iRobot Roomba Combo Essential Robot Vacuum and Mop

It's mixed. The Roomba Combo Essential cleans in back-and-forth rows and doesn't build a map of your home. Some homes find it reaches every spot, while in others it misses corners and gets stuck under low furniture. Checking the clearance under sofas and beds before the first run saves a lot of rescues.

It's a light wipe, not a scrub. The Combo Essential puts down a little water through its pump-fed pad, which is fine for dust and footprints between proper cleans, and a few are happy with that. Dried spills often stay put, so plan on mopping those by hand. iRobot says the washable pad lasts up to 30 uses.

Yes, as upkeep. In homes with dogs and cats the Roomba Combo Essential keeps shed hair under control on hard floors and area rugs between full vacuuming sessions. The bin holds 0.39 liters, and an edge-sweeping brush pulls hair out from along the baseboards.

It can be. App setup and scheduling go smoothly for some, but others fight with creating the iRobot account or pairing the Roomba Combo Essential to Wi-Fi before it'll run at all. It needs a 2.4 GHz network, so check your router offers one before you start.

Probably not. The Combo Essential is good at daily upkeep, but it often leaves fine debris behind and does less on rugs, so it's common to still run a regular vacuum once a week. Think of it as the thing that keeps floors tidy between those cleans.

Not very. The Roomba Combo Essential runs fairly quietly, more quietly than a typical upright and than the older robots it tends to replace. iRobot doesn't publish a decibel figure for it, so there's no number to hold it against other models.