A practical comparison

Roomba 505 AutoWash, 105 AutoEmpty or Qrevo Curv?

A robot that mops can still leave most of the wet-work to its owner. The most useful comparison is what happens to the pad, dirty water and dust after a run. The Roomba Plus 505 Combo AutoWash, Roomba 105 Combo + AutoEmpty, and Roborock Qrevo Curv all vacuum and use spinning or cloth-based mops differently; their docks do not do the same job.

Roomba 505: a broad AutoWash routine, with tank work left

The 505 pairs DualClean rotating pads with an AutoWash dock. iRobot says the pads refresh during mopping, wash when a run ends and heat-dry; the dock also empties debris and self-cleans. The maker's “four weeks” pad service claim assumes one mopping run each week, and its dust-bag interval is “up to” 75 days. Those intervals are not household guarantees. Owners still remove and rinse the clean- and dirty-water tanks, replace or inspect consumables, and keep the dock clear. The dock uses tanks, not a fixed water supply and drain, so it can be placed without plumbing—but its footprint and tank capacity matter. iRobot does not publish that exact water capacity in the reviewed U.S. chart.

The exact 505 page lists a 4.2-inch robot, up to five maps, four cleaning modes and pads that lift when carpet is detected. It supports both 2.4- and 5-GHz Wi-Fi per iRobot's compatibility chart. Its “heat-dry” description concerns pad drying: the U.S. product material does not publish a 505 dock-wash temperature or claim that warm water is applied to the floor. Do not convert one claim into the other.

Roomba 105 Combo + AutoEmpty: dust automation, manual mop care

The 105 Combo AutoEmpty package is the simpler Roomba option when you want automatic dust transfer but do not need the dock to wash a mop. Its pad is a removable flat microfiber cloth with pump-fed water, rather than spinning pads. The owner fills and later empties the robot's combo tank and removes the cloth for care; the AutoEmpty station handles dust only. The product page lists a 4.09-inch body, while iRobot's chart gives this 105 generation 2.4-GHz-only networking and up to three maps. It avoids adding a second water station to the room, though a mop user takes on the cloth and bin routine. A 105 Vac + AutoEmpty is a still simpler choice if the household does not need mopping at all.

Roborock Qrevo Curv: dual pads and a published wash-water claim

Roborock's Qrevo Curv also uses twin rotating pads and a tank dock that washes and dries them. Its U.S. page lists a dock wash claim up to 75°C; that is the pad-washing cycle, not a stated hot-water floor-mopping temperature. The Curv is listed at 4.1 inches and needs a 2.4-GHz connection for app features. Its dock has removable tanks and no plumbing requirement. These facts make the Curv a useful fit when a published dock temperature matters, not proof that it will clean a specific sticky spill better than the Roomba. If height is tight, compare actual opening measurements: its nominal height is a little below the 505's, but both are over four inches.

Make the care routine the deciding question

• Choose 505 when you want spinning pads plus dock pad washing and drying, both Wi-Fi bands are useful, and you can maintain a tank-based dock.
• Choose 105 Combo AutoEmpty when a simple flat cloth is enough and you would rather avoid a full mop-washing station, accepting hands-on pad and liquid-bin care.
• Consider Qrevo Curv when its published 75°C dock wash claim, tank arrangement and the rest of its exact fit suit you. It still needs 2.4-GHz Wi-Fi and tank care.

Questionnaire choices should narrow the set rather than make all three look alike. Selecting “dual spinning pads” removes the 105 cloth model. Requiring tank-only water can keep the two AutoWash dock plans while excluding any fixed supply-and-drain version. A 5-GHz-only requirement favors the 505 of these three; the 105 Combo AutoEmpty and Curv do not document 5-GHz support. A 4.00-inch clearance eliminates all three at their published body heights. Requiring a manufacturer-stated 75°C mop-wash minimum admits the Curv but not the 505, whose exact wash temperature is unknown; a pad-drying claim is not enough. For high-pile carpet, threshold height or an exact dock-tank volume, keep the answer unresolved unless the exact model source supplies the missing limit.

Model references: Roomba Plus 505 Combo AutoWash, N185020, Roomba 105 Combo + AutoEmpty, Y354020, Roborock Qrevo Curv, and iRobot's feature and compatibility chart.