iRobot Roomba 980
VerifiedMPN: 36403495116 reviews
- Daily
- ·
- Several times a week
- ·
- Weekly
- ·
- Rarely
Pretty Damn Good – Love my Roomba! This product changed my life. Best machine. The only downside is that the brush breaks often and you have to empty it very regularly. It does pick up a lot of dust so it actually does exactly what it is advertised to do. Show details
Roomba - rubbish. Great idea but it is a big lie! – It is like a servant you employ at high cost, but you have to constantly go behind because she can't do the job. The lies Roomba tells in its ads. it is shocking and there should be legislation to stop it. Cleans up dog hairs, my [Word Removed]! Show details
Australian Customer Service Centre Shut Down – Has the Australian customer service centre closed down? Seems they have! No longer answering the website phone number or responding to emails. I've had multiple problems with my iRobot over the 12 months that I have owned it. When working it's great but probably not worth the effort to set up and then the time it takes to keep it functioning properly. Show details
Hi Zoop, so sorry to hear this has been your experience. I… Read more (+3 replies)
Reviews with attachments
- +3
Scratched hardwood floors – We have moved in to a new home and after using our Roomba vacuum cleaner a few times, I have noticed scratches and swirls on every single bit of our hardwood floor. See attached photos. We have spent so much money on getting that floor done before moving in to our home. Very devastating. Show details
In-depth reviews
I now have more time for wine! – We bought this to clean wooden floors, carpet and tiles in our new place; Total floor area approx 275 sqm. We set it running every other day for circa 4 hours, and empty it every time it finishes a run (we have two very furry dogs!). After the first couple of runs around the house, it had mapped the property and from then on in the quality of… Read more
cleaning and coverage is insane!!...we come home to spotless floors every night, and the only finger I'm lifting is the one to pick up a glass of red wine!
The box is big enough to cope with dog hair, and the only negative is we keep forgetting to raise the bottom of the curtains, so the Roomba likes to chew those.
The Roomba has literally transformed our lives - sweeping/ vacuuming floors used to be my least favourite job ...so if we can teach it to clean windows too, then it will become my new best friend.
App connects every time via W-Fi, and my wife will often turn the Vacuum on remotely if we've got any last minute visitors - perfect!
Excellent concept - but they need further development on quality – Hi, I purchased and gave been using the Roomba 980 for approx. 2 years now. I can definitely say it’s a game changer in future cleaning, however, it has a little way to go till perfection. Given the cost of the product (approx. $1499 AUD) you would hope that it lasts a little longer then it has for me without any issues. Mine has recently had the… Read more
latch that holds the battery in, break. I contacted IRobot as I read many reviews from the USA where the consumers suggested this was a “known” fault by the company and they were replacing them for free. Turns out thats only in the USA and the AU support isn’t so inclined to assist.
After they sent me on a “wild goose chase” - I was nowhere closer to obtaining a favorable outcome.
So!... - whilst I rate this product for its potential - I do not believe that - neither the company nor the quality - is at the standard they suggest it to be.
Cleaning quality - I have timber floors and find on timber it does the job, however, others I know have rugs on their floors and they aren’t so impressed with the suction.
Ease of use - it has had no issue pairing with my husbands phone/app but for some reason unable to pair it to mine.
Noise - same as an other vacuum
Battery life - is not bad - runs for approx. 60-90 mins and then recharges itself - sometimes it runs out of battery and cannot make it back to the dock on its own. (Which is a massive bummer when you’re out).
Fantastic...wish I had it 20 years ago!!! – I have had this Roomba 980 for about 6 weeks now, it is a great asset to our house. We named him Jones!! We have only laminate and tiles in our house and we are retired...just the two of us no pets. I put it to work every other day, our floors have never felt so clean. It does the whole house, even under the beds. I do move some things, like… Read more · 1
the dining room chairs get put on top of the table to give it a better run. I would have liked it to be able to choose areas to clean on the app but that is a small criticism. I can always close the door if I don’t want it to clean a particular room. The bin is very easy to remove and empty. I think back to when we had three small boys rampaging around the house how much easier life would have been if these robots had been available then. Do yourself a favour anybody that works a lot go and buy one of these I guarantee you would not regret it, coming home to a clean house at the end of a hard day would be amazing. They are at the top end of the scale for price but so worth it. I also find the fact if there is a problem the people to call are based in Australia. Spare parts are easy to obtain too - not that I need those yet. It is cleaning my house as I am writing this....bliss!!!!
Positive reviews
Thanks for the repair – I had my Roomba 980 repaired, thanks for the quick service reasonable price, Roomba (Robert) is back cleaning like new. Would recommend Australia Robotic and will use agian.....thanks for the service.
Great Robot Vacuum – We’ve found the Roomba 980 to do a fantastic job on our carpet and a good job on our wooden floors. With the hard floors it sometimes flicks the dirt around and it doesn’t all get picked up. I love how the app works and how it can be programmed. It does a great job picking up our cats hair which is all over the place. Show details · 1
It's name is Betsy!!! – Since June our Roomba has cleaned our tiled and carpeted house brilliantly, even gets up the stuff on the mats near the doors. set and forget....program and start from our smart device while at work is fantastic. Show details
Negative reviews
Expensive Rubbish, No where to get it serviced – When it works it works well but it stops all the time and for $1400 you'd expect it to be alot better than this. CAN'T get it serviced, no one will respond to you., Do not waste your time nor money on this very expensive piece of rubbish. Show details
3 weeks and no longer connects – No longer connects to Icloud for memory map or app commands. No response from company. Suggest factory reset BUT you have to b connected to cloud to do that!! Our Wi-Fi is working and base station is almost beside router. Reloaded app. Roomba is the issue Show details
Hi Sandra, so sorry to hear you are experiencing this… Read more
Good but could be better – I love that this vacuum works autonomously, & cleans all areas of my house (tiles, floorboards & carpet) while I am at work. It does a great job. Only downfall is it easily gets caught and if this happens it stops in the middle of a job and requires manual intervention. Show details
Hi Sofia Thank you for taking the time to review the… Read more
Find out how iRobot Roomba 980 compares to other Robot Vacuum Cleaners
Know better, choose better.
Recent reviews
what a time saver – We have had the 980 for three weeks now and it is awesome. Cleans the whole house while we are out. handles wood floors, rugs and carpets with ease. Works better than our stick vacuum. The remote app is a great addition as well. Show details
Love my Roomba ! Extremely happy – We have laminate flooring , some rugs and tiles. Roomba clean all these surfaces very well . I no longer needed to vacuum clean the house since we bought Roomba 2 months ago. Easy to empty , very user friendly product! I can’t live without it Show details · 1
No way would I recommend this – As a repairer of appliances, I would not recommend this product. They only supply minimal spare parts. If that part doesn't fix it, you are stuck out of pocket with parts and a product that does not work. They do not supply PCB control board in Australia. Buy a Samsung or LG!!! Show details
Love it. Easily cleans a family house – I have owned the Roomba 980 for about a year and now can't live without it. When my husband first bought it home, I really thought that we didn't need it and it was only for showpiece places but I love the fact that it allows me to get other things done around the house while it vacuums for me. The time saving is worth it alone but it also is back… Read more · 1
saving. The floors are clean and it picks up huge amounts of dust. I am finding it very easy to use. After the first few goes around the house, it got faster at knowing where to go and it is gentle on my furniture and ornaments (doesn't knock over things, just bumps and backs off). There are only a couple of areas in the house that it would get stuck and now we just throw a pillow in those places when it is cleaning. The sensors are good when you don't want it going into rooms or want it to do just half the house. It vacuums most of the house before it goes back to its dock and auto recharges for an hour and then takes off and finishes the full house (4 bedroom place - carpet and hard floor areas). It has a map app on your phone to let you know where it has already cleaned. I think the real test of a product is would you buy it again and I have to say I would. We have had no problems with it from the day we bought it and it vacuums as well today as it did when we got it out of the box.
Worked well, for a week – Started off working well and picked up an impressive amount of dust. Now works for 2 or 3 minutes then gets "stuck on a cliff" - even in the middle of a light coloured carpet that is free of shadows or any other dark colours. Very disappointed. Will be taking it back for a refund. Show details
Awesome robot cleaner – Better than expected, the amount of dust that was picked up in our carpet was phenomenal. We recently moved into a new home and had the carpets professionally cleaned, Roomba picked up a lot more than they did! The app is great, handy when you are in a different room and you can turn it on and off it goes. We have tiles and carpet and it does both. Well worth the $$. Show details · 1
Love my lil roomba! – I have a dog who sheds a lot and the roomba works wonders! I set it when I go out and it does the job with ease. I was concerned about how it would cope with the dog hair however a friend had one also too and she praises hers as well. Strongly recommend! Now it just needs a steaming option! Show details · 2
Much more effective than I expected – I live alone, work full time and no pets, so I really only run this once per week on carperted areas which get light useage. It is much more effective than I imagined, it picks up much dust and lifts the pile in a way that takes me several slow passes with my conventional corded Dyson. I even let it run it in the tiled bathroom upstairs, it does… Read more · 3
well enough that I just need to mop.
Battery life on the carpet is shorter due to carpet boost and it is noisy but i mostly turn it on when I am out.
I have a smaller cheaper model that I use more regularly on the more heavily used downstairs floorboard area that is as effective on the floor. In saying that the Roomba 980 is more effectively able to negotiate its way onto some of the slightly higher pile rugs I have. My Roomba 980 does vacuum around some of my other higher pile rugs it hasn’t learned to climb. The bin size for me is not an issue as my home stays pretty clean so i only empty when it completes a job.
The only negative comments I’d make and reason for 4 rather than 5 starts is I’ve had mine less than a year and it has had pretty light useage compared to those with pets, and I have already noted that the filter cover clip is pretty poorly made. Mine isn’t broken yet but must be on its way as it now needs a little help to close. For the price range I would expect these parts to be better designed.
This product has made a big difference to our home – Anyone who has a Golden Retriever will understand the hopelessness felt when trying to deal with the hair. We finally brought the Roomba 980 into our home and with daily running it is doing a wonderful job of picking up the hair to the point where if I see any now, I am surprised. We have hardwood floors and several floor rugs in both wool and… Read more
jute and it works on all these surfaces without issue. I haven't had to take out my vacuum cleaner out at all since we started using the Roomba. I would recommend watching the first couple of runs to check for any hazards, but once you get this sorted, it really does do it all on it's own which you can schedule via an app. One of the absolute game changers for me was watching it disappear under our King sized bed. That in itself was worth the purchase.
I thought I would have to buy a second charging station for upstairs but I find that I just take it upstairs, start it in one particular spot and when it is done it just goes back to that spot and then I can take it downstairs to charge up again.
Initially my unit was not charging to 100% and I was only getting about a 50 minute clean before it had to recharge. I did some research and learned that I needed to reset the unit. I trust I am remembering correctly but I think holding all 3 buttons down will do this and after I reconnecting it back to Wifi, it right away went on to charge to 100%. I now consistently get about 105 minutes of cleaning before it has to recharge. I do have to tip out the bin after about 70 minutes but it is easy to do (much easier than my Dyson). I personally give the unit a look over every day just to remove anything that might have gotten caught up in the rollers, brush or wheels. It takes a couple of minutes and I'd rather do that than vacuum any day.
I am amazed at the performance of this product. The only reason I am giving it 4 stars and not 5 is that I have owned it for a month now and so far one of the arms of the side brush has broken as well as a tear to the rubber roller which made an awful noise but I have fixed with sticky tape and it runs fine. These are replaceable parts which means I can deal with it but they did break fairly early on. The app is also now not allowing me to see maps and says they are unavailable. So a few hiccups but to be honest, I should have done this years ago as it really has made a huge difference to our daily lives.
Find out how iRobot Roomba 980 compares to other Robot Vacuum Cleaners
Know better, choose better.
The best in the market! – I’ve used another vacuum robot and it did a terrible job which was the same price as Roomba 980. Roomba 980 is a very clever robot, you can guess what it’s trying you to do and it’s fun to watch him go everywhere. App is great, once job is done, mapping of the area is perfect. Once it’s finished with the room, it starts to swipe the corners. Only… Read more · 1
downside would be that they could I’ve added a better side brush and bigger dustbin.
I highly recommend this machine to any other in the market.
Wonderful for elderly cat owner – After thinking about this purchase for years I finally got my robot vacuum. I’m sorry it took so long! I’m a retired person with two cats. After a stroke my mobility isn’t to good and using the big vacuum became difficult. My iRobot is the answer. It’s amazing how much dust and cat hair is collected. My iRobot seamlessly moves between tile and… Read more · 1
carpet, you can hear the motor change speed over each surface. And cleaning under beds is a real bonus. I’m sure that I’m sleeping better because I’m no longer surrounded by nasty dusty stuff.
Initially I used it daily but now twice a week seems to be enough. It occasionally gets stuck under a coffee table, but it lets me know and waits patiently to be rescued.
Yes, the bin isn’t big, but that means you’re not cleaning often enough. Once I realised this it has been easy to work with my new friend efficiently.
If you have an elderly relative this would be a great gift to extend his/her independence.
Excellent product – Very well, can go from tile to carpet with no problem. Also have the sensor to stop it to go area we don't want it to go, even we got dogs, love it to be able to pick up anything have no issue. Highly recommend to anyone which have kids and pets. Show details · 1
Fantastic - unbelievable – We use our new Roomba on both wooden floors and carpet areas. It does an outstanding job on both surfaces. We are very pleased we have just acquired one - it’s going to save hours of vacuuming. The results are visible as soon as you walk - especially in the carpeted areas. The first clean picked up so much it completely filled up the collection bin. Show details · 1
Love love love it – I love this! It gets filth out of places I DIDN'T KNOW EXISTED! It vacuums under my bed .... I never did that!? I can set it to work overnight when I'm in bed asleep, or turn it on when I'm not even home, using the app. It makes floor cleaning a breeze! Show details · 1
Love Roomba – We have 2 980 Roomba's as live in 2 story house, just set up cleaning schedule and empty once a week and no problems, easy app and very clean house, we have 2 cats and picks up huge amount of hair. Just one issue, would love if the app could be like a remote to, direct to area for a spot clean. use the mapping to point area and clean there and… Read more · 2
return.
Highly recommend , and FYO the area cleaned for just 1 of our Roomba 980 is Lifetime 1014 jobs & 27,944 sq mtr cleaned & 721 hours that we have not had to vacuum by hand well done ))
What a waste of money! – Don't get this robot! Thats all i need to start with. We had an el-cheapo before this and the el-cheapo robot vacuum was so much better than this! We have had our roomba 980 just over a year and its been nothing but problematic. What a waste of $1400! 1) It gets clogged up all the time and we need to unclog it every single day. The stuff its… Read more
picking up doesn't even make it to the bin, it just gets clogged in the gap between the bin and the brushes.
2) Even though it is supposed to learn its way around your home, it doesn't. It kept on banging into all our stuff, leaving marks on our furniture everywhere. Its like it was blind!
3) The vacuum power is just useless, it barely picks up anything (and of course, when it does, it gets clogged up!)
4) The robot decides to stop charging now that its out of warranty
I would recommend not getting this robot as its absolute trash!
Good Morning Anna W Thank you for taking the time to… Read more
We've had 3 Roomba and this one is just terrible – As the subject says, we've had 3 Roomba's over the years and this one is just terrible. Where do I start though. Firstly, the "debris extractors" barely pick up anything. The brushes on our old 780 were much more useful on hardwood floors, vinyl floors, and carpet. Secondly, the hole between the brushes and the bin is constantly clogging with… Read more
dust and dirt so nothing ever gets into the bin. Our old 780 would go close to a week without needing attention (bin clean, brush clean, etc). The 980 needs that hole cleaned every single day. We don't live in a particularly dusty or dirty area (in fact nothing has changed since we had the 780), except for the fact we now have the 980 instead of the 780.
Thirdly, those debris extractors are just too flimsy. One thing gets stuck in them and the rubber shreds.
If there's one positive thing I can say for it, is the vacuum unit is definitely more powerful. But it doesn't outweigh the faults with this machine.
I'd advise looking at alternatives to Roomba if you can since they took away the brushes and made this unit so poorly. Our next robot will definitely not be a Roomba.
Good Morning AdamMadd We are sorry to hear you are unhappy… Read more (+4 replies)
Sensor can't see and got itself scratched – I was horrified that within its first 15 minutes of operation, new out of the box, the robot managed to get BOTH of its own sensors scratched up against the hardware under my sofa. I thought the sensor was supposed to see objects and not collide into them! I am now extremely concerned that with scratched sensors it can no longer navigate and clean… Read more
thoroughly.
I love my mopping iRobot and thought the Roomba 980 would similarly meet expectations. But $1500 for a unit that causes damage to itself is just a $1500 liability!
Good Morning bronnchan Thank you for reviewing the Roomba… Read more
Brilliant! – Procrastinated about this for a while, as they a a little pricey, but now don't think I could live without this awesome product. Bought iRobot Roomba 980, (we named her Nina), for the 'in-between clean.' We have a dark coloured carpet and there are always crumbs, thread, fur, hair, dust, etc etc to be noticed, (well I notice them). So I have… Read more · 1
'Nina' set up for a clean every second day. She does a really good job, and I was surprised how much actual dust she picks up as well as the long hair, crumbs etc. Yes she will get stuck and advise of an error on my phone when she sucks up kids boxer shorts, or somehow wedges herself under the couch! But thats ok, she turns herself off.
A wee bit loud, but can live with that.
Very impressed.
Best vacuum ever! – I wanted to wait a while before writing a review to see how this vacuum continued to work with time. I must say I really am amazed at how good it is. It is still as good as the day we got it. The first day we got Roomba, my husband and I literally sat there watching it clean to see if it would go under the furniture, over our rugs and in tight… Read more · 1
to reach spots. It went under ALL of the furniture, even reaching places we didn't think it would fit, it cleaned all of our rugs and it changes suction when it goes on to the rug surface. This little vacuum didn't miss a spot and even went over a few places twice! Once it had finished it went back to its base to charge.
It came with 2 barriers that you can put in front of a room you don't want it to clean or maybe a dog bowl you don't want it to bump. It maps out your entire house and you can see exactly where it cleaned. We set it on a schedule so it cleans at the same time everyday. It is very smart. We have stairs and it has never fallen over the edge.
I don't know what else I could ask for in a vacuum. Now, this vacuum is not a replacement for a regular vacuum. We use it as maintenance. I still vacuum once a week in order to clean the places it doesn't fit, which aren't many but there are a few. It's just great to get home everyday and not have to vacuum. I empty out the tray 1-2 times a week and it's always full. I don't know how I lived so long without Roomba.
I would definitely purchase this again and if it ever breaks, I'm buying another one. It has made life so much easier and I don't have to worry about vacuuming under the bed because it vacuums there every day and doesn't miss a spot! Get this vacuum!
I would marry it if I could – This is awesome. It has saved hubby and I from so many fights and does a great job for an automatic system - of course it doesn’t get into every crack and crevice so you still need to occasionally clean sharp corners and skirtings but overall it will save you heaps of time! We have rugs/carpet and floor boards. Show details · 1
Highly recommend – I am impressed with the results and efficiency of this product. It forces your family to keep the house clutter free or he will get stuck. I have mainly tile and floorboards with some large rugs and he does a great job on everything. I have found running him everyday is best then your house gets clean enough you only empty the bin and clean… Read more
the extractors once a week.
Only one bad thing is he’s a bit loud but I’ll deal with that.
Certainly will never be without one now. Love it!!!!
ProductReview.com.au has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence our content moderation policies in any way, though ProductReview.com.au may earn commissions for products/services purchased via affiliate links.
Hi Ty, so sorry to hear about this. If you could please… Read more