iRobot - 960
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Reddit Reviews:
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Based on 1 year's data from Jan 28, 2026 How it works
Liked most:
1733
69
"A good robovac is a life changer. Even a $350 basic S8. It is a great place to start. ... I promise you that you will not be disappointed by a basic S8. It will change your life even if it can't fit under every piece of furniture you own. ... My two S8s just finished vacuuming our entire house in about 46 minutes. ... While my floors were being cleaned, I sat comfortably on our patio in the cool shade with a slight breeze and composed my far too long response to you while sipping a diet soda and relaxing. ... I will have to spend about four minutes maintaining my two S8s. This will be my entire contribution to my home floor cleaning effort for today. Four minutes!"
"Like 500$ these robots are currently the steal of the century ... You can get a mova p10 pro ultra (cannot remove its mops), equivalent to the l40/x40 for 500$ after a discount code"
"For an open style earbud, these genuinely surprised me with their overall performance in sound at this price point. ... IMHO, these Soundpeats PearlClip Pro are probably the best I’ve heard in this under $50 price category when it comes to this style of earbuds. ... These are one of the best clip-on earbuds in this price category especially when it comes to price to performance in sound quality and feature set"
388
96
"The roborock I have kicked and smashed with my foot so many times out of anger when it doesn't collaborate, and still he rocks 4-5 yrs later and no broken parts"
"I've used it daily for at least 10 years now, probably closer to 15 and apart from the fact you need to clean it periodically, it's still works like brand new."
"One huge leg up for a Shark over Roomba is that the brush roller is similar to a vacuum (e.g. hard plastic), whereas the roomba is a plastic roller with a rubber cover that is DESTROYED by dog fur and you have to frequently replace."
477
102
"I’ve seen on the camera the poor guy making multiple trips to self empty while in one room but it’s cut the hair buildup tenfold."
"With three they can just make it to a full week for emptying. ... Life changing."
"The roborock cleans the carpet so well I haven't seen or felt any litter anymore."
10
0
"My robot vacuum has saved me many hundreds of hours over the years."
"it’s saved me 1,483hrs and 58 mins of cleaning time."
"Having your floors mopped twice a week while you’re at work is priceless."
3
3
"The later Roombas with a camera/vision system are pretty good at avoiding things that could cause snags/clogs. ... I used to be vigilant with clearing the floor and even putting dining chairs on the table, but now I just have my Roomba run every night with dog toys, kid toys, wife's shoes and purse, chairs, charger cords, laundry baskets, and everything else blocking its path."
"They rarely get stuck"
"Irobot has a camera for object avoidance. I think it works pretty great."
Disliked most:
7
223
"The battery life is a literal joke. ... Do an activity? There goes 75% of your battery."
"after having it die on a couple seven mile/1.5 hour runs WITH the battery freshly charged and battery saving options on"
"Mine kept dieing one me mid run ... after two years of using it twice hours was about all an aw had battery for when using music and gps! By the 2:15 mark it would be dead. ... When I started running for longer than 2 hrs my battery would die mid run"
3
42
"It gives up quickly and does not map well. ... For example, first time out, it was unable to leave the kitchen. ... So it mapped the kitchen and a space outside the kitchen that it could see was called a room. But it was only able to see 30% of the actual room. ... It did not update the map as the dreame would each run. ... Sent out for a remap. Got the center room and failed to get the hallway that did not have a threshold to cross, got 20% of another room it could't get in and didn't place a wall where there was a wall."
"lost of navigation. ... When come out from the dock station, it somehow lost direction. ... Had to reset it and remap again. ... Almost do it 3 time a weeks. ... lost of connection"
"the bot frequently and randomly loses the map so you have to babysit it as you help it remap, and you have to redraw all the virtual boundaries."
0
4
"I have a roomba we named homewrecker because it leaves a trail of destruction behind it. ... It always knocks over something or gets tangled up in wires."
"God forbid when you are training the ai(?) by reviewing the photos you ever allow anything as ... not an obstacle ... then it will run over similar things forever. Like string, after I told it a cord off the ground was not an obstacle. :("
"it's the navigation that is problematic (hard hitting walls/furniture, poor coverage, and getting lost)"
13lueChicken 1.0I’ve had Roombas since ~2016, a 960 and an i7+. While I wish they integrated with HomeAssistant a little better, they have been rock solid, especially the i7+ due to the self emptying. Currently the i7 runs daily on the main floor and the 960 runs in my bedroom(when I remember to empty it). Had to replace some parts on the i7 and they were mostly easily acquirable directly from iRobot, so that has been nice. Do a little bit of network monitoring and they don’t really ever seem to randomly phone home, so that’s nice.
Austindp91 1.0I have a 960 with a dog that sheds, and the wheels and rollers will sometimes jam. Have had it for 4 years and still runs, but will require extraction of dog hair from time to time. Also, it's a little noisey but powerful.
Beginning_Service387 1.0iRobot Roomba 960 here, going strong after 6 years. Regular filter and brush maintenance seems to be key
dceenb 1.0We have had a Roomba 960 since 2018 without any major issues. 1 battery replacement and the usual wear parts as needed.
densetsu23 1.0Roomba 960 and it still works great too. We've had to replace the battery once and the "tires" a couple times, that's about it. With the new OEM battery, it actually runs ~2 hours on a charge. Now we get to see if they remain fully functional after the dust settles. I think the 600 to 900 series should be mostly OK, aside from not having post-cleaning reports and having to manually press the start button if the servers go down. The newer ones might be totally bricked, on the other hand, without connectivity.
Electronic-Dog4522 1.0I have been using old roomba 960s and 980s and a scooba. The scooba broke, so I bought a Matic vacuum/mop recently. It maps very quickly and has never gotten stuck. Matic is a new company, I have been following their progress for several years. They started shipping in 2024. The software is constantly updated and improved similar to Tesla. Matic is an American company.
I have been using roomba 805s, two 960s and two 980s without the app - no wifi connection. They are probably the best irobot made, but they are really old. I recently bought a Matic vacuum (there is a reddit group for it) since the security is much better than other new robots. That was part of the design criteria.
Exitcomestothis 1.0I’ve had my roomba 960 since July 2018 when I got a good deal on it on Prime Day (only “deal” I’ve ever gotten on prime day). And it’s saved me 1,483hrs and 58 mins of cleaning time. So, yes, do get a robo vacuum! We also have 2 small dogs that shed, however, I haven’t vacuumed in over a year with the big vacuum. Half of the house is carpet and other half is hardwood. The roomba, if ran every other day, picks up all the fur and dirt and the dust bin is mostly only ever 1/4 full. https://preview.redd.it/42t2438v3wme1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e7a9aa164c0eb63f045955148989139d9b8175f9
FlowerPower189 1.0My neighbor threw away a perfectly good 960 and I've been using it for three years, 3 times a week on 750 sq ft. (It had hair wrapped around the brushes, once I cleaned it out it ran just fine). It's easy to take apart and clean. I haven't had to change the tires yet, they are still going strong. I'm still on the original battery as well. The bin latch to the filter breaks easily (I've gone through 2 and now I just leave it broken). I do have to clean hair out of the brush ends often but that's easy enough to do. It's hasn't broken down on me yet. On my old 650, I replaced the side brush motor and tires which would be the same process on this model. I'm very happy with it especially since it was free.
Gobberwarts 1.0The 205 with the compactor works great on my cat hair. It can do the entire house several times where my old 960 had to be emptied 5 times. Unfortunately their recent update is bricking everyone's 205..
hero47 1.0Have had mine (966) for 6 years now, daily used.
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