iRobot - Roomba j7+

I recently purchased a QRevo Master and Pro during Black Friday. I replaced a Roomba J7+. I’m fairly happy with the mopping functionality but the obstacle avoidance is…a fraction as good. I assumed with all the tech and AI it would be better or at most marginally worse. But it’s really night and day. The J7 was excellent at avoiding even the smallest out of place objects, a sock, a cord, etc. I know commenters will say to just keep things off the floor. But I bought these things to vacuum when I’m out of the house. The was great with the j7. Everything just feels clean when you get back. These Roborocks on the other hand will just pick up any loose object and drag it around for 30 minutes. A sock, a shirt, a small box. Also if you happen to be walking around while it’s running the vacuums will bump into your feet repeatedly. I’ve seen some discussion of this, but reviewers like vacuum wars still give these a 4.7 for obstacle avoidance. I would say it’s like a 3 at best. I’ve also seen some discussion of it being better on previous firmware versions. I’m curious if that’s true. I’m hoping I can be optimistic a software update could improve this. It seems like the hardware should be more than capable, but it’s just not stacking up right now

If you don’t need the mopping I would 100% go with the j7. I got it refurbished for $264. I don’t notice much difference in vacuuming ability. The j7 successfully avoided all the things I listed above. Anything medium sized and most cords it managed to avoid.

For my Roomba, the brushes wear out over time and don't self clean each other as well. itll get bad enough that it starts wrapping around a lot. Then it usually cuts huge holes in the brushes. Not the best design on the roomba j7+ It's about every 2-3 months I need new ones

We have the Roomba j7+ We did a fair amount of research before getting it and watched YT videos comparing all the different makes and models and this was highly rated for pet hair. It’s pretty good - but like others have said you do have to spend time cleaning the hair out of the wheels which is an annoying and dirty job and also I find that I don’t run it very often because the sound makes my dog bark so I have to only run it when the dog isn’t in the house, which isn’t that often (of course, I could try to get the dog used to it, but I haven’t taken the time to do that) As an alternative to a robot we also recently bought the Shark Auto Detect and we are loving it! It’s cordless and really lightweight. It’s so easy to maneuver picks up tons of hair and has really good rollers that don’t get stuck on hair. I actually was looking forward to vacuuming today, which is crazy. I never thought I would say that!

Thanks, I hadn’t heard about fur compression yet. I have a very furry dog and this feature sounds useful. My Roomba J7+ always thought the dustbin was full if some hairs were sticking out in front of the sensor.

I agree. I had a J7+.

Please do not get a Roomba. They have no lidar so when the light in the room is dim it has a hard time navigating. They don’t have anti hair clogging bristles. My Roomba J7+ gave constant error messages that could mean anything. Never ever again.

I have had several Roomba vacuums, and currently have a J7+ on main floor and an i4 in the basement. They really aren't great. Our J7 has been replaced by Roomba 2-3 times, which is great from a customer service aspect, but not great because it has needed to be replaced multiple times. In addition to full replacements, we have already had to change the battery after a little over a year. The running times to sweep our main floor have gone from a few hours to now over 6 hours. It gets lost randomly, and then finds new areas and maps them, that don't actually exist. All roombas have a pretty big design flaw, the sweeping brush pushes dirt across one of the charging leads. It will randomly stop charging, and when you look, one of the charging leads will be covered in grime and the other will be pristine. The self-empting feature is great, rarely had an issue with that. I would suggest that any robot vacuum you get be able to empty itself. The obstacle avoidance isn't great, it will often try to eat things that shouldn't. I would say approximately twice a week the vacuum is not able to finish its job and return to its base properly. It's nice to not have to worry about cleaning up all the time, especially with kids and dogs, but it is a lot of Maintenance to keep it running. We also have a brava jet mop, that has entirely stopped working. If you take it off the base it will run, but it's not able to leave its own base, which makes it a real pain. Personally, I will not be buying another Roomba.

For those that don't want to click on the link it's a J7+ vacuum only device.

Personally I prefer the vacuum only devices which is where the Roombas really excel. If I was going to get a combo device I think the minimum I would look at is a J7 + or above depending on your budget. I know there are some sales on right now, and they're always seems to be some great sales over the past several months that really bring the prices down on the higher end units. Hopefully you can get some more advice with regards to your price point.

My Slim is doing great with cords. I'f anything it's a bit too likely to clarify something as an obstacle. This is a major step up from my Roomba J7+ and almost as good as my Pure i9 2 .

Don't get a roomba. I got the J7+ for the pet and toy friendly avoidance options and half the time it isnt running because of a clog in the vaccuum bin or base station. The bin is usually easy to fix, but this last time it was the tube that goes to the bag (another expense i didnt have with the shark) and that required disassembly. It also burnt out its suction fan in the first month I had it, prompting a warranty replacement of the part which meant had to disassemble the unit, install the new part, and send back the defective part. Incredibly frustrating. Comparatively, my shark IQ that I sent to the basement for eating too many toys runs consistently and clogs *maybe* once every 3 months, but the shark app sucks nuts, and the model I have uses the black strips for keep-out zones so it just ran everywhere and I prayed it didnt eat any cables. Its very robust about going up and doen ledges, but it is also way more prone to tracking pet messes about, that happened once with a pile of cat vomit and I was a little traumatized.

I have the J7+ and it does get up pet hair well on hard floors, BUT it clogs constantly. It can't handle any debris larger than a quarter in diameter at most without it getting stuck in the bin due to the size of the emptying tube. I have a kid whose paper scraps freqently end up on the floor and those clog it about once every 2 weeks and prompt me to have to take apart the base. If I dodnt spend so much on it Id have thrown it away by now. My shark IQ did not have that problem, but its app sucked and it runs over a lot more stuff. It has eaten and unloaded barbie shoes into its base, wheras the roomba i always find the shoes in the unit when it throws an error.

I have a roomba, and love it. It’s pricey, but their customer service is great. I had a robot issue, and they went ahead and replaced the whole device (charging station and robot), rather than just replacing the part. The parts are also very easy to replace when they wear out, and inexpensive to purchase. I would buy another when this dies. Edit: I live in a 1 bedroom with a complex layout, with a medium shedding small breed dog. It does a decent job with hair and fur.

I bought my j7+ refurbished from the manufacturer for $175 USD with a 2 year warranty off of ebay!  It does a great job picking up after three dogs, a cat, and people walking around. 

My $175 USD  refurbished off eBay J7+ goes around the dog beds, the dogs, the cat, under the couch and around whatever toys the dogs lost under there. I run it on a schedule during a lull in my evening, so I can toss my charger up on the couch and shoo the dog out of prime vacuuming space.  The most annoying thing it does is get stuck behind my bedroom door on occasion.  It doesn't mop,  but it was $175 and self empties. I'm not mad at all. I adore it. I've heard really mixed reviews about the moping combo, so I'm content.  I might spend the $50 and get a J5 mop tank to stick on it just for the hell of it down the line, just to pick up some dust, but meh. I'm not worried about it. 

Yup. I had a $100 vacuum/mop combo that got me into the robovac world.  It got stuck under everything and  lasted about 2 years before it got too dumb to use.  I adored that stupid thing. One of my favorite $100 purchases. Even the drag mop that everyone hates on isn't that bad. It's just a wet duster.  There's nothing wrong with sub $200 devices as long as there's no expectation for them to function like a $1000+ device.  Even now, I have a refurbished  $175 j7+ direct from roomba. That thing is a workhorse.  At the end of the day, it's a just a vacuum.