Review: iRobot Roomba i3+: budget bot with cool features
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- čas přidán 5. 11. 2020
- This review is of the original i3 not the upgraded i3 EVO
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As a pet owner and a busy person, I’ve owned a robot vacuum of one kind or another for years. The convenience and ease with which they can keep your home tidy between deep cleanings is important to me. While the cleaning properties and helpfulness of these gadgets have been hard to argue with, the price has kept this technology out of reach for a lot of customers. That may change with the launch of the Roomba® i3+ robot vacuum. This iRobot version is packed with advanced features and has a softer new look. Starting at a much more budget-friendly $749CAD, the Roomba i3+ gives you some of the features of the higher end Roombas like intelligent navigation, self-emptying capabilities using the Clean Base Automatic Dirt Disposal, and it lets you control almost every aspect of your clean using the iRobot app. So is this budget bot on par with pricier vacuums and how well does it clean? Let’s dig in since I had a chance to have one of these running in my home for a few weeks of review…
What do you get with iRobot Roomba® i3+?
In the package you’ll get a new look round Roomba vacuum; the new look is thanks to a softer woven panel on the top of the bot. While iRobot says it’s mean to be more durable, and that the woven texture will minimize fingerprints and collect less dust, I think it’s more likely you just won’t be able to see the dust and prints so well any more on the textured surface.
Also in this kit is the iRobot Clean Base Automatic Dirt Disposal unit. This automatic empty container was launched a couple years ago on pricier Roombas like the i7 and s9 (the + in the name indicates the disposal base is included). You do also have the option of just purchasing the vacuum bot for a lower price.
What’s the advantage of the iRobot Clean Base Automatic Dirt Disposal unit?
This dustbin is a game changer for vacuum owners and it has a few features which make it an upgrade worth considering.
The clean base means the Roomba can now empty itself. The newest Robot in the Roomba fleet is available with a special dock that contains a dustbin and sealed vacuum bag, so that any time the Roomba is full, it'll head back to its base station and automatically empty itself. This dock is also a charging station, and the robot will go home to recharge before finishing a clean if it needs to.
Once it docks you’ll hear the internal vacuum come on (yes, this is very much a vacuum within a vacuum!) and it sucks all the dirt out of the onboard dustbin and into a bag inside the base. You’ll never see a grain of dirt.
The emptying process is loud and I’d say it sounds like a regular upright vacuum on full, and it’s definitely quite a contrast to the low noise level of the Roomba itself.
iRobot Roomba i3+: What does it have & What’s missing from other higher cost Roombas?
Let’s talk about what you’re getting and not getting with the iRobot Roomba i3.
When compared to the much more expensive Roombas, smart home mapping is missing. This feature allows the robot to create a virtual map of your home so you can ask your digital assistant to clean certain rooms in your house, or set cleaning schedules for those specific rooms of the house on certain days, for example.
How well does Roomba i3+ clean?
To the question you all no doubt have: how well does this less expensive Roomba clean?
I’ve found overall Roombas clean very well and this robot is no exception; Roombas can pick up a lot of different things, from pet hair, to crumbs, from fine dirt or flour to grittier bits like cereal or crackers. While bigger and looser items like cereal pieces might ger spun across the floor by the brushes sometimes, I find they do gert picked up in subsequent passes.
Overall review: iRobot Roomba® i3+ with Clean Base Automatic Dirt Disposal
Overall, this vacuum does a lot: it cleans very well, and I love the automatic dirt disposal, since it cleaner and means I don’t need to empty my bot daily.
Any downsides to this device can be fixed by upgrading to different roombas: if you wan to get that home mapping and clean by room, upgrade to a i7 or s9. While I do think Roombas still get caught or stuck more than they should, that’s a hazard of not piccking up dog toys, socks or phone cords before you clean.
I think this roomba is a great blend of useful features and an affordable price point.
The iRobot Roomba® i3+ with Clean Base Automatic Dirt Disposal sells for $749CAD (robot on its own is $499CAD). The i7+ sells for $999 by comparison and the s9+ is $1399. - Věda a technologie
best review of the i3 ive seen so far. Thank you for the info!
We just bought the i3+ today from the best buy...very good deal. Even though it doesn't have any mapping...i wouldn't buy any roomba with camera. I3 works perfectly fine. It cleaned my floor several time and my hardwood floor looks shiny. Good review Erin.
It maps but doesn't allow you to divide into rooms.
I got one used without the base. I think I might get the base but we have many pets and I worry it will fill up too quickly. Roomba fills up with hair about 3 times per day so is it going to need a new bag every week?
Thanks for the review Erin! Auto-empty bins are the future of robot vacuums, and I wish Roborock would engineer one soon. They're my brand of choice. The S4 and S6 Pure are phenomenal!
Good to know! I have yet to be able to test a Roborock vacuum. Would love to try one though.
Thank you for a Great review on the i3 Plus 😊
Great stuff as always, Erin!
Thanks very much 😊
love your channel. Totally a different unique take. I got the s9+ with braava m6 after watching your videos
I’m so glad to hear this! Welcome to the channel.
The got i3 on sale ($399 CAD) a week or so ago and love it.
Great video Erin. We have to talk about the giant potato though. Subscibed.
I just bought this one based off your review. I managed to get it for a little over $150 on sale at Target. So far it has been so much better then the Shark EZ robot vacuum I had.
That's great, thanks for sharing!
The shark ez is actually what I've been looking into as well. Lol. Thanks for the comparison.
Useful review - thanks!
Thanks for watching!
Excellent video. Great information that was quickly given out.
Thanks so much!
@@ErinLawrenceTV I bought one after watching your video.
My I3 does in fact have smart mapping. It mapped my whole upper level floor in my condo and I can see every room on the map and tell it to go clean areas
Fantastic!
The cool features our brand new i3+ had were that it didn't pick up dirt, but rather organized it so I could sweep it up behind it easier. It also stopped every minute or so, so it could tell us through an error code that it was clogged.....it had nothing in it to be clogged with as it wasn't picking anything up anyway.
We could have got a bad one, but when you spend that kind of money, the product better damn well represent. Ours did not. Its going back.
I have an i3+ and it has mapping and can clean specific rooms defined by you.
A great review! Thank You
Glad it was helpful!
Awesome review. Was wondering your opinion on stone floors. I have a large slate slightly uneven textured floor. Do you think it would have problems. Cheers.
Fantastic narration.
Thank you kindly!
I’ve been considering buying a Roomba forever - but know myself well enough to know that I would simply hate cleaning out that filter every half-hour (2 dogs, 2 cats)…so when THIS feature was announced I pounced. Powered it up and used it for the first time tonight … and I’m not getting something. Within 30 minutes it stopped and told me to “empty the filter”…which I did, manually…started it up again and 30 minutes later it was full AGAIN. So in my first 90 minutes of use, I’ve manually cleaned out the filter twice (LOTS of fur and dust cough cough)…which is precisely what I knew I would hate about this thing!
I’m either not understanding the semantics or…what? When it commands me to clean the filter, does that mean I’m just supposed to send it home so it can suck all the dirt up into the bag? Argh. Guess I ought to read the manual. Anyway, thanks for the review!
Great review do you know how high obstacles like door threshold can roomba climb over?
Thanks for the video. On a complete side note, I'm just curious - Are you using a telecaster or something? Do you prepare your script in advance? Thanks!
She sounds like a news anchor lol. Very good review, sounds professional and good information included. How do you get the roomba i3+ to not go in a certain area you don’t want it to? Is there are “barrier tape” included with this vacuum to stop it in area you don’t want it to go?
She has a very pleasant voice.
Will it roll over a 5/8-3/4" high transition strip? How thick of a rug can it climb onto?
Got this on Prime Day '22. The Genius 4.0 Update (March '22) has added Smart Mapping to the i3+ and i3+ EVO. Siri capabilities were also added.
Fantastic!
Awesome! Thanks for the update. And prime '22 is great..sadly I couldn't make up my mind before then lol. Still looking in July for the best choice for me. I'm thinking of getting this one tho. But without the clean base (I find it more of an annoyance due to the sound and having to replace the bags).
The i3 just got smart mapping with the latest software update!
Thanks for posting!
Great review. On the fence about the i3+ and i7+...
Just got the I3+ for $550 CAD black Friday price and I'm very pleased with it. The first cleaning did about 800 sq ft in 45 minutes. We kept all 3 bedroom doors and 2 bathroom doors closed for our 1st cleaning.
Floors done were wood and linoleum (they were dirty) and the roomba tank never got full. When it was done it went back to base and emptied. The emptying takes about 5 seconds, no big deal. Hope this helps.
Same. Did you end up making a decision?
Just got an i3 with dispenser for $350 Amazon.
I use mine to clean one floor so I didn’t need the smart mapping. Very pleased that it comes with the self emptying base and travels in a more efficient smart pattern than my older 600 series. Also happy for the rubber brush upgrade as well since pet hair constantly got stuck in the older bristles. I love that I can schedule this to run and forget about it. With my old roomba I would forget to run it until my floors were driving me crazy, this way I can schedule it to run everyday.
Thank you, this is the best video I have seen on the i3. I am a extremely confused between the 960 and i3, could you please tell me if the 960 is still worth buying? I like that it has a camera to nav and a 2x bigger dust bin as I am not interested in the auto empty bin. Thank you.
Thanks for the compliment. I will add this to my list of new videos to look at doing. Good question.
what's the cost to replace the bags?
Even though you can’t do keep out zones. Can you still put a straight line barrier?
Yes
I am debating between the i3 and e5. I am not too worried about the difference in price, but I have seen the e5 on many lists of best Roombas whereas I didn't see the i3 on any. However, the multidirectional pattern and restart ability of the i3 interest me. Sidenote I do have pets. Can you offer your advice? Thank you!
I think the i3 was just great. I did also enjoy the E5, it kind of comes down to how much you want to spend… Or don’t want to spend.
Great review! Now I'm out 400 dollars lol
I have 3 levels in my house. Bedrooms upstairs, living room and Kitchen in the main room, and then then a carpeted basement. Can I take the Roomba vacumm ONLY to the upstairsor basement to clean? or Do I have to bring the whole set up and plug in it to make it work? Thank you for the review.
The roomba can be brought to different levels by itself. Instead of returning to the base, it will simply return to where you put it down, when it finishes the job. If you do put it on a floor that doesn't have the base/charger, then you have to make sure the space is small enough to finish it's job before the battery dies, as it won't be able to "charge and resume".
I heard that once the robot maps your house, it will always clean the same places. However, what happen if you move furniture around the house?
It adapts and rewrites the map.
When u said you'll probably hear help me chirps I thought u were going to kid around and say you'll hear loud screams of terror or something like that 😂😂
😁🤣
I have a cheaper Roomba that doesn't have the mapping and a Roborock with the mapping. I would not buy one without the mapping. If you have nice furniture that can scratch, it bumps hard enough, and regularly, to make marks. So we took the Roomba and put it in the basement Family room and bought the Roborock for our fancier upstairs. So much nicer. Plus, the Roomba is often lost and can't find it's way back to the base and the battery dies in a random spot. So, in my opinion, pay the extra couple hundred $$ and it'll be better overall.
Great feedback, Leo. Thank you so much for posting here
They have updated them now and they do everything basically
I'm about to pull the trigger on a NIB i3+ from OfferUp. Will it operate in the dark and how does it so with small leaves?
You mentioned that the Roomba will go back to the home base to recharge before finishing a job. Mine keeps dying on the middle of jobs! Every day it dies. I changed the settings to “one pass.” The parts of the house it has access to clean isn’t very large. Haaalp!!
Thanks.
Thanks a lot for watching Ron. 😃
Es maravillosa.
so u have to buy those bags for the station? n if how much do they cost? or u can reuse them?
Yes you do need to purchase the bags. I think they are about a dollar or two each. You cannot reuse them.
Hows does it work with electric cords? Like the cord for an electric blanket under the bed.
It’s not bad but might get stuck.
Thank you for the video. What kind of humidifier is that on the floor at 36 seconds? Looks to send out a ton of vapor!
Looks like a Levoit.
Are all the +parts compaitble with i7 i9 etc? Or do you need ot purchase a new one each time?
The + only refers to the addition of the Clean Base as part of the package; but the vacuums are different
Hi Erin. I'm a cheapskate and just ordered the Eufy RoboVac 25C on sale at the Walmart website for $99.00. I'll see how it goes since this is going to be my first experience with a robo vac.
I’d love to know also! I should try reviewing one of their robots. Have not yet had the pleasure…
Mine rocks. My floors were trashed. I am lazy. This thing picked up cig butts bottle caps and a whole 2 1\2" screw. A plastic fork that got stepped on. Two broken cd case pieces and a bunch of wierd split rings for keychains.
Wow, sounds like it did a great job!
3 years on, how is it going? Do you still use it and like it? Thanks!
I did trade up to some fancier versions, but had this one for about three years and thought it did a pretty good job.
The i3 does not have 'suction boost'. I have an i3 and like it but this reviewer does not know the basics of this vacuum.
How does it know to do the bedrooms and bathroom?
:(
Excellent review.
Basically the only drawbacks are:
1. Less mobile
2. loud
3. no smart mapping of rooms.
You got it!
Can you start the I robot Roomba i 3 without programming it to wifi
?
I think you can but you wouldn't be able to set scheduled cleanings
Yes. But you have to push the clean button on the top of the robot to start a cleaning cycle. You just won't be able to set a schedule, or view the clean reports at the end of a cleaning cycle.
I find the batteries on these don't last long. So frustrating. The price for sure is too steep.
Can you do a product comparison with the shark one? Thanks.
Thanks for the suggestion, Tanya. I’d love to try the shark one also. We’ll see if I can get my hands on one.
I have a friend that has Shark, she wants my IRobot
I wish I went a model higher ☹️ it's so pricey though. But that mapping is so necessary. Without it, the Roomba is pretty embarrassing... I hate how they lock it behind such high pricing. I doubt the software for it costs that much, they could've stuck it on the i3 and kept the same price. This company probably makes enough selling you all the replacement parts anyways 😒
Also, this model doesn't work that well on carpet, mine never picks up my husky hair, I have to go through it with my regular vacuum to get everything, which defeats the purpose..
The intelligent mapping requires hardware that the i3 doesn't have. For intelligent mapping such as clean zones, the robot needs to "see the house". The i7 and S9 use an "upward facing" camera to be able to detect the details of the room. The i3 does not have an upward facing camera. It uses a combination of an internal gyroscope, a "floor sensing" camera that allows it to "dead reckon" navigate from where it is placed, or from the clean base. It keeps track of where it's been and maps any obstacles using the bump and IR sensors. The map is generated at the completion of each clean cycle but can't be reused by the robot, as it has no way to compare the internal map to any external reference in the house.
bought mine for $175 from amazon warehouse deal!
Nice!
I own this. The I-3 does not pick up. It literally will suck up pet hair, wad it up, and spit it back out. You end up with a little hairballs everywhere. I had a Eufy that worked great at picking up pet hair- I thought this Roomba was an upgrade. Boy was I wrong. I have worked with Roomba support for weeks to get a solution. One of the reps admitted that this Roomba doesn’t work on my carpet and just days ago promised to send me a different model that works, then later, reneged the offer and told me he’s sorry, but I should just “run the Roomba continuously”. It already runs every single night for 4+ hours - am I supposed to run it 24/7? And of course, because I wasted all this time thinking that Roomba was going to solve my issues it’s now too late to return it to Bed Bath and Beyond, My advice? This is a very expensive purchase. Don’t waste your money - buy a much less expensive Eufy instead.
There is no point in any of iRobot's vacuums, as long as the i6+ (with clean base) is less than $400, used from Amazon warehouse. The unit is brand new, with no scratches regardless of what the description says, and there is no dust indicating that it is used. Get a used one, because I did and it was brand new.
Good tip, Andy! Thanks for sharing.
I have this model but i dont know how it work.
Pkz. More info on 3 I+. On the app and digital performance and commands ✝️💕🌲
Ok
✝️💕🌲