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Roomba 960 vs 980 – What is the difference

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Introduction

Let’s compare Roomba 960 and 980, 2 high-end robot vacuum cleaners from irobot to see whether Roomba 960 will be a great deal by saving more than 200 bucks than Roomba 980, or the Roomba 980 will be the only one you should after when thinking of a premium robot vacuum unit this year.

Let’s look at the popularity, rating of users over 2 models and dive into the technological aspects, performance, and ease of use of them to see which model is a right choice at the moment.

NO carpet boost feature

Roomba 960

Carpet boost feature

Roomba 980

Main Difference Between Roomba 960 Vs 980

The main difference between these models is about the motor use, the battery life and the carpet boost feature. To be specific:

  • new motor design

    Roomba 980 uses a new motor design (which results in carpet boost capacity) while Roomba 960 uses the older design (which is similar to Roomba 800 series)

  • Longer Time

    Roomba 980 allows users to use for the longer time (120 minutes per charges) and the Roomba 960 has a shorter run time (75 minutes per charges)

  • carpet Boost Feature

    Roomba 980 has the carpet boost feature and this is the greatest deal when thinking of a robot vacuum cleaner for medium and high pile carpet. The carpet boost feature will give more agitation and suction power to clean thick carpet better.

Comparison Chart Roomba 960 Vs 980


​Roomba 960

Roomba 980

Product


General View

Popularity

Very popular

Very popular

Rating

Exceptionally high rating

Very high rating

Price


Design & Performance

Size

13.8 x 13.8 x 3.6’’

13.8 x 13.8 x 3.6’’

Weight

8.5 Lbs

8.7 Lbs

Lithium-ion Battery Life

75 minutes

120 minutes

Recharge and Resume

✅yes

✅yes

Self-Charging

✅yes

✅yes

Dirt Detect Concentrated Cleaning

✅yes

✅yes

Soft Touch

✅yes

✅yes

Multi-room Navigation

✅yes

✅yes

Scheduling

✅yes

✅yes

Tangle-free Debris Extractors

✅yes

✅yes

Bin Full Inidicator

✅yes

✅yes

iRobot HOME App

✅yes

✅yes

Custom Cleaning Preferences

✅yes

✅yes

3-Stage Cleaning System

✅yes

✅yes

AeroForce 3-Stage Cleaning System

5X

10X

AeroForce High-Efficiency Filter

✅yes

✅yes

Carpet Boost

❌no

✅yes


Maintenance

Ease of cleaning

Easy maintenance with tangle-free extractors.

Easy maintenance with tangle-free extractors.

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Stronger motor, longer run time, carpet boost feature

Cons

  • Expensive, a bit louder when running the carpet boost

Pros

  • Reduced price and full package of advanced features and 2.0 iAdapt technology

Cons

  • No carpet boost feature, shorter run time

Verdicts

Roomba 960 and 980 has a somehow similar in popularity and rating from users, which proves both models have a great performance and value for users. Both models are among best robot vacuum units over years.

Roomba 980 possesses a better technology but its price is still expensive even this unit is 2 years old already (appeared since 2016). The best benefit of Roomba 980 is the carpet boost feature when compared with Roomba 960. Therefore, unless you have a plenty number of high pile carpets at home, Roomba 960 can offer the same value and it can save you about 200 bucks.

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