As far as robot vacuums go, the Roomba 980 is excellent. It cleans fairly thoroughly, looks great, doesn't make too much noise, and is super-simple to use. Suction or sense of direction might not quite match Dyson's all-seeing 360 Eye, but it comes very close.

Excellent app; Surprising suction; Not afraid of cliffs - or more likely; stairs

Can't cut into corners; Shaken up by shag pile rugs

Having a robotic vacuum cleaner buzzing around while you get on with something else feels a lot like living in the future. Of all the technology we have – smartphones, tablets, Wi-Fi, electric cars – a cleaning robot is the one which will make you think reality has caught up with science fiction.

I found this easy to set up and use. It does a much better and more thorough job than I expected. We have dogs, horses and lots of dust and it copes with it all. Floors much cleaner. I love it that I can set it going and go off and do other jobs. It is also great that I can check what it has done.

Doesn't work on dark surfaces, I find this to be a huge feature miss. I can't clean my apartment because of dark carpet. No way to over ride this functionality, the unit thinks its a drop so I have to pick it up and put it in boxed areas to clean, so much for a automated robot.

Anything that promises to take the work out of vacuuming has got to be a good thing, right? Right! Not even having to push the vacuum cleaner around is certainly taking out the work. That is, of course, what the iRobot Roomba vacuum cleaner famously offers.

The easy way to do housework; remote control with app; finds its own way home to charge up

Somewhat limited bin size; can get confused as to location

You may think that being hitched to a tech journalist, with all those free gadgets, is a never-ending thrill for a spouse… you get given decent phones, get to use the latest and greatest TVs and sometimes get to drive in the latest and greatest cars.

Impressive performance; Has personality

Expensive

iRobot's Roomba vacuums have been around long enough now that they should really be running the world - or at the very least cleaning it. when they aren't spinning sick tunes anyway

I bought one of these about 9 months ago and honestly it was one of the best decisions I ever made. I'm a lazy single bloke in a 2 bedroom unit without pets or kids so I don't make all that much mess but I need my place to look like the complete opposite of a bachelor pad at all times on the off...

The Roomba has been one of the best purchases we have made it picks up the dog hair. Lets us know when it has an issue with clear instructions and diagrams on how to fix it. Has saved us heaps of time by running when we're at work. Overall a fantastic product and well worth the money.

Nothing quite gets the dirt out like a skilled pair of hands, but technology is coming close to replicating that level of efficiency. And aside from the loss of jobs and small effect on the economy and unorganized labor industry, there are plenty of benefits of letting a robot do the dirty work.