iRobot Roomba 692 Robot Vacuum-Wi-Fi Connectivity, Personalized Cleaning Recommendations, Works with Alexa, Good for Pet Hair, Carpets, Hard Floors, Self-Charging, Roomba 692

My review is for iRobot Roomba 692. I bought this Roomba to replace my old Ecovacs Deebot N79S, which had started to show its age (earlier than I thought) and stopped cleaning like it used to in the beginning. I made my decision to buy this Roomba based on the reviews, high ratings, and a holiday discount at Amazon. It had much higher rating than the Ecovacs Deebot model I had. It was a wrong decision and heres why: I dont see much difference between the cleanings this Roomba and the old Deebot did (when it was younger, that is). Surely, the Roomba has more suction power, but its not a better vacuum cleaner for what one must pay for it excluding the holiday discount I got. The Roomba is so loud that it rivals my upright vacuum cleaner in that respect. The Deebot was much much quieter. For instance, I didnt have to stop that while I was on the phone. This, I must. I know these mid-level (and low) model robo-vacuums do not have the best programming embedded in them to do smart(er) cleaning, but on an equal level, the old Deebot was much smarter than this new Roomba. I have to say this is dumber. I even started verbally arguing with the thing. I rarely spoke to the Deebot. The days of meaningful silent conversations with my robot cleaner have been long over. :-P This vacuum cleaner is also very forceful; when it hits an object (e.g., a pot sitting on top of a plant stand), it may knock it down. Luckily I was always near my plants when such accident almost happened; I had to gently [honest!] guide the cleaner to somewhere else though it kept wanting to come back. Its unnecessarily fast and forceful. It gets more confused than the Deebot did when detecting gaps and obstacles. When this Roomba hits my office chair while Im sitting in it, it moves both of us for an inch or two. And, no, Im not that light and Im not joking. What kind of motor did they put in it? This Roomba always has hard time finding its home base. No, the base is not in an obscured place. When it is running low on battery, it doesnt seem to power down. It keeps cleaning--as loud and fast it was when it started its job--while looking for its home, which sounds like a great idea for maximizing the amount of cleaning, but then it ends up depleting whatever the charge remaining in its battery and finds itself dead somewhere in the house. I dont remember how many times I had to carry it back to its home. The old Deebot didnt have the same difficulty finding its own home base (which was where I placed the new Roombas) and it powered down when its battery was low. It quietly looked for it and didnt bother with cleaning, which was done already anyway. I am not saying the Deebot never had difficulty in this respect, but it wasnt as consistently bad as the Roomba. I dont care much for the seemingly-fancy smartphone app one must use to operate this Roomba either. I guess its nice to have features like getting a notification when its stuck or when its time to clean out its bin, operating it remotely, and setting its cleaning schedule with ease, but these features quickly turned into non-factors after I had time seeing the cleaner in action. The old Deebot didnt have any of these features--I had to use its rudimentary non-that-remote control device to set anything or control it, but I was happier with the job it performed, which matters more. Also, this Roomba didnt come with a kit that provided extra side brush(es), filter(s)/bin(s), or other parts that need to be changed periodically. The old Deebot came with a kit that provided extra of the same. Its my mistake to assume that the Roomba (for this price) would provide extra parts (at least an extra side brush would be nice as its one of the first things to go). So, all in all, I do not recommend iRobot Roomba 692. After our one-way toxic conversations (monologs, that is) reach to their detrimental peak, Im sending this away (Ill probably donate it with a note on it saying that I wasnt happy with it, but someone else who likes conversations with a strong vacuum while its shouting might -or- drop it off the towns garbage disposal/convenience center without a word). Lastly, one might think that Im recommending Deebot, which could have easily been any other brand. I am not. I used my experience with it as a baseline, which in turn I used to judge Roombas performance in the same house with the same obstacle course. You may already have or get a Deebot and dislike it because your expectations are different than mine. My review is based on my own experience with both. What I put here is merely my opinion. Your mileage may vary, as they say.

We like to use this for cleanings in-between thorough once a month professional cleanings. You need to keep an eye on it while it is running, because it sometimes gets stuck under a cabinet or on a hefty rug. We move some of our chairs and other furniture before using the Roomba so it can move more freely.

As you can see from the pictures I have iRobots literally littering my house. When they work they are decent. When they dont you may as well toss them. Support is nearly non-existent. They put you through what I like to refer to as a support beatdown where they wear you down over the course of days at hours a time up to a point you dont care if it works or not. My wife and I are both Technical Architects each with 20-plus years in IT. I think we know how to add a device to wifi. When we tell them we have 4 different networks we have tried and have reset the vacuum 20 plus times and it wont connect and it has been connected how can it be a problem with our very well thought out and deployed system which has access points in every room, non-hybrid, but actually an access point for each band on separate VLANs with distinct SSIDs. Foolishness. Then when you get done with a 2 hour support call where they confirm everything you already told them then they ghost you for a week or more with no calls, emails or inkling that they even care about you as a customer. Did I mention I also have the mop? The lid broke on that in a week and wont latch down, so I have duct tape holding that together. Looks sweet for the 300 bucks I dropped. You think when you have a track record of investing thousands of dollars in a companys products they would have a minimal care in the world. Trust me iRobot does not care about its customers. They clain to have all the highest end cool features like the app quality and obstacle avoidance but does any of that make the least bit of difference if the machine wont add to the app you use to control it by? I bought a OKP vacuum on Amazon here since iRobot wont support their products for about 100 dollars and the thing was set up and working in 5 minutes and hasnt skipped a beat. Save yourself a complete nightmare and buy something that either works and doesnt require support or has support that actually cares.

I bought this knowing that there are better models out there that does all if the extra scanning and zoning etc. For my home layout however I was ok with the turn on and leave approach. This unit is exactly that. It simply bounces around and cleans the areas it passes on very well. There is a slight method to the madness as it will eventually go back to the spots you thought it missed. Since I use it when no one is around its perfect for me. I also have mainly flat floors so not too sure about deep cleaning