A few years ago robot vacuum cleaners was considered simply an expensive toy, now it’s full helpers, is able to take on much of the work of cleaning premises. The products of the American company iRobot has always rested on the crest of the technological wave, and Roomba 960 is no exception. The model is equipped with an efficient cleaning system double turbo brush, has an advanced navigation has several algorithms for cleaning, supports remote management, and increased dust enough for a couple of weeks of use. At the start of sales robot cost 45 000 rubles, now its price has dropped to 28 000 rubles, which can be a great opportunity to buy.
Equipment
The robot comes in a double cardboard box: one for transportation, another for storage. Inside is the device itself, charging station, power cable, spare HEPA filter, a spare side brush, set of documentation, the device generating a virtual wall, and batteries for it.
Design
Roomba 960 has the shape of a washer with a diameter of 350 mm and a height of 91 mm, and its weight is 4 kg. the Central circular area is visually separated from the peripheral. The front bumper is installed on the elastic elements and has a rubber grip that allows you to protect furniture from damage. Probes that can detect obstacles hidden under the translucent strip. The top panel is glossy with a geometric pattern, while the rest is frosted, made from a combination of black and gray plastic.
On the “nose” located IR sensor that helps the robot to Park, and carry handle. Below is the dashboard that indicate the status of the device: is it connected to Wi-Fi, the battery level, the filling of the container, the detection of strong pollution or any malfunction. Under it – three traditional iRobot keys: small “Spot” and “Home” with white backlight and a large Central “Clean” with green. Closer to the center of the camera, allowing the robot to navigate in space, and in the rear part of the key extraction waste bin.
Moves Roomba 960 on two wheels equipped with independent suspension with large stroke that allows him to easily force the carpets and sills. The latter contributes also a small slope from the edges to the bottom. The third point of support serves as a rotatable roller around which the contact pad docking station. On one side is located the rotating brush with three tassels, the other with the camera, watching the floor. Special under cover concealed rechargeable battery 2130 mAh. The Central part is a turbo brush, consisting of two rotating towards each other rollers rubber length 175 mm with small claws. The attachment mechanism makes it easy to remove them. Inside acoustic and optical sensors, controlling the degree of surface contamination (technology Dirt Detect). Around the perimeter of the robot are sensors of the height difference. A significant portion of the space is the container for garbage (1000 ml) with installed inside the HEPA filter.
Database must be placed close to the wall. Special anti-slip pads are good at keeping it from shifting: despite the small size, all the time operation, the robot failed to move. It has the same IR sensor as on the nose Roomba 960, which helps accurate docking. Power supply built-in, wire connects from the side. The charging contacts are spring loaded that allows you to confidently complete the circuit. Included is also a virtual wall works in two modes: straight line or a circle (useful in the area of animal feed). The device is quite compact and the battery lasts for about six months.
Management
The robot can be controlled using the keys on the body. Simply click “Clean”, and wait until the cleaner will clean the entire apartment, and then return to base. If you want to clean heavily soiled, the local site, then put the cleaner in the center of the dirt and press “Spot”: 960 Roomba starts to move first in the divergent spiral, then folding, processing area with a diameter of 1 m. in Order not to carry the device back after the local cleaning, you can just click “Home”, and he will return to base independently.
Installing original iRobot HOME app for Android and iOS platforms, greatly enhances the vacuum cleaner. Following simple instructions, first connect it to your home Wi-Fi network (with support for 2.4 GHz frequency), then you can customize the options of cleaning: one, two passes, or automatic selection (depending on the size and dirtiness of the room), to carry out any additional cleaning on the perimeter and whether to continue cleaning, if the waste bin is full. Remote start cleaning you can force, or create a schedule. Once having spent a couple of minutes, I never think about cleaning: the robot, no further questions asked, on their own removed in my absence. If you have a polisher iRobot, you can get him to clean up as soon as 960 Roomba is done with their mission.
When cleaning, the robot creates a map of the room (iAdapt technology 2.0), which you can view in the app, but, unlike more expensive models, it cannot be divided into zones and set virtual obstacles. The program allows you to keep statistics of cleaning and tell me the solution of maintenance problems of the device. If the cleaner is not on station, then through the app you can make it “submit vote”. Supports voice assistants Alexa and Google Assistant.
Operation
The robot is oriented in space using an Arsenal of sensors: the upper camera scans ceiling and surrounding furniture, the lower – monitors changes in the floor, infrared sensors determine the distance to obstacles, the sensors of the height to give the vacuum cleaner fall down the stairs, and acoustic and optical sensors determine the degree of contamination of the cleaned surface.
Have a Roomba 960 three-tier system cleaning: side brush, raking debris from hard to reach places, like along baseboards or in the corners, and then sends it closer to the turbo brush, where two rubber roller, spinning hook tiny particles of trash, sand and dust, and vacuum AeroForce system effectively pulls debris directly into the container. The air passing through the HEPA filter is cleaned and goes through the hole in the back. Thanks to the good build and properly affixed the seals does not occur parasitic induction, therefore, the case is not cluttered with dust.
The robot effectively cope with the cleaning of any floor coverings, including linoleum, carpet, laminate, parquet and tile floors. To clean carpets with a long NAP (2.5 cm) sometimes you want a couple of good runs unlike older models, the suction power it a permanent. Small rugs, a vacuum cleaner likes to chase around the apartment. It should be noted that the routes Roomba 960 builds very well, thanks to the technology SLAM: consistently and linearly he cleans all the rooms, without affecting the already cleaned spot. Faced with severe pollution, the robot passes the site several times, and in front of the obstacle, it slows down, lightly touching his bumper. Abramsis in all the rooms, starting with the latter, a vacuum cleaner again toured them around the perimeter (if the corresponding option), completing the cleaning in the initial room with the base.
The quality of cleaning have Roomba 960 is just great: even after treatment normal vacuum cleaner, he managed to gather up a quarter of a tank of dirt, and especially scattered across the flat rice, the robot is left only a couple of seeds. Areas along baseboards is also efficiently purified, and only in the corners can be detected a bit of a missed dust. Speed also did not disappoint: for the cleaning of 20 square meters with a complex geometry, the robot spends about half an hour, while spending less than half charge. If have to clean a large area, the vacuum cleaner will automatically return to base as soon as the battery is discharged (after 75 minutes), and restoring the energy to continue from the same spot where he finished. Full charge in 2.5 hours. The noise levels of Roomba 960 during the harvest proved to be quite tolerant (52 dB).
The facilities cleaner is very simple: once a month you should wash and dry the container, shake out the dust from the filter, wipe the housing and sensors, clean turbo brush (thanks to the clever design, virtually no hair wound up on rollers, and this procedure takes a few seconds). A large container enough, usually, for a couple of weeks of use.
Conclusion
960 Roomba is a great vacuum cleaner that combines high quality manufacturing, good cleaning efficiency, advanced navigation system, remote control and a large container. Now that price has fallen 35%, the robot looks even better value, still being ahead of competitors on most features. Roomba 960 demonstrate advanced technologies and quality iRobot with him is really possible to forget what a manual cleaning.
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