iRobot Roomba Max 705 Vac Robot Vacuum + AutoEmpty Dock – Extreme Power-Lifting Suction, Anti-Tangle Dual Rubber Brushes, Self-Empties, Recognizes and Avoids Obstacles, LiDAR Navigation

Initial Impressions – So far so good
So first – a complaint about iRobot. 4 or 5 years ago I purchased their flagship model, the S9+. Good robot, it did a great job. My complaint is that as parts wore out, they stopped selling replacement parts. I needed drive wheels. Because of the structure of the docking station the worn wheels would not allow it to dock to recharge or empty without giving it a little bump with your foot. This obviously means that the robot is no longer autonomous. Their solution to me was to send the robot for repair for $100 (at least). Do better iRobot. That out of the way, this made me buy another robot. I liked my S9+ so I decided to give iRobot another chance.So- the initial review. This robot is heads and shoulders above the S9+ that it replaces. I live in a one bedroom apartment…1. Setup – setup (for me) was relatively simple and painless. I have seen some complaints that setup and documentation was confusing. I think if this your first robot I would agree. The problem is that there is no hard copy of the owner’s manual. The manual resides within the app itself.So this is a different interface app than the one used with my older S9+. The new app does not seem to be quite as intuitive as the older app. For me (experienced) the learning curve was relatively painless. In some ways it is an improvement. Now you can touch a room on the map to have the robot clean that space without the need to go through a separate menu. From there you can easily make adjustments to the “routine.” Also welcome is that you can watch the realtime progress of the routine that you are running. It’s a little mesmerizing to watch. This function looks fairly accurate but there is sometimes some lag. Finally, there is a numerical indicator of charge state instead of a progress bar.2. Speed – the Max 705 mapped my apartment within 10 minutes. This is significantly faster than the S9+. There were some initial hiccups but today I ran my first automated run. It vacuumed 6 spaces in 1 hour and 1 minute with no recharging. At the end of its run there was still 46% charge left. I don’t know how to account for this as the robot doesn’t seem to be moving any faster than the S9+. It must just run its routes more efficiently. For comparison, my old S9+ took three to four hours to complete the same run and at least one or two recharges (even on a brand new battery). This is amazing to me.3. Compared to my older S9+ the Max 705 is dead quiet at least on smart mode. Even on max suction setting it is considerably quieter than the S9+.4. So far there have been minor glitches while running its routes, i.e. going to the bedroom instead of the living room. That happened once but did not repeat. In my experience, the more vacuums under your belt the more it learns and the better it becomes. The brush came off. In the S9+ you would actually screw the brush on. On the Max 705 the brush just snaps on. Hopefully this was a one off.Even though I didn’t want to get a new robot I was able to get this on sale. This is a definite improvement over the S9+. So far so good!

Completely Failed After 4 Months — and iRobot Support Is Useless
I’ve owned multiple Roombas over the years, but this new 700 Max model has been the biggest disappointment by far. It worked for a few months and then basically bricked itself after following iRobot’s own troubleshooting steps.First it stopped running automations and wouldn’t start cleaning from the app. Then it refused to save maps and kept restarting the “first mapping run” over and over. iRobot support told me to factory reset it — I did. It got worse. Then they told me to reset it again — and after that, it completely died.Now it just sits there with both top buttons flashing red, won’t clean when you press the buttons, won’t enter pairing mode, and won’t connect to Wi-Fi at all. It is completely nonfunctional.And iRobot support?They have done nothing except repeatedly tell me “we will escalate and email you.” No actual help, no next steps, no warranty replacement, no follow-up. Just the same copy-pasted line. I’ve been stuck in that loop for days. Trying to go through Amazon’s A-to-Z protection just sends me in circles with no way to actually file a claim.So I now have a $700 paperweight that lasted only four months and a support team that apparently can’t do anything beyond promise emails that never show up.I’ve loved iRobot for years, but this new model plus the terrible support experience is enough to push me away from the brand entirely. If you’re considering buying this robot, I’d strongly recommend waiting — the reliability and the support are nowhere near what they used to be.

I have a Roomba 960, an S9+, J9+ and I finally got this 705. I have had them for a few years now, apart from J9+ which I got a year ago. I have always been very happy with the ease of maintenance, iRobots customer support and the easy modular design and ease of repair, which is an anomaly in today’s consumer electronics and appliances.The 705 with the addition of Lidar maps the whole house much faster, it also doesn’t “bump” into stuff anymore, just steers away or turns around before running into anything. Cleaning performance seems better or at least on par with S9+ which was kinda unparalleled in carpet cleaning. I am glad iRobot launched a new model with their dual rollers.It is also significantly quieter, and the build quality is the same as before, which is great.It is a bit taller due to the LiDAR turret, so it couldn’t squeeze itself under my TV cabinet, and the app needs a bit more refining since it’s a brand new app. But the ease with which it signed in with my existing iRobot (classic) app and quickly set up the new robot is great.

Did not work as described. Returned as requested. Seller received return July 2025. No refund issued as of Sept 6.

Sometimes Claiming on a small object and cables (see photo). For big objects the LiDAR is very effective.Sometimes Base suction issue (see photo).I called customer support and asked to open a case to implement a feature to detect wheel sleep. They didn’t take the improvement idea seriously. They were polite but their objective was just to close quickly the case.