iRobot Roomba 780 Review

Introduction

iRobot’s Roomba is undoubtedly the most known robotic vacuum cleaner brand in the world. It has been around for nearly a decade, and in many regions (including the US) it was the only serious brand available. There were brands that had a much better start, but high prices, the lack of improvements slowly but surely led those manufacturers out of the robotic appliance market. The first line of the 3rd generation Roombas, the 500 series was announced over 3 years ago, and since that some serious competition has arrived to the most important markets. So in January 2011 it was time to release the new Roomba 700 series.

iRobot Roomba 780

What’s new

Although the general round shape of the robot remained the same, the design was cleverly refreshed. Most of the structural parts seem to be intact, but the most important changes are hard to notice. The bumper got a new soft coating, the dust bin was replaced by the new AeroVac 2 bin that sport HEPA grade filters, the battery management helps to reach a 50% longer battery life, and the new cleaning head promises some 20% improve in pick-up of small dust particles. The new Dirt Detect 2 system detects both small and large particles, and when dirtier areas are found the robot moves back and forth to clean that area. When the dust bin is full, a full bin indicator icon is lit on the control panel. The changes seem to be subtle, but if an already great product is improved just a little bit, the result could be an even greater product. Will this small improvement be enough against the emerging competitors? We will find that out on the next pages.

iRobot Roomba 780

In the family

The new Roomba 700 series consists of three robots. iRobot Roomba 780 is the top of the line at the moment including all the available improvements. All three models sport the AeroVac 2 bin, but the Roomba 780 is the only one that has touch sensitive control panel, that supports room-to-room Lighthouse navigation, and comes with a full set of extra brushes and filters. For more details about the differences between models, see our Roomba Features and Accessories Matrix. It is worth to note that iRobot stopped fighting against the global market, and will sell these robots with the same model numbers all over the world (finally).

What’s in the box

iRobot Roomba 780 comes in a rich accessories bundle.

• iRobot Roomba 780
• AeroVac series 2 bin
• docking station
• power adapter (with regular power cable, and usable worldwide)
• 2 pieces brush cleaning kit
• printed multilingual user manual (short version, detailed version is included on a disc)
• 2× Virtuall Wall / Lighthouses
• remote control (not command center)
• full set of spare brushes and filters (bristle bar, beater bar, side brush, and 2× HEPA filters)

iRobot Roomba 780 accessories