Review: We test the latest Roomba Combo 10 Max robot vacuum cleaner

When iRobot announces a new flagship addition to its iconic Roomba range, the industry stops and listens.

It's just such a popular brand, with a heritage and a development timeline that no other manufacturer can match, so the arrival of new features is big news.

Except, if we're being brutally honest, it's taken a while for iRobot to catch up with the trends of late. Its new Roomba Combo 10 Max has added a mop cleaning and drying system. And that's great, but it's nothing new these days. Lots of its rivals had been doing that for a year or two.

The Roomba, unlike most of its counterparts, also has a fixed mopping pad, while the rest of the industry has developed spinning pads. Yes, it can rise up out of the way in a gloriously over-engineered bit of pantomime, but I can’t help feeling that's becoming less of a party piece and more of a cumbersome chore.

It's also one of the reasons the new mop washing system fails to outperform the competition. Because of its mechanism, and the space it needs, the washing and drying system just feels a little clumsy. And the mop head never actually feels all that dry.

So that's my gripe out of the way. I hope you've stuck with me, because the news gets much better after that.

Firstly, the Combo 10 Max has absolutely brilliant suction capabilities. On carpets or hard floors, iRobot's patented brush designs just suck up more stuff.

I have two dogs, one of which sheds fur, so my robot vacuums get a proper workout. And iRobot's vacuums have always been solid performers. The Combo 10 Max carries this theme on brilliantly.

It's also surprisingly good at covering the whole floor. For reasons I can't fathom, Roombas still don't use LiDAR. It's a bit of an industry standard now, but iRobot just hasn't adopted it.

In a sense, it's not an issue, because the obstacle avoidance and room coverage is genuinely excellent without it, but it always feels like the robots are fumbling around in the dark a bit, relying on touch to find room boundaries and create maps rather than actually "seeing" where they're going.

This means mapping is a longer process and you have to set up "no-go zones" to curate an effective map of your house, but it honestly doesn't hamper performance.

Roombas also rely on the best app in the business. The iRobot app is beautifully laid out, and very easy to use. Setting up rooms, zones, and schedules is a doddle and, if you do get something really wrong, iRobot's customer service is about as good as it gets, too.

Another important thing I need to mention is that the Combo 10 Max's mopping system is really good. For a fixed mop pad that doesn't offer any sort of surface agitation, I'm blown away by how well it cleans.

The tanks in the base station aren't massive, but it doesn't use very much fluid, so that doesn't actually matter.

There's a big part of me that feels like the iRobot flagship device template needs something of a rethink. If nothing else just to catch up with the competition a bit. And the Combo 10 Max isn't a rethink. In reality, it's not really all that different to the Combo J9+, it just has a cleverer base station.

And here's the kicker. If you look at the iRobot website, the Combo 10 Max is currently £1,499. While the Combo J9+ is on special offer and it costs just £549. I know which one I'd rather have, and it's not the one that costs nearly three times more.

Without the special offer, the J9+ is £1,249 and it's a more acceptable price difference. Despite plenty of similarities, the Combo 10 Max is just a better proposition.

It's a Roomba, after all, so it's a solid performer, and some of its features are the best in the industry. If only some.