Review on Efficient iRobot Roomba 694: Robot Vacuum with Wi-Fi 🤖 Connectivity, Ideal for Pet Hair, Carpets, Hard Floors, and Self-Charging by Chris Pettway

OVERVIEW: A working robot vacuum will definitely help you keep your floors clean, especially if you're used to cleaning your floors only once a year week to wipe. But that's the main thing: _working_ Roomba. And it may not work as well in your home as you would like. BACKGROUND: I was one of the first to use Roomba and owned them from 2007 to 2011. I think I only had four of these and I think they all lasted less than a year. I finally gave them up after buying an improved model that died less than six months later. Great idea, but Roomba's "circle of death" (search online), buggy sensors, and poor battery life made me abandon the robot vacuum idea. All the models I've had have been of similar value to this 692. If you go on for almost a decade, as a Revain Vine member I can review this article. So that's my review, updated with the performance of Roomba like this 692 in 2020. WHAT'S IMPROVED IN A DECADE: - Better footstep detection. A decade ago, Roomba robots fell off the carpeted staircase that led from my dining room to a semi-deep living room. I used to set up a barrier of several chairs to prevent this. This model 692 recognizes a step and does not fall down. (Update: Unfortunately it's not perfect at step detection. Better than 10 years ago but today it got stuck on the step 4 times without tipping off the step while the old Roomba fell off the step and the " Code error 6" noted and this moves Roomba) - Improved ability to "peel". A decade ago, Roomba got stuck pretty easily and called for help. I have since installed hurricane-resistant sliders in my home, which have a much deeper sill gap for sliding doors to roll over. This 692 gets stuck at that threshold, but this Roomba can sometimes break free. But not always. Better wall detection. A decade ago, vacuum cleaner robots swept through the room at work. This 692 detects a wall (or large piece of furniture) and slows down slightly to gently touch the baseboard (or furniture). Please note that there must be some light in the room for it to work properly. WHAT I LIKE: - iRobot has a smartphone app that lets you start Roomba, check battery levels and get notifications (if there are problems). , or if it's just a task), create a schedule and a bit more. - It is very easy to empty the bin and it is easy to remove the filter, go outside and touch it to knock out the fine dust that has accumulated on the filter. - Intuitive to set up and use. - We have a medium sized coarse haired dog that sheds a lot. This Roomba was very good at picking up dog hair. The vacuum is good enough for cleaning floors, but it's not powerful enough to pick up small rugs that are lying on our tiled floor (which may cause a bug). .WHAT COULD BE BETTER: This 692 doesn't "see" the room intelligently like more expensive robot vacuums. Thus, it cannot intelligently cover the odd-shaped area. Working in a single room is easy and good. My odd shaped space is a tiled area that covers the entryway, kitchen with island and dining area. In this area, Roomba doesn't work intelligently to clean some parts of that space and spends too much time cleaning and re-cleaning other parts. I wish even the Roomba at this price had smarter full-room detection. It's still a noisy vacuum cleaner. On a carpet, that's 55 decibels, which isn't too bad (65 decibels if he's next to you), but on a tiled floor, it's 65 decibels anywhere in the room. The noise level in a quiet room is 45 decibels, so it's twice as loud when Roomba is walking on carpet and four times louder when walking on tile. If you have large grout lines (1/4"), Roomba will bump into each grout line and add an extra punch. In general, I wish Roomba was quieter. The iRobot smartphone app didn't always report Roomba's status correctly. And Roomba charges literally five feet from my router, so it's not a wifi issue. And I couldn't register my Roomba's serial number (for warranty service) in the smartphone app. You'll have to do that on their website (and find where they are is). on the website to do, not as easy as it should be) - This is naughty When I used the phone app to command my model 692 to return to its base because my son had to 3 minutes later, he was able to do my wish did not fulfill immediately and quickly .Instead, he slowly meandered towards the base, turning twice in a semicircle to get away from the base on the way TO the base.3 minutes to return home!OTHER NOTES: - Es gi bt no virtual walls in this Roomba. I would have put up 2 virtual (infrared) walls so I can better separate the common areas where I will be using this Roomba. If you buy this model 692 you can also buy spare parts (filter, side brush, bristles) as you will need them at some point. CONCLUSION: I've always loved the concept of a robot vacuum cleaner. The biggest question I have is whether iRobot has improved its products to last several years before needing to be replaced. If Roomba needs warranty service, or worse, stops working right out of warranty, it's too expensive to guarantee availability at home.