I love this thing. We originally bought our I7 without a pedestal, and while it does its job perfectly, it only works well until the bin is full. If you run it when you are away from home, it may not finish because the recycle bin is full. Believe me, the vacuum cleaner collects a lot - mine works 6 days a week. It's just my wife, I, and 2 cats in a 1,700 square foot house - all hardwood - but there's still a lot of dust and dirt every day. Enter the clean base. it's so cool Roomba will be filled and returned to base, emptied (and charged if necessary) and returned to service. And he stays at work until the job is done. And the pockets in the base have enough capacity to change the pocket only every 3 or 4 weeks. Do yourself a favor and don't do what I did. I've tried smaller systems and always had mediocre results. An attempt to "save" by buying a cheaper solution. I wish I had bought the Roomba first and I wish I had waited to get a clean base. Buy them together and enjoy a clean floor every day without much effort. I clean the filter in Roomba's trash can every few days and check for tangles or excess hair/fur, but for the most part it just does the job without any disturbance. The same cannot be said of smaller vacuum cleaners and even Roomba without this base.