The iRobot Roomba Combo 10 Max Cleans Better Than Any Robot Vac I’ve Tested in the Past 5 Years

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.