iRobot Roomba j7+ review

Our Verdict

Unreliable pet? The reliable Roomba j7+ volition steer away from accidents while all the same cleaning up well.

For

• Excellent obstruction avoidance
• Learns from cleaning data
• Like shooting fish in a barrel to create no-become zones
• Redesigned Clean Base is less obtrusive

Against

• Clean Base is very loud
• Middling pet hair pickup on carpet

Tom's Guide Verdict

Unreliable pet? The reliable Roomba j7+ will steer away from accidents while nevertheless cleaning up well.

Pros

• +

  Fantabulous obstacle avoidance

• +

  Learns from cleaning data

• +

  Easy to create no-go zones

• +

  Redesigned Clean Base is less obtrusive

Cons

• -

  Clean Base of operations is very loud

• -

  Middling pet hair pickup on rug

iRobot Roomba j7+ review: Specs

Overall cleaning performance: 91.81
Pet pilus score: 82.5
Size: 13.3 x 3.4 inches
Modes: Vacuuming
Smart home compatibility: Alexa & Google Assistant

Pet poop. Information technology'due south the hole-and-corner fear of every robot vacuum owner as it likely spells expiry for your device and a very gross mess smeared all over your floors. The iRobot Roomba j7+ seeks to blackball that fear for good with new obstacle avoidance technology that promises to specifically identify pet waste product and other objects and veer effectually it. While it's not the offset robot vacuum to avoid treacherous obstacles, it learns from its cleaning runs, which earns it a spot on our best robot vacuums list. Paired with a new cocky-emptying Make clean Base, our iRobot Roomba j7+ review institute a robot vacuum that's ideal for homes with accident-prone pets and the people who beloved them.

• Bank check out the best vacuum cleaners right now
• What you lot need to know: Robot vacuum ownership guide

iRobot Roomba j7+ review: Price and availability

The iRobot Roomba j7+ includes both the robot vacuum and the cocky-emptying Clean Base. It's available for $819 on Walmart.com. The Clean Base of operations comes with 1 grit bag installed and a spare tucked away under the chapeau. iRobot estimates that each bag will final up to 60 days before needing to be replaced. Additional bags are available in a pack of three from iRobot.com for $19.99. Don't want the roar of the self-emptying Clean Base of operations? The Roomba j7 is available without it for $492.

iRobot Roomba j7+ review: Pattern

iRobot switched things up with the Roomba j7+ by moving the navigation sensor to the very front end of the robot, recessed into the superlative of the forepart bumper. This change gives the bot its obstacle detecting ability — the superpower of the Roomba j7+.  The sensor is fabricated even more noticeable past the LED headlight that illuminates the vacuum's path while it cleans. Though the lite was jarring at first, particularly in rooms that weren't well lit, I got used to seeing the Roomba j7+'south headlamp explore my floors apace.

(Epitome credit: Tom's Guide)

Aside from the sensor placement, the iRobot Roomba j7+ looks strikingly similar to the Roomba i3+, with its disc within a disc pattern. Merely the Roomba j7+ has traded basic grey for classy matte black with a nighttime grey brushed metal-looking center disk. In the eye sits the iRobot logo, with a single button for starting and stopping cleanings above the logo. That button is outlined in white low-cal when the vacuum is cleaning, blue when heading back to the dock, and red when there'southward an mistake.

(Image credit: Tom'southward Guide)

The underside of the iRobot Roomba j7+ is nearly identical to the Roomba i3+, with a tri-spoke brush on one side, an omnidirectional wheel at the top, and two green condom roller brushes in between chunky black rubberized wheels. A bevy of sensors dot the edges.

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

While the robot vacuum component of the iRobot Roomba j7+ may not look too different, the self-emptying Clean Base of operations has gotten a much-needed makeover. The new Make clean Base is shorter and more squat than the previous iteration, measuring only xiii.25 inches loftier compared to the older base's 19-inch peak. The acme of the new Clean Base opens via a swish brown leather pull tab. In addition to the dust bag that's in utilize, there's storage for spare numberless. It's a pocket-size touch, only when yous're but emptying the purse every two months or and then, it tin can be difficult to remember where you left the extra dust bags.

One thing the updated Clean Base has in common with its predecessor: It'south still incredibly loud. Every analogy to planes taking off still feels apt. Mercifully, the bin emptying procedure is brusk, lasting less than 10 seconds.

iRobot Roomba j7+: Vacuuming performance

The iRobot Roomba j7+ turned in a solid performance in both our hardwood and carpet lab tests, earning an overall boilerplate score of 91.81. It was slightly better than the Roborock S6 MaxV'south score of xc.56 and the similar, just not-mapping, Roomba i3+'s score of xc.1. But it wasn't quite as practiced as the 96.25 earned by our current best overall vacuum, the Roborock S4, nor did it surpass the Roomba s9+'s score of 96.83.

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

But even though it can avoid pet waste, it wasn't equally proficient as the best robot vacuums for pet hair, as it just picked upward 82.5 pct of our dog's fluff.

(Prototype credit: Tom's Guide)

Nevertheless, the Roomba j7+ was a relatively fast cleaner as it zigzagged back and along across my floors. It didn't get tripped up by rugs and, cheers to its upfront camera, didn't become tripped upwards past modest obstacles, such every bit the fake canis familiaris poop I dropped in its way. Information technology did non recognize a medium-sized dog toy as an obstruction, all the same, with software updates, it should learn to recognize objects such equally these likewise equally shoes and socks downwardly the line.

(Paradigm credit: Tom's Guide)

Despite its obstruction avoidance technology, the iRobot Roomba j7+ was remarkably forceful when it bumped into piece of furniture and walls. The examination corral is made of iv pieces of wood that are partially held in place past walls on 2 sides and five-pound weights on the other two sides. The Roomba j7+ repeatedly slammed into one of the weight-secured sides hard enough to push the weight out of place. Though it approached walls and furniture more gently after mapping, the initial force of it took me by surprise.

iRobot Roomba j7+: Combined cleaning performance scores

	Overall Score	Cereal	Kitty litter	Dog hair
Roomba j7+	91.81	98.33	94.6	82.5
Samsung JetBot AI+	89.51	99.63	xc.4	78.5
Roomba i3+	ninety.1	100	94.9	75.5
Roomba s9+	96.83	92.5	100	98
Roborock S4 Max	96.25	98.38	96.38	94
Roborock S6 MaxV	90.56	98.9	92.28	80.5
Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid	92.39	94.35	88.08	94.75

Similar well-nigh robot vacuums, the iRobot Roomba j7+ did all-time on bare floors. It picked up 97.three% of the Cheerios strewn about the test area, just edging out the Roborock S4 Max, only falling just beneath the S6 MaxV and the Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid. The Samsung JetBot AI+ and the Roomba i3+ earned perfect cereal pickup scores on hardwood.

On canis familiaris pilus, the Roomba j7+ was equally impressive, cleaning up 92.v% of the aureate retriever hair in the examination area. While it didn't pick up all of it, similar the Roborock S4 Max and the Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid did, information technology out performed the Roborock S6 MaxV'due south 78% pickup charge per unit.

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

Comparatively, the Roomba j7+ could take been better on kitty litter on blank floors. While it picked upward a respectable 94.45%, the Roomba s9+, the Samsung JetBot AI+, and both the Roborock S4 Max and S6 MaxV all did a better job. Information technology came close to the Roomba i3+, which cleaned up 95.7% of the litter.

iRobot Roomba j7+: Hardwood Flooring results

	Cereal	Kitty litter	Dog hair
Roomba j7+	97.3	94.45	92.5
Samsung JetBot AI+	100	97.4	71
Roomba i3+	100	95.7	93
Roomba s9+	ninety	100	99
Roborock S4 Max	96.75	97.75	100
Roborock S6 MaxV	97.8	96.three	78
Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid	98.7	xc	100

The iRobot Roomba j7+ mostly held its own in the carpeting lab tests, earning a 99.35% pickup rate for cereal and a 94.75% pickup rate for kitty litter. Its scores are virtually identical to its sibling, the Roomba i3+, which earned a perfect 100 picking up cereal on carpet and a 94 picking upward litter. The Roomba j7+ stumbled a chip with dog hair, collecting 72.5% of the fur off of the carpet test surface area. Though information technology performed amend than the Roomba i3+, it was below the Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid'due south score of 89.five and the Roomba s9+'s impressive 97% clean up charge per unit.

iRobot Roomba j7+: Rug tests

	Cereal	Kitty litter	Dog hair
Roomba j7+	99.35	94.75	72.5
Samsung JetBot AI+	99.25	83.iv	86
Roomba i3+	100	94	58
Roomba s9+	95	100	97
Roborock S4 Max	100	95	88
Roborock S6 MaxV	100	88.25	83
Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid	ninety	86.15	89.v

iRobot Roomba j7+ review: Setup, app and mapping

The iRobot Roomba j7+ is controlled by the iRobot Home app (Android and iOS). The app has enough of features presented in a non-intimidating way, but if you're looking for more granular controls like the ones found on the Samsung JetBot AI+, such every bit cleaning around furniture or cleaning around walls last, y'all're out of luck.

Connecting the iRobot Roomba j7+ to the iRobot app and my home network was quick and easy, thanks to on screen prompts inside the app that guide you lot through the process. The robot connected on the first effort and I was invited to give it a proper noun.

(Image credit: iRobot)

Afterward charging it, I sent the Roomba j7+ on a mapmaking mission. When exploring a new place for the first time, the mapping procedure can be expedited by sending Roomba j7+ on a mapping-simply run.

(Image credit: iRobot)

Other robot vacuums like the Samsung JetBot AI+, the Roborock S6 MaxV and the Eufy X8 Hybrid use a LiDAR sensor to quickly map a floor's layout — typically generating a nearly consummate map afterward just i run. iRobot used VSLAM technology in earlier models and the company says the Roomba j7+ uses PrecisionVision Navigation. This is why Roombas demand light to clean accurately, while other bots do not. It'southward not a big trade-off, as afterward three runs the app generated a true-blue map of my kickoff floor. More impressively, it created more often than not accurate room divisions in spite of my mostly open flooring plan.

I was able to hands add and remove room divisions, too, though the experience differed compared to other robot vacuum maps. Instead of manipulating the line to create the room division, the app gives the impression of moving the map around underneath the line. If you think about the map as one layer and the dividing line as a layer on top of it, it's the feeling of moving the bottom layer to satisfy the summit layer instead of the other manner around. It's a trivial disorienting to get used to, simply it worked well.

(Image credit: iRobot)

The big new characteristic in the iRobot Roomba j7+ is obstacle avoidance. iRobot advertises it with its "Pet Owner Official Promise" or "P.O.O.P." The company promises to replace your robot should the unthinkable happen in the first twelvemonth of buying. While the Roomba j7+ did avoid my fake dog poop obstruction multiple times, it too identified cords and other lower stakes obstacles similar tennis balls. Just information technology didn't just alarm me to the presence of obstacles — information technology asked how it should handle those obstacles in the future.

(Image credit: iRobot)

After a cleaning run, a phone notification popped up request me to review the obstacles institute past the bot. The app displayed an image taken by the Roomba j7+'s camera with the offending item highlighted. Then I was given iv options: Temporary obstacle here; Add Go on Out Zone; No obstacle hither; or I'm not certain. After labeling a tennis ball every bit a temporary obstacle, the app offered the option of cleaning that surface area once again.

(Epitome credit: iRobot)

The Samsung JetBot AI+ offers the same tidying up service after encountering obstacles and information technology's helpful. Merely what I constitute more than useful with the Roomba j7+ was the ability to automatically add Keep Out Zones later on it identified an electric cord. It is very much a gear up-information technology process and way easier than trying to guesstimate where a no-go zone should exist drawn on a map. Another bonus — it saves time picking up for the robot earlier letting the Roomba j7+ loose in the house.

(Image credit: iRobot)

In add-on to room-specific cleaning and setting a regular cleaning schedule, the Roomba j7+ is able to start or stop a cleaning based on the location of your smartphone or the deportment of other smart abode IFTTT devices, such as a smart garage door opener.

(Image credit: iRobot)

The Roomba j7+ also has Banner Smart Mapping, which allows you to trigger the iRobot Braava jet m6 robot mop to wash the floors afterward vacuuming.

iRobot Roomba j7+ review: Verdict

I'll say it — iRobot'southward "P.O.O.P" promise seems hokey. But I was impressed with the Roomba j7+'s mapping prowess and cleaning smarts. It performed nearly as well as the $i,100 iRobot Roomba s9+, but includes obstacle avoidance and a more bonny Clean Base. The Roborock S6 MaxV offers similar cleaning functioning and obstacle detection, including identifying objects as pet waste, but it doesn't learn from its cleaning runs like the Roomba j7+. Yet, the S6 MaxV has been available for a while and the cost has dropped to $489, making it a more than affordable option.

While its pet pilus performance on rug could be meliorate and, at $849, information technology's non the cheapest selection, in that location are more than enough upsides to the iRobot Roomba j7+ to heartily recommend information technology and to warrant a place amongst our best Roombas.

Meghan McDonough is a journalist who currently tests and writes about robot vacuums. Since 2008, she'due south written virtually laptops, mobile phones, headphones, speakers, and other consumer tech. When she sees an unfamiliar device, Meghan has a habit of request complete strangers, "What is that? Does it piece of work well for you?"

In her spare time, Meghan enjoys seeing alive music, disposed to her garden, and playing endless games of fetch with her Goldendoodle, Knuckles of Squirrel.

Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/irobot-roomba-j7-plus

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