iRobot Roomba i4+ EVO (4552) Robot Vacuum with Automatic Dirt Disposal - Empties Itself for up to 60 Days, Wi-Fi Connected Mapping, Compatible with Alexa, Ideal for Pet Hair, Carpets

First, full disclosure: we have 2 medium size (25 lb) dogs and yes. They shed. The i4 was our solution to cleaning up after them daily. We figured it would be a step up from our Dyson which has maybe a 15 min battery life. We were wrong. I occasionally unplug the base so I can plug something else in for an hour or two. The unit loses roughly 50% of its charge. So the solution to that is…. NEVER unplug the base/charger. It does a great job of cleaning up standard dirt/dust. But it typically just gathers up dog hair and leaves small clumps that I then have to walk around and pick up. The real kicker is, it’s maybe 5-6 months old and we suddenly get an error message. We followed the troubleshooting steps on iRobot’s site and even took the unit apart to ensure NOTHING under the hood was blocked, stuck, not functioning, etc.. We cleaned out the dust bin, replaced the air filter, ensured the cleaning module had zero obstructions, etc.. Nothing fixed the issue. So iRobot’s solution is to replace the cleaning head module for $65-$70…. despite the fact that there is NOTHING wrong with the one currently in the unit. It’s entirely possible the one we got was just defective. And that happens. But In the end, I wouldn’t recommend it for someone with dogs (or cats). It just doesn’t seem cut out for dog hair.

I didn’t realize the device runs on 2.4G. I originally thought this would be an issue since I run my WiFi on 5G. Turns out my modem is dual band and so there is no issue at all. There was nothing in the description. I thought I would have to return it. It works great. My favorite features are the self emptying and the mapping. I can have it run in the main part of the house or the entire house. It’s a keeper.

I was so excited to finally splurge on a Roomba - I have two dogs and live where fir needles are a constant in the house. After running it the first time, my excitement died down. My roommate and I agreed that it was a good in-between cleanings vacuum. Something to help keep the amount of needles down, but if companys coming over we need to use the upright vacuum. Weve used it a handful of times now, and yesterday was the worst run yet. It missed large areas of some rooms, while going over others 3-4 times. It definitely does not do straight lines! I wish I could elect to do specific rooms, but I wasnt ready to spend that much for those models. I dont know that I would purchase it again, but I will continue using it for the in-between cleanings.

It does struggle a bit with deeper dust or larger pieces of dirt so I do still use my Dyson once every now and again, but I set the Roomba to clean everything downstairs every night and it keeps the pet hair perfectly under control (I have one medium coated dog, one short haired cat, and one medium to long haired cat whose hobby is shedding huge clumps of fur everywhere, as well as frequently watching my grandmothers cat, so, lots of fur). Ill likely get a second one for upstairs at some point.

That it doesn’t work with 5g

Some online review says, this is the same Vaccum as i7 or i6 except the camera. It probably is the case but the difference in performance is huge… this has gotten stuck over the edges of a cliff a couple of times (did not fall) and 1 out of 5 times it cannot find its way back home. That’s why 1 less star. Does excellent job with dog hair, sharp sucks comparatively. Battery life is superb… Lastly do not buy Amazon warehouse deals… the i6 I bought from warehouse deals has gone useless after 3 months because it won’t even start.

I’ve only had it plugged in for a day, and when I hand carry it to an area for it to clean, it does a pretty good job. When I first plugged it in, it cleaned the same 3 ft.² of my kitchen four times. There was nothing blocking it, it just kept doing the same area over and over. Vacuums are always going to be loud, and the Roomba itself is relatively loud. But when it empties the receptacle, it sounds like a plane taking off. As suggested from the app you have to download, I’ve been trying to get it to make a smart map of my house, which has four bedrooms. It never gets past the living room, before it just stops with a red light error. I wish the manual explained what all the errors are. It will just say error 69. Or error 99. I just hit the clear the button, and it will start again. Without the map, I can’t set it up like I intended. Hopefully in the next few days, I can get it working as I hoped it would work.

So, we bought one of these for our main floor. Had it for a few weeks, and loved it. Created a map on the first cycle, and all was good. So we bought another one for the second floor. This one was on the spectrum I think... Ran it probably 7 times, and it would not create a map. Then it started running in circles, going up and down the same area, just acting weird. Tried contacting support, useless. I put in the ticket almost two weeks ago and still havent heard back. We ended up sending it back to Amazon, and got a new unit. This one is doing much better but still had some issues. On the first couple runs, it cleaned our whole house but for some reason only created half a map. Then when it would clean, it wouldnt go any further even though the map ended right in our hallway. It would stop in the middle of the hallway and go back. Deleted the map, then had it to another everywhere run. This finally worked. So, I would recommend it but but only because the first example we bought did such a great job. Hopefully both of these dont need much support, because Im not sure support is even available given my experience... Update 11/25/2022: The 2nd floor unit has been doing pretty good. Both of our i4s have issues periodically. Sometimes they just decide they will not finish the whole floor and report back they did, or get caught on something stupid like an electric piano stand. Or, occasionally the map wont load. Overall though, they do a very good job of keeping the floors clean. (Upgrading to a 4 star rating) Most errors can be cleared by simply rebooting them. We also bought a refurbished i7 for our finished basement which is mostly carpet. The i7 is a much smarter robot, and hasnt got caught or had any problems yet. Its much more efficient at cleaning too. If you can afford the i7, it will be less hassle but the i4s generally get the job done.

I expected this to be at least as good as my other 5 year old robot vacuum, but this is much much worse. First of all it is super loud. I was trying to watch tv in my apartment, and even with the volume way up, couldnt hear anything over the vacuum. Second of all, when i finally decided to shut it off and put it back on charging station, it asked me if i wanted it to empty itself, and i said yes. I activated another super loud function: emptying, but after waking up all my neighbors for few minutes, it finally gave up and said its clogged. The last straw was when i wanted it to clean a specific area, but the app doesnt have that functionality. I physically have to pick it up and place it into the mess i want it to clean up. Might as well get a normal vacuum cleaner. Cant believe my 5 year old robot vacuum could do all that quietly and nicely, while this expensive pos is being sold today.

I bought this Roomba i4+ because Amazon was having a sale and I was curious if it would freak out my dog. When it arrived, I set it up according to the very simple instructions contained in a booklet included in the box. The instructions may have been a bit too simple, though, because they neglected to explain - for example - that Roomba cant connect to 5Ghz wifi networks. They wait to let the mobile app tell you that after the robot has failed to connect to wifi three or four times and you finally click on the (tiny) Help Me icon at the bottom of the screen. Anyway I finally got it set up, but for $400 it was not nearly as smooth a process as it should be. Once everything was finally working, I pushed the button in the app to make the little robot go clean my apartment. It rolled off the charging deck with a cute little chirp, looked around for a moment, and then made a beeline directly for my fireplace. The fireplace is closed off by a cover, but the floor around it is lower than the floor in the rest of the room. The Roomba app assured me that this would not be a problem, because Roomba can handle slight elevation changes like that. Well, maybe some Roombas can handle it, but my little guy could not. It threw itself into the fireplace and immediately got stuck there, whirring around in noisy little circles for approximately fifteen minutes until it finally gave up and sent a notification to my app that it needed help. I picked it up and repositioned it away from the fireplace. It thanked me with another happy little chirp and whirled around it what I took to be a little dance of joy at its newfound freedom. Then it turned and threw itself directly back into the fireplace. It did this six more times. Finally, I wised up and put a bunch of heavy objects around the fireplace so it would not be able to get back in there (despite several of its best efforts). The Roomba then decided to clean under my coffee table. Finally, it was working as intended! But then I got a notification that, with less than a quarter of the room vacuumed, my Roomba was done. It was returning to its charging station. Only instead of returning to its charging station, it repeatedly slammed itself into a wall approximately six feet away from its charging station. I assumed it would eventually figure out it was in the wrong place, and I let it do its thing while I went into another room. When I came back an hour later, it was powered down in more or less the same place, apparently having died in the middle of an effort to climb up the wall itself. I put it back on flat ground, turned it back on (the battery wasnt dead after all - not even close, actually), and watched as it tried again. It did a 180, went to the exact opposite side of the room, did a few circles, and then finally seemed to figure out where it was. It then, at long last, returned to its charging station, having successfully cleaned perhaps 25% of my small living room. It was all kind of funny to watch, and Ill probably use it again just for laughs. But as a cleaning product it is definitely not worth $400. Oh, and also - the dog didnt show any interest in it at all.