iRobot just unveiled its new $275 Roomba Combo Essential. That's a shockingly low price for a 2-in-1 robot that both vacuums and mops complete with the brand's premium smart features.
The new model's iRobotOS intelligence can automatically clean when you leave the house, create detailed visual cleaning reports, and suggest cleanings for a fraction of the cost of the best Roombas we've tested.
The Roomba Combo Essential is an upgraded replacement for the budget-focused Roomba 600 series. Its smaller dimensions, which fit under furniture, allow it to cover more ground and clean better. It also has a longer 120-minute battery life. Compared to the 600 Series, the new Roomba Combo Essential has 20x more suction power and 25% better hard floor dirt pickup.
iRobot OS navigates in a row pattern for a thorough clean. The wet-dry vac logs its work using the smart Clean Map report feature. This generates a report in the iRobot app to show you how long it took to clean and where it was covered. Your app will even suggest cleaning times just like the $1400 Roomba J9+ Combo we've recently reviewed.
The Roomba Combo Essential's deceptively low-profile design packs plenty of equipment under the hood. Its 4-Stage Cleaning System consists of a special V-Shaped Multi-Surface Brush, an Edge-Sweeping Brush, and a pump-fed microfiber mop pad that work together to vacuum and mop hard floors in a single passthrough.
Unfortunately, this doesn't come with an auto-empty dock like the budget Shark IQ does for a truly hands-free set-and-forget operation. While it doesn't automatically equip or clean its mop pad, it can be removed to run the Essential in a vacuum-only mode across floor types. There are three suction power levels and three water level options you can choose between depending on the mess.
The Roomba Combo Essential robot ($274.99, iRobot) is available in the U.S. now on iRobot.com and will be available at select retailers beginning April 7. It will be available in Canada directly from iRobot and at select retailers beginning April 12.
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