The best robot vacuums don't come cheap, and cheap robot vacuums come with compromises. But Roomba's new Combo Essentials could bridge the gap between the two. while not as inexpensive as the iLife V3s Pro, this $275 robot has both vacuum and mop capabilities, as well as advanced smart features with the iRobot OS.

The combo is also available in a variety of colors.

We haven't had a chance to test the Combo Essential yet, but let's take a look at its features and how it compares to its competitors. Here is a comparison of Combo Essential with the top 3 competitive products.

Comparing the value of the Roomba Combo Essential to that of the iLife V3S Pro, the 2-in-1 Essential sweeps it away. Pun intended: the IR-controlled iLife V3S Pro has no smarts at all, and it bumps and goes around the room. So it takes a long time to move around the room in each session. It also cannot be sent from a phone or voice assistant, nor can it clean a specific area of the house.

The Roomba Combo Essential uses iRobot's operating system to map out the spaces it will automatically clean on the go, create detailed visual cleaning reports, and suggest cleaning at a fraction of the cost of the best Roombas we've tested. It also includes a mop to further clean floors.

However, the iLife is one of the best robot vacuums out there, thanks to its superior cleaning performance. Although it is quite old at this point, it remains one of the best robot vacuums for cleaning pet hair.

The Roomba Combo Essential's low-profile design packs a lot of equipment under the hood: a four-stage cleaning system consists of a V-shaped multi-surface brush, an edge sweeper brush, and a pump microfiber mop pad, which work in tandem to vacuum and mop hard floors. This is remarkably similar to the Shark IQ, which has a similar design and also cleans in rows.

The Combo Essential wet-dry vacuum cleaner uses the Smart Clean Map reporting feature to record its work. This generates a report in the iRobot app that shows the time spent cleaning and the areas cleaned. The app can even suggest cleaning times, as in the $1,400 Roomba J9+ combo we recently reviewed. Shark IQ has this feature, along with advanced boundary settings.

This Roomba does not come with an automatic emptying dock like the budget Shark IQ, for truly hands-free set-and-forget operation. The dust box must be emptied manually and the mop pad must be cleaned each time. Nevertheless, the mop can be removed and the Essential can be used in vacuum-only mode. There are three levels of suction power and three levels of water volume to choose from.

Although the Shark vacuum does not have a mopping function, the 45-day automatic maintenance more than makes up for it. If you set the Shark and forget it, it runs on full autopilot for less than two months. If you don't need a mop and don't want the hassle of emptying the vacuum's trash can, the Shark IQ, which doesn't cost $100 more, would be a stronger option.

The Roomba Combo Essential is an upgraded version of the budget-focused Roomba 600 series. The smaller size allows it to fit better under furniture and clean larger areas; compared to the 600 series, the new Roomba Combo Essential has 20 times the suction power and picks up 25% more hard floor dirt. It also has a longer battery life of 120 minutes.

The Combo Essential's more thorough row cleaning pattern is superior to the 600's more random bump-and-clean approach. Nevertheless, both have a wealth of smart features available through the iRobot app. These include geofence-triggered vacuum operation when you're out of the house and seasonal vacuuming recommendations. The Achilles heel of the Roomba 675 turns out to be picking up pet hair. If the Combo Essential gets a power upgrade, it should be a much more powerful option than the aging 600 series.

We can't wait to get our hands on the new Roomba Combo Essential 2-in-1 RoboVac. If the suction and cleaning performance lives up to its promises, it will shake up the robot vacuum category. While it doesn't have an auto-empty base, the Combo Essential will be one of the best smart home devices you can buy.