We purchased the Roomba 960 a few months back, and now we’ve had the chance to give it a full review in a house full of pets!
Main Features Of The Roomba 960
The main reason we purchased the Roomba from iRobot was for convenience. As a busy family, we often don’t vacuum near as much as we should which leaves pet hair tumbleweeds rolling across the floor. We’re happy to report overall the Roomba does a great job of keeping our house cleaner. We are able to have the Roomba run 2-3 times per week which results in a cleaner home than we used to have.
The Roomba 960 is also very convenient. Besides emptying the dust bin, it really has become a sit it and forget it type of device. The Roomba 960 comes equipped with the app from iRobot, which allows us to schedule the weekly cleanings and see them while in progress. This is a great feature we are happy to have.
A feature of the Roomba we weren’t anticipating but it’s welcomed is its ability to clean under hard to reach locations such as our bed and dressers. These are areas which we most likely would not be keeping tidy with our regular vacuum. Great work Roomba. Another neat feature is cords don’t seem to bother the Roomba. It runs over my phone charging cord and it doesn’t get caught on it or destroy the cable.
As a pet owner, our pets are usually terrified of the vacuum. The Roomba, they seem to have become accustomed to and don’t run from it. We chalk that up to how quiet it is compared to our Dyson ball vacuum.
What We Don’t Like About The Roomba 960
Now let’s get to the negatives. The big elephant in the room is the price. We purchased the Roomba 960 for $529 in 2018, which is a big-time price for vacuum. iRobot does not vacuums which are slightly more or slightly less. We chose this particular model because it can clean multiple surfaces, multiple rooms, and we can schedule cleanings.
Another problem we have had with the Roomba is its propensity to get stuck. It has a way with shutting doors and can at times close itself in a room causing it to not complete a cleaning cycle.
You also need to be sure you are keeping this model cleaning and dumping the collection bin. Without a clean bin, it will not run the cleaning cycle. This takes a bit of planning, but it hasn’t seemed to be too inconvenient for us.
After almost a year with the Roomba 960, we are starting to see some durability issues with the brushes. With a vacuum of this price, we would hope to not have these issues at this point.
A feature we would love to see iRobot implement would be the ability to choose a room and just clean this room. Like most families, we have a certain room which getting dirty first so it would be nice to clean those rooms without running the entire cleaning cycle.
Final Impressions
Overall, we find the Roomba 960 has accomplished our goal of having a cleaner house without us putting in more work. Yes, it is an expensive vacuum but for our family, it seems to be worth it. It has not replaced our Dyson which we use for a deeper cleaning but it does a great job on a weekly basis.
If you own a Roomba by iRobot let us know your thoughts in the comments!
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