iRobot Roomba Combo j5+ Self-Emptying Robot Vacuum & Mop – Identifies and Avoids Obstacles Like Pet Waste & Cords, Empties Itself for 60 Days, Clean by Room with Smart Mapping, Works with Alexa​

Having a lot of problems with my robot. Every time it runs the battery runs down, then I have ro locate it to put back on charger and it won't connect, then it won't charge. Won't buy this model again

I really really want to like my robot vacuum cleaner. I was an early adopter when iRobot started and have bought 4 of these in my lifetime. But honestly it isn’t doing a good job. It chokes on carpet fuzz, see pictures of it just dragging fuzz balls to the edge of the rug where it leaves them, or they roll out the back. Thinks it’s full even when it’s just pushing stuff around because the narrow throat is full of fuzz. Has a 0/100 record on collecting live oak leaves. Frequently curls the corner of flat rugs up then high centers itself. Then bangs and clatters around trying to get unstuck. It frequently gets lost. The little dirt collectors are a pita to empty. This one is supposed to mop. More like dragging a dirty damp rag behind it. It does a mostly decent job in the spare bedroom which has no rugs, just tile. Just all in all not worth the $$. Well now it randomly senses the mop bin versus the actual installed vacuum bin. Which then solves the fuzz issue. Because it won’t vacuum the rugs. Is increasingly having more difficulty mounting its base unit. After 15-20 minutes of listening to it bumble around the laundry room I just picked it up. So now about 9 months into ownership and it’s just an expensive piece of technotrash. It can’t find its way out of the room it is stored in 9/10 times. It can’t decide if it’s got its mop hopper on or dirt hopper and defaults to mop. The mop function is a complete failure, and frankly its inability to vacuum properly is ridiculous. It’s a tile house with the occasional floor rug. It tosses junk around rather than pick it up due to its spinning edge cleaning mechanism. It can’t pick anything up thicker than dust. The edge of any carpet is where it dumps the junk it’s just pushing around. It isn’t worth the effort of owning. I paid extra for the automatic emptying bin, it almost never automatically empties its bin. I paid extra for a mop system. The system is to dribble fluid into a rag it drags around under it. It’s not even a decent damp mopping. And it senses the mop thing all the time. We have a rug with tassels, it said it has an anti get stuck in the tassels feature. I’m finding the arms for the edge brush tangled in the tassels and torn off. My fav is the thing likes to get close to the wall and gets stuck in the drawstring for the curtains. So it’s down to one star and wish I hadn’t wasted my time and money supporting this company since it’s inception. I emailed multiple times for support, got one generic reply and zero follow up to asked questions and the last email I sent directly before end of warranty was just ignored. Useless.

This is my very first Roomba, and it has both exceeded and fell short of my expectations in different ways. Overall, I'm very impressed with the vacuum. I'm underwhelmed by the mop. And I'm very glad I got the base. First, the vacuum is wonderful. It picks up everything I've seen it run over, and it's pretty good about getting everywhere even if you move things around. If you have pets, it will definitely pick up the hair (my long haired border collie sheds a ton and it has no problem keeping everything tidy). The vacuum itself is really quiet (sounds like a loud fan), while emptying into the home base sounds like a rocket taking off. My biggest gripe with the vacuum is that it takes SO LONG to vacuum. I wish I could speed it up in settings, even if it sacrificed quality of the vacuuming a bit. Sometimes I just want it to do a quick pass for dog hair and not deep clean everything, you know? The mop is a different story. After using the vacuum, I was hoping the mop would be equally good. However, it basically just lightly drags a damp cloth around on the floor behind the vacuum. And it insists on vacuuming while mopping, so it still makes noise. The floor doesn't seem to get very wet, and it's more work to refill the reservoir, wash, and replace the cloth than it is to just Swiffer the floor. Plus swiffering is way faster and more effective. Imagine the mop as just typing a wet rag behind the robot, except worse because it reduces the vacuum bag size. For anyone relying on the "keep out zones", they do seem to work reliably, however you need to draw them much bigger than you think in order for them to work. My Roomba is a bit... optimistic about the boundaries haha. I went back and forth on whether I needed the base or not, and I decided to get it. I'm glad I did, as the Roomba empties itself midway through every vacuuming job and then again at the end. I was a bit wary of how small the bags looked for the base, as they surely couldn't hold that much. However, it must be able to hold quite a bit since I haven't had to replace the bag all week. If you have kids or pets, you should definitely get the base. My impressions: 10/10 on vacuuming job 2/10 on mopping job 6/10 on speed 9/10 on intelligence 8/10 on keep out zones It would be greatly improved with a "quick clean" option, or speed settings. The mop could be removed from the package to save money, as it seems like a gimmick to me. However, the vacuum is solid and does a great job on pet hair and household dirt

The vacuum feature on this is fantastic on hard floors, it does okay for carpet but you definitely need another real sweeper for carpet. I am quite certain roomba heard all my complaints about my old i3 because this one seems custom made for me! I love that it empties itself- sounds like a plane is about to take off so it clears the bin better than I could shake it! The features to avoid my dogs and their toys is amazing. I never again have to worry that my stubborn or even my blind dog will be assaulted by the roomba, I’ve watched in horror as my dog goes running from it and it’s attached to her tail. We can all be relieved of our PTSD with that feature. The “mopping” is really a damp cloth that does little to actually clean anything except for maybe some dust here and there but leaves a small “snail trail” and doesn’t even cover the width of the pad. That part is meh but the vacuum part is A+!!

Update since adding 1-star. It's hard to imagine a more frustrating experience trying to do something as simple as vacuuming my house. The promise of this "robot" is more hype than reality. Today once again, it sat in one spot, clueless about where to go and what to do. I picked it up several times and tried to reset it...nope it's plopped down in one spot only to drive itself a short distance and plop itself down yet again. And worse yet, it left several little clumps of dust and dirt everywhere it parked itself. So, my floors are dirtier than before this expensive toy pretended to vacuum. Don't put yourself through all this. Stay away from this thing. Its a roll of the dice every time I command it to vacuum, whether it will or not. After paying over $500 for this, I think this qualifies as a bonafide ripoff. I'm back to 1 star and I'm staying put. ------------ Update: added 1-star. Over time, my user experience has improved. Wall-E (our robot's name) got better, Cleaned, returned to base, emptied the bin, recharged, and then went back to work. I use my Alexa devices for commands as the app is a mess. The headache of enduring the early days of machine learning may not be for everybody. But, in all fairness, it's a better product now than it was a few months and many cleaning cycles ago. I'm relieved, as the reviews are very mixed on this thing. ===== Original 3-star review: The phone app needs to be fixed. I have better success using an Alexa device to send commands to the robot. It will often find its home base, only to appear lost now and then, and I have to tell Alexa to send it home. It will sometimes go in circles for an extended time and not vacuum, only to work fine on the next job I schedule. At $500, and given its inconsistent operation, it's not something I can't rave about. Its best use is regular light vacuuming, and on the weekend, I nonetheless have to drag out my Dyson for deeper cleaning. Be mindful of this if you're considering a purchase.

This review comes a full year after I purchased and started using it. All I can really say is, I don’t *hate* it. Maybe I should have splurged on one of the more expensive ones. Maybe it wouldn’t have mattered anyway. Or maybe it’s doing exactly the things it should be able to do and I’m expecting too much of it. It works significantly better on my hard flooring rather than the small amount of carpeted flooring in my living room. Edges and corners still remain untouched as the little sweeper doesn’t manage to get to those spots 99% of the time. I find myself going behind it around the baseboards a lot. A big negative is how easily hair becomes tangled in a variety of places on the vacuum. Now, I have 2 feet of hair, so this is partially my problem as a long haired woman. But at least twice a week I have to turn the thing upside down and remove hair from the sweeper, around each individual green brush, and around each of the sides of each brush. It’s annoying but manageable. I have found myself running it twice over certain rooms because it misses some stuff on the first pass. That could use some work because I’ll find a little tuft of fur that should have been simple for the vacuum to pickup. Now, the noise this thing makes. While doing its job I don’t really notice it. My husband is more sensitive to sound and it grates on his last nerve but honestly I think that’s just him, I can easily tune it out. But when it finds its way back to its docking station… it sounds like a jet engine taking off. I’ve gotten to where I cover my ears every time it does it because I hate the sound so much. Speaking of the docking station, when it auto sucks out all of the contents it picked up, there’s a 50/50 chance it’s actually going to empty the vacuum. I am constantly self emptying the contents because they get caught up in the vacuum and won’t get sucked into the bag. Now, all this to say, it does have quite a few setbacks. So if you are planning on this being your only method of vacuuming your home, I’d say this isn’t the best option. But for daily maintenance alongside a weekly/biweekly deep clean with a stand up vacuum, I’d say this little robot works pretty well. It picks up random crumbs and dirt from outside that accumulate throughout the day. Bigger messes require some assistance but I do try to run this first sometimes to see if it’ll do the job before I break out my Shark vacuum. I like it, but it could be better!

Coming from a Roomba 980 (that we will be going back to), this thing presents itself as an attempt for a "smarter, improved model", but is full of shortcomings. My 980 has no smart mapping. It does the whole clean in straight lines and acts like it knows where it is, but otherwise it is stupid. I appreciate the fact that this j5 makes an attempt to create a "map" (which is never really done well, but it is an attempt) of my house so I can tell it where to go and not to go. However, the glitchy software RUINS this thing. Please, iRobot, explain to me why when I press "clean everywhere" this thing does NOTHING. Then I go up to it and press the button and it acts like it's fully powered off. Then finally after RESETTING the whole unit I will be able to get it to clean. That is only the beginning however... sometimes when it is feeling frisky, it will clean one room and then finish the job and tell you "cleaning is complete!" This will be after I tell it to "clean everywhere". So... what could be a great product is about as useless as a Roomba from '07 due to its crippling software. The 980, even without a self emptying bin and any real form of mapping, is able to fully clean my house every time I press that clean button. It will go for hours and hours and fill the bin.. no complaints, no glitches. I am at a loss of how almost 10+ years of improvements could result in this joke of a device when you compare it to its 2015 counterpart. For now, the trusty 980 is going back in service. iRobot, FIX THE SOFTWARE ON THIS GUY!!

I purchased the iRobot Roomba i5 during a discount deal, and I absolutely don’t regret it. After using it for about a year, I can confidently say it’s one of the best small home investments I’ve made. The vacuum quality is excellent it picks up dust, debris, and especially pet hair with no problem, even in corners and under furniture. I have two dogs, and thanks to this vacuum, there’s not a single hair left anywhere. It’s been a total game-changer for keeping the apartment clean. I don’t use the mopping function much; I mainly rely on it for vacuuming, and the results speak for themselves. You can clearly see and feel the difference between a cleaned floor and a dirty one. In terms of durability, it’s held up great after a year of use. No issues with the wheels, brushes, or sensors. It covers my one-bedroom apartment thoroughly, typically running for around 45 minutes, sometimes a bit longer if there are obstacles that confuse it during its mapping process. The functionality is solid. It maps the apartment effectively and adapts over time. The app is very simple and intuitive, giving you all the basic information and control you need without being overly complicated. Noise level is reasonable not silent, but quiet enough to run while your home without being annoying. The sensitivity of the sensors is generally good, though sometimes it struggles with new obstacles or small cords, but nothing major. Overall, if you're looking for a reliable, efficient, and easy-to-use vacuum especially if you have pets the Roomba i5 is highly recommended. Great performance, solid build, and very convenient for small apartments or homes.

"The vacuum cleaner is defective and does not work properly. Every time I start a cleaning job, it stops after just one minute and returns to the charging dock, showing an error message on the app that says (Return to base: Error). Additionally, the self-emptying system is not working and constantly gives a false alert that the 'Clean Base is clogged' even after thoroughly cleaning it. The device is faulty and has sensors/software issues."

Roomba cleans well but often it gets confused and will reclean areas it has already done. Also, some minor problems docking and emptying vacuum bag.

Buen producto, llego cerrado, hace su función y es recomendable por los mapas que se pueden configurar

Muy mal producto, dejó de funcionar en menos de 1 año de haberla comprado, la envié a garantía con la empresa Servitec Global Service y su reparación duró 2 meses… ahora me quieren cobrar la revisión y reparación de un trabajo mal hecho. Pésimo producto y pésimo servicio de garantía.

Absolutely horrible purchase, waste of money. The performance is not up to par... low suction, it bumps into everything, no object detection, no avoidance, dropped connectivity, never understands commands... overall a poor product...for the exorbitant price paid... I'd like to have a refund and return the item, but it's past the return window of 30 days. I'm honestly very disappointed with the iRobot brand... I expected an upgrade from my entry-level Roomba but it's worse...Competitors in the market come in with a cheaper price and 4 times as much suction power. It's so noisy too. It almost seeks you out to come bump into your foot all the time. They removed the spot cleaning button, why? So dumb. There is no docking button, why? so dumb. They should spend less time on AI mapping (useless) and more time focusing on the basics, sucking up stuff. the mopping feature is basically a microfiber cloth wiping the floor lightly, no motion, streaky finish, it LEAKS, omg it leaks everywhere, so dumb. you have to manually take it out and clean it, so what is the point of paying extra for a "Self empty bin". so dumb!!! I'll never buy an iRobot roomba again. I want a refund on return, but no-one, roomba support or amazon support is willing to do this.