# Robotic Vacuums



## J_nick

As much as I love working outside on the lawn I never get excited about sweeping the floor. With 2 kiddos always going in and out the floor could be swept daily but who has the time for that. I know very little about these magic floor cleaners other than I've heard of Roomba. I've been searching through Amazon and the Roomba 650 seems in my price range, 4.5 out of 5 stars and Prime eligible ($49 dollar savings) :thumbup:

I would like to hear from anyone who has a robotic vacuum of any brand. We don't have any carpet downstairs so it would be on tile and hardwood 99% of the time.


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## Mightyquinn

Our friend have one that they bought off Groupon and they seem to like it a lot. The collection bin is really small so it may need emptied every few days depending on the mess. When we installed wood flooring in our kitchen/dining room, I was on the fence between the Roomba and Dyson V6 absolute. Ended up going with the Dyson since it's more versatile as we can use it for small things too. I can do the whole floor in less than 5 minutes. It doesn't last long using the "Max" feature but long enough to do the floor. They did come out with a V8 shortly after I bought mine which has longer run times. I do have to admit we are Dyson fans so I'm sure that played a part.


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## GrassDaddy

The problem with robots, they don't know about the smear factor. With little kids or dogs if it runs when something smearable is on the floor you could end up with poop on every inch of floor space. Hence:



Notice the spinning flicker thingy? Apparently that rubbed the dog poop along the walls too..


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## Dico112lr4

With the inability to do much outside during the winter I've turned to doing things inside the house. We recently acquired another Golden Reriever and the dog hair/ dormant bermuda tracked in has skyrocketed. Even with vacuuming/Swiffering daily the floors were not up to par.

In comes iRobot's I7+. They definitely are not the Roombas of the past. They map out the floor of the house and now literally cover every inch of floor. It does a better job around edges of the baseboard and furniture than I could get with the sweeper or Swiffer. It also only needs emptied about once per month... it goes back to its docking station where a secondary vacuum empties out the smaller Roomba bin and it's good to go for another run. I set it up to run while we are at work every day so I never have to see it run.

Definitely a time saver. Now if they had one that could do the stairs...


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## daniel3507

They are life savers when it comes to dog hair. I don't think they replace actually sweeping or steaming but it definitely helps extend the time between deep cleanings. Just wish there was a decent one for carpet


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## dfw_pilot

Dico112lr4 said:


> Now if they had one that could do the stairs...


That's what kids are for, haha. That, and getting up and changing the dial on the TV . . .


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## Austinite

I really don't want to replace all my rugs, my robot keeps getting stuck on them. I wish there was one that can avoid and just go around rugs. My rugs are very high pile shag and never fails to get tangled up in there.


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## craigdt

Is there a robot vac that can handle carpets?


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## Dico112lr4

craigdt said:


> Is there a robot vac that can handle carpets?


We have a 980 that we use upstairs where it is carpeted. It does quite well. The 980 has a carpet boost function that increases the suction.


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## Shindoman

We have the 980 for the main floor of the house. Bought it 2 yrs. ago. last few months it is finicky. 
Stops half way thru a clean, is getting very noisy, The sensors have to be cleaned regularly to keep it running normally. I just ordered a new dust bin for $149 to solve the noise issue. I can't see it lasting more than a couple more years.


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## driver_7

+1 for the 980, it's been great for us keeping the golden retriever hair picked up. We have wood and carpet floors, some rugs as well. It handles the heavier shag rug just fine, although it sometimes has to rethink its approach to climbing up onto the rug.


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## walk1355

I have owned a eufy 30c for a couple months now and we love it. We use it downstairs which is all hardwood and tile with a few low pile rugs. It does a fantastic job, especially at its price point.

eufy [BoostIQ] RoboVac 30C, Wi-Fi, Upgraded, Super-Thin, 1500Pa Strong Suction, 13 ft Boundary Strips Included, Quiet, Self-Charging Robotic Vacuum Cleaner, Cleans Hard Floors to Medium-Pile Carpets https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07D75MVX9/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_6P0mCb54X7T4S


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## Steverino

Part of the deal in getting a dog was that we had to get a robot vac. We got an Ecobee Deebot from Costco but took it back after a week because it wouldn't make good connection on its charge base. Other than that it worked good. 
So, I went to the top of the line i7 and it has been great. Does what it is supposed to do (we only have hardwoods)except when it finds a kid's stray sock or.....
My dog, here, is roomba friendly, however the roomba is not so puppy poop friendly. I got a frantic call from my wife while at work, and yes, the roomba became a fertilizer spreader in the house. She cleaned up the house, I got to clean the roomba. I must say, it it well designed with modular parts that are easy to pull and cleanup or if you had too, replace. The head, wheel assemblies are straightforward to access. 
I've been using it for about two months now. I use a shop vac to empty the base bag so I don't have to replace it as well as clean the filter on the vac, extending it's use. Definitely a good (but expensive)purchase. My house stays more clean than before getting a dog.


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## g-man

Great looking dog. Your floors will not lay with those nails. Any Roomba is worth it with dog hairs. We used to have a lab and it saved a lot of time.


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## Ware

Bumping this thread. What are folks using in 2021?


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## SodFace

Rocking 2 iRobot 860 vacuums. No wifi which is a plus for me/don't want to pay for a feature in don't use. The rubber rollers are easy to maintain. Does a good job on all surfaces. I even want to raise one bed like a few centimeters to allow the upstairs one underneath. Run them on a schedule just before we get home.

Shop around for refurbished ones. Got both for half price or less when we shopped one model old+refurb. BestBuy of all places was the place to get them cheap.


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## bernstem

I have had several roombas and liked them, but... the new s9 is plagued by problems. I had one that I returned as it developed an internal error within a couple days and could not be fixed. That is apparently a common issue that requires a replacement. I expect irobot will stand behind the warranty, but in my case I just returned it as it was within 30 days of purchase. I'm still using the old 960 that I have. If you want irobot, the i7 is supposed to be very good, or wait for the next model roomba to come out later this year.

I am also curious what people are using.


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## rhanna

Eufy 15C bought last spring and it does a good job. We bought it for $208 when it was on sale. Right now it's on sale for $176, maybe I'll buy one for upstairs. We have 2 dogs but they are both non-shedding. The biggest thing is the dormant bermuda they would track in the house or the clippings in the summer.


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## MasterMech

bernstem said:


> I have had several roombas and liked them, but... the new s9 is plagued by problems. I had one that I returned as it developed an internal error within a couple days and could not be fixed. That is apparently a common issue that requires a replacement. I expect irobot will stand behind the warranty, but in my case I just returned it as it was within 30 days of purchase. I'm still using the old 960 that I have. If you want irobot, the i7 is supposed to be very good, or wait for the next model roomba to come out later this year.
> 
> I am also curious what people are using.


I have a Roomba 980i that has been continuously in service since early 2018. Call him Lightning McLean and he refuses to quit. Something happened a long time ago where we had to replace his bin assembly. I tore the boot that connects the bin to the body in some heavy-handed maintenance cleaning, my bad. Recently hooked him up with a new battery as we are challenging his max sq footage and since he's the upstairs bot now, he's on carpet 90% of the time. Only complaint is that he's loud, especially in an open floor plan with hardwoods and while he has the ability to map out the house, his memory is very short lived. (new map for every job) Every day is a new day for Lightning. :lol: He can't be programmed to go clean certain rooms like the newer vacs. All or nothing. The low-tech method of using a door to confine him works pretty well though. :mrgreen:

I looked into getting an assistant for the 980 last year and even with all the problems, bought an S9+. Self-Empty is the bomb. This is the feature you've been waiting for. In our house (3 boys, 1 dog, myself, and a long-haired female) the bag fills up maybe once every 3 months. The original bot had the dreaded Error 31 after about 30 days that cannot be fixed. Due to back-orders, covid, etc. iRobot was not able to get replacement robots (which had been upgraded/fixed) out to existing owners for 2-3 months. They did everything reasonable to make it right, but poor Lightning was pulling double-duty there for a couple months. I could see major frustration if you did not have a backup bot like we do. But I'm the patient type, like the features and carpet performance of the S9, and understand manufacturing issues. The replacement has been in service for 3 months or so now with no major trouble. The S9 dislikes thick rugs/carpet where the 980 doesn't complain. The S9 does sit slightly lower to the ground and has wider rollers so more drag on carpet/rugs. The S9 is very quiet especially compared to the 980, I don't mind the S9 running while we are home unless it's quiet time.

Both robots need maintenance from time to time. General cleaning, a filter change, clearing hair from the rollers, replacing the rollers from time to time, etc. It's about a 15 min investment every month. One reason I have stuck with iRobot despite imperfections, the performance on carpet/rugs is unmatched. They patented their dual roller design and this makes them much better carpet cleaners even if they don't have as much raw suction as some competing models. Their roller design is also shown to need less maintenance than others in environments where there is long-hair as the design discourages winding around the axles. It still happens, but I've never seen one of my bots down because of it and clearing the axles of hairballs is a very easy task.

The other reason I stuck with the S9+ and iRobot despite the known problems is the linked clean feature with the M6 mop. No matter which robot I run downstairs, the Mop automatically starts after the vacuum bot finishes the whole job (more on that in a minute). This makes for a long day of robotic cleaning and I do wish that the mop would start after the vacuum is finished with a room rather than waiting for it to finish a 3-4 hour complete clean. There are workarounds like breaking up your floorplan into shorter jobs and running them on alternate days but it just seems to me that the linked clean feature could function a bit more intelligently than it does currently. Side Note: the M6 mop is very, very good. Covers expansive floor plans and has made a visual difference on our floors for sure. I also have a little Bravva Jet 240 that is pretty slick for mopping the couple rooms that the M6 cannot travel to. (Master bath upstairs is surrounded by w2w carpet.)

Downsides to any robot vac is the tendency to wear on the corners of any rugs that are exposed. I have corner stiffeners on many of the rugs and haven't given into using adhesives on most rugs but the wear is becoming pretty apparent after several months. It was worse in the beginning before we really went after anti-curl solutions. Also, if you have thick floor substrates and less than standard clearances between the bottoms of your cabinets and the floor, might want to double check the height of any vacuum you're considering. The 980 occasionally gets pinched in the upstairs master bathroom and while it doesn't stop him very often, it certainly slows down the job overall as he reverses and steers to escape the predicament.

One minor downside to iRobot stuff is the inability to work in the dark. They are visual navigators (VSLAM) and need at least dim light to navigate well. Something to consider for closets, bathrooms, basements, etc that may lack much in the way of natural light. In a not-so-distant future, I can imagine where the robot interfaces with smarthome automation to turn on a light via a smart switch or dimmer while it's working in a room. LiDAR bots don't need light, but they also don't know your couch or bed from your walls and so may not reach these hidden areas (a key advantage of using a robot) or may navigate inefficiently when presented with certain situations. Another iRobot disadvantage is the lack of obstacle detection for something like a cell phone charging cord on the floor, pet mess, etc. They rely on bumping into things to realize there's an obstacle and this can present major problems if there's an unexpected or hidden pet mess, an overfilled water bowl, etc. It doesn't have to be bolted down but if it's likely to smear, tangle, or spill, it's something you may want to engineer out of the equation.

If iRobot does indeed release some new models this year, I'd be interested in replacing the 980 with something quieter and a little more intelligent. (sorry Lightning!) Obstacle detection via front camera would be a welcome addition as would HomeKit integration.

My in-laws have an i7, I like it, it's not as good in the corners and lacks the raw suction power the S9 has. But it's everything I like about my 980, and has many of the features of my S9 (just as quiet and now has a self-empty option) without the dreaded Error 31 problem. It just lacks the power and that makes the S9 a better choice for hard floors IMO.


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## dicko1

What are folks using in 2021? Why, the flying Roomba! Goes up stairs!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wA2yIVFb2lI&list=RDCMUC7yF9tV4xWEMZkel7q8La_w&start_radio=1&rv=wA2yIVFb2lI&t=175

I have an old roomba 660. Nothing fancy about it but it does keep the floor clean. One thing to keep in mind is that these types of vaccuums will not get the really deep carpet dirt. They just dont have the suction. So every so often you'll still need to get the big vaccum out.


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## MasterMech

****o1 said:


> What are folks using in 2021? Why, the flying Roomba! Goes up stairs!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I have an old roomba 660. Nothing fancy about it but it does keep the floor clean. One thing to keep in mind is that these types of vaccuums will not get the really deep carpet dirt. They just dont have the suction. So every so often you'll still need to get the big vaccum out.


Actually, the YT channel Vacuum Wars has shown many robot vacs extracting 97% or more of embedded sand from carpet. The models that do are def on the higher end of the price scale but robot vacs have come a long ways from the 600 series, which was great for its time. They still sell a 600 series if I remember correctly.


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## SodFace

MasterMech said:


> ****o1 said:
> 
> 
> 
> What are folks using in 2021? Why, the flying Roomba! Goes up stairs!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I have an old roomba 660. Nothing fancy about it but it does keep the floor clean. One thing to keep in mind is that these types of vaccuums will not get the really deep carpet dirt. They just dont have the suction. So every so often you'll still need to get the big vaccum out.
> 
> 
> 
> Actually, the YT channel Vacuum Wars has shown many robot vacs extracting 97% or more of embedded sand from carpet. The models that do are def on the higher end of the price scale but robot vacs have come a long ways from the 600 series, which was great for its time. They still sell a 600 series if I remember correctly.
Click to expand...

I find my 860 gets the same out of carpet upstairs as my Central vacuum. Then add the occasional carpet cleaning with the Bissell and they stay super clean.


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## Phids

I have been using the Eufy 11S for about a year-and-a-half, and for the most part, it's done great, though as time goes by it seems to suck up less (I may need to make additional adjustments to the main brush).

A few observations:

1) Robot vacuums work best on hard floors
2) They work best in low-clutter environments
3) They don't entirely replace manual vacuuming/sweeping, but reduce it significantly
4) They might clean up 60-70% of a floor on a charge, meaning repeated weekly cleanings are necessary

While a lot of home technology out there today only marginally helps people live better, robot vacuums are on another level because they legitimately remove the need for regular human labor.


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## MasterMech

Phids said:


> I have been using the Eufy 11S for about a year-and-a-half, and for the most part, it's done great, though as time goes by it seems to suck up less (I may need to make additional adjustments to the main brush).
> 
> A few observations:
> 
> 1) Robot vacuums work best on hard floors - Both of my Roombas (old 980 and an S9+, MIL has a i7) work great on carpet. Vacuum Wars (on YT) has demonstrated repeatedly how good the Roomba dual-extractor design works to remove dirt from carpet.
> 2) They work best in low-clutter environments - Agreed! Newer vacs have obstacle detection that much improves this though.
> 3) They don't entirely replace manual vacuuming/sweeping, but reduce it significantly - We're down to occasionally hitting a few corners and edges with a handheld cordless.
> 4) They might clean up 60-70% of a floor on a charge, meaning repeated weekly cleanings are necessary - There are now several models on the market that return to base to charge and resume the cleaning job. This was the tipping point for me and my Roomba's. Without this, wouldn't worth the money or trouble in our home with a fairly large floor plan.
> 
> While a lot of home technology out there today only marginally helps people live better, robot vacuums are on another level because they legitimately remove the need for regular human labor.


I'll counter some of your points with my direct experiences (not to be argumentative, just that I've had differing experience!) but note that the features I enjoy the most come at a significant cost. Serves to underline your point on how robo-vacs (and Mops!, I have a Bravva Jet M6 and an M240 too.) really can improve your lifestyle.

One thing I noticed, certain robots do not get along with certain rugs. I have noted increased wear on the edges and especially corners of some of our rugs.


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## Phids

MasterMech said:


> I'll counter some of your points with my direct experiences (not to be argumentative, just that I've had differing experience!) but note that the features I enjoy the most come at a significant cost. Serves to underline your point on how robo-vacs (and Mops!, I have a Bravva Jet M6 and an M240 too.) really can improve your lifestyle.
> 
> One thing I noticed, certain robots do not get along with certain rugs. I have noted increased wear on the edges and especially corners of some of our rugs.


I can understand your points, especially with better models than what I use (I think mine cost around $150 which seems to be on the cheaper end). Also, my Eufy vacuums by doing the "wandering bot" routine and just moving around. I haven't tried, but I bet the robotic vacuums that have room sensors and maps that they follow do a better job.


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## MasterMech

Phids said:


> MasterMech said:
> 
> 
> 
> I'll counter some of your points with my direct experiences (not to be argumentative, just that I've had differing experience!) but note that the features I enjoy the most come at a significant cost. Serves to underline your point on how robo-vacs (and Mops!, I have a Bravva Jet M6 and an M240 too.) really can improve your lifestyle.
> 
> One thing I noticed, certain robots do not get along with certain rugs. I have noted increased wear on the edges and especially corners of some of our rugs.
> 
> 
> 
> I can understand your points, especially with better models than what I use (I think mine cost around $150 which seems to be on the cheaper end). Also, my Eufy vacuums by doing the "wandering bot" routine and just moving around. I haven't tried, but I bet the robotic vacuums that have room sensors and maps that they follow do a better job.
Click to expand...

It's very much parallel to what's happening in in robo-mowers right now. GPS enabled robots that do not require boundary wires and can utilize their energy source more efficiently than current models will be a game changer. Random-walk mowing is more visible than a vac that might miss a couple small spots and our lawns tend to be larger than our living rooms. Just moving to patterned mows will expand working range of the bot by orders of magnitude, just like it did for the vacs. Which is what allows my vacs to cover my entire floorplan in a reasonable timeframe. Having a random-walk vac, even one that can recharge and move from room to room wouldn't be near as effective as the models I own have been.

There is a significant portion of users that don't want to bother programming and setting up an advanced robot though. For this user set, what can be accomplished with a $150-250 bot is amazing. My wife for example, just wants to manually push the go button and leave the bot to do it's thing. Whatever it gets done, gets done. I'm the one that tweaks the maps and sets up the clean/no-go zones etc. My grandmother picks up her Roomba 600 series, pops it in the middle of the room, and hits go. It's quite capable of doing multiple rooms but that's just not what she expects from it.


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## Thick n Dense

I love mine. It covers roughly 1k sqft of wood floors.

Downside is that this takes for ever for this space and requires a charge in between sections.

Since woking from home, I havent used due to the noise and is now collecting dust.

But also look into the cordless dysons. 
Removing the cord makes vacuming such less if a hassle that I barely miss the roomba.

Wait until after xmas, they run deals or release a new and bettwr model.


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## SodFace

@Thick n Dense for Dyson check out their refurbished website. I just got a V8 on sale for way less than the store sells new ones for. Brand new product...no scuffs or dents or hair. Some parts were in plastic some not.


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## DR_GREENTHUMB

https://neatorobotics.com/

Our Neato works well, regular maintenance is required, (empty collection bin, cut hair out, dust bunnies, etc) but that comes with ownership of anything really.
It does get kicked offline, or at least it did, I quit connecting it after a while.


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## Theycallmemrr

I just got the Roborock S7 and love it. It has LIDAR, wifi enabled and can mop. It actually does a great job of mopping, even better than I had hoped. It is also a lot quieter than my previous robovac. I have it run at midnight and cannot hear it while sleeping.


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## Ware

I had some Best Buy rewards burning a hole in my pocket, so I picked up a Roomba S9+ today. I'm hoping it will give us a little relief from what seems like a constant need to break out the Dyson on our wood look tile. I will report back.

Any tips @MasterMech?


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## MasterMech

Ware said:


> I had some Best Buy rewards burning a hole in my pocket, so I picked up a Roomba S9+ today. I'm hoping it will give us a little relief from what seems like a constant need to break out the Dyson on our wood look tile. I will report back.
> 
> Any tips @MasterMech?


Clear out rooms of (portable) furniture and clutter as best you can. Take advantage of the "mapping run" feature in the app to get 2-3 good clean map runs in even before you set it to clean. Then take the time to label and adjust the room borders accordingly. If you have rooms that need frequent attention, set them up with dedicated jobs under "favorites". You can create "clean zones" to designate part of a room for specific cleaning. 9/10 times, we run ours for the whole floor.

Once you have a good map, the bot's get smarter every time they clean. Adjusting to your furniture and any clutter. It may seem inefficient at first but give it a few full runs to prove itself. For large floor plans like ours, flipping chairs up onto tables (restaurant style) really helps the bot save time/battery. Remember, iRobot's machines are visual navigators that need at least some dim light to navigate. If it gets stuck in a dark closet or hallway, try leaving a light on for it.

If you have contiguous hard floors in your home, get the M6 mop.


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## BurtMacklinFBI

got a roomba years ago and loved it. Was telling the guys at work and one coworker said his son worked for iRobot and if I wanted another one he take home the test units. He came in the next today with one for me. Shortly after that I went on Craigslist and picked up a broken one that matched the two I had and fixed it for under under 50 bucks. Now I got one upstairs, one downstairs and one in the basement/garage haha. I go around every now and then and just empty the bins. Every 3 months I blow out the filters, remove the hair tangled in em and blow off the dust. They are life changing haha.


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## MasterMech

Ware said:


> I had some Best Buy rewards burning a hole in my pocket, so I picked up a Roomba S9+ today. I'm hoping it will give us a little relief from what seems like a constant need to break out the Dyson on our wood look tile. I will report back.
> 
> Any tips @MasterMech?


Well sir, how's you and the bot workin' out?


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## Ware

MasterMech said:


> Ware said:
> 
> 
> 
> I had some Best Buy rewards burning a hole in my pocket, so I picked up a Roomba S9+ today. I'm hoping it will give us a little relief from what seems like a constant need to break out the Dyson on our wood look tile. I will report back.
> 
> Any tips @MasterMech?
> 
> 
> 
> Well sir, how's you and the bot workin' out?
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reminder. I have been meaning to come back and give a quick update.

I have run it three times - one mapping run and two "vacuum everywhere" runs. It is still building the map, so I can't carve out areas yet.

The mapping run took 6hr 14min, which it was able to complete on the initial charge.

The first cleaning run took 8hr 53min (4hr 57min cleaning time and 3hr 56min charging time).

The second cleaning run took 7hr 15min (4hr 38min cleaning time and 2hr 37min charging time).

So it looks like it was able to shave off just enough cleaning time (19min) to complete the job on the initial charge plus two recharges instead of three. My first thought was that it skipped something, but it actually says it cleaned 3 sq ft more on the second cleaning run.

So far I am happy with the job it is doing. I am anxious to see how it continues to optimize itself, but I think the constraint for our floor plan is going to be the recharges required to complete the whole house (first floor).


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## MasterMech

Ware said:


> MasterMech said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ware said:
> 
> 
> 
> I had some Best Buy rewards burning a hole in my pocket, so I picked up a Roomba S9+ today. I'm hoping it will give us a little relief from what seems like a constant need to break out the Dyson on our wood look tile. I will report back.
> 
> Any tips @MasterMech?
> 
> 
> 
> Well sir, how's you and the bot workin' out?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Thanks for the reminder. I have been meaning to come back and give a quick update.
> 
> I have run it three times - one mapping run and two "vacuum everywhere" runs. It is still building the map, so I can't carve out areas yet.
> 
> The mapping run took 6hr 14min, which it was able to complete on the initial charge.
> 
> The first cleaning run took 8hr 53min (4hr 57min cleaning time and 3hr 56min charging time).
> 
> The second cleaning run took 7hr 15min (4hr 38min cleaning time and 2hr 37min charging time).
> 
> So it looks like it was able to shave off just enough cleaning time (19min) to complete the job on the initial charge plus two recharges instead of three. My first thought was that it skipped something, but it actually says it cleaned 3 sq ft more on the second cleaning run.
> 
> So far I am happy with the job it is doing. I am anxious to see how it continues to optimize itself, but I think the constraint for our floor plan is going to be the recharges required to complete the whole house (first floor).
Click to expand...

What is the sq footage for your 1st floor? I think our's is 2000 sqft, give or take. Subtracting all furniture and fixtures, I think the robot reports cleaning 1200-1500 sq ft each time.

For large floor plans, once you have a map, I would setup a scheduled run where it runs in certain rooms on certain days or at certain times. The return to recharge for a partial top-off then redeploy is not really all that time efficient if the robot doesn't complete the job on the first recharge. I want to try having it clean a certain number of rooms and then return to base for a full recharge. Then send it back out in the afternoon or the following day to different areas.

What would be really cool for larger floor plans with acres of hard floors - would be the ability to send out the M6 mop with a dry sweep pad on it to sweep the rooms to the edges, and follow with the vac to just do 1-2 passes around the edges and any carpeted areas. The M6 bot can go much longer than the S9 on the initial battery charge. I'll admit I'm watching and hoping iRobot takes the companion robot model in directions that just aren't practicable with a single combo robot today.


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## HomerGuy

We purchased a Shark IQ with the Self Empty bin when they were on sale at Costco a while back. It was a cheap option with a self emptying bin. Ended up returning it after using it for a few weeks on primarily hard floors.

A couple things we realized:
1. The concept of a robot vacuum is awesome. I so wanted this to work out, and I think it can, just the model we purchased was not up to par.
2. One of the features that I underestimated the importance of was the navigation. First of all, the model we selected says it needs to be run in a illuminated area. So the idea of having it run while we are sleeping didn't pan out. Also, the model we had is notorious for poor mapping abilities. I didn't think this was a big deal until we put it into a real world application. It was never able to map our floorplan accurately, which caused it to do a lot of silly things and constantly miss areas or get stuck.
3. Obstacle avoidance is important for us. I don't want to have to baby sit the thing, or prepare to run it by clearing every single possible obstacle from its path.
4. Noise and time. The machine is quieter than our cordless stick vac. However, the robot takes a lot longer than us pushing our cordless vac around. So it took the noisy task of vacuuming with the cordless stick vac, and replaced it with a slightly less noisy machine that went on for hours. This actually may be the straw that broke the camels back so to speak, as every time the machine would run, everyone would groan and be annoyed because you would have to listen to it for hours. This probably would have been less of an issue if we could have the machine run at night, or if we had a machine that we could trust to run while we were away and not get itself stuck every 10 minutes.

So long and short, I do not recommend the Shark IQ robot. I'm currently waiting for a deal to pop up on one of the more premium models with better navigation with hopes it will work better for us.


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## Ware

@MasterMech our first floor is about 3,250 sq ft and the Roomba is reporting that it has cleaned about 2,020 sq ft - so about 62% of the total area. After the mapping run I questioned the low number, but the more you think about it the more it makes sense (furniture, cabinets, walls, showers/tubs, closed closet doors, etc).

Once the mapping is complete I can see us shifting to a strategy where we divide the first floor into thirds - that or once we're comfortable leaving it to run alone just pick a time when we know we'll be away for ~8 hours to let it do its thing. Although that's not as often as it used to be in this post-COVID world.

Our first floor is all hard flooring, with the exception of a few rugs - so I should be achieving close to maximum runtime on each charge.


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## MasterMech

Ware said:


> @MasterMech our first floor is about 3,250 sq ft and the Roomba is reporting that it has cleaned about 2,020 sq ft - so about 62% of the total area. After the mapping run I questioned the low number, but the more you think about it the more it makes sense (furniture, cabinets, walls, showers/tubs, closed closet doors, etc).
> 
> Once the mapping is complete I can see us shifting to a strategy where we divide the first floor into thirds - that or once we're comfortable leaving it to run alone just pick a time when we know we'll be away for ~8 hours to let it do its thing. Although that's not as often as it used to be in this post-COVID world.
> 
> Our first floor is all hard flooring, with the exception of a few rugs - so I should be achieving close to maximum runtime on each charge.


That's a serious floor plan! :thumbup:

There's a few automation options that help with scheduling. Currently, I haven't found one (that I'm willing to use  ) that works 100% for us. My wife is home most of the day so I leave it up to her to manually trigger a run. But there are options to trigger via geofencing or other events in your home that may be worth investigating. Do not disturb times, etc.

It's also interesting to watch the beta features and guess at what the future software updates may hold. The S9+ can now include information on it's map as to what areas are carpeted/rug vs hard floor. Hmm.


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## Ware

@HomerGuy I can sympathize. The Roomba S9+ was definitely more than I wanted to spend, but I decided if this is something we were going to do I wanted to go all-in on the highest tech available at the time. And I completely agree on the noise/time balance. It's like do we listen to this thing run all day, or just take some time and run the Dyson(s) to get it over with. The answer for us, I hope, is to get comfortable enough to let it run when we aren't home. I don't think I could sleep with it running.

I'll diverge a bit on the hassle of clearing the floors of obstacles. I'm a bit of a neat freak, so I'm actually going to appreciate the extra motivation it gives us to keep the house in a state where we can just do a quick walk through ahead of the cleaning run to pick up any odds and ends that might be in the way. :thumbup:


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## Ware

Well @MasterMech, my wife gets the award for first charger cable entanglement.


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## MasterMech

Ware said:


> Well @MasterMech, my wife gets the award for first charger cable entanglement.


 :lol:

I've witnessed ours eat a cable, spit it out, and continue on like nothing happened. But yeah, generally, cords and cables are the bane of all robovacs!


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## GrassAndWater12

I know this is an older forum but wanted to add my two cents. I have two robots one from Roomba the 980 and the other from Wyze. I've enjoyed them both but the Wyze definitely has more features and is smarter. Definitely worth looking into especially the price. Hope this helps anyone on the hunt.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=I1u8riXma-A&feature=share


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## MasterMech

GrassAndWater12 said:


> ... I've enjoyed them both but the Wyze definitely has more features and is smarter. ...


I would hope so considering the 5.5 year difference in development age.  (980 released in 2015, Wyze, 2021)

As a fellow 980 owner, the feature I miss the most vs newer vacs is the room by room cleaning. Lightning McLean is all or nothing at the start. Doing anything less than the full floor plan means a fair bit of setup/intervention. Mine is nearly 4 years old, on it's second battery, and still performs like new. He does work with my M6 mop though. So when it does finish the floor plan, the mop will move in behind.


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## GrassAndWater12

MasterMech said:


> GrassAndWater12 said:
> 
> 
> 
> ... I've enjoyed them both but the Wyze definitely has more features and is smarter. ...
> 
> 
> 
> I would hope so considering the 5.5 year difference in development age.  (980 released in 2015, Wyze, 2021)
> 
> As a fellow 980 owner, the feature I miss the most vs newer vacs is the room by room cleaning. Lightning McLean is all or nothing at the start. Doing anything less than the full floor plan means a fair bit of setup/intervention. Mine is nearly 4 years old, on it's second battery, and still performs like new. He does work with my M6 mop though. So when it does finish the floor plan, the mop will move in behind.
Click to expand...

Yeah that's what sold me on trying the Wyze. This is a pic of the app. You can have it clean everywhere or tap which room to only clean certain rooms. The red lines are places I've blocked off like dog food bowel, phone chargers on the ground etc. I've got a good bit of Wyze items and am pleased with them all especially the price.


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## Ware

I was finally able to set up my map with room names and dividers. The process was a little cumbersome because it paused to save the map after every. single. edit. I got through it though and it is nice being able to send the Roomba off to clean just one room or one end of the house now. I am still happy with the purchase.

Several of the Roomba models are currently listed as a "Limited Time Deal" on Amazon. The Roomba S9+ is on sale for $949, or $1149 with the Braava Jet m6. I think I paid $1100 for just the S9+. I guess that's what happens when you buy tech. Looks like Best Buy has the same prices. I wonder if that means they're about to roll out a new model this fall.


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## MasterMech

Ware said:


> I was finally able to set up my map with room names and dividers. The process was a little cumbersome because it paused to save the map after every. single. edit. I got through it though and it is nice being able to send the Roomba off to clean just one room or one end of the house now. I am still happy with the purchase.
> 
> Several of the Roomba models are currently listed as a "Limited Time Deal" on Amazon. The Roomba S9+ is on sale for $949, or $1149 with the Braava Jet m6. I think I paid $1100 for just the S9+. I guess that's what happens when you buy tech. Looks like Best Buy has the same prices. I wonder if that means they're about to roll out a new model this fall.


Yeeeeaaaahhhh, that's a real pisser-offer. (Not to be confused with a pissah offah, totally different thing!)

If they do go with a new model, I want to move my S9+ upstairs where it does really well. (Mostly carpet, lots of dog hair. Self-empty for the win!). Downstairs has a bunch of area rugs and if your rugs do not lay super-flat, Roomba gets into a tussle with them on occasion.

I'm hoping that now that the S9+ maps out where there is carpet vs hard floor (check your beta feature section), it can work with the M6 mop more intelligently. As I've griped before, if you have a large floor plan, the vac must finish vacuuming the whole job before it deploys the mop. I've also noted that the 'bots are reporting their mean time to completion in each room. 
In my house, I'd love for the mop to get to work in rooms without area rugs as soon as the vac is far enough ahead. This would shave hours off the total cycle time for me.


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## Ware

Another minor gripe is I have 17 rooms on my map. They appear in the "new job" list in what seems like a completely random order. I wish the room list was arrangeable, or alphabetized at a minimum.


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## MasterMech

Ware said:


> Another minor gripe is I have 17 rooms on my map. They appear in the "new job" list in what seems like a completely random order. I wish the room list was arrangeable, or alphabetized at a minimum.


Dang, beat my upstairs map by 1! :lol:


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## Ware

I see they released a new Roomba j7+ that addresses obstacles like charging cords and dog poop.

It is interesting that the price point is lower than the S9+. I haven't had a chance to compare specs to find out why.


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## MasterMech

Ware said:


> I see they released a new Roomba j7+ that addresses obstacles like charging cords and dog poop.
> 
> It is interesting that the price point is lower than the S9+. I haven't had a chance to compare specs to find out why.


Samesies... :lol:

I'm waiting for Vacuum Wars (YouTube) to get his hands on it. If it does turn out to be a smarter i7/i7+ with "eyes", One could hope that a T9/T9+ version (just following the naming convention) would be soon to follow, maybe just in time for the holiday retail season. (Tick tock iRobot....)

I need the extra pickup width of the S9. My 980 (same width as the i7) takes too long to cover the whole downstairs.

ETA: It took 7 months to get the S9 after the i7 was released. Here's hoping they move along a bit faster this time around.


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## PNW_George

I just got back from Maui and the Hyatt Regency Maui was using *Whiz Autonomous Vacuum Sweeper*'s on every floor including the lobby. Most areas are short carpet and I imaging a lot of sand is picked up. It uses self driving car technology and you can program how and where it vacuums. Too expensive to use in a home but technology innovation tends to make its way down to consumer products. Not easy to find prices but I believe it costs more to operate for a month than the cost of a Roomba. It is marketed to replace staff and with businesses having difficulty finding staff anyway, the market seems to be good.

https://www.braincorp.com/type/data-sheet/


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## ionicatoms

Alright, I'm joining the club. Decided on the Roborock S7 with auto-empty dock. Fingers crossed for a good experience.


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## MasterMech

ionicatoms said:


> Alright, I'm joining the club. Decided on the Roborock S7 with auto-empty dock. Fingers crossed for a good experience.


Nice! The auto-empty bins are game changers for many.


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## ionicatoms

ionicatoms said:


> Alright, I'm joining the club. Decided on the Roborock S7 with auto-empty dock. Fingers crossed for a good experience.


Surprise! The mapping software is in Beta! I've had a heck of a time creating the map.

I don't have transition strips where my carpet meets my LVP. Instead, the carpet has been folded under itself at the transition to form a sort of butt joint. This means the robot can cross the transition in one direction (down), but not the other (up). Because the software won't seemingly let you construct a map without returning to the base, it is incredibly difficult to build one map for the entire floor.

It seems the whole mapping module is a bit too "smart" for its own good; automation should always have a manual override IMO.

Given these issues, I decided to try using the multi-map feature thinking I could just partition off up to four areas of the house. Well, that didn't work either because by unfortunate luck, the robot kept thinking two separate rooms were the same room; presumably due to similar size and shape. This meant that my attempts to create a new "floor" were impeded by the "smart" mapping because it ended up confused about where it was, either blocked by a virtual wall or simply erasing my first-floor map despite my instructions to create a second-floor map.

Basically, the SW is truly half-baked. Hardware seems good. It actually cleans well. The auto-empty dock is amazing.

I did find a sort of workaround for building maps by pieces (so you don't have to do the entire house all at once, which is a challenge when your family never leaves); it involves opening up an unmapped area adjacent to a mapped one, and then using the spot cleaning function to quickly expand the map by completing the cleaning of the small area and then returning the robot to its base so the map can be saved. Pretty darn silly, but figure somebody might benefit from this tip.

Overall I'm very happy with it. I'll put in some transition strips and hope for the best.


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## Riverpilot

My mom's daughter, I won't say what I call her daughter , bought mom a Irobot 692. Of course mom told her she wanted one, but don't spend too much.

I told the one who shall not be named, to spend the extra money and at least get the i3, if not the j7 or something higher up. Nope...

I went to set it up for mom, and of course she doesn't like the way it goes around cleaning. She wants one that will go to a particular room when she wants it to, etc... which I explained to her the 692 doesn't do. At least not that I can figure out.

Now I'm looking at maybe getting her the J7+, while it's still on sale.
Opinions or suggestions? Thanks much


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## ionicatoms

Riverpilot said:


> She wants one that will go to a particular room when she wants it to, etc... which I explained to her the 692 doesn't do. At least not that I can figure out.
> 
> Now I'm looking at maybe getting her the J7+, while it's still on sale.


The Roborock S7 or S7+ will go to a particular room that you define. However, it lacks object avoidance, which I'm addressing by setting up no-go zones. My wife didn't want a web cam on the front of the vacuum cleaner, so that was the main reason I avoided some of the models. I am really intrigued by the object avoidance tech on the Dreametech Dreame Z10; I think it could be a game changer for those looking to avoid the web cam issue.


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## MasterMech

Riverpilot said:


> My mom's daughter, I won't say what I call her daughter , bought mom a Irobot 692. Of course mom told her she wanted one, but don't spend too much.
> 
> I told the one who shall not be named, to spend the extra money and at least get the i3, if not the j7 or something higher up. Nope...
> 
> I went to set it up for mom, and of course she doesn't like the way it goes around cleaning. She wants one that will go to a particular room when she wants it to, etc... which I explained to her the 692 doesn't do. At least not that I can figure out.
> 
> Now I'm looking at maybe getting her the J7+, while it's still on sale.
> Opinions or suggestions? Thanks much


I think you're on the right track.

So, at a very minimum (within the current iRobot line), your looking at the J7/J7+. You need the ability of the persistent mapping which the i3 and 600 series units do not have.

I found the iRobot app fairly easy to use for setting up a smart map. Having to save after every edit in the map is annoying, but once your map is setup how you like, you can pretty much never touch it again. Just be ready to go slower for those initial tweaks. I suggest doing a deep prep session, Roomba-proofing the home before the first run. Run 3+ 'Clean Everywhere' jobs before attempting to tweak the map. The robot will continually adjust the map as it completes each run so no sense in placing doorways/dividers etc. while the map is still evolving significantly. If you have a large enough space that the bot cannot complete the job all in one charge, the doing dedicated 'Mapping Runs' (non-vacuuming) will save a lot of time.

Larger spaces demand a battery powered robot vac cover ground efficiently, random navigation works fine in smaller spaces but smart, straight-line nav is king. The 600 series is the only random nav bot left in the line.

I do not regret buying the S9+ at all, even after going through the whole 'Error 31' debacle. iRobot ended up replacing the bot, which took a couple months thanks to production not meeting demand already, let alone with a widespread hardware issue demanding warranty replacements.

I will not buy another robot vacuum without an auto-empty feature. Ever. I love our old 980 still, 5 years old, on it's 2nd battery, and still going strong. But when/if they release an S9 tier robot with the J7's machine vision object avoidance, I'll probably sign up for that one to finally retire old Lightning McLean.

Roombas are VSLAM navigators, using a camera to navigate. They CAN clean by nightlight, but really dark rooms will make navigating challenging for them. Just a heads up in case Mom wants to have the 'bot work the night shift.


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## MasterMech

ionicatoms said:


> ... However, it lacks object avoidance, which I'm addressing by setting up no-go zones. My wife didn't want a web cam on the front of the vacuum cleaner, so that was the main reason I avoided some of the models....


iRobot enabled a feature called 'Careful Drive' on the S9 bots. Of course, we still have the nav cam on top, but it uses existing sensors in the 'bot to completely avoid bumping into objects instead of feeling it's way around things like table legs. Very nice if you have painted furniture, or softer objects that get left out but will tangle/trap/confuse a robot that engages with them.

How would the Z10 do with something like a small cable or string from say, blinds, left on the floor? These are traditional robot-slayers and something the machine vision on the iRobot J7/J7+ are purpose designed to avoid. If the LiDAR or other 3D scanning tech is able to pick out and avoid these things too, that's great, but I see the AI/Machine Vision route becoming the most versatile. Of course, you have to have a camera for that.


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## ionicatoms

MasterMech said:


> ionicatoms said:
> 
> 
> 
> ... However, it lacks object avoidance, which I'm addressing by setting up no-go zones. My wife didn't want a web cam on the front of the vacuum cleaner, so that was the main reason I avoided some of the models....
> 
> 
> 
> How would the Z10 do with something like a small cable or string from say, blinds, left on the floor?
Click to expand...

I don't know for sure; the reviews on YouTube for Z10 Pro definitely demonstrate a deficiency avoiding the smallest objects. I would say a string from blinds is likely going to be an issue for the Z10 based on the small handful of videos I watched.

The fascinating thing about the iRobot camera system is that they (can) get better with software updates, allowing them to recognize more and more objects to avoid. There's certainly a lot of promise in those designs for anybody who isn't concerned about the privacy and security issues that are essentially unavoidable.

Since the visible-light spectrum webcam is pretty much dead-on-arrival at my house, and I'll add that we're not looking for a microphone either, I'm going to cross my fingers and hope the structured-light 3d scanning technology continues to improve. History indicates it will. I was kind of hoping they'd dump the webcam on the new Roborock S7 MaxV Ultra, but was disappointed when they did the big reveal earlier this week. Sticking the with S7+ for now. And I agree with you about the auto-empty dock. It is a must.


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## Captquin

I bought my wife the Roomba i7+ Vacuum and Braava M6 mop for Christmas. Absolute home run. Often hear her on the phone telling coworkers it's one of the best gifts ever.

We have 2 kids and two dogs. Wood floors with a couple area rugs. We vac every day. You can set on a schedule but we both work from home now so we mostly start it when we're stepping out for a bit. We just tell Google to do it while walking out the door.

The mop can swifter or wet mop. The vac does such a good job that we just wet mop. Typically do that 1-2 a week depending on how successful we've been preventing paw prints. Mop automatically detects the rugs.

Highly recommend both.


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## MasterMech

Captquin said:


> The mop can swifter or wet mop. The vac does such a good job that we just wet mop. Typically do that 1-2 a week depending on how successful we've been preventing paw prints. Mop automatically detects the rugs.


I so wish you could program them for the mop to dry sweep to edges or a corner quick and then just pickup the corner/edges with the vac. Would be so quick & quiet (not that the i7 makes a lot of noise) for daily maintenance on hardwoods.

We love ours (S9+/M6 and an old 980, big house problems :nod: ) too!


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## Captquin

Interesting thought! I set up few "clean zones" within some of the rooms for a quick clean. For us, it's mainly in the foyer and back door where the dogs come it. A quick vac and mop instead of doing the entire room.


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## cavince79

Amazon had the Roomba J7+ on sale recently so I picked that up. This is upgrading from an Ecovacs Deebot that was a "dumb" vacuum from a previous Amazon sale. The Ecovacs now lives in the sunroom which is a single step down from the main living area, so the J7+ can't get there.
Initial thoughts:
The J7+ is much louder than the Ecovacs. I had the Ecovacs turned up to Max clean/suction and it is still quieter than the J7+.
Pattern vs random seems to be a huge improvement.
The mapping is in progress, but looks useful.
The J7+ is a juggernaut. It smashes into everything before it decides it should turn around. It's quite loud (smashing) in addition to being loud (just running). The Ecovacs was much gentler on furniture.


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## MasterMech

cavince79 said:


> Amazon had the Roomba J7+ on sale recently so I picked that up. This is upgrading from an Ecovacs Deebot that was a "dumb" vacuum from a previous Amazon sale. The Ecovacs now lives in the sunroom which is a single step down from the main living area, so the J7+ can't get there.
> Initial thoughts:
> The J7+ is much louder than the Ecovacs. I had the Ecovacs turned up to Max clean/suction and it is still quieter than the J7+.
> Pattern vs random seems to be a huge improvement.
> The mapping is in progress, but looks useful.
> The J7+ is a juggernaut. It smashes into everything before it decides it should turn around. It's quite loud (smashing) in addition to being loud (just running). The Ecovacs was much gentler on furniture.


If you are still working on a map, then the J7s nav will noticeably improve once the map is mature. VSLAM (camera nav) robots are not as fast to map an area as the LiDAR bots as they usually require multiple passes.

Vacuum Wars (YouTube) has shown multiple times that random nav gets as good of coverage as a pattern nav bot. What he glosses over as "no big deal" is how much more floor space a pattern nav bot can cover in-between charges and how much faster it will cover a given area. This improved battery efficiency either translates to the ability to do a second pass (better clean) in the same amount of time, or cover a much larger floor plan, more frequently.

I'd be interested to know if the J7 stops bashing furniture once the map matures. It has that front mounted AI camera and iRobot keeps releasing updates for it to improve object recognition.


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## cavince79

MasterMech said:


> cavince79 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Amazon had the Roomba J7+ on sale recently so I picked that up. This is upgrading from an Ecovacs Deebot that was a "dumb" vacuum from a previous Amazon sale. The Ecovacs now lives in the sunroom which is a single step down from the main living area, so the J7+ can't get there.
> Initial thoughts:
> The J7+ is much louder than the Ecovacs. I had the Ecovacs turned up to Max clean/suction and it is still quieter than the J7+.
> Pattern vs random seems to be a huge improvement.
> The mapping is in progress, but looks useful.
> The J7+ is a juggernaut. It smashes into everything before it decides it should turn around. It's quite loud (smashing) in addition to being loud (just running). The Ecovacs was much gentler on furniture.
> 
> 
> 
> If you are still working on a map, then the J7s nav will noticeably improve once the map is mature. VSLAM (camera nav) robots are not as fast to map an area as the LiDAR bots as they usually require multiple passes.
> 
> Vacuum Wars (YouTube) has shown multiple times that random nav gets as good of coverage as a pattern nav bot. What he glosses over as "no big deal" is how much more floor space a pattern nav bot can cover in-between charges and how much faster it will cover a given area. This improved battery efficiency either translates to the ability to do a second pass (better clean) in the same amount of time, or cover a much larger floor plan, more frequently.
> 
> I'd be interested to know if the J7 stops bashing furniture once the map matures. It has that front mounted AI camera and iRobot keeps releasing updates for it to improve object recognition.
Click to expand...

You're 100% correct. :thumbup: I was just thinking yesterday that I needed to come update this as it's performance has improved considerably after I allowed it to do a couple mapping only runs. The mapping feature is great and only needed a few tweaks to adjust room dividers on an open floor plan. Now I can send it off to high traffic areas and it's like a robot on a mission. 
The self emptying of the bin sounds like my 40v electric blower and freaks the dog out every time.
Highly recommend the J7+.


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## Skiney12

I like iRobot Roomba i8+ which has Wi-Fi connectivity and voice-assistant options for remote commands.


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