iRobot Roomba Combo J7+

'Loading your experience...' I've spent too much time looking at this on-screen message in the app, feeling my frustration rise as I spend time trying to get both the unit and the app, to work as it should. It is much quicker to go and grab my stick vacuum and just get the job done whilst my 'experience' is still loading. Instead, I find myself… Read more

frequently re-connecting to wifi, rebooting the unit, trying to figure out why it won't charge on sporadic occasions, perusing the user manual or googling similar issues to what I'm having on any particular day to find a solution.

After purchasing the product about 3 months ago, it started off well enough. It mapped out my house and I thought that was great. It's single storey, no stairs, uncluttered with hard floors and some carpet. I could select the rooms I wanted done, go down the street and the job would be complete when I got back. I did watch it at times in the beginning and although its pathing wasn't always logical or efficient, it would get the job done.

I understand the need for maintenance so I do maintain it as per instructions - the rollers, brush, filter, bags, dust, etc. Definitely more needy than a stick vacuum but the trade off was saving time, or so I thought.

Problems slowly began to occur. There was a 'sealing problem' with the base that kept rearing its head. Next, the unit would return home after a job and spend a good few minutes rolling onto the base, shuffling about as if it couldn't seat itself properly and then rolling back off to try again. So frustrating to watch. Eventually, it just give up the ghost and stopped in the middle of the room in front of the base. It then wasn't picking up dirt on the hard floors, it would just flick the dirt around with the brush and roll straight over the top of dirt and debris without picking it up, triumphantly returning home 'Job completed'.

It genuinely seems to get more confused about its purpose as time goes on. It takes longer to get the thing going now; it then rolls around without picking up the dirt and returns home, forgetting that it needs to recharge at times.

This is my first purchase of a robot vacuum. After paying over $1200 for this unit, I was expecting to get what I paid for and I don't believe this product has delivered. As I stare at the 'Loading your experience' message once again, I just put down my phone and retrieve the stick vacuum from the shed as I know I'll be done in a third of the time, with a better result and I can get on with my never-ending list of things to do. After paying that amount, is it unreasonable to expect consistent, bother-free performance that frees up my more of my time and not the opposite? Should I just expect to coach and coddle this thing more and more as time goes on?

The unit itself seems well put together, the rollers and bin are easy to access and clean and I feel that is worth mentioning.

Although I still have options left to me to resolve the issues I'm having, I do feel like dumping this useless thing in the bin at times and trying another brand, putting it down to a waste of money. It is hard for me to say if these issues are common with robot vacuums but if I was asked by someone else whether or not they should buy this product, I would suggest another brand.