Robot vacuum?

How many of you guys/gals run a robotic vacuum?
I’ve been interested in the vacuums for a while and just recently stayed with some family who have one and it seems very convenient. Our house is about 1500 sq ft and all tile and wood floor so that should make it a little easier on the vacuum. We also have 2 dogs that shed a pretty good bit, one is a long fur blonde shepherd and the other is a lab/shepherd mix.

I’m looking in the 300-400 range because I want to pay enough for quality and features but I’m not crazy enough to pay more than that for a vacuum. Features that I consider a “must” are mapping, “no go” zones, and return to base for recharge. Features I would consider as “wants” are mopping capability, Alexa control, and a decent size dust bin. And finally for the “nice to haves”, self emptying would be great but I’m pretty sure it’s non-existent at this price point.

As I do my research and narrow down my choices I’ll update here and hopefully help people (and they can help me) be informed buyers.

 

This doesn't exactly help you because it's out of your price range, but we purchase this one a few months ago.

$598 iRobot Roomba i7+ (7550) Robot Vacuum with Automatic Dirt Disposal - Empties Itself for up to 60 Days, Wi-Fi Connected, Smart Mapping, Works with Alexa, Ideal for Pet Hair, Carpets, Hard Floors

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07GNPDMRP/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

We run it daily on the hardwood/tile portion of the house to keep the dog hair at bay, and it does an amazing job. The self-emptying feature is really nice because it's truly a "set and forget" vacuum, which is the whole point of them being automated. I only touch the thing like once a month to empty the vacuum bag.

 

There’s a few guys on here with Roombas. I know @eccracer104 has one.
My experience with pet hair (cats) is that the debris bin is somewhat small and will get full if you don’t run it on a regular schedule. I run mine every 3 days or so and usually empty the bin once while it’s running. I suppose if I ran it everyday I wouldn’t need to empty the bin at all. For a larger dog that may be different.

It works great though and has all the features you described. Alexa control (although I don’t use it), no go zones (determined by barrier towers), return to dock is standard I believe.

 

Its hard to get that entire wish list in your price range.

I started a thread on here asking about long term ownership:

I run a Neato D7. Love the programming and features, hate the fact that a 15 month old robot has chewed through the following parts - side brush motor, main brush belt, side brush belt x2, and now the left wheel has stripped its gears. I have almost doubled the cost of the original robot in parts and consumables.

If I had to do it again (and I probably will soon), the Roomba i7+ is my next choice.

 

I have a Shark IQ auto empty robot vacuum which I paid around $500 for.

$340 Shark RV1001AE IQ Robot Self-Empty XL, Robot Vacuum with IQ Navigation, Home Mapping, Self-Cleaning Brushroll, Wi-Fi Connected, Works with Alexa, Black

https://www.amazon.com/Shark-R1001AE-Self-Empty-Connected-Capacity/dp/B07S864GPW

I have a German shepherd and my vacuum runs every day Monday-friday and still needs to go to the dock to empty part way through cleaning almost every day. It has smart mapping and you can lay "no go" tape to prevent if from doing certain areas. It also will return to charge if the battery runs low and then resume where it left off. Part of me wishes I went all the way and got the Roomba auto empty but it was twice the price. I definitely would not have liked anything without the auto empty due to the amount my dog sheds. Not sure about Alexa control but it does have an app and mine is set on a schedule. You can choose what rooms, what time, and what day you want it to run.

I watched Vacuum Wars on youtube when I did my research. The guy is definitely bias and has worked with shark on the vacuum I bought and he highly recommends it. I don't think it is as good as he describes it because it does run into issues, but it was definitely worth the money IMO.

With Shepherd hair I really don't think you will be happy with a non auto empty bin. I empty the main bin 1-2 times a month on average (when my dog is not blowing her coat), and cannot imagine having to empty the vacuum daily. I also should note that every 2-3 weeks I use a Dyson vacuum to do a deep clean of the carpets to remove what the vacuum does not get running on normal mode. It does have a max mode but I've never scheduled it to clean on max because of the reduced battery life.

Hopefully this is helpful.

 

@95 taco most important thing is to name your Roomba!

Ours is Bob, he was $100 on Craigslist and is every bit a $100 roomba. He doesn’t like his charging base, so we’re always fiddling with that. He runs out of juice and forgets his scheduling (can you blame him, he’s old), and he gets stuck by trapping himself in the bathroom.

Even with his quirks he’s awesome. We have multiple dogs and he does very well assisting with keeping the floors clean. Still need to get the real vacuum out for corners and under the chairs and such, but overall he is a big help to keep the pet fur to a minimum.

 

Thanks for the info! Those top tier Roombas are super cool but I’m not sure how much pricing would drop for Black Friday/cyber Monday sales. I’m glad that it has worked well for you guys!

That’s interesting about the cat hair filling it up, running it daily would probably help with the bin filling so quickly. My cousin and his wife have 2 labs and they run a Roomba 675 twice a day in their 800 sq ft house and they empty the bin after every run, although I didn’t ask them how often they have to clean the brushes. The tower no-go zones seem interesting, I’ve barely seen them mentioned.
Thanks for all the info!

Yeah, the wish list was a bit much for the budget, there are a few decent options that seem to balance cost and features pretty well but I’m still looking just a bit above my budget

I’m sorry to hear about the Neato D7, I didn’t run across them in my light researching so I’ll take your word to stay away. The I7+ looks like a great option but it’s so darn expensive.

Lots of good info, thanks! I’ll check into the Shark IQ’s, I didn’t watch any videos or read any articles on them yet.
I did run across vacuum wars channel and he does have some interesting info, the tests seem pretty well designed but it would be interesting to see larger area incorporated into the testing.

We’ll definitely name one when we get it, my cousin named their George.
I’ll have to check eBay and Craigslist for used models and see if there’s anything worth looking at, in our area (south Ms) there’s not a very good chance of someone selling one for cheap though.
George also gets stuck in the bathroom, and under chairs, and under the couch, he’s part of the reason I was looking at the more mid tier models so you can easily program no-go zones instead of having to keep doors closed or spend additional money on tape or towers.

One model that I’m really contemplating above budget is the Roborock S5max, the vacuum in combination with the mop would work great on almost all of our floor surfaces, the app features look like what I want, and it reportedly cleans well. The only downside other than being slightly above budget is no auto-empty.

 

We ordered the RoboRock S5Max today since it was 20% off for prime day. After the 20% discount and rewards points we paid around $380 so it wasn’t terrible. I’ll update here with my experience after we get it and we use it.

 

I know I'm late to the party, but we have a eufy that we've been running for a year or so now. As others have said the dust bin fills quickly if you don't empty it often. I'm in the habit of doing it everyday whether it's full or not. It does a great job. We can hear it bumping around on the tile floors so we don't run it while we're home. All in all with 2 dogs that she'd and 2 cats and then all being indoor outdoor animals, it's been a lifesaver. The next one will definitely have a self emptying feature

 

I imagine we will also be emptying ours daily, it’s very low effort compared to vacuuming so it shouldn’t be a big deal to empty it.
I’ve heard good things about the Eufy models, they just didn’t have the mopping feature that I wanted.
If/when we get another one it will be self emptying but hopefully by then prices will have dropped on them.

We got the S5 Max in today and I got it setup after work and dinner, it’s working it’s heart out currently.


Post script: just as I typed that I get a notification that the dust bin was full, checked it and sure enough, lots of dog fur.

 

Yea we started to run it right after we had vacuumed and it still found enough did hair and dirt to fill it up. I guess we don't clean under furniture enough.

 

I mentioned a Roomba to my wife about a month ago and the comment didn't get much traction. Then we went to Costco the day before Christmas and the Roomba i8+ which is an i7+ with a larger battery.

The learning curve of having it run through all the rooms then naming everything, setting exclusions and scheduling took a bit longer than expected but it wasn't too bad.



The i8 has dual rubber brushes instead of bristles so on the hardwood it looks like it's buffing the floors. I've been very impressed with it so far.

My wife liked it enough that we bought a second one for downstairs. The first run through to learn the floorplan took 6 hours and it emptied itself NINE TIMES. Yikes. The second took 3 hours and emptied 3 times.

 

Wow that was in September. I found a used wheel motor and at least it scoots around on the floor like it should. Add another main brush belt to my growing list of nickel and dime parts and now today, a stripped main brush gear.

This bastard is seriously the land rover of vacuums. Capable, I love the job it does, but if you want to keep one running you better have a garage full of tools and at least two more land rovers in the back yard.

 

Late to the party, but my wife wants one of these. The more research I do, the less I want one because I know for a fact, I'll be doing all the maintenance on it. It's not the price so much as all the reviews of them getting stuck, poor battery life, streaky cleaning, getting jammed, constant maintenance, not as strong as an upright, crapping out in a couple years, poor customer service, Etc. , Anybody have one of these that actually lasts a few years and does what it claims?

 

Thats the same one we traded wedding presents in to get. Its pretty nice cleans up after the dog and cat who like to roll in the dirt and shake it off inside, both have short hair so nothing like a golden or a german shepard shedding. It is louder and takes longer to clean the house then if I use the hand vac.
I have been very impressed with it getting untangled from various rope toys the dog has.
I understand the budget issue but I would not want one thats not auto emptying, the whole point to me is I don't have to do squat.

 

6 years so far and mine is still running great .
House is always freshly vacuumed when I get home from work .You can walk around the house in bare feet without gathering fuzzies in your toes
I can start the vacuum from my phone when I am away from the house
Replacement brushes can get expensive . Buy them in bulk as they do wear out

 

I can update. Immediately after my previous post I got fed up and bought an i7+ on sale. It runs twice a day. It doesn't quite have the suction that the Neato did, but it does a good job, it's thorough, and making multiple passes when it senses dirt is a nice touch.

More importantly, it's way, way easier on the maintenance. I just swap vacuum bags every two weeks, air dust the sensors once a month, and change brushes every 6. Unlike every other vacuum I have owned, and I'm hard on them, this one hasn't had a breakdown. Knock on wood.


Now I'll be real. No robot has ever replaced my upright. It's job is just to remove the pet hair and Cheerios, and get under the couch, bed, and dresser. It only pulls surface dirt, it doesn't agitate the rugs to get the deep down stuff. So I still have to vacuum but it's only a once a month job now.

Still, I have no regrets on the i7. Millennium Vacuum earns it's keep.

 

Thats another thing I'm concerned with. How deep do they clean? I've had good quality uprights that have lasted me years with minimal maintenance. I also would need one that mops but am concerned with how much water it would throw on the laminate floor in the front part of the house without warping it.

 

Any roomba with the lime green rollers: surface stuff only. It does agitate the carpet to a small degree, but my Dyson upright can always go behind it and find more. Not a huge deal to me because I ripped out the carpet in the house last year, converted to laminate/tile and a crap ton of area rugs. Pretty much all of the higher end robots do well on smooth floors.

I have heard the S9 has better suction than the i7, but no first hand testing.

The Neato really got into the carpets deep. But that's a useless comment if the thing breaks down constantly. I'm not alone in that either, ebay is full of dead Neatos and frustrated owners.

My parents own the Shark. their house is 80% mid-plush carpet. Its about on par with the i7 as far as cleaning power goes, if not a hair less efficient. Where roomba really beats shark is its dirt sensor - it will turn around and make multiple sweeps if it thinks the floor needs it.


Personally I wouldnt trust any robot mop on laminate - too many ways for it to have an unattended accident. I use a little handheld shark steam mop and make quick passes with it (i.e., dont park it on the laminate and take a break) and it makes quick work out of it.


Another thing when comparison shopping: Take a minute to price the consumables. Brushes and vacuum bags in particular. I can say that the knockoff bags do work on the i7 because I sure as crap aint paying 6 bucks per piece. I'm cheap like that.