The iRobot Roomba 960 robot is an average-priced alternative in the 900 series of smart robotic vacuum cleaners. For nearly 2 decades, Roomba has actually been a leader in robot vacuum innovation. With the 900 series, the initial automated performance teams up with advanced smart technology for a more effective operation.
While it does not have ALL the technology that the 980 has, it shares many of the attributes that make it an efficient and also really smart automatic vacuum cleaner. And with the lower price, we think the 960 wi-fi connected robot vacuum is an all-around good selection.
What do you obtain in the package?
In the package, you’ll get the Roomba 960 robot vacuum itself, a Home Base charging station with a power cord, dual-mode virtual wall barrier, 2 AA batteries, an added filter, and an extra side brush.
Battery run time: 70– 75 minutes
Wi-Fi control via iRobot HOME smart device app, Alexa, or Google Assistant
Highlights: Power-Lifting Suction delivers 5X the air power for improved pick-up performance.
Weight: 8.5 pounds
Diameter: 13.8″
Height: 3.6″
1-year producer’s warranty at least
As soon as you turn it on, the 3-stage cleaning system makes use of multi-surface brushes and suction with 5X the power of the Roomba 600 collection. This helps it deal with embedded dust as well as hair, cat and dog allergens, and also loose particles.
Smart Technology
Advanced Dirt Detect technology permits the Roomba 960 to steer paths with hefty dust as you might find in high-traffic areas. After that, it will spend more time cleaning in those spaces.
Patented iAdapt® technology with vSLAM® navigation actively captures thousands of precise measurements each millisecond to optimize coverage Navigates in neat rows – purposefully and logically cleans in neat rows and uses floor tracking sensors to navigate your home, and also keeps track of where it’s been. Obstacle sensors aid it in evading furniture, while the low profile allows it to reach under beds, tables, and also other hard to vacuum areas. It does come with one virtual wall so you can set it to avoid anywhere you don’t want it to go, such as a sleeping child’s area or an office with great deals of cable lying around.
After a run time of 70– 75 mins, the device will certainly go back to its charging dock to reenergize. Then it will go out once more to finish the work if required.
Via the iRobot HOME App, you can customize each cleaning cycle and timetable cleaning. Learns your life listens to your voice means it learns your cleaning habits to offer up personalized schedules, while Google Assistant & Alexa let you begin cleaning with only the sound of your voice. Choose in between 1 or 2 passes, side tidy, and also other modes. Look over the clean map report to see where the Roomba has been, see cleaning history, as well as even how-to videos.
The iRobot HOME app automatically syncs up with the vacuum to upgrade it with any software application changes. Via Alexa or Google Assistant, you can utilize voice commands to start, stop, and dock the vacuum cleaner.
What’s the Roomba 960 Robot Vacuum excellent at?
You’ll be impressed with how much better the 900 collection gets around if you ever had one of the earlier generations of Roomba before. It does not bang mindlessly right into walls and furniture. When it comes near an object, it may pause for a moment to compute its next relocation. Then it left away from the object again.
That’s not to say that you can simply leave anything lying around. You ought to clear your floors of things like charging cords, which can get damaged or tangled up in the vacuum cleaner. Yet anything that can be measured such as stuffed animals, boxes, or a resting pet will certainly be no problem.
It’s truly excellent at tackling animal hair, specifically on hard floors. The high-efficiency filter traps 99% of cat allergens as tiny as 10 microns to keep plant pollen and also family pet dander to a minimum.
Moving from a floor covering type to an extra or covered area carpet is not like various other robotic vacuum cleaners. The unique dual multi-surface rubber brushes are adaptable so they stay in constant contact with carpets and all flooring types. And it is ideal for homes with pets Unique Dual Multi-Surface Rubber Brushes don’t get tangled with pet hair. The Roomba 960 robot vacuum also seamlessly navigates room to room to clean an entire level of your home.
The Roomba 960 can be established to make 2 passes if it misses any type of area or you require additional cleaning in a particular area. There’s also a spot cleaning mode so it will certainly go round and also round like a dirt-eating slide carousel to tidy one small area. The vacuum cleaner alerts you likewise when the dustbin is filled up.
What’s the Roomba 960 robot vacuum not excellent at?
The battery run-time of 70– 75 mins isn’t bad, however, it’s not superior. This makes it better for little residences or apartments or condos. The dustbin is rather tiny too, so if you have a lot of family pet hair or various other dirt, anticipate to be clearing it a couple of times per cycle.
The 960 can get tripped under low-profile furnishings with a height of 3.6 inches. It can also get stuck on things like chair bases that are simply short adequate for it to begin climbing up over, but then can’t make it all the way over. So if you run it in the evening, you might awaken to discover it stuck.
Truly dark floors or patterns can tinker with the cliff sensing units. Suppose you have a red as well as a black striped rug. When it reaches the black component, the Roomba 960 may avoid it completely because it assumes it’s discovered the edge of the earth. The same goes for evening cleaning. It requires some light for the video camera sensing units to work appropriately.
Unlike some robot vacs, this can deal with extremely low pile carpet, but on the thicker rug, it may leave spheres of hair in its wake. It has no carpet increase feature, so it doesn’t have a stronger suction that would permit it to draw dust from deep carpeting. Loose carpets on your hard floorings may obtain bunched up or captured in the Roomba 960. So you might wish to simply choose those up before running it.
How does the Roomba 960 compare to the alternative models?
There are a couple of distinctions between the 960 as well as its big brother, the 980. Namely, battery life is better in the 980 at 120 mins instead of 75. Does this make it worth the higher price?
Perhaps not. Since the 960 cleans so clearly and automatically goes back to its charging dock when it needs a recharge, the moment distinction isn’t that obvious.
Now, the 980 does exceed the 960 when it comes to carpeting with its Carpet Boost feature. This allows the 980 to recognize when the flooring changes so it automatically adjusts the suction power as needed to pick up more dust from longer carpeting fibers. So if you have a lot of carpet in your house, the 980 may be worth the extra cost.
Roomba 960 vs. Roomba 980
The only visual distinction between the Roomba 960 and 980 in color. The body shell of the 960 is a lighter gray, but all else is the same. They both measure 13.8 inches in size and also stand 3.6 inches tall. Controls are in the same places, with a huge Tidy switch flanked by Residence and also Spot Cleaning switches. Indication lights lie above the switches, while an electronic camera for navigation rests on the top center. Beneath, you’ll likewise locate the same elements: two roller brushes, a side brush, cliff sensors, and also a front wheel. The detachable dustbin is located in the back.
Where the two crawlers vary remains in weight. The 8.5-pound 960 is slightly lighter than the 8.7-pound 980. That’s because it has a different motor– the same as the one in the older Roomba 880. Another distinction is the battery. While we discovered the 980 can zoom around for as much as 90 mins, the 960 tired out after about 70. The 980 features 2 virtual boundaries as well, while the 960 contains only one.
The Roomba 960 has a Wi-Fi connection (on the 2.4 GHz band only). Like other current Roombas, you manage the 960 makings use of the iRobot Home application, in addition to Amazon Alexa as well as Google Assistant compatibility, which you can find in the Apple App Store and Google Play. It will guide you through the installation process and connect to Wi-Fi, which is the same in all models.
For those that simply want the summary: we advise the 960 over the 980 because you obtain really similar features for a more affordable cost. Unless you must have the most recent and best, select the 960. Despite having the launch of the i7, the Roomba 960 is still our favorite Roomba because its price to value ratio just can not be defeated. The Roomba 960 is a great bet if you’re looking for premium attributes at an affordable price.
Robot Vacuum Wi-Fi Connected
Both these models can connect to your residence network. This permits you to manage the Roomba from another location and tailor it to your habit. The same iRobot Home App is used for both models, and also the app attributes are also the same in between Roomba 960 and 980. The application is offered on both iPhone and Android.
While connecting the 960 or 980 to your house’s wireless network is suggested, it is not necessary. Both makers can still work without Wi-Fi. However, you will certainly not be able to use any of the functions that need the iRobot Home application. These features are arranged cleanings (precisely what it sounds like), 2 cleaning passes (the Roomba will make two passes as opposed to simply one), edge-clean (extra cleaning along wall surfaces), and also rug boost (Roomba 980 only).
Bottom line: you lose out on a great deal of what these devices have to use if you don’t have a house Wi-Fi network.
Suction Power
On the official iRobot comparison chart, the producer claims the Roomba 980 is geared up with a 10x AeroForce system whereas the 960 is only equipped with a 5x AeroForce system. This may let you think that the 980 cleans twice as well. Nonetheless, we didn’t see any noticeable differences in suction power. They carry out about the same and are both fairly solid in regards to suction power. If suction power is the only reason you are leaning in the direction of the 980, we don’t feel that its suction warrants the price premium.
Mapping the Layout of your Home
The Roomba 960 and 980 both have two extra sensing units over various other Roombas. One is the onboard electronic camera, which tracks things using their eyes such as couches, refrigerators, as well as tables in your house. The other is a monitoring sensor that bears in mind where the Roomba has already vacuumed. Together these sensors permit the Roomba to learn the design of your home as well as vacuum more effectively over time.
Unlike predecessor Roombas, which make use of a random-ish pattern to determine where to go next, these devices vacuum walk straight along the wall surfaces and will not return to where it has actually already cleaned up (unless you control it in the app).
Bottom line: both have the sensors to draw up your home and adapt to it as time goes by. Senses and eliminates dirt Patented Dirt Detect™ Technology helps your robot find the dirtier areas in your house and cleans them more thoroughly.
Ease of Maintenance
Maintenance is my largest problem when it comes to any appliance. These things are expected to make our lives easier, as well as not be a migraine to keep. Thankfully, both these robotic vacuum cleaners have brushless extractors, which in our point of view is the single best design feature on iRobot’s vacuums over its competitors. This function is exclusive to 800 as well as 900 collection Roombas. You know how boring it would be if you ever tried to pull your hair out of the rolling brushes on your upright vacuum cleaner. Rather than using brushes, the rubber rollers knock and shake the dust on the floor to make it lose and into the path of the suction. Without compromising cleaning power, the tangle-free rollers can reduce maintenance work.
Vacuuming Around Your Clutter
Both models are made to browse around whatever gets on the ground. One of the factors Roombas have actually been so popular is that they are typically rather wise when navigating your house. Nonetheless, it can not vacuum where it can’t get to, so you are still compelled to pick up loose things such as shoes and backpacks. You don’t always need to remove your floor before running the Roomba, however, it is good to do so now and then to see to it all areas are vacuumed.
Resume and Recharge
Your Roomba might run out of juice if you have an extremely large residence or abnormally filthy floorings before the job is done intelligently vacuuming the whole area. As specified over, the battery life is about 1.25 hrs on the 960 and 2 hrs on the 980. The recharge and resume feature allows the Roomba to return to its dock when it recognizes it won’t be able to complete cleaning in one go. This is called a “mid-mission recharge” which lasts for 90 minutes. After charging for 90 minutes, the Roomba will resume cleaning up, continue grabbing where it ended.
Sweeps Wall Edges as well as Corners
All existing generation Roombas are equipped with a spinning side brush and wall surface sweep formulas to properly clean against the wall surface. The side brush is called for to sweep dirt along straight sides and edges into the course of the Roomba because the Roomba is rounded.
Anti-tangle Tech To Prevent Chewing Loose Cords
While it’s finest to keep all your power cables far from the Roomba, they are developed with anti-tangle technology which assures not to devour your cords, tassels, and carpeting edges. Directly I still don’t feel quite comfy letting it cut loose over my cords, however. All available Roomba designs today have this technology. Right here is a video clip demonstrating how it works, the video clip was produced by an older Roomba design however it applies to the latest-generation machines also.
Cliff Detection
Both versions are geared up with cliff detection technology, therefore you can use it to clean the upper floors of your home without worrying about it take a plunge down the staircases.
On the flip side, the much more budget 690 has a much shorter battery life of 70 minutes, however, it has a Wi-Fi application and voice control just like the 960. Cleaning performance gets on the same level as the 960. Navigation isn’t quite as sophisticated, nevertheless, as well as it often tends to struggle more with dark floor covering and moving from one sort of flooring to others. It’s not as good at obstacle avoidance or finding its back to the charging dock.
Roomba 960 vs. Roomba 690
One of the primary distinctions between the 690 as well as the 960 is that the 960 has a Cleaning Preferences menu, which allows you to customize the number of times it cleans a single space. Also, in the Lifetime Performance menu, you can watch extra thorough stats about each session, including the total area cleaned. And it supports iRobot’s Clean Map attribute, which lets you see a map of where the robot has vacuumed. You still can not guide the Roomba using the app, nevertheless.
Performance
A lot of robotic vacuum cleaners select arbitrary cleaning patterns, which can be frustrating to see as they neglect obvious dust for cleaning the same spot over and over again. That’s real of the 690, yet the 960 is much more systematic in its technique.
I examined the Roomba 960 at my apartment and was satisfied by exactly how deftly it steered around furnishings and challenges. Thanks to the cam, it didn’t bang into table legs or bookshelves, and usually, I would certainly see it stop briefly momentarily as it computed where to relocate next. While the Bobi Pet knocked over one of my dining room chairs as well as the Roomba 690 pushed a shopping bag across my corridor, the 960 kept things as they were. So while you ought to still clear the floors of cables and also fluids before cleaning, you do not need to bend over backward decluttering.
The 960 is also far better than average at moving across different floor types. My living-room carpet includes a black border as well as dark geometric forms and has actually caught up many other vacuum cleaners in testing, including the Roomba 690. So I was pleased to see this had not been a problem for the 960. It had the ability to reliably step on and also of the rug with no problem. The same issue for the change between wood and ceramic tile from my hallway to my cooking area.
That’s not to state it’s ideal, however. While it was able to walk its way underneath my TV stand, it got stuck under there and wasn’t able to locate its way back out. You can fend off issue locations like this with the included virtual wall, which allows you to cordon off certain rooms.
One concern with systematic cleaners like the 960 is they often just pass over a location one time. Yet you can establish it to make two passes in an area, which I located gotten any roaming debris it may have missed the first time. So while the 960 doesn’t have rather the very same suction power as the 980, it still does an outstanding, thorough task of cleaning your floors. The 980’s greatest cleaning draw is its Carpet Boost feature, allowing it to turn up the suction on rugs and carpets.
As for noise, the 960 is remarkably quiet. You’ll absolutely notice it if you’re in the same area, however, it’s much quieter than your typical stick vacuum. So far, only the Eufy RoboVac 11 is quieter in all tests.
At concerning 70-75 mins, battery life isn’t the lengthiest we’ve come across, yet it’s great for smaller-sized residences, particularly houses. As a result of its systematic approach to cleaning, the 960 had the ability to do two go through my living room, hallway, kitchen, as well as room in about 45 mins. It also didn’t have any kind of difficulty automatically docking. Once I informed Alexa to send out the robotic back, it made a beeline straight for the docking terminal.