Roomba i6+ (6550)

That last bit is so true. I just checked and realized I paid $600 for my Roomba i6+ (upper tier but nowhere near top back in 2020) and that was on pretty significant sale. Vacuum only (back then mop vacs were brand new and were stand alone), though it has a self-emptying charge stand (not new but still a “feature”). Now, I’m looking to replace it and realize I could blow it out of the water with something 2/3 of the price. It has served me well, though.

Our i6 has been fantastic. I don’t know how the newer ones fare, but I was really impressed with our model. The way it hops over thresholds is very clever, and a huge improvement over the offbrand version I had previously. 

My home is a 4 level townhouse which is annoying in that my SF of ~2000 would be fine with just 1 vac, but hey, stairs. Main floor (living/dining/kitchen/1bath/hall is about 600 sf and I have the Mova v50 and it mop washes 4-5 times per cleaning cycle. My bedroom level is about the same SF….I would not want to be carrying the robovac up and down 2 flights of stairs 4-5 times for it to mop wash while cleaning up there, nor would I want it to mop the whole floor without additional mop washes. Carrying it back and forth that many times for mopping would negate any convenience as changeneverhappens pointed out. My basement and loft level are much smaller SF so I put my old 2020 roomba i6 in the basement to just vac (until it dies one day) and I’m currently looking at getting a P10 Pro or similar for the bedroom level. I would love to do another V50 up there as I love mine, but for that price I could do the P10 pro and even get something more basic for my loft level and never vac my house again on my own. Others have already mentioned, but you’d want lidar navigation and most robots come with cliff sensors (and you can set no-go zones) so it won’t yeet itself down the stairs or off a landing. I’d also recommend the models with spinner mops and self washing base station as they are more tested and available at reasonable prices. Roller mops are in generation 1 so it’s up to you if you want to take the risk - they are still pricier currently. If you’re actually wanting the robot to mop, I’d avoid the pad version as those just basically drag a damp cloth around. You mentioned your hair has tangled/clogged other vacs before….if that’s a concern, look for models with either as split roller (some Roborocks) or Mova, Dreame, and Narwhal have some models with the dual anti tangle brushes that have a pivot/axle only on one side so long hair doesn’t tangle. Some Mova and Dreame’s who have a single roller can be upgraded to a tricut brush that will cut up hair strands shorter so they don’t tangle. Basically you want to avoid a single roller with pivots/axle on both ends of the vac roller as long hair will get wrapped onto those. Suggest just buying from a place with an easy return policy (Amazon, Costco, etc) to see if you really like it and if works well for your needs and if not, send it back.

This! My Mova v50 has the dual anti tangle brushes and I’ve never had to remove any hair from around the brush. My roborock Q10 always has hair wrap in the middle and ends on its single brush. Even my very old Roomba i6 is better with hair cause at least the rollers are designs so the long hair gets channeled to a space by the end caps. Household with long haired humans and floofy cats.

I'm still using mu Roomba e6 , i7+ and Briavia mopper and they work perfectly in cleaning my place. IMO, no need for the newest most expensive robot :)

That is so funny. I was coming on here to see about something LR related, and yours was the second post, and I feel compelled to comment. :) I have a Roomba S6 or something I don't remember anymore, but it was a pain to get the API working and was a chore. At any rate, I do the same, but use a counter and every 2nd time it rotates I have mine clean up just the same. I even have a glade plugin that will turn on for 15min afterwards. :) I will say the LR API and HA probably saved the life, or extended the life of my 18 year old's cat, as he developed type 2 diabetes, and I never would have caught it. I have each cat's weight on a line graph and I could see him losing weight, before I could visually see him losing weight. That plus the LR keeping track of visits was a big red flag too, being he went from an average of 3.2 visits a day, to over 12, it was obvious something was wrong. Vet was impressed to say the least, but his blood sugar was north of 400. Had we not caught it before that weekend we might have one less cat here. So while the automations are handy, they seem to always create more work / automations I can't help but tinker with. But I also build computers, and just spent almost $10k on parts alone on this last one, and I just cleaned the last one I built. When I blew out the radiators, it smelled like a litterbox. :/ So now I'm thinking it might be a good idea to turn the furnace off before it rotates, then resume afterwards, because aside from the furnace fan pulling dust down the hallway or something, I'm not sure how it's ending up in my computer down the hall. :) The work never ends! HA is such a fun thing for anyone who wants to nerd out on their litterbox! LoL