Customer Ratings & Reviews

I've always been interested in the Roomba vacuum but not quite enough to be an early adopter. Now that they've been on the market for awhile, I figured that they would be more refined and that it was time to add one to the household. For those not familiar, the Roomba is a vacuum that runs itself although of course you have to empty the bin and clean the brushes regularly. The Roomba 690 is apparently based on the 650 but adds Wi-Fi support. This allows you to manage the Roomba using their iRobot HOME app. The app makes it easy to start/stop a clean cycle and to manage the daily schedule. The schedule lets you set one time per day to have the Roomba automatically start cleaning. The app works whether at home connected to the same network, or out on a different network. The Roomba itself is supposed to have a runtime of over an hour. I've noticed that the scheduled clean cycle runs about an hour and almost every time it still has enough power to make its way back to the dock for charging. (Occasionally it doesn't, and I've had to bring it back myself.) The Roomba is definitely best suited for "maintenance" and not deep clean. I hadn't vacuumed in a week and the first few times the Roomba ran, the bin was full and the carpet still didn't seem as clean. However, after a few more times, the carpet now feels and looks clean. It is really nice coming home from work to a noticeably clean carpet. Care and maintenance is easy enough, which is appreciated. From what I understand, the main different between this model and the higher-end models is that the higher-end models actually map out the floor plan(s) to ensure full coverage. That does seem like a nice feature, because the 690 sometimes seems to spend more time in areas that don't need a lot of vacuuming but are a little awkward to maneuver into and out of. A "Virtual Wall Barrier" is included, which can be used to either keep the Roomba from hitting a specific area, or crossing an invisible line. I've used that to help with the areas that are hard to maneuver into and out of, with success. Bottom line, the Roomba does great for regular maintenance vacuuming. If you have a large home and/or want to ensure full coverage, the higher-end models may be worth spending the extra money, but you won't go wrong with this model.

I tried the Roomba about a decade ago and was not too impressed and ended up returning it. This time, I wanted to see how it has improved since then. I received the Roomba 690 for a try. I took it out of the box and plugged in the charger and placed the unit in it to charge. I came back to it a few hours later and it was fully charged. I looked back in the box and found one virtual wall. I knew from my last experience that one wall wasn’t going to cut it since general area rooms have more than one opening. More will be an extra purchase and an expensive one too! I put the one virtual wall up and turned on the unit by hitting the clean button. It started going around the living room and the virtual wall forced it to leave the room by the other opening. I was disappointed in the noise level from the machine… one could not watch TV while this was going. It went all around the first floor level, I have 4 open rooms with rugs that are about a half inch to three quarters of an inch high and a hallway through the middle of the house. It roamed around the house and I went out to run errands. When I got back, I was pleasantly surprised that the vacuum was in its charging base and found its way back ‘home’. Pretty good. Much better than that of old. This past weekend, I decided to try and hook it up to my WiFi home network and my cell phone. I downloaded the app and started the process..one of the first things I noticed was that my phone was on my 5G network, but the Roomba was not 5G compatible. That sucked. 5G is faster and I did not want to downgrade my speed on my phone, but no choice if I wanted to hook this Roomba up. After 4 or 5 frustrating tries where the app would not progress to the next step, I gave up to come back fresh another day. The next day, on the first try, I was successful. Not sure what was different, but it worked easily and the app worked. My phone was now set up to communicate with the Roomba! I tried it out and it worked great! The next day, I opened the trap to see how much dirt it had sucked up and the bin was absolutely full! Good job! I easily emptied the bin and replaced it in the machine. I set up the Roomba to clean again and took off working outside. When I came back in the house, I had to look all around the first floor to try and find it.. it was not in its charging base. I found it behind my plug-in recliner chair and it got caught in the wire and half of it was on the base of the chair. That’s a problem. Most of my furniture plugs in now, the couch, recliner and other chairs. It is a fact of life… it can’t go around wires? Well, in summary, with the noise, only one virtual wall, the app problems and the battle with the wire and the wire won, I can’t say it is for me. Not to mention, my husband absolutely hated the haphazard carpet marks after the Roomba zigged and zagged all over the carpet!

This product only worked a few months. Was able to get warranty replacement right away but the replacement only worked a month!

Been 2 years- cleans well, but returning back to its home base correctly is a challenge! If it doesnt change it doesnt run. Had to stick paper under the base to slightly lift/adjust in order for the charging sensors to do their job and it still doesnt work most the time. Its a headache. Definitely not a set it and forget it type device!

So far, the Roomba 690 has been great. It is my first experience with a smart vacuum cleaner and I am impressed. I have only had it for a little over a week, and it has cleaned my house 3 times. Other than getting stuck in my daughter’s cluttered bedroom once, it has been excellent. It is nice to be able to tell Alexa to have my Roomba vacuum for me, or being able to start the Roomba when I am out of the house from the iPhone app. It was easy to set up. It only took me a few minutes to download the app and connect it to my WIFI network. It also comes with a spare filter and cleaning tool to clean the wheels and rollers. Handling multiple surfaces is not an issue for the Roomba. I have hardwood floors in most of the house with carpet in the bedrooms. It adjusts to carpets from the hardwood, and does not get tangled up in the rugs in front of entry doors. You do need to empty the dust bin after each use. While the route the Roomba chooses may seem counter intuitive to how we vacuum, it manages to cover the entire space. My wife was even impressed with the good job that it did in our bedroom. Scheduling clean times with the app is easy and works well. When Roomba does encounter a problem, it beeps and lets you know what the issue is. It also pushes a notification to my iPhone when it completes a job, or encounters a problem. When it encounters a problem, it gives an error number and recommends how to fix it on the iPhone app. It also comes with a barrier device which basically shoots an invisible barrier to prevent the Roomba from going into areas that you do not want it to go. I used this device to block it from driving into my daughter’s cluttered bedroom where the chances of it getting stuck on something was high. Clutter and the Roomba do not mix. If you have a somewhat clutter free living space, I would recommend it. It is neat device and a time saver that can do the house work for you while you are out of the house :)

Not really that impressed with the product. For the price, I would expect this little robot to be a little bit better. It constantly gets "stuck" on things.

The vacuum works well, but the cliff sensors think that my gray carpet is a cliff, and it will not work on the carpet unless I block the sensors.

I used higher model of iRobot but when someone says it’s fine on black I bought it this model but after digging more comments, I found this model does the same so I return without using it. Comment based on top model from Costco. 1) Due to cliff sensor, it was getting stuck on my carpet which has geometric designs and black colors 2) it made scratches on my maple hardwood 3) due to height it can’t go under furniture

Decent bang for your buck. Not the best if you dont have open spaces whether it be in your living room or bedrooms.

Unfortunately the iRobot 690 did not work well for us. It would die in the most random places, for instance the middle of the floor. It had a hard time returning to the base if you didn't run it a couple of times a week so going on vacation and returning seemed to be a total reset. We ended up changing it out for a Shark and will probably not go back!

Worked great for a bit. One of wheels malfunctioned and now it just spins in a circle. Will repair and see how long it lasts.

This model scuffs my baseboards only works in certain patterns gets stuck sometimes thought it would be smarter I rarely use it now

It picks things up, but not as well as I thought. It constantly loses touch with the home base and goes until the battery dies.

It is ok for the price, but don’t have high expectations! Because it doesn’t haves maping to clean it goes all over the place.

Wanda just doesnt clean as well as a broon and dust pan. She is helpful around the house, but its not tome to fire the mais yet

Its a good unit but didnt have the battery to cover our whole first floor. Also not great on our corners

I’ve been using the iRobot Roomba 690 for about a month now. This is my first experience with any robotic vacuum and so far, I’m happy with the results. I honestly didn’t think I would really need this sort of device. We have a pretty clean home with little clutter and a weekly cleaning person that comes to our house. Surprisingly the Roomba was able to always find a lot of dust, hair and other miscellaneous gunk. After receiving the Roomba, you must first charge your device for a couple hours. There is a battery icon that will turn green on the device when is fully charged. While the device was charging, I was able to pair it with my iPhone. Browsing through the app, I could see that you could schedule cleanings, put the device in lower power mode when idle, check job history, get tips and help, check firmware version. Roomba says the device will update its own firmware overnight while idle. The Roomba did in fact do that on my first night. Looking at the change log, it looks like they fixed some issues and improved the intelligence. I’d watch for that update before you start messing around too much with the device as tempting as it is. Once I finally was ready to go, I just let the Roomba go wherever it wanted on my first level. I really couldn’t figure out Roomba’s method to its madness. It seemed to travel all over the place without any particular pattern. I was really impressed with the Roombas ability to navigate through tough situations. It went under my dining table and never got stuck. While the Roomba traveled around my kitchen banging into everything, I noticed the side sweeper really getting into corners. Being a circle, this was a brilliant design to clean into squared corner areas. It was a lot of fun to watch but the Roomba was also smart enough not to fall down the stairs. The first couple of times that I ran the Roomba it ended up picking up quite a bit of dust. I think there are areas where no one tends to clean. This is where the Roomba can really shine. On subsequent cleanings, the Roomba wasn’t cleaning as massive amounts of dust like it did in previous trips. In general, the Roomba jobs last about an hour. I didn’t expect the battery to last so long and I honestly thought the Roomba would just give up after about twenty minutes. Not sure if it’s a bug or not, but my Roomba says it’s return to it’s base and really takes the long way home. It continues to drive around and around for another 15 minutes before it finds the dock. I’m not a huge fan of the dock design. The dock is very light and on my hardwood floors it doesn’t seem to stay put in some settings. Would be nice if they put a little more weight into it or maybe added the ability to put on suction cups on hardwood floors. If you are able to, the scheduling works well. I was even able to add Roomba to my Alexa as a skill from iRobot. One thing to remember is this vacuum does take some maintenance. While you run the scheduled jobs, you must clean the dust bin after each cleaning. The device will probably complain to you if it fills up with too much dirt. You also have to clean the filter and any hair that might get trapped in the wheels. Hopefully that doesn’t need to happen after every job at your home. The mobile phone app gives the ability to launch a job while you are away from home. After the first couple of times, I limited the Roomba’s ability to roam everywhere and I setup the virtual wall to keep the device in my kitchen/dining area. Overall, I would recommend this device to people who have a mostly clutter free home and just need a little extra detailing done. I can see this as a big advantage to people who own pets. It does a very good job cleaning and has a very strong battery life. I didn’t like how long the jobs last for and wish the base was a little better designed.

This vacuum leave a lot of dirt behind, it just pass by over and over again in a crazy pattern. I thought it will be better but not.

It works OK and gets the job done if the floor is not too dirty. It's quiet but does not have much sucking power either.

Works ok, vacuum patterns are erratic. Seems to do the same areas a lot and misses others. Won’t connect to 5 G internet.