iRobot Roomba j7+ (7550) Self-Emptying Robot Vacuum –Identifies and avoids obstacles like pet waste & cords, Empties itself for 60 days, Smart Mapping, Works with Alexa, Ideal for Pet Hair, Roomba J7+

We purchased this machine December 7, 2021. Our use: - We got it to help us keep up with dog fur, as even once a week is not enough for our 85 lb. yellow lab. - About 1,100 sq. foot main level, mostly hardwood, 2 rooms with carpet. One rooms carpet is high pile. - We like to run it 2-3 times a week. - We keep it clean and maintained as recommended. The good: - Time between needing to replace base bag is good. - It does seem to get most of the fur off the hardwood floor, judging by all the clumps are gone, but you can still find fur speckled around on the hardwood floor. - It seems to do pretty well on the carpet also, based on me testing by going back over the carpet with our good quality full upright to see how much fur I get. There is a little, but not much. - The dog is not bothered by it. :) The whatever: - Its pretty darn loud, but I was not expecting to not to be, so thats fine. The bad: - Often leaves thick strings of fur on the hardwood floor where it borders with carpet. Those need to be manually removed. - The wheels leave markings on the hardwood floor a lot, but not everywhere. I dont think its just skidding when turning, as the marks can be straight too. Rubbing with my socked foot seems to get them up. I suspect this may be common for robot vacuums. - The logic/app is not capable of predicting run times accurately, and does not include charging time. - The logic/app is not capable of predicting an intelligent point to charge, or how long to charge, in order to complete the job without needing to recharge again. - Unable to mark identified possible obstructions as not an obstruction, remember this next time so you constantly have to mark the same items on reviews after every job. The worse: - Mapping takes several clean everywhere cycles, where each take 9-11 hours (including charging time.) At least (4) of these cycles to get a map where you are allowed to place dividers, name rooms, etc. - The map gets distorted easily over time. Wall openings do not align, which messes up room and divider setup, and then you lose your cleaning jobs that have messed up rooms in them. - The robot will sometimes identify new areas, which are really part of the original map, but for some reason it thinks the room got 3 wider or it found another room, or something. These can sometimes break the map, causing the app to crash, and you cannot start a job without STARTING THE MAPPING ALL OVER AGAIN. - The robot gets lost easily. If it runs over a floor vent or anything else that may spin it a little, its orientation is messed up. I think it needs both wheels in constant contact with the floor to track its location. - It bumps into things constantly. I dont just mean chairs and other furniture; I mean even walls as its traveling. The plastic bumper sensor is very scratched up. - Trying to accurately place a no-go area on the map is very difficult, and takes several adjustments to get it right (which over time becomes not right) - It has trouble finding the docking station about 40% of the time. It will spend 5 minutes trying to align itself then give up and finish the job stuck, which means you have to start it over. We keep the base and sensors clean, so that is not a factor. --- It has also been (2) rooms away trying to find the docking station. UPDATE NEW ROBOT: (With the help of a $200 save coupon) I ordered a roborock Q5+ to replace this on the main floor. My hope was that the LiDAR navigation, along with stronger suction, help improve a lot of my pain points. You can see that review here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R3HRIDQBQ4W529?ref=pf_ov_at_pdctrvw_srp

So, just know that robots don’t have any suction power like an upright. But, they keep the floors tidy and looking good and the surface dirt and dust and junk picked up. And they gotta map well otherwise, what’s the point. The J7+ does everything it says. Great mapping, great clean up, learning, it’s fast, and very quiet. Just know, you gotta have a good strong vac for the deep clean every month. (We got a Shark Navigator for this part and it rocks.) Best of both worlds. You have a Daily hands-off cleaner and a monthly deep cleaner. Super clean house and you only have to vac 1-2 times a month or less. And your hard floors - will always be swept without picking up a broom. Not cheap but definitely a great way to reduce work without sacrificing the clean. $599 + $198 … we bought some time and effort back.

Ive been watching these robot vacuums for years and finally decided to take the plunge. I know myself well enough to admit I would benefit from one that self empties, for a while at least. (For reference I have one child and one small dog in my household.) The vacuum seems to be very well built and designed. Same goes for the base. I am impressed by the vacuums ability to traverse various flooring scenarios as well as its capability to pick up debris. It cleans remarkably well on hard floors, but carpet is a mixed bag. We have a Persian area rug, various shaggy bathmats and runners, as well as some wall to wall carpeting. Pet fur tends to stay pretty well velcroed to the Persian rug until I break out the upright vac. To be fair, we have another rug with tassel edges, and it amazes me that they have caused zero issues thus far. Some notes: It may self empty for 60 days for you, IF you live in a NASA white room. Otherwise, expect notification of approaching capacity within a week or two if you have pets, children, or just generally live in reality. Not a deal breaker, but dont glaze over promises of up to... If this vacuum picks a fight with a high-pile or shag rug, expect the vacuum to become disabled, lost, or confused, and be prepared for your rug to take significant damage. Granted, most of our bathmats are of the pretty economical variety, but be warned. They are fraying rapidly at the edges where they were in pristine condition previously. Also- I do not feel that this is adequately addressed in any advertisement, question or review so I will state it as clearly as I can: when the vacuum self empties, the base is LOUD AF. I have read it described in many delicate and generous manners, but it only sounds and EXACTLY SOUNDS like one thing: someone running the average shop vac for 4-6 seconds. Fortunately our base station could not physically be any farther from our bedrooms and still be in the house. This was not a result of the noise, just preference, but it still helps a great deal. I wouldnt call it a deal breaker, and the feature certainly seems to work very well, but you should be completely aware. I also dont love the size or proprietary nature of the waste bags. They seem to hold a fair amount, do a fair job of filtering during empties, and are certainly easy to remove and install. But it would be nice if the manufacturer would accommodate recycling the bags at least once or twice by offering some intuitive method of opening or disassembly. Ive been using some long forceps to fish the larger eggs/pellets of fur out of the filter bag now and then to prolong the life of the bags, but frankly its tricky. The refills are pretty affordable, but still... With regards to obstacle avoidance, its what youd expect. You really ought to follow it around and supervise on its first vacuuming run, because there are just some things it avoids, and others it simply steamrolls. You wont know if it can avoid your charging cables and shoelaces etc until you try. As for the software, its pretty impressive but still needs a little love. I set the vac up, and sent it for a mapping run a few times. I picked up some trash cans and hampers and such to give it a broad picture of the physical furniture. I was surprised and intrigued at its accuracy and thoroughness. Then I realized two bedroom doors had been closed. I ran another DOZEN mapping runs, specifically updating the existing map, and even after finding and searching both rooms several times, the app refused to add them. Finally I decided to shake things up, so on the last mapping run, I moved the dock before the vac returned. Whoa buddy was that hilarious to watch. It did finally manage to find home, and on the next mapping run it was entirely discombobulated for the first few minutes... then it seemed to realize where it was... then it rescanned the two missed rooms again... then it returned to its dock without too much consternation... THEN it recognized both new rooms with no issue. The ability to label rooms, define borders, create sub-zones, schedule jobs, and so forth are all pretty cool features. I use my Google ecosystem to send it to specific areas regularly and its pretty reliable. Ive seen it get stuck in a mess of dining room chairs that its explored a dozen times before. Ive seen it take the alternate long way around when a baby gate was closed. Ive seen it aimlessly banging against a corner it has turned many times flawlessly. I have also noticed that when it fails on a job, it seems to sit and pout, then spitefully run the battery down to nearly dead until I cradle it in my arms and gently nestle it back in the dock. It confuses me why I cant just set it near the dock and tap the top button to let it know everything is hunky dory and it can return home. I say this because when manually docking this bad boy, it *is* just a little quirky and you *do* have to make a concerted effort to confirm that the contacts are indeed making positive connection. Having said all that, I still think its worth the investment as a helper (not a sole vacuum) and I dont regret the purchase!

We have 3 kids and 2 cats and this Irobot has been amazing. It cleans up crumbs, dust, hair and dirt very well. I run it once a day instead of vacuuming myself everyday. I now vacuum about once every 5 days to get the tough spots and small areas the irobot just doesnt get well enough. Out of multiple rooms it struggles the most in the room with cat litter. It definitely does not get every little piece like I wish it would but I guess I cant expect complete perfection!

I bought this after poopaggeden happened in my home. You know, every pet and roomba owners worst nightmare? When I tried to clean my old one out, I realized I couldnt get all of the poo without ruining the circuitry. I decided I needed the camera one just in case I miss a little present somewhere and also decide I dont want to sweep. So, the camera DOES work, but when it turns on, it misses so much of the dirt. I have that feature turned off and would only turn it back on if I werent home. There are a ton of great things about it. The app is phenomenal. I love being able to set up rooms. I love that I can enable it with Alexa. I love that I can clean the floors while I am away. It takes a little bit to charge, but unless you are cleaning a large space, it is unnoticeable. This generally makes my life so much easier. I purchased this item back in late Feb, and I still have not had to change out the bags. I am mostly happy with this, but again, I would recommend just buying the Roomba without the camera.

This is my third robotic vacuum. The first two were epic fails (neither of them had the app for home mapping, which is a feature I feel is a *MUST HAVE* if you want your vacuum to run correctly.) I cant believe I actually paid $650 (with tax) for this one, but I have to say Im pretty happy I did. Overall, the Roomba j7+ is an awesome way to keep your house tidy—with a few exceptions. See below: The good: The first day was intense. It took a total of 8 hours (including two breaks for a recharge), but I finally got it to map out my house. Its an open concept design and on Roombas map, I unfortunately couldnt tell where some rooms begin and others end. The placeholders (rugs, doorways, etc) arent set to scale, and sometimes my estimations of the boundaries were way off based on Roombas diagram. Part of the problem was my fault because I was so picky about getting the boundaries accurate. Once it was all set up, Roomba and its software really showed its strength. I was very impressed with how efficient it was at cleaning. It even readjusted and learned better ways at cleaning tight corners after taking a few trips around the same space—proof that the vacuum truly does get smarter over time, as is promised. This was a welcome surprise because I usually have to vacuum daily due to our pets. The bad: The living room is the only room where the Roomba completely failed. I tried running 8 separate cleaning sessions on this room, and it only seemed to get more confused over time. Its your typical rectangular room with a couch, multiple chairs, end tables, a few planters, and a coffee table on a rug in the center. The rug is a high pile, so I never expected the Roomba to be able to tackle it (even traditional vacuums struggle with it). Surprisingly, the Roomba *was* able to make its way over the rug, but only after fighting and curling the rug every which way, which I fear will damage it in the long run. ... AND... It never correctly identified the rug on the map. If it had marked it as a rug, I could have drawn a shape over the area and marked it as a zone to avoid. But without the map, I have no idea where the rug is in the app. I tried making an estimated guess, but it ended up missing important parts of the living area off the rug. And each time I edited the rug, I had to run the vacuum again to re-map it. I finally gave up. This will just have to be a room I continue to vacuum manually. The fugly: After cutting my sons hair, I figured Id let Roomba clean up the mess instead of cleaning it myself. MASSIVE MISTAKE. The Roomba gathered all the hair into a tidy pile on the bathroom floor, then proceeded to mow right through it and drag huge clumps onto the rug over by the shower! Then it backed up and ran more clumps over the rug again. After it had sufficiently painted the rug with hundreds of tiny hairs (which I swear Ill never be able to get all out), it went outside its boundary and spread more hairs into the bedroom. I was convinced that Roomba would somehow fix this based on its dirt detect technology. But no, instead of going back and cleaning up the mess it made, it traveled merrily back to its home base, leaving a long trail of hair behind it. On the clean-up summary, there was no mention of dirt detection, and no indication of an irregular cleaning session. Lesson learned, and I was the idiot for sending a robot to do a humans job. I wont make the mistake again. All that to say, I wouldnt trust Roomba again if there was a mess to clean up, such as spilled chips. Id be afraid the vacuum would just crush them and spread the bits all over the house. Where it really seems to excel is cleaning small day-to-day things, such as dust and pet hair. It does a really solid job of this. My house was already clean when I started using it, and Ive watched each day as it cleans up new clumps of pet hair and little bits of dust and debris. Overall, Id say its a good vacuum for maintaining an already clean home. For that, Im still pretty happy. It saves me a lot of work. I run its cycle daily and its so much nicer to not have to do the work myself.

I really wanted to love the J7+. I researched it for weeks, read countless reviews and everything online was great. Of course there are some negative reviews but in my mind there will always be some. First I have to say I never write negative reviews. But this robot is a big disappointment. I have a dog and two cats and lots of pet fur that needs tending too daily. I’ve had the Roborock S4 max for two years running everyday for upkeep. It does a really good job but it doesn’t have an auto empty station. So, when the J7+ was 25% off. I was happy to upgrade my old robot. Day one: I ran it to create a map of my house. It spent a lot of time banging into everything and got scuffled up on it first run. It didn’t compete the map of my house. The directions say it’ll needs two or three runs to complete a map. So I know what to expect, no problem. Day two: it refuses to clean a 12 square foot area in my kitchen. It’s a a 4 foot wide open area with a single step down into another room. But it stays 3 feet away from the step/cliff. It still doesn’t complete the map of my house and spends most of its time banging into stuff. I notice it rolls up pet fur into what looks like strings of thick hair and leaves them all over my white carpet and it also likes to dump clumps of fur along the edges of my area carpets. Day 3: it still doesn’t complete the map and I have lots of areas on the map that it simply doesn’t go to. It got stuck on an imaginary obstacle on my hardwood floor with absolutely nothing around it. I run my other robot to complete the job and it picks up all that Roomba left behind. Each time it empties itself, it sounds like a jet plan in my house. Seriously a jet plane. Day 4: STILL cannot complete a map. It refuses to go into one bedroom. I pick it up and put in there to start mapping it. It creates a whole new map that can’t be connected to the original map. I have a single level home. It shouldn’t be this difficult to map it. Day 5: I try again, same results. I don’t have anymore patience nor time. I run my other robot and it completes over 2000 square feet in one run effectively and easily. I’m on Amazon writing this review and returning this roomba. Again I really wanted to love this robot. I really wanted to support an American company. I really wanted to believe the reviews. But they’re BS, no wonder it was 25% off. It stinks. Im giving it 3 stars because I feel bad giving it less and it’s better than manually sweeping everyday.

Make sure you do mapping before starting the cleaning process. The mapping took a couple hours, but now that it is mapped out it works great! Love that it automatically empties and picks up where it left off.

I bought a used item in very good condition for $200 off. Came in a damaged box, but contents were still wrapped in original shipping material and undamaged. Terrific deal! I have a large home with a convoluted floorplan. The iRoomba j7+ mapped the entire area using 3 outings, including me manually placing it in the middle of an uncharted area-- it not only mapped it but figured out how it fit to the existing map. Love that I can say OK Google, vacuum around the fireplace and the mess made from emptying ashes and loading wood is gone. The spinning brush gently sweeps all dust and debris from the floor edges along the walls. Navigates over, next to, around area rugs with ease, doesnt damage rug fringe on my Persian rugs. Wish my bed wasnt so low or it could get all the dust bunnies under there. I love watching it move around and leaving clean floors when done. I got the companion mop robot that can be programmed to work with the vacuum by automatically mopping after vacuuming. Nothing negative to say about it.

My Roomba j7 did not disappoint! Spot on with vacuuming chores! My home is all tile, so I did not need the extra power suction that the Roomba s9 offers. The j7 is efficient at navigating the entire house and she returns to the charging station to empty the bin and starts from where she left off. Wonderful investment! She saves me so much time and energy!