iRobot Roomba i7+ (7550) Review

TheiRobot Roomba i7+ (7550) is by far the company’s most popular robot vacuum, and that’s because it combines powerful cleaning power and smart mapping, and it even automatically empties its dirt bin.

Plus, if you have a smart speaker, say an Amazon Echo Dot, you can give the iRobot Roomba i7+ commands and set it out to work without having to lift a finger. Yes, the feature set on this robot vacuum is solid, but you’re paying top dollar for it. Nonetheless, the feature set and powerful performance make it worth every buck you invest; and, it comes with an included base that doubles up as a trash bin.

Now that the iRobot Roomba i7+ has been around for a few years now, you might be lucky to get it for considerably less than the original price. That’s to say, there are newer models available that cost more, including the iRobot Roomba S9+, but the Roomba i7+ remains a popular choice.

About the iRobot Roomba i7+ (7550)

• Bagged/Bagless: Bagless
• Features: Battery Operated
• Color: Black
• Type: Robotic
• Included accessories: Charger
• Smart Home Protocol: Wi-Fi
• Compatible devices: Amazon Echo, Google Home
• Dimensions: 13.34 x 13.34 x 3.63 inches

The iRobot Roomba i7+ is available as a standalone device and can be bought as a package with the Clean Base Automatic Dirt Disposal dock included.

Design and Features

At first glance, the Roomba i7+ robovac is like every other robot vacuum you’ve ever seen, but the new model has been reimagined inside and out. Among the new improvements are an upgraded processor and increased RAM that unlocks new features, including a redesigned cleaning head with dual multi-surface rubber brushes and power filtration that promises ten times the air power and twice the cleaning power of its predecessors.

The Roomba i7+ is clad in a premium-looking black plastic with a charcoal gray top and a wide black bumper on the front. The logo on the top hides a carrying case and sits atop a prominent center “Clean button,” with smaller icons for docking and spot cleaning on its left and right.

When you flip the iRobot Roomba i7+, you find two rubber wheels and one small roller wheel front and center. Unlike other robot vacuums that use bristles and rollers, the i7+ uses a rubber-encased form.

The two rubbers have chevron patterns that direct dirt into the vacuum chamber – the first roller has deep chevron fins, while the second roller reverses the chevron pattern with shallower fins studded with rubber dashes, presumably for gathering smaller debris.

Also, there’s a three-spoke side brush that spins along ahead of the right wheel. A floor-tracking sensor is placed on the opposite side, and it quietly maps out the surroundings.

The dustbin on the Roomba i7+ pops out, but you might not use it should you opt for the Clean Base. If you decide to buy the i7+ without the Clean Base, the dustbin holds slightly more and can be washed with water.

Setup and Use

The Roomba i7+ is controlled through the iRobot Home app (available for both Android and iOS). Connecting to your smartphone over Wi-Fi is pretty straightforward, much faster than the Roomba 690 despite using the same iRobot app. The app walks you through the initial setup, while the manuals that come with the bot and base primarily explain how to clean them.

The first few cleans the Roomba i7+ does, it gives you the option of cleaning and mapping or mapping the house on a “Training Run.” Once the bot is done mapping your home, you can view the map in the app and make changes by adding and removing virtual boundaries while giving each room a name. Customizing the virtual green lines in the app takes a little getting used to, but is easy to use once you get the hang of it.

The iRobot Roomba i7+ keeps the memory of up to 10 different floor plans, which you can edit at any time.

Performance

When you launch the i7+’s first run, you’ll find the vacuum to be reasonably quiet when cleaning. An integrated speaker announces the Roomba’s current task, so you can keep track of events without being glued to the app, although iRobot recommends that you hang around during the first clean.

With a single edge-sweeping brush, instead of two as with most competitors, it means the bot needs to attack the edges of the room in multiple directions, and you’ll be surprised that the device navigates table legs and other furniture after the first mapping clean.

In fact, once the Roomba i7+ has uploaded detailed maps of your room layouts, it assumes a much more efficient cleaning pattern of pacing across each room in as straight lines as possible. iRobot calls this ‘Imprint Smart Mapping’ and in their own words, the new method “will save both energy and time.”

As mentioned, the mapping can precisely remember only up to 10 floor plans at a time, which you can assign individual names. We think this is both because iRobot isn’t charging users to store their floor plans in its cloud servers and that the servers only have so much space to store everyone’s Roomba i7+ maps.

Once you configure Amazon’s Alexa and the Google Assistant AI services into the ecosystem, this robot vacuum opens up more opportunities. For instance, once connected with either service through the iRobot companion app, you can issue voice commands to the Roomba i7+ and they will be executed instantly.

That’s the true power of iRobot’s mapping system, as it implements the process of getting your Roomba to clean a room down to a single sentence uttered. All you need to do is empty the Clean Base once a month or so – and clean the vacuum’s rollers and other parts every so often.

iRobot Roomba i7+ Review: Verdict

The iRobot Roomba i7+ does a good job at learning your home’s layout and is ideal for cleaning challenging surfaces and areas with lots of obstacles. We’re not surprised that this is a solid performing robot vacuum, too. And, for sure, the Clean Base is fantastic and easy to empty -especially for people with back issues.

But, the Roomba i7+ is not cheap. It’s one of the more expensive robot vacuums we’ve reviewed. And, if you’re paying premium dollar, it shouldn’t be beaten in cleaning tasks by roots that cost a third of its price (gladly, it works hard to maintain the premise of being a perfect cleaner).

That said, if your primary cleaning needs require a robot vacuum that learns and cleans specific rooms on a regular basis, the iRobot Roomba i7+ will get the job done quickly, and pretty well, too.

The iRobot Roomba i7+ is one of those few gadgets that are easy to recommend – provided you have the money to afford it.

Last update on 2024-05-17 at 18:46 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API