Customer Ratings & Reviews

I researched several vacubots, I even called manufacturers with questions. I was not sure if this little powerhouse would manage all the transitions from carpet to hardwood in my house. It did great! some are as much as 3/4" differences but this litle vacubot angled right up them. It is very easy to set up, exclude areas and operate. My only issue is my dogs love to bark at it. Oh well,..beats an hour vacuuming every day! It did a great job of cleaning but be sure to empty the bin and clean the brush heads every 3rd use.

This is my first iRobot. I let it do all my vacuuming. And it does a great job. My dog loves to bark at it. I love that you have a app which you can control it from. Everyone should have one of these!

Nicknamed it R2D2. Yes it bounces around and doesn’t always make it back to the charger. But my floors are cleaner then they ever have been and it’s one less thing I need to clean multiple times a day. 3 young kids, dog and a few other pets. It picks up legos, Cheerios (my dyson wouldn’t even get the Cheerios ). It even swept up whole blueberries without crushing it.

iRobot - Roomba 690 App-Controlled Robot Vacuum I live in a carpeted 900 square feet apartment with my wife, 8 years old son, and 2 cats. We have a shark for normal vacuuming and a Bissell wet vacuum which we use once a week and once a month respectively to keep the house clean and avoid allergies, and funny smells when we have guests coming. Which is OK if the both of us didn’t have full time jobs and so many sport practices and activities to take our son to. So here comes the Roomba and what is saved us in time and agony (and some time fights on who’s turn to vacuum is it today!). This little devil did way more than what was expected of it in terms of accuracy, cleaning, and cat hair removal. And we will be using it every day to keep the carpets clean, and our cats somewhat freaked out (No cats were harmed in this review). I will start with the cons because the only con I found is the price, but this is very normal considering the technology and if you want to be lazy, you have to pay up! The pros are: Very easy to get it to start, just pull out the battery isolator, plug the dock in electricity, place the Roomba on the doc, let it charge for a couple of ours, and while doing so, you can connect your new Roomba to your home network by downloading the app from the google or App store depending on the maker of your phone. Connecting to your home network is very easy, it took less than a minute, and that's including linking it to my Google home (it can be linked to google home, Alexa, google assistant on phones that support it. I can’t attest to Iphones since we do not own any). After a while on the charger, I had many options to start the Roomba, I could do it by pressing the clean button on the machine, or by using the provided Roomba app, or by telling my android phone with Google assistant: Ok Google..please ask Roomba to start cleaning (which I did). Roomba moved out of its dock, started a not so high vacuuming noise and found its way around my apartment, and boy it did clean (check the pictures, this was collected in 15 minutes only from a carpet that was vacuumed 3 days ago!). Roomba moved easily between my many pieces of furniture and never got stuck once, more over, it ran over a charging cable without eating it or shredding it to pieces. And its height of less than 4 inches gave it an advantage over my shark by going under furniture without the need to lift anything. Roomba left little track marks on the carpet unlike my Shark (some will say marks mean more cleaning power), but I liked that, because the pattern of Roomba is random. Roomba also comes with a little virtual barrier that you can turn on to create a virtual wall that Roomba can’t cross or set it up to make a halo to protect a small area of about 4 feet from being approached by Roomba (useful in case of pet food, drinking water). I asked Roomba to end cleaning using Google assistant so it stopped and asked me if I wanted it to go back to its charging base which I agreed to, and it's magic! Roomba went back to its dock and started charging again. I am super satisfied by this Roomba, and I can say it's a perfect addition to any small apartment with pets in it. The app can schedule Roomba to run different programs 7 days a week.

I would have returned this simply bc it doesn't map out the apt. So I have it working on a daily basis because it's random. But it does clean up pretty good. 99 percent of all my dogs hair is gone.

We run our Roomba every day. It knows right where to go and does a good job on both carpet and vinyl. It always redocks itself when it is low on power

Great little machine. It’s all over the house vacuuming dust from underneath beds, furniture, etc.

I like this robot to much I already named it, it’s name is Martina and it help me a lot at home

PERFORMANCE-- When you first turn on the Roomba and it starts the cleaning process, you'll likely notice that it kind of "ping pongs" around the room and vacuums at random.  Yet, at the end of the job, you'll notice that most (if not all) of your floor has been cleaned.  So while it may not look like it at first, there apparently is a method to its madness. The Roomba goes from my hardwood floors to my linoleum to my carpet without a hiccup.  It just keeps rolling along and adapting to whatever surface it's on.  It can sense most walls and furniture and it will slow it's approach until it's bumper touches, at which point it will either turn or it will continue vacuuming alongside the length of the obstruction.  If it detects dirt (which is does by sensing the "rattling" sound), it will concentrate on that particular area by going around in circles.  A "dirt" LED light will also illuminate on the Roomba when this happens, so you're not stuck wondering why it's spinning around.  It also updates the stats in the iRobot app to show how many "dirt detection" events occurred. The side brush complements the Roomba's cleaning very well.  It gets those dust particles that collect near the walls that even a traditional vacuum has trouble getting to.  It also helps "pull in" other debris as it goes around it's normal route. However, the Roomba 690 is not perfect.  It sometimes gets tangled on cords you forgot were on the floor and it can get stuck under furniture.  For some reason, it does not seem to detect my TV stand and will run into it at full speed, which doesn't appear to damage the stand, but I'm starting to see some paint marks on the Roomba.  But for a majority of vacuuming, the Roomba gets the job done. FEATURES-- The predominant feature with the 690 model is its Wifi connectivity and app.  I thought this was somewhat gimmicky at first.  I mean, do vacuums really need to connect to the internet?  However, the app does prove to be useful in several scenarios: - You can start a cleaning task when you're away from home.  With my last robotic vacuum, as soon as I would leave my house I would often think, "Darn, I should have started the vacuum before I left." Now, that's not an issue, as you simply open up the app and hit the big button labeled "Clean" when you're away from home. - You can check the status of the Roomba and receive a push notification when the Roomba is done or if an error occurs. - It provides instructional videos for cleaning the various parts of the Roomba.  No more hunting for the manual. - It can help you locate the Roomba if it did not return to its charging station. - You can link the Roomba to Amazon Alexa and Google Home using the app.  Now, I just need to say, "Alexa, ask Roomba to start cleaning" and the Roomba starts. The app gave me some trouble at first, claiming that I was not on the same network as the Roomba (I was).  However, this may have been due the Roomba updating it's onboard software, as the issue cleared itself a few minutes later. The package includes one virtual wall that can be used to keep Roomba from crossing an invisible line into another room.  It can also be setup as a "radius" barrier in order to prevent the Roomba from running into pet bowls or plants.   EASE OF USE-- Assembling a robot to clean your home may sound like a daunting task, but I found the Roomba very easy to set-up.  The included instructions are well illustrated and show you how to remove the packing material from the Roomba and prepare the home base. The iRobot App will guide you through linking the Roomba to your home Wifi.  This does require you to temporarily remove your phone from your home's Wifi and connect to the Roomba's temporary Wifi broadcast.  Many other connected-home items I've used in the past did not require this step as they can receive the Wifi information from your phone via Bluetooth, but it appears that Bluetooth is not available on the Roomba.  I was displeased that I had to create an account and password just for the iRobot App (yet another password I'll never remember), but the process was straightforward. Ongoing maintenance is surprisingly easy: empty the bin,  clean the filter and check the brushes and the front wheel for loose strings and debris.  None of the steps are difficult nor very time consuming.  Again, the app can guide you through these steps as well and allows you to order replacement parts. VALUE-- So is a robotic vacuum worth the investment?  Despite my desire to have a smart home, I would often scuff at the idea of buying a robotic vacuum since I was perfectly capable of vacuuming myself.  Then after I purchased my first one, I was hooked.  Let's face it: none of us have a lot of free time.  And when we do, we don't want to spend it doing something like vacuuming.  But unless we want our houses to be featured on the next episode of Hoarders, vacuuming is a necessary evil.  To me, a robotic vacuum is a worthwhile investment as a compliment to your regular vacuuming schedule and it frees up your time for other tasks. Unfortunately, the Roomba won't completely vacuum your entire house.  They still haven't developed a model that can navigate stairs or move furniture, so you will still need to occasionally run the regular ol' vacuum.  But for a majority of cleaning, the Roomba does a surprisingly thorough job. I purchased my previous Roomba model 1.5 years ago and it is still working very well, so it would appear that iRobot produces durable machines.  Overall, the Roomba 690 is a good value with convenient app-controlled features, making it a worthy ally in maintaining your home.

Design: The Roomba 690’s small size allows it to navigate seamlessly throughout our home. It is about 13 inches wide and almost 4 inches tall. The height is perfect for fitting under chairs, sofas, and other hard to reach areas. The Roomba can be activated by pressing the button on top of the machine or in the mobile app, and I have found both methods to be equally reliable. This is the same for returning the Roomba to its dock. A button is on the top of the Roomba and in the app. I like that the dock is small and does not take up much additional space when the Roomba is docked. Also, the cord for the dock is fairly long, so it gives you flexibility with your placement. Effectiveness: As a first-time Roomba owner, I am amazed by the technology and wish I owned one sooner! There are many angles and obstacles in our kitchen and living room, so I worried about how well the Roomba 690 would be able to navigate and clean effectively, but my worries quickly went away after watching it seamlessly navigate around our home for the first time. The fact that it also detects stairs is quite impressive. Not only can it navigate well, it picks up a lot more than I expected it would! I was also unsure how well the Roomba would perform on medium length, shag carpet but it had no issues. I had the Roomba clean for about 30 minutes the first time (although it can run for up to 60 minutes), and it was already full of pet hair, debris, and dirt. This Roomba will not necessarily replace a full-size vacuum, but it is great for surface level, light duty cleaning. Features: The Roomba 690 is truly an automated, convenient, and low maintenance robot. It is like having our own personal cleaning assistant at home! The iRobot Home App is easy to use and allows you to schedule cleaning times for the week as well as start a clean on demand from your phone. You can even start, stop, or return the Roomba 690 to its charging dock via voice command on Amazon Alexa or Google Home! This just goes to show that iRobot strives to deliver high-tech features and convenience with the Roomba 690, and I cannot think of any other features I wish it had! Verdict: Do not be fooled by its small size, the Roomba 690 is quite powerful and works effectively on hard floors or even carpet. In addition, it navigates seamlessly, despite a variety of obstacles in our home, and features such as scheduled cleaning and mobile app control are useful. The Roomba 690 will not completely replace our standard upright vacuum because the Roomba is not capable of matching its suction power, but the Roomba is perfect for light duty cleaning throughout the week. I continue to be impressed by how effective this Roomba is for its use, and it is nice to have its help with keeping our floors clean!

I'd never dealt with a Roomba or any other robotic vacuum before this one. I have to say I'm blown away by how well this little guy cleans and navigates, both on hardwood and carpet. It won't replace your normal vacuum, but it'll definitely keep the floors cleaner between normal vacuuming. Setting up the vacuum was a pretty simple process - you plug in the base station, charge the vacuum for a few hours, then connect it to WiFi via the app. Cleaning can be initiated via the button on the vacuum or the app. You can also enter a schedule for cleaning via the app. It’s also compatible with Google Home and Amazon Echo, so if you have one of those you can control it that way as well. Once the setup was done I ran it on the first floor of my house. I live in a two-story town home. My first floor is all laminate hardwood and consists of a hallway, kitchen, dining area, and living area. No doors separate these areas, but it is sort of an odd shape, so I was curious to see how the Roomba would handle this. I am pleased to say that it was able to navigate and clean the whole area in about 25-30 minutes. The pattern it follows seemed a little random, but the more I watched it and the adjustments it made the more impressed I was. It was able to drive itself under couches, tables, a kitchen island, and many other spaces that were hardly bigger than the vacuum itself. It go into corners and crevices I could never get to with my normal upright vacuum. Not only that, it was able to drive itself out of those spaces with no problem at all. In the time I have used it hasn't gotten itself stuck once. It picked up a ton of dust as well - about as much as I would get using my normal upright vacuum. It ended filling the whole dust bin in the vacuum. The dust bin seems to be on the small side in my opinion, but with the size of the vacuum there isn't a whole lot that can be done about that. Next I tried my second floor, which is carpet and consists of 3 bedrooms, a hallway, and 2 bathrooms. I started the Roomba in the hallway and it was able to navigate itself in and out of each room, albeit the process and progression from room to room took much longer. I also had to empty the dust-bin a few times along the way. I know there are higher-end Roomba models that are made specifically for multi-room navigation, but this one got the job done. The job the Roomba did downstairs was evident, but I wanted to see how much dust it had left behind in my carpet, so I ran my upright vacuum upstairs afterwards. My upright is Shark Rocket that I've been happy with for a while. It's a stick vacuum, so the canister is smaller than other regular vacuums. I normally fill my Shark 2-3 times vacuuming the second floor. Following the Roomba, I only had to empty the canister on my Shark one time, which I consider a win for the Roomba since it was able to pick up 60-70% of the dirt my normal vacuum could - far more than I was expecting considering its size. The runtime Roomba quotes for the 690 is 60 minutes, which in my use seemed about right. I think maybe I could get it to run a bit longer on hardwood where there isn’t as much resistance. As I understand the Roomba will navigate itself back to the dock when the battery gets low, but I always ended my cleaning jobs before that. Still, I have witnessed the Roomba make its way back to the dock a few times with no problem. Overall I’m extremely impressed with this vacuum. It’s not going to completely eliminate my Shark, but it does so much more than I ever expected it to. I would highly recommend this to anyone interested in a robotic vacuum.

So this review is 3 months post purchase. I wanted to give the Roomba a chance to fail, to do something annoying, or worse, have my expensive toy break. This didnt happen. 1. Setup. Setup is fairly simple. Just plug in the charging station AGAINST A WALL (preferably in a corner or you'll likely have to anchor it down) and set the robot on top of the charger (wait for the charging light to show up to make sure its docked properly). While you're waiting for your roomba to charge, you can insert the AA batteries into the virtual wall if you choose to use the virtual wall to make the roomba stay in a certain area or to prohibit the roomba from going into a certain area (I recommend a wall near pet bowls) and download the app and begin setting up the wifi connection. Once the roomba is charged, connect the roomba to the app with a few strategic button presses. Setup for me was a breeze once I realized that there is a ring of buttons around the main Clean button. 2. Operation. I prefer to turn on the roomba from the app and let it zip around the house at will. I dont use the virtual walls because my home has a fairly open floorplan and nothing really for the roomba to disturb if it bumps into them. Just FYI, this model does NOT create a map of your home and it does NOT remember where its gone previously. It just bumps and bounces around finding walls and travelling down walls. It does "seem" to have a pretty good idea of where bedrooms are though and will be cleaning along a wall and then will dart into a bedroom. So there is "some" awareness there, but I dont believe this model does the house mapping. So dont get upset at the robot for not seeming to "remember" where your furniture is and it bumps up against your couch for the 300th time. This isnt that model of roomba. Does it clean? Yes! Does it do a good job? Yes! Are you going to have to babysit your roomba as it cleans your house? No! However, be aware that the roomba is small and it might not get your entire dwelling in its 1 hour charge. And it may go right back at an area that it just cleaned an hour ago. If it misses an area in 2 passes, I'd recommend picking up the roomba and helping it out a little bit and place it where its missed if you need a certain area done. Also it doesnt make nice vacu-tracks as I like to call them. You're not going to get nice parallel lines of vacutracks. You'll get diagonal lines and maybe a horizontal, and then a swirl when it finds a particular dirty area then another horizontal and a diagonal. How does this roomba deal with the transition from hardwood to carpeting? Perfectly. I have about a 50/50 split with area rugs and straight up carpeted areas and straight up hardwoods. It has no issue making the transition and cleaning both effortlessly. How does it deal with thresholds? Pretty well. The roomba has large tires (for a low profile vacuum) and it can lift itself slightly to get over a threshold (like a bathroom or a bedroom transition from hardwood to carpeting). In addition to thresholds, I have a nasty rug situation in one room with a huge wrinkle that I cant get out due to furniture. Roomba navigates the giant wrinkle fairly well. Sometimes it will bump along the wrinkle until it finds an easier way to traverse it, and sometimes it just goes all 4 wheel drive roomba and powers over it. Either way, it deals with the wrinkle and thresholds wihtout issue. How about pet hair (or shedding human hair)? So far so good. The aforementioned problem rug had a BUNCH of pet hair on it because my dyson couldnt navigate the wrinkle well and so I just let it go. I can say thanks to roomba, the pet hair is gone from the wrinkle and the carpet looks nearly new! This was the biggest challenge I think the roomba faced and not only did it take on the challenge, it exceeded my expectations. 3. Cleaning the unit. Ok so the dust cup is small compared to any upright vacuum. You WILL need to clean the dust cup after about 2 hours of cleaning. If you have a shedding long haired human or a longhair pet, you WILL be cleaning the brushes more frequently. You WILL pull hair out from the edging brushes weekly. I think this is a fair tradeoff for me not dragging out the heavy vacuum and pushing it around the house every week. Cleaning is fairly easy. I was able to dislodge wrapped up hair a lot easier than on my Dyson. And you're not fighting a 30lb vacuum in the process. 4. Power and noise. I gotta say I didnt think the roomba was going to be very powerful. Definitely didnt think it would be powerful enough to tackle pet hair. It did very well. Sometimes the side brush will kick around a larger object rather than running over it to suck it up, but for the most part, there hasnt been anything that the roomba has encountered that he hasnt wanted to suck up. Speaking of which. This is a robot. It doesnt know the difference between dangling cords and chargers from dirt on the floor. Get your charging cords up off of the floor before unleashing roomba on them or it will suck up the cable. Same with clothing/drapes/errant socks It will try to suck up the clutter. And the cutter may get stuck around a wheel or a brush. It will alert you and will also tell you where the jam is located and how to clear it. Just yesterday roomba found a dryer sheet I dropped and didnt realize it. Got stuck around a wheel. The app let me know there was a jam and directed me straight to a how to guide for disloging the jam. Very nice! Noisewise... its not silent. But its quieter than my dyson (especially dyson's ungodly shutdown sound). I can work while the roomba is zipping around the house and unless its right next to me, it doesnt disturb anything. Heck, my husband can sleep with it zooming under the bed. Not sure I could, but hey now I can vacuum the house without disturbing him! Or my neighbors! With hub working nightshift and me working day shift, it left very little time for cleaning, and now I have no issue running roomba around even at night. Value: You're paying for convenience here. How much is it worth to you to not vacuum your house? With roomba, I can vacuum every day if I want. If you want a deep spring cleaning style clean, you will still need to drag out your upright or canister. But bringing out the big vacuum every 4 months or so is worth it and I maintain this clean with roomba. Will this replace the big heavy upright or canister? If you're a neat freak like me, No. But its good for doing maintenance so your work during spring cleaning isnt so back breaking. If you are looking for presentable and not eat off of the floors clean,then roomba might be able to replace your upright (though I would keep a handheld just for the areas roomba cant get into) On hardwoods I still chase the swiffer around, but thanks to roomba, I do it monthly rather than weekly. So for me, this is a good value. In terms of replacement parts, yes, you will be replacing brushes (especially that side one if you're running roomba around daily) and the filter. BUT, in 3 months I havent encountered the need to replace parts yet. iRobot's website is great in terms of the variety of replacement parts they offer (and the price isnt too crazy either) In the end? I love my roomba. I anticipate a good long relationship with it as long as I clean out the dust cup and clean the brushes regularly. For my home's layout, it works great. But I dont have stairs in my house or any challenging furniture setups. So for my purpose, roomba is a perfect match.

I honestly think that making you name your roomba as soon as you install the app is marketing genius. I'm on to you i-robot, anthropomorphizing a vacuum is the surest way to embed it into the hearts of consumers, and that was smart, because I wouldn't put up with this behavior from my vacuum. But for Rosario, my lovable little scamp of a robot pal, I'll make some concessions, because yeah she's not perfect but darn it, she's doing her best! 1. Program it to vacuum while you're out! Ok so to be fair, this is an option for people without pets, but when you have a cat that likes to leave you presents around the house while you're away, be they dead mouse, cat sick, or hairballs, you don't necessarily want your vacuum to find these and smear them all over the carpet. However, I can just hit the "clean" button while I'm walking out the door after doing a sweep for cat related concerns to minimize that risk to negligible levels, so I let that concern go. 2. Just turn it on and it does the work! Yeah she CAN NOT detect and navigate around clutter. so you have to pick up before turning it on. Which, it feels like I shouldn't have to clean up first for my judgemental robot to DO HER JOB, but in the end, I have been keeping my entire house cleaner so I guess I'll let this one go too. 3. Girlfriend gets lost. And this is where I'm starting to see the brilliance in naming your vacuum, because this is an annoying feature for an appliance, but just sad for your lil' robo-buddy. I cannot tell you the number of times I've come home to see poor Rosie, cowering in a corner, battery totally dead, because she didn't know how to get back home. so I have to pick her up, carry her to her base and let her sleep it off. how much vacuuming did she actually get done? Who knows, but she tried her best! Other places I've found her include: trapped between the legs of an end table wedged underneath the kitchen cabinets leashed to a dining room table by my charging cord which she successfully half pulled into her bin and is she also my teenage child? because she frequently locks herself in the bathroom. still, despite her flaws, I would actually recommend this product. I didn't even want one in the first place, but my floors are cleaner on a regular basis, and the tumbleweeds of cat hair across the hardwood are a thing of the past. I wouldn't spend the money on the more expensive models because I just don't believe they'll solve enough of these problems to justify the high price tag, but this was a good buy and I'm glad I have it.

I love this little robot vacuum! We have hardwood throughout our house and tile in the kitchen (which lifts up about a half inch), and the iRobot seamlessly navigates over it all. It's controlled by an app, which is super useful to schedule cleanings. It gets up all the extra hair and dust that my broom/swiffer just can't get! It can get stuck in a room or on a sock...so that's the one downside, you do have to pay a little attention to it, in case of that. But, it does shut down, so it doesn't break.

This little robot helps keep our carpet clean in the high traffic areas. It picks up most everything and cleans a good size room in under an hour. Battery lasts 1 to 1-1/4 hrs between charges which takes 2-3 hours for a charge. Need to watch out for things that it can get tangled up in like lamp cords or tassels on a throw rug. It has gotten stuck a few times under the toe kick of our dishwasher and also the toe kick of our bathroom vanity. Very quiet on linoleum or carpet, but is quite noisy on 4x4 tile floor as it bumps along (still cleans well). Usually need to empty the dust bin after every session as it picks up dust and lint very well. If you have an irregular shaped room or lots of furniture, the robot sometimes has difficulty finding home base to recharge.

I mainly use the 690 on hardwood floors and tile. It picks up so much dust and trash. With having a 1 year old baby it’s great always having clean floors. The only cons are that It is alittle loud but you could run it when you aren’t home. And also it does get stuck sometimes under the edge of sofa and recliner. Just move and hit clean and it’s back to work.

Pros: cleans carpet and hard floors w/o adjustment. Programmable from smart phone or ipad. Works in and around furniture and rarely gets stuck. Cons: Sometimes can't find the docking station in areas which have nooks or open rooms off the main room.

This is my first roomba. It does a good job with maintaining the cleanliness. It is very loud and I think the way it tracks itself around the house can be better. It can get stuck in spaces and constantly knocks into everything.

We named our new Roomba 690, Bob. Bob has become my best friend :) I can tell Bob to start cleaning from my phone while still in bed! He does a great job. Pros are : he cleans for me, he can function on my hardwoods, linoleum and my carpet, he gets under the toe kicks and our beds! Cons: Bob is noisy, he likes to get stuck under the corner of our couch, his bin is kind of small, but this is only a problem if you don't clean it out after every use.

I was skeptical at first. It’s loud, cleans with a random pattern, and had difficulty finding the base at first. After the first few days, I would inspect the floors and confirmed it cleans well. I also moved the base to a more open area and it is able to find it consistently now. After a month, I can honestly say it’s awesome! It works well and cleans up excess pet hair from our shed-happy Malinois as well as daily dust and debris. It is loud but not nearly as loud as our Dyson.