iRobot Roomba i7+ Review

Cleaning is one of the toughest tasks for any homemaker. Especially when you don’t have enough time, an intelligent machine can ease your life. iRobot Roomba i7+ is an emblem of automation.

The next-gen home appliance is an improved version of its leading robot vacuum. Roomba i7+ can start automatically, collect the dirt and empties its dust bin into a larger, easily manageable dock.

Design

If this is the first time you are looking at the Roomba, then you can be confused as it doesn’t look like a traditional vacuum cleaner. It’s a premium-looking black plastic-clad with charcoal grey on the top and a wide black bumper on the front.

On the top, you can see three buttons – one with ‘Home’ symbol, second with ‘Location’ and the third one ‘Clean' button in the centre. Buttons are quite responsive and register the pushes with minimal feedback.

At the bottom, there are two rubber wheels and one small roller wheel front and centre. The two rubber rollers have chevron patterns that guide dirt into the vacuum chamber. Also, a three-spoke side brush is added that spins along ahead of the right wheel. A floor-tracking sensor sits on the opposite side, quietly mapping out the surroundings.

The rounded clad has a small dustbin that pops out with a push of a button. It is small in size meaning requires frequent cleaning, but don’t worry, the Clean Base has a much larger footprint than other vacuum bases. Roomba empties the dustbin automatically.

The Clean Base has a more sophisticated look with no button. The base has only led light and a power cable. The clean base charges the Roomba as well as store the dirt in a large dirt bin.

Setup

Setting up Roomba i7+ is quite easy, just connect the clean base with power and Roomba robot to the base. It is controlled via the iRobot Home app, available for both Android and iOS.

Connect the robot to the phone and home/office Wi-Fi network. Simply follow the steps of the app for the initial setup. In the first few times, Roomba gives you the option of cleaning and mapping the house.

In the training run, it maps your house floor, that you can view in the app and make changes by adding and removing virtual boundaries. You can also name each room in the app. It can store up to 10 different floor plans, that you can edit any time. For instance, if you are adding or removing new furniture, you can draw an extra boundary line.

The app lets you schedule the cleaning time; you can plan your week as per your preference. This feature, enhances the experience, as you can plan the clean when you are out for your work. Additionally, you can choose the room to clean using the app.

Performance

Once the Roomba setup is done, it starts at the scheduled time and cleans the floor. the robot roams around each room’s corner and sucks the dirt. The robot captures almost every type of dirt from small to large, even it can suck small piles without spreading them around.

Roomba robot has only 3.7 inches of height, meaning it can fit under the furniture with a floor clearance of 4 inches. While cleaning our bedroom, it managed to go under the bed. Its powerful vacuum sucks various left alone papers and other small size articles.

Not only floor, but it can also clean the rug, only corners and edges cleaning wasn’t satisfying, as it was bumping on its edges. The side brushes help to grab the dirt from the corners, but it spun slowly on the rug.

Till now we talked about its various features, now its cleaning efficiency. In our lab test, it managed to sweep all type of small grime. The large particles like pieces of snacks, pencil dust, etc. it was more than 97 per cent efficient. On the rug, it was average, depending on different types of rugs, it can be better.

It is quite quick on cleaning the mess on different surfaces. Its side brush is fast enough to grab the dirt, but hair stuck on it with over 90 per cent of efficiency.