Robot vacuums · Roomba
Owners keep the 980 for years because it pulls more dirt off the floor than some newer Roombas, and they accept that its app and scheduling now depend on a cloud service iRobot has switched off.
It lasts. Owners describe units that ran without trouble for years, one still working at ten years old, and one owner who moved to a newer j7+ found the older 980 actually had the stronger suction.
Support is where owners run into trouble. Cases stall for days when an agent goes quiet, then restart from the beginning of the script, and one owner spent more than three weeks of resets and re-provisioning trying to get a 980 attached to an account again. Several tie this to iRobot ending cloud service for the 900 series without notice, which took the app, scheduling and smart features with it.
Pick up to three. You get a page with just those, side by side, on the subjects owners raised.
Once the 980 has settled into a home, what people still value is plain pickup. It handles cat litter tracked across a floor well, and an owner who upgraded to a j7+ noticed small particles left behind on hard floors that the 980 used to collect. One long-time owner puts a Roomba ahead of the cheaper brands they tried, even while admitting an older 650 series seems to vacuum their floors better than the 980.
The adjustment is the smart side. Owners who bought it for scheduling and app control have found those features gone since iRobot dropped cloud support for the 900 series, so the robot now runs from its buttons. Pet owners also say a ten-year-old brush setup struggles to keep up with a shedding cat, which is the point at which some finally decide to replace it.
The motor and cleaning keep going. Owners talk about years of flawless running, and one unit reaching ten years still in service. What wears out is the battery: one long-term owner described theirs as cooked for a good while before they upgraded. The bigger failure is not mechanical at all. Losing cloud service removed the app and scheduling, and owners who then turned to support report long, repetitive cases that did not restore anything. The usual response is to run the robot manually or move to a newer model.
The long-term record here is thin. Only a handful of owner accounts describe the 980 over multiple years, and a portion of the material gathered under this product was about unrelated hardware and has been left off this page. Treat the longevity picture as encouraging but based on few owners.
Nothing with a clear majority yet. Owners who raised these subjects were split, or too few to judge.
Nothing has a clear majority against it yet. Counted from the owners who raised each subject, not from everyone. A subject is judged once at least 4 owners raise it.
The same owner, asked again at each point. Fills in as owners answer.
More in robot vacuums: Neato D7, Neato D8, Ecovacs X1.
Public discussions we read and summarised in our own words. Nothing here was submitted to Still Kicks.
Counted from public accounts by people who said they own it, and summarised by Still Kicks in its own words. Not a manufacturer claim, a lab test or an estimate.
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