Picking up the right vacuum is challenging, but when it’s robot vacuum you need to be decisive.
Today, I am going to discuss the Roomba 860 Review, it’s advantages and disadvantages. And why you should buy this pocket-friendly robot vacuum which comes with all core features of high-end expensive models of Roomba 800 series.
iRobot Roomba 860 Review
Table of Contents
Let’s discuss the iRobot Roomba 860 Robot Vacuum Review in details
Features of 860
Let’s discuss the features of Roomba 860 robot vacuum in details.
1. Brushless extractors
Unlike the previous series Roomba 800 series feature rubber rollers instead of rotating brushes. The rollers spin quickly, and the motion of the feet shake and bounce the dirt off your floors and direct it towards the path of the suction power. The shaking not only moves the through but breaks the bigger particles resulting in easy and more suction. This improvement significantly increased the popularity of the Roomba 800 series.
The “brushless-ness” is also ideal for the maintenance of the Roomba.
Unlike older models where you have to cut the hairs and sometimes use extractors to remove the hairs. Thanks to the rubber brushes, the 800 series did away with these completely.
2- Airflow Accelerator
The Airflow Accelerator has air ducts that channel the robot suction from the motor to the surface of the floor.
3- Vacuum with HEPA filters
The Roomba 860 comes with HEPA which are easy to replace and never takes more than 30 seconds.
Navigation
The Roomba 860 navigates efficiently on your floor or carpet using the onboard navigation system. The navigation system makes it intelligent enough to visit every corner of your home, in the less-elegant but random pattern.
For example, while cleaning a part of the room, suddenly it moves to any other spot or room and starts cleaning on a sport, then again comes back where it left and vice versa.
Though it won’t get trapped the height can be a problem for the vacuum to squeeze through tight areas.
Auto Dock
Autodocking is something crazy for this series.
Spinning Side Brush
As the suction is concentrated in the centre of the vacuum, the side brushes to sweep the edges to brings the dust and debris in the path of suction.
Battery
The Roomba 860 has Lithium-Ion battery where other models of the series are equipped with Nickel Metal Hydride batteries. The Li-Ion battery is long-lasting and it’s widely used in smartphones because it outperforms NiMH by 30%.
Virtual Wall Halo
The Roomba 860 can be restricted to not go beyond the wall with the Virtual Wall mode. You can use this mode especially when there are pet bowls around and you don’t want the robot to knock them over.
Performance
This smart robot vacuum can sweep along a wall vacuuming all dust away from the wall with it’s spinning brush. But if you properly get to know how to use the Roomba, you won’t need to vacuum manually.
Romba 860 on Carpet, hardwood and tile floor
Though a robot vacuum cannot provide powerful suction like a corded vacuum it still gets the job done for carpet and tile floors. Regardless of the number of passes, the Roomba will eventually clean your floors as you get after vacuuming manually. With the help of dirt sensors, the robot can focus on dirty areas resulting in the clean floor, either it’s carpet or hard surface.
As far as noise is concerned, it produces approximately 65 decibels while vacuuming hardwood floors but still considerably quieter than the traditional vacuums. For carpets, it comes out at 60 db.
If you have shag carpet then you can choose your best vacuum for shag carpet and if you have hard floors then you can choose best vacuum for hardwood floors.
Roomba 860 Maintenance
You can maintain the robot without any problems. It hardly takes a minute to completely clean the robot when the bin gets full. You can clean the dustbin after each session as it’s very easy. You can also clean side brushes and rubber rollers comfortably, no technical knowledge is required.
This process hardly takes 5 minutes and you have to this once in a month. Unlike other Roomba models, its much pleasant to clean except pulling out hair stuck with the hair extractor.
The Roomba 860 takes about 2.5 hours to charge from empty to full. The battery lasts for about 1.5 hours which is enough to clean the entire house. It runs low on battery returns back to the dock automatically.
The box comes with several other tools and accessories like:
- The vacuum
- Docking station
- Power Cable
- HEPA filter
- One Virtual Wall Halo
- Manual
Does Roomba 860 picks up Dog, Cat, Human Hairs
The Roomba 860 is excellent at picking up pet hairs, cat, dog or human hairs. As it comes with brushless rollers rather than the conventional vacuum brushes. So nothing to tangle and easy to clean with these rollers.
Furthermore, the Roomba 860 has huge wheels like an airplane’s landing gear and measures about 3″ in diameter. These allow the robot to climb over thick area rugs as well as on the transition moldings.
It can climb over the area rugs without any problems. Even it will push smaller or lightweight area rugs ahead with its power and performs well on heavy or thick rugs.
Cleaning multiple rooms is not a problem for Roomba 860 as it’s long battery life allows the robot to clean all your rooms. Using the Virtual Wall Lighthouse, you can restrict the robot to certain areas and move further when finish cleaning.
The Roomba 860 is suitable for most homeowners because you only need to start it and further it manages itself to avoid obstacles, cleaning rooms and charging itself from its base. You can schedule the robot to clean when you are out on certain days and time.
As as as the Wi-Fi is concerned, it’s only available in higher end models liek Roomba 960 and Roomba 980.
Does Roomba 860 gets Under Bed or Sofa?
As the Roomba 860 can stand 3-5/8″ high. Any furniture with this height can let the robot get under to clean.
In case of beds, ruffling of sheets, pillows, and comforters can result in dust but if the bed is high enough then the robot can sneak under it to clean and pick up every dust particle. People tend to use extending mop but it depends whether you like it or not.
Cleaning around the Cables
The Roomba might suck up a small cable like smartphone charging ones, while leaving bigger, heavier cables. But you can use Virtual Wall Lighthouse to block areas where you have these cables or protect them with a cable shield.
Does Roomba 860 damage hardwood floors or carpet?
As mentioned earlier, it’s not much powerful as the traditional vacuums. It works gently on hardwood floors and carpets, but in the case of area rugs with tassels or shag carpets, it will eat away the fringes over time. Technically, it’s not a bad thing as you better not to use the vacuum on area rugs.
Differences between the Roomba 860 vs 870 vs 880
Sometimes, people get confused that every vacuum comes with the same Roomba unit. While the main unit is perfect in the 900 series.
1. Batteries- The 860 comes with Lithium-ion battery where Roomba 870 has nickel-metal hydride which is not reliable as Li-ion.
2. Accessories- The most important accessory is Virtual Wall which is used to block the vacuum’s way. The Roomba 860 and 880 both have upgraded version of the Virtual wall, where 870 also features this but with Two Virtual Walls.
3. Remote Control- When it comes to remote control both 860 and 870 lack the remote, while the 880 comes with one.
In a nutshell, the Roomba 860 is an ideal machine with excellent cleaning performance and it’s much affordable compared to the Roomba 870 and 880 and brings almost similar features. The battery life is impressive and long-lasting. But if you are after the latest features and have deep pockets, you can go with Roomba 870 or 880.
If you have questions like how long does it take to charge a Roomba 860 then it takes less then three hours.
If you have questions like how do I reset my Roomba 860 then there’s a power switch at the side of robot.
- Keeps floors tidy up
- Cliff detector avoid vacuuming stairs
- Large capacity dustbin
- Gets under couch, bed or sofa
- Smart and intelligent
- Schedule to your desired time.
- Lacks Wi-Fi
