What Robot: robot vacuums and mops worth buying, what they really cost, and why iRobot is no longer the obvious name

The robot vacuum to take seriously in a British home in late 2026 is usually a Roborock, a Dreame, an Eufy, an Ecovacs or a Shark, not automatically a Roomba. PriceSpy's UK page for the Roborock Saros 10, checked on 11 November 2026, showed a live lowest new price of £549.99, with a higher figure of £899.99 also on that page, which is the kind of spread that tells you a "flagship" sticker is not a fair price.13

iRobot, which invented the Roomba, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States on 14 December 2025 and completed a sale to its manufacturer, Shenzhen Picea Robotics, on 23 January 2026. Reuters reported the filing and the court approval; iRobot's own statement said it had emerged as a private company wholly owned by Picea, still trading, with new data-governance arrangements it says are designed to protect customer information. That is the company's claim, and it is not the same as independent proof. It does mean a Roomba is no longer the safe, default American brand it once appeared to be, and the competition that helped to push iRobot under is the reason the rest of this market is so good.678

Stairs remain undefeated. No current robot we have seen climbs a staircase, however expensive the dock.

What to buy for, before you buy a brand

A robot is useful when it can run without a daily rescue. That means a dock that empties the dust, and, if you want mopping, one that washes the pads. It also means a map that does not lose the kitchen every Tuesday, and obstacle avoidance that can cope with a charging cable, a dog bowl and, in the worst case, a pet.

We have not lab-tested these machines. The cleaning verdicts come from independent testers, including Which?, The Verge, Trusted Reviews, Good Housekeeping and a Guardian shortlist, plus official or price-comparison figures we could date. Which?'s 2026 buying guide is the one to open if you want a ranked lab test rather than a brand story.3459

Pet owners. You want rubber rollers that do not bind with hair, a sealed bag in the dock, and avoidance good enough to steer around a surprise on the kitchen floor. The Verge has repeatedly tested Roombas with pet hair in mind, including later models aimed at that job, but brand loyalty is a weak reason to ignore a Roborock or an Eufy that does the same work for less.4

Small flats. The dock is the thing you are really buying. Measure it. A slim robot that can get under the sofa is useful; a cathedral of plastic in a studio is not. A mid-range vacuum-and-mop at a sale price will usually beat a cheap bare vacuum that needs emptying into the bin after every circuit.

Big family homes. This is where the expensive docks earn their keep: auto-empty, pad washing, hot-air drying, and enough battery to do the ground floor in one go. Thresholds and thick rugs sort the field. Roborock's newer Saros models are sold on a lifting chassis and very high stated suction; treat the manufacturer figures as claims, and lean on independent tests for whether they actually climb the door bar and mop a kitchen without soaking a rug.9

Stairs and rugs. You carry the robot to another floor, or you buy a second dock, or you accept that upstairs is still a human job. Mop-lift, where the pads rise over a rug, is the feature that stops a wet trail across the only nice carpet in the house. If the listing does not mention it, assume it does not do it well.

Renters. Almost all of these docks need a wall socket, not a plumber, so you can take the whole lot when you move. That is a genuine advantage over a built-in vac. Check the lease before you stick beacons or tape to the skirting, and keep the boxes if the inventory clerk is the anxious type.

What they cost to run, and what they do with your data

The headline price is not the last invoice. Roborock's official UK shop was selling a six-pack of dust bags for the Q Revo family, also listed as fitting several S8 and related docks, at £29.99 when we checked. How long a bag lasts depends on how much hair and grit you have, but you should budget for bags, mop pads and the occasional brush and filter, every year, not just once.2

There is also water, a little electricity, and the noise of a dock that washes pads at 2am unless you tell it not to. The Guardian's testers, in a November 2024 UK shortlist, were already complaining about noisy mop washing and a life organised around the dock; that has not become less true as the docks have grown.5

On privacy, these are cameras and maps in all but the cheapest models, talking to an app and, usually, to a cloud account. Many of the leading brands are Chinese-owned, and iRobot is now owned by its Chinese manufacturer. iRobot says it has put US customer data in a separate US subsidiary; again, that is a company claim, made in its 23 January 2026 statement. If you are not comfortable with a floor plan of your flat living on a server, either pick a model with a clear official local-only mode, or do not buy a robot with a camera. Read the maker's current privacy notice, not a forum post from 2022.

A real-deal check, where we could do one

A good price is a dated price. For the Roborock Saros 10, PriceSpy UK listed £549.99 as the lowest new price on 11 November 2026, on a product page that also showed £899.99. We are treating £550 or below as a genuinely good price for that model, and £900 as a price to walk away from. We could not load a full 12-month price-history chart we trusted enough to quote a single "low date", and we could not extract a clean eBay sold range, so used machines are a "look at sold listings and stay well below £550" exercise, not a figure we will invent.1

We did not get official, dated UK prices we were happy to print for every Dreame, Eufy, Ecovacs, Shark and Roomba model this run. For those, use the maker's UK site or a retailer price, then check PriceSpy or Pricerunner and eBay sold listings on the day you buy. If the number is not a sale, wait. Black Friday is 27 November 2026, and robot vacuums are a staple of it. Catch: last year's flagship, sold as this year's bargain, can still be a better buy than a new number with a bigger suction claim.

Ways to pay less

Buy last year's flagship on sale, not this year's brochure. The Saros 10 at £549.99 is the example we could verify. Catch: you still need bags and pads that fit that dock, not a universal pack that almost fits.

Refurbished, open-box and official outlets. Amazon, Currys, John Lewis and Argos all run returns stock from time to time. Catch: confirm the dock, the bags and the warranty period, because a robot without its dock is a noisy disc.

eBay, for used and occasionally new. Search completed, sold listings, not the asking prices. Catch: a robot with a filthy mop tank and no reset account is someone else's problem; buy only with returns protection, and make the seller remove the machine from their app.

Do not stack a "free" mop pad kit into the wrong model. Accessory lists are specific. The Roborock six-bag pack we priced is for named series, not every robot in the house.2

Online goods still have a 14-day cooling-off period if you buy from a UK or EU trader as a consumer. Catch: you may have to pay return postage, and a used mop pad will not help the refund conversation, so run the first clean over a hard floor you can describe, not a cream rug.

The verdict

If you want one machine for a typical house, wait for a Roborock, Dreame, Eufy, Ecovacs or Shark that independent testers like, at a sale price, with a dock that empties and washes. The Saros 10 at about £550 is the priced example that makes sense of the market today. A Roomba can still be a good cleaner, but you should buy it for the review, not for the badge, and only after you have read the 2026 ownership change.

A robot mop will polish, with some pride, the one sticky patch a toddler has laid as a trap. That is not a reason to skip the evening once-over. It is a reason to buy the model that will not also mop the rug.

• Roborock Saros 10, lowest new price on PriceSpy UK, £549.99.
• The guide's good-price line for the Saros 10: about £550 or below.
• The higher figure also shown on that PriceSpy page, £899.99. Walk away.
• Roborock six-pack of dust bags for named docks, £29.99.

£549.99 was the lowest new price on the page. £899.99 was also shown. The six dust bags were £29.99 on Roborock's UK shop the same day.

• Pets: rubber rollers, a sealed bag in the dock, and avoidance for a surprise on the kitchen floor.
• Small flat: measure the dock. A sale vacuum-and-mop usually beats a bare vacuum you empty every circuit.
• Family: a dock that empties, washes and dries, and can finish the ground floor.
• Stairs: you carry it, or you buy a second dock. Upstairs is still a human job.
• Renter: a socket, not a plumber. Check the lease before you stick anything to the skirting.

Sources

1. PriceSpy UK, Roborock Saros 10, checked 11 November 2026: lowest new price £549.99; a higher figure of £899.99 was also shown on the page. · Back
2. Roborock UK, dust bag 6-pack, checked 11 November 2026: £29.99, listed for named S8 Max and Q Revo series docks. · Back
3. Which?, "Best robot vacuum cleaners 2026: spotless floors whatever your budget". Read the guide · Back
4. The Verge, "The best robot vacuums we’ve tested for 2026". Read the guide · Back
5. The Guardian, "The best robot vacuums in the UK to keep your home clean and dust free, tested", 26 November 2024. Read the guide · Back
6. Reuters, "Roomba maker iRobot files for bankruptcy, pursues manufacturer buyout", 15 December 2025. Read the report · Back
7. Reuters, "Roomba maker's sale to Chinese manufacturer approved by US bankruptcy judge", 22 January 2026. Read the report · Back
8. iRobot, "iRobot Completes Court-Supervised Transaction with Picea", 23 January 2026. · Back
9. Trusted Reviews, "Best Robot Vacuum Cleaner 2026", and Good Housekeeping UK, "best robot vacuum cleaners", both checked as 2026 buying guides. Trusted Reviews; Good Housekeeping · Back