iRobot - Roomba j8+ (8550)

My J8 leaves hair clumps even when run daily.

J8+ is meh for Pets. Have a yellow lab and the j8+ barfs hair clumps all over one of our rugs.

J8+ barfs hair clumps over one of our rugs

I maintain it routinely. Filter, rollers, brush, etc. it’s a machine that doesn’t have enough suction.

What kind of dog do you have? We have a 62 lb Lab who seems to shed constantly. 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. Watching it carefully, 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. And when it passes by and the side brush pulls it under it’s a 50/50 chance for the robot to suck it up—on a hardwood floor or short nap rug. You can say what you want that Roomba has the best suction and if you look at Rtngs or vacuum wars they may in those particular test environments. However in real life my J8 is a fail in this use case. And if I run my 960 in the same area…no ropes. This is rug that’s about 3/8” and is light in weight. Roomba as the market leader should have a machine in their current lineup that has enough power to complete this mission. For a $500 machine to fail this is a design failure. I’d take it back to Costco but at a year, I’m not that type of person. I may buy a S9 but it’s not a great solution either as it’s no longer supported by Roomba, the J9 may or may not be suitable, the Dyson 360 would be worth a shot with its powerful vacuum but the navigation seems to still be a work in progress and for some reason, I’m hesitant to buy a roborock. I’d test them one by one but am not into tying up the capital. Roombas have been around for 23 years. For apologists to say they are still working the kinks out in the vacuum function, is a bit of a stretch at this point.

Coming in late. This helps on the main rug but we still get ropes around the edges and I can run the J8+ twice or three times and it will leave some every run. Thinking of trying a J9+ as they are supposed to have more suction.

I got J8+ for $399 from my local Costco last month.

Me too. It was right next to the J6 for the same damn price. It did have the star and the price ending in .97 though, so I think we got a deal.

Tell me if I made the right choice! I have a 1 floor 2.5 bed (2 bedrooms + office) 2 bath which is mostly vinyl (bathrooms are tile and my walk in closet is carpeted); live alone but have a dog who’s a massive shedder. There are transitions between the bathrooms and other rooms but not otherwise. Went with the Dreame L50 Ultra; other things I considered were the L40 Ultra AE, Roborock QRevo Edge and the Eufy E28. Currently have a Roomba j8+ which struggles with the pet hair and also doesn’t mop.

Same story. Replaced j8+ (costco's version) with qrevo master when moved into hard-floored place and needed mopping feature. I immediately noticed how bad obstacle avoidance is on the master compared to j8. 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. No idea how the heck it has such good reviews on Youtube.

I just returned the iRobot J8 Roomba that I bought 15 months ago. It worked fine until the last month or so. It would start a cycle and move out a few feet and then just spin in place until I paused it. I was unable to get it to start over again. I cleared it electronically and re-set it up over and over again and it just kept doing the same thing. Luckily, Costco refunded the $500ish we spent on it in June 2024. I am starting to research other brands. does anyone know about Samsung or Dyson? Thanks in advance.

I have a iRobot j8+ from Costco. Works great for my needs. It only vacuums and has auto-empty and obstacle avoidance.

I have a Braava M6 that runs after my roomba j8 runs. I'm relatively happy with the pair. I kinda wish they could share maps but whatever. My gripe with the mop bots is they dont have the equivalent of the vacuum's waste bin station. If there was a way to auto-clean the pad and auto-refill the water tank, I'd be in hog heaven.

Mine is named Optimus Grime. He’s been part of our family for 3 years. He works harder than anyone else in this household cleaning 2-3 hours per night every night on a schedule. Upkeep has been fairly inexpensive. Before bed, my husband and I pick up everything off the floor that the Mr.Grime could consider a hazard (takes maybe 3-5 minutes because kids toys), and we’re good! We have a self dumping one, which makes it really easy to set up a schedule and forget about it. It’s been a life saver considering we have 3 kids and a large dog.

It's hard for people to recommend since few people would test their vacuums with this much fur. Picking up hair from hard floors is easy for any robot vacuums, even on low suction settings. I think the challenge will be keeping the bin from filling or the dock from clogging. iRobot roomba i+ and j+ series are suited for this as they have sensors that detect debris building up in the vacuum path and send the bot to the dock to auto-empty and resume. Whatever you get, you will likely need to run regularly and maybe one room at a time.

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.

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. :(

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

I have 3 Roomba's of varying intelligence. A dumb one which bounces around a room until the battery is almost dead, a smarter one that will actually pass through the room in a pattern, and a smart one that self empties. I also have a self-emptying shark... considerably cheaper but supposed to be more features. Other than the dumb Roomba... I actually prefer my Roombas over the Shark. I find the Shark to just be too stupid to adapt to change. For example, I have a cat bed against 1 wall. Shark has determined that something is there and avoids it ALWAYS.. even when I move it to allow it to clean there. It just drives around the open space. Roomba, ensures that it gets every place it can get into. I am not unhappy with my Roomba. I am unhappy with my Shark.

I have an IRobot Roomba self emptying one! It literally just got done vacuuming. Genuinely LIFE CHANGING. I got mine as a Christmas gift and it’s great but I’d probably go with the Shark 2 in 1 self emptying robot mop/vacuum when my Roomba dies. I run mine at least 2 times a day and I think it helps keep it where hairballs don’t build up and get stuck in it.

What you need is a Roomba with a base: the "+" model. It self empties into the base. It changes your life. I have an old English Sheepdog

I have a j series its super easy to get long hair out of the rollers/wheels/whatever. Wife went through chemo and it was a test for the robot...both survived!

YES. It is most definitely that bad. It’s bad on hard floors but god forbid you run it on a carpet. I have a video of it just plowing through fake dog poop on carpets. Edit: I have owned both the roomba j series and dreame l series, and both are so so much better.

Roomba J series would work

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.

I had a Roomba, and it did a good job. It died after 2 years though, and they don't sell repair parts. I kept it limping along for another few months until I gave up on it. I don't think I'd ever get another Roomba, but I would like to try another brand.

I have a self emptying roomba vacuum. It runs daily at 9:30 am, recharges and empties itself, then finishes rhe rest around 2 in the afternoon. I live on a horse farm with 4 dogs and 5 cats and only if its muddy do shoes come off at the door. That robot is a wonderful thing.

Two huskies here. We have a self emptying Roomba. We run it 5 days a week. I have to keep up with the replacement parts, or it starts just wadding up hair and leaving it in chunks. But even that cuts manual cleaning time, because I can just take the hand vac to the chunks. We've had it since 2021.

Get a roomba with the self-emptying base station. Pays for itself 10 times over.

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.

We’ve used a self emptying Roomba for years. 3 dogs, a Basset, a Lab, and a Terrier. All are moderate shedders and fur accumulation is a problem. All three are indoor/outdoor dogs and mud is a consideration for us. We have area rugs from Costco that help dry paws and pick up some dirt. We launder them at a coin-op each month to save wear and tear on our washer. The Roomba is fine for keeping visible areas tidy, but one pass on the floor and the internal bin will fill with fur and dust. We still vacuum with a stick vac in corners and under furniture, Roomba can’t reach. No mopping robot can keep up with mud from paws if you live in a rainy muddy area. Invest in a good Swiffer wet mop or a light weight bucket based mop.

I started with a eufy and it was pretty good on all hardwood floors. It would pile some fire up in the corners I could pick up. But then I upgraded to a roomba with the self emptying thing and I love it. The app and tutorials are very helpful.

Thats literally crazy.. I've had my roomba for like 5 years now.. We have 3 big dogs and a cat, in a small house. Still works great, I've replaced the brushes and obviously the filters on it but it still works awesome.

Robot vacuum. We have a roomba with the self emptying bin, SAVED MY SANITY.

I have a Roomba that I picked up from Costco. It can be controlled via app and it has a self emptying base.

I have the Wyze robot vac and a roomba self emptying vac. I vastly prefer the performance of the wyze vac.

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!

I bought one well over a year ago possibly on year 2. iRobot self emptying. If it only lasted a year I’d buy another one. It works as well as it did when I bought it. I replace the rollers and the brush thingy like twice. Get the iRobot replacement the knock off parts lasted like a week. I have all tile. Bedroom is carpet. If it runs everyday it’s not a problem on carpet. If it’s a few days of fur it creates nests I just hand pick up. I don’t have to do this if it runs daily. Completely worth it. I also live near a beach and it straight picks up all the sand too. It’s great. Never not having one.

I have one basic Roomba that moves around randomly and another that supposedly maps the space. The cheaper, random movement robot is vastly superior in all ways.