iRobot Roomba 981 Robot Vacuum-Wi-Fi Connected Mapping, Works with Alexa, Ideal for Pet Hair, Carpets, Hard Floors, Power Boost Technology

*UPDATE* After 2+ yrs of daily house cleaning with 3 dogs, I am happy to report that we have had 0 issues . It still goes out on its daily run at noon. It still vacuums up 90% of stuff on the floor (struggles with the pyrenees hair), and I have never had to contact customer service. I deep clean the whole vacuum twice a year, and always try to clean the filter when I empty the bin. One thing I will suggest is to buy the OEM replacement filters and rollers ($30 vs $18). I cheaped out one time and bought the China knockoff brand, and had nothing but problems with quality and clogging. OEM stuff lasts x3 as long anyways. *ORIGINAL REVIEW* We've had a Neato D3 since they came out and went through 4 of them due to warranty covered failures. At the beginning of the pandemic, our D3 IV quit working and was (finally) out of warranty (a sure relief to Neato lol). Enter the Roomba 981 Setting our Roomba up via app took minutes, and had one of the best user interfaces I've worked with. Linking it to Alexa was also a 2 minute job. With the D3, I was just happy if it synced with my wifi (2 of them required tech support calls). Performance wise, this thing vacuums well enough to skip our main vacuum, and only gives us grief when we forget to pick up a cord. My favorite thing about our Roomba is the fact that it will go to its charge base when full, tell you via notification, and then go back out and clean some more. Overfilled dustbin was my biggest non-reliability complaint with the D3. I am giving this 5 stars and my glowing recommendation to buy this robot helper. It is mid range on the price scale, and Roomba has also been doing this longer than most and has this stuff perfected.

I've had many robot vacuums in my lifetime-- including several Irobot Roomba and several other brands. I recently went through some upcycling of my fleet, giving some way, buying some new and realizing that in the used / open box / refurb market there are AMAZING deals to be found. I started with the 692-- basically the same as my old model with a new face, no carry handle, then on to the 960 and 981. In all of the different models the 981 was tops on a couple points that are very interesting if you are comparing the 960 to the 981-- I was able to get the 692, 960 and 981 all for the same open box price-- and a huge difference in features & functions between the three-- so here I am to tell you like for like dollars, the 981 is the clear winner with a few points to be aware of. The 981 is superior to the 960 in the following ways: -Multi power operation: it can automatically run hi/low automatically based on dirt level or surface being run on -- I'm not sure-- it runs on high on carpet and low on wood-- most of the time it's low on wood or hard surfaces -Higher capacity battery - due to the dual speed operation it can have a shorter max run time on the low end but a higher run time on the high end depending on how much low/high running it does -Seems to have a dual exhaust dirt bin while my 960's have a single exhaust bin. I have still had a very difficult time substantiating this difference and trying to find replacement parts to more deeply understand this difference -It definitely cleans more deeply than any robot vacuum I've had in the past-- the carpet ends up standing straight up like it does from a traditional vacuum cleaner and after many years and robots this is a first! Surprising difference between the 960 and 980 series! Logic-wise, and as expected, the operational mode of this unit is essentially the same as the 960-- neat rows, less banging around against objects and devices as compared to past models. I won't go into more as my goal here was really to compare the 960 and 981 and the value that is to be had in the used/ warehouse / refurb market on this particular model-- coming in at the identical price between 981, 960 and 692 models which was shocking. I'm not here to argue any comparison to the i7 which I keep my eye on as well and in the warehouse / refurb / used market is never anywhere near the value that this model has been. While I'm here, also to remark every used / warehouse / refurb model I have ordered has been pristine condition with not any indication of use in any way. This model is the keeper after proceeding through several others discovering that better models were the same price. One negative thing about the dual speed dual strength vacuuming feature: The feature is great, but it makes a difference continually in the sound that you hear in the home as cleaning happens-- so in some ways what you gain from the feature you lose in disruption or varying sound / pollution for those who are more sensitive to the sound of HIGH/LOW/HIGH/LOW many many times per minute throughout the cleaning cycle, especially if you have hard floors with various rugs that cause it to continually speed up and slow down, etc.

I have a 5 years old that leave crumb everywhere. Ants started to marching in and I can no longer keep up so I purchased this roomba 981 on prime day deals. And I'm writing this review after one completed job. Yes. It is loud but it doesn't bother me. I felt like my Dyson V11 animal is louder. There was definitely noticeable noise that startled my family members who didn't know that roomba was running. but they get used to it very quickly. I was so excited to get it today. So I sat down and watch the way it works. Big mistake. I was frustrated. But after awhile I gave up and go do something else. It is pretty amazing. This vacuum advertised to work in neat row. I didn't believe it until I saw marks on my carpet. (Attached photos). It left nice and neat mark on the carpet make the room looks clean. I love it. I'd say at first try. This vacuum has equivalent suction power as my hand held Dyson V11. The carpet feels lifted just like when I use my Dyson on the boost power. Pretty amazing there. One thing I didn't like is it fail to clean spaces under my cabinet. The little thing that I stick up i believe it is the censor prevent it from cleaning under the carbinet. Bummer! A lot of dust accumulated under the cabinet. It doesn't come with virtual walls like other model i saw reviews of on YouTube. It does need light to work but I can schedule a time for it to run using the app so I'm going try to have it run first thing in the morning before everyone wakes up. The features where it recharge and resume is a huge plus Overall, I'm happy with this purchase. I think it does most of the thing I expected it to do. It's not supposed to replace my cleaning person.

I’ve had my roomba, who I lovingly call Alfred, since 2021. He does an awesome job vacuuming up my dogs fur, my hair, my kids hair, dust I didn’t even know about! This guy has yet to break down on me. I have him vacuum at night and wake up to floors ready for mopping! We have been replacing the dusters that get worn down with constant use and just recently changed the tire wheels after 5 years, it’s still as reliable as can be! Great product that has proved its worth with quality material. We plan on buying a new one that mops everyday to reduce my hand mopping to twice a week BUT we will still have our Alfred around for as long as possible.

Been eyeing a Roomba for some time and now regretting I didn't get it sooner. Setup was a breeze, it took all of 5 minutes to unbox it and get the app downloaded and create a Roomba account. Had it running in "vacuum everywhere" mode within 10-15 minutes. The first pass I was thrilled to watch it zip under the bed, the low clearance fits under almost all our furniture. It does get caught under one coffee table if the rug underneath it is bunched up, but otherwise it fits between our bar stool legs and under most chairs. It easily navigates around shoes and pillows that the kids leave lying around, although I do try to tidy up before running it. Cleaning the bin and brushes is simple. I get a text alert on my phone if the bin is full, but can typically run it more than once before having to. A simple scissors is helpful to cut through hair if you know there is a lot that it picks up. On the first few runs we did find that this picked up a LOT more shedding from our rugs. We normally vacuum once a week, maybe twice, so it's not like they haven't been cleaned and our dyson should do the job. For whatever reason, maybe because it's slower, lower, or has more suction, or does dual pass, the Roomba picked up a ton to the point that I had to clean the bin 3 times the first time I ran it all of our downstairs. After that it fell into a more typical pattern. It's a little noisy, as it is a vacuum, but I can close a door and be on a zoom call no problem. Also have this hooked up to Alexa so I can ask, "ALexa, ask roomba to stop" if I need it quiet. This is a huge help, same goes for walking out the door and "Alexa, ask roomba to vacuum" and I feel like I'm getting a chore done while out running an errand. App control is nice, and the battery last for around 1hr-1.5hrs, so plenty of time on a full charge to handle 900 sqft. Easily goes between hardwoods, carpet, and rugs, except we do have one shaggy rug that it senses as an object and turns around from (but if you put it on the rug it'll vacuum it). Lastly, this leaves nice vacuum lines that give you that fresh clean feeling.

I don’t know why I waited getting this! It’s been awesome. We have two collies so we have A LOT of dog hair. This has been a game changer. I felt like I was always sweeping and picking up tufts of hair. This has saved me so much time and stress! The good: It moves easily between the rug and hardwood. It picks up long dog hair (really long!), leaves, etc. It made my life so much easier before Thanksgiving because I usually would have been cleaning like crazy. I woke up l ran the vacuum, exercised and then washed the floor! I have more time!! Things to know but would deter me from buying again: - it is noisy. If I am in a conference call, I have to close office doors. It’s hard watching tv when it runs. My hubby says it’s annoying. I value a clean house and it’s a minor inconvenience. - with long dog hair, I clean out the rollers and wheel every time. Small price for finding something to help keep up with dog hair! - I have to dump the bin every time. Again.. long dog hair.. - I use this mostly on my main floor which is almost all hardwood with one exception of a large 8x10 rug. I’ve taken this upstairs and the dog hair sticks! It picks up a lot! I have to dump after 1 bedroom. Carpet is gross! If you have carpet, you will have to run often. On the flip side, when you run daily or every other day, there is less to pick up. Overall, best decision to buy this! I’ve had for a couple months now and I think I’m buying one for the upstairs.

This is my first robot vacuum. I purchased the iRobot Roomba 981 because I didn't want to be sucked down the Vacuum Robot Rabbit hole on technical issues. That hope was misguided. I figured iRobot was a solid maker with updated software. I am still evaluating this unit to see if will work for us, but am not particularly enamored with the problems still present in what is supposedly a seventh generation until The Bad: The 981 is an older generation unit that cannot upgrade to the iAdapt 3 software, which means all the advertising hoo-haw from iRobot about mapping and room definitions and scheduled jobs etc just doesn't apply. The worse: I spent 45 min on the phone with a very pleasant technical support person going over my issues (it was easy to reach a person which is great), but it turns out the key information they imparted was wrong. The Good: The vacuum itself works fine. The unfortunate: - This unit seems to enjoy munching on one of our carpets, so I have to prep that room if I want the Roomba to vacuum there. - This until doesn't support the software updates that would allow the carpet to be avoided - Bin needs to be emptied frequently with our large hairy dogs. For what it does, I would assume there are units from other manufacturers that accomplish the same objective. I was very disappointed that I didn't understand the difference between iAdapt 2.0 and iAdapt3.0 software, and that the 981 doesn't support upgrades to the iAdapt 3.0....I really didn't want to have to get into the software versioning details on my first vacuum robot. FWIW in the first few days it has only completed an entire Vacuum Everywhere job one time. Problems have included - running out of battery without going home - a rubber band blocking a wheel, and after unblocking, not knowing how to start back up - getting lost - pulling threads on a jute carpet, requiring us to block it from the unit - getting stuck on a threshold The Good: Unit is fairly powerful, vacuums well, and if you can deal with the software glitches and room prep it might be a good choice. Also for a small apartment that doesn't really require mapping features I would think this unit might be fine. Will now have to assess if the extra cost of the i7 or S series is worth it for the software features I thought I was getting with the 981.

I went back and forth many times before I ended up purchasing this roomba. Best decision ever. I kept waiting for it to go on sale and I bought it on Black Friday. I love it. I was on maternity leave with my second son. My first had just turned two. We also had a dog. So I had little time or energy to vacuum but needed to vacuum almost daily. I got fed up and bought it. I love it. It cleans great. It gets corners and it even gets under the baby gate I have. I just thought it would get the main areas and once a week I would still have to use my other vacuum to get the edges, nope! I mean it's amazing. Hands down best purchase. I have had it over 6 months now and I still love it. I bought replacement parts for it from Roomba too and have yet to use them. It hold up so well. The only complaint is my youngest loves to turn it on, like all the time. He turns it on and then cries and crawls away screaming lol! Then when it is on he turns it off. It's pretty annoying I can't leave him in the room with it. A lot of times I end up hiding the roomba in the closet so he can't get to it. Anyone else's kids obsessed with it? The kids love to follow it around and make a game of it. It also is like a sound machine. I can use it after my kids go to bed and they have never woken up. Sometimes I put it on right before bed or nap since it sounds like their white noise machine. Anyways, if you have kids and pets do yourself a favor and buy this. You will not regret it! Also cleaning it is no biggie. I thought that would be difficult but it's pretty easy and my oldest loves to help me clean it.

Me encanto! Muy contento con el funcionamiento y la capacidad de aspiracion. Es un poco ruidosa pero la programo para que funcione cuando no estoy.

Instructions are very poor. No information on the difference between "New job" or "Vaccum Everywhere". No guide on how to use them, not even on the internet, Youtube, etc. No information on how it learns your house plan. When does it save to house plan in the cloud? Does it save to plan when "push the bottom" start? Does it save "New job" start? Does it save ""Vaccum Everywhere start? Do you start from the dock for New task. Or, like I did move it to another room and click New task. You have to solve all these mysteries yourself. Of course, saving to the house plan is something only Roomba knows and for some reason is keeping to itself.

Excelente producto, útil, práctico y lo mejor que desde donde esté puedo ponerlo a funcionar para mantener limpia la casa.

Came early which was brilliant. Has been keeping my house clean ever since!

El producto es excelente, no es el primer roomba que compro, pero me toco un limón. La caja venia en perfecto estado, sellada de origen y sin embargo el robot no funciono. Se supone que tienen que llegar con media batería para que al instalarlo sobre su base solo se active la batería y termine de cargar. Pero no fue así. La base cargadora funcionaba bien, pero el robot no cargaba. Llame a soporte técnico de irobot Mexico y me dijeron que ellos no me podían apoyar si el robot fue comprado directamente en Estados Unidos, aunque haya sido por amazon. Así que llame a soporte técnico de irobot Estados Unidos donde muy amablemente me atendieron pata verificar el estado del robot y me confirmaron que estaba averiado y que necesitaba ser cambiado. Como el producto es de importación y irobot no puede hacer envios fuera de Estados Unidos solicite devolución por Amazon. El proceso de rembolso con Amazon es largo y doloroso. El rastreo del paquete muestra que ya llego hasta las instalaciones de amazon estados unidos y es fecha que aun no me reembolsan, aun cuando segun su politica es que reembolsan de 3 a 5 dias de recibido el paquete. Llevo esperando desde el 21 de mayo y nada, ya marque a servicio al cliente dos veces y no me resuelven.