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+

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.

A friend had one and raved about it so I bought one. I like it. It won’t replace all your cleaning but it is good for picking things up between cleanings. Quite loud on my tile floors though.

We had a 7 year old roomba that was finally struggling, which we replaced with the j7+. If you have one of those old roombas with the random patterns, no app, and no self-emptying and you’re on the fence - just buy this thing! It’s a huge step up. The rollers almost never get clogged with hair, it doesn’t run over or into obstacles, doesn’t get caught in cables, doesn’t roll over our toes, won’t track material all over your house if it runs while it’s home alone, doesn’t get stuck under furniture, runs in a predictable way, and is super easy to schedule and manage with the app. In short, you’re going to spend a lot less time rescuing and watching this model. I also find it to be significantly quieter than the older model, and it cleans more deeply too. I find the battery doesn’t last quite long enough to clean our entire 1700 sqft house in one go, but it cleans half per day very well without needing to charge, which feels like enough that our stays clean. I love our j7. It’s been a game changer.

It definitely works better than the last robot vacuum we had 7 years ago, but after about 10 days it started having sensor issues, emptying issues, couldnt find home, dog hair wrapped around the front wheel, etc. Familiar problems from the past, but at a higher price tag. Cleaning the vacuums sensors and resetting it seems to resolve the problems for another week or so. I guess I was just expecting less trouble for the price. Going to demo another make/model and keep the winner. Update: we tried a few different brands, and this device was by far the best performer due to the built in camera. It still needs attention every 5 days or so, but it beats vacuuming the old way, no question. If youre not in a hurry, considering waiting to see what other brands come up with once they start integrating cameras as well.

My first robotic vacuum and Im a fan. Have used for about 7 months now without issue. If only it would do stairs.

The fact that Roomba can empty his own dustbin and then go right on back to cleaning is a game changer in my opinion (we started referring to the self-emptying feature as ‘goin potty like a good boy!!’ so our 100lb Doberman knows Roomba is a friend, not a scary bad guy). And if you’re already upset I’ve gendered Roomba as he/him, it’s probably best for you to move on to a different review—No disrespect intended whatsoever— it’s just that in our house, for whatever reason, Roomba’s a boy robot (but for the record we’d love him no matter what). Moving on. We’re in a single story house w/ mostly tile & rugs in the areas Roomba ventures (I use a regular vacuum for the carpet in the bedrooms). In all truth I could probably let him explore the bedrooms cause he seems to be pretty powerful & effective, we just hadn’t needed the extra cleaning power in those rooms since the doors mostly stay closed. The main concern was the tiled areas since that’s where most of the day to day traffic is… especially from the aforementioned sweet monster puppy, Rambo, who often comes barreling inside w/ 4 dirty monster puppy paws. Thus, for our specific needs, Roomba has certainly *understood the assignment*…or whatever the Gen Z’s say? **side note: this is the first time I’m realizing the ‘Roomba’ / ‘Rambo’ name combo. It’s like they’re siblings. Cute….? Weird…? Okay, once again—moving on. Sure, there might be more ‘tech savvy’ options for robot vacuums but I tell ya what, this lil dude WORKS & he don’t call it quits til’ he’s FOR REAL finished w/ the job. Like, one day over the holidays I made a huge mess w/ some glitter & other crap while decorating & poor Roomba was working so hard he had to stop cleaning, go back home to his charging station, go potty, & take a lil nap. THEN!!! Yall! he woke back up on his own & went straight back to cleaning until he’d completed the entirety of his map!! I was so impressed!! like dang what a responsible, reliable hard worker! AND independent! He doesn’t require much support or guidance at all, he just figures out where he’s going & uses his robot brain to generate a map that you’re able to edit & label within the app (if you want). Speaking of which— the app is very user friendly & has lots of options to customize Roomba to function however you choose. The single time I had to contact customer service was a positive experience- they were great. This purchase was a good one!! No complaints from us— I love this robot vacuum and I feel like the price is reasonable for the high quality & reliability of the product. Except Rambo still doesn’t trust him b/c Roomba sucked up some of his kibbles (told y’all Roomba don’t care!). But Rambo is the one who slung his food everywhere & made a mess, so that’s on him not Roomba.

This is the best money Ive ever spent on a cleaning product. I hate vacuuming but I love clean floors. I have a dog and lots of visiting pets, mostly carpets and some tile. This little robot does it all. After about 3 or 4 mapping runs he knew my whole apartment, it was super easy to set up cleaning zones, and I can set it and forget it and he cleans the whole apartment weekly and my main living areas daily. Been doing it for over 3 months now. My floors have never looked so good. Best parts? 1. Plugs himself back in and cleans himself out. Will pause a job to recharge if needed and resume when charged. 2. Sends me a notification to my phone if he gets stuck, needs a part replaced, or the bag is full 3. Vacuums my thick rugs with fringe that sit on carpet with no issues. 4. Makes the nice, professional looking vacuum lines on my carpets. 10/10 5. You get to name it and can put googly eyes on it. In my opinion, this makes the little robot a full fledged member of the family. Downsides? 1. He has gotten stuck on these sheer curtains I have that drape on the floor, I just put them up if hes set to clean that room and the problem is solved 2. He doesnt deep clean. He cant get corners and edges perfectly. Youll still need the occasional deep clean with a regular vacuum and moving furniture. I highly recommend this little robot. From reading reviews of others, these newer versions are MUCH better than the older ones.

I’m a normal guy…. Using the term loosely. We have three dogs in the house. Two puggles and a beagle, so there’s a lot of hair. So much pet hair. We have LVP flooring throughout the house, no carpet at all. This little guy is awesome! We just moved into the house about a month ago, the J7 will work without internet, it’s just not as nifty. But it does its job. With Wi-Fi, this sum bitch is my new best friend. He runs every other day, and the floors stay clean. We just moved into a newly built house, so we don’t have a yard….. we have a dirt bowl and the pups bring in a lot of dirt when they go out. Even with that my little suck machine keeps everything picked up. When he’s doing his thing he’s not loud, but you know he’s there working. It’s much quieter than a conventional vacuum. He cleans about 1600 square feet for us in about an hour and a half. The AI is great because it will recognize the dogs toys and just work around them. So theoretically it won’t smear doggy dooty all over my house. The dogs hate regular vacuum cleaners, but they don’t even notice this thing. If they are laying in the floor it actually just works around their lazy butts. I have to change the bag about every two weeks, but amazon has an off brand version of the bag that is about $1.50 each, so no big deal. It’ll tell you when the bag is full, and it takes 3 seconds to swap bags. The only thing that is loud is when the vacuum transfers the load of dirt to the base station. It is more like a shop vac on the volume scale, but it only takes about 10 seconds for it to be done. As far as purchases that I stressed about and researched, I put days into reading about various brands. This is the best purchase I have probably ever made for keeping the house tidy. If the little bastard could bring me a beer, it would be perfect!

Not sure about it

Compared with a broom and a dustpan, it is OK; its cat fur-ball cleaning capability is zilch. (Use a Dustbuster for that). However, because it is so well designed for the lazy man, my hardwood floors and rugs get cleaned a LOT more often, so that is a big win--I wont tell you how rarely they got cleaned before. Also, like all carpet vacuums, it cant get the edges. Again, use a Dustbuster. UPDATE 6/22/23: If you have cats, expect to have to open and empty the bin on the Roomba itself weekly. The cat hair doesnt get sucked out by the base. I have short haired cats, if I had long haired cats I probably would be cleaning the bin on the Roomba daily.