The Roomba i7 is an older model and tends to cost less than the new Roomba j7. We wrote a review of the self-emptying Roomba i7+ in 2018, when it was brand-new, and at the time we called it the best robot vacuum that money could buy. The rest of the industry caught up very quickly, so the i7+ is no longer such a standout, but it still works well.
We were surprised the first time the 11S disappeared under a bed—and then more surprised when it reemerged with an unholy amount of cat hair stuffed into its bin and wrapped about the brush roll. In early 2022, iRobot added several new features to the app, including smart mapping shark cordless and integration with Siri voice commands. The Roomba i3 EVO has two counter-rotating “extractor” rolls, which we’ve found to be excellent for cleaning rugs and resisting tangles. It also has much more suction than Roomba 600-series bots, which helps its bare-floor pickup.
But some great robots rely instead on a camera or gyroscopes , and they also get the job done—just a little slower, while bonking into more stuff, and with a slightly higher chance of missing areas. We’ve also tested some cheap bump bots that are slightly different from the standard-issue Eufy, including the Eureka Groove. That bot was basically fine, but it couldn’t match the agility of the Eufy model or the durability of the Roomba bots we’ve tested.
The Roomba Model 401 was similar but had a standard-size dust bin and vacuum system. Room size is detected automatically based on the longest straight-line path that can be driven; instead of buttons for room size, their buttons are “Clean”, “Spot”, and “Max”. That means you’re looking for a robot that can traverse different floor types or maneuver around furniture without your help. This is especially true if you have dark flooring, as infrared sensors might mistake a black carpet for a ledge, and refuse to pass over it.
It’s not great at getting pet hair out of plush rugs, but it works fine for keeping bare floors and short rugs pretty tidy. However, the basic Eufy series isn’t as durable as Roomba models, nor is it built to be repaired. As of 2022, iRobot markets models of their 600, i, j, Combo and s9 series, while continuing to provide support and sell accessories for their previous series. Various models shark cordless have different features, including tangle-free brushes, separate sweep canisters, more powerful vacuums, obstacle avoidance, and performance maps displayed via smartphone apps. For example, we attached a tracking device to robotic vacuums we tested to rate their navigation skills, and we challenged them to clean up a mix of cereal, rice, and yellow peas to rate their cleaning capacity.
We also tested the ease of setup, charging, and operation to determine how easy or difficult each product is to use. While we rated each robot in the same category of usability, we considered how they stacked up against the old methods of manual cleaning as well. Roombas are powered by a user-replaceable rechargeable battery; older models used NiMH batteries, while newer models use lithium-ion batteries, and a few models support both.
If you’re tired of manually emptying your current bot’s bursting dustbin on the daily, the Roomba i3+ EVO will eliminate that chore. It’s a particularly compelling option if you suffer from allergies, because it also uses a high-efficiency filter to capture allergens as it cleans. You no longer have to suffer the indignity of dragging around an unwieldy plastic hose connected to a clumsy, wheeled canister the size of a Galapagos tortoise. Robot vacuums can help you dispose of dust, pet hair, and other debris in your home without requiring you to lift a finger.
The navigation was a little clumsier, and some of the details—including the translation in the app, manual, marketing materials, and even the voiceovers from the bot itself—lacked polish. In owner reviews, the main complaints about the bot included glitchiness, an unstable app, and poor customer service. While the iRobot Roomba i3 EVO is better at cleaning, the Roborock Q5 is smarter. Equipped with a superior mapping system that can store multiple maps for different levels of the home in both 2D and 3D, the Q5 also has an easy-to-use app and responds well to voice commands. It cleans admirably , moves fast, and steers clear of larger obstacles. The dustbin on the i3 EVO is smaller than those on some other bots at this price, but the upgraded Roomba i3+ EVO comes with a dock that automatically empties the bin when it’s full or at the end of a cleaning session.
The suction power doesn’t stand up to these larger devices, and the collected debris is pulled into a small internal bin with limited dustbin capacity. For a true hands-off cleaning experience, this bot can connect to select Roomba models to automatically trigger mopping after a vacuum cycle. The robot will automatically adjust its cleaning cycles to whichever type pad is attached. Later models introduced several additional operating modes, such as “Spot”, which cleans an area of a few feet, and “Max”, which cleans endlessly until the battery is depleted, this mode was only available on older Roombas.
It’s also better at cleaning rugs than most other bots, and hair doesn’t get tangled in its brushes as quickly. With the companion app and a Wi-Fi connection, you can remotely turn the robot on or off and optionally set an automatic cleaning schedule. The downside is that it doesn’t work quite as fast as some competing models. If daily pet-hair vacuuming is a hassle, bissell crosswave cordless consider this option we tested in a house with dogs. The iRobot Roomba s9+ is one of the newest models from the brand and among the priciest, but its upgrades make it extremely efficient for pet-loving households. A three-stage cleaning system delivers 40 times the suction rate of the Roomba 600 series, and its new D-shaped body optimizes cleaning edges and corners.