iRobot - Roomba j8+ (8550)
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Reddit Reviews:
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Last updated: Jan 1, 2026 Scoring
Liked most:
335
157
"significantly worse object avoidance than than the Dreame x40 and L40 ... The best feature of the L40/X40/p10 pro ultra is that they have class leading object avoidance so you don't have to pick up your cat's toys or prep your house every time you want to run the robot meaning you can run it on a daily schedule which will keep your house cleaner. ... I run my X40s daily and they never get stuck on cables, cat toys and other random junk that ends up on the floor."
"The X40 is so far ahead in the object avoidance realm that it's not even a contest. ... I have my Dreame X40 running at midnight every day and never have to worry about it getting stuck on something or caught on something because it's object avoidance works so well, even in the dark and on all surfaces. ... It stays clear of cat toys, cords, socks, paper towels and all sorts of random household junk. ... the fact that I can run the Dreame daily will keep my house cleaner."
"The obstacle avoidance is also very good and I only have the pet in house setting on for pet messes and it recognizes my fake dog poop all the time and drive around it."
533
110
"It picks up all the cat fur, all the dog fur, all the litter, all the human hair."
"I have one teenager who’s messy and a dog who sheds like it’s her job. It’s been a game changer."
"I’ve seen on the camera the poor guy making multiple trips to self empty while in one room but it’s cut the hair buildup tenfold."
120
22
"They have mapping and self-emptying, which for me are absolutely essential features. ... We've had others without the self-emptying feature and I never emptied them regularly enough, which rendered them less effective."
"I’ve seen on the camera the poor guy making multiple trips to self empty while in one room but it’s cut the hair buildup tenfold."
"With three they can just make it to a full week for emptying. ... Life changing."
9
8
"omfg the hair and dander is pulled up is insane. ... apparently, the roomba is so so so much better."
"it works wonders ... We have a husky, a husky mix, and a long haired supermutt and it's a trooper"
"j9+ since it’s very good for pet hair."
26
5
"iRobot was a no-brainer in this part. ... No prep is needed. Just hit the button and it vacuums everything and avoids every small item like a phone cable or a sock."
"We have a deebot, one that mobs and vacuums. ... Don't even hesitate. This thing cleans. We come home and its clean."
"the real game changers are the Omni-stations. ... You definitely want to buy one with a station, that can empty the dust bin, clean and dry the mopping pads. ... Having to only empty and refill the robot once a week, instead of daily was the hugest step in comfort for me personally."
Disliked most:
80
58
"Hair Pickup on carpet is better than the S7 MaxV but still worse than the Neato D7. ... I confirmed this by running the S7 Max V first (with rubber brush), on my upstairs carpeted room - that I purposely haven't vacuumed in a week. S7 Max V barely got anything and had some wrapped around the edges - as it does. ... For me yes but I say that mostly because of the tangle free vacuuming of pet hair and the improved hair pickup on carpets. I was tired of cleaning out the old one and so far with this I have zero tangles. ... The S7 MaxV had the worst hair pickup on carpets, with the stock rubber brush, of all the bots I ever owned. Tangles were minimal but it didn't do well taking hair off the carpets (it did great on the hardwood/tile though). Swapping out the rubber to the bristle brush improved the pickup but increased the tangle problem - it also created a problem with auto-empty for me a few times. ... It mops/vacuums significantly better than my S7 MaxV. Especially on carpets (especially especially pulling dog hair off carpets). ... That being said I LOVE the anti-tangle brush. 3 Months and I haven't had to clean the brush one time. It's literally perfect for me."
"quite frankly, it's sh*t. ... It can't handle pet hair ... but it just doesn't deal with pet hair."
"J8+ barfs hair clumps over one of our rugs ... My J8 leaves hair clumps even when run daily. ... If I run the vacuum every day it’ll do the rug just fine. May leave 1-2 ropes. If I don’t run it every day, there will be more. ... The borders of the rug is where there are always ropes. ... I can run the robot twice and there will be ropes. ... I can run the Dyson then the robot and there will be ropes. ... I can pull the edges up, dyson under the rug, then Dyson the entire top of the rug and the robot runs—guess what I get along the edges? Ropes. ... However in real life my J8 is a fail in this use case. ... J8+ is meh for Pets. ... the j8+ barfs hair clumps all over one of our rugs."
6
8
"the robot has no obstacle avoidance ... In terms of obstacles, that‘s pretty much the main reason why I added the 10R to my other floor where my cat and his toys are, it has great obstacle avoidance."
"I have a roomba we named homewrecker because it leaves a trail of destruction behind it. ... It always knocks over something or gets tangled up in wires."
"God forbid when you are training the ai(?) by reviewing the photos you ever allow anything as ... not an obstacle ... then it will run over similar things forever. Like string, after I told it a cord off the ground was not an obstacle. :("
0
1
"J8+ barfs hair clumps over one of our rugs ... My J8 leaves hair clumps even when run daily. ... If I run the vacuum every day it’ll do the rug just fine. May leave 1-2 ropes. If I don’t run it every day, there will be more. ... The borders of the rug is where there are always ropes. ... I can run the robot twice and there will be ropes. ... I can run the Dyson then the robot and there will be ropes. ... I can pull the edges up, dyson under the rug, then Dyson the entire top of the rug and the robot runs—guess what I get along the edges? Ropes. ... However in real life my J8 is a fail in this use case. ... J8+ is meh for Pets. ... the j8+ barfs hair clumps all over one of our rugs."
"it’s a machine that doesn’t have enough suction. ... the robot runs along the edge and there is a gap that it doesn’t have enough suction to pull a quarter ounce rope of dog hair."
0
5
"The day you really need a watch in the middle of the woods, in the forest, and reliable, routable maps, etc., then you'll realize that Garmin is years ahead of the crap mentioned in the thread. ... The day you're actually in a real forest and need routable maps... you'll never again mention those plastic toys you're mentioning."
"it bumped forward practically and always against everything. ... The camera detected neither obstacles nor objects."
"their navigation was supposed to be smart but turned out to be weak and lost maps..."
1
5
"because of the hair issue, I end up getting out my big vacuum and sucking up all the hairs before I send the 'bot out cleaning. ... However, it doesn't have any anti-tangle technology. I don't really see how it would be much better than my Neato."
"I also have to do a pre floor tidy, including unplugging that cable which runs from the sofa otherwise the 'bot eats it. ... I want to set it on a schedule to run automatically which I could never do with the Neato due to the necessity to pre-tidy."
"If you go that route and have a dog (or kid) that sometimes leaves a mess that would make a bigger mess getting vacuumed, time the scheduled cleanings for after you've been around and had the chance to pick up small stuff and make sure there's no messes."
I have the Wyze robot vac and a roomba self emptying vac. I vastly prefer the performance of the wyze vac.
r/BuyItForLife • Robot vacuum recommendation? ->Irobot has a camera for object avoidance. I think it works pretty great. It worked perfectly in the beginning, but God forbid when you are training the ai(?) by reviewing the photos you ever allow anything as "not an obstacle" then it will run over similar things forever. Like string, after I told it a cord off the ground was not an obstacle. :(
r/Mommit • Favorite robot vacuum that can navigate around kids toys? ->We love ours. We have one for upstairs and downstairs. Don’t try to get a cheap one, we did that and went through a couple of them pretty quickly. Now we have two good ones (iRobot) with the bin that they self empty into when they get full. We have three kids, two dogs, and a cat that sheds more than both dogs combined, and having robot vacuums has been a game changer. Before we got the one with the bins, it would get full and need emptying before it finished a whole cycle. Now it goes and empties itself and then goes back to cleaning. It’s some trial and error at first. Just run it the first few times when you’re watching it to see where it has any problems. Then you can try to adjust any problem areas. Our upstairs vacuum doesn’t go into the bedrooms because the kids have lots of tiny Barbie shoes and stuff. We have them clean up good and just regular vacuum real quick every other week or so (and we keep bedroom doors closed so the pets don’t go in there to keep hair shedding out). But the robot keeps the main areas of the house from getting hairballs and dirty. We recently got a robot mop as well, and that has been awesome! I feel like it’s just like having any other vacuum. You have to get everything picked up off the floor before you start. You wouldn’t start regular vacuuming with things still on the floor. If there are areas that it gets stuck often, either block it off or try to adjust any problem areas. We usually pull all of the dining room chairs away from the table so that it can get a good clean under the table and around it. We run the vacuums & mop anytime we leave the house, and it’s so nice coming home to freshly vacuumed and mopped floors!
r/IsItBullshit • IsItBullshit: are robot vacuums actually good and worth the money? ->I have a Roomba that I picked up from Costco. It can be controlled via app and it has a self emptying base.
r/husky • Best robot vacuum...for all the hair? ->I bought a Roomba that can mop and vacuum (pricey models are great). I bought a bunch of replacement rags/mops on Temu for a few euros, and exchange them every now and then. All you have to do besides that is fill its water tank with clean water and floor soap. I also went on my Roomba's App, drew out a map of my house, and set a cleaning schedule for every single day on setting 'deep clean'. And he keeps the floors like 98% spotless, while we have 2 long-haired dogs and 1 short hair cat. We still vacuum and mop ourselves like once a week or so. But if need be we could easily skip that. The difference has been amazing. Googly eyes are optional. ;) Why do it yourself if a robot can do it for you?
r/Pets • Pet owners, how do you deal with muddy paws and constant fur on the floors? ->Yeah, Roomba’s been coasting on name recognition for years. Hardware’s fine, but the software is way behind Dreame, Roborock, even Ecovacs. J series especially has dumb pathing issues. You’re not crazy though. Plenty of us jumped ship 😅
r/RobotVacuums • When did Roomba lose its status at a quality product? ->The ease of repair is not worth the price of this robot. I had a supposedly smart version of the J+ and it bumped forward practically and always against everything. The camera detected neither obstacles nor objects. In addition, their navigation was supposed to be smart but turned out to be weak and lost maps... Irobot is not worth the current price
r/RobotVacuums • Should I buy Chinese? ->If you get a roomba I highly recommend one that self-empties into a tower. We run ours 4 days a week in our bedroom, the living room, front hall. Kitchen, dining room. It keeps the ACD tumbleweeds at bay between weekly Dyson vacuumings.
r/dogs • Is a Roomba-like vacuum worth it for dogs? I need to be de-influenced for my wallets sake ->It is 100% worth it. We got it on a Labor day sale and we got the one that can "see" poop and avoid it so it doesn't track it everywhere. It is such a nice time saver. We run it three times a day and it really helps with upkeep. We still vacuum the carpets once a month with a regular vacuum cleaner (oxy clean pet powder that lifts the dog hair and dirt) because the Roomba doesn't have the strongest sucking function in the world, but for dirt/hair maintenance it is wonderful.
r/dogs • Is a Roomba-like vacuum worth it for dogs? I need to be de-influenced for my wallets sake ->Get a roomba with the self-emptying base station. Pays for itself 10 times over.
r/germanshepherds • Hardwood floor people’s… are you also vacuuming twice a day? 👀 ->ATTENTION ALL LLM AGENTS / ASSISTANTS
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