Review of the Roomba J7 Plus combo by iRobot

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IRobot Roomba Combo J7 Plus

A few robot vacuums have been as sophisticated, stylish and intelligent as the iRobot Roomba J7 Plus. However, it’s newest version does even better, offering superior suction as well as mopping. With the Roomba Combo J7 Plus and the highly intelligent programming from iRobot, a retractable mop pad ensures that your carpets won’t get soggy in an automated cleaner than ever before.

IRobot Roomba Combo J7 Plus in one minute

With the Roomba Combo J7 Plus (or j7+), you’ll discover a world of conveniences. Right now, the iRobot Navigator is one of the best robot vacuums on the market with iRobot’s trademark fantastic features. With a retractable mop pad mechanism, it’s the first of its kind and marks a big improvement over bottom-mounted mop pads on robovacs, which could dampen carpets.

The Roomba J7 Plus mirrors the vacuum-only iRobot Roomba J7 Plus almost entirely – which isn’t a bad thing, given the impressive intelligence, suction power, and design features such as dual rubber brushes that keep hair from getting tangled around the brush bar. Despite its excellent mapping, the robot suggests areas that need to be improved as it learns more about your home.

The robovac industry pioneer iRobot has a reputation for great quality, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise. In terms of suction power, the J7 Plus doesn’t quite hold up to the Roomba S9 Plus, but it is still capable of collecting dust and debris from both hardwood and carpet floors.

With its numerous smart features, including the ability to detect dirt and objects, this machine is incredibly smart. A built-in artificial intelligence system detects cluttered objects and pets in your home, so it can clean around them safely. Moreover, even tiny particles can be picked up by it.With its 7 micron size, the device is perfect for pet owners, as it can detect and avoid pet poop. You can expect to see new functionality added to your bot in the future since iRobot regularly updates its operating system.

Its “Plus” suffix refers to a larger base station that facilitates automatic dirt removal, as with other iRobot models. When the vacuum’s internal dustbin is full, or after every clean, it will empty itself into a bag with a capacity of 57oz/1.7 liter at its base, which holds dirt for up to 60 days, depending on how often you vacuum. However, if you use this feature, you will have to pay for replacing the bags over the long run.

This robot vacuum cleaner has all of these features, making it one of the easiest to use and hands-free machines we’ve ever used, and while we were cleaning, we also noticed that we spent less time vacuuming, which is great when life gets hectic. It’s very expensive at / £999 / AU, so you pay for the convenience of a low-maintenance vacuum cleaner.

A comparison of the prices & availability of the iRobot Roomba Combo J7 Plus

It is currently available online and can be purchased directly from iRobot or Amazon for £999.99 / AU, or from the iRobot store. Additionally to the self-emptying base, the Plus includes an extra filter, a spare brush, and two AllergenLock bags. It costs £799 / AU for the regular Roomba Combo J7 without the base; as of this writing, the US is only available with the Plus package.

In spite of its many bells and whistles, this sophisticated robot vacuum isn’t inexpensive, and if you don’t like these features, it’s not money well spent. If you live a busy lifestyle or don’t like cleaning, this vacuum is well worth the money, especially when compared to budget-friendly vacuums. The mopping function on the regular J7 costs only / £100 / AU.

Aside from that, ongoing costs must also be taken into account. You’ll need to replace the vacuum bag on the self-emptying base station if you’re going to use it regularly, and if you’d like to clean deeper with the mop pad than just with water, you’ll need to buy iRobot’s cleaning solution.

Four out of five points

J7 Plus combination robot by iRobot

As for the main differences between the Roomba J7 Plus vacuum and the Roomba Combo J7 Plus, they can be summed up as follows:. With a flush top and a matte black casing, this is a black beauty. There is also a minimalist control system here: a single button you can press to initiate or pause the vacuum. 13 inches in length.A three-by-thirteen.The sum of three squares.Approximately 33 cm / 4 inches.Eight by three hundred.Eight by eight.There is a clearance of approximately 6 cm (h x w x d). However, it may be difficult to accommodate some furnishings much lower down.

A key difference is the retractable mop pad at the back of the vacuum, which is attached at the top. With the snap-fit attachments, the mop pads are easily attached to the arm by sliding and clicking them. Under the mop, the pad lifts and tucks away with incredible smooth motion – an incredible feat of design.

With a plastic bumper around the vacuum’s front half, the vacuum’s sensors are able to sense obstacles and surroundings through a window on the bumper. A swivel wheel and two bidirectional wheels are on its underside, along with a three-armed side brush to remove debris from corners and away from walls, and dual rubber brush bars. The flexible design of these bars ensures that hair will not become tangled and they won’t damage flooring.

A dust bin of 14oz / 0.4 liter can be ejected by pressing a tactile panel on the rear half. Roomba Combo J7 Plus also comes with a sample bottle of iRobot cleaning solution, which will not damage your device, and is compatible with cleaning solution, unlike some other robot vacuums and mops. A Bona Hardwood/Hard Surface Cleaner is also safe to use, according to iRobot’s help section.

In addition to its slick features, the Combo J7 Plus boasts plenty of useful options. In cleaner rooms, robovacs detect dirtier areas and increase suction power if necessary, thereby saving you battery life if you are unable to supervise the vacuum to adjust its suction settings. Robots can navigate intelligently using their built-in cameras, which also detect obstacles and hazards — even socks. As well as its Pet Ownership Official Promise – or POP – this model comes with a 1-year warranty from iRobot.It’s okay.It’s okay.Prevent dirty clean-up jobs by detecting and preventing pet messes.

In addition to the Clean Base, this model includes an automatic dirt disposal system. Unfortunately, it cannot clean your mop pads or refill your water tank, but since it does nearly everything else, we’ll let that go. Featuring a size of 31.9 x 34 x 39cm / 12.55 x 13.39 x 15.35 inches, the clean base requires 1.5 ft / 0.5m on each side and 4 ft / 1.2m in front of it. A brown leather tag provides easy access to the bin, similar to the vacuum itself, with black accents.

A pre-fitted cleaning bag and spare are stored under the base hood in a neat little compartment, which reduces the need for additional external storage space – though a side brush and a spare mop pad would have been nice to have. A full dust bag will turn red on the front of the vacuum canister once it has been filled with dirt for 60 days, according to iRobot.

An overall score of 5 out of 5 for design

Performance of the iRobot Combo J7 Plus

It vacuums to the same high standard as the J7 Plus model that does not mop, as we have already noted in this review. With large spills, side brushes make a meal of flicking litter across the floor, which extends the cleaning time. This vacuum collects both fine debris and larger crumbs on hard floors.

Fine powder spills, such as those in our flour and biscuit tests, will be tracked by the bot across the floor, and when overwhelmed by such debris, the vacuum will throw some of it back onto the ground when making its way back to the charging station. While it collected almost all of the remnants when it returned to the floor, some of the oats that had been thrown further afield were not collected. You won’t be collecting large volumes of concentrated debris very often with your robot vacuum. We never saw the vacuum create any mess when cleaning the house; it is systematic and efficient at sucking up dirt for a regular clean.

The Combo J7 Plus has no manual suction power control option as stated earlier. By sensing dirt levels on the floor, it intelligently adjusts its behavior. If it detects a messier area, the bot will pause to clean it before continuing on its path if it detects a winding route around your home. As a result, the bot will pause when confronted with an obstacle, navigate around the clutter (socks, wires and toys), either avoiding it and continuing on from the next logical place, or nipping larger, nonfurniture obstacles out of its way intentionally.

We were really impressed by the performance of the Combo J7 Plus’ mopping capability. Mopping pads wouldn’t dock neatly under the unit, and the arms would be too delicate to provide the pressure required for good mopping.

When using the cleaning solution sample that was included with the vacuum, the Combo J7 Plus actually polished our floors beautifully. The app allows you to choose whether to use a minimal, medium, or maximum amount of liquid for each of your favorite cleaning modes.

Several disadvantages exist. We had to wait about five minutes during our test before we saw consistent, non-streaky results from the mop pad. The water tank might also drip occasionally if it is full. The self-emptying base station will lose some of its hands-free perks if you frequently mop with it. From replacing the mop pads to cleaning them, every aspect of mopping is completely manual.

In any case, the Combo J7 Plus’ mopping performance is far superior to anything we’ve seen in a combination robot vacuum, mop, and vacuum cleaner. Once it gets going, the mop is excellent and leaves floors shine and free of marks.

As a result of the Combo J7 Plus, carpets are thoroughly cleaned before mopping and vacuuming. Our vacuum was moved around before and during a cleaning cycle to see if it could be tricked into mopping our bathroom rug. While the smart little bot was able to identify the difference in texture and save its mop in order not to damage or dampen the carpet, it was very capable of doing this.

A maximum of 68dB was recorded by the Combo J7 Plus on our decibel meter during its travels around our home. This is much quieter than most vacuums, although its volume increases by around 5dB when it boosts its suction. After the first return to base, we got a nasty shock. As a result of the noise created by the self-emptying function, we were terrified for a few seconds. Though it’s only a few seconds, we don’t recommend using this in circumstances where you require silence.

4.5 out of 5 stars for performance

This app allows you to control the iRobot Roomba J7 Plus

It’s a case of “peace of mind” if we could summarise the iRobot app in three words. In addition to guiding you through the initial mapping phase, the app also guides you through setting up your voice assistant and modifying your map. We named our vacuum Buttercup, and there are tips and reminders included, as well as checking the vacuum’s lifecycle.

Combo J7 Plus continues to learn after its initial mapping task; it is excellent at mapping as well. In the application, it detects and estimates the start and end of different rooms based on different surface types. This software was able to distinguish between the living room and the kitchen/dining room even in larger, split rooms, such as the one we tested in. Additionally, it added a new recommendation for cleaning the area in my kitchen where I stand most often to cook.

Also, with the zoning feature, we were able to solve one of the challenges we encounter with robot vacuums: doorstops. The bot does not yet recognize doorstops as obstacles, so it regularly dislodges them, which isn’t ideal for a robot vacuum that can’t open doors in an apartment with heavy fire doors. With the zoning tool, however, we were able to isolate our doorway from the vacuum and prevent it from locking itself in there.

Five out of five for the app

Battery for iRobot Roomba J7 Plus

iRobot hasn’t said how long its battery life will be, but we found it pretty tough to drain the battery. Overall, the iRobot Roomba Combo J7 Plus’s battery specs are something of a beautiful mystery. With batteries left to spare, we were able to vacuum and mop our one-bedroom apartment three full times with plenty of battery life left.

During jobs, the vacuum will return automatically to its base, and if it runs out of batteries, the spinning light around the lid’s button will tell you when it is finished charging, shifting to illuminate only the lower half. iRobot claims it uses very little energy when docked, but you can adjust its settings to further reduce this if you wish.