- iAdapt Multi Room Navigation uses a full suite of sensors to navigate and adapt to your changing home
- 3 Stage Cleaning System agitates, brushes and suctions floors
You can save by ordering through Amazon The Roomba series is the most iconic robotic vacuum cleaners on the market today. Irobot has been manufacturing Roomba’s for over a decade, but only recently have been taking off commercially.
The 700 series represents one of the more recent offerings from iRobot. They have since come out with the 800 series, but the 780 remains a very popular choice.
The 780 has quickly become one of the best sellers in the short time it has been out. The following is our comprehensive Roomba 780 Review, including the new features compared to older models.
Without further ado…
Best Features of the 780
- State of the Art Tech:Â The robotic intelligence has only improved with the 780. Using some of the latest military technology, the Roomba 780 can still memorize and navigate any room in the house with ease. While the competition is making important strides, iRobot is still the industry leader. Their Roomba’s are more reliable and comparable or better than any of the alternatives.
- Intelligent Navigation System:Â The 780 features the iAdapt navigation system which self corrects, adapting to walls and furniture to find the best possible path while still maintaining a systematic cleaning of every square inch of carpet/flooring. The video right below highlights this navigation system in action.
-  Hyper-Sensitive: As iRobot is keen to note, the 780 has a new technology to discriminate between different kinds of debris particles. The Dirt Detect Series 2 uses an acoustic sensor to pick up large amounts of small and hard debris (think sand, small gravel, etc…) while an optical sensor helps to pick up larger and softer debris (think dust balls, popcorn, etc…). This is a new feature exclusive to the 770 and 780 vacuums.
- Persistent Pass Cleaning Method:Â What this method does is auto detect areas that are especially dirty and doubles down on them, going back and forth until the area is clean. Again, this all occurs without user input. Just another perk for the 780.
- Touchpad Controls:Â The user face is intuitive. While you still may need to reference the user manual, you will probably only have to do so once or twice before it becomes second nature. The best part is that once you set the cleaning pattern it becomes set and forget. The system automatically presets a given floor plan.
- Easy Display:Â When the dust bin gets full, a simply LED display illuminates on the front. In fact, you can check on the level of the dust bin whenever you like. This is a definite improvement over traditional vacuums or even many of the robotic competitors to the Roomba.
- Comes With Remote:Â Unlike the 600 series, the 770 and up comes standard with a remote control. This means the 780 has it as well! You can tell your remote to start/stop on quick notice without have to chase after the Roomba or leave the couch. I’ve found this helpful when I have unexpected visitors or my four legged friends (of the feline and canine variety) start overreacting to it (no, I won’t reference the Roomba cat videos).
- Longer Battery Life:Â The 780 boasts up to 50% longer battery life, meaning that you will get more cleaning without re-charging. What this equals out to is 80+ minutes of cleaning per session. In my tests the new battery life is definitely longer than the 500 and 600 series, but – for me – was more like 30-40% longer. Still a good new feature that was well worth it.
Drawbacks to the 780
- Small Dust Bin:Â While it is nice not to have to deal with bulky awkward garbage bags, the dust bin on this model is pretty small. It has more room for larger debris than older models, but if you have some series yardage to cover you will have to empty the bin in the middle of an operation. The image below is the AeroVac Series 2 bin that is used:
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- Expense:Â It is still a relatively expensive robot for a simple task, but it is a better robotic vacuum than its peers. You can save some money by ordering through Amazon. Now that the 800 series has been released (and more recently the Roomba 980), prices for 780 models have been gradually coming down. It’s actually a great time to buy a 700 series. It’s not the latest – most expensive – series, but it’s also not that old.
- Occasionally Frustrating:Â While the technology is far better than in years past, the Roomba 780 will occasionally bump into doors and lock itself inside a room. The 700 series has made serious improvements over the 600 series, but robotic technology is till not perfect. Just check your locks before you start the Roomba on its assigned job and be prepared for the infrequent occasion when you come home to a stalled Roomba. Again, the longer you own it the more you can learn its quirks and remove “difficult” obstacles. To me, it’s still far less frustrating than having to vacuum the whole house by hand.
780 Video Review
Here is a good visual overview of what to expect…
What You Get in the Box
- Roomba 780 main body
- Docking station
- Regular power adapter
- Bin (AeroVac Series 2)
- Brush cleaning kit (2 piece)
- Short user manual (multilingual hard copy)
- Detailed user manual (CD – for electronic review)
- Virtual Wall (a set of 2)
- Remote control device
- Spare filters and brushes (2 filters and 3 different brushes)
Product Specs
Robot Dimensions: 13.9 inches (diameter) x 3.6 inches (height)
Robot Weight: 8.4 pounds.
Customer Satisfaction
While this Roomba 780 review has attempted to give an honest assessment, the best feedback is in the dozens of customer reviews. This particular Roomba has been very well received by customers in general. The best Roomba 780 review is really in the feedback from existing owners.
Most of the reviews were positive. While some noted that the technology is not yet perfect, it was remarkable just how much the 780 was capable of.
Users also appreciated how the 780 would automatically double up on tough patches of dirt on the carpet or floor in order to ensure a full clean. There is nothing worse than having to go back by hand and clean up the “missed spots” which was a commonly occurring event for some of the first generation robots.
Another comment – one that we noticed too – was that the 780 Roomba does not get caught on rug tassels which was a complaint with other models. This shows that iRobot is taking customer feedback into consideration with every new model.
It also will recognize if it is chewing on a power cord and will spit it back up if it sense that it is.
Many users complimented the sleek design and “Apple-like” quality. In my experience, this is really what separates the iRobot lines from the competition.
Yes, you can find robotic vacuums for cheaper, just like you can find smartphones cheaper than the iPhone, but in the bigger scheme of things the Roomba’s are consistently better than the competition, both in terms of quality and reliability.
Where to Get the Roomba 780
This is a relatively expensive piece of equipment, so it is important that you find the best price. Unlike other brands, Roomba tends to keep their retail price intact, except for some special circumstances. Fortunately, Amazon has some great deals on the Roomba series of vacuums.
At any given time, they have some discounts available. They also offer Free Shipping which is a nice perk. They also frequently have Third Party Sellers offering the 780 for less than the retail sticker price.
If you use the link below, we get a small commission and would be very grateful for the support to keep our site going.If you are still stuck, I’d recommend checking out my best Roomba model comparison page here.
- iAdapt Multi Room Navigation uses a full suite of sensors to navigate and adapt to your changing home
- 3 Stage Cleaning System agitates, brushes and suctions floors
About once a week my Roomba 780 takes off in the middle of the night, travels about a metre and stops.
Possible demon possession?? Haven’t seen that one before.
If your 780 didn’t come with a remote, is it still compatible with a remote? I’m not sure I really need one, but am intrigued that it is a possibility.
Nope, not to my knowledge (just tried to do it). Maybe there is some programming hack to unlock it…but not out of the box.