iRobot - i3+ Series

I hate mine so far. I’ve had it one week and it hasn’t made it through a cycle yet without some kind of error. Today it won’t connect to internet all the sudden no matter what I do. Buggy horrible piece of crap. I just put in a ticket for a return.

I got banned for leaving that comment. I guess any bad reviews on the iRobot 10 aren’t allowed

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 a roomba i3 in 2020, and it's still working fine Every part is easily replaced, and there is lifetime support that I use once to replace the battery Although that was before it was bought by Amazon, I don't know if it's still the same

Oh! I didn't know It's still robust and serviceable, but yeah, parts might be hard to find soon

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

The I and J series clean so much better than the 2 Essential. Even the lowest priced I series is well worth the extra money.

We have the mop vac combo (forgive me, I don't remember what exact model, but I DO know it is the self emptying combo w\ the removable dust filter "trash' bags, and has a grey "tweed" designer -look on the top. That probably makes no sense). At any rate, I LOVE the vacuum feature, esp the self-emptying component. However, the few times I have attempted to use the mopping feature, it has not worked well at all. Admittedly, my model could be a slightly older model, like maybe last year's, so take that for what it's worth. It starts off fine, but after no more than 10 min if that, it seems to get stuck. What it's stuck on is beyond me because it happens in dining room each time & sounds like it's spinning it's wheels (like a car stuck in mud). There are no rugs, chairs are moved out of the way & there's no visible debris obstacles like  one of my son's marbles or a plastic milk cap or anything. Literally just hardwood flooring. I've tried rebooting, I've tried popping the water/mop pad on & mopping immediately (thinking it would help reduce soaking & "puddling" near the wheels), I've tried wiping the wheels and following behind it to wipe up the drag marks of water. But it still spins & does nothing. I can't complain too much as I won it at my husband's  Xmas work party raffle, and like I said the vac feature is excellent. Since we have a young son & a dog that sheds constantly, I'm ok w/just the vac👌

I was surprised there is no mention of Roomba here. We have had the i3 for a few years and have been happy with it, but we have all wood floors. It's done well and we have a Corgi that sheds all the time. The only complaint I have is that the sensors can get dirty which causes it to misbehave once in a while so you have to be sure to clean them.

Just got mine for 85$ a couple weeks ago. It was pretty beatup. But I cleaned it up, replaced rollers, filters, and tires. Also took apart the base and cleaned it up. The thing is a beast. I had a i3 for a while so maybe that why it feels like such an upgrade. U could tell they definitely went all out on it

All the i and j7 and below series vacuums have the same motor. Only the s9 and j9 have more suction, the s9 is actually better suction. On hard floors any of them will pick up the hair. The s9 will do very well on the area rugs. Not worth buying the combo models.

I have a Roomba i3+, and what you described with it leaving the base and returning means the charging contacts are dirty. Either on the base station or Roomba, or both. Also, if it's escaping and falling down stairs, the sensors are dirty.

I have a Roomba i3+, but a change in layout has confused it beyond belief. Any vac only with self empty with decent mapping/ navigation (such as not banging itself into the wall for 40 minutes)?

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.

They \*could\* but I doubt very much that they do; it would cost a lot. The biggest privacy risk is revealing a map of the layout of your home if your online account is hacked. I have an iRobot Roomba that empties its own bag into a base. Love it. Love not having to vacuum under beds and sofas. It took some prep to make my home ready for it--furniture needs to be high enough (and legs wide enough apart) for it to run up under. Lamp cords need to be secured. Don't run it automatically or when you're not home. Do clean the hair out of it after it runs (takes only a couple minutes). I run it once a week. I spend 3-4 minutes putting things like litter baskets and chairs up off the floor so it has a better reach, then schedule it to run 3x. Then turn the schedule off again and return loose items to the floor. Spend about a minute getting hair out of its rollers. I've had several good looks inside my Roomba and didn't see anything like microphones or cameras. Its bump sensors are not cameras. It does have an internet connection and so can be voice-controlled if you connect to Alexa or Google Home. But that is optional. If you only operate it with the app or onboard buttons, it cannot be voice controlled.

I have the Roomba i3 with tower, I think that’s around $500. It is the second unit through warranty and the new unit has had two chassis replacements. Cleans well but damn the maintenance on it has been crazy.

I have this one it works with no problems.

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.

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.

Our irobot i3+ lasted 25 months. Wasn't great when it worked either tbh

There’s actually a roomba that does both vacuuming and light mopping (think of it like roomba swiffer). It has a reservoir of the liquid at the charging station and a bag dispenser for the dust as well. I never felt older than when I got genuinely excited for a roomba like I would for a console when I was younger. That’s my “treat yourself” buy when I get my next bonus lol

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 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.

Avoid that, it's a generic (ODM) model based on the same platform as the Xiaomi E10/12, which if I remember correctly is from 3irobotix or SilverStar. Look up some reviews of those Xiaomi models on Amazon and you'll understand how much of a poor product it is. Get a "real" Roomba, they're much better than that. Some examples are the i3/i5, or if you need the mop, the Combo i5 or Combo j5. If you can spend a bit more, the j7 is another good one.

I really appreciate someone bringing this up! As a design geek, I always struggle when I have to make purchase decisions because not always I find something that I consider "well designed". The robot vacuums category is one of these... However, here some robot vacuums that have a design worth talking about (of course, things need to be contextualised for their time). In completely random order: - **Roomba s9**: a sleek and professional finish, the first (and only) D-shaped Roomba, taking advantage of its shape and bringing to market the best edge cleaning ever (before robot vacuums with extensible side brush were a thing) together with one of the best vacuuming performances ever. - **Roomba i3**: the first one of the newly engineered Roomba mid-range series, bringing to "budget" conscious consumers a new methodical navigation method, together with a modern aesthetics which drops the carrying handle for a new fabric-textured top finish and with modern, clean lines. - **Philips (Versuni) HomeRun 7000**: not a particularly noteworthy product, however a robot vacuum distancing itself from the competition thanks to the typical Philips design, with dual-finish robot and fabric emptying base. Not the best result, but at least an attempt to bring an externally developed product (ODM'd by 3irobotix) in line with the company design style (uses for instance with air purifiers etc). - **Roomba j7/j9+**: distancing itself from its predecessor (Roomba i7, with a good looking "techy" design), it brings a much cleaner design, more minimal, and enriched by a metallic disc on top together with a UI based on the RGB light around the only button (not the most intuitive one, but an attempt to do something different). It also features a newly redesigned self-emptying station, now developed in a much more compact and modern-looking form factor, thing that will be later copied by most other manufacturers. - **Neato Botvac lineup**: overall, Neato products have always been lacking in terms of design (an exception being the Kobold VR300, which changes the design aligning it to the family feeling of contemporary Vorwerk products), however these specific units brought more thoughtful, cleaner lines (to an extent...) together with the LiDAR tower cap in some bold, unique colours. This aesthetic didn't survive long and wasn't - overall - in line with the brand identity of Neato. Still, a good attempt. RIP. - **Dyson 360° VisNav**: not too much to say - it looks good. Perfectly matches a useful D-shaped layout with the Dyson family feeling. Balanced despite the lack of simplicity, modern in a retro-futuristic way, and functional. - **Karcher RC3000**: one of the first robot vacuums with self-emptying station (the first one?), with a bold design perfectly in line with the company identity. - **Dreame W10 Pro**: overall, similar to all other Dreame products, but in the (now abandoned) D-shaped style. Adds a gold accent to differentiate it from the "non-Pro" version which lacks the front sensor array (ToF 3D cam + RGB cam). Clean lines, clean colours, very minimal and stylish overall. - **SmartMi VortexWave**: innovative design for this unique robot vacuum and mop: D-shaped style allowing a large front brush that can be exchanged to leave its place to a roller-style mop. The first robot vacuum supporting both dry and wet vacuuming. Clean lines and a good mix of minimal and techy design. - **Electrolux Pure i9.2 (also AEG RX9.2)**: one one-of-a-kind. The genuine successor of the original Electrolux Trilobite. Developed in-house by Electrolux, this product was one of the first to implement small obstacles avoidance (2017 for the first gen Pure i9) thanks to its navigation method fully based on dual-line lasers. Overall an excellent product, unfortunately killed by the high price, lacking marketing, and growing Chinese competition (at much cheaper prices). Futuristic design for a robot with futuristic features. - **Matic robot vacuum**: the only one that in recent years has dared to challenge the paradigm of robot vacuums. Narrower but much taller. Boxy design resembling a robotic toy, with large wheels and front, "peninsular" brush assembly. Together with a revolutionary vSLAM navigation system based on nVIDIA Jetson Orin. It has its flaws, but it's the kind of competition we need in the category. - **Narwal (in picture, Freo Z10)**: not really a worthy robot vacuum cleaner/brand overall, but one of the first brands to really bet on rotational mops, together with the distinctive clean and alien-like shape of their docks which has now been copied by many competitors. - **Xiaomi Mi Robot Vacuum (Roborock)**: the first LiDAR-based robot vacuum to bring LiDAR and methodical navigation to the masses, at a price that made it the the-facto standard of robot vacuum recommendations in 2016/2017. Together with the new technology at low price, it brought to the market a modern and clean design and a futuristic, intuitive app. - **DJI Romo**: too early to speak about this as a robot vacuum cleaner, but from a design perspective it takes the clean, curvy Narwal style and turns it inside-out giving it a transparent cover. Good result, but durability of the good look is still TBD. - **Mach R1** (sorry, I refuse to call this Eufy S1 Pro): birthed by the Anker Innovations incubator "Mach" (later absorbed into Eufy), it finally brings to Anker-owned Eufy a new style that was really needed. Futuristic and clean, not much to say. A very good result resembling the square-ish shape of older LG HomBot, but in a new futuristic, semi-transparent twist. That's all folks 😬 Edit: pictures in the comment below because somehow embedding doesn't work in this comment.

J9+ Combo is on Amazon for $800 right now 46% off! Great choice though many mixed reviews. The Combo Max 10 is on Amazon for $800 but I’d choose the J9+ Combo because self cleaning bases don’t actually “wash” the pads. The j9’s brown design is better than the all black in my option and the j9 has a wood top to put small plant on top for design. The j9 you can just quickly remove the pad and put in the washer I have an i3+ and Brava m6 that I’ve had for 4 years now and always worked well but I’m thinking of upgrading to a combo j9+

Honestly hardware reliability is the only thing Roomba has going for them. I've owned numerous robot vacuums and every single one has failed after about a year except for this POS Roomba i3 that I literally HATE lol. I've frisbeed that POS across the room so many times and it just keeps running, even the bearing on the end of the roller seized up and melted and I just ignore it and it keeps chugging along not knowing where it is half the time. It's like this thing runs off of pure spite Meanwhile I rolled my $1800 roborock into the base just a little bit too fast and the gears in the wheel motors shattered 🙄😒

I just ordered my mom the Eufy Omni E28. She’s has cats and a lot of flooring. I gave her my Roomba i3 evo as an upgrade from hers. I wanted to get her the newer models but found out Roomba may go out of business until I saw Eufy E28. It looks promising

iRobot i3+. Literally a tank. Ran it three times a week for over three years. Over 1000 hours and 300,000 sqft of cleaned area. Replaced the battery for $50 and was still running fine… until it ate poop. Twice. Finally decided it was time to upgrade to a S1 Pro. Might clean up the i3 and retire it to garage duty.

Our irobot roomba gobbles pet hair and it's a basic i3 model. You have a roborock budget though and reddit is going to steer you towards that or just tell you to get a Miele vacuum.

Hi, i have one german shepard and one labrador, both of them have long hair and a lot of shredding almost half of year. I recently bought my first robot vacuum and after researching a lot i went with an iRobot Roomba i3+. I am very satisfied with it but i will give you some points to have in mind first: - For pet hair rollers must not have brushes because its problematic. - You will need to pass it every day to avoid big bricks of pet hair. - Self emptying dock is a must if you have pets. - You should do quick maintenace (no more than 5-15 min) to the robot at least one day per week. Knowing that, i am very happy with the Roomba because it goes great with all of that. Beside of that, some things that i really liked about this brand is that: - All the parts that will have tangled hair (like rollers, empty bin, rotating brushes, and wheels) are extremely easy to remove and clean, almost with no tools needed. I literally take only ten minutes to remove every dog hair inside the system. - Also, all that parts are removable and replaceable, so if one of them brokes, you can easily buy one and change it. - Dust bag in dock compresses very hard the hair, so every bag will last you like a month. - They have tons of video tutorials in their official youtube channel for cleaning and maintaing every single model of their brand. - App is simply great, it haves a nice user interface and user experience. This Roomba i3 doesnt have extremly powerful suction, but it is more than sufficient for pets hair. Sometimes for other things (for example some heavy food crumbs) it doesnt catch them. But if you go for higher series (5,7,9) i understand that they have better suction. I have not tested other brands so i cant tell you if there are any better, but i am really satisfied with this Roomba. This is my honest review and i hope it can help you to pick a Robot Vacuum. I picked mine reading tons of comments from this subreddit. Happy new year for everyone and sorry for my bad english, i am Argentinian! 👍

Hi! The i3 still doing it excellent. I definitly recommend this model. I am not really sure what is going on with iRobot company, i read a few days ago that they have made bad decisions on their lastest models and they are close to bankrupcy or something like that haha, but i keep reading comments of people with classic models (like series I/J) and they still happy with them. The app keeps nice and without errors (at least for my use).

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.

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.

We have an i3+ cleaning up after a Pyrenees (very heavy shed 24/7) and it does the worlds okayest job. I definitely still have to sweep or vac piles in corners and I feel like I spend more time cleaning the roomba of the dog hair than it spends running. I definitely appreciate daily effort tho.

iRobot already did that with their first generation iRobot Combo (R11xx). The Roomba Essential was also not made by iRobot. Now it seems none of them will be. I just don't understand the end game for iRobot. Are they just gonna be riding on the brand name from now on and slowly disappear into nothingness because why would OEM give 3rd party better tech and design than they use in their own robots? iRobot, as much as they've been weird and stubborn with some things, I still love their core design of robots since introduction of E series and later i. I loved how they ALL had identical main roller brushes, identical side brushes, identical filters, identical dust bins, identical almost everything. Not only it's cheaper for them to supply 1 type of each part, it's easier for users, for regular maintenance and repairs. I work in this part of the industry and I can't stress enough how many times customers/consumers have no clue what device they have, be it robot vacuum or a regular vacuum. If you just need to tell "I have a roomba" and that's all it's needed to know which part you supply. So many Chinese robots as well as ones from other well known brands like Electrolux, Philips and Rowenta have different parts for almost every model and it's soooooooooooo annoying.

I have i3+ and it works well on my combo hardwood floors with low pile area rugs. Make sure to get one that auto empties to a bin because the robot fills up quick.

The comment about robot vacuums only being for small places is probably based on the old random pattern robots. Most robots now map and do well in large houses. It sounds like most mapping robots would work for you, since you don't want mopping, have hardfloors, and no pets. So anything with lidar (prefered) or vslam navigation. Obstacle avoidance might be a useful feature for cords, shoes, toys etc. left on the ground. It might be worth looking into a Eufy L60, iRobot Roomba j series, Roborock Q series, or shark. I'm biased because I have three robot vacs (Roborock S6, Ecovacs x1 omni, and iRobot Roomba j5+ combo) and my roomba j5+ is the only one that is reliable and working at the moment

iRobot is likely the longest lasting brand, there are many accounts of people having these bots for so many years and well over 1k hours.. iRobot are still providing parts for 12+ year old bots. Where is the planned obsolescence there?

The combo 10 max (almost the same obstacle avoidance as all other modern/j-series iRobot models) initially scored in vacuum war's top ten for obstacle avoidance. It's also the only brand that guarantees avoidance of pet poo. Battery is debatable, but it's also a non-issue for most because of charge and resume

All have pretty poor customer service. I have three bots (Ecovacs, Roborock, and iRobot) and recommend the roomba i or j series for vacuum only (especially if you have carpet). It's designed for longevity rather than features. My j5+ has been reliable and kept up with 2 shedding dogs (long hair border collie cross) and two people

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.

I have an older Roomba i3+ and just got an e25 and it's soooooooo much better! I had been planning to keep the Roomba for upstairs cleaning, but it's such a night and day difference that IDK if I can keep it lol I brought the Eufy upstairs today and it's running and cleaning while I'm sitting up there and it's not bothering me at all. It's so quiet. I don't even want to be home when my roomba is running. I've had the Roomba for longer though. More like 5 years? IDK

I have an old Roomba i3+ and a new eufy e25. Build quality was never an issue for Roomba but the eufy feels great and the app is better and it cleans much more efficiently. I’m still using the i3+ upstairs and its lack of lidar or any type of cameras makes it wedge itself under my furniture almost every time it runs. It gets stuck almost every day. I’m actually considering a new one for upstairs because it’s so bad by comparison. Maybe the e20 with the stick vacuum. That would be handy to have anyway. I’ll wait for Black Friday or something

I had a Rooma i3 until super recently (downsized and moved, it still works great). It's able to be repaired and cleaned regularly which is key to making sure it lasts a long time. Not sure if this applies to the robot vacuums but Sharks are easy to repair and have five year warranties.

I guess I’m the outlier here but I love mine. I have the self emptying, mapping Roomba. It mapped my space great and does a really good job cleaning. Self emptying is the best upgrade, as I previously had a much cheaper model and haaaated emptying that thing constantly.

once you get a i/J series with a Clean Base. you will never want to go back. When shedding season start , you can setup a daily clean up. and a weekly maintenance of the robot.