Fifteen cleaning modes and lidar-advanced navigation sound impressive on a spec sheet, but the real question is whether the ABIR X9 actually behaves differently from a robot with half as many settings. Having sat at the top of ABIR's robot vacuum line-up, it carries the highest expectations of the range, and it is fair to ask whether it lives up to them in daily use rather than just on paper. This review looks at what it genuinely does well, where the extra features earn their keep, and where the X9 falls short of solving problems that are really about your home rather than your robot.
None of this is about whether the X9 is good in the abstract. It is about whether the specific things it does better than mid-range models actually matter for your floor plan, your flooring mix, and how hands-off you want cleaning to be.
Where the X9 Does Well: Navigation and Room Control
The standout feature is advanced lidar navigation, and it is the main reason to pick the X9 over a mid-range model. Laser-based mapping builds a genuinely precise floor plan, which translates into consistent cleaning patterns run after run rather than the slight variation you get from camera-based systems. Rooms are mapped individually rather than as one blended space, which means per-room custom settings actually mean something in practice: different suction levels, different modes, or skipping a room entirely without affecting the rest of the clean.
No-go zones you can actually trust
No-go zones and virtual walls are precise enough to trust around delicate areas like pet feeding stations, a child's play mat, or trailing cables, which is a real practical upgrade over simpler navigation systems that rely on broader, less exact boundaries. Once a zone is set on the lidar map, it stays consistent clean after clean rather than drifting slightly the way a less precise system might.
Handling mixed flooring automatically
At 6500Pa with carpet boost, suction is strong enough to handle a genuine mix of hard floor and carpet without needing to manually switch modes between rooms. The robot detects carpet as it crosses onto it and adjusts automatically, which matters more day to day than the headline suction figure on its own. For a home with, say, hard floors downstairs and carpeted bedrooms, this removes a manual step that many simpler robots still require.
Where the X9 Does Well: The 15 Cleaning Modes
Fifteen modes sounds like a marketing number until you use a handful of them regularly. In practice, most owners settle into three or four: a standard daily clean, a deeper carpet-focused mode, a quiet mode for cleaning while working or during calls, and a spot-clean mode for a specific mess rather than a full run through the whole home.
The value is less in the total count and more in having modes that map onto real situations without digging through menus every time. Per-room mode assignment, paired with the lidar map, means you can set a kitchen to a stronger daily mode and a carpeted bedroom to a gentler, quieter setting, and the robot applies the right one automatically as it moves between rooms rather than needing manual adjustment each run.
The UV spot-cleaning function is a genuine extra rather than a gimmick tacked onto the spec sheet. It is useful for targeted sanitising passes in specific areas such as near a pet bed or bathroom threshold, rather than something you would rely on for general whole-home cleaning. Treat it as a supplement to regular cleaning, not a replacement for it.
Setting Up Per-Room Cleaning
Getting the most from the X9 means spending a bit of time on initial setup rather than running it straight out of the box on default settings. The first full clean builds the lidar map, and it is worth letting that run uninterrupted so the map comes out accurate rather than partial. Once the map is built, assigning individual rooms, drawing no-go zones, and setting per-room modes takes a few minutes in the app rather than being automatic from day one.
This upfront effort is the trade for everything the per-room control delivers afterwards. Skipping it and leaving the X9 on a single default mode for the whole home means you are paying for lidar precision and carpet boost without actually using the features that justify the price difference over a mid-range model. If you are not planning to set up individual room profiles, some of the X9's advantage narrows considerably.
Scheduling works the way you would expect: set times per room or per zone, and the robot applies the assigned mode automatically rather than defaulting to one setting across the whole clean. This is where the lidar map and the mode range actually combine into something more useful than either would be alone.
Where the X9 Falls Short
The clearest gap is the lack of an auto-empty station. For a flagship-tier robot, this is the most common criticism, and it is a fair one. You are still emptying the dustbin manually after most runs, which undercuts some of the hands-off appeal that the rest of the feature set promises. If auto-empty convenience matters more to you than lidar precision, the K30 is worth cross-checking, since it trades some navigation sophistication for weeks of unattended emptying.
Mode count is not a substitute for a clear floor
The second limitation is less about the robot and more about expectations set by the mode count. Fifteen cleaning modes will not compensate for a genuinely cluttered floor, thick rugs with long fringing, or a lot of low furniture with narrow gaps underneath. Lidar navigation is precise, but it still needs a reasonably navigable floor to make full use of that precision. No amount of extra modes changes the physical reality of what the robot can safely get under or around.
Battery and runtime on larger homes
Battery life on full carpet-boost runs across a larger, multi-room home can mean a mid-clean recharge on the largest layouts, after which the robot resumes automatically from where it left off. This is normal for a lidar unit doing detailed multi-room mapping and boosted suction on carpet, but it is worth knowing before you buy if you have a genuinely large floor to cover in one sitting rather than assuming every run finishes in a single charge.
It is also worth flagging that the X8, which shares similar lidar-based navigation, is currently being phased out in favour of the X9. If you are comparing the two, the X9 is the model to buy going forward, since it carries a more advanced version of the same lidar approach along with the wider mode range and carpet boost the X8 does not have.
Who the X9 Actually Suits
The X9 makes the most sense for larger homes with several distinct rooms, a genuine mix of hard floor and carpet, and a household that wants per-room control rather than one blanket setting for the whole home. If you have previously found a simpler robot's navigation inconsistent around furniture or doorways, this is the model built to solve exactly that problem.
It is a weaker fit if your main priority is never touching the dustbin. In that case, the auto-empty convenience of the K30 will likely matter more to you day to day than the X9's navigation precision. It is also less essential in a smaller, simpler flat, where a mid-range model with map memory already covers the space adequately without the added cost of lidar and carpet boost.
For multi-pet households or homes with a genuine mix of surfaces, the combination of carpet detection, per-room modes, and precise no-go zones tends to be the deciding factor, more than the headline suction number on its own.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the X9 worth the price over a mid-range ABIR model?
If your home has multiple distinct rooms, mixed flooring, or you want reliable per-room settings, the lidar navigation and carpet boost genuinely change the day-to-day experience rather than just adding numbers to a spec sheet. For a smaller or simpler layout, a mid-range model with map memory may cover your needs at a lower cost, since the extra precision matters less on one open floor without many separate rooms to manage.
Does the X9 have an auto-empty station?
No. The X9 does not include a self-emptying dock, so the dustbin needs manual emptying after most runs. This is the most common trade-off buyers weigh against the K30, which does include auto-empty but with a simpler navigation system than the X9's advanced lidar setup.
How many of the 15 cleaning modes will I actually use?
Most owners settle into a handful of regularly used modes, such as a standard daily clean, a carpet-focused setting, a quiet mode, and spot cleaning, rather than cycling through all fifteen individually. The value is in having the right mode for a specific situation available without extra setup, particularly when combined with per-room assignment on the lidar map.
Does carpet boost work automatically?
Yes. The X9 detects carpet as it cleans and adjusts suction automatically rather than requiring you to switch modes by hand between hard floor and carpet. This is one of the more genuinely useful automatic features on the model, since it removes a manual step that many simpler robots still require from the person running them.
Is the X9 or the X8 the better buy right now?
The X8 is being phased out in favour of the X9, so the X9 is the model to choose going forward. It builds on similar lidar-based navigation with a more advanced implementation, plus carpet boost and the wider mode range that the X8 does not offer.
Will the X9 struggle with a cluttered floor?
Lidar navigation handles obstacles well, but it still relies on a reasonably navigable floor to make full use of its precision. Thick rug fringing, low furniture with narrow gaps, and loose cables can still cause issues for any robot vacuum, the X9 included. Clearing the main paths before a run gets the most out of the mapping and avoids the robot getting stuck partway through.
How long does a full clean take on a larger home?
This depends heavily on floor area and how many rooms are set to carpet boost or deeper modes, but larger, multi-room layouts with mixed flooring can mean the X9 needs a mid-clean recharge before finishing. It resumes automatically from where it left off once charged, so the clean still completes without you needing to restart it manually or check on it partway through.
Does the X9 handle homes with pets well?
The combination of carpet detection, precise no-go zones around feeding areas or litter trays, and the UV spot-clean function makes it well suited to pet households, particularly where there is a genuine mix of flooring types. Regular runs still matter more than any single feature, since pet hair accumulates fastest in high-traffic areas the robot passes over most often.
Do I need to set up per-room modes for the X9 to be worth it?
Not strictly, but it is where most of the price difference over a mid-range model shows up. Running the X9 on one default mode across the whole home still benefits from stronger navigation and suction, but the per-room control, individual mode assignment, and precise no-go zones are the features that make the lidar map genuinely useful day to day. Spending a few minutes setting these up after the first map is built is worth doing rather than leaving everything on default settings.
Final Thoughts
The X9 earns its position at the top of ABIR's range through navigation precision and genuinely useful per-room control, not through the headline mode count alone. The trade-off is the missing auto-empty station, which keeps it from being fully hands-off despite everything else it gets right.
If your home has the kind of layout that benefits from precise room-by-room cleaning and mixed flooring, it is a strong choice. If auto-empty convenience matters more than navigation precision, weigh it against the rest of the robot vacuum range before deciding, since the right model depends on which trade-off suits your routine rather than which one has the longer spec sheet.
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