IRobot is a leader in the carpet vacuuming market with its Roomba robotic vacuum cleaners, which cost $374.99 to $899.99.
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Catsouphes said the Braava jet sprang from years of research, during which the company found that consumers spend up to five hours a week cleaning hardwood floors, most of which are limited to kitchens and bathrooms. Also, hardwood is becoming the default flooring choice for new homes.
The Bedford, Mass.-based company, which has sold millions of its disc-shaped Roomba vacuums, is expanding its family of cleaning automatons.
Pretty soon, we’re going to have a whole fleet of these things. iRobot is adding to their estimable collection of cleaning robots with the Braava jet, an automated mop that will get your kitchen and bathroom floors spotless with no effort on your part.
Detergent is integrated into the pads and it mixes with the water the robot sprays for the flawless amount every time. It is also responsible for doing the actual cleaning. Both the battery and the water tank are built to allow the robot to clean an area of around 150 square feet.
Starting off we’re looking at a $199 MSRP, which is $100 less than the Braava 300 series which retails for $299. This is a nice perk of the newer iRobot devices, since the Braava 380t comes with the extra NorthStar Navigation Cube that’s tasked with mapping out the home. Still, that seems more wasteful than before – fortunately, you still have the option to purchase reusable, washable cleaning pads that will work with the Braava jet in the same way.
The Braava Jet has three modes: Dry sweeping, damp sweeping, and wet mopping, and a corresponding pad for each mode. Replacement Jet cleaning pads are $8 for a box of ten. The mode that takes the longest time is wet mopping, since the robot sprays water, mops it up in a V-like motion (pulling forward, back, and then forward again on an angle), and continues to do that until the entire floor is clean.
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The Braava Jet costs $199 (just over R3,000) from the iRobot online store, and will go on sale at retailers in the United States in April. You can even create a virtual wall so the Braava jet won’t wander into another area. When the robot finishes its cycle, there’s a lever underneath its top handle that you can pull to release the pad from the bottom-you don’t have to touch it yourself. While the previous Braava required use of a cleaning cloth (one of your own that you could reuse), the new one uses pads made for the Braava jet.
