The Roomba is building a map of your room and learns the best route after multiple uses. The bin, filter, full bin sensor, front caster wheel, rotating brush, sensors and battery can all easily be removed for cleaning and replacement when necessary. The dust bin sits at the back, occupying around a third of the Roomba’s total footprint.
Typically listed for $799, one of iRobot’s latest robot vacuums is now available for 25% off. When we tested the j7+, our testers were impressed with the 9.35 grams of debris it picked up per run, making it on par with most manual vacuums. You can also use the iRobot Genius mobile app to program your Roomba to clean up specific spots in your house at specific times. So, if you just need to vacuum under the kitchen table after dinner every night but don’t want your entire home cleaned again, the j7+ can embark on a quick spot clean.
Though it’s not Wi-Fi connected, it comes with a remote that you can use to direct the robot to clean only the edges or do a quick spot clean, which it did very well. You can also easily set a future cleaning schedule to irobot vacuum cleaner take care of your home when you’re away. Like others, the automatic sensors detect stairs and drop-offs and alert the robot to low battery levels so that it can automatically return to the docking station to recharge.
Her prior experience analyzing environmental samples in a commercial lab has shaped her curiosity about and knowledge of how things work. Lynn is a testing and product review analyst with the Good Housekeeping Institute, where she’s been evaluating products since 2012. Carolyn Forte, the Good Housekeeping Institute’s Home Care and Cleaning Lab Executive Director, has a B.A. In Family & Consumer Sciences from Queens College, City University of New York, and is a consumer products expert. She has been testing, speaking and writing about appliances, textiles, cleaning products and more at Good Housekeeping for more than 40 years. To reset a Roomba i and 900 series, press and hold the “clean” button on the robot for 10 to 20 seconds depending on the model.
Use the iRobot HOME App to schedule, start, pause, or cancel cleaning cycles from anywhere at any time. The Roombas’ speed is also increased, which is possible in part because of the sensors to avoid bumping into obstacles too hard. Roomba budget models used a simplified interface (a single “Clean” button) and lacked some of the software-controlled flexibility of other versions. They were less expensive models intended for first-time purchasers.
Perhaps it’s something to do with the shorter dimensions, but the j7+’s Clean Base makes an unholy racket that will have you covering your ears. There are currently five models in the iRobot Roomba catalogue and they vary wildly in price from around £270 for the basic 600 Series model to £1,500 for the flagship s9+. All iRobot Roomba models are low profile in design and, bar bissell crosswave cordless the s9+, circular shaped with a single side-mounted spinning bristle for collecting debris near floor edges. They are all equipped with a raft of navigation sensors, including cliff-detection sensors for steep drops like stair cases plus automatic floor-type recognition. If and how the robot vacuum integrates with mobile apps, smart home platforms and other technologies.
It struggled to cross from floors onto rugs without getting stuck. Every model we’ve tested has gotten trapped or tangled at least occasionally, even the latest models with sophisticated navigation and smart-home integration. I’ve written about robot vacuums for Wirecutter since 2013, logging hundreds of hours of research and testing in that time. According to iRobot, the Roomba i7 can run for up to 90 minutes before running out of battery power.
I’m PCMag’s expert on fitness and smart home technology, and I’ve written more than 6,000 articles and reviews in the 10-plus years I’ve been here. I unbox, set up, test, and review a wide range of consumer tech products from my home in Florida, often with the help of my pitbull Bradley. I’m also a yoga instructor, and have been actively teaching group and private classes for nearly a decade. I’m PCMag’s executive editor of reviews, steering our coverage to make sure we’re testing the products you’re interested in buying and telling you whether they’re worth it. I previously managed the consumer electronics reviews team, and before that I covered mobile, smart home, and wearable technology for PCMag and Gigaom.
It’s also sold as the Roomba i4 (and Roomba i4+) from certain retailers. IRobot recently rereleased the i3 as the Roomba i3 Evo, which the company is billing as the same robot as the original i3 we tested, but with the new Smart Map feature preloaded. Our ratings also factor in predicted reliability and owner satisfaction scores based on members’ experiences with more than 9,000 robotic vacuums from our recent surveys. For a limited time, you can get the eufy by Anker Robot Vacuum for $100 off its regular price.
From there, we base our final rating on its price, cleaning ability, functionality and ease of use relative to similar models. Use the iRobot HOME App to schedule, start, pause, cancel, and monitor cleaning cycles from anywhere at any time. Automatic software updates ensure your robot is always loaded with the latest innovations and upgrades from iRobot.