iRobot Combo Review

Combo is the first mop-and-vacuum robot, and it's also the most stylish model from the company. The brushed aluminum top and iRobot Logo are more classy than the blatant designs of other competitors.

You can use the iRobot Home app to set up and guide your robot. The app collects usage data and maps of your home, which include obstacles and furniture. Maps and image data are only shared with iRobot in the event that you choose to opt-in.

It's not a mop.

The Combo irobot is a very smart mopping robot that takes all the advantages of the great Roomba J7+ and includes an on-board water reservoir, a small mopping pad, and a handy robot arm that raises and lowers the pad. It can accomplish a good amount of work in only 111 minutes, before it gets power cut off and returns to its base station to recharge.

The model that is equipped with the iRobot Home app so you can initiate or stop cleaning runs. It's also a nice-looking robot, sporting matte black plastic that does not show fingerprints or dust and a brushed aluminum top piece with an encircling iRobot logo.

It is a fantastic tool of vacuuming, with no issues traversing over large area rugs or transition strips between flooring surfaces. It can even pick up fine dust that other robotic vacuums don't. It's not very good in mowing. It can't obliterate dried milk stains, for example unless you've sent it out several times.

irobot robot vacuum cleaner's own Braava Jet M6 mopping robot, that is available as an assortment with the j7 Plus often for less than the price of the combo Combo, fares much better in this, and other difficult tasks. It can also clean up ketchup and wine spills, but I would not recommend sending it after any liquids that have a high amount of sugar.

It's an air vacuum

It's one of the more attractive robot vacuums. The top part is smooth and doesn't show dirt or fingerprints as easily as some competitors. Its tiny dustbin and water tank are easy to close and open, although they're not the greatest in terms of capacity. The Combo j7+ has all the smarts that you'd expect from iRobot. This includes map and obstacle avoidance maps that operate reliably and quickly. But it's mopping arms that makes this a standout model in its class. It keeps the mop pad hidden away on top of the vacuum, however, when it detects an area that requires mopping it lowers the pad beneath and behind the robot. This is a significant improvement over other robot vacuums which require you to take out the mop pads to clean carpets or hard floors manually. It is possible to turn off the entire unit to mop.

It's a charging station

Place your Combo Irobot on the charging station, and align the metal contacts on the base. The charging station works well and is simple to set up. In my tests it took only a few seconds to charge and then make noise when completed. When the Combo iRobot is charged, you can start an exploration run within the app to help it better understand your home. The app allows you to mark certain objects as permanent avoidances, like lamp cords. You can also connect your robot to Alexa or Google Assistant, so you can use voice commands to direct it around your home.

It's a smart device

Combo irobots make use of acoustic as well as onboard sensors to learn about the kind of floor it's stepping on as well as the objects that are in your home. This information is paired with images from the robot’s camera on board and maps of your home, to create an individual plan to clean each room. It is smart enough to stay clear of your lamp cords, couches, and other objects that you wish to keep. Of course, like any other connected device there are concerns regarding the privacy of this data. But iRobot affirms that it will never sell customer data and that the images are not taken without customers' permission.