Customer Ratings & Reviews

This upgraded model is more powerful and works better on carpets and rugs. Also gets into edges a little better. A bit louder than the other models -- understandable considering its greater suction.

We really enjoy using the Roomba s9. We initially purchased a i4, but it didn't have the capability to choose specific rooms, so we bought the s9. It's worth the extra money. It's louder, but you can always set it at a lower power, which makes it quieter. It's does a great job in corners; better than the i4. Very thorough and the battery lasts longer than the lower models.

I have 2 cats and a dog and I was so tired of sweeping all the time (hardwood floors with some rugs). This does the trick across both mediums. It’s a little noisy, but it’s a vacuum doing its thing so it’s not too bad. The container is easy to empty and using the app is extremely convenient (lets you know when it’s done or if it’s stuck somewhere or if the suction things have something that needs to be taken out). A bit pricey but worth it.

I tried it for a week. The suction was very impressive. But, it to get stuck a lot and I could never get the mapping to work like I thought it should. It could be that I had a defective model. I replaced it with the i7 and it has suited my needs much better.

I’ll be honest. Until I received the Roomba S9, I never considered a robot vacuum. They are overpriced, & have small dust bins. There are cheaper models, but I’m uncertain of their quality, and they still have small holding capacities (more on this, later). So, is the S9 worth it? Let’s find out. SETUP: Plug in the base in, roll the S9 onto the charging plate, installing the iRobot HOME app onto your device (Android or iOS), & follow the simple step-by-step directions (manufacturers have gotten much better at creating apps…in regards to setup, as well as operation). If not for my multiple levels of Wi-Fi security, I could have had the S9 ready to go (opening box, to fully operational) in under 10 minutes. OPERATION: The first thing you want to do after getting everything set up is allow the Roomba to map your house. Using its sensors, it determines the layout of your house, including furniture is location. Once this has been completed (if you rearrange any furniture, remapping is a simple procedure), future cleaning is easily accomplished. Speaking of vacuuming, this can be as simple, or as complicated (still fairly simple) as you want it to be. Before you start using the Roomba for everyday vacuuming, I HIGHLY suggest using a regular vacuum to vacuum the entire house. Remember earlier, where I mentioned the small holding capacity – while it’s gotten bigger from early robot vacuums, it’s still not that large (I’d estimate approximately 4-6x larger than the first Roomba model). If you don’t follow this suggestion, you could find yourself needing to empty the holding bin every few minutes (possibly sooner, depending on how dirty/dusty your house is, ESPECIALLY if you have pets). Once your house has been vacuumed using a traditional vacuum, you’re ready to put the Roomba “on duty”. The ‘simplest’ operation is to just open the app, and hit “CLEAN”…the Roomba S9 rolls off its charging base, and starts doing its job. It will automatically return to its charging base when the battery starts getting low, when the dust bin fills to capacity (you’ll need to manually empty it…unless you purchase the CleanBase, explained below), or upon completion of vacuuming the house. If you want to go the ‘complicated’ route, the app offers a number of options, most importantly being the “scheduling” (I don’t think I need to explain this, as it should be self-explanatory). Quick note on the scheduling: IF the Roomba’s operation is quiet enough for you to sleep when it’s vacuuming, AND you have purchased the CleanBase, you could schedule it to vacuum at night, while you’re sleeping. This is neither a suggestion, nor a recommendation (I haven’t actually tried it, myself, as I don’t have a CleanBase), but it is a possibility some could consider. ADDITIONAL INFO: iRobot has also introduced the companion Braava jet m-Series robot mops, starting with the m6. While this is a $500 item, according to iRobot, it not only pairs with the S9/S9+, but the two bases (through Wi-Fi) can communicate with each other. When the S9/S9+ completes its vacuuming duties, it can “inform” the m6 to start its mopping duties – talk about the “ultimate cleaning solution”…albeit, an expensive one. If you purchase the S9+ ($300 more than the S9), it comes with the CleanBase. However, if you purchase the S9, and decide you want the CleanBase, you can purchase it separately, for $350. For those who don’t mind manually emptying the Roomba, you can skip to my “good, bad & ugly” section…for everyone else, continue reading. What, exactly, is the CleanBase? It has two ‘features’ – it’s a charging base, exactly as the S9 came with…AND, it’s a large dust bin, with its own (sorta-kinda) “vacuum cleaner”. If you look at the bottom of the S9, just to the side of the two charging contacts, you’ll find a green rubber “trap door”. On the standard charging base, there’s nothing to match the trap door’s location…but, on the CleanBase, you’ll find a hole that, internally, leads to the fairly-large dust bin behind the charging area. This bin has a capacity approx 15x that of the Roomba’s bin. When the Roomba rolls onto the charging base, it activates the base’s built-in “vacuum”, which sucks everything out of the Roomba, into the CleanBase’s bin. Once the CleanBase’s bin is full, you remove the bag, throw it away, and replace it with a clean bag. THE GOOD: Vacuuming ability – While I would NOT suggest/recommend using a robot vacuum (including the S9/S9+, which has a suction capacity 40x that of the Roomba 600) for “heavy” vacuuming, it does an excellent job when used for daily vacuuming duties, keeping your floors/carpets constantly dust/dirt-free. Scheduling – I appreciated the ability to tell the Roomba to start vacuuming on a moment’s notice (for example, if I accidently known an almost-empty bag of chips onto the floor)…the ability to schedule is a huge plus. Improved roller design – With the i7/i7+, the rollers were between the wheels…with the S9/S9+, they have been moved to the front, increasing cleaning ability. Corner/Edge cleaning – The S9/S9+ has two HUGE improvements over the i7/i7+. The first is the roller placement (mentioned above). The second, which is in-part due to the first, is adding a “corner cleaning brush”. Between the new location of the main cleaning rollers, and the addition of the corner brush, the edges & corners of a room receive a MUCH-improved vacuuming job. Longer battery life – I’ve never had a Roomba (or any other robot vacuum), so I don’t know how much of an improvement this actually is. That being said, iRobot does claim a longer battery life, which is good enough for me to mention it under the “good”. CleanBase – I’m mentioning this before the “bad”, as it’s a very good ‘solution’ to said “bad” point. THE BAD: Dust capacity – While robot vacuum manufacturers, in general, have increased dust bin sizes, they are still relatively small. In a ‘normal’ vacuuming, you will still find yourself needing to empty the bin at least 2-3x, depending on the size of your house. I realize robot vacuums will never have the capacity of traditional vacuums, but they should still be able to enlarge the dust bin capacity further. That being said, there is a sorta-kinda “solution”, in the form of the CleanBase. With the CleanBase, as mentioned earlier, the capacity is approximately 15x that of the Roomba’s internal bin…plus, the Roomba “automatically transfers” to the CleanBase upon returning to the charging base. THE UGLY: Price – Roomba vacuums are still quite expensive, with the new S9 (and S9+, which includes the CleanBase) being the costliest, at $1000 & $1300, respectively (even the cheapest 600-Series starts at $250). If you opt to include the companion Braava jet m6 Robot Mop, that adds another $500, bringing the total to $1500/$1800. FINAL THOUGHTS: iRobot has greatly improved their Roomba line since its introduction, to the point that robot vacuums can finally be considered a “reasonable” purchase…if it were not for the high prices they still sell for. For daily vacuuming, they do a great job, and their semi-autonomous nature offers additional benefits. At the same time, even if you purchase one, you WILL want/need to keep a traditional vacuum on “stand-by”, as no robot vacuum can completely replace a traditional vacuum. The ability to use the app adds additional benefits…plus, with the release of the Braava jet m6 Robot Mop, you now have the ability to have a more “complete robot cleaning solution”…albeit at an even-more-expensive pricing (when adding everything together. The Roomba S9/S9+ is NOT for everyone…but it can be. Yes, it’s a LOLT of money to spend, but, for daily vacuuming (which quite a lot of people do), it’s indispensable. For the “Would you recommend this to others” question, I answered ‘Yes’…but, it truth, my answer is both ‘Yes’ & ‘No’ – and, I’ll explain. For the “average” person, who typically vacuums once a week, this will be a waste of money, and in would NOT recommend it. Because of needing to manually empty the dust bin (unless you have the CleanBase), you could vacuum your house several times in the amount of time it will take to vacuum once using the Roomba. On the other hand, for the person who can afford this “luxury” and/or for the person who prefer to vacuum daily (or, at least 2-4x per week), this would be an excellent purchase, and one I WOULD recommend. Since the majority of people who would be considering this product can probably afford it, that is the reason I answered ‘Yes’ to Best Buy’s question. Disclaimer: This product was provided free, or at reduced cost, for the purpose of reviewing the product. Nevertheless, the above review, be it positive, negative, or somewhere in-between, is a 100% honest review, and the price paid played absolutely no part in my review.

The S9 has impressive suction- beating even the Roomba 980. Fastest Roomba yet thanks to the new wide front brush and intelligent mapping. Better navigation than the Neato D7 with friendlier mapping interface (you can name each and every room and rotate the map for odd shaped rooms) and ability to find its dock even if you moved the robot to a new location before or during cleaning. The price is of course crazy high though.

I had to have "Rosie" remap the house a second time, the first didn't take with her, I guess. She works mostly fine now, once in a great while gets stuck for no reason (at least to me). It sure picks up a lot of dirt on our carpets that I had missed with my Dyson Animal Big Ball vacuum. I really like the app that you control the Roomba with, it's very handy to let you choose which rooms in your house ( or all rooms) to clean.

Pros: + Very powerful, extracts a lot of dirt and dust that my more traditional vacuum fails to collect. + Very smart - makes very cool maps and gets more efficient in cleaning rooms over time. Works very well with Google commands; e.g. "clean the dining room", "have Roomba return to base", etc. + Basically autonomous - I love being able to tell it to clean a few rooms while I put the kids to bed and then coming downstairs to find everything sparkly-clean. + Easy to remove debris / Jenga blocks / barrettes stuck in the rollers. Cons: - Expensive. - A little louder than I expected / would like. - The bin needs to be emptied more frequently than I'd like. I have ordered the optional "Clean Base" and am looking forward to it's arrival, as it will greatly reduce the number of times I need to empty / clean the Roomba. - The battery dies a little sooner than I'd like. Regarding the last "con": If you're not in a rush, you can tell it to vacuum 3-4 rooms and, though it will stop to recharge partway through, it'll resume its work after it's done recharging and, when it's done, it'll send you a very cool map and analysis of the job it's just completed. It's very gratifying.

Picks up well. However, the bin fills up quickly especially on my carpets.

Great power suction, however, too loud. Need some improvement

It has done very well on our laminate flooring. The bathroom rugs do to it having so much suction seems to pick them up and move them around. Big rugs don’t have this problem but the smaller ones do. Other than that I am satisfied with the purchase. Really cleans up good and when it is on the rugs it’s cleaned them very well.

Roombas have changed my life. With two dogs and a cat, I run my Roomba every day. I have one on every floor of the house. I bought this one without the base, because it works with my existing base, so I can empty it easily. Worth the price.

Tbh I expected that for the price it would be better than the Samsung I had before. It's about the same except that with this one I need to empty the bin every day with the Samsung it was every three days or so, but it cleans well. And it's a bit less clumsy plus the keep out zones is a nice addition.

I had some days of complete frustration with Roomba at the beginning. Once I learned that I should have started with training runs, it went more smoothly. I love that I can set it to clean only certain rooms. I almost bought the self-cleaning add-on feature for $300, but decided I would start with the basics and see how it worked. I don't mind running the thing when I am home and can keep on eye on it. It goes back to base to be emptied, and I just empty it. I did buy a handheld vacuum to clean out the filter and bin, and I can use it to also do baseboards. I would recommend. The technology is amazing, and it really does an excellent job. Great suction, too. My wool rugs do a lot of shedding when vacuuming, and the Roomba picks it all up. Instructions are sorely lacking. Had to google some info, but now I love it.

I’ve had a few Roomba’s over the years and needed another one for my office - was planning to stick with an older generation to keep consistency of consumables and replacement parts but couldn’t find a comparable unit in inventory. Machine works well, does what it is supposed to but seems to be clumsy- bumps into stuff too often. We have tons of indoor plants and a pretty extensive collection of planters and pots I’ve amassed over the years. I hoped for some that had a better set of kid gloves.

Train the Roomba before using it. You will likely have to train it 2 or 3 times, but once it is trained it does a great job. Not 100% but close enough to 98%. I am very pleased to have this product cleaning the house.

Work great, love the smart maps feature, and the ability to select rooms. The battery life means it takes 5-6 hours to complete a 2400 square foot house. Oh and it’s louder than our old 960. I would definitely still recommend though.

Once it’s mapped your home and your dog no longer fears it, its worth every penny. Exceptional cleaning. Not quiet but less than others. Worthwhile!

Sometimes did not return to the docking charger. Traded up for the self cleaning model that does an outstanding job and docks fine.

I have used other Roomba models and Neato D6. Roomba s9 is definitely the best product among others. It has a very good suction power, and gets lets stuck over rugs, cables, etc compared to Neato. However, there are a few drawbacks as well. The brush design is not perfect. There is a little gap where lint/hair gets stuck and the machine stops working. This occurs 1-2 times during a cleaning cycle. Also the dust container is very small compared to its suction power, and requires emptying the container 1-2 times per cleaning cycle.