iRobot Roomba Combo 10 Max review

Mopping vacuums are nice for on a regular basis upkeep, however hardly ever a match for giant messes. Nonetheless, due to a number of intelligent options, the iRobot Roomba Combo 10 Max feels prefer it’s one step nearer to the standard you’d get from a guide clear.

These embrace enhanced grime detection, so it’ll go over grubbier areas extra, a mop pad that’s saved on prime when not in use, and ‘scrubbing’, the place the robotic strikes again and ahead like an individual would whereas mopping. It’s all topped off with a dock that it empties into, and that’ll wash and dry the microfibre pad so it’s clear for subsequent time.

To check it with different fashions, see our prime suggestions in round-ups of the very best robotic vacuums and finest low-cost robotic vacuums, which have all been examined by one of many crew.

Design & Construct

• Mop solely swings down when wanted
• Lower than 9cm excessive
• Dock has entrance entry solely, so it may be saved underneath a shelf

There are a number of variations in design between the iRobot Roomba Combo 10 Max and most different mopping robotic vacuums. Most notable is the place of the mop, which reasonably than being mounted on the underside, spends most of its time saved above, solely swinging down when required.

This avoids having to lift the mop up when on rugs and carpet, and infrequently nonetheless dragging a moist mop pad over them. The water tank for the mop sits alongside the onboard bin in a single module that pulls out on the facet, giving the choice to empty the bin and refill in a single, when you don’t need to await the dock to service the robotic.

When it comes to dimension, the robotic is similar to most at 5kg and H8.7 x W33.8 x D33.9cm – low sufficient to achieve kitchen kickplates and squeeze under most furnishings. It’s additionally loaded with sensors: you’ll discover a digital camera on the entrance to assist it navigate, a wall observe sensor on the facet and beneath, cliff sensors, and flooring monitoring and flooring kind sensors.

Rachel Ogden / Foundry

Its cleansing instruments are equally layered: twin rubber rollers that resist hair tangles plus a facet brush, and suction that may be switched from low to excessive. The companion Autowash dock, whereas comparatively trendy in grooved black plastic, is what it’s possible you’ll battle to make room for: whereas it’s decrease than many at 44.6cm, and accessed solely from the entrance, not the highest (so that you don’t have to search out a lot headroom for it), it’s 51cm broad and tasks right into a room by 40.1cm. 

Rachel Ogden / Foundry

Efficiency & Options

• Investigation wanted to search out the complete suite of options
• No spot cleansing choice
• Not sturdy on sticky spills

What’s stunning concerning the Roomba Combo 10 Max is that whereas it has a number of options, it’s not provided with a full guide: the whole one must be downloaded. Rely simply on its fast begin information and also you’ll miss out on a good bit of performance.

Setting it up is, happily, comparatively easy: our robotic linked first time, and the app is sweet at guiding you thru an important elements. For many who like voice management, Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant-enabled units are supported.

That mentioned, connectivity might be spotty: our robotic continuously misplaced reference to the Wi-Fi then reconnected whereas cleansing, so it was arduous to trace what it was doing in actual time. We additionally discovered it irritating that you may cancel a job, however can’t begin one other till it’s dwelling.

Rachel Ogden / Foundry

The app is cleaner and less complicated than many, however in making it easy with a fundamental primary display screen, some elements have been minimised. For instance, the battery degree of the robotic is a tiny icon, which doesn’t inform you a proportion of cost.

Equally, selections akin to cleansing preferences, and opting out of mop drying – one thing that wouldn’t be important within the hotter months – is underneath the product settings, together with belongings you most likely wouldn’t want to change a lot. There doesn’t seem like a spot clear choice – though there’s the choice to mark out areas that want further cleansing (clear zones) and ship the robotic there.

Its preliminary mapping wasn’t as slick an expertise as anticipated: first, it prevented carpet though it was set to hoover solely, then it mounted on a nook by a door and after a number of minutes, needed to be moved away manually.

As soon as efficiently mapped, it cleverly guessed the names of rooms, presumably based mostly on flooring kind and form, however they nonetheless needed to be confirmed individually. It was simple so as to add and take away room dividers, and layer on no-go areas, together with those who might be vacuumed however not mopped ie arduous flooring that shouldn’t get moist. We additionally appreciated that the map exhibits flooring sorts, and schedules have been easy to set.

The robotic was examined on each arduous and tender flooring, utilizing oats to symbolize bigger particles of particles and flour as mud. For mopping, sauces have been smeared onto the arduous flooring, and left to dry.

The Roomba Combo 10 Max simply dealt with each kinds of dry mess: flour was sucked up simply however oats tended to flick across the area, which then required one other clear.

Rachel Ogden / Foundry

It delivered a very good efficiency general on a mid-pile carpet: the vast majority of oats have been picked up and solely a small quantity of flour was left behind because it was trapped within the pile. Tellingly, it engaged the ‘Dust Detect’ mode a number of instances, its mild on prime flashing blue and the motion of the vac altering to a ahead/backward movement till the particles had been picked up.

The moist mess offered extra of a problem. Though the again and ahead scrubbing movement lifted off all of the sauce, together with that trailed round by the wheels, some stickiness remained on the ground. Whereas visually clear, as soon as dry, a guide mopping was required.

This means that the Roomba Combo 10 Max, whereas good at on a regular basis mopping, isn’t the very best answer for sticky spills. It does have a function for cleansing the pad after particular room mopping – however you’ll want to pick out this.

All through testing, the AutoWash Dock carried out nicely, washing and drying the mop fabric and emptying itself after every job. Nonetheless, the emptying is particularly noisy: there doesn’t seem like a technique to droop this, so early morning cleansing needed to be delayed.

Value & Availability

The iRobot Roomba Combo 10 Max launched with a worth of £1,499 however on the time of writing, it’s come down significantly. Now you can purchase it from Amazon for £749 and from iRobot for an much more interesting £679.

That is actually well-priced for its function set and compares favourably to many fashions in our round-up of the very best robotic vacuums we’ve examined. If that is greater than you need to spend, see our suggestions among the many finest finances robotic vacuums.

Do you have to purchase the iRobot Roomba Combo 10 Max?

In lots of methods, iRobot’s Roomba Combo 10 Max is a step ahead in expertise. Extra of its effort is spent on the components of your house that turn into dirtier than others, reasonably than an equal period of time on all, and you’ll configure its settings to swimsuit every area.

General, it delivers a very good clear, outperforming many rivals on tender flooring, though maybe don’t throw away your mop simply but. Nonetheless, contemplating that you may decide up a mopping robotic vac for a 3rd of the worth of the iRobot Roomba Combo 10 Max, ensure you’ll get enough worth out of its scrubbing, grime detecting and focused performance before you purchase.