iRobot Roomba Combo i5 Robot Vacuum & Mop - Clean by Room with Smart Mapping, Works with Alexa, Personalized Cleaning Powered OS, Ideal for Pet Hair, Carpet and Hard Floors

Reviews

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Review AI Summary

Customers find the robotic vacuum cleaner effective at picking up pet hair. It has strong suction power, but some customers have issues with battery life. Opinions vary on its functionality, cleaning ability, value for money, mapping feature, and ease of use.

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  Ray Kachel

  

  Jun 29, 2023

  When my 360 S5 lost it's mind I resorted to my old upright for a while but really missed a robot cleaner. The 360 was a quality vacuum but after a couple years decided it would only work in the kitchen, in every other room it acted like it was terrified and would not clean but a small area. Now to the iRobot i3. First I purchased it used as the price was really attractive. When it arrived it was in perfect condidion and had obviously never been used. It was unblemished and clean and included everything except it's original packaging. The software was easy to set up and tho I did have to run the mapping feature twice it mapped my small apartment quickly and accurately. Setting up the layout of rooms was easy and a nice feature (I don't always want to clean the whole apartment). Suction is OK (the 360 S5 had much stronger suction). I don't have pets so I'm not sure how well it picks up various kinds of hair. The spot clean feature is nice, with my old vac you set up a spot via the software with the iRobot you just put it where you want to clean a press the button on the robot. The dust bin is a bit on the small side but adiquate for my needs. The software is fairly easy to use and has some nice features (keeping track of the health of bushes and filters and a setting to prevent the robot from cleaning when the bin is full are nice). iRobot branded replacement filters are a bit expensive compared to off brand but might be worth it for me as I may only need one every 3 months or so. Overall if I'd paid full price I'd still be happy with the i3. That I paid considerably less for a used (though as I said above truly like new) robot I'm realy very happy.

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  William Thomas

  

  Jun 1, 2021

  I had two Roomba 692's which I used to clean my 1100 Sqft split level townhome. And even though they used the older "bounce" style navigation, were still effective cleaners. However, they tended to attack dirt and furniture with equal ferocity. That's why foam rubber bumpers for Roomba's are a thing you can actually buy here on Amazon. The 600's got the job done, it's just that it wasn't always pretty. Enter the i3. It's a master class in refinement. Not only does the i3 smartly navigate the home, but it is much more gentle on your furniture. It deftly figured out how to navigate the maze of table legs underneath my kitchen table, and it no longer attempts to leap over the stabilizing arm of my coffee table, like Bigfoot crushing a row of cars. It also seems to better cope with "low clearance" issues. It seems more cautious when entering tight fits and less likely to get stuck. Even the fit and finish of the I3 is a cut above. The textured plastic on the top looks like a cloth finish and is resistant to finger prints. The dirt bin has been redesigned to be "rinsed" so that it can be more easily cleaned. The i3 has higher suction while actually producing less noise. The rollers are also easier to clean of Pet Hair. The clean report at the end tells you exactly where it cleaned, and it's smart navigation allows for charge and resume, which is great for larger floorplans, or if you want the robot to simply do two passes for a given job. Since it knows where it's already cleaned, it finishes it's jobs in about half the time that the random navigation 600's do. And of course you don't get a detailed clean report with the 600's. The i3 is also compatible with the self emptying clean bin, and when paired with a Braava m6 mop, will automatically tell the mop to begin a cleaning job when it is done vacuuming. These are some great future proofing aspects. However, there are a few things you need to keep in mind. The lack of an upward facing camera, might ally some folk's privacy concerns regarding robot vacuums, but it also prevents the use of "smart mapping" and the ability to label rooms in a house, direct the robot to clean specific rooms, or the use of virtual "keep out zones". These advanced features are only available on the i7 and S9. The App does allow you to schedule cleanings, even multiple cleanings in a day. It also allows you use the location services on your phone to start a job when you leave the house. The App will keep a history of your last 30 cleanings, so you can review the clean maps from each one to see where your high traffic areas are. The ability to set the robot to clean multiple passes during a job, however, is a "global" setting in the app. It would be nice if this feature could be set for individual scheduled jobs, or "favorites". As it stands, the i3 is hindered by it's current position. It is hampered by the 600 series lower price, but users who want more advanced robots typically will pay full boat and get the more feature rich i7 or s9. iRobot should really position the i3 as it's entry level bot. It offers great cleaning capability, refined navigation, detailed clean reports, compatibility with a self emptying bin and it's M6 mop. It's the perfect starting point for iRobot's product line. Leave the Random Navigation to the cheap knock offs.

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