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+

his model, ROOMBA j7 with the self emptying robot look okay; unfortunately that is all I can say positive about this robot. It doesn’t work effectively. I had an older model which vacuumed diagonally and it was way more superior than this. The robot does not have the suction power or brush power to clean an area rug, especially if you have pets that sheds. The brush bristle are too short, thin and sparse. While it is attempting to “clean” (Ian using the term loosely) my hardwood floor, pet hair (Pyrenees) and dust are swirling around instead of being suction into the machine as it is presumably supposed to do. The hair also wrap around the rollers and legs snd brush and is extremely difficult to remove. Hair has to be removed after 2-3 cleaning, if not done, the robot perform poorer. This is time consuming and tedious. The robot constantly bump into walls, furniture and other obstacle. This is quite curious to me because I keep getting notifications to OPT into some kind of obstacle avoidance …so that the machine can avoid certain areas. I have watched videos advertising this robot and it shows that it avoids obstacles. The paperwork accompanying the machine also states that it avoids obstacles. It doesn’t 80% of the time. The machine does not clean the floor area alongside baseboards. When it finally stop bumping into walls and obstacles intermittently, it stops at least 8-10 inches from the wall or obstacle! Frustrating. 80% of the time during operation, the robot does not return home to empty the bin. It shuts itself down, will not start so that you can send it home ( must use phone because there isn’t a “Home” button) like previous models. After shutting itself down, it flashes a red light when you push the start button and keep repeating, “Empty the bin.” Where is the “Home” button? Who has time in the middle of a busy day to pick up a phone or tablet to send it home. Oh! It will not move, so you have to physically pick up the robot and set it back on its base manually which is not the easiest thing to do because the sensors are not easy to line up. Plus the sensors seems to need cleaning after each use. Mapping, does not work. What I have to say about this would take a 5-page, single spaced paper. When the robot is placed in a specific area to clean, and placed in the direction you want it to go, it does a 180 degree turn and goes where it wants to go. After trials and errors, one learn to place the machine in the opposite direction in which you want it to clean. It is programmed to clean in a certain directional pattern and will not deviate at all. This one seems to go from east to west and cannot operate in any other directions. Maybe that is why it cannot find the way home to its base placed in the middle of the room. Hmmm. This robot have run over flip flops and power cords. Avoiding obstacle is limited to items at the level of the light on the front of the robot only it seems. Plus it doesn’t sense dust and dirt around it. Then there is the Beta option. If you opt in and receive an update which you don’t need, you are unable to reverse/delete that update so you are stuck with a robot which is now operating more erratically than it did before the update. If you are thinking about buying this relatively expensive machine hoping you that it will help with the cleaning of your floors and rugs, read all the reviews carefully. Most people seems to have written their reviews when hey were frustrated with the robot, therefore, it seems as if they are perhaps ranting. NO, the ones who have given the ROOMBA 7 a negative revive are correct. This upgrade is not effective against dust, dirt and especially pet hair! It appears that research on this machine was not done in a real home but in a sterile lab. THERE ARE A LOT CHEAPER MACHINES FROM OTHER MANUFACTURERS WHICH WORKS MUCH BETTER. Save your money, no ROOMBA 7.

Long story short I didnt so much have an issue with the Roomba j7+ itself it did its job at maintaining all of my carpets. As far as tile, laminate, and hardwood floors go it didnt do a very good job. With that said robot vacuums are not designed to clean carpets that are super dirty like a lot of people think they are. They are only designed for maintenance on carpets that are already clean an carpet that had major dirtiness in it the robit more than likely is not going to pick all of it up. If you have a large home I recommend getting more than one of these my home is nearly 3,400 sqft livable space it would take this poor little robot all day just to do a quarter of my home so this was actually my 4th one. Now the bad experience I particularly had was from buying it from Amazon I dont know how it happened but I was sent somebodys used Like new return even tho i payed full new price. Out of the box it wasnt obvious because whoever returned it did a really good job at cleaning it up so I didnt notice it at first until I tried to send it to Irobot for some service because it was having issues straight out the box that is when I was informed that the robot was out of warranty because it had been previously registered on someone elses account over 12 months ago and since it was out of warranty I would have to pay full price to iRobot for a replacement so I have returned it to Amazon instead and will be going elsewhere to repurchase it probably Best Buy since they have them in stock. So buyer beware there is a little round tape seal that is supposed to be on the main box lid for the product (See my attached Photo) if that seal is broken or is not there it has been opened and is probably somebodys return that Amazon is selling as new. iRobot informed me that is a common practice on Amazon for people to buy a new one and return their old one or buy a new one just to swap parts out which in my experience parts start breaking down on the little vacuum after about 6 months of use and it is easier to just order a new one from somewhere and swap it out and Amazon apparently does not check returns for wear and tear.

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.

Weve owned an older Roomba, a Neato XV21 and now this Roomba J7+. Review sites adore this J7+ but I dont get it. Weve had connectivity and setup issues with it, the app is a tick above mediocre and we dont like it requiring cloud storage of photos it takes in your home to get its reviewed performance. Here are the numbers (higher is better) of the latest runs after it has had over a week to map out the house: Noise: 5 Battery Life: 9 Avoids Getting Stuck: 7 Brush Maintenance: 10 Self Emptying: 10 Smarts: 3 (if you dont care about pet poop that is, higher if you do) Cleaning Efficiency: 3 Edge / Corner Cleaning: 2 Finds Home / Self Charges: 7 Obstacle Avoidance: 5 (does avoid obstacles but is overly cautious) This robot is really blind and inefficient. It is constantly stopping short of where it should clean, only to turn around and then come back and revisit the same place over and over again. It bumps into objects hard which is antiquated at this stage of robot vacuum evolution. Ive watched this Roomba J7+ attempt to clean areas it has mapped out and it attempts to row clean areas from memory but the control systems for the wheel motors arent super precise for any of these floor robots. As a result, it will clean at an angle with respect to a toe kick / wall / edge where it should be driving parallel to it. This results in it having to have to re-clean the same areas more than once. The room mapping would be far more useful if you could set priorities for the rooms. For instance, the kitchen and hallways are more important, in our case, than the bedrooms, but the J7+ often cleans the bedrooms before more important areas. I think this is a decent robot for people that arent home when the robot is cleaning. The brushes dont appear to require any maintenance, its pretty good at finding its base and the self-emptying works well. Our base is near a gate-leg dining table and it gives this robot all kinds of trouble. It has a very hard time with the mine field of table and chair legs. Unfortunately, with a lot of people working at home, this one falls short in that scenario. It does have a good run time but its on the noisy side and is so inefficient in how it covers the floor area, that it runs and makes noise far longer than it should have to. For reference, our $300 Costco Neato was quieter and far more efficient in its cleaning patterns. It was also better at edge and corner cleaning. The review sites state that the roomba has better suction than older bots but we didnt notice any difference in cleaning. In the end, none of them are going to deep clean carpets like an upright and they all seem to clean hard floors well in our experience. Our Neato lasted maybe 6 years or so and then began intermittently failing with my vision is blocked. This evidently is due to the lidar motor / belt system wearing out so this is a vulnerability the roomba doesnt have. That said, having a robot that can see makes it so much more efficient in how it traverses the house, I can deal with replacing it every 6 years. We really dislike watching and listening to the Roomba j7+ bump into everything (and hard) after having the Neato with lidar where it can actually see where its going. Although use of a camera based, machine learning, convolutional neural network to see where its going does seem like the inevitable future of these robots (as its a big part of self-driving car tech), the Roomba J7+ evidently has a very weak system (camera, computational, ML model, etc). I think I can objectively say it uses its camera system for obstacle avoidance only and not navigation. The obstacle avoidance is overly cautious and causes the robot to miss areas it needs to clean.

I ordered this product last week and it arrived a few days later. I ordered the combination that had extra filters, rollers, and brushes since I have 4 kids and 4 animals in my home. I should mention, I have a German Shepherd that is constantly shedding and a long-haired Siamese cat. Between these two animals, I should sweep daily, but I dont have that kind of time, so I splurged on the Roomba. My children were super excited when Paul (the irobot- they are on a Beatles kick right now) arrived. It is easy to set up. You must download the iRobot app in order to set up the room maps and cleaning schedules. Some reviewers said it took their robot quite a few times to get an accurate map, not Paul, he had the main floor mapped on day one. You can label the cleaning map, which is convenient, I have mine saved as main floor but then have each individual room labeled separately. The Roomba can do the entire map or just specific rooms. You can schedule the vacuuming to however you need it or just have it clean specific rooms right then and there by the push of a button. So far, I have Paul cleaning at 9 am and 7 pm. The 9 am cleaning takes less than an hour and the 7 pm was even quicker. Paul had no problem transitioning from wood floor to tile. He struggled a little at first with going from the tile to some area rugs, but watching Paul figure out the best way to approach the carpeted areas was interesting. After initially struggling a little bit and getting caught up on the edge of the rug, Paul figured out the best approach and no longer has that issue. We are currently remodeling so we have spots on the kitchen floor where it goes from tile to the tile backer, so a few millimeters difference in height, and Paul had no issues transitioning from these two levels. Paul is not quiet, but he isnt obnoxiously loud while vacuuming. However, when the Roomba goes back to the docking station to self empty it sounds like a jet airplane taking off. So, I would not schedule the cleaning times for when someone is napping. Beyond that, after two days with Paul, we all love him.

I’ve purchased 4 Roomba sweepers & a mop so far because I’m apparently stupid & don’t like to clean. Initially, this thing is a dream come true & you’ll love that it sweeps while you’re doing something else. I don’t use the programming app because I find that to be a bit much, I just hit the button & it goes. I can tell a huge difference with different types of dog hair. Longer dog hair gets trapped in the wheels & underneath and clogs the machine so I’m pretty good at disassembling the unit & cleaning/replacing parts by now. This newest j7 purchased 10/3/22 - 6 mos. ago - is already spouting multiple errors at me. I had 3 just today & cleaned it out completely. It still doesn’t work. I have 2 of the j7 self emptying & a 980 currently. The I7 Wi-Fi connected self emptying machine was thrown in the trash 2 years after I purchased it due to multiple issues, not limited to the fact that the design of the emptying dock was bad & they’ve since changed it but it was a complete loss for me. I can say that the most reliable machine so far is the 980 that you have to empty by hand. I’ve had it since 2017 and it still works well. The dust bins are larger on the non-emptying types and they hold a lot and pack the bin full. I purchased an extra basic dock for this machine & move it around. I think this is the best bet due to the fact that the more tech on the machines, the quicker they break down. I have mostly hardwood floors & some low pile carpet/area rugs so I’m not beating this thing up. Really disappointing longevity on the self-emptying styles.

This is a replacement for our 7 year old Roomba that just finally died. It is doing a great job keeping up with our 5 dogs. It takes several returns to the base to empty itself during a cleaning session due to all the hair, but that is not a problem for me. I do have to empty the bag every few days which is not fun to do (it involves needle nose pliers to pull out the dog hair clumps) but I feel wasteful throwing it out that often. It is noticeably loud when it returns to the base and the dirt/hair gets sucked up, but you get used to it. Would recommend.

It definitely works better than the last robot vacuum we had 7 years ago, but after about 10 days it started having sensor issues, emptying issues, couldnt find home, dog hair wrapped around the front wheel, etc. Familiar problems from the past, but at a higher price tag. Cleaning the vacuums sensors and resetting it seems to resolve the problems for another week or so. I guess I was just expecting less trouble for the price. Going to demo another make/model and keep the winner. Update: we tried a few different brands, and this device was by far the best performer due to the built in camera. It still needs attention every 5 days or so, but it beats vacuuming the old way, no question. If youre not in a hurry, considering waiting to see what other brands come up with once they start integrating cameras as well.

This is an update: We have had this for 10 months. I still like it and it is better than the old ones, BUT it does not pick up cat litter very well. As a matter of fact I give it a poor rating in that dept. It has also ruined our wool rug. It transitions well from floor to rug but leaves dirt and debris on the rug. It has also ruined out hand knotted rug, whereas the older models didnt seem to phase it. We own 2 older Roombas. Have had them for 4 years and they just keep on going. Only had to order one battery in all that time. We have a 3 level house and it has always been a pain to drag one of the Roombas upstairs and keep a eye on the time so decided, after doing a lot of remodeling, we would get the big boy for the middle level and move one of the older ones upstairs. I read a few bad reviews but as a Roomba user for so long I can say that this model is a winner. It has no problem transitioning from my floor to wool rugs. It does make a 747 jet sound when it empties itself but it is much quieter while cleaning that my old guys.

We named her Hazel and she operates out of the Guest Bedroom away from being under foot or in constant view. Having mapped out the entire house, shes ready to head into specific areas (especially after the Grandkids leave) and make the crumbs and tracked-in dirt disappear. My wife has had breathing concerns for the past few years, but with Hazel now having removed 6-years worth of dust-bunnies from underneath the Master Bed, we both noticed a marked improvement sleeping in fresher air after just the first 2 days. Hazel also gets the dust out from under our sofa, coffee table, and leather chairs - and into the back corners of the walk-in closets. Shes much more thorough than the hand-pushed upright (now donated to charity) and dutifully vacuums multiple times a week vs. once a week (if I remembered to vacuum at all...). No turning back now!