iRobot Roomba i7+ Review

Robot vacuums get smarter with each generation, and iRobot's Roomba i7+ might just be the most advanced model we've tested to date. In addition to Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant voice control, multistory mapping, and adaptive camera-based navigation that cleans better as it learns your home's layout, it's the only vacuum we've tested that can empty its own dustbin. Sure, it's a little loud, and at $949.99 it's one of the most expensive models we've seen, but it's also the only robot vacuum out there that doesn't require you to lift a finger. And isn't that why you want one in the first place? For its truly autonomous cleaning capabilities, the Roomba i7+ earns our Editors' Choice for high-end robot vacuums.

A Familiar Design With a New Clean Base

In terms of design, the Roomba i7+ isn't reinventing the wheel. It's circular in shape, measuring 13.4 inches in diameter and standing 3.7 inches tall. Its body is black and silver in color, with sleek lines that give off a futuristic feel. At the center is a black oblong divot that houses the navigation camera. Right above that you'll find the round start button, which is flanked by smaller home and spot clean buttons. Each button is ringed by LED lighting, which glows white when cleaning, red when charging, and blue when connecting to Wi-Fi.

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The bottom of the robot houses a side brush, dual rubber rollers, two main treads, drop sensors, and the dustbin. Unlike other Roombas, the dustbin here has a small door that automatically connects with the Clean Base when docked.

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Speaking of the Clean Base, it's much bigger than your typical robot vacuum charging dock. It measures 19.0 by 12.2 by 15.1 inches (HWD), which is going to take up a significant amount of floor space wherever you decide to put it. Standing next to the Clean Base, it came up to my knee. That said, there's a good reason why it's so bulky—it contains its own vacuum inside.

At the foot of the Clean Base, there's a tiny square that aligns with the door of the vacuum's dustbin. Whenever the i7+ docks, the Base will automatically suck all of the debris out of the dustbin and into a separate bag located in the top of the Clean Base. The bag holds up to 30 dustbins worth of dirt, and slots in and out of the top of the Clean Base for easy removal (the app will notify you when it's full). You will, however, eventually have to buy replacements. iRobot includes two bags (for up to 60 full dustbins). Once those are gone you can buy three-packs for $14.99. If you want an additional Clean Base (to keep one on every floor, for instance), they'll run you $299 each.

As for additional accessories, iRobot includes one virtual wall barrier (to section off areas you don't want vacuumed), an extra filter, and an extra side brush.

App and Setup

Setting up the i7+ is relatively straightforward. First, download the iRobot app (for Android and iOS) and register an account. Once that's done, select the device you want to connect, then press the home and spot clean buttons on the vacuum simultaneously and wait for the LED ring around the start button to turn blue. After that, simply the follow in-app instructions for connecting to your home Wi-Fi network. Note that the vacuum only supports 2.4GHz Wi-Fi, not 5GHz.

Connecting to Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant is also easy. All you have to do is enable the iRobot skill in the respective apps and link your accounts. Once that's done, you can use voice commands to start and stop cleaning, check battery life, return the robot to its dock, and locate it.

The app itself is well-designed and easy to navigate. The main screen is minimalistic, with a large Clean button at its center. Below that, you can choose between tabs for Preferences, History, Schedule, Smart Maps, and More.

In the History tab, you can view cleaning statistics. Schedule lets you program cleaning sessions. Preferences is where you can toggle various settings, while the More tab is home to care instructions, additional settings, and a Locate Roomba button. But the real update with the i7+ is the Smart Maps tab.

When you tap the Clean and Map Now button in the Smart Maps tab, the i7+ will venture out to learn the layout of your home and create a customizable floor map while vacuuming. Depending on the size of the area, it will probably take multiple cleaning sessions. In testing, it took about four one-hour sessions before it fully mapped my two-bedroom apartment's layout. You can save up to 10 floor plans total (that's seven more than Neato's Botvac Connected line). Keep in mind that if you have multiple floors, you'll have to manually move the robot between them. That's about the only thing it can't do on its own.

Once you have a floor plan saved, you can then label individual rooms. Impressively, the i7+ was able to correctly identify each room in my apartment based on where the walls and doors are. After each room is labeled, you can then schedule cleanings for specific rooms from either the app or through your voice assistant of choice.

A Truly Hands-Free Clean

In testing, the i7+ was able to handle various floor types including hardwood, tile, and vinyl without issue. It also trawled over loose cords and raised ledges with aplomb, though it wasn't able to cross a two-inch marble slab between my kitchen and bathroom. (To be fair, most robot vacuums can't.) It also easily recognized obstacles like furniture, especially after multiple passes, thanks to its adaptive learning. And in terms of suction, the i7+ does a top-notch job of picking up hair, dirt, dust, and other small debris.

The robot cleans in a methodical back-and-forth fashion that becomes more efficient the more times it cleans the same area. It was able to locate specified rooms without difficulty, and adjust between different floor plans on a dime.

The best part about the i7+, however, is that you don't have to worry about emptying it. With the Clean Base, the robot will simply return to the dock when its dustbin is full, which worked excellently in testing. This solves the primary issue we've had with robot vacuums this far—the experience doesn't feel quite so autonomous when you come home to find your robot has only cleaned halfway because it needed to be emptied. With the Roomba i7+, you can simply schedule it to clean while you're out of the house, and rest assured that you'll return to a completed job.

And you might want to make sure that you're out of the house while the i7+ is doing its thing, because it can get quite loud. While hardly any robot vacuum can be described as quiet, the i7+ is louder than most. And the Clean Base is particularly noisy, sounding louder than even your average upright vacuum.

Battery life is another shortcoming. The i7+ cleaned for about 60 minutes before needing to be recharged, short of the 90-minute mark you'll find on many other high-end models. Considering that the vacuum will dock and recharge itself when necessary, however, this isn't a huge deal.

The Best Robot Vacuum...If You Can Afford It

The iRobot Roomba i7+ packs more features than any other model on the market. If you can spend upwards of $1,000 on a robot vacuum, you won't be disappointed. The Neato Botvac Connected D6 and D7 also feature multistory mapping, in-app virtual boundaries, and customizable cleaning zones, for up to $300 less, though you'll still have to pick them up and empty them when they're full. The Clean Base is a major step forward that I hope will trickle down to iRobot's midrange product line over time. For now, however, the Roomba i7+ is the vacuum to buy if you want clean floors without having to lift a finger, and our Editors' Choice.

iRobot Roomba i7+

4.0Editors' ChoiceSee It$848.99 at AmazonMSRP $949.99

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The Bottom Line

With the ability to empty its own dustbin, iRobot's Roomba i7+ is the first robot vacuum we've tested that truly does all of the work for you.

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