Robot Vacuums

I had a Roomba 780 way back in 2011 whose battery finally gave out in 2018. Since I was moving to a new place with laminate floors I decided not to replace it at the time. In 2021 that changed. I decided it was time to get a mop vac for the floors and started doing some research. I found that my choices boiled down to some of the latest RoboRock vacuum/mop combos or the iRobot Braava M6. The M6 was at a price point I was willing to pay and, on paper, seemed to be good enough.

iRobot Braava M6

Boy was I wrong about the value of this. It’s a swiffer jet on wheels without the human weight/pressure to get anything even mildly stuck to the floor up. It’s good picking up some loose dirt. It also loved to bang into all obstructions instead of using its sensors to decide how close it could safely get. It also got stuck on carpets even though it has a camera and should be able to recognize them.

I have regrets about wasting money on this, however we currently have multiple floors and it does a good enough job for one of the floors. I do NOT recommend wasting money on this.

RoboRock S7 Ultra MaxV

After moving, we had enough sqft of floor space where I decided it was worth spending the money on the S7 Ultra MaxV. Unlike the M6, it is worth the hefty price tag.

• It goes right up next to furniture and other obstructions without bashing into all of it.
• It’s speedy but thorough. It can cover the same ground as the Braava M6 in under half the time and do a much better job.
• RoboRock’s mobile app and UX for setting up floors, room barriers, etc. is leagues ahead of iRobot.
• I can pick it up and move it and it very quickly recognizes where in the room I moved it to and continues on gracefully.
• It’s not using its wheels to determine its location so it doesn’t get lost nor does the map get messed up when it gets momentarily stuck on something.
• My favorite feature of all is the base that it empties the dirty water and trash to. The value add here is high.

This is the first robot vac that I consider a true game changer. Integrating it with HASS is still on the todo list, but everything points to it being doable!

Summary

If you want a great robot vacuum/map, go S7 Ultra MaxV if you can afford it. Avoid the M6. I don’t know about the newer iRobot vacs, but after the M6 and them now being owned by Amazon, RoboRock all the way for me!