iRobot Roomba i3 + | Review + Tests + App

The iRobot Roomba i3 + is the entry level robot in the i-series. While it doesn't have fancy mapping features like the more expensive options, it may be the perfect option for someone that just wants something to keep the floors clean without having to worry about the tech.
Note, the iRobot Roomba i3 is the exact same robot without the auto-empty dock, so most of this video is relevant for both.
#iroboti3 #irobotvacuum #roomba
robomate.co.nz/robomatetv/
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[@JonWiggens]

Great overview of the i3+. Looking forward to trying one out soon.

[@RobomateTV]

Thanks Jon! :)

[@micy80]

This robot is straight on what you need in a cleaning robot without overcomplicated settings, mappings, etc. I am just happy with seeing only the final map with what it was cleaned, never felt like I want more info on the app. If I need to restrict its access like you said I just place some obstacles or close the door to a certain room. I always start it via Alexa asking for Room to “clean everywhere”. Super happy I went for the I3 and not the I7. It does an excellent job without breaking the bank. Love also the look of it! I recently took it appart for cleaning its internals. It is one of the best engineered things I have ever seen (I am engineer and get excited for things like these). Inside is all basically made out of modules which come out so easy for an yearly internal so another plus; the DIY maintenance is very easy. Good job, Roomba!

[@RobomateTV]

Thanks for the comment 👍

[@nicoled5160]

my iromba came defective and was so incredibly annoying. It's always dead. Defective battery. company claims to take on returns at partial return despite it arriving this way. Last irobot I'll buy

[@Kguy2023]

This def makes cleaning much more fun....

[@dijusudarsanan]

Very informative review. Planning on buying this model. Think I’ll go ahead with. Seems to be much better than the other brands and options I see online.

[@RobomateTV]

Love to hear your thoughts once you've had it :)

[@bridgetteyin6543]

Q

[@AmericanCalliope]

how is it?

[@S.Orion14]

I have the power 9 to 10

[@velizaraiv3251]

I just bought an i3 + and this is my first robot vacuum cleaner. I am fascinated! I really like it! I think it works great even without a camera, i3 + is a smart little helper. I'm testing it for the second day and for now everything is perfect! Thanks for the video ❤️

[@RobomateTV]

Awesome! Great to hear feedback :)

[@julieliu300]

Hi, can you make a comparison between i3+ and N8 pro+?

[@mindblockandroid]

Great review! Thanks! A question though… can this roomba be set up to clean multiple floors? I have a two story home, so that’s really important to me! 😅

[@RobomateTV]

Yup! No problem with that :)

[@moby1kanob]

GOod news 2 years later the i3+ now also has mapping features! so its win win all around best bang for your buck

[@daniellehoops3193]

Your robot vacuum is so cool where did you buy it❤

[@CardNox]

I assume this can't do multi floor mapping and recognize where it is due to missing camera/lidar sensors? EDIT: Did some digging and found the answer on the iRobot website. Cleaning another floor of your home without creating a new map If you are looking to clean another floor of your home that is not the space you mapped, send your robot to do Clean Everywhere job. Clean Everywhere jobs do not require your robot from starting from the charging station.​​ So it is possible, but you can't do specific rooms and perhaps the efficiency is a bit less since it doesn't know the space.

[@AncientTech4u]

you can do no go zones on i3 (kinda) divide your room to parts on the app, schedule every room except the part that you dont want to clean

[@RobomateTV]

Yes, that came out in the EVO update :) thanks for sharing with others

[@lx7lw]

Thanks! Are you still using it? Is it durable? Had a bad experience with Ecovacs and I am looking to avoid such experience.

[@andro2791]

Thanks for great review :) Is it possible to manually control it via phone?

[@RobomateTV]

I don’t believe so, although I must confess I never use this feature so I’d need to check if you’re really curious. :)

[@KidLiquid72]

Okay, I will buy one. I am looking forward to coming home and finding one of cats riding it.

[@RobomateTV]

It's one of the few robots that the cat can actually ride without disturbing it (much) :)

[@andrzejkaniecki1536]

Ciekawy sprzęt, oprogramowanie jest spoko, całość w porządku.

[@RobomateTV]

Yes it's very cool indeed! Let us know if you have any specific questions!

[@jesperarvidsson4281]

Will this work without wifi ? We do not have wifi in our Home but would still like a robot vacuum 😊

[@Babysiter21]

I have 2 floors house. Is it possible to be use on the both floors? For example, one day on 1th and then to move the vacuum on the 2nd? Any tips? :)

[@RobomateTV]

Yup, no problems :) just carry it up the stairs

[@Babysiter21]

@@RobomateTV currently at the store there is discount on i3+ and i4+ (the price difference is less then 50 euro) What are the differences?

[@brucebr1037]

@@Babysiter21 4 comes with an extra filter and one virtual wall.

[@stevenmoomey2115]

We just purchased an i3, in the USA, it came with an extra filter. Ours doesn’t have the self emptying feature. We were tipped off by friends to throughly pre-vacuum the floors before the first use. It still picked up an incredible amount of dust.

[@ruzicabuljac9696]

Hi, I need an advice. I have a Bernese Mountain dog and he spends time in the house sometimes. I am looking to buy a roomba i3 but I am afraid it will not be effective for collecting dogs hair. My question is, how often should a roomba be cleaned of dogs hair (would that be to complicated, like celaning roomba almost every day)? This would help me a lot. Thank you. :)

[@RobomateTV]

Cleaned of dogs hair? Do you mean cleaning the brush or emptying it? If you have an auto-empty station it’ll be fine. :)

[@ruzicabuljac9696]

@@RobomateTV I mean celaning brush and emptying it. I know I probably should empty it every day but I mean on detailed brush removal and cleaning? And in general, is your recommendation buying roomba i3 if I occasionally have dog in the house (not big space, and only one carpet but sometimes a lot of dogs hair:) ). Thanks.

[@NWGJulian]

so if i understand it right, the i3 knows the room and it shows it in the app. but everytime it starts again, it completelly forgets the room sizes and begins cleaning it like its his first time? am i right? tbh this would actually be a positive for my apartment, because i want to control with shut doors, if he is not allowed to get into the room. but the next day, i want him to go into that room, without him think that there is a invisible wall

[@RobomateTV]

Yup, that's pretty much right. Someone in the comments here said that it now saves the map in some countries (updates are rolled out separately). To be honest though, you can still use the close door method on mapping robots but if you really don't need it then it's just another thing to go wrong.

[@NWGJulian]

@@RobomateTV thanks very much

[@RobomateTV]

@@NWGJulian Always happy to help :)

[@suzannebelnap9892]

I'm new to all this but it was a wealth of information to talk with one of the people from the chat line - live conversation and they have been unbelieavably awesome and helpful! With the i3, you might need to let it do the map update and then just let it run thru it's whole mapping exercise!!! It WILL map your entire (one floor) house but beware, it does take awhile and you don't want to do anything but let it go for the entire time until it finishes and goes home on it's own! Do not cancel it in the middle of it's mapping exercise or you have to start over. Mine went for 3:11 hrs yesterday, I had to send it home bc we were having company and hence after 90 min's the mapping exercise cancelled so now I have to do it over. (didn't know all that when I started it!) But you can let it run while you're out! If you haven't done this, I strongly encourage you to bc the mapping then allows you to clean just certain rooms (or all of the house on a set schedule) if you want. If you have questions, you can go to the app on your laptop, and click on the 'chat with an agent' and get their help! Good luck! Not sure why people here are saying i3 isn't a mapping robot! It IS and exactly why I returned a Roomba 694 and choose this one!

[@matiasmoron008]

Sorry to ask, to have it clear, this version does not have the possibility to send to a specific room, right? It's only allows the option to 'Clean everything'

[@RobomateTV]

This was changed with an update after this video was made. Check out the "i3 EVO update" for more info. :)

[@OrcinusLaryngologist]

Named ours Harambe. ❤

[@nate2467]

I’m thinking about buying this. Can the self emptying dock be bought separately later on?

[@RobomateTV]

Depends where, not in Australia or New Zealand as far as I know but probably elsewhere

[@HRS8K]

Yes

[@scubagrant6887]

I have a problem I cannot get my i3 robot Roomba on my Wi-Fi make my app work I live in a small apartment but I want control the robot but I don't know how to hook it to my Wi-Fi

[@RobomateTV]

Are you trying to connect it to the 2.4GHz network? Also make sure you've got your wifi password right - you wouldn't believe how often that trips people up!

[@jonathancastro5742]

I3 got mapping and all features now

[@RobomateTV]

thanks for the update!

[@jeanhecker4533]

So, if I understand you correctly, if I want to do just one room with my i3+ I need to pick up the robot and take it to that room and close the doors. Is that correct?

[@RobomateTV]

Actually they have updated it since we made the video. It now includes the smart mapping features and you can send it directly to a room through the app

[@kewlskater22mo61]

@@RobomateTV it still doesn't just do the target room. Mine just wonders around, and it picks and choose what it does.

[@RobomateTV]

@@kewlskater22mo61 Have you updated the firmware and app?

[@moby1kanob]

@@kewlskater22mo61 yes it does I have 8 separate room and zones and it does it perfectly.

[@johannes4549]

Is The application on my cell request to change my 5 Gh Wi-Fi to 2.4? As others do? I dont want to change it. Thank you

[@RobomateTV]

Yes, it will need 2.4Ghz until J7 I think. You can normally have 2 separate networks on your router with different frequencies.

[@barnhousegarage]

Have one of these owned it for six months and the suction motor is already bad?

[@RobomateTV]

Is it displaying an error? Did you clean and update filters? A certain percentage of every product (not just robots) is faulty- it sounds like yours is. It should be inside the warranty period though if it’s 6 months old?

[@barnhousegarage]

@@RobomateTV yes hopefully it's still warranted, l can hardly turn the vacuum motor,cleaned the unit with compressed air and vacuum motor still is really stiff when turning by hand

[@barnhousegarage]

@@RobomateTV also displays error 26,l just figured the filter was dirty but the filter appears to be clean

[@moby1kanob]

had mine for 3 years and it still works like new, even the battery life only lost about a minute or two one each run.

[@1683clifton]

Is this thing dumb af without the app? How do I make it leabe the doc and do the whole room without the app? I really dont need a vacume to be reporting my floor cleaning routines.

[@RobomateTV]

It should leave the room without the app. Do you have it already and you have an issue?

[@1683clifton]

nevermind i figured out you dont take it out the dock and hit the dot button cause it will only clean a spot. if I just hit the powerer and wait it loads the roons up and goes back home by itself. this thing rocks

[@sues.1047]

Is there a way you can send it Home on the App and Stop the Job.

[@RobomateTV]

Yup :) no problem

[@sues.1047]

@@RobomateTV How? I can't find a way. I always have to manually do this.

[@moby1kanob]

@@sues.1047 on your phone app hit pause, then hit send home.

[@barrazjazz]

Do you have a troubleshooting video? I just got an i3+ and it keeps telling me to place the robot on a “flat surface” but it is! I can’t find anything about this or how to reset it. Help!

[@RobomateTV]

I haven’t encountered this problem… maybe a sensor was damaged in transit? Recommend a warranty claim…

[@moby1kanob]

take the wheels apart and clean it out, one of the wheels might have some grim jamming it.

[@richardsmith1161]

I guess I got a dud. Mine goes back and forth between 3 rooms doing 25% of each. If I'm lucky it takes 7hrs to do my small house. Fyi room select is in beta now.

[@RobomateTV]

Is it still within the trial period or warranty? Certainly sounds like you should get that sorted

[@RobomateTV]

Room select still isn’t in beta in most markets, as far as I can tell. Definitely isn’t available on my model anyway.

[@daniellehoops3193]

Where did you buy this room by three📡💵💵💵💵💵💵💵💵💵💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰

[@lisamcgahey8796]

I took my rollers out to clean them and now no matter what I do, I can't fit them back in!

[@RobomateTV]

Are you matching the right colours with the picture inside the robot? If so, you need to check that you’re matching the shape on the end of the brush as well :) it can be a little fiddly. There will be some good videos on KZbin showing how to do it!

[@tylorgoodine2159]

Can I send it to rooms with the app

[@RobomateTV]

You actually can now - you couldn't when we made this video. Look up the i3 EVO update for more info

[@slurpdiedurp]

How do you deal with the spots behind the doors? I mean, if the doors are open, then there's no room for the robot to go to. The only option I see is closing the door, let the roomba clean and then open the door again so it can go to another room. I'm also struggling with low furniture which it doesn't fit under. You still need a normal vacuum to get to those spots.

[@RobomateTV]

Yes, you’d have to do that behind the door. You’re right, it’s still useful to have a handheld - think of it like a dishwasher… it does the bulk of the work but it’s still useful to have a brush.

[@slurpdiedurp]

@@RobomateTV I like your way of thinking. Do you have a recommendation for a good handheld vacuum cleaner that I can use for these situations but also do the couch etc?

[@RobomateTV]

A mid range stick is probably your best bet. There are tons of good options out there, including even ones from robot brands like iRobot and Roborock. Having said that, I’m not an expert in handhelds so I can’t really comment on what’s best! I imagine there’s less difference than in the robots, as it’s often the smarts that sets them apart.

[@kathywajer9424]

When I bought my first Roomba years ago I remember reading the Roomba does a great job cleaning floors but you still need to break out a regular vacuum about once a month, so I always kept that in mind. Keep in mind new buyers it’s not actually a vacuum it’s a sweeper. Someone recently told me their Roomba did a great job cleaning their floors but the suction sucked (no pun intended 😁) I love my Roomba and I’m excited to get the new self emptying machine.😊

[@mrgoob76]

my first and only question about this robot is... can you use it WITHOUT the app? asking for privacy reasons

[@RobomateTV]

You can definitely use it without the app :) You just don't get to access certain features like scheduling :)

[@mrgoob76]

@@RobomateTV considering that the old ones the 500 series i think had scheduling right on the machine itself... makes me wonder why they made an app in the first place... oh wait i know to make a simple vacuum a security risk...

[@moby1kanob]

@@RobomateTV or room mappinng

[@StartVisit]

Where all this dust go? 😮

[@texastightlines2380]

What was that guy with the maps haircut lmaooo

[@RobomateTV]

We’re reviewing robots not fashion 🤪

[@kristineximeno6739]

It doesn't return to the station, it just dies on the spot somewhere... i have to carry it back to the station☹☹☹☹

[@RobomateTV]

Are you getting an error code or notification in the app? I would suggest a factory reset as your first port of call as well :)

[@Xanduur]

The updated software allows for mapping your house and setting up virtual barriers between rooms. Helpful, but not necessary.

[@RobomateTV]

Yep, annoyingly that update was rolled out shortly after we released this video 😆

[@moby1kanob]

I actually find is very necessary because you can schedule certain rooms to clean and my most trafficked are the foyer, main hallway, kitchen and dining room...i run those 4 every day and the rest of the floor 2 times week.

[@TheMythogenic]

this ones has targeted room cleaning now with the new update.

[@RobomateTV]

Thanks for the update :)

[@jerryridings5396]

Doesn't work well. Mine gets lost often and very rarely finishes without an issue. I have re-mapped 3 times with no improvement.

[@TheMythogenic]

@@jerryridings5396 good to hear

[@kewlskater22mo61]

I've had issues with it actually targeting the correct room.

[@TheMythogenic]

@@kewlskater22mo61 how bad is it?

[@samm9017]

I3 does map. Doesn’t it?

[@RobomateTV]

Yes it does! (If you have the latest update)

[@davidthomson4045]

First Roomba, i3+. First run: leaves base & immediately got stuck in a desk chair's legs. Finally escaped and went right back to the base and shut off. Soul crushing start for the lil fella. We said try again, after hiding the chair. It did much better, although I wouldn't call its wanderings systematic at all. And then, on its first auto dump it clogged the base station intake! Rough first day.

[@RobomateTV]

It should get more methodical. Because it doesn’t have camera or LiDAR it takes a while to build it’s map and learn it’s surroundings. The auto-empty will almost certainly get better too. It probably means it’s sucking up a ton of stuff that your previous vacuum wasn’t… but once it’s going regularly it’ll be less prone to overfilling.

[@ajmartinez1906]

Can you adjust the height setting or is it not possible to do so

[@RobomateTV]

Do you mean the suction power?

[@ajmartinez1906]

@@RobomateTV No, I am wondering if the height of the machine can be lower to better clean on hard floor versus carpet.

[@ajmartinez1906]

@@RobomateTV No, I am wondering if the height of the machine can be lower to better clean on hard floor versus carpet.

[@RobomateTV]

@@ajmartinez1906 oh no, it’s the same on both!

[@ajmartinez1906]

@@RobomateTV Ok, my wife purchased the I3 model and she's not pleased. It doesn't clean as she expected to do on both carpet and hard floor. I thank you for your response

[@denisharis4443]

“Queen Elizabeth, clean my kitchen!”

[@Barryd57]

Nice video but too much music!!

[@vyasoruganti54]

Not ok I am suffering with .always repair Company is very irresponsibility

[@polinabeliakova6696]

It doesn't work as advertised. I have had mine for 8 months now and it is a constant struggle. It doesn't vacuum in straight lines, goes off the map, drops dust when climbing from the floor on the carpet, and in most cases does not cover the entire room. I live in a minimalist home with close to no obstacles. I prep the living room for every Roomba launch and it still fails. If it doesn't work in such an easy case, I doubt it is suitable for any home. Look elsewhere.

[@OrcinusLaryngologist]

Simply reboot it. Hope you’ve done that by now.

[@emanuelcervantes1460]

Useless app if you cant tell the vacuum where to go and where to clean they need an update to where your robot is in the map or if there if im just having trouble finding it cant even name your rooms wtf

[@to0kold]

New girl?

[@RobomateTV]

Which? Still the same crew here

[@jamesblack2140]

To say this robot is simple is an understatement. It behaves like a drunken sailor going over the same area 4 or 5 times. The mapping function seems to not work at all! I’ve watched this machine go to a new area stop abruptly and return to an area it’s already vacuumed 2or 3 times. Don’t waste your money!

[@daniellehoops3193]

That is silly that you’re Roomba, I three missed a stinky yellow fruit loop

[@LaineClarkJr]

This i3 has been a constant headache . Worst purchase:/

[@RobomateTV]

What's been happening? Hopefully you haven't got a lemon! :(

[@user-sj2zk8cp6u]

מפעילה על שטיפה ועומד במקום ולא שוטף. בשאיבת אבק עובד. מה הבעיה?

[@michaellk2254]

I'll be real with you. I have one and its a piece of shit.

[@frankni7624]

Never buy this iRobot products. It is made by a scam company. I bought brand new from an eBay seller. It is still under warranty and it broke down. The support person told me because I didn't purchase it from an authorized seller. So there is no warranty. They told me I have to pay for the repair even though it is still under warranty. Avoid this scam company.

[@TheJoshua417]

That doesn’t sound like a scam? A lot of companies void warranty with transfer of owners?

[@tedantoon7861]

The audio was terrible and to make if worse the background music was very distracting!

[@Xanduur]

Must be your device. I had no problems. Stop complaining.