iRobot Roomba i3+ EVO Wi-Fi Connected Self-Empty Robot Vacuum - Woven Neutral (3550)

I have tried the i3 for a few times now. It does a reasonable job of maintaining the carpet clean; not recommended for heavily soiled areas. I check the rollers after each use & find that it rarely catches on hair or fibers, which is a plus. But it does leave little dust plugs on the carpet now & then. The biggest problem I see with i3 is its hard bumper that bangs on the baseboards, doors & furniture legs. I have solid pine white painted boards that have been stripped of paint. There are scuff marks all over as well as dents on the wood. I tried cleaning the marks but could not remove the black marks everywhere. The damage to the wood baseboards is something that would require sanding, wood filling & painting etc. It would be time consuming & unnecessary. The robot was supposed to make life easier not create more problems. I was ready to return this but my husband insisted that we should allow the robot to “learn”. So I had to put foam sheets all around the baseboard corners, doors etc. That took long time. Roomba did the same hard banging everywhere the next few times I used it. iRobot built a smart vacuum cleaner but they could not get the soft rubber bumper in neutral color to prevent damage to the baseboards & furniture. This happens anytime I tried using the vacuum; the robot does not learn. It bangs really hard sometimes & any surface that is not protected can get damaged. Please see attached photos.

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] The Roomba i3+ is a well designed and thought out robot vacuum with the added accessory called the Clean Base® Automatic Dirt Disposal unit, which enables the robot to automatically empty it catch bin, so you do not have too. Let’s first discuss what comes with this robotic vacuum system and then we’ll tackle any remaining features, provide some usage impressions, and end with pros and cons. The i3+ comes with of course the Roomba I3+ robot and the Clean Base®. You get the usual assortment of manuals – one for each part of the product. The Clean Base® comes pre-installed with an AllergenLock™ bag and there is a spare in the kit as well. This will give you up to 120 days-worth of vacuum collection, and the bags are rated to trap 99% of pollen and mold. Additionally, the kit includes a spare High-Efficiency Filter. The Clean Base® is also the Robot’s parking spot and charging unit. Here are some additional features of the robot: • Powerful Pick-Up and Suction – the robot has a 3-stage cleaning system that includes the 10x (vs the iRobot 600 series) Power-Lifting Suction. • Smart navigation – navigates and maps your home via state-of-the-art floor tracking sensors to vacuum hardwood floors, tile, and carpet. • Reactive Sensor Technology – helps the robot know where it can and cannot reach – so it does not get stuck and knows where to go. This combined with its Dirt Detect™ sensors means the robot will focus on the areas that need the most cleaning. • The robot can be controlled from the iRobot Home app – which allows for scheduled operations and multiple schedules, seasonal recommendations, and other options – so the robot works to your schedule. It is also Google Assistant and Alexa compatible and you can get the robot moving with your voice. The setup of the robot is easy and starts with strategically placing the Clean Base® and plugging it in. Next, one downloads the iRobot at home app, creates or logs into their iRobot account, and sync the robot to your WI-FI® network, and then sends the robot on its way. The app will also allow you to update robot and base settings and find your robot should it get lost! The only issue that I have been having it looking at the post job status items - this causes the application to crash on my Android phone but I have not missed this part of the application and I have not yet done proper troubleshooting. Usage Impressions Well, this robot has already found its place in our home. We love the fact that she will startup at 10 am and vacuum the entire lower floor while we work on other things. The robot has yet to get stuck and as needed she returns to the Clean Base® to get a recharge in and then she is off and running again to complete the job. All told it takes her just under 3 hours with 1 hour of recharge time included for vacuuming nearly 1300 square feet. She has already earned her place in my wife’s heart when she stated that she is on the list of items that are now must-haves for our home. The unit retails for $599.99. Annual recommend maintenance costs for - Bags (6/year), filters (6/year), and brushes (1 set each year) are $140. This means the first-year cost of $710 dollars, with annual maintenance thereafter of $140.00 – which is likely to be far cheaper than hiring this work to a human. Overall, we are thoroughly impressed with the vacuum and it has indeed found its place in our home. The fact that one does not have to do much with this device except replace the bag when it gets full is a real time saver. The ability to schedule the robot to run on your schedule allows one to automate the basic day-to-day cleaning and then focus in on other responsibilities and cleaning where the human touch is needed. Despite the app issues, this item is a winner and the app issues should be an easy fix. Pros: Clean Base®, Smart Navigation, scheduling. Cons: the app issues – which should go away.

This thing uses disposable bags in the base station for the vacuum robot to empty it's dust into. The bags last a few weeks each, must be bought to replace the 2 that come with the vacuum, and are $15 for a pack of 3. There is not indication of any of these facts on the packaging. There is no good reason for this device to have a dust disposal system that can not be reused and requires a consumable product that must be bought throughout the lifetime of the product. It is wasteful, unnecessary, expensive, a product of pure greed, and DISGRACEFUL. I decided to return and exchange this product for a diffent product I can get a reusable bag for as soon as I learned this. Other than that, it vacuums well.

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] This is the 2nd Bot Vac that i have owned but the 1st with a ROOMBA and i have to say it so much better then my other 1. I love the look of this clean from the station to the Bot. The voice on this caught me by surprise it's got a nice sound to it. This clean in a nice row pattern i just doesn't go all over so you get nice clean lines in your carpet. Has a great run time and gets out of spots it gets trapped into. It runs fast it is a little loud when it is running but that just means it pulling out all the dirt and dust in the carpet. It's get that it cleans the tray out so you never have to touch it. Now when it cleans the dirt tray out and sucks it into the bag back at the station it sounds like a JET taking off. This has been a great vacuum to have the APP is great and easy to schedule the cleaning and it will alert you if there is a problem. Now the one thing i did notice is that it might leave a little hair ball on the carpet my wife has long hair. I did find some hair balls on the carpet the 1st day i ran it. I haven't seen anymore or i just mot looking that hard for them. It also has gotten stuck on my stairs the top landing area going down you can see the tracks of it trying to get away from the area. You can program this to stay out of areas or objects you want it to avoid. This runs fast but not hard but it wont do any damage to your base boards like my other did. I had nothing but white paint on the front of it. ROOMBA make a great vacuum and i think they were the 1st to make these. Always making the next one better.

Destroys baseboards and floor trim, took all the paint off mine. Leaves a lot of dirt on the floor and takes forever to do a full cycle. Super loud. I can do a better job myself in a fraction of time.