The Roomba 205 Combo Disappoints on All Fronts
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The Good
- Singular sweeping brush is large and gets good contact with floor
- Roller design has improved
- App UI is simple
- Compact packaging
The Bad- App isn't intuitive, frequently out of sync with robot
- Notifications are poorly designed
- Dock doesn't stay put
- Robot has trouble with thresholds and area rugs
- Robot frequently gets stuck
- Often returns to dock without completing job
- Has trouble docking
Table of Contents
In 2020, "robot vacuum" and "Roomba" were synonymous. But in the last five years, there's been a whole swathe of new robotic vacuums, lawnmowers, and pool or window cleaning robots. And instead of innovating alongside other robot brands, iRobot was slow to adapt. While other brands developed combo machines, it took Roomba until late 2022 to introduce its first robot with vacuum and mopping capabilities, the J7+. And despite LiDAR becoming the industry standard in late 2023, iRobot also didn't adopt the technology until 2025.
2024 was a rough year for iRobot: a planned acquisition by Amazon fell apart, the founder/CEO departed, and there were big layoffs. So, the news that iRobot was scrapping most of its current fleet and launching an entire new lineup of devices felt like a Hail Mary (iRobot recently announced the risk of closing in the next year unless profitability improves) to reclaim legitimacy in an industry that has long surpassed its original innovator. The new lineup includes eight models, ranging from $280 to $900, the difference between them being the presence of features like auto-emptying towers, mopping, and AI-assisted cameras. On a personal note, my first robot was a Roomba, and I'd have loved to report that iRobot is back on top of its game now. Instead, the time I spent with the Roomba 205 Combo, a mid-tier model from the new line that combines vacuuming and mopping and is priced at $380, was a frustrating trial of perseverance. That's despite new features like dust compaction. I'll be blunt: few products have been as disappointing as this.
The dock's small footprint isn't as secure as larger docking stations
To start on a positive note, I love a robot that comes in a small box, and the 205's box is light and briefcase-sized. This makes sense, since the 205 doesn't come with an auto-emptying tower. This means all the debris and water is stored on the robot itself. But robots that don't have self-cleaning towers still at least have charging docks they return to, and the 205 comes with a small, black plastic dock.
Since the robot is already put together, there is no assembly to speak of. You place the dock where you want it, and then dock the robot into it. But here is problem number one—the robot struggles to dock on its own. In the case of towers, the dock has a large landing pad that the robot rolls up onto. Even most smaller docks still have that landing pad, because it helps the robot stay put. The 205 doesn't, and so the robot frequently pushes the dock around on the tile or wood floor while attempting to roll into it. This left me standing over the robot and dock, trying to figure out what I was doing wrong, while the app reported the robot wasn't charging. The usual solution I have for this is to move the robot away from the dock, and then use the app to tell the robot to return to the dock (most robots are better at self-navigating a docking than humans are). However, there is no such "return to dock" button in the iRobot app, at least not without starting a cleaning cycle first. The physical button on the robot is your best bet, which is a bit tedious.
Eventually, I figured out to put some double-sided tape on the bottom of the dock to stop it from moving around, and this temporarily solved my problem, which persisted when I tried placing the dock on both wood and, surprisingly, carpet (though less so). But on three mornings, I woke up to find the robot was mysteriously off its dock for no reason I could surmise, sitting a foot away. Since the app doesn't report on such activity, I couldn't nail down why this happened.
It's still unclear what the exact cause for this was, but it seems to me that the robot is continually attempting some activity while on the dock (perhaps dust compaction, which I'll get to later), which knocks it off the charger and sets it running around in a death spiral trying to either clean my floor or right itself until it runs out of battery.
This problem is easy to solve: purchase any other model of the new Roomba lineup, all of which come with a tower, and each of which appears to have a sizable landing pad.
Oversimplified app is buggy
iRobot clearly spent significant time and thought on its app redesign, and I want to love it. No ads, no endless lists of features and submenus. It's simple, clean, and uses lots of white space. But it just doesn't work in practice.
My first complaint is that the app routinely crashes for me, over and over again. I tried on different devices to ensure that this wasn't my fault (I use an iPad and a Pixel 9 for platform parity), but the problem persisted. Annoying, but not a dealbreaker, since I usually only log into the app to issue a command and immediately put it away.
My second issue is a bit more serious: the lag. On top of having difficulty getting the robot to align with the dock, even in situations where I was certain it was docked properly, I still frequently ran into situations where the app told me it wasn't charging, and I'm almost sure this is because it was just too slow to update. This can be confusing, especially if the app says the robot is still out cleaning when it's clearly done. Cancelling a job to bring the app up to date isn't even a good solution, since doing so usually caused it to crash for me.
The lag goes beyond updating you about the robot's status, though. In one instance, I sent the robot out to map a room, the robot returned to the dock, announced it was done mapping, and that the map was ready for review. For the next ten minutes, I waited for the app to update, but instead it continued to show that there were no maps available, and that I should send the robot out to start one. So I did, again. This time, it seemed to work. This problem repeated regardless of where in my house the robot or dock was placed (I tried a few different locations, for reasons you'll see below).
Lastly, with so few features (the 205 is a basic model, so there's no remote control feature or other advanced functions you might find for other brands) the app is still oddly hard to use. Instead of presenting you with information about your robot as you first enter the app, you're presented with your maps, and to get to your list of robots, you need to tab over to it towards the bottom of the app. And even with maps, something as simple as reorienting them takes six tries. Plus, the "save" button doesn't become available unless you change the name of your map or add a zone.
The most frustrating aspect of the new app, though, is that when the Roomba announces there is an error, the app doesn't tell me what the error is. Error notifications are instead oddly docked at the top of the app and aren't accessible. Basically, when the robot stops because there is a problem, I cannot consult the app to find out what the problem is.
Half baked LiDAR and lack of cameras leave this robot spinning
When I evaluate a vacuum, I usually frame its efficacy in terms of how well it sucks up small debris like dust, medium debris like cereal, and large debris like mulch. Right off the bat, I can say this robot can't handle large debris, since the Roomba gave every sample of large detritus I threw at it a wide berth. But that's a good opportunity to talk about the 205's navigation system.
Robot vacuums have almost universally been using LiDAR (a navigation technology that measures light and distance) since late 2023. It is so commonplace that some bleeding edge models like the Roborock Saros 10R are moving onto the next technology, AI assisted cameras, ditching LiDAR altogether. While LiDAR works incredibly well, in my experience, it has always required a tower on top of the robot to accommodate the tech (the "button" on top of most robots), which conflicts with a desire in the industry to make robots as slim as possible, to slide under couches and other low-to-the-ground furniture. iRobot finally acquiesced and added LiDAR to its current lineup, but this particular model, the 205, only has a quasi-LiDAR on board, hidden in the robot itself, operating more like glasses on the front of the robot instead of offering the 360 degree view that most LiDAR towers do. It might be for budget, or it might be to keep the robot slim, but in my experience, this half hearted LiDAR does not impress. The robot doesn't simply steer clear of debris: It also hovers near walls, but not up to them, leaving a path of debris behind it.
Additionally, iRobot says that this internal LiDAR is the reason that the Roomba 205 Combo needs to do a 360 degree twirl every time you send it out to work, in order to orient itself. However, the robot often simply spins around like a drunkard at a party instead, without ever finding its direction, until it gives up and throws an error at you. And it does so even in spaces like at the corner of a coffee table or just in the middle of my kitchen floor. Returning the robot to base resets it, and while you can start the run over, it continued to get stuck in the same places for me.
The 205 also lacks AI-assisted cameras, although some other models have PrecisionVision AI (iRobot's AI model) on board. This means you'll have to pay for Roomba 505 models and higher for the robot to truly learn your space and get better over time, so be prepared to face similar errors across your ownership.
The 205 even struggles with the most basic of thresholds—even the ones my older Roomba i7 could get over. And, as it works to get over thresholds, it drops debris in front of it. Thanks, Roomba. Weirdly, it also struggles with a very flat rug in my living room that no other robot has had issues with before. Something about the design of the robot causes the rug to roll up in front of it, and it simply can't recover. I'd be curious to test one of the high end models of this line to see if the chassis has more power, because I think some of the problems with the 205 are attributable to its light weight.
You can also feel the absence of the LiDAR tower in this robot's mapping capabilities. Each map lacked the details LiDAR offers in other brands, including the accuracy of where walls and rooms are in relation to one another. The 205 requires the robot to actually roam the room, since the camera is only on the front of the robot, unlike LiDAR towers that can map a room with stunning accuracy in mere moments.
Halfhearted vacuuming
Look, I'm spoiled when it comes to vacuuming. I find having to empty any vacuum to be insulting in this day and age, so I assume that would be my biggest problem with the 205. Most robovacs these days (and even some manual vacuums) have self-emptying towers, which mean you never have to stand over a garbage can banging the vacuum against it to empty it, redistributing all the dust you just vacuumed into the air around you.
The charm of the 205 is that, while it doesn't have a tower, it does have a "dust compaction" feature that makes better use of the debris canister on the vacuum. I'm impressed with the size of the canister, relative to other robots, but the real magic is the paddles inside the dustbin that swish back and forth to compress the debris that gets suctioned up, so you can go longer between empties.
iRobot suggests you could go months without having to empty the robot, which is aspirational, for sure. But I can at least say I never once had to empty the debris canister during my testing. Unfortunately, I didn't have the vacuum long enough to know if that was really due to the compaction. To be honest, I doubt I would have filled up the canister during testing even without this new feature, despite ample debris being available for the vacuum to pick up.
Another plus with this Roomba is the sweeping brush—while there's only one, it's oversized and makes good contact with the floor. It reminds me a lot of the 3i S10 Robot Mop and Vacuum, a model I recently tested and like, which has two of these sweeping brushes.
But here's where the other shoe drops: While the Roomba's brush is pretty decent at sweeping debris towards the roller, the suction and roller often don't capture it. While I've previously mentioned that suction isn't the sole factor in how effective a robovac will be (it's a combination of how the suction interacts with the roller and sweepers), the 205 only has 7000Pa suction, which is downright paltry compared to other models these days, which boast over 20,000Pa. I have previously raved about robovacs with similar suction power, like the Switchbot K10+, so suction power might not be the issue here, but the point is that there's an issue.
While "some" small debris made it into the vacuum during my testing, I frequently found short, black dog hair that it should have picked up with ease all over my floors, even after multiple runs. I also still found plenty of debris along the walls. Medium-sized debris seems to be the sweet spot, since it is large enough for the sweeper to catch, and has enough gravity for the suction to grab it through the roller. But since, like I said earlier, large debris is a no-go, this means that the 205 Combo ultimately doesn't give you a very thorough cleaning.
More aggravating is that the robot often doesn't complete its cleaning routine, and not due to lack of battery. It simply decides it is done, leaving much of the floor untouched. I tried the Roomba in three different areas of the house, each time factory resetting it so it was starting fresh, and it did the same thing each time, in each zone, over different floor types. For instance, when I asked it to vacuum my living room, it made its way across the room, spent twenty minutes navigating a portion of the interior space, and then returned to its dock, with plenty of battery reserve, having missed most of the room and the entire exterior. The same thing happened in the hallway, where the robot cleaned the middle of the hallway, but missed most of the rest.
And even with all the debris avoidance, I had to unclog the roller at least once on every single run the robot made. Whether it's one thing or another, I feel like I constantly have to get up to find the robot, pick it up, diagnose it and fix it, or get on my belly and crawl around on my arms to try and fish it out from under a couch or bookcase, all the while the app would say, "Looking good!". Not very automatic!
Get a Swiffer instead
Throughout my testing with the Roomba 205, I kept reminding myself that this is a budget model (the 205 is only a short hop up from the 105, the most basic model, and adds mopping to its repertoire). It would be unreasonable to expect it to perform the way premium models do, and in that spirit, I constantly challenged myself to remember it only has to perform the tasks it promises. Mopping is one of them.
Modern robovacs that also mop have gone to great lengths to develop ways to agitate your floors, as well as keep their mop brushes clean. They continuously pump water onto your floor, and suction it back up, and in some cases, even clean the brush or mop as the robot is working. The 205 doesn't do any of those things. But to be fair, it doesn't promise to. It just has a stationary mopping pad that velcros onto a very small water tank that goes on the bottom of the bot. Very simple. You have to wash the pad between mopping runs, and refill the water, too. That's fair at this price point, but what shocks me is that this is essentially how the old Braava works, and I hate this as much as I hated that. It is just pushing water around on the floor, rather than cleaning.
Even if that's within this Roomba's promises, it's not very useful. While a manual mop is does roughly the same thing, you are still rinsing the mop head out occasionally, and you have the force of your arms on the mop to act as agitation. The 205 has none of that. So while it can go over your floor again and again, and each time it gets a little more grime off the floor, it isn't effective at getting up stains or grime, generally, and can sometimes even spread dirty water around your space.
I didn't bother trying it on my dog's muddy pawprints (it would have simply smeared them across the floor); instead, to give it a fighting chance, I let it run around my tile and wood floors, which bear the marks and stains of heavy foot traffic from my gardening shoes and my dog. While the floors didn't get much cleaner, the 205 left them noticeably wet, enough that my goofy dog took a number of cartoony slides along the floor. Truthfully, though, by the time I got serious about testing the mop, I was a bit over the 205.
The one thing the mop does effectively that surprises me is not get my rug wet. The 205 doesn't have the ability to lift the mop pad, so when in mopping mode, it uses a form of carpet detection to avoid your rugs altogether. To be frank, I did not, given everything I've said above, trust it to avoid soaking my rug. But it doesn't, so one point to the Roomba.
Should you buy a Roomba 205 combo?
My conclusion cannot be surprising. This is not the droid you're looking for. This is a budget robot, and while you shouldn't expect the same performance as a $1,500 robot from it, you should absolutely expect the features promised, and this fails to deliver on basic vacuuming, mopping, and navigation. While app issues aren't deal breakers and could be updated in the future, and even the navigation might get better throughout that process, the physical functionality of the 205 won't improve.
This isn't to say you have to buy an expensive robot to get one that works. I am impressed with the Eureka j15 ($700), and the Switchbot K10+ I mentioned earlier in this review is only $400. And I wouldn't rule out that other Roomba models, with a tower, might work better than this (I'm still game to find out). At $330, the Roomba 205 combo is definitely cheap for a robot, but that's the thing. It acts like a cheap robot. You can do better.
