dry and clean, while all hard floors are washed and vacuumed daily for a fresh feel. Now, clean your floors once a week or every other week, just as you would typically, and this is considered maintenance in between. The box includes the robot, the AutoWash dock, an extra bag for the auto-empty feature, an extra set of mop pads, and the power cord. Everything comes in a neatly packaged box with no space or room for things to wiggle around. Setup Experience 4/5 After you've unpacked and placed everything, head to the App Store and download the Roomba app. You can fill the water tank, connect the magnetic floor mops, and prepare the vacuum for charging. Once it is plugged in and aligned with the charger, you will hear instructions to guide you. Find a space for the base and the robot near an outlet. Create a Roomba account, add your robot, name your robot, update the firmware, and then let it map the area. Very intuitive and straightforward to use. During setup, the app became stuck during the firmware update, and I had to close and reopen it to return to a functional state. Once I reopened the app, everything was easy to figure out and set up. App and Smart Features 4/5 The app is the newest upgrade, improving Roomba's overall experience. They have now addressed part of my issue with them, their OLD app. Roomba can still be seen as lagging in terms of technology and implementation here. Still, they are finally showing up with a respectable app and performance results on multi-surface areas. The app enables control and automation with virtual barriers and no-go zones, keeping things within your limits and helping you stay in control. Link it to your smart home and let this thing shine with voice commands for messes. It breaks rooms into zones and furniture as best it can. Helpful, but can be tedious due to the need for multiple taps to remove them and the inability to change them. Schedule cleaning daily by zones, rooms, or furniture. At night, a small headlight illuminates the front of the vacuum. The AI camera allows it to identify things on the floor that Lidar may miss. It is a bit loud at night on higher suction settings, so you WILL hear when it is mopping as it spins. How Well Does It Map? 4/5 AI Mapping was done quickly compared to other vacuums. It didn't bump into things like a drunk bumblebee bouncing from flower to flower; it was just a quick drive to each corner of the room, and the floor was mapped. It runs very smoothly, and the app is very detailed. It has settings and a path history on the floor. Obstacles are auto-flagged and learned using AI, and you can view them on the map in the cleaning history. Your cleaning history is logged, complete with travel path, start/end times, along with the floor plan and various lines marking the path taken while mopping and vacuuming. Once labeled, it remembers rather than reviews. Remove the obstacle after it is recognized, and watch it still avoid it. If this issue is resolved, it would significantly enhance the robot's efficiency, improve AI capabilities, and conserve battery. The rooms are auto-segmented, and the app attempts to place furniture and equipment to make the floor plan easier to refer to when cleaning. You can clean furniture and equipment like a refrigerator. In my kitchen, it automatically placed a sofa and an entertainment center after a few cleanings based on the appliances recognized on the counter. This includes two rectangular glass panels on the counter, a convection oven, and an air fryer next to it. The sofa, though, is befuddling, which is why I'm curious to see how this thing is trained and what influence, if any, we/the app have on the algorithm. Navigation Issues That Bug Me 3/5 Once it passes and maps an obstacle or object, it assumes it is permanently there. Looking at the cleaning history, I can see that it took some unnecessary paths, as though it was curious. Logically, not smart, but hey, it's AI learning my home. It appeared to be scared and ran from the living room. It would be working in the living room, but all of a sudden go to the kitchen, then return to the living room after it saw what it was looking for? Quite peculiar; I'm curious what it's doing or what it sees in AI, causing it to return to an already completed part of the floor. How It Actually Cleans 4/5 The vacuum has strong suction - they claim it's 70 times more powerful than their 600 series robots, and I can definitely tell the difference. It handles everything from crumbs to pawprints without issue. The mopping works well for daily maintenance, though don't expect it to replace your deep cleaning routine. The mop pads extend coverage by 18% compared to regular ones, and the mop extends from the robot body to touch the wall for edge-to-edge cleaning. SmartScrub mode provides extra attention to tougher spots. This feature is ACTUALLY good and cleans floors extremely well by applying pressure on hardwoods and floors. The AutoWash dock is where this thing shines. It auto-empties for up to 75 days and handles mop pad washing for up to 4 weeks. The dock continuously refreshes the pads and even has heated drying. Way less maintenance than other robots I've used, and for this, I can highly recommend it. I have to empty the dirty water tank every three days because we double-mop the floor after it is vacuumed. Smart Floor Detection 4/5 This is capable of handling all floors and rugs, as well as any combination thereof. With the array of sensors, it knows when it's on a floor and when it's on a carpet. I have a long runner in the kitchen that goes in front of the cabinet by the sink, and it stops mopping when it gets over that part of the floor once it's off the carpet. It then knows it can spin the mops again safely and will continue mopping the floor. When it encounters a corner or something similar, it never gets stuck; it just pushes its way back down flat. I recommend vacuuming first and then mopping to ensure the mops are dry on the carpet, but that is anecdotal, and there were no actual issues. Things to Know (Personal Experience) -Hair is an issue on the roller still, so you will need to take time and clear it out. Other vacuums have added things to remove and cut the hair, but this one does not. -It was very loud during the mapping, sounding like a piece of paper was stuck somewhere. I suspect it's the rubber roller. After a few uses, it became quieter, but it's a fact that when the mops are engaged, the noise level is louder than just vacuuming. -One night, it got stuck and said the cliff sensors needed to be cleaned. It was dead, and I had to charge it. Once it was charged and I restarted it, it worked fine again. The robot sensors were clean, so I'm unsure what happened there, but I must report it nonetheless. -The app needs more "furniture" options. Currently, it mislabels items because the library is too small. Hopefully, more will be added so we can further fine-tune the cleaning ability with voice and app automations. - The dock is pretty big, so make sure you have space! Things that Need Improvement -Should have a manual included in the box. QR is ok, but many users will prefer the manual. -Wetness control or sensors so the robot knows when it's time to spray more, rather than going off sq ft.. cleaned. -Use LIDAR and AI camera to rescan areas for obstacles throughout cleaning. -Sometimes it has curious navigation behavior - returns to already cleaned areas for unclear reasons, does nothing, then returns to cleaning. Bottom Line 4/5 OVERALL This is a solid robot vacuum and mop combo with decent performance that'll handle your daily floor maintenance with minimal fuss, thanks to that AutoWash dock. The suction power is definitely there, and the mop coverage is better than most. There are navigation issues, and the high price holds it back from being great. The navigation quirks can be annoying, hair collects on the roller if you have long-haired residents, and it's louder when mopping. If there are more than 1-2 people with long hair or animals, this will require frequent maintenance at the roller to prevent tangles. I am not sure why they didn't add a mechanism like others. Here's the thing, though - the price is quite steep! I wouldn't recommend this at full price, but it might be worth considering on sale for under $700. At full retail, there are better options available for the money, although this is a good machine. Perfect for busy households with mixed flooring who want to set it and forget it, but wait for a sale. Skip this if you have a lot of pet hair, require quiet operation, or frequently move furniture around during cleaning.