Title: Roomba Max 705 Review — Extreme Suction, Auto-Empty & LiDAR

Love this Roomba! Traded in the S-series (after an unfortunate dog vomit escapade) and now we enjoy a fresh, clean home again. Picks up the dog hair like a champ and runs the pattern faster than the last model. Great machine!

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

I’ve only had it for a few weeks, but I really like it so far. It doesn’t get stuck on things like my last robot vacuum and it does a good job of cleaning. It’ll never replace me needing to vacuum sometimes, but the deep clean setting picks up quite a bit. The only downside is that when I use it on a different level, it does need to be brought back downstairs to charge halfway through.

If you have more than one floor to your house DO NOT BUY THIS VACUUM!! After weeks of struggling with the app not working properly and talking to costumer service I have discovered that this vacuum falls short of all its claims. You need a charging port for every floor of your house for the vacuum to recognize where it is but they do not sell individual ports. Customer service recommended that I carry the port upstairs each time I vacuum. Upset as I was with this “solution” I tried it. Seemed to work fine until I tried to run the vacuum downstairs. Moving the port confused the vacuum and it didn’t know where it was. Every single time I vacuum I have to manually push the button because the vacuum is confused about where it is and will not start from the app. Then it creates a “new” map. I have spent countless hours on this. Labeling new maps for rooms that have already been mapped and then deleting all the duplicates. The scheduled cleanings that I’ve programmed three separate times have never once worked. I haven’t returned the vacuum because it seems to do a decent job although the self emptying dust bin sometimes gets clogged. Can I give less than one star??

First, a gripe with iRobot. Four or five years ago I bought their flagship S9+. It was a great robot, but as parts wore out they stopped selling replacements — I needed drive wheels and the worn ones kept it from docking properly, so it wouldn’t recharge or empty without me nudging it with my foot. That destroyed its autonomy. iRobot’s only suggestion was to send it in for repair for at least $100. Do better, iRobot. That experience pushed me to buy another robot, and I decided to give them another chance.

The new Max 705 is head and shoulders above the S9+ it replaced. I live in a one-bedroom apartment, and setup for me was relatively simple and painless. Some people find the setup and documentation confusing — there’s no printed manual; the manual lives in the app. The app for the Max 705 is different from the S9+ app and felt less intuitive at first, but as an experienced user the learning curve was minor. There are clear improvements: you can tap a room on the map to clean it without digging through separate menus, easily tweak routines, and watch real-time progress of a run (a little mesmerizing). The map is generally accurate though the live view can lag sometimes. I also like the numeric battery indicator instead of just a progress bar.

Speed is impressive. The Max 705 mapped my apartment in about 10 minutes — much faster than the S9+. On an automated run it cleaned six areas in 1 hour and 1 minute without recharging and still had 46% battery left. I don’t see it move faster, so it must be routing much more efficiently. For comparison, the S9+ took three to four hours for the same job and needed one or two recharges.

It’s also much quieter — virtually silent on smart mode, and even on max suction it’s considerably quieter than the S9+. I’ve seen a few small glitches (once it headed to the bedroom instead of the living room), but they haven’t repeated. One time the brush came off — the S9+ screws its brush on, while the Max 705’s just snaps on — hopefully that was a one-off.

I managed to get this on sale and overall it’s a definite improvement over the S9+. So far, so good.

The iRobot Roomba works very well. It does have trouble maneuvering around dining room chairs but eventually finds its way out. After finding out how well it works I wondered about the mopping version since I have so many hard surface floors. I wish there was a mop only version instead of vacuum and mopping combined. It’s upretty easy to connect to WiFi. It’s amazing how the Roomba creates a map of the house and then you can pick the rooms it has named for cleaning. It is also amazing how it returns to its home base and the dirt is sucked into the bin w/bag. I’m pleased with this device. It’s a bit expensive but the technology and having the home base dirt removal system accounts for the cost. I would recommend it to those people that want to take a chore off their list if they want to pay the price.

If you have more than one floor to your house DO NOT BUY THIS VACUUM!! After weeks of struggling with the app not working properly and talking to costumer service I have discovered that this vacuum falls short of all its claims. You need a charging port for every floor of your house for the vacuum to recognize where it is but they do not sell individual ports. Customer service recommended that I carry the port upstairs each time I vacuum. Upset as I was with this “solution” I tried it. Seemed to work fine until I tried to run the vacuum downstairs. Moving the port confused the vacuum and it didn’t know where it was. Every single time I vacuum I have to manually push the button because the vacuum is confused about where it is and will not start from the app. Then it creates a “new” map. I have spent countless hours on this. Labeling new maps for rooms that have already been mapped and then deleting all the duplicates. The scheduled cleanings that I’ve programmed three separate times have never once worked. I haven’t returned the vacuum because it seems to do a decent job although the self emptying dust bin sometimes gets clogged. Can I give less than one star??

Vastly improved over the 600 series (which was actually pretty good). It is “hands free” cleaning. I didn’t want the wet mop version, so we settled for the floor vac version with the auto emptying. Dog is still very suspicious. I don’t mind picking up things and closing a few other room doors. Well engineered!

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!

I’ve only had it for a few weeks, but I really like it so far. It doesn’t get stuck on things like my last robot vacuum and it does a good job of cleaning. It’ll never replace me needing to vacuum sometimes, but the deep clean setting picks up quite a bit. The only downside is that when I use it on a different level, it does need to be brought back downstairs to charge halfway through.

So far this Roomba has been a Godsend for me. The first time you run it the unit makes a map of your residence. Rooms are identified and you can name them. You can then decide which room/rooms you want to vacuum. It cleans out its dust bin automatically which makes keeping your carpets clean easy.

I’m very happy with my purchase.

I own a Roomba 960, an S9+, a J9+ (about a year), and recently added the 705. Over the years I’ve been consistently pleased with how easy these robots are to maintain, iRobot’s customer support, and the modular, repair-friendly design—an unusual strength in today’s consumer electronics.

The 705’s LiDAR lets it map the house much faster and it rarely bumps into things now, instead steering away or turning before contact. Cleaning performance feels as good as—or perhaps even better than—my S9+, which was outstanding on carpets. It’s notably quieter and the build quality is consistent with prior models. The unit is a bit taller because of the LiDAR turret, so it won’t fit under my TV cabinet, and the new app could use some polish. Still, it signed into my existing iRobot (Classic) account and set up quickly, which I appreciated.

Works perfectly — I’m thrilled with this vacuum; it’s the best purchase I’ve ever made!

I tried to return it today but couldn’t. I bought it on July 12 and it’s now August 12 — I’ve tried repeatedly. I’ve always loved Roomba, and it vacuums okay, but every day I have to pull hair out of the wheels and now it has stopped working. I want an exchange for a unit that actually works. While running it seems fine, but it leaves behind long strings of hair that get wound together, it won’t empty and resume properly, and it restarts mid-cycle and wakes us (I ran it daily to avoid it running while we’re home). I’ve been an iRobot fan, but I’m horribly disappointed. Product support was great and immediately replaced my first unit because of a manufacturing defect, but I’m not convinced this model handles hair well.

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.

I bought this 705 max primarily to pick up dog hair. I set the app up, mapped the house (twice) and took it for a test run. It seems to be ok on tile and hardwood. The mapping function is horrible, I couldn’t recognize my hose after two mappings. The tihing will not pick up dog hair. It tends to roll it up and spit it back out. See photo. I would not buy this machine ! Photo would not upload. Stay away !!

I’ve only had it for a few weeks, but I really like it so far. It doesn’t get stuck on things like my last robot vacuum and it does a good job of cleaning. It’ll never replace me needing to vacuum sometimes, but the deep clean setting picks up quite a bit. The only downside is that when I use it on a different level, it does need to be brought back downstairs to charge halfway through.

Works well — a clear improvement over earlier models. You’ll still need your regular vacuum, but only for monthly touch-ups. Maintenance is easy and similar to older generations, and it does a much better job avoiding tangles with long hair.