The iRobot Roomba 980 Robot Vacuum Cleaner

Robot vacuums remove pet hair, lint, and dust from the floor before they can settle. They also can avoid obstacles like stairs and other obstructions like furniture that can tip.

Most robotic vacuums require regular maintenance. This includes emptying the bin (and sometimes rinsing it) and cleaning the cameras and sensors. They also need to be connected. Many come with smartphone applications for scheduling, setting and more.

Roomba 980 from iRobot

The iRobot Roomba 980, the most recent of a series of top-of the-line robot vacuums, is a must for every modern home. This model is equipped with a HEPA-filter to help those who are allergic. It also has a powerful battery which can be cleaned for up to two hours and returns to its dock automatically once the bin is full.

Smart mapping is another feature that assists in identifying areas in your home that require attention, and then creates a cleaning path to get around them. We've seen this technology in action and it does an excellent job of maneuvering around toys that are left scattered on the floor or furniture legs that stick out from under things. It also comes with a sensor that can snap Roomba to its real-world location if it begins to drift away from its initial location.

iRobot has also added an additional set of rollers beneath the Roomba that don't have bristles which makes them more likely to avoid tangles than previous models. The rollers are also larger and can be tucked under low couches or beds. They're designed to make the model more movable on various floor types.

What sets the Roomba 980 apart from other models with a higher-end price tag, though, is its integration of the new dirt detection feature that utilizes a camera to spot bits of embedded dirt. This is a nice improvement over the previous version, which relied on a sensor-driven pseudorandom cover method to bounce around the room and clean at least three times from different angles.

In our tests of its performance in our tests of its performance, the Roomba 980 did well on carpets and hard flooring. It scored extremely well on carpets with low pile and on mid-pile. It did a good job of removing pet hair, but it struggled with very long and thick pet fur that was clumped together.

The Roomba 980 is still one of the best budget robot vacuum and mop performing robots in our list, despite these minor limitations. It's also not as expensive as other top-of the-line models. It's still packed with a variety of features that we'd expect to find in a flagship model however it lacks all the fancy app-enabled functions or smart home integration you'll find in other top contenders.

The iRobot Roomba is easy to set up and get working immediately. After taking the yellow bin insert and the battery pull tab from its undercarriage it is simply connected to the wall socket or one of its Home Base docking stations, click the "Clean button" and let it job. It will return to its dock when it has run out of battery or is full of sand. There are also indicators on top that show when its bin is empty, when it requires recharging, or when it loses Wi-Fi.