Our rating system

Q: Is an 8/10 rating good?

Yes. Our scale isn’t generous: 8/10 marks a very good robot with no dealbreaker flaws. Above 9, a machine has to dominate its category on several criteria at once. We don’t hand out 9.5 to everything that launches.

Q: Why does value for money carry so much weight?

Because it’s the question you’re actually asking. A Roomba Mini at 269 € that suctions half as hard as a 115 Combo at 199 € isn’t a good buy, whatever its compactness merits.

Q: Why do some iRobot reviews have unscored criteria?

When iRobot doesn’t disclose a figure (battery, dock emptying interval on some models…), we leave the corresponding criterion unscored rather than guess a value. Battery capacity isn’t disclosed for any of the six models in our selection.

Q: Does the rating change over time?

Yes, deliberately. Value for money depends on the real price: a discounted model sees its rating rise, one overtaken by a successor sees it fall. Every review carries its update date.

A rating without a public grid means nothing. Here’s ours, in full.

The six criteria

Suction (20%): Power in Pa when disclosed, claimed behavior on carpet and pet hair
Mopping (20%): Presence or absence of a mop pad, technology (rotating, flat), automatic washing and drying
Navigation (15%): LiDAR, AI camera, mapping, obstacle handling
Dock (15%): Emptying, washing, drying — and what’s left to do by hand
App (10%): Multi-floor mapping, no-go zones, usability
Value for money (20%): What you get for your money, at the current real-world price

What each criterion measures

Suction. From the Max 775 Combo (30,000 Pa) to the Roomba Mini (7,000 Pa), the gap is the widest in the entire lineup we track. Within the Plus/Max series, price closely tracks suction; the notable exception is the Mini, pricier than the 115 Combo for half the suction.

Mopping. iRobot draws a clear line between models with an AutoWash dock (Max 775, Plus 575, Plus 515, Plus 415), which wash and dry the mop pad automatically, and models with a hand-washed pad (115 Combo) or a disposable one (Mini). The line sits at 329 €: below it, automatic mopping disappears entirely.

Navigation. The Max 775 and the Plus 575 combine LiDAR with a PrecisionVision™ AI camera; the other models in our selection document only a plain LiDAR. We score the richness of documented sensors, not any one technology specifically.

Dock. A dock that empties, washes and dries automatically lets you forget about the robot for weeks. A base that only empties the bin (115 Combo), or plain charging, demands more frequent manual intervention: it’s the criterion that penalizes entry-level models the most in our grid.

App. Barely differentiating from one iRobot model to the next — the Roomba Home app is shared across the whole lineup. Hence its limited 10% weighting.

Value for money. The only criterion that shifts over time, because it depends on the current real-world price. For iRobot, it produces a counterintuitive result: the Plus 575 Combo (449 €) beats the Max 775 Combo (799 €) in the overall rankings, and the 115 Combo (199 €) beats the pricier Roomba Mini (269 €).

The scale

Rating	What it means
9.0 – 10	Dominates its category on several criteria. Rare.
8.0 – 8.9	Very good robot, no dealbreaker flaws.
7.0 – 7.9	Good robot, with a deliberate trade-off (price, mopping, missing data).
6.0 – 6.9	Decent, but dated or poorly priced.
< 6.0	Avoid: another model does better for the same price.

We only score what we can justify. A rating rests on the model’s standard spec sheet and its position within the lineup. It doesn’t claim to predict three-year reliability — nobody can, and sites that claim otherwise are guessing.

Why our ratings don’t track price

If our grid were lenient, the rating would rise with price. It doesn’t: the 115 Combo at 199 € (7.5) beats the pricier Roomba Mini at 269 € (6.5), because it suctions twice as hard.

That’s the mechanical result of a grid applied without exception. And it’s exactly what a ranking aligned with commercial interest would never produce.

→ Our full method · The rankings

Frequently asked questions

Is an 8/10 rating good?

Yes. Our scale isn’t generous: 8/10 marks a very good robot with no dealbreaker flaws. Above 9, a machine has to dominate its category on several criteria at once. We don’t hand out 9.5 to everything that launches.

Why does value for money carry so much weight?

Because it’s the question you’re actually asking. A Roomba Mini at 269 € that suctions half as hard as a 115 Combo at 199 € isn’t a good buy, whatever its compactness merits.

Why do some iRobot reviews have unscored criteria?

When iRobot doesn’t disclose a figure (battery, dock emptying interval on some models…), we leave the corresponding criterion unscored rather than guess a value. Battery capacity isn’t disclosed for any of the six models in our selection.

Does the rating change over time?

Yes, deliberately. Value for money depends on the real price: a discounted model sees its rating rise, one overtaken by a successor sees it fall. Every review carries its update date.

Our selection

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