iRobot Roomba i7+ (7550) Robot Vacuum with Automatic Dirt Disposal - Empties Itself for up to 60 Days, Wi-Fi Connected, Smart Mapping, Works with Alexa, Ideal for Pet Hair, Carpets, Hard Floors

This review will cover the i7 as well as another top contender I tried, the Deebot N8+. If you just want to read about the i7 please skip to that part.If you've done your homework, watched Vacuum Wars videos on YouTube and compared all available options right now, you may have landed on these 2 as your top contenders. The S9 looks nice but it's way too expensive and the reviews just aren't good enough. Roborock looks promising but their top end model is relatively expensive and doesn't have an auto-empty bin as of the date of this review. There is no "perfect" robot in existence right now, in my view. I'm a 5 year owner of a Roomba 960 that had to be returned 3 times initially and repaired once out of warranty before it reached a stable state for me. I figured it was time for an upgrade. I was not optimistic about the i7 at all due to previous 960 issues and for that reason purchased the Deebot first as an extremely impressive option full of advanced tech. I'll give you my experience with both and why, much to my surprise, I landed on the i7 as the robot I will keep.First up, the N8 Pro+ which boasts variable suction levels that auto-switch depending on the floor type, low noise levels, laser 3D LiDAR tech for navigation, object avoidance camera, dual rotating brushes, built in mopping capability and a physically thinner footprint so it can get under my kitchen cabinets where my 960 gets stuck, daily. The functionality of the Ecovacs app is all there but my gripes are mainly around the layout, button naming and settings menus. I didn't find it very intuitive at all but all the key features are there: house mapping and virtual keep out zones being my top priorities. I did have some trouble with the initial configuration of the keep-out zones but got there eventually. The robot functions very well in general and is a very good vacuum, all told.The downsides that I experienced, however, were enough for me to return it. The key cons here are battery life, recharge time, the auto-empty base and getting stuck. Your first step with the N8 is the initial mapping of your floorplan which must be completed fully before you can do anything, I mean anything. It runs the vacuum during this mapping so battery consumption will be high. The i7 by comparison can do mapping runs with the vacuum turned off making it a much more streamlined process. I found the battery life to be much lower than the advertised 110 minutes netting a maximum of 75 minutes. The bigger problem is that it takes HOURS to recharge, so depending on when you start your cleaning run, this thing could quite literally run all day. For example in my situation, 635 square feet cleaned took 110 minutes of total run time with a required charge in the middle. This netted a total of nearly 6 hours to complete! Unacceptable. Also important to note is that the N8 will want to recharge at 15% battery, so the most you ever really get out of this thing is 85%.The next big problem for me was the design of the auto-empty base. They opted to use a dual port discharge method that sucks from 2 doors in the dust bin simultaneously. If you have pet hair to deal with, like I do, it was unable to suck out any of it, just leaving stranded clumps hanging from each port in the dust bin.The final nail in the coffin was that despite all the advanced tech in the N8, cameras, lasers, etc, it STILL got stuck under the dining room table/ chairs just like my 960 does. Too many concessions so I sent it back and tried my luck with the i7+.N8 Pros:-Competitive price (usually on sale)-Premium look and feel-Advanced tech (cameras, lasers...)-Powerful variable suction-Systematic cleaning pattern-Free in-box extras (bags, mop pads)-Awesome low noise levels-Lower physical profile so glides under kitchen cabinetsN8 Cons:-Initial mapping will take a VERY long time and must be fully completed-Even with Lidar, mapping, sensing etc it still gets stuck-Battery life is terrible (more like 75 minutes at best) vs 110, charging time is worse (1 cleaning + charge cycle = 5 hours!)-85% max usable battery is abysmal, Roomba will drain itself to nothing-Dual port self-empty in the base creates problems, especially for pet hairWith the N8 returned I found the i7 on sale for the same price and pulled the trigger to give iRobot yet another chance. Much less advanced overall tech here, the same "crash into everything" sensor mode as the old Roomba models, no fancy lasers here but the camera does use iAdapt to map out objects. This camera needs light, mind you. Out of the box is a very simple setup just plug in the base, set the robot in it, add the robot to the app. I was prompted with a firmware update right away so let that run and waited until the next day to do the initial mapping run. Being able to just wander around without the vacuum running is such a simple but meaningful feature here. One battery charge and you should have a map of your floorplan, vs 2 runs + 1 charge on my N8. The completed map was excellent and they even attempt to add room dividers so you can partition areas of your house for more granularity. This is really cool and allows you to choose certain areas to clean on certain days or times if you want. No-go zones and room labels are also easily applied here. VERY intuitive app layout, button naming scheme, settings menus. You can tell iRobot put a lot of effort into this. So I did the mapping run then followed with a "vacuum everywhere" run, no virtual barriers yet. Not only was the robot able to navigate my entire floor cleaning everything, it didn't get stuck once, even under the kitchen cabinets or dining room chairs, truly impressive. It did need a charge in the middle but at an hour or so to top up, the cleaning process completes in a much more reasonable time period. The rubber brush rolls are great for hair of all kinds and manage to pass it to the dust bin without tangles. i7 triggers the auto-empty base which is LOUD like a jet taking off but wow is it effective, nothing left in the dust bin after, not a strand of long cat hair. iRobot used a single port suction method for the base which works much better than the dual port design the N8 uses, so no problem with stuck pet hair. For comparison, the i7 cleaned 658 sq ft in 133 mins of cleaning plus a 75 minute charge. Half the total time of the N8. Cool!As for the downsides, there are a few but minor considering the system actually works well. First is the bump sensor design. I know the i7 first came out 3 years ago and once the robot learns your house it should be more gentle, as they claim, but this just feels like ancient tech at this point. Not only that, the RCON sensor, which is the protruding eye in the middle above the bumper, takes plenty of direct hits as it activates the bumper it sits on. This is the part I needed repaired on my 960 as one day it actually broke off due to years of repeated impact. iRobot should do like the others in this space and move it somewhere else safer! The unit itself is thicker than the N8 so doesn't glide under my cabinets but so far has managed to avoid getting stuck. The single rotating brush isn't as effective as the dual brushes on the N8 and you would need to buy a separate mopping robot, if you care about that. The other thing to keep in mind is that the Roomba can't see well in the dark, it needs light to do its thing.Overall I'm very pleased with the i7 and intend to keep it. All the areas the N8 falls short work as intended or better on the i7, despite being lower tech. And this is after I was almost positive I wouldn't buy another Roomba!i7 Pros:-Competitive price-Premium look and feel-Systematic cleaning pattern-Free in-box extras (1 bag, filter, rotating brush)-Excellent battery and charging performance-Excellent auto-empty base-ZERO issue with long pet hair-Intuitive and granular control via the app (clean zones, no go zones, defined rooms that can be scheduled)-Smart Maps works really welli7 Cons:-Old school vSLAM bump sensor tech that will mar the more stuff it bumps into-RCON sensor sits in harms way atop the bumper-Single rotating brush could be improved-Room lighting is required, this thing doesn't do well in the dark-No variable speed motor = higher noise, about the same as my 960

I always thought these were gimmicky. But I got one for Christmas and liked it so much I bought 2 more. I have all hard flooring, no carpets, and 2 dogs, a cat, and two birds that all contribute to mess. So I had to sweep everyday or I'd get those pet-hair tubleweeds blowing around. Having to sweep all the time I get lazy and let it go; or when I do it I spend an hour or 2 sweeping or vacuuming. These robots save me hours of time and get the job done better because they are relentless. I set them on a schedule and they do it everyday completely. I have one robot that I manually have to empty the cup everyday. He's in the bedroom, since I'm in that room every day that's convenient enough and only takes 2 minutes. I bought an i3+ and an i4+, they self empty and I have to change the bag about once every 2-4 months. I don't mind the cost of the vacuum bags because they give me so many hours of my time back.The first one I got is the little guy. The little guy's name is Finigan. Finigan isn't too smart. He vacuums in a random pattern. I started with him in the main part of the house. He did a great job but his battery usually ran out before he considered himself done. So the space is a bit more then he likes. He did a great job though. But I loved it so much I got more to cover the whole house and moved him to the smaller bedroom area. In the bedroom suite (bedroom + bathroom~350sq ft), he spends about 45 minutes zipping around to cover everything. When his battery is low he docks himself. I have to empty his cup everyday. At first his cup was usually about 3/4 full to full. The first day it filled and he stopped. I had to empty it and re-start him. After a few months of daily vacuuming, the cup is about 1/4 full each day. So I switched him to a MWF schedule. He's still about 1/4 to 1/2 full each use. He even goes under the bed and keeps that clean. It's really great.The i3+ is Dixie. Dixie does the downstairs. Dixie is smart. She goes in straight line patterns and covers the entire space using a very planned straight line methodical routine. The first day she poked around learning. It was about 1.5 hours. After that, the entire job was planned out and she did the whole thing in about 45 minutes. She has no problem when certain doors are opened vs closed. When it's open, she goes in and vacuums. If it's closed, she skips it. Her cleaning time varies from about 45 minutes to 1hr 15minutes depending on whether the extra rooms are included (doors open vs closed). She drives back to her base when done and docks. And the base sucks out what she collected. I love the base, it means I do not have to tend to her everyday. I actually only need to change the bag about every 3-4 months. There's not a lot going on downstairs. The litter box is there and so the cat pays visits. But we aren't down there daily tracking things around. Thanks to Dixie, there's no fur balls, hair-tumbleweeds, dust, or dirt. Always a nice clean floor. It's awesome. Her map in the app shows where she found 'extra' dirt. Usually right in front of the litter box. It's so awesome not having to sweep up litter daily. I have her on a MWF schedule too and that is more than enough to keep the place clean.I recently got Nick, an i4+ for the upstairs. He's quieter. He's like Dixie in is planning and map reporting, so he's smart. It's very cool. He also gets the job done quickly. First day was like 1.5 hours learning. Now he's done in 50 minutes. The base sucks everything out so I don't have to tend to him as much as Finigan. He's in the main part of the house and it gets the most dirty. The dogs spend all there time here. The cat is up here most of the time. And we have two birds who send seeds everywhere. It's amazing how far from the cage those birds can flick seeds. And their feathers and drift everywhere too. Nick takes care of all that. I do need to manually get under the couch and behind and under furniture which I do once every month or so. But this robot is awesome. Saves me the day in and day out sweeping and vacuuming.Having robots spend 3+ robot labor hours each day vacuuming is an awesome human labor saver. Once they've hit the whole house for a month or two I'm able to step them back to MWF schedules. Their brushes do a great job in the corners, better than me sweeping or vacuuming; mostly because they hit those corners every day and spend the time swirling that brush to work on it. That constant day in day out effort pays off over time. I really can't imagine going back to manually doing this. I look back at the hours I spent doing it thinking that was Neanderthal days. I look forward to telling my grand kids how I used to walk to school uphill in the snow everyday, dial rotary phones, select music off of CD's I had to manually put into a machine, and now, that I spent hours sweeping the floors in the good old days.