Petteri Pyyny
13 Apr 2026 11:21
The pioneer of robot vacuums, iRobot, significantly updated its product line during 2025. The company's Roombas received LiDAR light radars for the first time, and at the same time, the smartphone application intended for controlling the robots was significantly updated (actually, several times).
From the new product line, we put one of the most interesting cases to a long test, the Roomba Plus 505 Combo, christened with a confusing name monster, which, to avoid any confusion, also bears the name Roomba 505 Combo+.
This is a robot vacuum that mops floors with rotating mop pads, intelligently avoids obstacles with the help of a camera, empties its own dustbin, and washes its own mops. In other words, a direct answer to the currently most popular category of robot vacuums.
As is our custom, we put the new product to a user test lasting about six months, where the robot was the only tool responsible for the cleanliness of the apartment's floors throughout our test period. Conveniently, the test also fell in the middle of the Nordic winter, meaning that grit, slush, and various other dirt were carried indoors with shoes, hindering Roomba's work.
So, let's find out how the Roomba 505 Combo+ performed its task..
However, the biggest headache when reviewing Roomba was its fluctuating price: the robot's price range was around $700/€800 at the beginning of our test period, which would be far too much for this particular model. But the price dropped to around $500/€500 over the winter, at which point Roomba 505 became competitive again in terms of price-quality ratio.
At the time of our review, Roomba's price has been pretty constantly set at $500/€500, so we've deciding our star rating based on that price level. And with a price tag under €500/$500, Roomba Plus 505 Combo is, in our opinion, a very good robot vacuum.