The i7 can target specific areas within your rooms, like in front of the couch or under a table, for easy, hands-free clean-up, with just the sound of your voice*. It learns where and when you normally clean to offer personalised schedules, even suggesting extra cleaning during allergy or pet moulting season. It’s no good setting up cleaning schedules and going out, only for the robot vacuum to beach itself on a trainer after five minutes and not manage to clean.

Get the hottest deals available in your inbox plus news, reviews, opinion, analysis, deals and more from the TechRadar team. Automatic emptying is handled via a new vacuum port that, when the vacuum is docked, attaches to a vacuum port in the dock that immediately sucks up whatever is in the dust bin into the Clean Base. But bear in mind that you’ll want to schedule it to run while you’re out of the house to make the most of its features and minimise its flaws.The robot cleans in a methodical back-and-forth fashion that becomes more efficient the more times it cleans the same area.

It would be used by a total beginner and sometimes with no smartphone/tablet as well so the ease of use is important. The dual brushes are uniquely designed with rubber treads that stay in constant contact with different floor surfaces - from hard floors to carpets - adjusting and flexing, to get everything from small particles like dust and dirt, to hair and large debris. I'm open to other brands, with about the same budget or less (ps: I'm in Europe), but i feel quite lost because some reviews are contradicting. Both Roombas are circular in shape, with improvements to the rubber rollers to make them better at picking up dirt.Finally, I went for the trickier edge test, sprinkling flour on the floor right up to the plinth in the kitchen. The iRobot limited warranty shall not apply to failures or problems which are caused by products or equipment not authorised by iRobot Corporation. The i7+ can also remember up to 10-floor plans, so if you wish, you can use it on both, or indeed, all 10 floors of your house. As well as its self-emptying tech, the i7+ has brilliant mapping that’ll let you target specific pieces of furniture or parts of a room for a clean. With Imprint® Link Technology, your Roomba® i7/i7+ Robot Vacuum and Braava jet® m6 Robot Mop can team up to vacuum and then mop in perfect sequence, giving your floors a comprehensive clean without any effort from you.

If you’ve got a smart speaker, you’ll be able to give the iRobot Roomba i7+ instructions and set it to work without having to lift a finger. It has no problem with small debris like rice but it struggles a bit more with large debris, which end up getting caught in the brushroll, keeping it from spinning. They will even suggest an extra clean when your area’s pollen count is high or during pet-shedding season. This was useful under our kitchen table and by the front door – the i7 managed to get virtually everything sucked up.iRobot sticks with vSLAM and as it’s used on Mars landers, so it should be good enough for your robot cleaner. inches (HWD), which is going to take up a significant amount of floor space wherever you decide to put it. Once you’ve set up the dock, the i7+ will need to charge for at least an hour, but three hours is advised. If you're interested in understanding how we test our products, check out our detailed robot vacuum testing procedure. Today, we have millions of users a month from around the world, and assess more than 1,000 products a year.

From there, you can tell Roomba to clean specific rooms in your space after you've designated those spaces using the iRobot app. There’s a camera in the centre and at the front is the RCON sensor, which allows the i7+ to find its dock and virtual boundary marker.

The display of third-party trademarks and trade names on this site does not necessarily indicate any affiliation or the endorsement of PCMag. With Clean Base® Automatic Dirt Disposal, the i7+ can empty its own bin for up to 60 days without your intervention into an AllergenLock™ bag — it’s just one more way the i7+ gets the whole job done for you. litre bin, which is a fairly standard size as far as robot vacuum cleaners go, and it pulls out from the rear of the unit. The iRobot Roomba i7 is a robot vacuum with a unique automatic dirt disposal built into its charging dock. There’s very little practical difference between the two models, but we think that if you have pets at home then the J7’s front-facing camera is worth having: it’s better to prevent unfortunate accidents than to deal with their aftermath.