Combo i8

You're asking this in a dreame sub, obviously people will tell you to go with dreame. I had a roomba I8 combo, have ditched it and bought a dreame l40 ultra ae last week and was not disappointed. Downside is that it's reliable on cloud, but all robot vacuums have that, unless you go with valetudo.

I have 3 roombas. One of them, an i8, worked well for about 3 years before it just stopped being able to navigate. The other two, 10 Max ($600 each), have been absolute trash from day 1. iRobot is in my top 3 worst brand experiences of all time.

The app for my i8 has literally caused stress in my marriage. Now it's up to my husband to run the fucking thing. I spend more time fucking with the app than actually getting the vacuuming done. When he sees me vacuuming myself he gets upset, "I paid a lot for that." But neither does he tolerate the level of frustration the app brings me to, so, the ball is in his court. When I want something vacuumed I'm now killing my back/hips/knees and doing it, or he gets to program it. So.. maybe that's why? IDK.

I'm not unhappy with my old Roomba i8 but given their current financial situation I would not buy another one. Also apparently their technology has been surpassed by many other brands.

I was surprised to find my old Roomba i8 and even older Shark pick up stuff better than my new CurvX and EdgeT. The new features on the Roborocks are obviously a huge improvement but actual vacuuming performance on the newer ones is not as good as the older ones. Like anything, manufacturers find a number/stat they can use for marketing purposes and they run with that. Of course people will think that 20,000 Pa of suction will be better than 5,000 Pa, so even if those numbers are completely meaningless, the folks in the marketing department will latch on to that and that's what they will advertise.

We have had roomba for 12 years now (first a series 8 , now a J7+). Couldn't live without, esp with kids, keeps the house clean with no effort at all, but you know this already. Buy something quality, sensors and software really make a difference, favor companies with solid software development. If i had to buy now, i would go for a roborock, the J7+ while very good, sometimes is just disappointing dumb. Also good brands have all aftermarket replacements parts, we keep reviving our roomba 8 from 10+ years ago.