Later Note: As of May, 2011 the iRobot Roomba 700 Series robots are now available for sale. Check out my review of the 780, here. Or see the links below for the product pages on iRobot’s site.
iRobot sent out emails announcing the availability of the 700 Series Roomba robot vacuum cleaners. The robots are available for pre-order only from iRobot’s site, and have an official launch date of May 11, 2011.
As we mentioned in a past post, the 700 series Roombas have some new advanced features. Here are some areas of improvement with the 700 series:
- Cleaning head can pick up finer particles
- AreoVac Series 2 – better suction
- All come with HEPA filters
- New improved Dirt Detect feature (770 and 780 only)
- New Persistant Pass Cleaning Pattern
- Better battery life (iRobot claims 50% longer life)
- Bin indicator light (770 and 780 only)
- Touchpad control (for the 780 only)
All come with on-board scheduling, a “molded soft touch bumper”, and a recessed carrying handle. My Mint robot has a built-in carrying handle, and it’s one of my favorite features to it. I’m betting that the soft touch bumper will be popular – a classic complaint about the Roombas is that they leave scuff marks on furniture and baseboards. It might be my imagination, but I think the new Roombas look a lot nicer. By the way, the new AeroVac vacuum module is compatible with the 500 series Roombas, so you can upgrade your Roomba. That’s pretty cool. AeroVac modules can be ordered here.
As of this writing, the iRobot Roomba 780 comes with (besides the robot itself) a battery charger, home base, two lighthouses, an extra filter, extra brushes (bristle, flexible, and side), two brush cleaning tools, a remote control, instructional DVD, and 1 year warranty (6 months for the battery.)
Right now, the iRobot Roomba 760 and 770 both come with the same accessories as each other. You get a battery charger, home base, two virtual walls, an extra filter, two brush cleaning tools, a remote control, instructional DVD, and the same warranty. So really, you would be ordering the 770 to get the added features. So what you get for your 50 clams is: Dirt Detect Series 2 (the 760 comes with Dirt Detect Series 1), and the full bin indicator light,