Petteri Pyyny
6 Jun 2023 9:19
Chinese robot vacuum manufacturers have been successful in selling consumers the idea that a robot vacuum combined with a robot mop is a much better solution. However, I personally have been skeptical of this idea for years. There are essentially two reasons for this: first, a lightweight mop cannot actually remove stuck-on dirt from the floor. But more importantly, I have highlighted the fact that a mop completely ruins the idea of easy-to-use robot vacuums.
Well, the world's largest robot vacuum manufacturer, Roomba, has strongly agreed with me on this and has not released any combination device that includes a robot vacuum and mop. However, apparently the pressure from Chinese manufacturers has changed Roomba's mind and they have finally released such a device: Roomba Combo j7+ is Roomba's first robot vacuum with a mop function.
We received the new device for testing in late 2022 and the testing period lasted almost a record-breaking four months because the robot stayed in our test locations for that long. During the testing period, Roomba Combo j7+ was used as the only floor cleaning tool in the test locations, as always during our tests. The robot was used in two very different types of homes during the testing period: one with lots of carpets and obstacles, and another that was very minimalist.
So, after a four-month period, let's find out how Roomba has managed to solve the problems of combining a robot vacuum and mop.
When awarding stars, we always take into account the device's price at the time of the review. Compared to, say, the affordable Roomba i3 model, Roomba Combo j7+ is, of course, a much better robot vacuum in every way.
However, a thousand-euro device comes with different expectations than a two-hundred-euro vacuum. In this case, the stars drop a bit due to a few shortcomings in obstacle avoidance, carpet cleaning performance, and the fact that the cleaning performance on carpets could still use some improvement.