After lots of research and waiting for Black Friday deals, I decided to get the iRobot Roomba i3+ robot vacuum. After using an older Deebot for several years, I decided it was time for an upgrade. Roomba created the original robot vacuum back in 2002 and has been the leader in robot vacuums ever since. They were the first to come out with a self-emptying robot vacuum and they have several patents that keep them ahead of the competition. The + in their line up means they come with a self empty base station. They sell the i3, i7, and i9 without it, but if you are going to spend this much on a robot vacuum, I highly recommend getting the self empty station.
My older Deebot vacuum worked well but often got itself stuck and never made it back to its charging station. The main features I wanted in a new robot vacuum was, self-emptying, the ability to make itself back to charge and to not get stuck as often. So far the iRobot Roomba i3+ meets all these requirements. The price was much cheaper than the i7, and i9 due to the i3 not having a lidar camera. The camera allows the robot to know where it is located and learns to avoid certain items like cords etc. The Roomba i3+ is able to perform about the same but does not have all the smart mapping features. So far after a week of use, the iRobot Roomba i3+ has successfully run and not gotten stuck. Once it is full of debris or it needs to charge, it always returns back home to empty and charge. Compared to my previous Deebot, the improvements are amazing. It’s truly is a robot vacuum.
Pros
- Self-empty station with bags that make it easy to clean
- Does not get stuck
- Returns home to empty and charge
Cons
- Have to buy bags for the self empty station
- Does not have the ability to go to certain rooms since it does not have the smart mapping features
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Is it true that when it empties it sounds like an Apollo 13 rocket taking off for NASA? I did not find mention of other important features like noise level and how well it picks up dirt and size of the vacuum debris deposit. Also, do you have to empty the container the dirt empties into? So is it basically the same as emptying the vacuum itself?
Yes when the vacuum empties it is loud. The noise level of the vacuum is comparable to my other vacuum. In general roombas are quieter compared to other robot vacuums due to their duel brush design. The empty station contains a bag so you just pull it out and throw it away. The bags last up to 30 full roomba bins. It creates less of a mess when emptying compared to standard vacuum. See the video in the post for more info on suction and power.
If i own one i definitely hack it so when it start to work it says “foreign contamination” as seen in walle
I don’t remember the manufacturer that made the first vacuum of this type I had. But it was in the 1990’s.
That’s interesting I always thought it was roomba. Thanks for sharing!