iRobot Roomba 960: Efficient Cleaning and Remote Control
The Roomba 960 with auto-charging and air-filtration is a high-end robot vacuum cleaner with Wi-Fi and a bunch of smart features, including voice control via Alexa. Besides, it’s compatible with Braava Jet M6 to do the mopping. Let’s see whether it is really worth the money.
Dimensions
The iRobot Roomba 960 robot vacuum has standard for Roomba’s units 13.8 x 13.8 x 3.6 inches in size, weighing 8.6 pounds. So, this model is compact enough to move it between rooms and floors, if necessary. It has a surprisingly large dust container of 750ml compared with a typical capacity of 500ml averagely.
Features
The Roomba 960 is suitable for cleaning hard and soft surfaces since it can enhance its power and change head height depending on the floor type. The unit has 3 modes for general cleaning (Auto), removing dirt along the walls (Edge), and eliminating spots and spills (Spot). The device works flawlessly on both thin and thick carpets, removing over 90% of pet hair and other types of dirt. However, I should say that it gets stuck among small pieces instead of avoiding them.
The unit detects the stairs not to fall over the edge. An iAdapt camera on top helps the robot navigate, requiring at least a small amount of light. Once the battery is empty, the robot comes back to its base to charge and then finishes the job from where it has stopped. It doesn’t produce much noise, allowing people around to talk and watch TV.
The users can control the iRobot 960 through the mobile app, naming it, scheduling, choosing modes, etc. It’s also possible to set how many passes should the robot do during operation — one or two. Note that it’s possible to set a specific time for the robot to work and each day separately to make it run at a different time. However, there is no option to schedule the cleaning of particular rooms on different days.
Design
Let’s continue the Roomba 960 review by describing its design that is similar to many other Roomba models. It’s a round-shaped unit made of hard plastic. There is a Clean button on the gray glossy top. The other two smaller buttons on its sides are for returning the vacuum to its base and make it remove spots. The bin release button removes the debris container. A small handle allows lifting the unit up and placing it elsewhere. The device has a big bumper with a matte finish on the front to prevent the robot from damage when it hits obstacles.
The two wheels underneath are quite heavily suspended to let the unit drive over carpets, and a small caster wheel on the front allows the vacuum to navigate the space. Two brushes roll towards each other to capture the debris and direct it to the trash container. They have no bristles to avoid tangling. A single rotating brush with three blades with bristles is on the side.
The unit is packed with a spare filter, a side brush, a Virtual Wall, and a Roomba 960 manual to help the users set, manage, and maintain the robot hassle-free.
Conclusion
Generally, this model has an excellent performance on bare floors and carpets that makes the unit rather versatile. The robot Roomba 960 app control is great to manage the vacuum remotely, for example, from the office. Yet, the small kids’ parents should consider removing all small pieces from the floor before launching the robot.
