iRobot Combo Review

Combo is the first mop by iRobot and vacuum robot. It's also one of the most stylish. The polished aluminum top and iRobot Logo are more elegant than the loud designs of rivals.

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 information about images are only shared with you if you have signed up.

It's not a mop.

The Combo Irobot is a intelligent mopping robot irobot roomba that has all the smarts of the fantastic Roomba j7+ and adds an on-board water reservoir, a small mopping pad, and a clever robot arm that lifts and lowers the pad. It can complete quite a bit of work in 11 minutes before running out of juice and returning to its base station to recharge.

The combo model also features the iRobot home app, which means you can initiate and stop Revolutionize Cleaning with IRobot Roomba j9+ runs. It's also a nice-looking robot, sporting matte black plastic that doesn't show fingerprints or dust and an aluminum top piece that is brushed with an encircling iRobot logo.

It is a fantastic tool of vacuuming, and has no issue crossing over large area rugs or transition strips between flooring surfaces. It's also able to pick up fine dust that other robotic vacuums miss. It's not great at mowing. It can't obliterate dried milk stains, for example unless you send it out several times.

IRobot's own Braava Jet M6 mopping machine, which is available in an assortment with the j7 Plus frequently for less than the combo Combo and performs much better in this, and other difficult jobs. It's even able to clean up ketchup and wine that has spilled but I'd suggest sending it after any type of liquid that has a high sugar content.

It's a vacuum

It's also among the more attractive robot vacuums with a smooth and sleek top piece that doesn't show dust or fingerprints as easily as the competition. The tiny dustbin and water tank of this vacuum are easy to open, but they are not the biggest. The Combo J7+ also has the features you'd expect from iRobot, including map and obstacle avoidance mapping that works effectively and swiftly. However, it's mopping arms that makes this a standout model in its category. It keeps the mop pad tucked away on top of the vacuum, however, when it spots the need to mop a surface it lowers the mop pad below and behind the robot. This is a huge upgrade over other robot vacuums that require users to manually remove the mop pad for hard floors and carpets or even turn the whole machine off to mop.

It's an electric charging station.

When you're ready to charge your Combo Irobot, simply place it on the charging station and align its metal contacts to those on the base. The charging station is simple to set up and performs well. In my testing it took about a couple of minutes for the robot to start charging and then make a sound when it was done. After the Combo robot is fully charged you can start an exploration run in the app to help the robot better understand your home. The app also lets 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 guide it around the home.

It's a smart device