Are you looking to keep your house clean without the hassle of actually having to vacuum it all yourself? You may have heard of the Roomba, a series of wireless robot vacuums produced by iRobot, it’s name has become synonymous with wireless cleaning and all Roomba products are market leaders.
The 960 is just another product in their large range of high-quality robot vacuums, but is it a good purchase? Worth the money? That’s why we’re here, we’re going to take a look into everything you need to know about the Roomba 960, it features and ultimately whether we think it’s a worthwhile purchase.
We’ve provided a detailed overview & review of the Roomba 960 for you below, you can use the links below to quickly navigate through the article:
- About iRobot Roomba 960
- Overview & Features
- Roomba – A Brand You Can Trust?
- Is The Roomba 960 Worth It?
- Does Roomba 960 Learn The Floor Plan? (Map your house)
- Does The Roomba 960 Empty Itself?
- Does The Roomba 960 Recharge & Resume?
- How Loud Is The Roomba 960?
- Which Roomba Is Best?
- In Summary – Should I Buy The Roomba 960?
About iRobot Roomba 960
This Roomba 960 by iRobot is a smart vacuum controlled via your phone using the iRobot HOME application, this app allows you to set custom cleaning schedules and preferences for your Roomba, without even having to leave your couch.
It will navigate and clean one floor of your house, and when it’s done it will go back to its recharging station and resume cleaning on the schedule you set. You’re able to adjust the regularity of it’s cleaning through the app and set specific schedules to suit your everyday needs.
This Roomba model, the 960, is sized at 13.8×3.6 inches and weighs 8.5lbs. One of the standout feature it has is a tangle-free extractor making it perfect for hair, which is something this Roomba is known for in particular, and considered the best in the range at, so if you have pets and are in the market for a robot vacuum, this is definitely the one for you.
It works with a 3 stage system to clean your home, using it’s two extractors and 2nd generation motor to deliver 5x the power of previous models, it’s the little brother of the 980 but at a slightly cheaper price point without almost as much suction power, a great mid-range model.
This smart vacuum can also be controlled by voice through Alexa, so you can literally tell it to start cleaning whilst sitting on your sofa.
Overview & Features
This model of the Roomba isn’t the cheapest but it also isn’t the most expensive, it sits about halfway in the Roomba series. Each Roomba has different features and is suitable for different people and lifestyles, this one in particular as we touched on is great for those with pets.
You can see with a lot of the features they’ve aimed this Roomba specifically at pet owners, as the main selling point. We’ve detailed all of the features that the 960 boasts for you below:
- Works with Alexa
- Smart mapping
- Self-cleaning brushroll
- Edge cleaning
- Dirt detection
- Variable suction control
- Great with pet hair & debris
- Automatically recharges
- 2nd Generator motors which provide 5x more power to improve cleaning performance
- Comes with 3x high efficeincy filters, 1 extra sidebrush, manuals, a docking station and a NexiGo Nintendo Switch charging station as an extra
Now that is the features out of the way, you might want to know the fine detail about the product. Here are the detailed technical specs of the iRobot Roomba 960:
- 3.6 x 13.8 x 13.8 (Heigh x Width x Depth in inches)
- Weights 8.6lbs
- Capacity 0.82L – bagless
- Run time before needing recharge – 70 to 100 minutes
- Single speed
- Cleaning width 7 inches
- Battery powered
- Suited for multi-surface, hard floor, carpet & hardwood
Roomba – A Brand You Can Trust?
The name Roomba is given to the series of robotic vacuum cleaners produced by the company iRobot, who first started with the device in 2002. These devices feature a set of sensors which allow them to detect obstacles & dirty spots on floors to clean them automatically, which back in 2002 was revolutionary.
Although robotic vacuum cleaners now seem fairly commonplace, iRobot were one of the first to develop such technology, and their name or at least the name of the series Roomba is one of the most well known in the industry to this day. Their products have always been at a relatively high price point in comparison to some of the other on the market, but they’re one of the market leaders for a reason, having sold over 30 million products worldwide they can’t be doing too much wrong! Whenever a new Roomba is released they generally push the boundary for robotic vacuums, constantly the leaders for new technology to the market.
You won’t be disappointed, with any Roomba product you purchase, the 960 included. All you have to do is look at each one of their products and their reviews, in our research we rarely found any under the 4-star mark on Amazon.
Is The Roomba 960 Worth It?
It isn’t the cheapest of models, currently being priced at $499, you can find cheaper lesser-known brands or inferior Roomba models. However, if you are in the market for a wireless robot vacuum, then this is definitely a good choice, as it offers lots of advanced features and has great navigation, Wi-Fi connection, voice assistance and clean map visualization which puts it leaps ahead of the competition in the same price range.
You also know you’re buying quality, Roomba are the most well-known brand in the Robot vacuum industry, so you know you’re getting a good product.
This Roomba, in particular, specializes in pet hair, and is a great option and more than worth it if you want a robotic vacuum and have pets. Generally, robotic vacuums get a bad wrap for suction power & how often they tangle, but the 960 model has tackled that with its self-cleaning brush roll.
Does Roomba 960 Learn The Floor Plan? (Map your house)
Yes, the Roomba 960 learns the layout of your home, due to its extra sensors and onboard cameras. It uses these features to visually track items and learn the layout of your property, and over time it becomes more and more efficient. Out of all of the Roomba models, this has some of the most advanced technology at mapping the house, and in our experience has been fantastic at cleaning the entire floor whilst being efficient and not coming back to the same spot repeatedly, like some earlier models.
Some of the previous Roomba models didn’t learn the layout in this way, it was a bit more of a random pattern, but this model is far more efficient as it won’t come back to previous areas it’s cleaned unless you request it too in the iRobot HOME app. This isn’t the only Roomba model to do this, the 980 also works in the same way.
Does The Roomba 960 Empty Itself?
Unfortunately no, the Roomba 960 isn’t able to empty itself. If you’re looking for a Roomba model that has this feature though, you can buy the Roomba i7 which can empty itself for weeks without you having to do anything!
You can find out more about the iRobot Roomba i7 here. You might be wondering why it’s priced cheaper and has this feature, well we are too, but the Roomba 960 is generally the higher-end device offering a better clean & larger dust cup.
Does The Roomba 960 Recharge & Resume?
Some robotic vacuums require you to charge them yourself, which kind of defeats the object of effortless cleaning, the Roomba 960 is not one of those devices. When the Roomba 960 is on a low battery it will return to the base to recharge itself – even if it’s halfway through a cleaning cycle. Which you then might be wondering if it will come back and finish the job, we can answer with confidence that it will come back to the area it was cleaning, remembering where it stopped and picks back up when it has finished recharging to complete the cleaning cycle.
Another great feature from Roomba, pretty smart right!
How Loud Is The Roomba 960?
People often have a bit of a misconception that because they’re smaller than vacuums they will be quiet, and unfortunately, that’s not the case for the Roomba 960.
Although it’s quieter than a standard vacuum cleaner the Roomba devices are far from completely silent. The 960 model measures around the 65dB mark, to compare that to most full-sized vacuums you would be looking at 70-80db, so it is slightly quieter but by no means the quietest vacuum available.
65db to give you an example is equivalent to background noise in a restaurant or an air conditioning unit 100ft away. It’s not significantly loud that you won’t be able to hear your TV, but you’ll definitely be able to notice it’s there.
If you are wanting to go for a quiet Roomba, there are other options available, the quietest model for instance is the iRobot Roomba 780, which produces around 58db.
Which Roomba Is Best?
We honestly think that the 960 model is a great purchase especially for the price point and it’s could be considered the best in some categories, such as for pet hair, but there are better Roombas options for different circumstances. Each Roomba generally specializes for a different thing & most have slightly different selling points, that being said if money is no object you can go for their most expensive and best model, or if the reverse is true and you’re strapped for cash they do have models which are decent quality still but much cheaper.
No Expense Spared
If you can afford to fork out the eye-watering $899 for the S9+ then you’re definitely getting one of the best robotic vacuums on the market to date.
Best Budget Roomba
If you’re a bit strapped for cash and want to get a robotic vacuum cleaner that will do the job – and well, then this is the right choice for you. Although it doesn’t have as high spec as the 960, it contains a lot of the same features and at a much lower price point.
Best Roomba For Pet Hair
This one! The Roomba 960 is definitely without a doubt the best Roomba for if you have a pet, as you’ll know how hard it is to find a vacuum that can tackle the hair without causing no end of problems for your vacuum.
In Summary – Should I Buy The Roomba 960?
If you are in the market for a robotic vacuum that is priced around the $400-500 mark, then you can’t go wrong with the Roomba 960. You get a great mix of the reliability of a good brand, a decent price point, and some great features, as well as it being fantastic for pet hair.
It’s a great buy that will work on most surfaces and it won’t let you down, your home will be clean in no time!
