Cleaning review
Roomba Combo j9+ Review: The Mop Lifts Itself and Nobody Washes It
An arm physically raises the pad off carpet, which solves the problem every hybrid robot has. The dock refills the water and never cleans the pad.
By Paulo GerchonPublished 2 min read
Illustration, not a photo — we don’t have a licensed image of this product yet.
iRobot
iRobot Roomba Combo j9+
Good · researched from 3 sources
The vacuuming is as good as any robot our sources have measured, and the retracting mop arm is the cleanest solution anyone has found to the wet-pad-on-carpet problem. It is a maintenance machine rather than a deep cleaner, and you wash the pad yourself.
- Buy if
- Homes with carpet, where the deep clean result is exceptional · Pet owners, on the hair handling and the accident guarantee · Keeping hard floors maintained between proper cleans
- Skip if
- Stuck-on kitchen grime, which PureWow says it cannot handle · Anyone expecting the dock to wash the mop pad · Large homes, given the runtime and recharge time
We don’t list prices, because Amazon’s change hourly.
The arm
Every hybrid robot vacuum has the same problem: a wet cloth and a carpet in the same machine.
Most solve it by raising the pad a few millimetres, which keeps it off the pile and still lets moisture wick into rug edges. The Eufy X10 Pro Omni elsewhere in this catalogue lifts 12 mm and that is considered good.
This one has an arm that physically retracts the pad up onto the body of the robot. Vacuum Wars describes the mechanism; iRobot calls it Dry Rug Intelligence.
A pad held clear of the floor entirely cannot wet anything. It is the correct answer, and it is the reason to look at this over cheaper hybrids.
The vacuuming is exceptional
Vacuum Wars: the second-best carpet deep clean result they have ever recorded, testing embedded sand, and confirmation of iRobot's claim of twice the suction of the i-series.
Reviewed: 9.45 grams of debris per run, top ten percent of every robot they have tested, handling long dog hair without clogging and raising suction automatically on carpet.
PureWow, living with it: most of the hair and dust on the first pass over low-pile carpet, with a handheld needed to finish.
Two labs and one household, all pointing the same way.
And the dock does not wash the pad
The Clean Base empties the bin into a sealed bag holding about 60 days, and refills the water tank for about 30 days of mopping.
It does nothing to the mop pad. Vacuum Wars names the omission; PureWow reports the pad getting dirty quickly and needing hand washing.
That is the gap against the Eufy X10 Pro Omni, whose dock washes and heat-dries its pads between passes. For a machine at this price, having to rinse a cloth yourself feels like an oversight.
Mopping, depending who you ask
Vacuum Wars tested dried grape juice and found Smart Scrub impressive, describing a scrubbing motion roughly twice as effective as a straight pass.
PureWow calls it great for weekly maintenance and not enough for stuck-on messes or heavy grime.
Both are probably right about different jobs. It keeps a floor looking clean and it will not lift what somebody trod in last Thursday.
The numbers that disagree
Runtime: Vacuum Wars says 90 minutes, PureWow about 120. PureWow adds that recharging takes over two hours, which matters on a large floor plan where the robot has to top up mid-clean.
Navigation: Vacuum Wars found it about ten minutes slower per cleaning cycle than competitors, with a first-run mapping pass taking around 25 minutes.
Obstacle avoidance: Vacuum Wars scored it about level with its main competitors, better than having none and not perfect. Reviewed praises the camera's ability to tell a power cable from a desk leg, and notes iRobot guarantees a replacement if the robot hits a pet accident within the first year.
And the dock is loud
Reviewed measured the emptying cycle at 68 dBA, comparable to a full-size upright vacuum, while noting it did not stop them watching television.
Brief, and audible through a house.
How it scored
The overall 8.0 is the weighted average of these five criteria — we never adjust it by hand.
Cleaning performance
Vacuum Wars recorded the second-best carpet deep clean score they have ever measured. Reviewed picked up 9.45 g of debris per run, in the top ten percent of robots they have tested.
Value
Reviewed calls it one of the best robot vacuums they have ever tested. PureWow scored it 93 out of 100. Vacuum Wars' overall figure of 2.45 out of 5 is the dissent.
Build quality
A Clean Base that empties into a sealed bag holding about 60 days and refills the water tank for about 30, with a wooden finish PureWow finds blends into a room.
Ease of use
Dirt Detective learns high-traffic areas, and Reviewed praises a Drive Carefully mode that reduces vigour near fragile objects. Vacuum Wars notes initial mapping takes about 25 minutes.
Mopping
Vacuum Wars found Smart Scrub impressive on dried grape juice. PureWow calls it fine for weekly maintenance and insufficient for stuck-on grime, and the pad dirties fast.
Pros and cons
What we liked
- Vacuum Wars recorded the second-best carpet deep clean result they have ever measured
- Reviewed measured 9.45 g of debris per run, in the top ten percent of robots tested
- An arm physically retracts the mop pad onto the body when it meets carpet
- The dock empties into a sealed bag and refills the water tank without intervention
- Reviewed reports it handling long dog hair without clogging
- iRobot guarantees a replacement if it hits a pet accident in the first year
What we didn’t
- There is no mop pad washing at all, and PureWow says the pad dirties quickly
- Reviewed measured the emptying cycle at 68 dBA, like a full-size upright
- Vacuum Wars found navigation about ten minutes slower per clean than competitors
- Runtime is quoted as 90 minutes by Vacuum Wars and about 120 by PureWow
- PureWow needed a handheld pass to finish low-pile carpet
- PureWow reports recharging taking over two hours
Specifications
| Debris pickup | 9.45 g per run, top ten percent of robots tested per Reviewed |
|---|---|
| Carpet deep clean | Second-best result Vacuum Wars have recorded |
| Suction | iRobot claims twice the i-series, which Vacuum Wars confirmed in testing |
| Mop | Auto-Retract arm that lifts the pad onto the body over carpet |
| Runtime | 90 minutes per Vacuum Wars; about 120 per PureWow |
| Recharge | Over two hours per PureWow |
| Dock | Auto-empty to a sealed bag holding about 60 days, and auto-refill water for about 30 |
| Emptying noise | 68 dBA per Reviewed |
| Mapping | About 25 minutes on the first run per Vacuum Wars |
| Features | Dirt Detective, Smart Scrub, PrecisionVision obstacle avoidance |
How we researched this
We have not had this unit on the bench. This review synthesises the manufacturer’s published specifications, independent measurements and owner reports listed below. Every figure on this page comes from one of those sources rather than our own measurement.
3
sources reviewed
Vacuum Wars supplies the carpet deep clean result, the suction confirmation, the mopping test against dried stains, the obstacle avoidance assessment, the runtime and the navigation criticism. Reviewed supplies the measured grams of debris per run and its ranking, the pet hair finding, the emptying noise measurement and the app assessment; note their test covers the vacuum-only j9+, which shares the platform but lacks the mop. PureWow is the extended domestic account and supplies the mopping limitations, the pad maintenance finding, the second runtime figure and the recharge time. The sources disagree on runtime and on how capable the mopping is, and both positions are reported.
What we read
Common questions
How well does the Roomba Combo j9+ clean?
What does the retracting mop actually do?
Does the dock wash the mop pad?
How good is the mopping?
How loud is it?
The bottom line on the iRobot Roomba Combo j9+
The vacuuming is as good as any robot our sources have measured, and the retracting mop arm is the cleanest solution anyone has found to the wet-pad-on-carpet problem. It is a maintenance machine rather than a deep cleaner, and you wash the pad yourself.
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