iRobot - Combo j7+

I have all hardwood and the Roomba combo j7+, a samoyed and an icelandic sheepdog. Merlin (my sammy) is afraid of it, but it does a good job on maintenance vacuuming. I run it 3 times per week on a schedule. Anything less and the fur does start to overwhelm it. I don't know how a Roomba would function on carpet but just wanted to put this out there in case someone found it valuable.

It’s maybe the same brush mechanism as the i7 but it’s the roller mop they’re touting on this one. It’s not even a Roomba - they don’t design and make their own robots now, they had to outsource all of it to catch up with the competition after ignoring LiDAR for so long. I ditched my J7+ Combo for a Saros Z70 and I couldn’t be happier about it!

This is exactly the same as my L10s Plus - same rated "pa" value and same default brush (all rubber single brush). On carpet it's just awful and it behaves exactly like in your video - so annoying and irritating! I've found that using the mixed rubber/bristles brush that came with my old Mi Robot Vacuum Mop 2 Pro+ (Mijia 1T), also manufactured by Dreame, the pickup ability on carpet becomes much much better. That's the same brush that comes for instance with the Dreame F9 and D9 (1st generation) and Mijia 1C. The type of "debris" you've shown, basically "slides off" the rubber brush and gets left there as the brush doesn't make traction on it to lift it. The long bristles help a lot, at least on my experience. Maybe have a go? My Roomba j7 Combo (not even an s9) used to do much better on carpet, thanks to the counter rotating rubber brushes, as they have a lot of tiny "notches" that really help with picking up stuff on carpet.

I really appreciate someone bringing this up! As a design geek, I always struggle when I have to make purchase decisions because not always I find something that I consider "well designed". The robot vacuums category is one of these... However, here some robot vacuums that have a design worth talking about (of course, things need to be contextualised for their time). In completely random order: - **Roomba s9**: a sleek and professional finish, the first (and only) D-shaped Roomba, taking advantage of its shape and bringing to market the best edge cleaning ever (before robot vacuums with extensible side brush were a thing) together with one of the best vacuuming performances ever. - **Roomba i3**: the first one of the newly engineered Roomba mid-range series, bringing to "budget" conscious consumers a new methodical navigation method, together with a modern aesthetics which drops the carrying handle for a new fabric-textured top finish and with modern, clean lines. - **Philips (Versuni) HomeRun 7000**: not a particularly noteworthy product, however a robot vacuum distancing itself from the competition thanks to the typical Philips design, with dual-finish robot and fabric emptying base. Not the best result, but at least an attempt to bring an externally developed product (ODM'd by 3irobotix) in line with the company design style (uses for instance with air purifiers etc). - **Roomba j7/j9+**: distancing itself from its predecessor (Roomba i7, with a good looking "techy" design), it brings a much cleaner design, more minimal, and enriched by a metallic disc on top together with a UI based on the RGB light around the only button (not the most intuitive one, but an attempt to do something different). It also features a newly redesigned self-emptying station, now developed in a much more compact and modern-looking form factor, thing that will be later copied by most other manufacturers. - **Neato Botvac lineup**: overall, Neato products have always been lacking in terms of design (an exception being the Kobold VR300, which changes the design aligning it to the family feeling of contemporary Vorwerk products), however these specific units brought more thoughtful, cleaner lines (to an extent...) together with the LiDAR tower cap in some bold, unique colours. This aesthetic didn't survive long and wasn't - overall - in line with the brand identity of Neato. Still, a good attempt. RIP. - **Dyson 360° VisNav**: not too much to say - it looks good. Perfectly matches a useful D-shaped layout with the Dyson family feeling. Balanced despite the lack of simplicity, modern in a retro-futuristic way, and functional. - **Karcher RC3000**: one of the first robot vacuums with self-emptying station (the first one?), with a bold design perfectly in line with the company identity. - **Dreame W10 Pro**: overall, similar to all other Dreame products, but in the (now abandoned) D-shaped style. Adds a gold accent to differentiate it from the "non-Pro" version which lacks the front sensor array (ToF 3D cam + RGB cam). Clean lines, clean colours, very minimal and stylish overall. - **SmartMi VortexWave**: innovative design for this unique robot vacuum and mop: D-shaped style allowing a large front brush that can be exchanged to leave its place to a roller-style mop. The first robot vacuum supporting both dry and wet vacuuming. Clean lines and a good mix of minimal and techy design. - **Electrolux Pure i9.2 (also AEG RX9.2)**: one one-of-a-kind. The genuine successor of the original Electrolux Trilobite. Developed in-house by Electrolux, this product was one of the first to implement small obstacles avoidance (2017 for the first gen Pure i9) thanks to its navigation method fully based on dual-line lasers. Overall an excellent product, unfortunately killed by the high price, lacking marketing, and growing Chinese competition (at much cheaper prices). Futuristic design for a robot with futuristic features. - **Matic robot vacuum**: the only one that in recent years has dared to challenge the paradigm of robot vacuums. Narrower but much taller. Boxy design resembling a robotic toy, with large wheels and front, "peninsular" brush assembly. Together with a revolutionary vSLAM navigation system based on nVIDIA Jetson Orin. It has its flaws, but it's the kind of competition we need in the category. - **Narwal (in picture, Freo Z10)**: not really a worthy robot vacuum cleaner/brand overall, but one of the first brands to really bet on rotational mops, together with the distinctive clean and alien-like shape of their docks which has now been copied by many competitors. - **Xiaomi Mi Robot Vacuum (Roborock)**: the first LiDAR-based robot vacuum to bring LiDAR and methodical navigation to the masses, at a price that made it the the-facto standard of robot vacuum recommendations in 2016/2017. Together with the new technology at low price, it brought to the market a modern and clean design and a futuristic, intuitive app. - **DJI Romo**: too early to speak about this as a robot vacuum cleaner, but from a design perspective it takes the clean, curvy Narwal style and turns it inside-out giving it a transparent cover. Good result, but durability of the good look is still TBD. - **Mach R1** (sorry, I refuse to call this Eufy S1 Pro): birthed by the Anker Innovations incubator "Mach" (later absorbed into Eufy), it finally brings to Anker-owned Eufy a new style that was really needed. Futuristic and clean, not much to say. A very good result resembling the square-ish shape of older LG HomBot, but in a new futuristic, semi-transparent twist. That's all folks 😬 Edit: pictures in the comment below because somehow embedding doesn't work in this comment.

I have a Roomba combo j7+ (the one that mops as well) and we have 90 m2. Been using it for 2 years and it works fine. I am not a fan of how it treats the carpet tho. So I added no vaccum zones on the carpets and I hand vaccum it.

I have two dogs and two cats and the j7+ works just fine

Me, too. This is why I'm here--time to replace Dumbot. This will be my 4th robot vac and definitely not looking at iRobot!

My J7+ has always sucked, in all the wrong ways. I named it Dumbot. All I hear is Alexa saying "your Dumbot is stuck". Never understood the great reviews for it.

I agree. I had a J7+.

Please do not get a Roomba. They have no lidar so when the light in the room is dim it has a hard time navigating. They don’t have anti hair clogging bristles. My Roomba J7+ gave constant error messages that could mean anything. Never ever again.

Same. My j7+ has been a trooper. Just put a new battery in it. Annoying that there’s so much open space, the battery could have had more capacity.

Personally I prefer the vacuum only devices which is where the Roombas really excel. If I was going to get a combo device I think the minimum I would look at is a J7 + or above depending on your budget. I know there are some sales on right now, and they're always seems to be some great sales over the past several months that really bring the prices down on the higher end units. Hopefully you can get some more advice with regards to your price point.

I’ve got two j7+ and a 705 max with a golden! (Used to be two 😢). They work great for upkeep but you’ll still need to deep clean every once in awhile.