iRobot - i7

My first robot was the i7, bought in 2020 (with a matching Braava). I thought, at the time, this was the best of what robots had to offer. It wasn't until I started testing robots that I understood just how poorly iRobot was adapting to the changes in the industry. I recently tested the 205, part of the new lineup. I thought it performed abysmally. [https://lifehacker.com/tech/roomba-205-dustcompactor-combo-review](https://lifehacker.com/tech/roomba-205-dustcompactor-combo-review) The app kept crashing (I tried on a few platforms) and it wasn't my only complaint. In terms of apps, it depends on whether you're striving for simplicity or features. I enjoy little talked about features like Pin and Go and Remote Control, and kind of hate in app adverts. So Roborock is one of my favs. But Ecovacs and Dreame robots have a decent app as well. I would never, ever overlook Switchbot, btw.

HI! I purchased my first robot (a roomba i7) in 2020. Since then, I've literally begun testing them for a living. The difference between 2020 and now is just absurd, and I mean that in every way. The difference between two years ago and now is fantastic. 1. Navigation- almost all robots now use LiDAR and some use LiDAR and AI assisted cameras. They map a room within seconds, and can tell what kind of surface is on the floor, where furniture is. The LiDAR makes obstacle recognition and avoidance a whole new ball game. 2. Extending sweeps and mops- You likely had a static mop pad and sweep. But now, they are on extending arms, and can reach under stoves, up to walls, and around spaces the robot can't fit. 3. Towers clean the mop- they sterilize, they auto dispense detergent, they can be piped directly to your water line. They're also modern and in some cases, beautiful. 4. The apps have better features, like remote control, pin and go, voice recognition, and a ton more map controls. 5. Roller design has improved 100x. Split rollers, rollers with razor cutters.... hair just isn't the issue it used to be. it's just not the same. Invest.

I bought MO on a Amazon Prime Days sale - refurbished. Roomba i or j7 or similar, I forget. And I got the tower with him which is the ONLY way I will ever own one of these robots again, after a period of time where I had a dust cup error and had to find a dusty/grimy robot, flip him over, empty the cup and then reseat it without errors. The tower holds a bag where the cup can be emptied, especially if it fills up halfway through the run. I do not ever want to manually have to do this with a robot vacuum. I \*hate\* dust cups even on stick vacuums. He is not the sole link between dirty floors and clean for me. I still have to vacuum with my full-size vacuum, but I have to vacuum less (once a month if no one comes over) and I can keep the main vacuum upstairs now. I love how he can be scheduled, MWF at 10am. I have joked at times he is the most reliable guy in my life. He is happiest on an open floor plan with steady borders (furniture stays in one place and there are no random piles of objects or clothes or toys appearing) and no changes in floor level (my old house had a sunken 2nd living room I had to tell him didn't exist or he'd get stuck). Cords and anything with dangling strings are the worst enemy. And he will suck up little legos or earrings without you knowing that he did. But his existence does help me with keeping the floor cleaner, for him. He can go under our new IKEA sofa which worries me, but at the same time I just picked up a backpack and a purse a few moments ago so he won't be impeded on his next run. I'm letting him map the place and I may block off areas again as needed. He's not always a perfect perpetual self-maintaining tool. He's having a problem in the new house with getting seated on his base with the charging ports properly so he charges every time. I'll have to troubleshoot that. In the old house he'd get stuck on sunken areas or wedge under furniture frequently and if not rescued promptly, he runs out of juice. I would usually have to send the kids to hunt him down and rescue him. He's also not the quietest, but I don't necessarily mind it unless I have a meeting scheduled at the same time (I work from home), but I can just pause him with the app on my phone at any time. Noise also helps the cats know he's coming and they just give him a wide berth. Oh and if you get one, buy the bulk packs of non-branded replacement parts off Amazon - way cheaper and just as good. The base takes vacuum bags and he has a rubber beater "brush", sweeper side brushes and a filter that all wear out over time (couple times a year). I keep an eye on them and the app keeps track of the expected life of each. He also needs googly eyes - I have been remiss in this. But he's a part of my household now. I am chronically ill so there have been times in the past few years that he was the ONLY vacuuming that got done and he helped us keep a much cleaner house.

I disagree.. i have a roomba I7 and the brush design is far superior to toborocks.. Ya, hair neatly rolls up at the edges.. That is what it is supposed to do

Had a roomba i7 for almost 5 years now and love it. Battery is starting to die a bit so thinking of upgrading to one that can empty itself of dust but otherwise have no complaints. We maybe hoover manually a couple of times a year.

I’ve had many roombas from the 650, i7, S9x3 (they sent me 3 replacements), and a braava jet 240. They work good for awhile, but the crappy software updates, constant errors and resets broke me. I seriously love iRobot hardware vacuum performance as in the amount of dirt they pick up, but the software is absolute garbage and a vacuum is completely useless if it can’t navigate correctly. I still have my first 650 bouncing around in my basement and the i7 has been moved to garage duty. The S9 ended up in pieces. My main two robot vacuums are roborocks and I love their navigation. I wish I could take the navigation from a Roborock and put it into a roomba.

This is the worst robot vacuume I've ever owned. It gets stuck on every single thing and finds ANYTHING it can to suck up and get disabled. It hasn't run a full cycle in months because of that. We have hardwood floors and rugs, and this robot seems to "sweep" all of the dirt and cat hair to the edges of all of the rugs for us to have to go and sweep up manually later. Obstacle avoidance is a joke. My last robot was a roomba i7 and it was great. We only upgraded because the mapping was better on this one, it had "better obstacle avoidance" (what a joke) and it could mop without intervention as well as cleaning the mop head on its own. The surface level stuff looks really good (like the maps and mopping stuff), but that stuff is worthless if it can't even do a single vacuume cycle without getting stuck. If I could return this, I would. I hate it. Not to mention the price...... sigh. Maybe I just got a bad one, but this thing is terrible, and I can't understand how all of these reviews look so good all the time. I can't wait to get something different. Let me know if you have any questions.

I have 4 cats and 1 dog. I run my i7 every day and vacuum with an upheld a few times a month so the roomba gets most of the pet hair. I swear the bag lasts like half a year, it’s insane.

i also have a roomba i7 since 2019 and a roborock! the roborock is far better than the roomba in terms of navigation and stuff and also the filter is washable which is amazing because i dont have to buy more 😭 they're so expensive for what i also like that the double rubber rollers are a much softer material that doesnt break easily like the roomba, they seem to still use the same materials in their new robots (might also be that it's a newer roborock model but they still sell the i7 under different names for the same price)

i had to glue together my i7's main brush module😭 i bought a roborock after because it's battery was giving up and all the brushes and filters were done for and i decided it's time to let the thing rest

Lidar is less useful for my use case. Or more specifically, some of my cats. Two of them will decide to lay in the way and the lidar kind of goes over them. One of them will start digging out all of his favorite toys and the Roborock will eat them. Having better luck with the camera models like the Roomba i7 most of the time. They'll still eat feather toys but they've been good at avoiding springs and puff balls.

lol I'm also replacing my i7. It's 5 years old with 88K SF, and I've changed the vacuum bag once, and cut hair off the rollers twice. That's it. And it still works like new. I'm getting nervous that all the reviews of new vacuums mention all this upkeep, though I'm pretty sure with the i7 I was supposed to do more lol.

Do you have an i7? The empty dock motor is so strong the bags can get absolutely packed dense. I wouldn't even mention it though I read review from someone with a newer robot mentioned he had to actually replace the bags more often because the motor wasn't strong enough to fill up the bag all the way.