iRobot Roomba j7+ (7550) Self-Emptying Robot Vacuum –Identifies and avoids obstacles like pet waste & cords, Empties itself for 60 days, Smart Mapping, Works with Alexa, Ideal for Pet Hair, Roomba J7+

So far so good. It is still learning how to map the house and I had to manually empty the robot on the fifth time because the bag was full.

Context: Two humans and two cats in a 1400 sq. foot space with half hardwood flooring and half medium pile carpet. Weve had the J7+ for just about a year now, and it runs three times/week. Ive previously owned two Neato D5 models. Pros: Relatively quiet, efficient guidance system that avoids troublesome obstacles and questionable floor messes, well-designed app, easy to clean and maintain. It almost never gets stuck. The self-empty base is nice (but, see below). Cons: While quiet, the suction is poor. It is miserable at picking up cat hair and long human hair, despite any marketing that touts pet hair features or the unique brush design. Much of this hair simply accumulates around the brush spindles, which means that you absolutely must clean it every 3 runs or it will soon jam up (Roomba does make this relatively easy). Occasionally the hair ends up in odd little wads strewn about your carpet. Why? Given that I have to clean the thing every Saturday, what do I even need the self-cleaning base for? Bottom line: great vacuum for low-pile carpet or hardwood floors in homes without pets or humans that shed. Thats not us, and I wish we had either sprung for the higher end Roomba or perhaps tried a Roborock.

This robot is great but it doesn’t support Apple HomeKit.

The main issues are with the robot not alerting us when it frequently tangles itself up in a carpet edge or stray kid clothing or throw rug, etc. -- we come indoors to find it is not running and not on charger. It has not sent an Android notification (although we certainly get less relevant notifications from them), and it is not beeping or otherwise letting us know where/what the problem is. So we begin the Easter Egg hunt. You can push LOCATE but sometimes it has run the battery all the way down, as when it hooked itself on a spiral stairway pedestal bolt/nut. The software mapping is impressive BUT it has no provision to show you where the robot last stranded itself. And when we wish to exclude specific areas to avoid further problems in the future, the mapping doesnt allow us to see where prior problems were or to extrapolate where they might be precisely on the map the device created, which would seem to be a programming shortfall. The device seems to spend too much time traveling over same areas while passing by dirty areas. It also has a bad habit, when picked up from a trouble spot, of dumping dirt on the floor , or right in front of charger when you place it on charger manually because battery was dead. Then it doesnt know to vac up that dump. No apparent way to tell it to go to a specific spot, without designating an entire room. It does work well with Alexa from what weve seen and it is impressively persistent (bullheaded) at trying to enter a room you have closed off for safety reasons, that it previously found to be open. It actually knocked a spring-latched door open, entered the room, traveled to another room, bumped that door closed, and then found itself trapped in the last room because, of course, it doesnt know how to OPEN the door that it bumped. So it has made a lot of progress, and to its credit, we have a lot of obstacles like book stacks, etc., but some basic programming needs are lacking and we have tried to indicate those in the frequent surveys it requests, but no personal feedback from the company.

I really wanted to love the J7+. I researched it for weeks, read countless reviews and everything online was great. Of course there are some negative reviews but in my mind there will always be some. First I have to say I never write negative reviews. But this robot is a big disappointment. I have a dog and two cats and lots of pet fur that needs tending too daily. I’ve had the Roborock S4 max for two years running everyday for upkeep. It does a really good job but it doesn’t have an auto empty station. So, when the J7+ was 25% off. I was happy to upgrade my old robot. Day one: I ran it to create a map of my house. It spent a lot of time banging into everything and got scuffled up on it first run. It didn’t compete the map of my house. The directions say it’ll needs two or three runs to complete a map. So I know what to expect, no problem. Day two: it refuses to clean a 12 square foot area in my kitchen. It’s a a 4 foot wide open area with a single step down into another room. But it stays 3 feet away from the step/cliff. It still doesn’t complete the map of my house and spends most of its time banging into stuff. I notice it rolls up pet fur into what looks like strings of thick hair and leaves them all over my white carpet and it also likes to dump clumps of fur along the edges of my area carpets. Day 3: it still doesn’t complete the map and I have lots of areas on the map that it simply doesn’t go to. It got stuck on an imaginary obstacle on my hardwood floor with absolutely nothing around it. I run my other robot to complete the job and it picks up all that Roomba left behind. Each time it empties itself, it sounds like a jet plan in my house. Seriously a jet plane. Day 4: STILL cannot complete a map. It refuses to go into one bedroom. I pick it up and put in there to start mapping it. It creates a whole new map that can’t be connected to the original map. I have a single level home. It shouldn’t be this difficult to map it. Day 5: I try again, same results. I don’t have anymore patience nor time. I run my other robot and it completes over 2000 square feet in one run effectively and easily. I’m on Amazon writing this review and returning this roomba. Again I really wanted to love this robot. I really wanted to support an American company. I really wanted to believe the reviews. But they’re BS, no wonder it was 25% off. It stinks. Im giving it 3 stars because I feel bad giving it less and it’s better than manually sweeping everyday.

I have had this for a few weeks. It does a good job although to do the entire first floor, it takes most of the day. I have a long, ranch home about 2350 sq ft on the ground floor. It needs to go back and recharge when I set it to clean the entire floor. It does a good job about learning where the cat food and litter box are stored. It avoids cords and takes pictures of areas it is unsure about so I can tell it if the item in its path is there permanently or temporarily. The only problem I am having is getting it to clean specific rooms only. If I want just the bedroom cleaned, it cant seem to find the bedroom. It is marked on the map but maybe the distance from the base unit and my bedroom is too great. I am running a new map to see if I cant improve the map it has recorded. I am very happy with it but need to learn how to work out its quirks. It is likely human error. UPDATE: After using several weeks I need to update my review. This vacuum requires a great deal of patience. I direct it to clean the primary bedroom and it goes into the dining room and dances around there for a little while before finally going to the bedroom where it vacuums a few rows and returns to home base completed. It tells me repeatedly to empty the bin when the bin is empty. I did not realize until I removed the green rubber bars that the majority of the cat hair was clogging up the vacuum and never making it to the bin. I think it will require cleaning after each use, or at least every other use if you have a pet. I have 1 small, short haired cat, and the vacuum struggles with that cat hair. Some of the issues may be user ignorance and the more I learn the performance may improve, but I am not sure I would make this purchase if I had it to do over again.

This is our second Roomba in about 8 years. The “cutting edge” vacuum back then couldn’t empty its own bin, set up room maps, schedule beyond start/stop and definitely didn’t have an app. In this way, the J7+ is superior. It’s smarter and more hands-off, to be sure. I love being able to start a routine via app and be able to check in on progress along the way. As for actual vacuuming, though, this one falls far short. It does a pretty good job on our short berber carpet but not a great job - at ALL - on the Saltillo tile that covers most of our house. It leaves small bits and pieces on the tile and almost always leaves balls of rolled up pet hair on rugs and carpeted areas (picture is attached, apologies in advance). I’ve gotten to the point of doing a single job twice in a row so she can pick up the dirt or hair she moved around but left behind in the first go. This isn’t the end of the world, but doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense. Like the older version, she will still get stuck when one wheel is up on a tile and the other is on a rug with a thick pile. We’ve come home a few times to find she was stopped with a dead battery because she couldn’t extract herself and return to the charging base. The convenience of having an automated robot vacuum is still high on my list, no doubt. Regardless of the issues outlined above, this machine does help keep the floors moderately clean in between deeper sessions with the traditional vac. I am just disappointed in the performance - especially given the price point and the fact that this is supposed to be such a grand upgrade over the earlier models. The company put a lot of energy into making a smarter vacuum that doesn’t handle the basics very well. A word of advice: the OEM bags that belong to this model (2 deliver in the box) do not hold much and, after they’re used, get thrown into the trash. Before buying more, check around for off-brand bags that are reusable and have a zipper along the back that allows the bag to be emptied.

I love this Roomba. I was hesitant to purchase another Roomba after the first one left so many scuff marks on my furniture (maybe 6 to 7 years ago), but this one is different. I honestly dont know how I lived without it. Is it perfect? No, but neither am I when I vacuum. Do I answer my own questions? Not usually, but Im a little drunk. Whats my biggest fear? Someone at work noticing this and bringing it up during our morning meeting. Shhhh. Anyway, have some discretion in morning meeting and buy this Roomba.

I bought a used item in very good condition for $200 off. Came in a damaged box, but contents were still wrapped in original shipping material and undamaged. Terrific deal! I have a large home with a convoluted floorplan. The iRoomba j7+ mapped the entire area using 3 outings, including me manually placing it in the middle of an uncharted area-- it not only mapped it but figured out how it fit to the existing map. Love that I can say OK Google, vacuum around the fireplace and the mess made from emptying ashes and loading wood is gone. The spinning brush gently sweeps all dust and debris from the floor edges along the walls. Navigates over, next to, around area rugs with ease, doesnt damage rug fringe on my Persian rugs. Wish my bed wasnt so low or it could get all the dust bunnies under there. I love watching it move around and leaving clean floors when done. I got the companion mop robot that can be programmed to work with the vacuum by automatically mopping after vacuuming. Nothing negative to say about it.

This vacuum is great, cleans extremely well. We have three dogs, but you wouldnt be able to tell as this vacuum picks up all the hair so well. The only negative I can say is that the vacuum is so noisy when it empties into the tank. Other than the noise its a perfect vacuum.