(Credit: iRobot)
Unlike iRobot's earlier hybrid robot floor cleaners, the upcoming Roomba Combo 10 Max + Auto Wash Dock won't require you to do a load of laundry to keep its mop pad clean. The Auto Wash Dock part of the Combo 10 Max adds a long-awaited feature to iRobot's Roomba Combo line: the ability to wash and dry its own mop pads.
The Roomba Combo 10 Max + Auto Wash Dock costs $1,399.99, the same as last generation’s Combo j9+ at launch. It's available for preorder now and expected to begin shipping in mid-August.
Automatic Mop Washing Means Less Maintenance
Like the Roomba Combo j9+ and the older Roomba Combo j7+, the Combo 10 Max has a retractable mop that automatically raises on top of the robot when it's vacuuming carpet to avoid cross contamination. The company's fully retractable mop design has proved better at avoiding carpet wetting than competing hybrids with mop-lifting abilities, like the Ecovacs Deebot X2 Omni and the Roborock S8 MaxV Ultra, but with other Roomba Combo models, you have to remove and rinse the mop pads yourself, or toss them in the laundry to get them thoroughly cleaned between runs. Ecovacs and Roborock hybrids have been washing their own mop pads for years.
The Combo 10 Max plays catch up with a brush in the base that wedges the mop up, and spins against it to agitate dirt. The robot itself creates friction by moving back and forth during this process to ensure the whole pad gets scrubbed. The lifted mop pad also enables airflow for drying. After washing the mop pad, the base washes its own basin so it’s ready for the next job.
(Credit: iRobot)Roomba’s new Auto Wash Dock uses forced air for drying, but neither the water nor the air are heated during the process. An iRobot representative said the company tested these features, but determined they didn’t make enough of a difference. It also likely would have increased the price. The aforementioned flagship models from Ecovacs and Roborock both support hot water mop washing and hot air mop drying, and cost $1,499.99 and $1,799.99 respectively.
Enhanced Smarts
The Roomba Combo 10 adds a few other features that should improve its performance over the Combo j9+. Its camera and navigation system, as well as its Dirt Detect feature that recognizes and focuses on heavily soiled areas, have all been enhanced, iRobot says. It promises to map your home seven times faster than earlier Roomba models, and engage Dirt Detect eight times more frequently.
If you’ve already vacuumed and just want to give your floors a scrub, you can run the Combo 10 in a new Mop Only mode, in addition to the previous Vacuum Only and Vacuum & Mop modes.
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Otherwise, the Roomba Combo 10 carries over the rest of the capabilities of its predecessors. During mapping, it should recognize which room is which, and will prioritize dirty areas. It uses a camera and AI to recognize and avoid obstacles, and comes with the company’s longstanding Pet Owner Official Promise (aka P.O.O.P.), a guarantee that iRobot will replace your machine for free if it runs over and smears solid pet waste in the first year.
(Credit: iRobot)The Combo 10 has dual rubber brushes designed to adapt to different floor types and avoid tangles with pet hair. Those brushes are part of a 4-stage cleaning system that also includes an edge-sweeping brush, 100% stronger suction power compared with the company’s i series models, and the mopping functionality. The robot's mop will apply downward pressure and move back and forth when it senses dirty areas, in a feature called SmartScrub.
The Auto Wash Dock will open from the front like the base of the Combo j9+, allowing you to use the top as a side table without requiring you to move your lamps and magazines when you fill up the water tank. The clean water tank has a 3-liter capacity, which should allow for seven days of mopping between refills. The base will also contain a 2.5-liter dirty water tank, and a bag that should hold 60 days' worth of dust transferred from the robot's bin with self-emptying technology. The plastics of the dock are all antimicrobial to reduce bacteria build-up and odor over time.
Thanks to its room recognition abilities, the Combo 10 should be smart enough to swing back to the base to wash its mop after tackling dirty rooms like the bathroom before moving through the rest of your home to further limit cross contamination.
Matter Support Promised
Like its predecessors, the Combo 10 will work with popular smart home assistants like Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri out of the box. Later this fall via an over-the-air update, it will also be one of the first robot vacuums to feature Matter compatibility, iRobot says. The feature should make it easy to tie the Combo 10 into any other smart home setup you have.
We plan to test the Roomba Combo 10 Max + Auto Wash Dock as soon as possible to see if it lives up to its promises. Its predecessor already offers class-leading obstacle avoidance, so if its more thorough self-maintenance abilities and improved Dirt Detective feature work as intended, it could close the gap with our current favorite, the Ecovacs Deebot X2 Omni. In the meantime, check out all of our favorite robot vacuums and our favorite Roomba models.