iRobot Roomba j7+ (7550) Self-Emptying Robot Vacuum – Uses PrecisionVision Navigation to Identify & Avoid Objects Like Socks, Shoes, & Pet Waste, Smart Mapping, Self-Empty for Up to 60 Days

Context of this review:First time buyer of any model of IRobot Roomba vacuum.Purchased the J7+ that includes the robot and the waste station.I do like it. It is not perfect but after a couple of days of use, I am impressed.There is a learning period for both myself and the robot.1) First off, after unboxing, put the station in and put the robot into position to charge for a few hours. While charging download the app to your phone and connect. Read the user manual about how the ring light on the robot works. It is context based - charging, vacuuming, etc. - and means different things based on the context.2)The light on the waste station is peculiar and does not stay on when plugged in and charging.Nor does the light on the robot stay on when charging. There is a momentary initial light on each.3) I should have read up on from their support website about Smartmaps first. After a full charge, I let the robot run through the first floor of my home. On the initial pass, It was able to do about 2.5 rooms before it needed to be recharged. While recharging, I mistakenly cancelled the initial full floor job. It worked out OK after the second full floor job - completing the first map and a new second map at the same time. Be prepared to walk around with your robot to train it where not to go. I was able to use the pause button on the phone and the top button on the robot. However, it may be better to hit the sense bars on the robot to initially avoid areas while you create the first couple maps. Subsequently, I plan to mark out the no-go zones.4) Apparently, the position of the charge station is very important. You may want to plan this out in advance even before buying. The station needs to be near an outlet and have a clearance on each side of 1.5 feet, more distance is required if near a stairway. I am not sure how this effects your first maps if you move your station to another location on the same floor. iRobot advises getting a second waste station if you move your robot between two floors - one station for each floor. Clearly, the station position is important for the robot to know.5) Preparation of your home for the robot can be important before using it. Pet food bowls, electrical cords, and floor mats are some of the things to consider. I found the robot had problems with a raised fireplace hearth. It was low enough to try to go on top of it but had trouble negotiating while trying to vaccuum along the edge. The fire place hearth is one area I plan on giving a no-go zone to, as well as the pet food bowls. Because preparation is needed, I am not sure how useful scheduling is going to be, unless you have a sparse home with no pets and little moveable furniture.6) Maintenance - While on the first job ever, the vaccuum managed to wrap a cat play string around the rotating brush. I had to stop the robot and unwrap the string. (note to self - pick up all string) There was also cat hair around the rotating brush in the in joints of roller shafts that also needed clearing. I can see how maintenance is going to be a recurring thing with the robot, when you usually ignore your upright vaccums, but for emptying its bag and cleaning filters. Maintenance costs are going to be more than your upright vacuum, which you may want to consider with the upfront purchase costs.7) Cleaner home? With hair shedding pets, I can see how one's home may remain cleaner if you regularly run the robot. The robot can also run under some things (some couches, some cabinets) where you cannot vacuum with an upright. However, there are likely to still be some areas/rooms where you don't want to run the vacuum robot - areas near food bowls, cat litter boxes, and bathrooms.8) With a camera on the front of the robot, I think there is much that the irobot can do in programming it to clean better and navigate better.9) I have much to learn about using the robot due to my inexperience. However, I think I can make this work to keep my home cleaner.

01/02/2023 Update:I just had to provide this update for Anyone thinking about buying an iRobot device. Today I sent my J7 roomba out to clean the back bedrooms - which it has done on an established map many times before. On the first try - it wandered aimlessly, went back to the base station after 15 minutes and said "all done". NOT possible - the run time is typically 70 minutes - so I sent it out again. After 20 minutes it said "localization failed" - meaning this More Onic thing could not find itself on the previously established map. So - I sent it out a third time - which proved to be the charm - as it then completed the cleaning task. Of course because of the cheap battery (iRobot chose to send this vacuum with a wimpy 32 watt hour battery - oh yeah - for an additional $20 on this $600+ product they COULD have included a battery with TWICE the capacity - but Nooo- their hand in your pocket) it had to return to recharge after an hour, then completing the task in another 7 minutes. Just as another FYI - I'd previously noted a thin nylon line protruding from one of the main drive wheels. I am a pretty accomplished do-it-yourself-er, and after finding details on FixIt, decided to open the thing up. It is really quite straight-forward, BUT - the drive wheels were designed on purpose to prevent you from fixing them. The last gear on the drive wheel is pressed on over splines, requiring a lot of careful pressure for removal with a flat blade screwdriver to avoid destroying the gear. And even then, the wheel does NOT want to come out of the housing - I suspect because of the splines. Using 2 screwdrivers (one acting as a block) I was able to develop sufficient space between the wheel and the housing to remove the nylon tag, as well as a bunch of debris that had developed over the past year. Reassembly was a snap, and we were off to the races. As a part of this fix I needed to remove the bottom cover. After doing so, I noticed the battery only partially filled the battery space (see photo)!! The battery capacity on the OEM battery is listed at 32 Wh (watt hours), or 2.22 Amp Hours (Ah). Many on-line battery supply houses list replacement batteries up to or exceeding 5.6 Amp Hours - or almost 3 times the run-time of the OEM battery. Buyers scammed by iRobot again !!10/19/22 update.One of the poorest performing mapping robot vacuums I've ever seen. Despite being in use for almost a year, it continues to bump it's way along the room maps - almost like it's never been there before. In addition, I've been unable to figure out how to add an unmapped closet to the current map. Just leaving the closet door open - the thing just pokes it's nose in, then ignores it. Battery life is pretty poor - it'll vacuum for about 1 hour, then needs to recharge (no change compared to when new). It sees wires hanging down along a wall, and marks them as obstacles, avoiding several feet of carpet in the area. Even on a new job - upon identifying - say a chair leg - it fails to remember that, and bumps into it over and over again. It takes over 30 minutes to vacuum around our kitchen table with 4 chairs. Although I like the self-emptying feature, most other robot vaccums offer the same. I found our previous square nose vacuum did a far better job in corners. To add insult to injury - when I made several suggestions to iRobot on how they might improve their mapping system, they pretty much yelled at me for making suggestions, claiming they could never use those suggestions as it might violate 'intellectual property rights'. When this thing dies, I'll be going back to Neato - or possibly Shark.Roomba i7 Mapping Fails (4 mapping runs and 2 vacuum all runs) (12/31/21)Very discouraged. Got a Roomba i7+ (Auto Bin Empty) for Christmas (actually well before but ran it several times to be sure it worked). I sent it out first on a mapping only run - and it ended with the expected first-run 'mapping in progress' notice. Sent on a second mapping run - same notice. OK - sent it out on a vacuum all run - error message = unable to complete vacuum all as requested (map still 'in progress"). Sent on the third mapping run - ended with the 'mapping in progress' notice. Second Vacuum All run - "unable to complete all as requested" (Mapping still 'in progress). 4th mapping run - ended with 'mapping in progress'.Sure - we have a 4400 SqFt home, but the Roomba reports only 1700 SqFt mapped. Watching the device - it shows NO EVIDENCE of having been there before - running the exact same search pattern as before, bumping over and over into the same objects it encountered in previous runs. It was unable to detect the 1-1/2" step-down into our laundry room (hung up there until I placed a barrier in the way (it failed to recognize my magnetic no-go strips))Any suggestions would be appreciated.Given the size of my one-story house, I will close doors and otherwise create obstacles to make 3 separate maps. I spoke with iRobot Customer Service who confirmed that was the right approach. Reposition the base station within each of your 3 maps and create a unique map for each section of the house. When you want to vacuum that area, put the base station in the spot where mapping was begun, select the map of that area, and initiate cleaning. Kind of a kludge, but we can make it work.No excuse for them NOT including a simple hall effect sensor for magnetic strips.