Customer Ratings & Reviews

An excellent gift for someone with pets and not a lot of time to clean. Very compact.

We're not happy with this Roomba. It goes in circles and does not clean the whole room. It will focus on one area over and over then not go to another area that is very dirty then "finish" the job without cleaning the whole room.

Runs into everything and then just stops and have to reset

Great overall product and recommend it again in the near future.

Not too bad and even though I’m still checking it out.

Works amazing!! I have enjoyed this new tool fot my home

Great product would definitely buy again , great gift .

Terrible. Could never connect to WiFi. No matter what. I have dozens of smart devices/ smart TVs/ Alexa’s, etc. I could connect all of them with no problem but could not get this to connect after days of trying. Had to return

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Read the description. It doesn’t have mapping. It just vacuums till it dies or the time limit you set.

It was not able to navigate my home at all, and had troubles finding it's base

I've used several robot vacuums, including dual purpose vacuum-mop combos, but this is my first Roomba from iRobot. Given the generally high marks received for their products, I expected a rather positive experience. So, let's get into it. The overall build quality is what I would expect - solid! All parts seem to be well made and sturdy. Yes, there is plastic in the build, but robot vacuums do not need the stature of a tank. The initial setup was straightforward and intuitive. I downloaded the app, created an account, connected the Wi-Fi and Roomba all without issues. The app is easy to use and navigate, and the included directions will help the novice user. The first run can be a roll of the dice when it comes to vacuums of this type. Often this gives you a glimpse into the mapping quality and capabilities. As expected, the initial use took longer than what subsequent uses would take. However, this is normal, as the robot needs to map out the area. I had no issues with the Roomba getting "lost" or "confused". Also, no issues with it becoming stuck, wedged, or trapped. During the initial run I only utilized the vacuum function and held off on the mopping feature. The cleaning capability of the vacuum is on par with other robot vacuums I have used. Of note, we do have a cat in the home, and the hair pickup was also on point. The second and third runs were when I first utilized the mop, and this is where Roomba fell short. I have an all hardwood main level home, so this really should have been an easy task. While it did clean most of the floor to a minimally acceptable level, I would have expected better from iRobot. I noticed several "missed" dry spots throughout the cleaning. Almost as if it could not keep up dispensing or something similar. I verified several times the amount of fluid in the container and found it to be sufficient. The Roomba has been able to clean the entire main level of my home, approximately 1100sf, without the need for a recharge. So, the battery life is above acceptable. The cleaning time is definitely quicker after the initial run, which is to be expected. During the initial run the Roomba had no issues with the mapping or returning to the docking station. Oddly though, there have been a couple of instances where it has struggled to locate the docking station since then. I have the docking station located in an open area with no barriers anywhere near, and excellent Wi-Fi in the home. While I have experienced this with other robot vacuums, it seems more frequent with the Roomba. However, more use will yield better insight as to the severity of this issue. Overall, I do think this robot vacuum / mop combo is decent. The vacuum definitely performs well, but if you are considering this for the mopping feature, I'm not so sure. As stated previously, it does clean well on the areas it touches, but this particular device seems to struggle with consistent output. Given the price point, I find it easier to recommend. You could certainly pay much more for less efficient and poorer performing machines.

So far not worth it, doesn’t even pick up have the stuff and we have been using it on wood floors, not sure it would do anything on our carpet area. We should have to pick everything up off the floor in order to use the mop functions. At this rate it’s faster for me just to vacuum. We just wanted it to pick up throughout the week before we do a deep clean

super bad gets stuck every were does not pickup all trash not happy at all. I was on vacation so by the time i got to use it return period was over

Works great until it doesn't and you are left with a messy house.

this product did not even work and called customer support many times.

Bad mop Vacuum is good Mop no work No work No work

I did't like this I use it for two day and it did't pick up everything it need to pick up the lil brush it has in the bottom make it bad.

We had faith that this would work but unfortunately even in the highest suction setting it would not pick up well. Not worth the buy. we returned it with in 4 days of purchase

The Roomba Combo Essential is an entry level vacuum and mop combo robot that offers a lot of the basic functionality you would expect in a robot vac/mop, while maintaining a relatively affordable price point. However, it is missing some of the higher end features that make these types of products really useful. The Combo Essential features a vacuum that iRobot claims works on all floor types including carpet, wood, tile, etc. It has 3 suction settings and 3 water levels for the mop. You can connect the Roomba Essential Combo to wifi using the Roomba app, where you can set cleaning schedules, see cleaning reports, product health, and a few other things. Once connected to wifi, you can also control it with smart home assistants like Alexa, Siri, and Google Home. This is not my first robot vacuum, or even my first vacuum/mop combo, so I do have a point of reference I am comparing to. As far as vacuums, I also own a Roomba 981. Compared to the 981, the Essential is a tad smaller, and much quieter. I was very impressed with how quiet it actually was. This is the kind of robot vac you can set to clean and still enjoy a conversation with someone or watch TV. As mentioned, it is a bit smaller than the 981, and I noticed it only has one cleaning brush compared to 2 on the 981, so it took a bit longer to clean the same area, and I noticed that the 981 still picked up quite a bit of dirt that the Essential missed. So the smaller size and quieter operation seems to come with less power overall as well. Navigation wise, it seems to be about on par with the 981 and other robot vacs. It did very well at navigating around all my furniture and not getting stuck. However, I do have a gliding rocker that seems to give all these robot vacs problems, and the Essential was no different. It got stuck under it and couldn’t get itself out. Something that really bugs me about this vac, and the 981 for that matter, is in the app, you get a cleaning map after each job. However, there is no way to save the map for better navigation, or to set up “rooms” or virtual barriers. The only way to keep the vac out of a room is to physically block it with either a door or some other large objects. This wouldn’t bug me so much if the higher end roombas didn’t have this functionality built in. It almost seems like it’s really just a software feature that iRobot could easily implement in these lower priced models, but they arbitrarily turn it off to make the higher priced models seem more feature-rich. One last thing I noticed after each cleaning job I tested it with, was that it picked up some very large objects and just continued about its business. The first time was a jelly packet (I know, I don’t know where it got a jelly packet either). That one was probably the worst and is most likely what affected the cleaning performance in that test. I have no idea how long it was carrying around this little packet, just covering most of the suction area. I would really appreciate it if it had some kind of object detection or gave me some kind of indication that something was possibly clogging it. In the next test I had a similar experience, but this time with a tissue. The tissue probably didn’t affect the performance as much as the jelly packet, but still, it would be nice if the robot was smart enough to say hey, something might be stuck over here. As far as how well it cleaned, it did a decent job. I tested it on both hard floors and carpet. Carpet is where I tested it almost side by side with the 981, and it just didn’t do as well. While iRobot claims you can use it on carpet, I’d recommend something a bit more powerful. It did a good enough job, but I could tell that it just didn’t have the weight or power to really clean well. You can see it bouncing along the carpet while it cleans, something I never see with the 981. On hard floors it fared a bit better. It cleaned most of the dirt and dust I could see. And this is where the mop functionality comes into play. Now, this is a pretty basic “mop”. Basically, it’s a wet cloth you plop on the back of the vac. It has a little water reservoir to keep the cloth wet while running, but there is no cleaning solution and it doesn’t suck the water back up or anything. It just runs the wet cloth along the floors as it vacuums. So It’s not going to do nearly as good of a job as actually mopping, or even using a swiffer or something. But it’s better than nothing. Honestly, I wouldn’t get this vac for the mop. It’s something that’s just an added bonus, but don’t expect great things from it. It could be that I’ve been spoiled from my other robot vac/mop combo which features rotating, self cleaning pads, and all the bells and whistles. That one works a little more how you would expect a robot mop to work, but it costs a lot more than this one. This one is about as entry level as it gets, and I’m afraid may just turn people off of robot vacs altogether if you’re expecting anything more than just running a wet cloth along your floors. If the main thing you are wanting is a robot vac, I’d recommend saving up a bit and getting something a little higher end. In conclusion, this is definitely an entry level robot vac/mop combo. The vacuum performs well enough for an entry level product, and I could easily recommend it for smaller homes or homes without a lot of carpet. If its main use will be carpet, you may want to go with something with a little more power. The mop feature doesn’t work well enough for me to recommend. If you are in the market for a robot mop, I would recommend getting something a little more high end than this. So as I stated in the title, this product overall is a mixed bag. It’s small, quiet, and priced right. But performance is a bit lacking when compared to other robot vacs and/or mops.