I had two Roomba 692's which I used to clean my 1100 Sqft split level townhome. And even though they used the older "bounce" style navigation, were still effective cleaners. However, they tended to attack dirt and furniture with equal ferocity. That's why foam rubber bumpers for Roomba's are a thing you can actually buy here on Amazon.
The 600's got the job done, it's just that it wasn't always pretty.
Enter the i3. It's a master class in refinement. Not only does the i3 smartly navigate the home, but it is much more gentle on your furniture. It deftly figured out how to navigate the maze of table legs underneath my kitchen table, and it no longer attempts to leap over the stabilizing arm of my coffee table, like Bigfoot crushing a row of cars. It also seems to better cope with "low clearance" issues. It seems more cautious when entering tight fits and less likely to get stuck.
Even the fit and finish of the I3 is a cut above. The textured plastic on the top looks like a cloth finish and is resistant to finger prints. The dirt bin has been redesigned to be "rinsed" so that it can be more easily cleaned. The i3 has higher suction while actually producing less noise. The rollers are also easier to clean of Pet Hair.
The clean report at the end tells you exactly where it cleaned, and it's smart navigation allows for charge and resume, which is great for larger floorplans, or if you want the robot to simply do two passes for a given job.
Since it knows where it's already cleaned, it finishes it's jobs in about half the time that the random navigation 600's do. And of course you don't get a detailed clean report with the 600's.
The i3 is also compatible with the self emptying clean bin, and when paired with a Braava m6 mop, will automatically tell the mop to begin a cleaning job when it is done vacuuming. These are some great future proofing aspects.
However, there are a few things you need to keep in mind.
The lack of an upward facing camera, might ally some folk's privacy concerns regarding robot vacuums, but it also prevents the use of "smart mapping" and the ability to label rooms in a house, direct the robot to clean specific rooms, or the use of virtual "keep out zones". These advanced features are only available on the i7 and S9.
The App does allow you to schedule cleanings, even multiple cleanings in a day. It also allows you use the location services on your phone to start a job when you leave the house. The App will keep a history of your last 30 cleanings, so you can review the clean maps from each one to see where your high traffic areas are.
The ability to set the robot to clean multiple passes during a job, however, is a "global" setting in the app. It would be nice if this feature could be set for individual scheduled jobs, or "favorites".
As it stands, the i3 is hindered by it's current position. It is hampered by the 600 series lower price, but users who want more advanced robots typically will pay full boat and get the more feature rich i7 or s9.
iRobot should really position the i3 as it's entry level bot. It offers great cleaning capability, refined navigation, detailed clean reports, compatibility with a self emptying bin and it's M6 mop. It's the perfect starting point for iRobot's product line. Leave the Random Navigation to the cheap knock offs.
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From the manufacturer
iRobot Roomba i3 EVO Features
Learns Where & When to Clean
Cleans the rooms you want, when you want—guided by Imprint Smart Mapping.
Powers Through Cleaning
Pulls in stubborn messes with a Premium 3-Stage Cleaning System and 10x the Power-Lifting Suction*.
Efficient—and Smart
Cleans in straight lines back and forth, navigating around furniture and obstacles.
Your Voice is Its Command
Start cleaning one room or every room—through the iRobot Home App or by voice with Google Assistant and Alexa compatibility.
How Long Are We Talking Here?
Know how long cleaning jobs will take, whether it’s one room or the whole house—with time estimates in the iRobot Home App.
Now Taking Suggestions…
Offers up scheduling suggestions based on your habits and the season.
Knows Where to Go
With Imprint Link Technology, the Roomba i3+ robot vacuum & Braava jet m6 robot mop team up to vacuum then mop automatically in perfect sequence.
Powered by iRobot OS
iRobot OS raises the bar - delivering an intuitive cleaning experience tailored to your needs and preferences.
Roomba i3 EVO Robot Vacuum
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This Item  iRobot Roomba Combo i5 Robot Vacuum & Mop - Clean by Room with Smart Mapping, Works with Alexa, Personalized Cleaning Powered OS, Ideal for Pet Hair, Roomba i3 Old | Recommendations  |  |  |  |  | |
| Price | $216.59 | $199.99 | $154.99 | -8% $21.99 List: $23.99 | -15% $54.99 List: $64.99 | $11.53 |
| Delivery | Get it as soon as Sunday, Apr 6 | Get it Apr 9 - 10 | — | Get it as soon as Sunday, Apr 6 | Get it as soon as Sunday, Apr 6 | Get it as soon as Sunday, Apr 6 |
| Customer Ratings | ||||||
| Sold By | Amazon Resale | QualityShop (SN Recorded) | iRobot Store | Zeekech | Amazon.com | Amazon.com |
| surface suggestion | Carpet | Carpets,Hard Floors | Carpets,Floor,Hard Floors | Various surfaces (hard floors and carpets) | wood, carpet | Carpet, Hardwood, Hard Surfaces |
| batteries included | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| battery average life | 75 minutes | 75 minutes | — | — | 0 hours | 90 minutes |
| compatible devices | Smartphones, Tablets, Amazon Echo, Google Home | Amazon Echo, Google Home | Amazon Echo | — | Compatible with: Roomba e5, Roomba e6, Roomba e7, Roomba i1, Roomba i1+, Roomba i2, Roomba i3, Roomba i3+, Roomba i4, Roomba i4+, Roomba i6, Roomba i6+, Roomba i7, Roomba i7+, Roomba i8, Roomba i8+, Roomba j6+, Roomba j7, Roomba j7+, Roomba j8+ | iRobot Roomba e, i, and j Series |
Powerful. Not perfect but I'll keep it.
I think this one is a keeper. We had bad experiences with a Eufy (after several weeks, suddenly didn't like carpet) and a Trifo (didn't complete the job--"Done with my chores! Returning to base." and sometimes couldn't find the charging base). This iRobot i3 seems to be doing what it's supposed to do, and does it pretty well.As was true of the other devices, installation instructions are poor, just a basic start up card. I had to call support to get it to connect to our Wifi. Got the app installed easily, but the i3 was not an option on the connection choices. I chose the j3 because the device pictured looked most like my i3. Turns out I should have chosen "vacuum" which looks like another iRobot model. Once customer support took me there, installation was simple.From there it's a guess on how to work this thing. I eventually found the app has a subsection on how to work the robot. But I had to stumble across it. The robot wants to be sent out without vacuuming to create a "map" of the area. The first map was distorted and odd shaped, of no value. The second try produced a pretty good picture of our 900 sq ft, 3 rooms plus baths. A bunch of lines were lying around the map and I discovered I could move and rotate them to identify separate rooms. After some additional effort, I found i could name the rooms. Great!Strengths of this robot include pretty strong suction. We've had our area vacuumed regularly--it's about 1/2 carpet and 1/2 hard floor--but this robot is sucking up hunks of hair and stuff that we had left behind. (We have a dog.) Another thing I appreciate is unique twin rubber rollers. Our other robots had a single brush and it got tangled with hair and threads quite easily. It's a pain to cut and pick it off. No cutting/picking with rubber!Another good: the robot runs in straight lines, back and forth. It will do part of a room, leave and do another room, and then come back, starting up where it left off. The other robots moved more at random. The iRobot leaves nice straight paths that look like its been vacuumed. It also goes around furniture as closely as it can. Under furniture if there's room. It will circle a table leg and then go off. It has not gotten caught under kitchen table/chairs like others had.iRobot also has not gotten caught on any cables, toys or clothing. The other robots had frequent difficulty with these things. The i3 just avoids them or rolls over them.So overall, we like!The biggest weakness is short battery life. It will go for maybe 90 minutes or a bit less and then have to return to base to charge. After 45 minutes or so, it comes out and gets back to work. Our 900 sq ft seem to require three or even four separate cleans, with charging in between. So a full cleaning even in our small area can take 4 or more hours.It also will stop if the dust bin is full, which is happening quickly as I said. Big start button on the top lights up red; but look on the app for a message. Eventually I got a dust bin full message when there wasn't all that much visible in the bin. Seeing this twice, I also removed, cleaned and replaced the rubber rollers (which had thread and hair curled around both ends) and this seemed to fix it. So Clean Dust Bin can mean empty the bin or clean the whole thing. Somewhere there is a dust bin sensor that I haven't yet found.Rated 4 overall for short battery life.
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Top reviews from other countries
- Max ShawReviewed in Canada on September 25, 2021
I love clean floors but I am a very lazy person. I'm happy now.
Style: Roomba i3 OldVerified Purchase - DAReviewed in Canada on November 26, 2024
Great robot vaccum
Style: Roomba Combo i5Verified Purchase - AshuReviewed in the United Arab Emirates on March 10, 2024
Best Purchase
Style: Roomba i3 OldVerified Purchase - Robert MCReviewed in Canada on December 19, 2022
The iRobot Roomba i3 (3150) is ok but the app is limited! And for the delivery, it was fine!
Style: Roomba i3 OldVerified Purchase
