I generally love my Roomba. I got my first one around... '08? maybe later than that, I still have it. My husband bought me an i8 I think it is, self-emptying. It has more bells and whistles which makes it more prone to being difficult to operate but once it gets going, it's fantastic.
That first little Roomba though? Best $250 I ever spent.
I don't have experience with other makes.
Neato XV series for being awesome and being the first robot vacuum to feature a lidar sensor
roomba 500 series, for a while they were the most popular robot vacuums ever made and still the most reliable, other than battery replacements they can last more than 15 years without issues
Roomba 980, the thing is still a beast at cleaning and the navigation is good enough. No keep out zones or anything but it does its job well
Bought this same Roomba a couple of weeks ago, before I had heard of anything related to the bankruptcy, got it on sale and thought it has really great performance for the price. I'm a little worried about what happens if they do go bankrupt but I have to assume another company will just take over and keep some of these new devices running. These new models are Chinese made so they are pretty good, have had minor software glitches that require me to reboot the Roomba but otherwise performance has been great. Disclaimer, I have no experience with the other brands of robot vacs
Oh on the hair issue, the hair gets coiled at the end of the green brush and it's easy to remove the cap and remove any caught hair every now and then. There's a video online on how to do this.
I have a 505. Which appears to be very similar to this one. It replaced my dead J7.
J7 had 2 rollers , and cleaned better than the 505.
505 is much better at navigating, but the 2 rollers seems to make a difference in cleaning ability
I would wait for a sale or otherwise try to trigger the amazon/ebay discount codes that happen if you browse without buying. I would also advise splitting the money between a smart, more expensive one with a mop that plans meticulously and a dumb one that keeps cleaning until its battery runs out. Roborock vacuums are well-regarded on here, but I've had good experiences with pretty much every brand I've tried. The key is not relying on just one unit. For reference I have Roomba 505 withr dock and Ecovacs in my kitchen, ecovacs self-emptying and OKp rest of the ground floor, Eufy first floor, Kyvol and Lefant second floor. Six irobot scoobas can also be pressed into service post parties etc.
if your looking for something that lasts, and is more on the simpler side, you can try looking for the older model Roombas from 2004-5 on eBay, usually they need new batteries which are around 30$ the newer Roombas, like the I and J series have seem to just gain dementia out of random? I have no clue how. Ive thrifted a lot of roomba's before so I know a lot more about the older models then new.
but for pet hair, I would recommend a Roomba with the rubber rollers instead of the agitator roller and the smaller rubber one, because the dual rubber set up helps grab hair easier and not tangle.
I know the Roomba combo 205, which is on the more expensive side, is a decent one to start with if your looking for something more empty after a month and smart. its entirely based around dust compacting and has a self emptying base you can get with it, I don't think it has a normal base, you'd have to do little research on that. it gets lidar mapping and I forget the roller set up it might have a combo agitator and rubber, I forget.
but try to stay away from the I series with the self emptying base... they seem to be having more problems as of recent.
Top Robot Vacuums on Reddit
1
Roborock
Qrevo S
82% positive of 247 users
Reliable, great mopping (lifts pads), but poor cable avoidance.
Realistic-Weird-4259
