Ecovacs DEEBOT T20 Omni: One-minute review

The Ecovacs DEEBOT T20 Omni robot vacuum’s claim to fame is its hot water mop pad washing. While it seems like a minor thing to hang your hat on, it does actually work (with some slightly gross side effects). But, it does much more than add this feature.

In fact, its performance is on par with many of the best robot vacuums whether it’s vacuuming or mopping. I appreciate the intuitive nature of the app and the solid mapping of this robot vacuum as well.

It does have some issues that are specific to it. For instance, you’re going to pay for that hot water mop pad washing. And, it creates a lot of dirty water that needs to be emptied regularly.

But, it still has its place, making cleaning generally much more convenient. I’ll let you decide whether it’s the best vacuum for you, but it’s not a hard one to recommend, especially if you use it in an area with mostly hard flooring. 

Ecovacs DEEBOT T20 Omni: price and availability

• List price: $1,099.99 / £951.65 / AU$1,799
• Available in the US, UK, and Australia

While Ecovacs vacuums often get a nice sale, the going price of the DEEBOT T20 Omni is not cheap. At $1,099.99 / £951.65 / AU$1,799, it vies for flagship status alongside models like the iRobot Roomba Combo J7 Plus, a very highly rated and expensive model that also adds in mopping.

At the very least, this Ecovacs vacuum is widely available unlike the US-only Yeedi Cube. However, the Yeedi Cube offers vacuuming and mopping for a relatively cheaper price of $699 (about £559 / about AU$1,054), not to mention that it’s regularly on sale as well.

Considering how expensive the Ecovacs DEEBOT T20 Omni is, it’s surprising that it doesn’t come with any cleaning solution. If you want to buy that as well, you’ll have to spend an extra $27.99 / £23.99 / AU$28.

• Value: 4 / 5

Ecovacs DEEBOT T20 Omni: Specifications

Ecovacs DEEBOT T20 Omni: Design and features

• Two side brushes and a single brush roll
• Large base station with big clean and dirty water tanks
• Has unique hot water mop pad washing as well as auto-empty

The Ecovacs DEEBOT T20 Omni comes in a white and silver colorway with an all-white self-emptying charging station. The robot vacuum itself is of the circular variety that somewhat differentiates itself visually from other models by the fact that there’s a removable top plate which hides the dustbin – most robot vacuums have the dustbin accessible in the back of the unit.

It also has two side brushes to sweep debris in front of it compared to the single side brush many come with. While there’s just a single brushroll underneath, there’s up to 6000Pa of suction, which is more than enough, as we’ll discuss in the next section.

More uniquely, most robot vacuums that can mop use a single pad that’s dragged along the floor. Instead of going that route, Ecovacs has included two circular pads for mopping duties that actually rotate and apply downward pressure when in use. Plus, they can raise off the floor when needed, such as when in vacuum only mode or it goes over carpeting.

A big part of the Ecovacs DEEBOT T20 Omni’s design (and price) is that self-emptying charging station. It’s pretty large, about 22 and a half inches tall (57cm) and 17 inches wide (43cm) – certainly not ideal for smaller spaces. However, it’s big for a reason. It contains four liter clean and dirty water tanks for not only mopping but for cleaning the mop pads as this particular station uses hot water to remove oil and stains. 

This feature is apparently unique to the Ecovacs DEEBOT T20 Omni. The charging station will also dry the mop pads as well as automatically empty the contents from the robot vacuum’s dustbin so you don’t have to clean it out between cleaning sessions.

• Design: 4.5 / 5

Ecovacs DEEBOT T20 Omni: Performance

• Excellent vacuuming and mopping
• Not so good with edges
• Hot water mop pad washing creates a lot of dirty water quickly

While the Ecovacs DEEBOT T20 Omni is not unique in the fact that it both vacuums and mops, it’s a bit rarer in that it does both well. I’ve seen robot vacuums that have added mopping as a bit of an afterthought, and so end up leaving streaks and uneven results. That’s not the case here as the Ecovacs easily vacuums up dirt, debris, and lots of pet hair and does in an orderly pattern so it gets every inch.

Since the mopping pads apply downward pressure and spin, they actually scrub the floors. I ran it once after a dog had stepped in some poop and tracked it through the foyer. While major remnants had been cleaned up, the floor was still far from clean. After a pass from the Ecovacs DEEBOT T20 Omni, there was no sign of any mess.

While this robot vacuum does a good job of vacuuming and mopping, it does have the issue that all robot vacuums seem to have to a certain degree, it doesn’t do so well getting edges and corners. In fact, there’s a mode to improve that in the app but the Ecovacs DEEBOT T20 Omni will only do it once every seven days and only in auto or housekeeping mode.

When it comes to object avoidance, the execution is a little above average. It can avoid larger obstacles and doesn’t get stuck on any venting, but still gets tangled on cables and cords. While that’s worth noting, it’s also an issue that robot vacuums inherently have, just like the mediocre edge cleaning.

Back on the positive side, the hot water mop pad washing is a nice addition. It does mean that cleaning four rooms takes a couple hours to do as the robot vacuum regularly returns to the charging station to not only replenish on clean water, but to clean the pads properly. Having emptied the dirty water tank multiple times since I’ve started testing it, I can say that whatever is being washed out of the pads makes me wonder how clean the floors are when using other mopping robot vacuums that don’t have their mopping pads regularly washed.

Here, the base station does it for you. The only downside to it is that you have to empty the dirty water tank every few uses as it fills rather quickly.

• Performance: 4 / 5

Ecovacs DEEBOT T20 Omni: App

• Great job mapping
• Lots of adjustments on tap
• Voice assistant support

When first using the Ecovacs app, you have to scan the QR code on the robot vacuum for setup. It’s a fairly intuitive process, much like using the app in general, and is followed by the robot vacuum scanning your space to create a map.

Possibly one of my favorite parts of the app is the fact that once the Ecovacs DEEBOT T20 Omni has mapped out the space, the app has intelligently and automatically segmented it into rooms, requiring minimal effort on your end (it did combine two rooms due to an open-floor layout). On top of that, you can view the map in 2D or 3D.

Beyond its mapping capabilities, adjusting cleaning strength, combination of vacuuming and/or mopping, and which areas to clean is straightforward. And, if you do any menu diving, you can adjust how wet the mop pads get, the interval at which the robot vacuum returns to the station to clean the mop pads, and a whole lot more. There really isn’t anything missing.

If there’s one quibble, it’s the fact that despite this robot vacuum’s support for Alexa and Google voice assistant, only settings for its own voice assistant, Yiko, is easy to find within the app. So, integration with Alexa is a bit less intuitive (you have to go through the Alexa app to set up). At least, Yiko is very responsive whenever I ask it to clean a particular room or go back to the charging station.

• App: 4.5 / 5

Ecovacs DEEBOT T20 Omni: Battery life

• Has 190 minutes of battery life
• Regularly recharges

While the battery life is rated at 190 minutes, you’ll probably never see the Ecovacs DEEBOT T20 Omni run for that long. Whenever I ask it to clean everything, it will go for maybe ten or fifteen minutes and then return to the base station to empty the contents, clean the mop pads, and charge back up.

Even if you manage to have it run for that long, 190 minutes is very good for robot vacuums. Many very good models last between 100 - 120 minutes. Still, the Ecovacs DEEBOT T20 Omni whenever it needs to so you don’t have to worry about running it, charging it, and then running it again.

• Battery: 4.5 / 5

Should I buy the Ecovacs DEEBOT T20 Omni?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Ecovacs DEEBOT T20 Omni: Also consider

Not sold on the prowess of the Ecovacs DEEBOT T20 Omni? Below are a couple of alternatives that you can consider.

How I tested the Ecovacs DEEBOT T20 Omni

• Tested for a couple weeks
• Tested both mopping and vacuum capabilities
• Used on several types of flooring

To test the Ecovacs DEEBOT T20 Omni, I used it for a couple weeks to vacuum and mop the hardwood floors in my house. I also tested all the features listed in the app, from mapping to different levels of cleaning. 

I took note of how well the vacuum cleaned the edges of a room as well as around obstacles, not to mention running it over different surfaces including two different types of hard flooring and carpeting.

I’ve tested a lot of tech gear over the years from air fryers and vacuum cleaners to laptops and audio equipment, and so have been able to use my expertise towards giving an honest and fair opinion, not to mention a critical eye, to any product I test. I also make sure that when I reviewed, I hold up a product to what it's supposed to do and whether it's worth the price.

Read more about how we test

First reviewed December 2023

Proscenic Floobot X1: Two-minute review

The Proscenic Floobot X1 robot vacuum combines a stylish design with plenty of useful features, such as the ability to detect whether it’s on carpet or hard flooring and apply its cleaning tools accordingly, automatic room mapping, consistent mopping action and a self-emptying dustbox.

The latter’s UV light helps eradicate germs, as well as allowing the user to avoid getting their hands dirty. There are solid scheduling options, app-based tools for marking off areas to avoid, and a LiDAR camera and sensors that assist with object avoidance.

The 15cm-tall puck design is modest enough for the Proscenic Floobot X1 to slip under furniture to access and clean awkward spaces, but the rotating brush that flicks dust to dislodge it along the edges of a room doesn’t always result in the debris then being vacuumed up.

The best aspects are the remote control, and the smooth furrows the Floobot X1 ploughs when cleaning fairly large rooms, but some of the extras, such as the app scheduling and supposedly smart room coverage, are less convincing.

Object avoidance is generally good, with no issues encountered near stairs, but low-lying items such as stray laces and a tray containing pet food were not detected at all. The consumables cost for replacement dustbags is pricey, and the app had some setup gotchas.

However, we were generally impressed with the features for the money and would be happy to marshall this robot vacuum around an open-plan home, though we would not consider it among the best vacuums around.

Proscenic Floobot X1: Price and availability

• List price: $499 / £399
• When is it available: Available now
• Where is it available: Available in the US and the UK

It’s definitely worth shopping around to get the best deal on a Proscenic Floobot X1. While the UK Proscenic website lists the Floobot X1 at £499, matching the $499 asking price on the US Proscenic website, you can save a lot by buying through Amazon. Here, the RRP is shown as £349 but Amazon UK will sell you the X1 for a great value £299 and Amazon US asks $399.  

• Value score: 4 / 5

Proscenic Floobot X1: Specifications

Proscenic Floobot X1: Design

• Smart charging station that supports self-emptying function
• Straightforward remote control, on device on/off button and Proscenic app
• Detailed scheduling and power options for mopping and cleaning

The Proscenic Floobot X1 arrives in a compact box that promises ‘smarter mapping, simpler mopping’. The bundled remote control delivers on this, with dedicated buttons for auto cleaning and mopping. You can operate the Floobot X1 in several ways: via the Proscenic app over Wi-Fi, via Bluetooth, using the remote control, or directly using the power buttons on the robovac itself.

Note that there are three Proscenic apps – you want the one that’s simply called ‘Proscenic’ which lists Floobot X1 in its device list. The app connects the Floobot X1 to your home Wi-Fi network as long as you have a 2.4GHz network, and then to your smartphone via Bluetooth. 

The package includes a charging station-cum-dustbin with a straightforward clip-together base plus spare consumables and brushes. Setup is via the app, which also has a link to a  visual ‘quick start guide’ though the branding here on and the Proscenic website designates the X1 as a Floobot.

Once you’ve clicked the two pieces of the charging dock base together and placed the charging dock on top you’re ready to plug in, and line up the Floobot X1 robot vacuum for its first charge. A quick glance at the schematic in the comprehensive User’s Manual reveals that the charging contacts are on either side of the dust box, and that the Floobot X1 should therefore be placed on the charging mat with the Proscenic branding facing the docking station. The correct positioning is confirmed when the vacuum’s indicator lights turn blue, which is followed by a brief musical and spoken greeting. The Floobot X1’s lights then turn green and flash to show that it’s charging. Once charged, the light turns a solid green. 

Suction-wise, there are four settings which can be instantly adjusted via the detailed Proscenic app: the maximum vacuuming power is 3000pa. A Pascal rating of 2,500 to 3000 is fairly standard for vacuum cleaner suction. while the sonic mop has three soak settings and can scrub up to 3000 times a minute. A single LiDAR camera governs the X1’s journey across your floors and helps it avoid unexpected items in its path. The lack of top-mounted cameras facilitates a low-profile design, but more cameras would surely have led to a more efficient route-map. 

The Floobot X1 comes with a dust bag already installed inside the charging station, with a second included in the box. When full, the Robot Vacuum will automatically wend its way to the docking station and position itself ready to empty the content of its dust box into the station’s 2.5-litre dustbin. Proscenic touts the usefulness of the self-emptying Floobot X1, which should be able to vacuum or mop up a month’s worth of dust and debris before the dustbag needs to be replaced. As well as minimising the amount of dust you need to deal with while engaged in the often unedifying process of emptying the dust bag into a larger dustbin, a UV light on the charging station deftly disinfects, neutralising pathogens and bacteria. These consumables cost just under £15 for six from Amazon or direct from Proscenic but can also be bought singly or in packs of three.

Another consumable cost is the mopping pads, two of which are provided in the box. You need to rinse and dry these pads between mopping sessions or when they become noticeably grubby, and once they’re worn out new ones cost £12 for four or £21 for a new consumables kit including a HEPA filter and new brushes. Proscenic also recommends that you tape off sharp edges that could damage the Floobot X1 – our stone hearth, for example – so factor in some preparation time for this, or price in some child-friendly plastic bumpers. You’ll also need to move anything that the X1 is likely to attempt to steer under, such as low-legged armchairs that don’t provide enough clearance for the Floobot X1 robo-puck.

• Design score: 4.5 / 5 

Proscenic Floobot X1: Performance

• Automatic carpet/hard floor detection
• Average 45-minute runtime
• Not very smart at navigation

In auto mode the Proscenic Floobot X1 trundles up and down in rows, eventually creating a map of where it’s been and any partial roomscapes its single LiDAR camera spies along the way [it spotted the beginning of our lean-to conservatory, for example, although the hard stop of the metal threshold prevented it from investigating further. 

Having first vacuumed the area we wanted cleaning, I put the Floobot X1 into mopping mode. This involved attaching its Velcro mopping pad and filling its water tank. Mopping was efficient and gave the floor a noticeable sheen. Slick stripes showed which bits had been mopped without being wet enough to slip up on. 

Charging takes several hours, with the progress indicated by two flashing green icons on the top of the Floobot X1; the white Wi-Fi indicator icon nestles between these. To connect your robovac to the home Wi-Fi network you need to open the Proscenic app (iOS or Android), select your model from the prefilled options, then press and hold the two green icons on the vacuum for several seconds. The Wi-Fi icon should light up and the voice assistant announce that the Wi-Fi connection has been reset. At this point you need to select the correct network from those that appear in the app and enter your Wi-Fi password. 

Once the vac is charged, you press the left button underneath the rocker pad on the remote control to initiate smart cleaning. With no indication of how much charge the Floobot X1 had before it claimed to be ready for use, it was hard to judge whether it was close to a full battery. In any case, we were surprised to find it managed only a five-minute burst of activity on our short-pile carpet before needing to orientate itself and head back to the charging pod. The charging dock dustbin has a generous 2.5l capacity, into which the Floobot X1 can discharge its collected contents for as much as a month before it needs to be emptied. Subsequent assays lasted up to 50 minutes after just 30 minutes to recharge, so we put that brief initial run down to a glitch. 

Having not previously provided any details of the room shape or obstacles, on resuming cleaning duties we noted that the Floobot X1 began vacuuming sections of carpet it hadn’t previously tackled, living up to its ‘smart’ label. The LiDAR function thus plays its part in ensuring the room is covered in a methodical fashion, without too much overlap or gaps in coverage. 

The first few times we tried the Proscenic Floobot X1 it seemed to go over the same couple of metres of carpet in a fairly erratic manner (our bumpy, ill-fitting carpet can’t have helped its navigation), abruptly changing direction 10cm or more from the edges. Subsequent forays were more successful, with the robovac deftly navigating along the skirting boards and around radiator pipes, chair legs and so on. We expected the metal door threshold to fox it, but it cleaned along its length and jauntily set off to the next room with challenges such as the stair edge to avoid tipping over. The long length of the open-plan landing suited the X1 better, efficiently vacuuming adjacent strips of carpet. I also noted that it began to consistently sweep along the carpet edges. Presumably having gained confidence about the room dimensions from its LiDAR camera it then judged it safer to nudge closer to its boundaries. 

During this session the Proscenic Floobot X1 began to judder and shake, and I assumed it was getting full. A few minutes later, however, a compact fur ball of hair and grot was emitted from the underside of the robovac, after which it resumed its smooth traverse of our obviously filthy carpets. This sensible approach to expelling chunks of detritus then leaves more space for smaller debris. 

Challenged with a carpet laden with crumbs, oats and sundry grot, the Floobot X1 performed well, first brushing aside many of these larger items before flicking them into its dust chamber.  The four-way control pad on the handheld controller can be used to pause and turn the X1 on the spot. I found this handy when I wanted to get it to brush the edges of a kitchen cabinet where a strip of dirt had accrued. It’s also a good alternative to the spot-cleaning function, which successfully and efficiently brushed aside peanuts, biscuit crumbs and oats before sweeping them into its internal dustbin, but also distributed some of them over a broad area. In total, the Proscenic Floobot X1 dispensed with 87% of the oat mix we challenged it to vacuum up, but left to run on auto came back later and collected all but 3% of the remainder as it worked successive furrows across the room. 

Progress around a narrower, more cluttered room was a little erratic, but the floor ended up much cleaner, and the Floobot X1 dealt with every obstacle, from trailing cables to rogue slippers and tricky desk undersides. 

Having left the Floobot X1 to charge overnight, vacuuming time was approximately 45 minutes, with three minutes of residual power used to seek out and return to the docking station. In this instance the robovac had traversed from its original location out onto the landing and ended up vacuuming half of the neighbouring bedroom, which meant that it ran out of power before locating the charging station. A point to note is that when it comes time for the Floobot X1 to return to base to recharge or empty its internal bin, it will get hopelessly lost if you’ve switched off the charging dock at the wall for any reason – it needs this beacon to find its way back. 

The Proscenic Floobot X1 will undoubtedly leave your home cleaner, neatly mopped and scrubbed. It operates reasonably quietly with an average decibel rating of 54dB (46dB in mopping mode) except when rumbling and shaking before expelling a pellet of debris, or for the few seconds when it returns to base and very loudly dumps performs its self-emptying routine. A brief 86dB interruption more than compensates for trudging round your house vacuuming by hand, of course. 

This robot vacuum seemingly works better in more open-plan spaces where it can execute neat rows of cleaning and exhibits less blind man’s buff behaviour while navigating awkward corners. There is little time advantage to the promised smart functions once the Floobot X1 has mapped out your rooms but the option section off or prioritise rooms is useful. Edges are generally tackled fairly well, but we recommend using the remote control to get up close to areas that need a dedicated scrub. This wouldn’t be our first choice of robot vacuum for mopping remotely but it works well for scheduled vacuuming if you’ve first decluttered (and remembered to move the tray containing the cat’s food and bowls – yes, you can imagine what happened there!).

• Performance score: 3.5 / 5  

Proscenic Floobot X1: App

• Needs dual-band or 2.4GHz router
• Cannot initiate mopping remotely if Floobot X1 is docked
• Strong scheduling, partitioning and power setting options

We had a few issues getting the Floobot X1 to maintain a Wi-Fi connection. When trying this in the older of the two houses in which we tested the vacuum we assumed it may have been down to an older Wi-Fi router, but at home we have a four-month-old Community Fibre gigabit broadband router and needed a few attempts to set it up, and after a few days between vacuuming bouts we also needed to reconnect to the home network. 

Arguably, if you’re at home anyway and have already let the Floobot X1 go through the process of mapping out the rooms on that floor you could just as well use the remote control to start it.

The app can be used to schedule particular days, times and rooms once you’ve partitioned off areas. Mopping as well as vacuuming can be scheduled, but it’s worth noting that the Floobot X1 sees the landing pad it sits on while docked as a carpet, and will not commence mopping from there. Instead, you get an in-app message stating that it needs to be moved off the carpet in order to mop. You therefore need to charge it ahead of time, then fit the mopping pad and place the vacuum on the bare floor if you want to schedule a mopping session while you’re out. 

Using the app you can define rooms and areas to be cleaned or avoided, partition areas, and set the power level, or the amount of water the mop should use. The app will also show up errors such as the Floobot X1 being offline, or detecting a carpet when the mop mode has been selected. There’s a handy ‘find’ option too, should your robot vacuum have got lost or stuck under the couch. It’s also helpful that the app shows the charging status, but we were less impressed at having to manually reconnect to the network a day after last using the Floobot X1, leading us to revert to the remote control for most uses. 

• App score: 3.5 / 5 

Should I buy the Proscenic Floobot X1?

Buy it if...

Don't buy if...

Proscenic Floobot X1: Also consider

If a robot vacuum isn't for you, why not consider these other vacuum options?

First reviewed December 2023

Dreame L20 Ultra: Two-minute review

If you just care about how the Dreame L20 Ultra cleans; it’s a dream. In fact, I’d go so far as to call it one of the best robot vacuums you can buy right now, but it has to be, as it’s also one of the most expensive, and it’ll cut through grime as efficiently as it cuts through your savings.

Dreame has a huge variety of robot vacuums in its line-up and the L20 Ultra is the biggest and best, bristling with features, tools, and tricks.

Its suction is one of the most powerful on the market and it comes with retractable mops, customizable cleaning plans, smart AI to avoid obstacles, and adjust cleaning based on surface type; the list goes on. Your home will be clean with the Dreame, and it constantly surprised me with what it could scrub up during the testing period.

This comes at a price. Not only is the Dreame L20 Ultra one of the most expensive robot vacuums you can buy, but it has lots of parts that you’ll have to replace regularly. The funds will keep leaving your account even after that hefty up-front payment, so this is only really an option for people who can afford the most premium model available. It's certainly one to look out for in the Black Friday robot vacuum deals too.

From the get-go, ease of use is a major boon. The L20 Ultra will automatically create a 3D map, identifying different surfaces and making a note of immovable obstacles like walls and furniture. It can update that map on the fly if you move furniture around (or leave the box it came in in a stupid location and keep shifting it because you can’t figure out where best to store it).

However, lots of the robot’s extra features (that are, after all, what you’re paying for) are fiddly to activate or even understand. If you’re not tech-savvy, you’re probably not going to be able to make the most of what you’re paying for. 

Its obstacle recognition isn’t quite there yet, either: it worked wonders 90% of the time in my home, but the Dreame started trying to eat shoelaces a few more times than I’d consider healthy.

That’s not to be down on the Dreame L20 Ultra; I started this introduction by calling it one of the best robot vacuums and that’s not wrong. It’s stacked with features and excels at its job – it’s just a little tricky to recommend over rival devices that’ll do a similar job and won’t cost nearly as much.

Dreame L20 Ultra review: price and availability

• Unveiled August 2023
• Costs $1,499.99 / £1,099 / AU$2,799 
• Extra price for regular part replacement

Announced at the annual August tech event, IFA 2023, the Dreame L20 Ultra was available to buy in the US by September of the same year, though took a little while to roll out to other regions.

The Dreame L20 Ultra isn’t for the faint of heart or light of funds – it’s one of the priciest robot vacuums you can get, and will certainly cost you more than simply hiring a cleaner. It’s actually a lot pricier in the US, so if you live in the UK, you can ignore lots of my price criticisms.

You’ll have to shell out $1,499.99 / £1,099 / AU$2,799 for the unit, which is pretty fair when you consider all the top-tier features and abilities the Dreame L20 Ultra has, and most robo-vac brands have similarly priced offerings. However, if you’re on a budget, you’ll find plenty of more affordable options from brands like Eufy, Roomba or Shark — and Dreame itself.

The financial drain won’t end with the up-front cost though, as lots of the device requires frequent replacing or refuelling. Hide your bank cards, and hide your PIN numbers, for this is the full price list: 

You can buy all of the above (save the cleaning solution) in one bundle for $89.99 (around £74, AU$141). Just note that we couldn’t find these parts on sale in the UK or Australia as of writing.

That is to say, you will likely be spending upwards of $100 or equivalent each year just keeping the device running (not including water or electricity), so it’s a real financial investment.

• Value score: 2/5

Dreame L20 Ultra: Specs

Dreame L20 Ultra review: Design

• Large rounded cylinder
• Giant base station
• Onboard microphone

The Dreame L20 Ultra package consists of two, equally-comically-large parts: there’s the flying saucer of a robot vacuum itself and its humungous base station.

Let’s start with the base station: it’s 60.7 cm tall, 42.6 cm wide, and 49.9cm deep (when you factor in its ramp, though for the majority of its body, it’s a little shallower). Much of this body is for water storage or dust bags. A towering black monolith, you’ll need somewhere in your home with sufficient space for it and one that offers easy access at the lower level for the vacuum itself.

The dust bag fits 3.2 liters of dust before it needs to be replaced, while the water tank and waste water tank both hold 4.5 liters. That's 'forget about it for weeks' levels of quantity. 

The robot vacuum itself is also pretty big compared to some rivals; you wouldn’t want to face this at Robot Wars. It’s 10.3 cm tall, and Dreame rather vaguely says that its body is 35 x 35 x 35cm. Either way, it’s a big circular entity, and heavy too at 4.3kg, though its heavyweight status doesn’t reduce its ability to clean (or to fit in small areas!). 

Atop the robot are its LIDAR scanner and three control buttons, which provide some functionality, but using the app is still a lot more convenient. When it’s cleaning it has two front-facing lights that can be incredibly bright, but this just means its LIDAR is effective whether or not your home is well-lit, and it'll only turn on its lights if the lighting is poor.

Underneath are its two mops and tri-pronged side brush, but they don’t poke out too much, meaning the Dreame has a circular body to look at top-down.

There’s also a microphone on the robot, which keeps you updated with what it’s doing or what order you’ve issued it. This is a really handy accessibility feature, though it’s also pretty scary if you forgot you scheduled a clean!

• Design score: 3.5/5

Dreame L20 Ultra review: Performance

• Powerful suction, plus mopping power
• Creates and updates 3D map
• Sometimes fails to recognize obstacles

The name of the Dreame L20 Ultra’s game is ease of use – as you’ll read about in the ‘App’ section below it’s easy just to press ‘play’ and let the robot do all the work for you.

The robot has a suction power of 7,000 Pascals – that’s significantly better than Dreame’s previous robots, with the 10s Ultra hitting 5,300Pa, and given that the average for a robot vacuum is around 6,000Pa, it shows that this is great for picking up dirt. Over the testing period, there was not a single time that the Dreame failed to pick up something it should have done, and it even collected some items I expected it to miss.

That’s the first part of the L20 Ultra’s process; the second is mopping, which it does with its two built-in mop pads. This mostly worked great too, resulting in squeaky-clean floors, though there were a few marks around my flat that it didn’t manage to remove. Good for spilled coffee stains, but not so great for angry kitchen muck, though its Deep Clean mode (which takes a lot longer) got rid of most of the marks missed by the standard mode.

Every time you run the Dreame, it’ll create a new 3D map based on the existing one, so it can recognize if you’ve moved furniture or closed a door that was previously open. This was generally very handy as it meant I didn’t need to be so fastidious about tidying the testing area, though a wall-long mirror at one side of the apartment constantly confused the thing. Don’t worry, Dreame, that’s not a whole new room I’m asking you to clean!

I did sometimes cause cleans to finish early by accidentally standing in the way when it was scanning an area. Even though I moved straight away, the Dreame assumed that an area was blocked, and didn’t bother trying again. So it’s best to keep out of the thing’s way, lest you dissuade it from doing its job.

One word of warning: while you can enable a quiet cleaning mode, the robot is loud. Dreame cites the minimum noise as 63dB, which is just above the average sound of conversation. It’s loudest at the end of a clean when it empties its tank. If you’ve got a nervous pet (or just hate loud noises), make sure to turn on quiet mode, or only activate it when you're out of the house!

The L20 Ultra is self-emptying, so you don’t need to worry about removing its contents after every session. The dust bag provided lasts 75 days according to Dreame, and you can buy more once you run out. You’ll need to replace the water more frequently (and empty out the dirty water), but each will last you several hundreds of meters squared of cleaning before you need to do so (though I’d recommend cleaning out the water more frequently, as it can get nasty!).

For a vacuum of its size, I was surprised by how effectively the Dreame cleaned in nooks and crannies, with its mop extension managing to fit into corners that could easily have been overlooked. 

The Dreame is smart enough to detect different surfaces, and amend its cleaning plan; my floor is largely vinyl wood with a few carpets, and the robot could identify these latter emplacements. It’d avoid these during its cleaning routine, returning once everything else was finished; it’d know to lift the mop pads and slow down its speed to better vacuum in the thicker material.

If you have a home with various floor types, you can rest safely knowing that the robot will clean them all equally – without your input to boot, as I never had to program in different cleaning areas (though there is the option to mark carpeted areas in the app).

An issue I had several times during the L20 Ultra’s testing phase is that the robot didn’t always accurately identify smaller objects like pieces of string, wires, and shoelaces, and would end up getting itself caught when it sucked these things up. More often than not it was smart enough to recognize and avoid obstacles, but I did have to rescue it on occasion when it got itself tied up (literally). One could call the object recognition 'hit or miss'.

At other times the obstacle recognition was a little overzealous. In the app, it would frequently flag things that weren’t obstacles at all: edges of carpets were the main offender but hanging fabrics that didn’t touch the ground (and wouldn’t get in the vacuum’s way) were also culprits.

• Performance score: 5/5

Dreame L20 Ultra review: App

• App is easy to use...
• ... but hard to master
• Onboard camera can be activated through app

To use the L20 Ultra, you have to download the Dreamehome app, available on the Play Store and App Store. This lets you set up the vacuum (which took a few tries for me, as it struggled to find the robot at first), check on its status, and set up various cleaning modes.

Simply telling the robot to clean is easy, with a simple play button on the first page (and another telling it to return to the base station), but if you like you can get further in depth, for example setting carpeted areas, deciding on the cleaning order or setting how frequently the Dreame will return to its base station and clean the mop.

During a clean, the app tells you the size of your cleaning area, its battery percentage, and how long it’s been cleaning for. And after the cleaning, you can check its route, which items it’s classified as an obstacle, and a history of its cleans. There’s also a scheduling tool for future cleans which is hidden in the menus.

The Dreame L20 is a feature-heavy robot, and this means that the app has lots of options and menus too, but this means that some of its tools are a little buried or hard to find. I couldn’t quite figure out how to use the zoning or room tools, for example, and I literally review tech for a job – some users will find the app too fiddly, with a steep learning curve when you first buy the L20.

You can also use the Dreamehome app to activate a camera on the L20 Ultra, letting you watch the robot as it trawls your home. There’s even the ability to pilot the thing yourself, turning it into a roving ersatz security camera. An alarm on the robot goes some way to mitigate security concerns, as you’ll be able to hear if someone remotely turns on the camera – though in a big enough home, you could miss this sound.

Smart-home owners will find plenty of options with Apple's Siri, Amazon's Alexa, and Google's Google Assistant all letting you control the robot using voice controls. Well, you can start, stop and pause, but for other functions, you'll need to stick to the app.

• App score: 3.5/5

Dreame L20 Ultra review: Battery life

• Lasts 180 minutes at a push
• That figure is even higher without multi-clean
• Hoover is fairly slow

You’re going to need a fairly large house to find the Dreame L20 Ultra’s battery lacking. The company states that its 6,400mAh battery will last you for 180 minutes (or 3 hours) of cleaning. That goes up an extra 30 minutes if you only want either mopping or vacuuming alone!

In my testing, the Dreame seemed to go through 1% of battery every two and a half minutes: to me, 180 minutes seems to be the high end of what you’d achieve.

That’s an absolutely stellar battery life, although depending on the size of your home, you might need it. The Dreame doesn’t exactly move at Ferrari speeds, and it took up to 45 minutes to do one lap of my flat which has roughly 20m2 of ‘cleanable’ floor space (ie, not covered by furniture, drawers or the massive box the vacuum cleaner came in). It sometimes did this a lot quicker though, with a record of 28 minutes for that same space (perhaps with some furniture moved here and there though).

By default, the Dreame will do two laps too: one for vacuuming, and one for mopping, though you can change this if you don’t need either, and the latter was quicker. Either way, for me that was generally around an hour of cleaning.

Still, that means I was only using part of the Dreame’s battery, with the 3-hour cleaning limit smashing loads of rival devices. If you have a larger house, you’ll find that the robot will dock mid-clean to power up, which can take a few hours to get to full.

• Battery score: 4.5/5

Should I buy the Dreame L20 Ultra?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Also consider

The Dreame L20 Ultra is a great robot vacuum, but it's not without competition. Here are some alternatives you might want to consider before splashing out.

How I tested the Dreame L20 Ultra

I set up the Dreame L20 Ultra myself, physically connecting the base station and wirelessly connecting to the robot, in order to fully understand the process. 

The testing window for the Dreame was three weeks, although I continued to use it after that while I was writing this review. In this window I ran cleaning tests every two or three days; for some of these, I artificially added solids like mud or foodstuffs to ensure the flat was dirty enough to clean (not that I needed the help with that…). I also varied the process after the first week, testing out different cleaning modes and not tidying up obstacles (other than the ones that would stop the robot from accessing the entire flat).

The testing size for the flat has already been mentioned; the Dreame app calculated the cleaning space as around 17m² to 20m² depending on how much furniture I moved out of the way. The area was largely vinyl wood flooring but included a kitchenette and bathroom (both tiled) and two large carpets: one shag and one acrylic.

Read more about how we test

• First reviewed October 2023

Editor's Note

• Original review date: November 2022
• Newer Roomba Combo J9 Plus now out
• Launch price: $1,099.99 / £999 / AU$2,199
• Official price now: The same, though frequently discounted by circa. $200 / £200 / AU$400

Updated: January 2024. While it's no longer iRobot's leader of the pack, the iRobot Roomba Combo J7 Plus still stands as one of the best robot vacuums. Still, we imagine it'll move to a slightly lower position once we've been able to test the more premium Combo J9 Plus. The J7 Plus is regularly discounted at this point; as of writing, it's £749 / AU$1899, and we've seen prices drop to $899 in the US previously during Black Friday. Especially at this discounted price, it's well worth the money, offering one of the most thorough and intelligent cleans we've seen. The rest of this review remains as previously published.

One-minute review

The Roomba Combo J7 Plus (stylized as Roomba Combo j7+) is a revelation. It’s without doubt one of the best robot vacuums on the market right now, thanks to the fantastic features we’ve come to expect from iRobot, and the fact that it can mop too. It’s the first of its kind, introducing a new retractable mop pad mechanic that marks a significant improvement over the bottom-mounted mop pads we’re used to seeing on robovacs, with which there was a risk of dampening carpets. 

Otherwise, it mirrors the vacuum-only iRobot Roomba J7 Plus in almost every way – which is no bad thing, considering we were impressed by its intelligence, suction power, and design elements such as the dual rubber brushes that prevent hair from becoming tangled around the brush bar. Mapping is superb, and as the robot learns more about your home, it will suggest areas that might need more attention.

As one of the pioneers in the robovac market, it’s no surprise to see great quality from iRobot. While this model isn’t quite as premium as the Roomba S9 Plus in terms of its suction power, the J7 Plus still holds its own, collecting dust and debris from both hard floors and carpets with relative ease.

It’s an incredibly smart machine, armed with a full gamut of exciting smart features, including object and dirt detection. These are powered by built-in AI that can spot the most common items cluttering your home, and your pets, cleaning around them without incident. Plus, it can pick up particles as small as 0.7 microns and can detect and avoid pet poop, making it perfect for pet owners. Note that iRobot regularly updates its operating system, so you can expect to see new functions added to your bot in the future.

As with other iRobot models, the “Plus” suffix refers to the inclusion of a larger base station that facilitates automatic dirt disposal. After each clean, or whenever the 14oz / 0.4-liter internal dustbin is full, the vacuum will empty itself into a 57oz / 1.7-liter bag in its home base, which can hold up to 60 days worth of dirt, depending on how regularly you clean your floors. Using this feature does mean you’ll have to consider the longer-term cost of replacing the bags, however.

All of these features make the iRobot Roomba J7 Plus one of the most hassle and hands-free robot vacuum cleaners we’ve tested, and during our time using it, we also noticed a reduction in the amount of time we spent cleaning – a real boon when life gets in the way. However, this robot vacuum is very expensive at $1,099.99 / £999 / AU$2,199, so you definitely pay for the privilege of a low-maintenance cleanup.

Keep in mind though that Roomba Black Friday deals are live now. You might find this model at a heavily discounted price.

iRobot Roomba Combo J7 Plus price & availability

• List price:  $1,099.99 / £999 / AU$2,199 

The iRobot Roomba Combo J7 Plus robot vacuum and mop is currently available online, and can be bought directly from the iRobot store and Amazon for $1,099.99 / £999.99 / AU$2,199. As well as the self-emptying base, the Plus model comes with two AllergenLock bags, an extra filter, and a spare side brush. If you want to skip out on the base, the regular Roomba Combo J7 will set you back £799 / AU$1,699; as of writing, only the Plus package is available in the US.

There’s no denying this cleaner is expensive, and if this sophisticated robot vacuum’s many bells and whistles don’t appeal to you, it definitely won’t be money well spent. However, especially compared to budget-friendly vacuums, the intelligence and low-maintenance nature of this cleaner make it well worth the money for those with busy lifestyles or an aversion to cleaning. Plus, the mopping function adds only $200 / £100 / AU$400 to the price tag of the regular J7.

Of course, there are ongoing costs to consider, too. You’ll need to replace the self-emptying base station’s vacuum bags if you intend to use this feature regularly, and if you want a deeper clean with the mop pad than just using water, you’ll want to pick up some of the iRobot-approved cleaning solution, too.

Value: 4 / 5

iRobot Roomba Combo J7 Plus design

• Self-emptying bin
• Retractable mop pad
• 14oz / 0.4-liter dust bin

In most ways, the iRobot Roomba Combo J7 Plus mirrors its regular vacuum-only sibling, the Roomba J7 Plus. It’s an all-black beauty with a matte black casing and a gunmetal disc on its flush top. Here, you’ll also find its very minimalist control system: one button you can press to pause and start the vacuum or hold for five seconds to send it home. Measuring 13.3 x 13.3 x 3.4 inches / 33.8 x 33.8 x 8.6cm (h x w x d), it has relatively good clearance but will struggle with some lower-down furnishings.

Of course, the big difference is the retractable mop pad, which sits on the top of the vacuum at the rear. When called upon, the mop pad lifts and tucks beneath the unit in an incredibly satisfying, smooth motion - it's a real feat of design. You can attach the mop pads to the arm easily by sliding and clicking in the snap-fit attachments.

The front half of the vacuum is surrounded by a plastic bumper, which has a window through which the robovac’s detectors can sense its surroundings and obstacles. On its underside, there are two bidirectional wheels and one swivel wheel, a three-armed side brush to flick debris out of corners and away from walls, and dual rubber brush bars. These bars are designed to be flexible, working across floor types without damaging them, and preventing hair from becoming tangled. 

On the rear half, there’s the 14oz / 0.4-liter dust bin, which can be ejected by pressing the tactile panel next to it. This is also where you’ll find the liquid chamber – and, unlike some other robot vacuums and mops, the Roomba Combo J7 Plus is cleaning solution-compatible, arriving with a sample bottle of iRobot cleaning solution that won’t damage your device. iRobot’s help section suggests Bona Hardwood/Hard Surface Cleaner is safe to use, too. 

As with previous models, the Combo J7 Plus comes with plenty of swish features that are designed to make life easier. Instead of manually controlling suction, the clever robovac can detect dirtier areas and increase power if need be, which doubles as a great battery conservation feature if you want thorough cleaning but can’t supervise the vacuum to adjust its suction settings in dirtier rooms. The built-in camera helps the robot navigate intelligently, but also detects obstacles and hazards – from socks to stairs. And, of course, this model comes with iRobot’s Pet Ownership Official Promise – also known as P.O.O.P – to detect and avoid pet messes, thus preventing nasty clean-up jobs. 

This model includes iRobot’s Clean Base with automatic dirt disposal. Unfortunately, it can’t clean your mop pads or refill the water tank, but considering it does just about everything else, we’ll let that slide. The clean base measures 12.55 x 13.39 x 15.35 inches / 31.9 x 34 x 39cm and needs clearance of 1.5ft / 0.5m on each side and 4ft / 1.2m in front. Like the vacuum itself, the base is all-black with some textured accents, and a brown-leather tag provides easy access to the bin. 

Under the base hood, there’s a pre-fitted cleaning bag and one spare in a neat little compartment that reduces the need for extra external storage space – although additional space to house a spare mop pad and side brush would have been welcome. The vacuum bags can hold up to 60 days of dirt, according to iRobot, and the LED indicator on the front of the canister will turn red when the dirt bag is full. 

Design: 5 / 5

iRobot Roomba Combo J7 Plus performance

• Fantastic pickup on both carpet and hard floor
• Object detection works wonderfully
• Mop works well once it soaks through

As we’ve highlighted earlier in this review, the iRobot Combo J7 Plus vacuums to the same high standard as the non-mopping J7 Plus model. It performs well on hard floors, collecting both fine debris and larger crumbs, although with larger spills in particular, the side brush will often make a meal of flicking the litter across the floor, which extends cleaning time. 

Large spills of fine powders such as those in our flour and biscuit test will be tracked across the floor by the bot, and when overwhelmed by such debris, the vacuum throws some of it back on the ground when making its way to the charging station to unload. When it returned to the floor to finish the job, it mostly collected the remnants; however, some of the oats that had been flung further afield were missed. Of course, the frequency with which your robot vacuum will be collecting large amounts of concentrated debris is fairly minimal. During a regular clean, the vacuum is very systematic and successful at sucking up standard household grime; we never once saw it creating any mess.  

As stated earlier, there’s no manual control option for suction power on the Combo J7 Plus. Instead, it intelligently detects the dirt level on the floor and makes adjustments itself accordingly. The bot will maintain a winding route around your home while cleaning, but if it detects a messier space, it will pause to go over it before resuming on its path. Similarly, when encountering an obstacle, the bot will pause, find a way around whatever clutter it has identified (we tested with socks, wires and toys), either avoiding the object to continue its journey from the next logical place, or intentionally nudging larger, non-furniture obstacles such as toys out of its way. 

The standout feature with the Combo J7 Plus is, of course, its mopping ability, and we were really impressed by how it performed. We were concerned that the mop pad wouldn’t dock neatly below the unit, or that its arms would be too delicate to deliver the pressure required to mop floors well. On the contrary, the Combo J7 Plus was capable of giving our floors a lovely shine-up, especially when we used the cleaning solution sample included with the vacuum. In the app, you can decide for each of your favorite cleaning modes whether you’d like to use a minimal, medium or maximum dose of liquid. 

There are a few drawbacks. First, the mop pad takes a while to soak through; in our test, we had to wait about 5 minutes during the cleaning process before we saw consistent, non-streaky results. If the water tank is full, it can also sometimes leave the odd drip mark. If you’re planning to use the mopping function regularly, note that you’ll lose some of the hands-free perks of the self-emptying base station. All of the mopping features, from replacing and cleaning the mop pads to refilling the liquid, are entirely manual.

However, there’s no doubt that the Combo J7 Plus offers a mopping experience that’s far superior to anything we’ve yet seen in a combination robot vacuum and mop. Once it gets going, the mop is great – and it left our floors shiny and mark-free.

The Combo J7 Plus treats carpets with care, giving them a thorough clean before moving on to mop and vacuum the floors. We tested our vacuum to see if we could trick it into mopping our bathroom rug, by moving it around before and during a cleaning cycle. However, the clever little bot was more than capable of identifying the change in texture and storing away its mop so as to not damage or dampen the carpet.

In general, the Combo J7 Plus was fairly quiet as it made its way around our home, registering a maximum of 68dB on our decibel meter – generally, it’s even quieter, but the volume rises by around 5dB when the vacuum natively boosts its suction. However, we had a nasty shock when it returned to base for the first time. The noise of the self-emptying function scared the living daylights out of us, registering a colossal 90dB – and while it lasts for only a few seconds, it’s loud enough that we’d strongly recommend against using it in any circumstance where you need to be noise-conscious. 

Performance: 4.5 / 5

iRobot Roomba Combo J7 Plus app

• Can set vacuum to clean while you’re out
• Snaps any obstacles or errors
• Works with Alexa, Siri and Google Assistant 

If we were to summarise the iRobot app in three words, they’d be “peace of mind”. The app exists to make owning the Combo J7 Plus as easy and intelligent as possible, guiding you through the initial mapping phase, all the way through to voice assistant setup and map customization. There are tips and reminders, you can check the lifespan of the vacuum’s components, and you can even name your vacuum – we called ours Buttercup!

Since there are no advanced manual controls on the vacuum, the app plays a huge role in managing this robovac. It’s always preferable to give customers the option, but it makes sense to push people towards the app when you consider how many of those price-inflating features depend on user interaction.

Mapping is excellent, and it doesn’t end after your robot’s initial mapping task; the Combo J7 Plus continues to learn. It can detect different surface types and provides estimations in the app of where different rooms start and end. Even in larger, split rooms like our testing environment, it was able to identify where the living room space ended and where the kitchen/dining room began. It also noted the area in my kitchen where I most often stand to cook as a cleaning zone that requires more attention, notifying me in the app that it had a new recommendation. 

The zoning feature also helped us solve a particular challenge we face with robot vacuums: doorstops. Living in an apartment with heavy fire doors that close without a doorstop isn’t the best setup for a robot vacuum that can’t open doors, and the bot doesn’t yet recognize doorstops as an obstacle, so it frequently dislodged them. However, with the zoning tool, we were able to fence off the area where our door is and stop the vacuum from imprisoning itself. 

App: 5 / 5

iRobot Roomba Combo J7 Plus battery

• Takes roughly two hours to recharge
• Difficult to tell how much charge remains
• Intelligent recharging while job is paused

Overall, the battery specs of the iRobot Roomba Combo J7 Plus are something of a beautiful mystery; there’s no official word from iRobot on the length of the battery life, but we found it pretty difficult to drain. We were able to complete three full cleans (mopping and vacuuming) of our one-bedroom apartment and still have battery life to spare, so it can last at least 120 minutes.

The vacuum will automatically return to its base between jobs, or if it runs out of battery during a task, the spinning circular light around the button on its lid will let you know when it’s finished charging, shifting to illuminate just the lower half of the button. It does use a “very small amount of energy” when docked, says iRobot, but it’s possible to change its settings in the app to reduce this further. 

Battery: 5 / 5

iRobot Roomba Combo J7 Plus score card

Should I buy the iRobot Roomba Combo J7 Plus?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

• First reviewed: November 2022

Editor's Note

• Original review date: November 2022
• Newer Roomba Combo J9 Plus now out
• Launch price: $1,099.99 / £999 / AU$2,199
• Official price now: The same, though frequently discounted by circa. $200 / £200 / AU$400

Updated: January 2024. While it's no longer iRobot's leader of the pack, the iRobot Roomba Combo J7 Plus still stands as one of the best robot vacuums. Still, we imagine it'll move to a slightly lower position once we've been able to test the more premium Combo J9 Plus. The J7 Plus is regularly discounted at this point; as of writing, it's £749 / AU$1899, and we've seen prices drop to $899 in the US previously during Black Friday. Especially at this discounted price, it's well worth the money, offering one of the most thorough and intelligent cleans we've seen. The rest of this review remains as previously published.

One-minute review

The Roomba Combo J7 Plus (stylized as Roomba Combo j7+) is a revelation. It’s without doubt one of the best robot vacuums on the market right now, thanks to the fantastic features we’ve come to expect from iRobot, and the fact that it can mop too. It’s the first of its kind, introducing a new retractable mop pad mechanic that marks a significant improvement over the bottom-mounted mop pads we’re used to seeing on robovacs, with which there was a risk of dampening carpets. 

Otherwise, it mirrors the vacuum-only iRobot Roomba J7 Plus in almost every way – which is no bad thing, considering we were impressed by its intelligence, suction power, and design elements such as the dual rubber brushes that prevent hair from becoming tangled around the brush bar. Mapping is superb, and as the robot learns more about your home, it will suggest areas that might need more attention.

As one of the pioneers in the robovac market, it’s no surprise to see great quality from iRobot. While this model isn’t quite as premium as the Roomba S9 Plus in terms of its suction power, the J7 Plus still holds its own, collecting dust and debris from both hard floors and carpets with relative ease.

It’s an incredibly smart machine, armed with a full gamut of exciting smart features, including object and dirt detection. These are powered by built-in AI that can spot the most common items cluttering your home, and your pets, cleaning around them without incident. Plus, it can pick up particles as small as 0.7 microns and can detect and avoid pet poop, making it perfect for pet owners. Note that iRobot regularly updates its operating system, so you can expect to see new functions added to your bot in the future.

As with other iRobot models, the “Plus” suffix refers to the inclusion of a larger base station that facilitates automatic dirt disposal. After each clean, or whenever the 14oz / 0.4-liter internal dustbin is full, the vacuum will empty itself into a 57oz / 1.7-liter bag in its home base, which can hold up to 60 days worth of dirt, depending on how regularly you clean your floors. Using this feature does mean you’ll have to consider the longer-term cost of replacing the bags, however.

All of these features make the iRobot Roomba J7 Plus one of the most hassle and hands-free robot vacuum cleaners we’ve tested, and during our time using it, we also noticed a reduction in the amount of time we spent cleaning – a real boon when life gets in the way. However, this robot vacuum is very expensive at $1,099.99 / £999 / AU$2,199, so you definitely pay for the privilege of a low-maintenance cleanup.

Keep in mind though that Roomba Black Friday deals are live now. You might find this model at a heavily discounted price.

iRobot Roomba Combo J7 Plus price & availability

• List price:  $1,099.99 / £999 / AU$2,199 

The iRobot Roomba Combo J7 Plus robot vacuum and mop is currently available online, and can be bought directly from the iRobot store and Amazon for $1,099.99 / £999.99 / AU$2,199. As well as the self-emptying base, the Plus model comes with two AllergenLock bags, an extra filter, and a spare side brush. If you want to skip out on the base, the regular Roomba Combo J7 will set you back £799 / AU$1,699; as of writing, only the Plus package is available in the US.

There’s no denying this cleaner is expensive, and if this sophisticated robot vacuum’s many bells and whistles don’t appeal to you, it definitely won’t be money well spent. However, especially compared to budget-friendly vacuums, the intelligence and low-maintenance nature of this cleaner make it well worth the money for those with busy lifestyles or an aversion to cleaning. Plus, the mopping function adds only $200 / £100 / AU$400 to the price tag of the regular J7.

Of course, there are ongoing costs to consider, too. You’ll need to replace the self-emptying base station’s vacuum bags if you intend to use this feature regularly, and if you want a deeper clean with the mop pad than just using water, you’ll want to pick up some of the iRobot-approved cleaning solution, too.

Value: 4 / 5

iRobot Roomba Combo J7 Plus design

• Self-emptying bin
• Retractable mop pad
• 14oz / 0.4-liter dust bin

In most ways, the iRobot Roomba Combo J7 Plus mirrors its regular vacuum-only sibling, the Roomba J7 Plus. It’s an all-black beauty with a matte black casing and a gunmetal disc on its flush top. Here, you’ll also find its very minimalist control system: one button you can press to pause and start the vacuum or hold for five seconds to send it home. Measuring 13.3 x 13.3 x 3.4 inches / 33.8 x 33.8 x 8.6cm (h x w x d), it has relatively good clearance but will struggle with some lower-down furnishings.

Of course, the big difference is the retractable mop pad, which sits on the top of the vacuum at the rear. When called upon, the mop pad lifts and tucks beneath the unit in an incredibly satisfying, smooth motion - it's a real feat of design. You can attach the mop pads to the arm easily by sliding and clicking in the snap-fit attachments.

The front half of the vacuum is surrounded by a plastic bumper, which has a window through which the robovac’s detectors can sense its surroundings and obstacles. On its underside, there are two bidirectional wheels and one swivel wheel, a three-armed side brush to flick debris out of corners and away from walls, and dual rubber brush bars. These bars are designed to be flexible, working across floor types without damaging them, and preventing hair from becoming tangled. 

On the rear half, there’s the 14oz / 0.4-liter dust bin, which can be ejected by pressing the tactile panel next to it. This is also where you’ll find the liquid chamber – and, unlike some other robot vacuums and mops, the Roomba Combo J7 Plus is cleaning solution-compatible, arriving with a sample bottle of iRobot cleaning solution that won’t damage your device. iRobot’s help section suggests Bona Hardwood/Hard Surface Cleaner is safe to use, too. 

As with previous models, the Combo J7 Plus comes with plenty of swish features that are designed to make life easier. Instead of manually controlling suction, the clever robovac can detect dirtier areas and increase power if need be, which doubles as a great battery conservation feature if you want thorough cleaning but can’t supervise the vacuum to adjust its suction settings in dirtier rooms. The built-in camera helps the robot navigate intelligently, but also detects obstacles and hazards – from socks to stairs. And, of course, this model comes with iRobot’s Pet Ownership Official Promise – also known as P.O.O.P – to detect and avoid pet messes, thus preventing nasty clean-up jobs. 

This model includes iRobot’s Clean Base with automatic dirt disposal. Unfortunately, it can’t clean your mop pads or refill the water tank, but considering it does just about everything else, we’ll let that slide. The clean base measures 12.55 x 13.39 x 15.35 inches / 31.9 x 34 x 39cm and needs clearance of 1.5ft / 0.5m on each side and 4ft / 1.2m in front. Like the vacuum itself, the base is all-black with some textured accents, and a brown-leather tag provides easy access to the bin. 

Under the base hood, there’s a pre-fitted cleaning bag and one spare in a neat little compartment that reduces the need for extra external storage space – although additional space to house a spare mop pad and side brush would have been welcome. The vacuum bags can hold up to 60 days of dirt, according to iRobot, and the LED indicator on the front of the canister will turn red when the dirt bag is full. 

Design: 5 / 5

iRobot Roomba Combo J7 Plus performance

• Fantastic pickup on both carpet and hard floor
• Object detection works wonderfully
• Mop works well once it soaks through

As we’ve highlighted earlier in this review, the iRobot Combo J7 Plus vacuums to the same high standard as the non-mopping J7 Plus model. It performs well on hard floors, collecting both fine debris and larger crumbs, although with larger spills in particular, the side brush will often make a meal of flicking the litter across the floor, which extends cleaning time. 

Large spills of fine powders such as those in our flour and biscuit test will be tracked across the floor by the bot, and when overwhelmed by such debris, the vacuum throws some of it back on the ground when making its way to the charging station to unload. When it returned to the floor to finish the job, it mostly collected the remnants; however, some of the oats that had been flung further afield were missed. Of course, the frequency with which your robot vacuum will be collecting large amounts of concentrated debris is fairly minimal. During a regular clean, the vacuum is very systematic and successful at sucking up standard household grime; we never once saw it creating any mess.  

As stated earlier, there’s no manual control option for suction power on the Combo J7 Plus. Instead, it intelligently detects the dirt level on the floor and makes adjustments itself accordingly. The bot will maintain a winding route around your home while cleaning, but if it detects a messier space, it will pause to go over it before resuming on its path. Similarly, when encountering an obstacle, the bot will pause, find a way around whatever clutter it has identified (we tested with socks, wires and toys), either avoiding the object to continue its journey from the next logical place, or intentionally nudging larger, non-furniture obstacles such as toys out of its way. 

The standout feature with the Combo J7 Plus is, of course, its mopping ability, and we were really impressed by how it performed. We were concerned that the mop pad wouldn’t dock neatly below the unit, or that its arms would be too delicate to deliver the pressure required to mop floors well. On the contrary, the Combo J7 Plus was capable of giving our floors a lovely shine-up, especially when we used the cleaning solution sample included with the vacuum. In the app, you can decide for each of your favorite cleaning modes whether you’d like to use a minimal, medium or maximum dose of liquid. 

There are a few drawbacks. First, the mop pad takes a while to soak through; in our test, we had to wait about 5 minutes during the cleaning process before we saw consistent, non-streaky results. If the water tank is full, it can also sometimes leave the odd drip mark. If you’re planning to use the mopping function regularly, note that you’ll lose some of the hands-free perks of the self-emptying base station. All of the mopping features, from replacing and cleaning the mop pads to refilling the liquid, are entirely manual.

However, there’s no doubt that the Combo J7 Plus offers a mopping experience that’s far superior to anything we’ve yet seen in a combination robot vacuum and mop. Once it gets going, the mop is great – and it left our floors shiny and mark-free.

The Combo J7 Plus treats carpets with care, giving them a thorough clean before moving on to mop and vacuum the floors. We tested our vacuum to see if we could trick it into mopping our bathroom rug, by moving it around before and during a cleaning cycle. However, the clever little bot was more than capable of identifying the change in texture and storing away its mop so as to not damage or dampen the carpet.

In general, the Combo J7 Plus was fairly quiet as it made its way around our home, registering a maximum of 68dB on our decibel meter – generally, it’s even quieter, but the volume rises by around 5dB when the vacuum natively boosts its suction. However, we had a nasty shock when it returned to base for the first time. The noise of the self-emptying function scared the living daylights out of us, registering a colossal 90dB – and while it lasts for only a few seconds, it’s loud enough that we’d strongly recommend against using it in any circumstance where you need to be noise-conscious. 

Performance: 4.5 / 5

iRobot Roomba Combo J7 Plus app

• Can set vacuum to clean while you’re out
• Snaps any obstacles or errors
• Works with Alexa, Siri and Google Assistant 

If we were to summarise the iRobot app in three words, they’d be “peace of mind”. The app exists to make owning the Combo J7 Plus as easy and intelligent as possible, guiding you through the initial mapping phase, all the way through to voice assistant setup and map customization. There are tips and reminders, you can check the lifespan of the vacuum’s components, and you can even name your vacuum – we called ours Buttercup!

Since there are no advanced manual controls on the vacuum, the app plays a huge role in managing this robovac. It’s always preferable to give customers the option, but it makes sense to push people towards the app when you consider how many of those price-inflating features depend on user interaction.

Mapping is excellent, and it doesn’t end after your robot’s initial mapping task; the Combo J7 Plus continues to learn. It can detect different surface types and provides estimations in the app of where different rooms start and end. Even in larger, split rooms like our testing environment, it was able to identify where the living room space ended and where the kitchen/dining room began. It also noted the area in my kitchen where I most often stand to cook as a cleaning zone that requires more attention, notifying me in the app that it had a new recommendation. 

The zoning feature also helped us solve a particular challenge we face with robot vacuums: doorstops. Living in an apartment with heavy fire doors that close without a doorstop isn’t the best setup for a robot vacuum that can’t open doors, and the bot doesn’t yet recognize doorstops as an obstacle, so it frequently dislodged them. However, with the zoning tool, we were able to fence off the area where our door is and stop the vacuum from imprisoning itself. 

App: 5 / 5

iRobot Roomba Combo J7 Plus battery

• Takes roughly two hours to recharge
• Difficult to tell how much charge remains
• Intelligent recharging while job is paused

Overall, the battery specs of the iRobot Roomba Combo J7 Plus are something of a beautiful mystery; there’s no official word from iRobot on the length of the battery life, but we found it pretty difficult to drain. We were able to complete three full cleans (mopping and vacuuming) of our one-bedroom apartment and still have battery life to spare, so it can last at least 120 minutes.

The vacuum will automatically return to its base between jobs, or if it runs out of battery during a task, the spinning circular light around the button on its lid will let you know when it’s finished charging, shifting to illuminate just the lower half of the button. It does use a “very small amount of energy” when docked, says iRobot, but it’s possible to change its settings in the app to reduce this further. 

Battery: 5 / 5

iRobot Roomba Combo J7 Plus score card

Should I buy the iRobot Roomba Combo J7 Plus?

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• First reviewed: November 2022