* Note: the iRobot Roomba 960 has been discontinued, but you can look for alternatives like the roomba 981.
Talking about iRobot is talking about robot vacuum cleaners, and its range Roomba It is notably known around the world as one of the pioneers in this sector. Few products have become as popular in recent years as robot vacuums, and much of the blame rests with iRobot and its products.
One of these could not be missing in our newsroom, which is why we want to bring you the analysis of the iRobot Roomba 960, a classic, efficient and powerful robot vacuum cleaner. Stay with us and discover everything we have to tell you about him.
Article Sections
Design and materials
This Roomba 960 is precisely one of those that offers a more contained price than those found on the market, but iRobot is not going to give up its hallmark for that. Despite having a classic round size and being wrapped in plastic materials, iRobot always gives a feeling of quality at first touch, it feels well built, robust and resistant, and that gives us a lot of peace of mind.
- Weight :: 3,9 kg
- Measures: : 35 35 x x 91 cm
The lower part has a single brush that attracts dirt towards the suction cup, we have a double silicone brush suction cup. This will allow us to carry out a good cleaning without too many complications.. iRobot is still going for a single side brush, and so far the move has seemed to work out quite well for it. We have numerous slope, tracking and anti-fall sensors, so we do not have to worry at all about its survival. We are facing a Roomba product with all the letters despite the fact that the price is more contained than normal.
Cleaning modes and technical characteristics
iRobot has patented a three-stage cleaning mode call aeroforce, designed to clean all types of floors, for this purpose its reverse rotation brushes and its powerful motor concentrate on "scratching" the floor and dislodging dirt. Despite this, it is particularly important brand iAdapt 2.0 navigation system, that makes you go from corner to corner without leaving anything behind. Without a doubt, iRobot knows what it is doing and this Roomba 960, despite the price, was not going to be less. Despite this, it only has “two cleaning modes”, a normal one and this one specially designed for embedded dirt, but… if it works, why are we going to need more?
We have a second generation suction motor that promises 50% more power than the previous series, without specifically knowing the Pa that it offers, yes. iRobot is usually quite suspicious of providing this type of information. With everything and with that the acoustic and optical sensors detect the dirtiest areas and put more emphasis on these spaces, this Roomba is quite intelligent.
Connectivity and extra functions
we have WiFi, In these times it could not be otherwise. For this we have iRobot Home, an application compatible with iOS and Android that will allow us to start and pause cleaning cycles, customize cleaning preferences such as the number of passes and the depth of cleaning, take a look at the cleaning map and the statistics of the work carried out, as well as perform and review the maintenance of the robot.
How could it be otherwise, iRobot constantly releases software updates for its products, this Roomba 960 will also receive the necessary ones to function in optimal conditions.
On the other hand, we have a "virtual wall" called Virtual Wall Dual that, in addition to working in standard wall mode, will make a "halo mode" that will create a cone-shaped barrier so it will offer protection to a series of products within the demarcated area, this will help us, for example, to protect our pets' food bowls, something that comes in really handy, it will not be the first time that a robot vacuum cleaner wets my floor for attacking my cat's water bowl. An interesting extra obviously included in the product packaging.
Autonomy and user experience
We do not have exact data regarding battery capacity, what we do know is that it offers exactly 75 minutes of autonomy. Thanks to its perimeter scanner and camera that helps you map our house it does not need more time and takes advantage of it to offer more suction power. Definitely the battery is more than enough if we take into account the navigation optimization that this product carries out.
How could it be otherwise, when the battery begins to decrease by the lower limit, he himself moves to his charging port, where It will take two to three hours to complete.
The cleaning of this Roomba 960 is not the quietest on the market, of course, we have an average of 70 dB in use, however, it is not so loud as to be annoying, and everything makes sense given the suction power and operation it has.
We have a special system that prevents tangles of pet hair, and those of us who have cats and dogs appreciate it very much. My experience has been satisfactory in terms of autonomy and cleaning efficiency, In addition, the application is intuitive and easy to configure.
Editor's opinion
This Roomba 960 is one of the best value for money iRobot has on the market. From my point of view, it is essential that it has a mapping to carry out intelligent and, above all, efficient cleaning, and it does it wonderfully. Despite not having many cleaning modes, it is in charge of determining when it is necessary to carry out a deeper cleaning and that is appreciated.
Definitely this Roomba 960 for the 399 euros that it costs on Amazon is one of the most interesting products that we are going to find, always keeping in mind that iRobot is the high-end of vacuum robots.
