[Rewarded Review] iRobot going backwards, i5 poor cleaning

A great disappointment! We live somewhat close to the freeway which brings in a lot of dust. Clean something in the morning and before afternoon there is already a thin film of dust on whatever you cleaned. I was amazed at how much dust our old Robot 860 would collect. And only after a couple of days from the last cleaning. Ok, let's put the i5 to the test. First mapping. After several mapping runs, I could NOT get an accurate map of our house. Perhaps on one mapping run, it provided an accurate map. But after the 1st clean run, the map was lost as the i5 had drawn a new map, a highly inaccurate one. On one cleaning run, the i5 drew a nearly perfect map. But Robot support stated that there was no way that I could keep that map as the primary. And now, check the dust bin. What?! Hardly any dust or rubbish in the bin. And the bin filter is only about 1/3 the size of the filter on our robot 860, a much older model. Smaller filter, less suction power (i5 quieter than the 860) = poor cleaning. Not sure if the suction power is less, but the i5 is quieter than the 860. No doubt though it doesn't clean as well. I ran the i5, then did a clean run with the 860. The 860 would still pick up a good amount of dust after running the i5. As for the self-emptying it is very loud, thankfully briefly. It seems that iRobot has gone backwards. Bottom line, returned the i5.

[Rewarded Review] Not good, needs improvement in almost every way

We were excited to get a new iRobot since we are using the quite old i860. Without a doubt the 860 cleaned well, especially picking up a lot of dust. We can clean things in our house in the morning and by afternoon there is a film of dust almost everywhere since we live close to the freeway. The problem with the i5 is that it does not pick up all of the rubbish especially the dust. After 2 weeks of cleaning, running 3x/week, the bag is nearly empty. After 2-3 days of cleaning the i860 bin is filled with dust, sometimes a layer of dust covering the dust filter. I ran several tests. One test involved stopping the i5 before its bin was emtied and sure enough not much rubbish, even less dust. Another test involved running the 860 right after a cleaning run by the i5. And I was surprised to see how much more the 860 picked up. There was a layer of dust on parts of the filter and more rubbish. This is after I had cleaned out the bin prior to the cleaning run.

[Rewarded Review] Pretty good robotic vacuum!

Last year, we had gotten a Roomba i5+ Combo (with mopping capability) and its self-emptying bin to pair up with another self-emptying robot vacuum (of another brand) and replace the 7-year old 980 model that its battery wasn't lasting very long for cleaning the upstairs of our house (would take two cycles with needing to manually empty the bin while charging after the first cycle). Unfortunately, almost immediately after getting that i5+, the other self-emptying vacuum stopped working. Since then, we were preparing to move to a single-story house with more tile floor throughout and decided to get another robot vacuum to handle the carpeted areas and finally use the mopping feature on the "older" i5+ Combo on the tile. Since we have decided that we would only get self-emptying vacuums from now on (to make it easier to run on a schedule even when we are not home since we wouldn't need to manually empty the dust bin), we figured that the new "non-mopping" i5+ would work just great for that.

[Rewarded Review] Multiple maps??

I was reflecting recently on my history with Robot vacuums. It started back in 2017 with iRobot, and since then I've had several vacuums from a few different brands, one of which has ceased to exist. In my house, we name our robot helpers, the first named Lincoln after the street we lived on when the kids were first born. We named our first bot Lincoln in remembrance of that house. Since then, we've continued to name our robots increasing one letter at a time, and our i5+ was donned the name "Quark."

[Rewarded Review] Very satisfied!

I am supper happy with my i5+! I was initially going to go for the top of the line J9+, but decided to try out a lower end model first. I have named him Claymore. He does a good job cleaning my house while I'm at work. It took a few runs to map out my place (which can be viewed on the app), and he got stuck a couple of times (once on my bar stools, another time on a power cord), but once I made a couple adjustments he didn't get stuck again. The auto empty feature was a must have and I can already see that a ton of junk got sucked up. Something to note with these lower end models without a camera is you can't set up "no go zones" without an expensive IR blaster thing (which I did not purchase), for example the area around a dog's water bowl or an entire room without closing the door. I also have not tried the mopping function but I've heard from others that it's not great due to the low fluid capacity. I have a single floor 1500sqft house and it takes about 4 hours for him to vacuum the whole place because he has to stop halfway through to recharge. But he will do that on his own and pick up where he left off after the fact.

[Rewarded Review] All you need in sturdy, dependable robotic vacuum

I have an ancient Roomba for over 15 years, and it just keeps running. That is what endears the brand to me: it is modular with replacement parts available to repair or replace most anything that may go wrong.

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[Rewarded Review] Excellent Vacuum automation

This is my 3rd cleaning robot. I've always wanted to have 2, one for upstairs and one for downstairs since they haven't yet invented the ability for these automated little pals to climb up and do another floor. I used this to replace an older Roomba unit upstairs that after several years of service was starting to show its age. This has been a great replacement as the older one has shuffled off into retirement. It was very easy to set up and use. You will start off with a mapping run of the area. It's very intuitive when mapping, but if it fits under something, it will go there. So, if you don't want it to go under a tv stand or any other such furniture where it could get stuck or mess with cords, you should put cardboard or a towel or something there so it doesn't sense the open space. Once the mapping is done, it'll go back to the base and be ready to go.

[Rewarded Review] Never got it to work

I had high hopes for the iRobot i5+, given that Roomba was a pioneer in robot vacuums. But unfortunately I could not get the robot to properly map out our floor.

[Rewarded Review] Nimble Mighty Vacuum

The outer shipping box for the Roomba came with a big Roomba company logo and SKU number and quantity. It was a bit heavier than expected but not bad. Heads up if you won't be home for the delivery, you can definitely tell what's in the box. There is an inner box that the robot is packaged in. All in all the shipping/packing of the vacuum was sturdy.

[Rewarded Review] Good machine for the right people, not pet owners

The Roomba i5 Self Emptying vacuum will work for a certain audience. If you have pets that shed a lot, this might not be the right vacuum for you for several reasons. If you are only cleaning dust or keep the floors clean then this will work very well for you. This vacuum will clean the floors thoroughly and do a good job. Having the ability to self-empty the bin on the Roomba into the docking station will let this robot be a set it and forget it for a few days. From the sound of the sucking of the docking station, you can tell it will do a pretty good job clearing out the bin on the Roomba. I did notice that little rocks the size of BB's do not get sucked out of the bin on the Roomba. The base is notched out so that the Roomba will always consistently dock properly. Having owned Roombas without the self-emptying docking station, the Roomba would occasionally not dock properly and drain the battery. With the self-emptying dock there is a cradle where the wheels will sit in and align the Roomba perfectly with the charging pads. Now this Roomba will not work out for me and my big dogs for a few reasons. First is the self-emptying features. The way the Roomba empties its self is from the rear of the machine and through a tunnel into the dust back on the dock. If you have a clump of dog hair in the Roomba bin, it gets stuck trying to get out of the Roomba into the tunnel on the docking station. If you have a small thin dog hair and is sparse, not clumped together, it will suck up just fine. But if your dog is shedding its coat, which many breeds do, this will give the self-empty feature a run for its money. In addition, the collection back is another weak point. Unless you plan on just throwing out the dust collection bag after its full, then ignore this next point. If you were planning on saving money and just clean out the collection bag and reuse it, then good luck. The collection back has a 1-inch hole where the dust is sucked into. There is no way to open the included backs and shake out the trash. If you have dogs that shed, you will know how hard it is to get hair out of things. Its as if the hair sews itself onto things. The hair just sticks to the inside of the bag, requiring you to try and pick out the trash out of the 1-inch inlet hose. The Roomba comes with two bags. Perhaps if you find a replacement back that allows you to empty the contents occasionally, you might be fine, but the included collection backs appear to be one time use and disposable. This may increase the cost of running this Roomba in the long run. If a reusable back is not offered, one may want to try and cut the collection back and install a zipper or Velcro to gain access to the inside of the bag to clean it out and reuse it. Another issue I ran into using this Roomba for the first time was mapping out your area. When the instructions say make sure you have 4.5 feet of clearance around the Roomba, they weren't kidding. The only spot it my house near an outlet only has 2 feet of clearance straight ahead of the Roomba leaving the dock. This causes the Roomba to map in a 2 feet circle and then return home. It refuses to map out the rest of the floor if it cannot back out of the dock the full 4.5 feet. After using an extension cord and giving the Roomba ample room to back out of the dock, then it works properly. So if you do not have a way for the Roomba to back out of the dock properly, you might have issues. Overall, this is a good robot that does an excellent job cleaning. Its just not the right system for people with heavy shedding pets or limited floor space.

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[Rewarded Review] A must have piece of Tech

I always thought these devices were just toys. Nothing could be further from the truth. In my home I have carpet, tile, and laminate floors.. This product cleans them all beautifully. After unboxing and not finding a real get started booklet I charged up the unit in its base station. I saw that there is an APP for my Google phone which I downloaded and followed the instructions on setting up the Roomba i5+. The APP connected my Roomba to my home network by providing step by step instructions. It only works on 2 Ghz Wi-Fi so I had to temporarily deactivate my 5Ghz network for the first connection only. Now the true power of the Roomba is on display on the APP.

[Rewarded Review] Great little robot vacuum!!

iRobot i5+ Roomba Vacuum + Self-Emptying

[Rewarded Review] Great Smart Vac with a Smaller Profile

We got this model to replace an i3+ because it seemed like the old model was starting to break down and this i5+’s tower has a smaller profile. The tower even includes a small space to store a replacement bag for the dirt dispenser, which is nice to have. The i5+ seems to be more responsive than the i3+ and has a better battery; with the i3+, there were times that it had to return to base to recharge in order to finish a “Vacuum Everywhere” job, whereas the i5+ was able to handle the same job on a single charge. I like that you can transfer maps from the old model to the new one through the app. It even keeps designated rooms. It’s nice that you can make customized room dividers, in case you have a section in a room that you don’t want touched, like if you have your Christmas tree up too long. It’s great that the app can track the product health, so you can see how much time you have left on the filter, the brushes, the bag, etc. If you like to stock up before things get used up, this is very useful.

[Rewarded Review] One less chore that I have to do

Received my IRobot I5+ and have been using it over the past week and love how well it does its job.

[Rewarded Review] Let the robots handle the cleaning from now on

This is my second roomba vacuum, I have an i3 as well, and I am loving this vacuum even more than my other one.

[Rewarded Review] Solid Little Cleaner

I’ve never used a Roomba before, so this review is my first time experiencing what these little machines are capable of. My upstairs is a smaller space with some winding corridors, so I was curious to see how well the Roomba would navigate in the area and how good of a job it would do at vacuuming the hardwood floors (and bathroom rug). Here are my thoughts…

[Rewarded Review] They keep getting better

I think I've now passed my first decade as an owner of a robot vac. This is now the third Roomba I've had in that time. This is my second with self-empty feature. As an owner of two long haired dogs, it's easy to say that every one of them has been put through its paces.

[Rewarded Review] Great floor cleaning with very little effort.

I’ll start with this; I’ve had older model Roombas in the past and have been a big fan of them overall since they help keep the floor clean without too much thought or effort on my part. With that said I’m happy to say that this vacuum is even better than some of the older models I’ve had. I was super surprised when I did the first full run with the vacuum running (after the mapping runs which don’t run the vacuum) that it is quieter than the previous Roombas that I’ve had before. This was a pleasant surprise because normally the worst part of any vacuum is the noise.

[Rewarded Review] Excellent feature set

Review for

[Rewarded Review] Great Roomba i5 with Self Emptying Vacuum

So first let me say that I have been VERY skeptical of these Roomba type vacuums for years. I just never trusted the claims, I didn’t trust the ability to maneuver from hardwood floors to carpet and back. Oh, and what about mats/etc or other things that may get in the way. I just was in disbelief of the ability of these devices to accurately discover, map and vacuum areas.

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