The i6+ will automatically empty itself at its Clean Base for up to 60 days before needing to be emptied and replaced by hand (which won’t incur any secondhand messes or contact with allergens, as the bag seals completely shut). This dependable model has all the familiar Roomba features at a great price value. PCMag.com is a leading authority on technology, delivering Labs-based, independent reviews of the latest products and services.
At 2.85 inches, the bot is almost a full inch shorter than the Roomba 694, enough to let it glide under even lower-clearance furniture where dust and hair build up but never see the light of day. I was surprised the first time I saw the 11S disappear under my bed—and then more surprised when it reemerged with an unholy amount of cat hair stuffed into its bin and wrapped about the brush roll. The Roomba i7 is an older model and tends to cost less than the new Roomba j7. We wrote a review of the self-emptying Roomba i7+ in 2018, when it was brand new, and called it the best robot vacuum that money could buy. The rest of the industry caught up very quickly, so the i7+ is no longer such a standout.
Even if advanced obstacle recognition worked well enough to let you skip the pre-tidying, your home would still feel messy. The Electrolux Pure i9 is an oddity that we want to love but can’t recommend. In our tests, the unique 3D mapping system was fantastic at avoiding obstacles, but the short battery life and tendency to waste time spinning in place meant it couldn’t reliably clean even a irobot vacuum cleaner small-ish apartment in a reasonable amount of time. The dustbin on the i3 is smaller than the ones on some other bots at this price, but the upgraded Roomba i3+ comes with a dock that automatically empties the bin when it’s full, or at the end of a cleaning session. The i3 has two counterrotating “extractor” rolls, which we’ve found to be excellent for cleaning rugs and resisting tangles.
It’s a similar robot, with semi-random navigation, plus some extra suction and nubbed “extractor” rolls that are great at getting debris out of rugs . It’s a semi-discontinued model, and at this point may cost less than the weaker Roomba 694, so keep an eye out for deals. shark cordless If you somehow stumble across a good deal for an old Roomba 800 Series model, that’s also very similar to the Roomba e5, but may not have Wi-Fi. Most robot vacuums will get snagged on charging cables, which jam the brush roll or sometimes pull the bots off course.
The Roomba 694 also has a dirt-detection system, which helps the bot reliably clean the most obvious piles of debris, as long as it encounters that pile on its semi-random travels. Even setting aside the smart maps, the Roborock S4 Max is still one of the best navigators we’ve used. It rarely misses any accessible areas of your home, like random-navigation robots sometimes do, and it’s not susceptible to the same low-light navigation errors as robots that rely on cameras . Even when it does bump into an object its LiDAR turret didn’t detect, we’ve found that it course-corrects faster and more accurately than other bots.
We know this because on many occasions, we ran it immediately after other bots had done a cleaning session, and the Roomba i3 would still come back with a lot of extra debris in its bin that the other bots must have left behind. We also tried the opposite, running the i3 before the Roborock S4 Max, and found that the S4 did not come back with much debris in its bin, likely because the Roomba i3 grabbed it all first. We actually recommended the semi-random style for most people up until fall 2021, but it became clear from analyzing user reviews that the zeitgeist has shifted. Now that prices have dropped, most would-be robot owners expect their robot to look like it knows what it’s doing, instead of cruising around randomly, bumping into stuff. But we still think bump-and-run bots have a place, so we’ve shuffled our favorites to budget pick status.
This ends up in surprisingly good overall coverage, but you may find that some areas that trap the robot get lots of attention, and more open areas just get one quick pass. The budget-priced iLife V3S Pro uses a suction tube like a traditional vacuum cleaner rather than the roller brushes employed by other robot vacuums, and does a better job picking up pet hair without clogging. There are also a few workarounds to get the Roomba i3 to clean a smaller space in a given session. These are small, AA-battery–powered beacons that project an invisible do-not-cross barrier.
When it does, it will sit there until it has enough energy to go back out and continue to bust dust from where it left off. You can also set schedules for most bots to wake up and start a cleaning job, so it can take place while you’re out of the house. That means you can potentially avoid all physical interaction until the vacuum needs to be emptied. Unlike more traditional canister or stick models, robot vacuums are autonomous and intelligent. The vacuums we’ve tested are equipped with lasers, motherboards, sensors, and even Wi-Fi to navigate around your home without assistance.
If you’re hesitant about the price, though, opt for the Roomba e5 (view at Bed Bath & Beyond) instead. We also love that this Roomba for smart homes takes home automation to the next level by using Imprint Link technology to automatically vacuum and mop your floors if you have a compatible Braava Jet machine. Although it’s one of the more affordable Roombas on the market, this model doesn’t skimp on power, consistent suction, or efficient cleaning. This model comes with its own emptying base and maintains intensely powerful suction across floor surfaces.
Replace filters and side brushes a few times per year, the brush roll about once a year, and the battery as needed—probably every second year, though that depends on how often you use the bot. Clean the bearings on the brush roll, caster, and side brushes every few weeks. You might need a screwdriver for this job, but many bots let you pop out the parts with no tools. So the first order of business for any successful robot vacuum is to avoid or at least escape from potential bot traps and hazards.