iRobot Roomba Combo Essential Robot Vacuum Review

While the Combo Essential’s design focuses on cleaning, it has additional quality-of-life features. For example, this robot is compatible with iRobot OS, a smart platform that allows you to automate the cleaning schedule for when you leave your home rather than a set time.

If you’re not interested in smart features at all, then we’d suggest checking out the Eufy 11S Max, a vacuum-only robot that cannot connect to the Internet.

About the iRobot Roomba Combo Essential

• Weight: 6.2 pounds
• Dimensions: 13” x 3.15” (W x H)
  
• Cleaning modes: Low, Medium, High
• Voice assistant compatibility: Siri, Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa

The iRobot Roomba Combo Essential robot vacuum cleaner is an entry-level, robot vacuum-mop hybrid. It has a 4-stage cleaning system with its V-shaped brush, mop, edge-sweeper brush, and three levels of suction. The microfiber mop pad and a water tank are capable of cleaning up to 500 square feet. It also has up to 120 minutes of battery life before having to return to the charge station. The iRobot OS platform allows the app to suggest new cleaning routines, such as upping the number of times the robot runs during allergy and pet-shedding seasons.

What we like about the iRobot Combo Essential

Excellent dirt pickup

When we test robot vacuums, we use ground-up cork to simulate crumbs in a room filled with furniture legs, multiple flooring types, shelves, and other obstacles. The Combo Essential averaged 9.3 grams of crumbs per run. That puts this entry-level robot in the same league as the iRobot Combo j9+, which costs three times as much. Its sleek low-profile design allowed it to slip under shelves and furniture to seek out dust bunnies.

And it’s not just dirt and crumbs. The Combo Essential also does a decent job picking up pet hair. During testing, this iRobot picked up 75% of the pet hair tufts we left out for it, around what most robot vacuums get.

Finally, the mopping is on par with other robots that just use downward pressure to wipe down floors and a microfiber mop pad. While we appreciate the water level options, it’s not going to do that well with stuck-on stains, but it’ll do for general maintenance and cleaning fine dust. If you want a more legit floor mopping experience, you should check out the Ecovacs Omni X2.

Good smart features for the price

The iRobot Combo Essential is an entry-level price but it comes with plenty of smart features. The Combo Essential works with an app that is powered by iRobot OS. This gives you access to the iRobot Home app that allows users to start, stop, and suggest cleaning schedules. When a cleaning job is complete, the app gives a digital floor plan of the areas it covers.

One level deeper, the iRobot OS can automate the Combo Essential to clean when you’re not at home. You can set this in a variety of ways, but the simplest way is to allow the app access to your location services and when you’re away, the app will activate the robot vacuum automatically.

You can also program the Combo Essential via a number of smart home brands like Ecobee and August.

It is simple to use

The iRobot Roomba Combo Essential is made for everyone.

It’s really easy for robot vacuum manufacturers to go overboard with the amount of complicated features. What we think the Combo Essential does well is keeping it simple. You’re not missing out on anything crucial if you don’t hook the robot up to WiFi. All you need to do is press the Clean button and you’ll get the same great cleaning performance. Or if a single pass isn’t enough, there’s a button for spot cleaning as well.

Keeping it simple also helps keep the price down. Many of iRobot’s models of late have debuted with large price tags, so it’s nice to see the company that has affordability in mind. Paring down the number of features means that the Combo Essential focuses on fundamentals like cleaning in neat rows and getting flush with walls with its edge-sweeping brush.

What we don’t like

The navigation leaves a lot to be desired

During testing, the iRobot Combo Essential got stuck a few times. Its navigation is on par with other robot vacuums in its price point. However, it’s disappointing because we’ve tested many iRobot products that are champions of obstacle avoidance.

The major problem areas that we observed included the Combo Essential wedging itself between furniture legs and being unable to back up, getting caught on plush carpets, and beaching itself on extension cords.

Our testing areas are designed to be abnormally cluttered to test a robot’s mettle, o our suggestion is to make sure you remove power cords off the floor before running the Combo Essential. If you’re still having trouble, removing the mop and going to vacuum-only mode might help.

The competition is fierce at this price point

If you search online, you’ll find that there are a ton of robot vacuum brands at the sub-$300 price point. Brands like iLife and Ecovacs both make models that have similar suction power and smart features.

There are some advantages to sticking with the iRobot brand such as a clear warranty policy and a robust policy on data privacy.

However, if you’re just looking for something to help with the dust bunnies and you have no desire for clean map reports, you have a lot of options out there.

Should you buy the iRobot Combo Essential?

Yes, if you’re looking for an affordable Roomba

It’s always nice to see a company that has created a ton of innovation remember the fundamentals of cleaning essentials. The iRobot Roomba Combo Essential lives up to that name by having a minimalist design without sacrificing any major features. It’s great at vacuuming up crumbs and providing helpful smart features. It’s hard to argue with what you get for the price.