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The Roomba Robot Vacuum Is 'A Little Piece Of Wizardry' And $100 Off For A Limited Time
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If you're anything like me, your New Year's resolution might involve maintaining a tidier home throughout the year. I'm not the best at daily chorework (really, who is?) but according to several reviewers, this cult-favorite Roomba robot vacuum could be your best bet.Robot vacuum on a hardwood floor, docked and charging against a wall
A cat sits by a large wooden wheel in a room, watching a robotic vacuum cleaner moving on the floor
amazon.Com, amazon.Com
A mother of four says, "This little piece of wizardry" is a nifty gadget that "changed my life," and it could totally change yours, too. Its low profile lets it glide underneath beds and furniture while its suction grabs any hidden pet hairs and crumbs. Plus, once it's done, the vac rolls over to its dock to charge itself so you don't have to. It's currently 40% off right now on Amazon, knocking its sale price down to under $150, but only for a limited time.
Great on hard floors and carpets alike, the Roomba robot vacuum is easy to use straight out of the box: just plug it in, charge it up, and press a button to let it rip. You can pair it with an app to give it a cleaning schedule, though it's not required, and link it with Alexa so you can operate it using voice commands. It runs up to 120 minutes on a single charge, and when the battery gets low, it'll use the last of its energy to roll over to its charging dock. The vacuum also protects itself from collision, so you don't have to worry about it knocking things over.
The Q0120 is one of iRobot's entry-level models, but at this lower-than-usual price, it's definitely worth checking out.
Read on for more reviews of this wicked good robot vacuum, and take advantage of the deal before it's gone!
Promising reviews:A small dog sits on a robotic vacuum cleaner on a wooden floor, looking up curiously
A robotic vacuum cleaning a hardwood floor near a brick fireplace and audio equipment
amazon.Com, amazon.Com
"A few of our friends and family members have one of these vacuums. So, we decided to give it a try. Man, this thing works great. It gets around and under everything. The price was good, although there are others out there for less, but I think their battery life isn't as good. This is easy to set up if you follow the instructions, and it works great from your cell phone without having to manually turn it on. We've only used it a couple of times, both letting it do its thing and once on a programmed 45-minute clean. It knows where to return home, or you can send it home at any time during the cleaning cycle. Delivery was timely and before expected. The sensitivity feature works great, but it keeps looking for ways to get under things. It got stuck once (I corrected that problem) and showed up on my wife's phone to say it was stuck. I found where it was, and it had shut itself off since it knew it couldn't move. We love it!" —R Duke, Texas
"My floors are so clean! I run this about 4–5 weekly and use my Shark stick vacuum the other days for a deeper clean. This definitely is not a substitute for sweeping/vacuuming, but it is an absolutely amazing supplement. With two cats and two dogs, my apartment stayed hairy no matter what I did. This robot vacuum truly made my life so much easier. I have vinyl flooring, and it works perfectly. It's only gotten hung up once. If you have a lot of pets like myself, you will have to flip it over and remove any excess hair in the brush roll from time to time" —Harris
"I cannot believe how my life has changed since using the Roomba. I just bought another for my upstairs. I use it with Alexa so that I can start vacuuming and send it back through voice. And amazingly, that works. It finds its way back to the dock! It picks up a lot of dust and even hair decently so that I can thoroughly vacuum far, far less often. It is amazing in the kitchen, which is basically a square, and that alone is a major help, as I can be doing other things alongside it. Great in the bathroom as well. Vacuums for over an hour. Dust bin is easy to empty and does not have to done every time! It is also a sturdy item but not really heavy and after the initial few vacuuming times where it is sensing where the furniture is and testing where it can go, avoids vases, etc. In the beginning, it would get stuck under the King bed, but it is no longer an issue. For me, it is one of those items that I don't know how I lived without." —Heather from NY
"This is my fourth Roomba, and I decided to treat myself to an early Christmas present. I traded in my older Roombas back to the company for credit. This new model is significantly quieter than previous versions, which makes my whole family happy. It seems like a no-frills option, which is perfectly fine with me, especially since the price was much better, too. The Roomba is a sleek matte black color, and I like its appearance. There's no carry handle on this model, but that's okay as well. Connecting it to my Wi-Fi was quick and easy, and I set the suction power to high, with options for low, medium, and high. It follows an efficient cleaning pattern across my floors and features an improved sensor that prevents it from bumping into objects, unlike earlier models. It can detect and navigate around obstacles much more effectively. I have set my Roomba to run every day at 9 AM, and I love the idea of coming home to a clean house while everyone is at work or school. For any skeptics out there, just check the dustbin to see how full of dirt and dust it gets. This debris can end up in your food, bed, and clothes — gross! This Roomba brings me so much joy." —Fudge23
"The iRobot 675 has changed my life. I'm a mom to four young children living in an 1880 square-foot house on a large wooded lot. My kids are outside A LOT and track in all kinds of dirt, mud, leaves, grass, etc. My husband, while I love him, is also kind of a mess and has a bad habit of not wiping his shoes and bringing in a ton of sawdust from his projects. On top of all of that, add in the fact that children under 7 really don't know how to eat properly and drop about seven thousand crumbs per meal per child. Our floors, wood, tile, and carpet, have been a disaster for years.
Enter the Roomba. I have been eyeing this little piece of wizardry for years and wondering if this could be the tool that could change my life. I swept and vacuumed (with a Dyson DC33) multiple times a day. I was constantly telling guests, "Hey, sorry about the floor, but I think we're just gross, and I can never get on top of it." Well, after finally biting the bullet, I regret that I didn't buy a Roomba years ago. I don't have to apologize to guests, and I can finally walk barefoot in my house without having 100 tiny crumbs attached to the bottom of my feet. I love this thing more than I have ever loved any appliance or cleaning tool I have ever owned." —DF (This review has been edited for length. Read the full review.)
Get it from Amazon for $148.99 (originally $249.99).Reviews have been edited for length and/or clarity.
IRobot Roomba J7+ Robot Vacuum Review: One Of The Best Smart Home Investments I've Made For My Home
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After years of searching for the best robot vacuum, I've finally found the robot vacuum of my dreams: the Roomba j7+.
My first robot vac seemed like a great investment at the time. It was affordable, had features like mopping and UV sterilization, and was surprisingly quiet. At the time, I was impressed merely by the fact that it didn't topple down the stairs.
After a few months of use, it quickly became apparent that it wasn't the glorious device I'd been led to believe. The mopping function was virtually useless. UV sterilizing sucked up battery life like nobody's business. Eventually, the vacuum stopped working altogether.
Its successor, a unit with high suction, gobbled up pet hair, but that also meant having to empty the bin every single run. And it got stuck. A lot. I constantly had to rescue it. I decided enough was enough. Even my multi-week vacuuming sessions weren't enough to keep up with the pet dander, bird dust, and dirt being tracked around the house. I decided it was time to invest in a Roomba.
I settled on the Roomba j7+, with a self-emptying feature and mapping technology. At the time, part of me was skeptical. But it's been several years now of having ultra-clean floors and I can safely say I'm a Roomba fan. I no longer experience the gritty feel of pet hair and debris underfoot. And, to my delight, my robot vacuum babysitting days are over.
Learn more about how Insider Reviews tests and reviews home products.
iRobot Roomba j7+ Robot VacuumThe Roomba j7+ cleans thoroughly and never requires babysitting. If you've been let down by robot vacuums before, trust me: this one is a gamechanger.
Design The clean base is a game changer that turns a semi-autonomous robot vacuum into one that's completely hands-free — no manual emptying before each vacuum session required Steph Coelho/Business InsiderThe sleek Roomba j7+ has a black chassis and takes up about a square foot of room. The robot itself is 13.3 wide by 3.4 inches high, short enough to fit under a coffee table. You'll need at least a foot of clearance around the base station to ensure the robot can begin its navigational duties unencumbered.
To help it navigate, the vacuum has a camera on the front and sensors on the side and bottom. Underneath, two brush rolls move in opposite directions, which is supposed to help dislodge dirt and debris. A single spinning brush on the side helps sweep dust from the corners and walls.
Clean lines allow the unit to fit in without adding much visual clutter. A small leather tab, meant to help you open the top of the bin, adds a touch of texture to an otherwise streamlined design. The dust canister is also equipped with a HEPA filter.
Setup processUnpacking the j7+ is a breeze thanks to its user-friendly, Apple-style packaging. Everything has a purpose.
There's virtually no setup involved besides plugging in the unit and connecting it to WiFi. It took less than 20 minutes, plus some time to get to a full charge. A full charge takes about an hour and twenty minutes, which will typically allow it to run for almost two-and-a-half hours.
Before you can get started with a thorough clean, the robot needs some time to map out your house. It does this using a series of sensors and a camera. It took two run-throughs (two full charges) to map out my floorplan. The mapping tech on the Roomba is something to behold. It's incredibly accurate, and I barely had to make adjustments, aside from naming rooms, when the mapping was complete.
Roomba's app is intuitive and enjoyable to use. You can schedule cleanings, set cleaning or no-go zones, and view your vacuuming history.
Our review of the iRobot Roomba J7+ Great smart home tech can be marred by a poorly designed app. Thankfully, the iRobot app is intuitive and easy to use, from creating a home map to reviewing cleaning obstacles. Steph Coelho/Business InsiderI won't be coy. I love this vacuum. Unlike the cleaning robots of my past, I barely notice the j7+ is doing its thing. And that's the beauty of it. It quietly rolls around the house, eats up crumbs and hair, returns to its base to empty or recharge, and picks up where it left off. When it encounters an obstacle, like a wayward wire or dog bone, it pauses, inspects, and 99% of the time makes its way around the temporary blockade.
Ease of UseOne of the most convenient features of the Roomba j7+ is its ability to self-empty. Automatic dirt disposal makes it possible to run the vacuum daily without worrying about whether the dust canister is full or not.
My house is relatively tidy and clutter-free, but random stuff sometimes ends up on the floor, and I don't bother frantically picking it up anymore before my vacuum does its thing. The Roomba just goes around.
The brand even claims that its smart tech is so good that it can identify and avoid dog poop. IRobot's poop guarantee (Pet Owner Official Promise, or P.O.O.P.) says that if your robot tracks around your dog's excrement, the company will replace the vacuum for free. Thankfully, I haven't run into any poopmergencies, though it's not outside the realm of possibility with an elderly dog.
iRobot AppWhen dealing with smart home tech, a poorly designed app can quickly turn a convenient tool into a headache. The iRobot app is anything but. It makes setting up the robot vac a breeze, it's intuitive to use, and it's rarely buggy.
You can choose from three cleaning preferences in the app: daily clean, which covers your entire floorplan once; room-size clean, which goes over large rooms once and smaller ones multiple times; and extra clean, which cleans your floorplan twice. You'll have to run the vacuum at least once in mapping mode for it to learn your floorplan. After that, you can label rooms and even create special cleaning or keep out zones. After a cleaning session, the app will also show you images of any potential obstacles it detects, like cords or toys, where you can designate it as a temporary obstacle, not an obstacle, or create a keep-out zone. You can also instruct it to go back and clean in that spot.
Another feature I find useful is the ability to control the robovac using my Google Home voice assistant. (It's also compatible with Alexa.) After cooking dinner and sending crumbs flying, I can ask Google to clean the kitchen. During the holidays, I set up temporary cleaning zones around the Christmas tree, which I can delete later.
You also have the option of scheduling cleanings for certain days and times through the app. Roomba also lets you set a quiet time to keep your vacuum from powering up and making noise while you need total silence.
Vacuuming PerformancePost-cleaning, it's clear my J7+ has been working hard. My floors are noticeably cleaner, and I feel less grit underfoot.
On wood floors, the vacuum clears almost everything in its path. It sometimes misses a few spots when there's a heavy load of pet hair or other large pieces of debris (like the remnants of nuts and seeds that my parrot throws on the ground), but it usually gobbles up everything with a second pass.
Carpet vacuuming is a different story. The J7+ can identify carpet from hard flooring, and it does fairly well at vacuuming my flatwoven entryway carpets, but it's a disaster on thicker, shag carpeting. It can maneuver around thicker carpeting if it has to to get where it wants to go, but it will immediately get stuck on the carpet fibers if it starts suctioning. Because of this, I've had to create a no-go zone for my living room rug, but I love the Roomba so much, I'm eventually planning to swap out the shag for something lower profile.
The Roomba also works well on slightly uneven surfaces, like the terra cotta tile in my kitchen, but the bumpy ride does mean the vacuum sometimes leaves debris behind, especially fine debris like flour or sugar.
After a cleaning job, the vacuum will prompt you to review obstacles. It takes photos anytime it's thwarted by some object, and you can let it know whether it's a temporary obstacle, something you want it to avoid permanently, or not an obstacle at all. According to the app, this process helps your robot cleaning buddy do better in the future.
I can confirm that while it got confused by the caster wheels on my parrot's cage at first, it now happily cleans around the base without trouble. It's also shockingly great at ignoring wires of all kinds. Having a robot vacuum that can identify a cable and breeze by it without sucking it up into its brushes is a huge plus.
MaintenanceWhile it can steer clear of dog excrement, the robot isn't capable of spotting and avoiding bird poop, so the flexible, multi-surface brushes have smeared it around. Because they're rubber, they're easy to rinse off, though. The design also makes it easy to extricate tangled pet and human hair, something that's tough to do with regular bristle brushes. The dual brushes are also really good at picking up most debris.
Roomba claims that a bag can hold up to 60 days worth of debris; a pack of three replacement bags costs $16.99. With multiple pets in the household, I found myself replacing the bag a little more often, about every 30 days or so. The bags are another smartly designed component of this unit. Because they seal as you take them out, dust can't escape into the air, which helps if you have asthma or allergies.
Cons to consider The j7+ can clean carpets and hard flooring, but when it comes to carpeting, it does best on flatwoven surfaces. Steph Coelho/Business InsiderCleaning-wise, the one thing I found less-than-stellar was the inclusion of just a single edge-sweeping brush. The vacuums I've owned previously had two sweeping brushes on either side, which help direct debris toward the main brushes. With only a single side sweeper, the robot sometimes tosses debris aside.
I also wish the app could adjust the robot's task mid-cleaning job. For example, if you have the vacuum running in the living room and decide you no longer want that spot cleaned, you can't edit the job. You have to restart the cleaning job from square one.
Similarly, there's no option to navigate the robot yourself from the app, which is too bad, considering the unit has a camera. When it misses a spot (which is rare), there's no way to tell it to turn back and redo an area unless you cancel the entire job or you wait for it to end.
While the j7+ is one of the quietest robot vacuums I've tried, expect to hear the sound of a jet taking off when the robovac empties itself. It lasts mere seconds, but it isn't something you want happening in the middle of the night, and there doesn't seem to be an option for turning off auto-emptying during certain hours.
Since purchasing the unit, I've also had to replace the battery once — after about 2 years of heavy use. But because it was still within warranty, iRobot sent me a new one free of charge. When the battery was starting to fail, I did notice some docking problems, but once I replaced it, the issues were resolved.
Should I be worried about the camera watching me?I was sitting on the toilet one morning while the Roomba rolled around the bathroom, and I wondered, should I be worried about someone peeping on my private bathroom time through this thing's camera? I got in touch with privacy experts Frances Zelazny, CEO and founder of Anonybit, and Greg Young, VP of cybersecurity at Trend Micro, for a primer on security and privacy.
Young explains that there's certainly a possibility that the camera could be vulnerable to hacking, "but at the same time, we all carry around a camera and microphone that is in front of our faces and around us at all times: our phones." The bigger red flag, he said, is when companies provide no clear mention of security or privacy. IRobot, the company that makes Roomba vacuums, has a detailed privacy policy.
Zelazny points out that you probably don't have to worry about your Roomba spying on you. "It is more likely that the security implications of having so many devices online and either poorly protected or totally unprotected will cause more problems," she says.
While iRobot states that it deletes images the vacuum takes after 30 days, you also have the option to not share images to the brand's database.
To protect yourself, Zelazny recommends that you don't reuse passwords across devices and use a decentralized password manager that uses biometrics to protect passwords from hackers.
What are your alternatives?iRobot no longer directly sells the vacuum-only j7+, For a similar vacuum-only option, the Roomba j9+ self-emptying robot vacuum is the closest you'll get to the original j7+.
iRobot has started to prioritize its 2-in-1 vacuum and mop robotos. For instance, the Combo J7+ builds on the original J7+, utilizing the existing clean base and incorporating a retractable mopping pad for simultaneous wet-dry cleaning. The top-of-the-line Combo j9+ with auto-fill base and retractable mop arm is the smartest of the bunch. It can empty your robot's dust bin and refill its liquid reservoir for mopping. There's also the cheaper Combo j5+, which uses an interchangeable bin between vacuum and mopping. IRobot recommends for spaces with a mix of rugs and hardwood thanks to the ability to set no mop zones.
Roomba also has a few more affordable options, including the Roomba Combo Essential, which mops and vacuums but doesn't come with an automatic disposal base.
We also have more options in our guide to the best robot vacuums.
The bottom lineThere was once a time when I shouted expletives at the poor robot vacuum that spent more time tangling itself in wires than cleaning my floors. Now, I'm nothing but polite when I ask Google to clean my house, please.
The Roomba j7+ is one of the best smart home purchases I've made in years. So far, it's fulfilled every promise made. It cleans thoroughly and never requires babysitting. If you've been let down by robot vacuums before, trust me; this one is a gamechanger.
Steph Coelho
Freelance Writer
This Roomba Robot Vacuum Is Only $150 Right Now
This Roomba Robot Vacuum Is Only $150 Right Now iRobot
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This is one for the real deal hunters out there. As a shopping editor, I'm always on the lookout for expensive things you really want, but don't want to spend a ton of money on. One thing that falls into that category: a robot vacuum. If you're on a budget, then Bezos & Co. Is here to save you. IRobot (the Roomba company) has a ton of deals happening for its end-of-year sales on Amazon. You could score the latest Roomba with a mop on sale for 45% off—and insane deal—but still expensive.
Or if you, like me, would only buy a Roomba if the price were right, you should entry-level Roomba Q0120, because it's all you need and only $150 right now. Unheard of.
Roomba Vac Robot Vacuum (Q0120)$149.00 at amazon.Com
Is this the best robot vacuum ever? No. But for $150, it's a great piece of tech. I got my parents one of these at retail price a few years ago, and they love it. It's not like the Dyson Vis Map or any of the other smart mapping robot vacuums. But, this little guy uses a distance sensor to move around the room. That means it'll move until it sense as wall, turn, and keep cleaning. It's a lot less efficient than smart mapping vacuums, but it gets the job done.
The Roomba Q0120 almost never gets stuck in corners. Chairs can occasionally give it issues, but it normally finds a way out on its own. The only thing it really struggles with is returning to its charger. It even has Alexa, if that if your kinda thing.
The selling point is that this one is as simple as a robot vacuum gets. You can control it from anywhere with your smartphone, and it'll do a decent job of cleaning your home. It's easy to empty. It's easy to clean. Again, it's all you really need if you feel like entering the Roomba world.
Roomba Vac Robot Vacuum (Q0120)$149.00 at amazon.Com
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