ComScore

The iRobot Roomba Combo 10 Max Cleans Better Than Any Robot Vac I’ve Tested (& It's $400 Off Right Now)

This Black Friday sale is not to be missed

PureWow editors select every item that appears on this page, and some items may be gifted to us. Additionally, PureWow may earn compensation through affiliate links within the story. All prices are accurate upon date of publish. You can learn more about the affiliate process here.

  • Value: 18/20
  • Ease of Use: 19/20
  • Mopping: 16/20
  • Suction: 20/20
  • Smart Mapping: 20/20

TOTAL: 93/100

Nobody understands robot vacuums like my best friend’s six-year-old son. He’s acquired half a dozen over the past few years, regularly watches YouTube reviews and comparisons of models and knows the ins and outs of the major brands—especially iRobot—more than many salespeople I’ve met. (Even more than me, and I’ve been testing them for more than five years now.)

So, when his eyes widened in awe over the iRobot Roomba Combo j7+ and its latest launch, the Roomba Combo 10 Max, citing them as the best of the best, I knew PureWow needed to test them. The j7+ Combo, which mops and vacuums, impressed editors with its suction power and smart mapping to efficiently clean a room. The 10 Max is supposed to have taken things to the next level, with enhanced suction, improved Dirt Detection Technology and a specially designed AutoWash Dock to essentially clean the machine for you, so you’re not washing and drying mop pads after every vacuuming and mopping session.

Right now feels like the prime time to pounce on it, given that it's $400 off at Walmart and Amazon for Black Friday/Cyber weekend. That said, it's still $300 more than the Roomba Combo j7+; could it be worth the investment? Here’s how it fared after over a month of daily testing.

irobot roomba combo 10 max docked
candace davison

What Does the iRobot Roomba Combo 10 Max Actually Do?

irobot

At its most basic level, the Combo 10 Max is a smart vacuum and mop, with an AutoWash docking station that acts like a full-service station: It recharges the device and empties its vacuum bin into a larger, disposable bag, washes and dries its mopping pad and refills its water tank for the next run. What sets it apart is the unique design of the AutoWash dock, which is made with antimicrobial materials, and its auto-clean feature helps prevent dirt and other buildup. When testing other self-cleaning mops over the years, I’ve often found that the pads stay damp and get musty fast. This hasn’t been the case here.

It also features a four-stage cleaning system, so it doesn’ t just suck up debris that it passes over; an edge-sweeping brush helps get crumbs out of tight corners, dual rubber brushes adjust to different floor types and, of course, there’s the mopping arm (more on that in a sec).

The Pros of the Combo 10 Max:

1. Its Obstacle Detection Is Unlike Anything I’ve Tested Before

Setting robot vacuums to schedules and being able to command them with an app or via Alexa/Google Assistant is great…until you realize that before every run, you need to race around your house and pick up any kids’ toys, shoes or charging cables, lest you come home to a snarled mess. The Combo 10 Max pairs those smart features with top-of-the-line obstacle detection technology, known as PrecisionVision Navigation. I was amazed at when I even tested it by leaving common “issues” in its path—a charging cable, a shoe with loose laces, Littlest Pet Shop toys, a rogue baby spoon—it whizzed around them without sucking them up or getting caught by them. (I can’t tell you how many charging cables we’ve accidentally destroyed because they were left dangling from a nightstand, only for our previous robot vac to gobble it up and yank it apart.)

It also meant that while other brands and models we’d reviewed had issues with accidentally mopping low-pile rugs (or dragging their mopping pads across them), I haven’t run into that issue with the Roomba Combo 10 Max. (Once, it bumped the pad into the edge of the rug repeatedly, but by the third bump, it backed up, retracted its mopping arm and pivoted to vacuuming.)

irobot roomba 10 max, tested and removing water tank

2. Its smart-mapping is reliable—and works for multi-level homes

OK, a huge gripe I have with most robot vacuums and combo devices is that many have only one floor map, so if you live in a home with multiple floors—or even have just a half-inch threshold between one room and another—you have to choose which area is going to get the robot vac treatment. (One rival brand suggested I get a vac for each floor of my house to fix this issue.)

I also love that its maps quickly understood the floor plan of my house, detecting which areas had carpet and which didn’t, and identified areas requiring a deeper clean (ahem, around my toddler’s highchair and, well, anywhere he frequents).

That top-notch navigation is due to its sensors, camera and machine-learning technology—if you opt into the device’s obstacle image review, after it’s done cleaning, it will send you photos in the app of any problem areas it encountered, letting you immediately tell it whether to avoid that area in the future, or if it’s just a temporary obstacle (say, your kid threw his backpack in the middle of the room). During testing, I was amazed at its responsiveness, and how it learned to avoid areas—like the surge protector under our media console—after the first image review.

However, if the thought of a machine taking photos of your home makes you uncomfortable (fair), you can opt out of this feature within the app. I suddenly thought twice about when—and where—it was running. To that end, iRobot reps told me that the brand does not sell customer data and that: "All images are fully encrypted—in transit and at rest. Images of objects that the robot encounters during a cleaning job are sent to the cloud, where they are secure and available for viewing via the iRobot Home App. After 30 days, images are deleted from the server."

Further backing up these statements, iRobot is the first company worldwide to achieve the TÜV SÜD Cyber Security Mark, and it has received an "excellent" rating by Consumer Reports for its security and privacy protections.

3. It *really* vacuums well

Toddler crumbs, dirt and debris are no match for this vac—tile, wood and carpeted areas passed the white glove test after each pass. However, given my son’s propensity to eat like Cookie Monster, I did create a special setting in the app to do a second pass at vacuuming in high-traffic areas, just to ensure every speck is cleaned up. (That’s another nice feature—being able to create custom settings for different needs, like deep cleaning the whole house or light vacuuming of just one bedroom—that you can access in the app with just one click.)

After a month of continuous use, I’ve been surprised to find that the vacuum bag isn’t full yet, my floors are clean of hair and crumbled Veggie Straws alike, and the brushes have yet to get tangled. It backs up Roomba’s statement that this device has twice the suction power of its I series.

4. It’s got the chicest docking station I’ve ever seen

irobot

Looks aren’t everything, but when you’ve got a 13-inch cube to place in your home, it’s nice if it isn’t an eyesore. This matte black dock features a fluted front panel (how very on-trend for 2024) and a leather pull tab that helps you easily open the dock and remove the water tanks.

The Cons:

1. The mopping is *decent*

That retractable mopping arm is so cute—it’s like it’s saluting you as it raises overhead and stows away—and it’s a smart way to avoid water from getting on your carpets. But it didn’t seem to provide as deep of a clean as mop-vacs with rotating mopping pads. It’s great for offering a light clean, but if you spilled coffee or spaghetti sauce on tile floors, for example, it’s unlikely to remove those marks after they’ve dried. So in that sense, it doesn’t replace traditional mopping—at least not for me, in this parent-to-young-kids season of life—but it’s great for everyday maintenance.

irobot roomba mopping arm

2. The camera may be a concern for some

irobot

While you can opt out of having the Roomba take photos of the obstacles it faces—and despite the aforementioned security features that protect images from being shared—the fact that it uses a camera at all to navigate may be a dealbreaker for some people. It’s become a very common feature on robot vacuums these days across the board, but it’s definitely something to consider.

3. It’s pricey

At $1,399 retail, the Combo 10 Max costs more than my first car. Granted, my car spilled transmission fluid down the highway if it ran for more than 45 minutes straight and the Roomba doesn’t, but still—it’s an investment. However, it does come with some pretty serious features that make keeping your home clean relatively frictionless. It’s funny how often I thought to myself, wow, this device isn’t chirping at me that it’s stuck or needs help…ever. I’m so conditioned to having to rescue a robot vac almost every time it runs, wherever it runs.

The Bottom Line: Is It Worth It?

What I Like

  • thorough, powerful vacuum
  • top-notch obstacle detection and avoidance
  • fast, accurate smart mapping
  • chic dock design

What I Don't Like

  • mopping isn't as powerful as desired
  • pricey

irobot

If it’s within your budget, absolutely. It’s a dream of a vacuum and mopping system, and while I wish it could really scrub my floors until they’re sparkling, I’ve yet to find a device that truly eliminates every caked-on, dried spill. And its efficiency at getting under cabinets and tight corners is pretty darn impressive.


candace davison bio

VP of editorial content

  • Oversees home, food and commerce articles
  • Author of two cookbooks and has contributed recipes to three others
  • Named one of 2023's Outstanding Young Alumni at the University of South Florida, where she studied mass communications and business

Why You Should Trust Us

PureWow's editors and writers have spent more than a decade shopping online, digging through sales and putting our home goods, beauty finds, wellness picks and more through the wringer—all to help you determine which are actually worth your hard-earned cash. From our PureWow100 series (where we rank items on a 100-point scale) to our painstakingly curated lists of fashion, beauty, cooking, home and family picks, you can trust that our recommendations have been thoroughly vetted for function, aesthetics and innovation. Whether you're looking for travel-size hair dryers you can take on-the-go or women’s walking shoes that won’t hurt your feet, we’ve got you covered.