iRobot Roomba Reviews

I am a gadget freak and have a particular fondness for vacuum cleaners (don't ask). We currently have two regular excellent Shark vacuums, one for each floor. I am the person in charge of vacuuming when we are having guests. (Even if the house was vacuumed a few days ago!!) When my wife asked me what I wanted for my birthday, I told her I wanted to try a Roomba so that I could have "someone else" do my vacuuming duties. And that is what I got.

This experience is in my completely renovated home. (Everything is new except studs in the walls.) This machine has left black marks from the plastic body on all of my white baseboards. I wipe off the body each day, so it is not dirt. All baseboards will need to be repainted. It has also climbed the metal pedestal bases of all my chairs, scratching them to the point that they need to be replaced. (These were new also). I am unsure how the machine is able to do this since it cannot propel over a piece of tortilla chip on the floor. I would advise against ever purchasing this item.

All that I can say is that I am simply amazed. I had serious reservations about spending money on a Roomba 960 but the reviews were all so positive, that I decided to go for it. We have lived in our new single story 2,000 SF home for a little over a year. With a back yard and two dogs the tile floors required daily (and sometimes more) sweeping to remove all the dirt, sand, grass, hair and dust bunnies. I was getting tired of all of the furniture moving and cleaning each and every day and decided to give the robot a try, knowing that I could return same if not satisfied. It arrived only 3 days after placing the order directly from iRobot. I programmed it to do the entire house, (except for the master bed and bath whose door is kept closed at night due to its separate A/C system), at midnight. The bedroom and bath are done independently several times a week during daytime hours.

They don't mention the fact that the vacuum won't clean dark surfaces. It thinks the dark surface is a cliff and they don't allow the cliff sensors to be shut off. I would never have bought this if I had known about it not being able to vacuum black carpet. This is what they said, "Whenever Roomba approaches a dark surface, Roomba can mistake these surfaces as cliffs or drop off and will try to back away from it or eventually stop with an Error 6 code. This is unavoidable, in certain situations we recommend that Virtual Walls be used to confine Roomba to desired areas. We do apologize, but there isn't a way to disable this feature with the cliff sensor. We do understand that the carpet is one of the most important things to be cleaned. We have noticed that some customers increase the lighting by opening windows and adding extra lights etc in the areas that has the dark surfaces are and it worked for them."

We have tried every way to get help repairing our 805 AeroForce unit nothing happens. American English is not used for verbal information... Online info does not seem to exist. Time lost trying to overcome this problem has gone into hours and still no help. Do NOT buy direct from company. Purchase thru COSTCO ONLY. They issue credit and take cleaner back.

Roomba 980 - While iRobot continues to develop technically somewhat sound products, don't count on their technical customer service to help you in any way. First of all their English is very poor. 2nd they are very poor listeners. iRobot might as well automate their technical support. No difference. Do not connect to their cloud. It is unsafe. Treat their products as disposable and price is all that matters when considering robot vacuums. I should have done more comparisons. They are quick to sell you more parts to throw at a problem, but not technical enough to go beyond a script they are given.

I bought my first Roomba in 2006. It worked great for the first year, and it was a novelty that I was completely taken with. But after the first year, it ran less and less between chargings. iRobot suggested that I replace the battery, which I did for about $49.99 (as I remember). It never ran for more than 50 or so minutes after the replacement, and after a few months began to do strange things, like run around in circles, or go backward & forward in a straight line. When it began to buck (like a bronco!) I contacted iRobot. (And yes... I did clean it after every use & regularly picked out the hair & lint).

Our iRobot Roomba 960 has never worked in the 16 months that we have owned it. Even when brand new, it would never clean the whole house and would die at some point. When I called customer service, I was told that our house is too big and that I couldn't expect it to clean that much area. That's utter nonsense -- the house is only 2750 square feet. Nonetheless, we closed off all areas of the house except the living room, the dining room and the kitchen -- about 1000 square feet and the darn thing still died without recharging.

I bought my Roomba (iRobot Roomba model 891) about 3 weeks ago, and I have used it 8-10 times already on our hardwood floor. My wife noticed that there are scratches, long scratches, a straight line and some are curve and some are round. Especially where the runner were, (I removed the 2 runners in the hallway to wash them, and then I closed all the doors and blocked off the entryway so the Roomba can just clean that area). And that's where my wife noticed the scratches. And then we survey the whole house and my wife was right, there's scratches all over the house (1st floor is all hardwood flooring) from the living room to the kitchen to the family room to the hallway and all the 3 rooms downstairs. They all have scratches (most are straight line scratches, these scratches are hard to see, you can see it in an angle and if light is bright).

We like our vacuum but she gets stuck under furniture. We do have several virtual walls. It runs out of battery power before it finds home. Sometimes it has a hard time finding home before it runs out of power. Other than the above it is doing very well. It would be nice if we could upgrade without a huge expense as we are a loyal customer.

We bought Roomba 980 14 months ago. It has finally died. There is no service for it. It must be replaced. iRobot/Roomba is offering $100 off another Roomba 980. Fail. We paid $999 for Roomba and after 12 months we had already replaced the filter and extractors 10 times at $69. 2 months ago, the left wheel died, so we bought a new one for $29. The day the wheel arrived, the cleaning head died, costing another $59. A week later, the battery died! That was $79. The "better" battery cost $99, but we opted for the one that came with our unit. The same day the battery was installed, the charger died! Another $59! 2 weeks ago, the fan motor, costing us another $15. During this time of continual breakage, extractors were replaced another 2 times and the filter once.

It does a great job on level ground and really keeps the dust and pet hair cleaned up. It is a bit loud if you are on the phone, etc. For a small machine used daily it really helps with light cleaning!

After just over 2 years, my iRobot Roomba 700 series started giving me the ‘brush cleaning’ error. I maintain my Roomba well. It opened up the casing and gave it a clean. Eventually I became an expert in disassembling and reassembling my Roomba as I opened and cleaned everything (including gears, sensors and every part I could remove)! Eventually I contacted iRobot via chat where it was recommended that I buy a new cleaning head, which I did. I assembled it when it arrived and still, no dice. It wouldn’t clean longer than 10 minutes and was doing it in weird cleaning patterns and then errors out again. I once again contacted iRobot customer service and the rep called me at home to help. It was recommended that I needed to replace the robot now far out of warranty.

I am disabled, pushing a vacuum on most days is not feasible. The Roomba makes keeping my floors and home clean without injuring myself. The only issue are corners which I need to sweep since my version does not get into them as well. I have a long hair dog so I need to empty the bin after each cleaning since the collection space is small.

The vacuum moves about fairly regularly, but skips a number of spots. It takes the machine about four times as long to vacuum as it would if I were using a regular one myself.

My dogs love to chase it. Quiet and efficient. Not bad on energy usage and not hard to use. Picks up pretty good and easy to clean. Definitely would recommend for any household.

This cleaner makes vacuuming easy! I set my Roomba down in the middle of the room, close the door and come back later to find it all clean. It's great for carpet, wood floors, and tiled areas. I have to make sure I empty the container after each cleaning, but other than that, it is hassle-free. It sure beats pushing a heavy cleaner around the room. It will go under the dresser and zips in and out around the room until all is clean. It makes a deetaldeedee! sound when all is clean and it is through.

This product gets very confused, there is no set pattern. It goes until it hits an object and then turns turns turns. I watched this product for an hour and quite frankly it doesn't hit 1/2 of my cleaning surface because of its confusion. I paid a lot for this product and it is NOT WORTH IT!

This product excels at moving messes from one area to another, going to places it has already done or shouldn't, knocking things over, and destroying all cords it comes across. It clogs up almost immediately and then starts moving messes around. It is topnotch at taking hair from one area and then placing it underneath tables and doors. And if that isn't enough it breaks down within weeks of using it.

Spent almost 500.00 on the vacuum, only to find out it only lasts about two years, before receiving charging error 5. A call to customer support to find the ONLY solution was purchasing a new one??? Yeah, I will not be throwing my money away like that any longer! Thanks, but no thanks.

If I could give a negative rating I would! The expensive iRobot Roomba worked for little over a year, after purchasing a new battery, the Roomba stopped working all together. Customer service does not help you fix the Roomba, they offer 25% discount on a new one, which I think it's their marketing strategy, to sell more product. It is the biggest scam I've ever had. The Roomba cost over $600 which I purchased from Bed Bath & Beyond, another $50 for a new battery, over all this $650 vacuum cleaner worked about 1 year and half and customer service over the phone did not care at all. I wish I have read these reviews before my purchasing. Please do not spend your money on this piece of junk! Mine is ready to go in the trash.

Buyer beware (my experience -- long), July 21, 2017. By. This is a general review for the iRobot Roombas and not a specific model. IRobot does NOT have a repair center to fix a broken Roombas. If your Roombas will no longer work after warranty the best they will do is offer a discount on a replacement Roomba. My story: in 2008 I purchased the top model at that time. After 4 months of use or less than 12 uses, we found we were moving and after cleaning the Roombas and removing the battery I packed the Roomba. Due to unexpected circumstances the Roomba ended up in storage. It worked perfectly when I packed it.

I'm beginning to dislike our Roomba. I think they are best suited for a square room. Ours is not, it very open and the Roomba wanders from one room to the next, down the hall, under the dining room table and gets hung up on the chair legs and it never shuts off. It must be looking for its docking station and can't find it. That's because it's down the hall in another room going around in circles. The virtual wall does help but I'd need 5 or 6 of them to keep it confined to where I want it. It can get out of the living room by going under the couch and out the back, which it does. I made a test today by putting it in a small room with the door closed. It ran for over an hour and a half and never did shut off. Again I think it was looking for its docking station so I guess it must be moved from room to room too. The room was cleaned though. I'm thinking of sending it back to Amazon. It's not suited for our house. BTW... the dog doesn't like it either.

In theory, great idea. Who wouldn't love an automatic vacuum cleaner that cleans for you and you never have to think of doing it on a regular basis? However, this thing is terrible and such a headache. Before it turns on, I have to literally go from room to room removing any possible small items it may get stuck on. I have to close all the kids rooms b/c they have so many small toys that would demolish the roomba. I have to close my room off b/c I have too many cords from charging devices that might get sucked up and render the roomba useless.

Very expensive product that doesn't live up to its worth. It takes more time to clean the overpriced piece of crap than it does to vacuum manually. Don't waste your money on this worthless pile of junk. I gave mine away for free and the recipient had the same review. Said it sucked even for a gift. Roomba blows and sucks at the same time!

Roomba 650 - We purchased our Roomba about 18 months ago. We have dark cork flooring throughout the house so you can see every speck. Roomba has been a godsend. No problems except the occasional eating of iPhone lightning cords. I empty the bin and clean off the brushes every two days or so. Had a wheel module fail at month 14: diagnosed and ordered new one. Customer service was VERY polite and helpful during this process. Am now replacing the brushes when I noticed all the negative reviews here. I would recommend this product to anyone with the caveat; you have to maintain it. When this one finally dies we'll get another as a second!

This is the opposite of a cleaning robot. My carpets might get spotless, in one area, but as Roomba sits and bumps against all possible objects, while dragging every possible object it encounters; shoes, wires, papers, ANYTHING... What I really want to know is who is liable when Roomba pushes its way into a closed room and proceeds to shred sensitive financial papers that may have been on the floor of said closed office.

I'm glad that my review was seen over 70,000 times. I hope that it has helped other consumers diverge from purchasing iRobot. Here is a current update. I have disposed 2 of the iRobots - they were just taking space and I put them in the garbage. I have 1 iRobot left and the batteries I have last about 1.5 to 3 minutes max regardless how long I charge the unit for. I spoke to the iRobot customer service and as usual very insensitive to the client's problems. They said that I need to spend more money and buy more batteries or a new iRobot. These operators must be trained to strictly get more money out of us consumers and no other help or support is provided. Both my wife and I are very disappointed and I explained to the company about all the problems we had with the multiple units we have had.

A few years ago, I had my first robotic vacuum cleaner, a roomba. Can't recall model number but suffice to say it lasted less than 2 years. Customer service at that point confirmed it was not repairable. I had used it maybe 20 times, if that. This year, I gave it another try with a scooba. Same story, lasted less than 2 years and I have used it even less than the roomba before.

After 3 years of light usage and I do mean light, I got the infamous error code 9. The book says to hit the bumpers 20 times to clean the sensors. This didn't work so I called the customer service line. Their standard line was, "Well if you cleaned the bumpers we can't fix it. So you will need to buy a new unit." They offered me a core unit, no battery or aux equipment for $150. I sent an email asking for more ways to troubleshoot the problem but they are standing firm, no fix just replacement. And because I registered the machine at purchase I get a 15% discount. Nice going iRobot, you got me, at least I got 3 years usage out of it. I will not replace it with a Roomba. I will never buy anything from iRobot again and I don't recommend you buying their products.