The 6 Best Roomba Vacuum Cleaners For Thick Carpet of 2025

Step up your cleaning game without breaking the bank with the iRobot Roomba E5. This model packs a punch with its Premium 3-Stage Cleaning System and 5X the Power-Lifting Suction compared to the baseline 600 series, making it a strong contender for tackling everyday dirt and debris, even on carpeted surfaces. Its unique Dual Multi-Surface Rubber Brushes are a standout feature, adept at grabbing pet hair without tangling, directly addressing a major headache for pet owners. This combination delivers a noticeable improvement in daily floor maintenance for a budget-friendly robot.

In real-world use, the Roomba E5 navigates competently using adaptive sensors, moving under and around furniture and relying on Dirt Detect Sensors to spend extra time in high-traffic, dirtier zones. The Auto-Adjust Cleaning Head automatically adapts its height, which is crucial for maintaining contact and effective suction across different floor types, including low to medium-pile carpets. While it lacks advanced mapping, its ability to run for up to 90 minutes before self-charging covers substantial ground, providing reliable daily upkeep.

Comparing the Roomba E5 to the entry-level Roomba 694, you gain significantly more suction power (5X vs baseline) and the superior, tangle-resistant rubber brushes, which are particularly beneficial for pet hair and agitating carpet fibers. While it doesn’t offer the LiDAR navigation or massive suction of the Roomba 105, the E5 provides excellent value, delivering solid vacuuming performance and essential features for homes with mixed flooring and pets. It’s the ideal choice for budget-conscious users who need more than basic cleaning power, especially on carpets.

The iRobot Roomba 694 serves as a solid entry point into the world of robot vacuums, designed for users seeking basic automated cleaning. Featuring a sleek design and the standard 3-Stage Cleaning system, it’s equipped to handle daily dust, dirt, and small debris across various floor types. Its primary appeal lies in its simplicity and smart connectivity, allowing scheduling and control via the iRobot Home app or voice assistants like Alexa. This model is about making daily tidying effortless without overwhelming complexity.

Performance on carpets with the Roomba 694 is adequate for surface dirt on low-pile rugs, thanks to its Auto-Adjust Cleaning Head which adapts to different heights. However, relying on the standard 3-Stage system and baseline suction (compared to higher models), it may struggle with deeply embedded dirt or thicker carpets. Its Adaptive Navigation helps it move around obstacles and along edges, providing a general coverage clean, but it doesn’t map your home or allow for targeted room cleaning. It offers up to 90 minutes of runtime before returning to its base.

Positioned as a mid-range option, the Roomba 694 is a step up in connectivity from very basic models but offers less cleaning power and fewer advanced features than the Roomba E5 or Roomba 105. While it works well for maintaining cleanliness on hard floors and low-pile carpets, users with thicker carpets or significant pet hair might find the Roomba E5‘s 5X suction and rubber brushes more effective. The 694 is best suited for smaller homes or apartments with mostly hard floors and minimal deep carpet cleaning needs.

The iRobot Roomba Combo i5 offers a versatile solution for homes with mixed flooring, uniquely combining vacuuming and mopping capabilities in a single machine. This 2-in-1 design allows you to swap between a vacuum-only bin and a vacuum-and-mop combo bin, providing flexibility for different cleaning tasks. It utilizes a 4-Stage Cleaning System for vacuuming, featuring Dual Multi-Surface Rubber Brushes that effectively lift dirt and pet hair while avoiding tangles, a significant plus for homeowners with shedding pets. The ability to perform both functions makes it a compelling choice for comprehensive floor care.

For vacuuming, the Roomba Combo i5 delivers powerful pickup, adapting its cleaning head and using its rubber brushes to work effectively on both hard floors and carpets. While it can vacuum carpets, the mopping function is strictly for hard surfaces – you simply swap the bin. Its Imprint Smart Map technology means it learns your home layout, allowing you to direct it to clean specific rooms or areas, a major upgrade in control and efficiency. It also includes Dirt Detect Technology to focus on messier spots, enhancing its cleaning performance.

Compared to vacuum-only models like the Roomba j7 or Roomba 105, the Roomba Combo i5 offers the added value of mopping, making it ideal for homes with significant hard floor areas alongside carpets. While its vacuum suction is strong and effective on carpets, the Roomba 105 boasts significantly higher quantified suction (70X vs 600 series baseline), potentially giving it an edge on very thick carpets. However, for users prioritizing the convenience of a single robot that can vacuum carpets and then mop hard floors, the Roomba Combo i5 is a highly functional and intelligent choice.

For those demanding maximum vacuuming performance and unparalleled convenience, the iRobot Roomba 105 Vac with the AutoEmpty Dock stands out. This powerhouse robot is engineered to devour dirt with 70X more Power-Lifting Suction compared to the Roomba 600 series, making it exceptionally capable of pulling embedded grime from deep within carpets. Combined with its 3-Stage Cleaning system and likely Multi-Surface Rubber Brushes (implied by description of tackling dirt bunnies), it offers a truly deep clean across all floor types. The inclusion of the AutoEmpty dock means you can enjoy up to 75 days of hands-free vacuuming, trapping allergens effectively.

In practical use, the Roomba 105 excels with its ClearView LiDAR Navigation, allowing it to map your home quickly and accurately, cleaning in neat, efficient rows even in low light. This intelligent navigation enables features like targeted room cleaning and custom keep-out zones via the easy-to-use app. Its immense suction power is particularly noticeable on carpets, where it effectively lifts pet hair, crumbs, and fine dust that lesser robots might leave behind. The convenience of the auto-empty dock transforms routine maintenance from a daily chore to a monthly task.

When stacked against other models like the Roomba E5 (5X suction) or Roomba j7 (focus on obstacle avoidance), the Roomba 105 distinguishes itself with sheer vacuuming force, making it arguably the best Roomba for thick carpet in this selection. While the j7 offers advanced obstacle avoidance, the 105 prioritizes powerful, systematic cleaning and hands-free disposal. For users whose primary need is deep, thorough vacuuming on all surfaces, especially challenging carpets, and who value the convenience of automatic emptying, the Roomba 105 offers a compelling blend of performance and luxury features.

The iRobot Roomba j7 is a smart, reliable robot vacuum specifically designed to navigate complex home environments and actively avoid unexpected obstacles. Its standout feature is its ability to identify and avoid objects like pet waste and cords, providing peace of mind for pet owners or those with cluttered spaces. Beyond its intelligent navigation, it employs iRobot’s effective cleaning system, including Dual Multi-Surface Rubber Brushes ideal for handling pet hair and adapting to various floor types, including carpets. This focus on smart awareness sets it apart.

Performance-wise, the Roomba j7 utilizes Imprint Smart Mapping to learn your home, allowing for targeted cleaning and customizable zones through the app. Its suite of advanced sensors ensures it navigates efficiently under and around furniture, and along edges, preventing falls down stairs. While suction power isn’t quantified with a multiplier in its description, the j7 series is known for strong pickup, performing well on both hard floors and carpets, effectively lifting daily dirt and pet hair thanks to its rubber brushes and adaptive head. Its strength lies in its ability to clean reliably without getting stuck on common household hazards.

Comparing the Roomba j7 to the Roomba 105, the j7’s primary advantage is its superior obstacle detection and avoidance, making it the better choice for homes where unexpected items might be on the floor. The Roomba 105, however, offers significantly higher quantified suction power (70X vs 600 series baseline), likely making it more effective for deep cleaning very thick carpets. For users prioritizing smart navigation, obstacle avoidance, and reliable daily cleaning on mixed surfaces including carpets, the iRobot Roomba j7 offers intelligent performance and peace of mind, trading ultimate suction for smarter navigation.

The iRobot Roomba 692 is presented as a smart starting point for automated home cleaning, offering Wi-Fi connectivity and basic robot vacuum functionality. It employs the standard 3 Stage Cleaning system and an Edge-Sweeping brush to tackle daily dirt and debris. While the description mentions Dual Multi-Surface brushes, the performance and design are typical of the 600 series baseline, making it suitable for general maintenance on hard floors and low-pile carpets. Its smart features include scheduling via the app and voice assistant compatibility.

In terms of performance, the Roomba 692 uses Adaptive Navigation and Dirt Detect Sensors to move around your home, focusing extra attention on dirtier areas. The Auto-Adjust Cleaning Head helps it transition between different floor types. However, with baseline suction power and brush technology (likely not the tangle-free rubber brushes found on higher models), it may struggle with embedded dirt in medium to thick carpets or heavy pet hair loads compared to more powerful vacuums. It provides a runtime of up to 90 minutes, sufficient for cleaning smaller spaces.

When compared to the Roomba E5, the Roomba 692 offers similar smart connectivity but significantly less cleaning power due to its lower suction (baseline vs 5X) and potentially less effective brush system for carpets and pet hair. It also lacks the advanced navigation and suction of the Roomba 105. The Roomba 692 is best suited for individuals or small households with predominantly hard floors and low-pile carpets, where the cleaning needs are minimal and the primary desire is basic, scheduled automated cleaning at an accessible price point.