iRobotRoomba j7 (7150) Wi-Fi Connected Robot Vacuum - Identifies and avoids Obstacles Like pet Waste & Cords, Smart Mapping, Works with Alexa, Ideal for Pet Hair, Carpets, Hard Floors, Roomba J7

Do you need the J7 model or a different Roomba model? Had the J7 for a week so far with excellent results. I experimented first with a 600 series Roomba but realized I needed the more advanced mapping, front camera, obstacle recognition features of the J7. it recognizes charger cords, sock, boxes, or stack (and is even guaranteed to recognize pet pooh and avoid it). For me this higher tech mapping and recognition lets me not worry if household projects mean I have left out a box or shoes, whatever, in the room. The J7 recognizes stuff like that and cleans around it without getting stuck. Some other models, including the higher end S9 I think, require you pick up more and tidy more before you clean. That's just fine for people whose house stays more organized all the time than mine does. Meanwhile, the cleaning features of the J7 work brilliantly. The S9 has more suction power, and more edge cleaning intensity, so I wondered if I'd be regretting that, but the J7 cleans my hardwood floors and my low pile area rug brilliantly. I've read that deeper pile carpet will benefit from more suction, but my house is mostly hardwood floor and the J7 is brilliant at that my one 10'x16' rug is spotless too.Do you need the self-emptying feature, the "+"? It's such a good feature that it was tempting. However, I was upgrading from a 600 series and wary of spending the high premium for the self-emptying feature when I was finding a good discount on the J7 by itself. What I have found so far is the J7 can easily clean the three large rooms I use it for, clean them fully three times before I get a message the dust bin needs to be emptied. Roomba customer service explained you can expect 800 sq ft of cleaning before you have to empty the bin. This varies probably and that's square feet as measured by the Roomba's cleaning pattern which won't include some of your furniture and fixtures so the cleaned footage measured will be lower than your actual room square footage as measured for the property.Also I wanted to put the Roomba's dock in a spot against my wall where I didn't want the taller self-cleaning box to stick up above the dock. It's a well designed box and not as tall as the i4 model's version, so that shouldn't stop you if you have a spot for it. Worth noting: you need to locate the dock against a well where you have at least 18" or so of space on both sides, and four feet if room in front of the Roomba. That's for navigation.The J7 dust bin is so easy to remove, empty, and replace, that it's just not an issue for me--certainly don't regret not having the self-emptier at this point. The dust bin parts are designed well: a button on the side pops the bin out the side of the machine; another button opens the bin so you can dump it once you have it over the trash. The filter comes out easily too so it can be tapped on the trash bin to clear it. Customer service tells me the dust bin can be washed in warm water and soap too, so you can get it quite clean if you want. They said not to get the filter wet though. One thing to consider is that the Roomba sides can get dusty too from cleaning, even the top can get a bit dusty because it cleans under couches so well and under cabinets, when there's room for it. That means that I've been wiping down the J7 after a full clean of all three rooms. Maybe this won't continue--my rooms were neglected for a while so my J7 may be cleaning more dust this first week than it will clean in the future. In the two rooms it's cleans several times now, it doesn't' get dusty.Even if the outside of the Roomba stays clean, however, the dust bin itself will be be a bit dusty when you remove it. So if handling the bin while you empty it bothers you, then the "+" self-emptying feature is for you. If you have the "+" feature, the dust from weeks of cleanings empties into a collection bag you eventually pull, discard, and replace with a new bag.Mapping: One of my rooms is two steps down from other two. The mapping is so clever I just lift the Roomba down to the lower level and say "Siri, tell [J7] to clean the [room]". The J7 figures out where it is in the room and cleans it fully. When it tells me it's finished, I put it back on the higher level and say "Siri, tell [J7] to go home" and it heads for its dock to charge.Customer service: easy and quick to ask questions.

Amazing device. Setup was really easy. The mapping of the apartment took a little over an hour but was very accurate and didn't require any reruns. The scheduling ability in the app is great because I set it to turn on around the same time I have to wake up so I cannot hit snooze too often. Not to say that it's loud. It's quiet as far as vacuums go. I am not sure why there are complaints about it being loud since it is quieter than just about any other non robot vacuum I've used.I was a bit worried as the pickup part is different than typical vacuums as well but it has been working great and often picks up stuff that my normal boo stick vacuum misses.Haven't tried the mopping function and probably won't. It would probably be a little more effective than a Swiffer mop based on how it looks.

This is the 3rd Roomba that I've bought over the last 10 years. I really-really wanted to like it. I would love it except for the fact that the SOFTWARE IS GARBAGE. The thing is completely unusable for me 98% of the time. It won't start... it can't connect... the battery is too low... something else is wrong... blah-blah-blah.There's this useless "spinning circle" on the top of the unit. It's always either flashing, spinning, blinking or something else. What does this mean?? What's it trying to tell me?? Is something wrong??? Who knows!!!How about a simple little $1 LCD display that tells me things like "Charging", "Low Battery", "Error" or something useful. It's super finicky putting it into the charging station. If it's off by 1/4" then it doesn't charge. I have no idea if it is charging or not, if it's in correctly or what the problem is. Every time I want to use it there's an "Error. Something went wrong. Try again." Sorry Roomba but this is NOT helpful at all.When it works I love it. It works great and doesn't smash into my furniture like the older models that I had. But it doesn't work often enough. Every time I try to do something with it I'm unable to connect and there is ZERO indication from the Roomba vacuum itself why it's not working. I'm supposed to use the app to control, run and diagnose this thing. Unfortunately the app VERY RARELY works which makes this useless.I would love to buy one for my daughter who has a dog and could really use this. But I refuse to subject her to such a horrible piece of junk. When it works it works great. But there are too many SOFTWARE PROBLEMS for me to recommend this to anybody.Sorry Roomba. I've been a customer for a long time but this is the worst until from you that I have ever owned.,