A word of caution before you buy a Roomba this Black Friday, coming from a pro robot vacuum reviewer
A lot of robot vacuum shoppers may default to Roombas this Black Friday based on brand recognition alone. But as a professional robot vacuum reviewer, I'd urge everyone to think twice about buying a Roomba this year.
It's not that I don't think the Black Friday Roomba deals themselves won't be good — I'm sure that most of the main Roombas will hit new record-low prices at Amazon. But recent reports insinuate that Roombas haven't exactly been selling well this year, and iRobot's iffy fate is worrisome for future buyers. I have serious doubts about the longevity of the Roomba at this point.
"But aren't Roombas the robot vacuums of all robot vacuums? Isn't Black Friday prime time to find one on sale and bring home that Roomba street cred?" That's the thing: Roombas don't have much street cred anymore. iRobot is in deep water after its stock dropped considerably on Oct. 27. That was right after it was revealed that there are officially no more buyers in the running to acquire iRobot. (iRobot had been scrambling to find a buyer ever since the Amazon acquisition fell through in January 2024.)
Remember when iRobot randomly overhauled the entire Roomba lineup back in March? It seems that revenue from those new Roombas hasn't been enough to rizz up a buyer. Not great, considering iRobot essentially gave itself 12 months from March to find a way to avoid going under. Will this be the last Black Friday that Roombas are up for grabs? Either way, it's not a wise time to gamble on a Roomba.
First, a technical concern: If iRobot does go out of business, does that mean that the app won't receive updates anymore? The new Roomba Home app that iRobot insisted we all switch to is already clunkier than the original iRobot app. For anyone who owns a Roomba, the app could become borderline unusable if iRobot no longer has a team to send bug fixes. I have similar questions about customer service.
My other concern is one that I've had for almost a year: Roombas just aren't competitive robot vacuums anymore. While iRobot was once a pioneer of fancy new robot vacuum features, the 2025 Roombas that'll be on sale for Black Friday aren't innovative at all. We've seen all of their staple features, like small obstacle avoidance and self-washing and -drying mopping pads, in a ton of other practically-priced robot vacuums from brands like Roborock, Dreame, Narwal, and Eufy. And the suction power of these new Roombas is toast compared to what those other brands are offering.
Some hopeful robot vacuum buyers seem similarly unimpressed with the latest iRobot vacuums. A Nov. 5 query in the r/RobotVacuums subreddit posed the same question Reddit asks every year: "What robot vac is everybody looking to buy Black Friday?" Not one of the 50+ comments mentioned wanting a Roomba.
Some other robot vacuums in the Reddit wishlist do match up with vacs I'll be recommending. Both the Dreame Aqua10 Ultra Roller and Roborock Saros 10R made appearances, which are the best robot vacuum mop combos that I've tested in 2025. I'm hoping that each drops to $999.99 this Black Friday. Their closest Roomba peer in price, the Roomba Max 705 Combo, is already at its Black Friday price of $899.99. IMO, that's not cheap enough to be worth it — it has significantly weaker suction power than the Aqua10 Ultra Roller and Saros 10R, and doesn't have a livestream pet camera.
A few other Roborock, Dreame, Eufy, and Mova robot vacuums were mentioned more than once. They all have better specs than the Roombas closest to them in price.
If you don't want to write iRobot off just yet, the Roomba 105, Roomba Plus 405 Combo, and Roomba Plus 505 Combo vacuums would be my recommendations. I tested all three for a few weeks each in my apartment and had a fine time with all of them. Still, why settle? There are better cheap robot vacuums than the Roomba 105 and better (much quieter) mid-range robot vacuums than the Roomba 405 and 505 series. And their parent companies aren't on the verge of capsizing.
