Roomba j7, i7 & s9 Mapping Tips and Tricks

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In this video I share some tips and tricks for getting through the iRobot Roomba j7, i7 ( (i6, i8) and s9 mapping process as quickly, efficiently and effectively as possible. Roombas are good navigators, but they aren't very good at mapping. This video can should you how to get past some of the hurdles involved with the process and end up with an accurate, reliable map with your vacuum robot.

[@BabakHamedani]

Here is a feedback for all: it was no music no graphics to distract, the narration is very educational and precise. There were so many things that we're not related to what I was looking for but I was attracted to the video and listened and learned a lot more than I was looking for.

[@karensg70]

I just watched 4 videos and this is the most helpful - clear and without gaps. Thank you.

[@MrRoombato]

Thank you! I really appreciate that. I'm looking forward to making more videos and I hope they prove as helpful.

[@JoannaLamont333]

This is BRILLIANT & really informative. I’ve just bought my s9 & this video is so useful to me. Thank you.

[@wiktorr9530]

I have to say this has helped a lil, although in my devoid of chairs, armchairs and everything movable from the floor 60m² house it completed mapping almost on the first try and after cleaning whole house the map is perfect, good job roberto

[@DianeKovacs]

Thank you. :) I'd figured out most of this on my own but it was great to have you confirm. Ilove my i7 and I just bought the Braava Jet m6 after watching another of your videos.

[@MrRoombato]

I'm glad you are having a good experience with them!

[@catherineschulzke5348]

An alternative to Footsies that I came up with and worked for me: Create a “clean zone“ in the area of the map that you want the Roomba to Discover. Fortunately, clean zones don’t have to be only in already-discovered areas. As long as at least part of the new clean zone is in the current map (i.e. the path to the new area), the roomba will believe it has a way there.

[@MrRoombato]

That's actually something I tried back when I was making this video and it didn't work. They must have made some updates, and I'm glad they did!

[@veenagjoshi]

Wow - can’t believe that clean zone actually worked to add the missing sections of the house that IRobot missed - even though it took 3 runs but finally it did it - sad part is since I posted this have done mapping runs 2 times a day every day but at the either it would get error can’t find the base or will get message from IRobot found new places but could not update the map and it would say it is not you something went wrong on our end and suggest so the mapping run again Finally yesterday I decided to go with your suggestion and after 3 tries was able to get the house mapped 🙏 still have July 15 window to rerun lets see how things go now HAVE to tackle with M6 now 😢

[@veenagjoshi]

Thankyou- astonishing that it actually worked 👏

[@sangbeta2043]

Thank you for the insights. I will try mapping behind the couch with a clean zone first, and footsies later if necessary.

[@dirtyaussiegirl]

Thanks for the great video. I purchased the I7+ and you saved me a lot of hassle and time. I did just as you suggested, vaccumed first then picked up all chairs, dog beds etc. then did a mapping run 3 times. The third time it was more efficient at mapping the house. It took about 2 hours to map my 2,000sf house. Much appreciated!

[@MrRoombato]

You're very welcome, and I'm glad it helped!

[@MrNatalie2525]

how long does i7 + clean?

[@dirtyaussiegirl]

@@MrNatalie2525 about 2 hours then heads home to recharge

[@love2playdogsports]

This is incredibly helpful, thank you. (and as a person with 5 border collies in the house, I enjoyed seeing yours walk through)

[@MrRoombato]

Thanks! If you want to see more of him I have a video about pets and robot vacuums and how they get along (though you probably already know!). Here it is: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rnnGhoBvq7uUf68

[@Quarantlne]

Great video sir! Well thought out ideas and explanations! Great tips!! Thank you!

[@kathyklumpe9597]

Thank you so much for your video! I was pulling my hair out with rooms missing after mapping. All your tips were fantastic. I felt better for realizing I was doing things correctly but needed some tips.

[@MrRoombato]

You're very welcome! Glad to help. Please consider subscribing.

[@kathyklumpe9597]

@@MrRoombato I have both liked and subscribed. Thank you again.

[@hammer-r]

Tks for the video. Just got my i8 yesterday and am trying to learn it for two floors. The app isn’t always clear. Good to hear you have parrots, so do I, the main reason I got this. But I still have not mastered the mapping for two different floors but working on it. Oddly mine did not say anything about three mapping runs. Now let’s see how it does on those seeds. Tks again.

[@doughylkema2920]

Great tips! I was a bit frustrated with other videos that regurgitate roomba marketing. Thanks

[@MrRoombato]

Thanks! I hate those videos also. Every time I see one, I think, “Oh, this person hasn’t actually used this thing for more than a few days.”

[@AutomaticJack]

By far the best J7/J8+ setup video!

[@djbrad1000]

Definitely I will test it ...been using all your Hoover's my 980 daily use still working from 2015

[@rastaozzie4076]

Just got a new J7+ so this was very helpful. The beast is charging now so we'll see how it works out!

[@fondoo]

Well said. Thank you for the video

[@Weeklongwind647]

The j7 did absolutely wonderful on mapping. For me it didn’t forget any areas except for tiny spots lol. Thx for the tips

[@MrRoombato]

VSLAM mapping usually works pretty well. It just takes a long time and is very annoying. :) However, if you have a challenging layout, you would be much better served with a lidar robot.

[@marybethfrain7165]

Thank you for this video . And I appreciate your sense of humor ….

[@LAKEKING360]

Love the name of your vacuums!

[@baltschoolofdance]

This video was very helpful. Thank you for taking the time to make it with such precise detail. Also, love your robot’s name. Our’s is Rosy a la Jetsons. Who ever thought Rosy would become a reality back when we were watching kids cartoons!

[@MrRoombato]

Yes, this is the only part of the future that we were promised that has kinda sorta been fulfilled.

[@theruralindependent]

Our's is Hazel. If you're old enough to know, you know...

[@kevinckahn]

Something to try to force new area discovery that worked for me. Define a cleaning zone that covers the missed area. Do this even with the zone extending outside the boundary of the existing map. The start a cleaning run of that zone. At least in my case this caused the s9 to clean and map the missing area and the allowed me to update the existing map.

[@MrRoombato]

That didn’t work for me, at least with the i7, and I tried several times. I never tried that with my s9. I’ll give it a shot and see how it goes. Thanks for the tip!

[@fxbear]

@@MrRoombato I’ve done this several times. In two cases it missed a room entirely. In one case it only got half the room. Adding zones for those missing areas then sending the roomba (s9+) to those spaces worked perfectly and and updated the master map accordingly. I have noticed that zones don’t always map exactly where you think they will. In the case of one missing room, I set up the zone for the room but the roomba was off by about 3 feet. Moving the zone and restarting the job resolved it. Any attempt to update the map from a clean map always returns an error on the iPad. I never attempted it on my iPhone.

[@MrRoombato]

@@fxbear It could be a compatibility issue. These apps are not native to the iPad and run in some sort of compatibility mode. You should try it on a phone.

[@captindave411]

This worked for me as well

[@susankronick7373]

Thanks for this tip. Worked perfectly!

[@AMindGame]

Love the video and the humorist tone to it, keep up the good work! :)

[@MrRoombato]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@craiglabell]

Extremely helpful! Thank you!

[@MrRoombato]

You're very welcome.

[@petarsron]

Perfect mate..Cheers

[@Shuffler703]

Good video. Everything you covered is right on from our experience. Roomba is still the best out there IMHO. Even with it's quirks.

[@edimig64]

Great video and my first time with a mapping roomba, i3, missed my kitchen and family room completely which is an area north of living/dining. Worst then the mopping m6 which skipped areas near walls etc. I will try the foot approach, when time to replace any recommended vacuums with self emptying and lidar?

[@dylanrodgers3150]

Thanks Mike. I've been having issues where the map seems to always come out exactly the same despite trying to change it. I think I need to try a better home base placement and then the footsie thing. Cheers. Update: Mike, your recommendation to try and center the home as much as possible in the house made the difference. I got the right map on the first try after moving the home. Thank you!

[@MrRoombato]

Glad it helped!

[@nedmarc]

Thank You!

[@shabnomnom]

i just switched to an S9 from a neato D7 and was having such a hard time getting the new one to learn my floor plan (it's only a 1BR apartment but we have _a lot_ of stuff jammed in here...) - this was so helpful! i'll now make my third mapping attempt and hopefully this'll be the one that works!

[@MrRoombato]

Glad to help!

[@solidsnake58]

Thank you. Very detailed and thorough review of the mapping features. Much appreciated

[@MrRoombato]

Thank you for the kind words!

[@prinzpoldi8467]

Thanks, very helpful. 👍

[@MrRoombato]

You're welcome, and thank you for watching, and hopefully subscribing.

[@Carneyjosh]

Great video. Thank you.

[@MrRoombato]

Thank you for watching!

[@grannyshore1861]

Hello, Very happy to find your channel, and help. I have the Roomba I7 + .....I keep getting the error 15, and have pushed clean and rebooted as you had shown, on the app it shows full battery, and I click it to clean living room, or any room and it starts the music then suddenly stops. On my app it reads battery not detected. After listening to your instructions deleting map, and remapping, Bamm ! It's doing it.. lol..Thank you. 👍👍👍

[@MrRoombato]

Glad I could help.

[@attila1746]

Thanks for the "Footsie" tip !!!

[@MrRoombato]

You're very welcome!

[@jsmcguireIII]

This is very helpful not only for new users like me (i3), but also for developers refining this new tool based on real world conditions. Removing the brush for map runs is a good idea. I am trusting irobot will add refinements to the firmware and not force us to upgrade the units (ha ha).

[@MrRoombato]

Keep in mind that the robot uses the brush for carpet detection. But...there is really no reason for it to detect carpet. It supposedly boosts suction, but...I don't think it does.

[@dreamchaserelena]

Many thanks. Regards from a Spanish in Germany!

[@MrRoombato]

My pleasure, glad you found it useful!

[@dfrusso]

Like the content - keep it coming

[@MrRoombato]

Thank you! And that’s the plan. More on the way soon.

[@rafaelmontano9177]

I liked a lot the way you explain... my native language is not English, so I found sometimes difficult to understand because of the speed... thank you anyway and I will rewatch it... 👍🏻

[@MrRoombato]

Thank you. I’m trying to figure out how to speak into a microphone. :)

[@henrya.longiii8529]

@@MrRoombato I have to agree with Rafael. The issue isn’t knowing how to speak into a microphone - it’s how rapidly you speak and the lack of pauses. I’d recommend you slow down, and also allow yourself to pause in places where you would normally do so in a face-to-face conversation. Present your narration as if you were talking directly to an average person who is seated across from you. Hope that is helpful.

[@MrRoombato]

@@henrya.longiii8529 This was one of the first videos I made. Check out my newer ones and tell me what you think.

[@xJI00]

Great review. You covered the mapping shortcomings very well. Your right the mapping/navigation implementation is garbage. It’s a bit sad considering iRobot place these at the premium end of the market. The other thing I find annoying is when it decides that it wants to go through a wall no matter what. To keep ramming a wall at full speed when its on the map and it’s just been there and confirmed it, is not great. It’s the complete opposite of the footsies scenario which is also unavoidable.

[@MrRoombato]

The IR sensor on the i7 is not the best, but it should be able to see a wall. That's odd behavior for sure. iRobot's problem is that they refuse to implement LIDAR. They keep saying cameras are the future of robot vacs, and they're right, just not the way they implement them. Now that there are robots on the market with both cameras and lidar, iRobot needs to shut up and go back to the drawing board. However, the rest of the market needs to catch up on self-emptying bin tech and full dust bin sensors, so it's not like anyone is holding a perfect hand.

[@julieconnard4372]

@Mr. Roombato - I'm so glad I happened upon your channel (which I subscribed to). This is such an informative video! Reading your replies to comments is also informative. I may be in robot vaccum hell! I had a 360 S9 before and I loved it. But it was not self-emptying, and eventually it completely lost its knowledge of the map. I decided I wanted a self-emptying robot, and so far I've tried four of them. The first was a Neabot Q11, which I was really excited about. But the robot was brain damaged! I swear, it acted like a person who'd had three quarters of its brain removed! It could never map my house, it could never find its way back to its base (which was in the same location as the 360 base), it would just die in the middle of a room . . . Finally the customer service rep said my house was probably too large for it to map (ridiculous!) and she told me she'd give me a refund and to just keep it! I now have the Q11 in a room with a threshold that most robots can't navigate. The Q11 can clean this one room and then find its base, and that seems to be the limit of its ability. I then tried a Shark AI XL, and it was pretty good. It was the only robot that could navigate the threshold to get out of my office. it mapped my whole 2400 sq. ft. house in about 30 minutes. it was very easy to divide and merge rooms (easier than with the 360 app). I wasn't crazy about its app after getting addicted to the 360 app. The Shark app won't show the robot on the map while it's cleaning, and the map it shows in its history is like a solid block, without showing lines for each pass the robot makes. It also routinely missed an area that collects a lot of cat litter. And when I had the base in the exact spot the 360 had been in, it could not navigate. So I returned it. I then got a Dreametech Z10. It is actually the best one I've tried to date, in most respects. Its mapping was almost impecable, but not quite, and its navigation is perfect. I've had some issues with clogs between the wastebin and the base ( have three cats, two of whom are long haired). However, if I do room cleanings I think I can avoid clogs, as that forces the robot to self-empty much more often than with whole house cleaning). I find the app very clunky compared to the 360 app (but they told me they would be releasing their own app at some point). Dividing rooms is very frustrating. The mapping did miss a wall between a hallway and a room, which makes it impossible to clean the room without cleaning the hallway. But what I really, really want is the ability to save multiple cleaning zones and then just click on one to clean it. Now the app won't even save one cleaning zone! So, because of the cat hair clogs and not being able to save zones, I thought I would try a Roomba j7+ when the price dropped to $600. OMG, this is the stupidest of all the robots I've tried, other than the brain damaged Neabot! I put the j7's base exactly where I've put all the other bases. The first time it drove off its base, it went about two feet, bumped into something, and returned to its base. Apparently it concluded my entire house was two feet long! I had to move that object (a cat scratching post that had always been there, and which the Lidar robots had no problem with), and then move another object, before the j7 got out of that area. Then it went around my house bumping (or should I say "crashing") into everything. It took two days, umpteen hours, and three runs (maybe it was four) before it gave me access to the map. While I was watching it bumble around for hour after hour, I was totally perplexed. I felt like I had teleported from the space age back to the stone age! I was thinking, "this is the industry leader, the top of the pack?????" When I looked at the map it produced, I was horrified. All of the Lidar vacs produced a map that looked like a floorplan of my house. This stupid Roomba produced something that bore a very distant relationship to my house, with a full room missing (even though the door to that room had been opened for two full days, with the light on). Then I started trying to massage the map. It divided my living room into three parts, and I thought I'd just leave the dividers there and name the sections "living room 1," "living room 2," etc. But it seems that you can't give the rooms custom names . . . or can you? I'm inclinded to just return the j7. It seems so clunky and its mapping technology and navigation technology seems so ancient. After paying $600, it's almost an insult! But, then, I really, really want the zone saving function, and the better self emptying . . . So tell me, which self-emptying robot would you recommend most hightly, given what I've told you? I need to make that decision fast (I have to return the Dreame Z10 in a week if I'm going to, and the j7 within three weeks), or else I'm going to need a robovac dryout period or a therapist before I go crazy!!!

[@MrRoombato]

So your Q11 is defective. I had issues with my Q11 but it was bugs, not its ability when working correctly. It should have mapped your house effortlessly. The j7...I'd return it. If you have a complex floor plan, it's only going to give you grief. I'd keep the Z10, at least for now. I don't know of anything better. But the clogs...you should not be having clogs at all, not in the bin. If you mix pet hair with something that binds it together, like pine needles, you may get clogs in the dock itself right near where the bag connects, but the dock knows it and the app tells you. So before you decide to keep the Z10...exactly what kind of clogs are you getting? As for the zones, that is a limitation of a LOT of robots. The people who make them just don't seem to get it. The Neabot has this feature, but, yours is defective. One thing you can do is divide your rooms not as they actually are but into zones. So wherever you need a zone, make it a room.

[@julieconnard4372]

@@MrRoombato, thanks very much for your answer. Yes, the Q11 is definately defective. I wish I knew whether it's a hardware or software issue. If it's software, they should be able to fix it. But their customer service people, at least in my short experience, are useless. They're friendly enough, but they seem to understand about 10% of what I say. If I could get the Q11 working well enough to clean my house, even with my manual help, I would send everything back and wait for the next batch of Z10's, because the Dreametech customer service agent told me they are supposed to have a fix for handling pet hair better. I just spent some time with the j7, merging/splitting rooms and naming them. Then I sent it to the room where one of my cats left a flurry of cat litter on the floor. Well, I thought that's where I sent it. But instead of going to that room, it navigated to my office, on the opposite side of the house, and tried to break through the barrier of odd boxes I erected to keep it out until I could set a No-Go zone, because it can't climb back over the threshold to get out. So it made a beeline for the only room I don't want it to enter! It really tried to crash through the barrier, and I had to add my foot to the line of boxes to keep it out. It finally gave up and went home to its dock. The cat litter is still on the floor of the room I sent it to. So yes, it looks like I'll be returning the j7. Is it really as stupid as it seems? Are all Roombas that stupid??! The clogs in the Z10 are in the exit from the robot's wastebin to the dock, not in the dock itself. After it cleaned my house a couple of times (or maybe it did a full cleaning once and then a couple of foom cleanings) I got a message from the app that it was clogged and couldn't be emptied, or something along those lines. When I investigated, I found that the wastebin was full of cat hair, and the opening of the wastbin was clogged with thick mats of hair. I cleaned it and it's been fine since. However, it hasn't done that many cleanings as I haven't had it very long, and instead of doing full house cleanings I've been having it clean just two or three rooms at a time. That forces it to go back to the base and empty itself before the cat hair can get too matted in the waste bin. I haven't had another clog since the first one. I thought of a couple of other deficiencies of the Z10: It doesn't do a good job of cleaning the edges of my red oriental rug, which really shows the cat hair. These robots should be algorithmically directed to very methodically go over the edges of rugs, because none of them seem to do a good job on the edges. The other thing is that the Z10 won't go under my bed. I have a fabric bedskirt on it, which the 360 just ignored - it went right under the bed. Somehow, the 360 was able to distinguish the fabric from a wall, but the Z10 can't do that. Not only that, but I gave it a couple of "doors," by folding a couple of feet of the bedskirt up into the mattriess, but the Z10 wouldn't take the hint. So I'm still trying to figure out how to get it to go under the bed. Any ideas? I like your suggestion to divide a room into zones. I'll try that with the Z10 in the room where I have to clean litter around the cat box all the time. However, I don't know if you've divided rooms on a Z10 map - I don't find it very easy. The end of the line has to be placed on a wall, which makes it really hard to divide a large space. But I'll play around with it. It seems that you came to the same conclusion I did - that the Z10 at this point is the best choice. I was hoping there might be something else out there that can save zones like the Roombas and the Neabot Q11 (which I didn't know it can do until you told me), and which addresses some of my other quibbles with the Z10. I hope you have a way of making money from your channel - you provide a great service!

[@MrRoombato]

@@julieconnard4372 I think the clog had to be an anomaly. The failure point of the dock seems to be at the bend right before the dust bag, and it takes a lot to get it to clog there...enough that a Roomba dock would also fail (and they have the best self-empty docks in the business). As for the J7, it's not stupid, it's blind. And yes, they are all like that. Cameras are almost useless for navigation. iRobot really needs to move past this nonsense. The bed...simple. Remove the bed skirt thing, clean the room to update the map, and then put it back except where you want the robot to enter. 360 has a feature in the app that lets you tell the robot to bump into things to see if they are walls or curtains, but I don't know if any other company has that.

[@julieconnard4372]

@@MrRoombato thanks for the additional info. I am guessing that Z10 may have just picked up so much cat hair, along with wool rug fibers, that all of this blocked the exit from the robot's waste bin. I believe that Roombas go back to the base and empty themselves when the waste bin is full, yes? Well, that's the intelligent way to do it. Vacuuming until the job is done, regardless of how full the bin is, doesn't seem terribly intelligent. Perhaps that just packed so much cat hair in the bin that the suction was inadequate to empty it? I'm hoping that shorter runs with more frequent empying will prevent any future clogs. Got it on the J7. I think Roomba's stubborn insistence on cameras, when they are clearly far beyond the industry standard for mapping and navigation established by Lidar, is somewhat insane. But perhaps the only thing that would shake out the loose screw is a serious sales decline. And for some reason, that isn't happening. These robots must be being purchased primarily by people who have never used a Lidar robot. (Or by people who really value zone saving and optimal self-emptying, but I'm sure that's a small percentage.) I can't see how most people who have used Lidar robots would keep a Roomba that bumbles around the house for two days bumping into everything and then can't even navigate to a room it just mapped! Thanks for the suggestion on the bed skirt. I can't remove it - it's a king size bed, I'm a single woman, and I'd have to remove the king sized mattress to get it off. But I can tuck it into the mattress all the way around to give six inches of clearance to the floor. I'll try that and see how it works. :) Thanks again for your help and insights.

[@MrRoombato]

@@julieconnard4372 My pleasure. And you're right about returning to the dock when the bin is full, but that sensor is patented by iRobot. I think they shared the tech with Ecovacs and so maybe the newest Ecovacs robots will have it. But no one else is allowed to have it. I love that the Z10 actually knows when the dock is clogged though.

[@jaws2858]

Thanks Mike! The mapping tips really helped. Our border collies could be twins.

[@MrRoombato]

You don't live in the Catskills do you? Maybe we got them from the same breeder.

[@RobertSpitzer]

Arigato Mr. Roommate.

[@michaelvoccola4640]

I believe the side brush spins when mapping as part of the carpet detection process. Carpet would resist the brush spin more than a hard surface.

[@MrRoombato]

That makes a strange kind of sense...is this a guess or do you have information?

[@jeffhein7275]

New subscriber - great content.

[@MrRoombato]

Thank you!

[@yareyaredaze9450]

loved the information and the jokes, thank you!

[@MrRoombato]

Glad to help!

[@rebeccabourched1249]

Glad I found you! Can rooms be renamed if when firs set up were labeled incorrectly?

[@MrRoombato]

Yes, easily, just go to the map, edit it and look for room labels or room names.

[@cherylsimon8134]

Thanks!

[@MrRoombato]

Thank you so much!

[@rogerbrandt6678]

Love that dark hardwood you had, beautiful is it hand scraped.?

[@MrRoombato]

Good news...it's laminate! :P

[@aspecreviews]

The caster wheel is also a distance sensor. We figured that out when our 530 would only run for 10 minutes and then stop. Buying a new battery didn't fix the issue. I cleaned the caster wheel, and the Roomba runs fine now.

[@MrRoombato]

That's very interesting. I don't see any evidence of a sensor though. Have you actually found one? Or could it be that it just drags when it gets dirty which stresses the drive motors?

[@aspecreviews]

@@MrRoombato at least on our 530 and my 4170, there's what looks like a laser and a receiver in the cavity where the front caster goes. The front wheel is black and white and works as an optical encoder. The i-series bots have floor tracking (optical flow) sensors, so they may have removed the front wheel encoder.

[@MrRoombato]

@@aspecreviews Makes sense, and yes, if that's what they look like, there are no such sensors on the i models.

[@brentmarshall241]

This is great! I wish I would have found you sooner. Much of my floor is hard wood, but I am having trouble with my i7 wanting to jump up onto a few very thick carpet area rugs where it gets stuck. I can't seem to configure the stay-away zones right. Watching your videos I am wondering it it makes sense to delete my map and just start again with new mapping runs and place barriers at the carpets' edges to give the robot the impression of a false wall. Short of that, any recommendations for optimizing stay-away zones short of this total reset?

[@MrRoombato]

Yes, that would work, but it feels like the nuclear option. No-go zones should take care of your problems. What exactly are the issues you are running into when trying to set them up?

[@brentmarshall241]

@@MrRoombato I think the easiest way I can describe it it is that I can’t seem to get it to stop going up onto a rug in one spot in particular, even if I exaggerate the stay-away zone well past it’s actual border (like...it STILL jumps up on the carpet in one spot) even if I push the the stay-away zone farther into the area I actually want vacuumed.

[@MrRoombato]

@@brentmarshall241 Hmm. It sounds like the navigation algorithm thinks that's an important spot for some reason. Or it's a glitch. When I got my first modern Roomba I followed it around for hours, wondering why it made the decisions it made, fascinated by an "intelligent" robot. Then I got my first LIDAR navigation bot and it was so boring in comparison, because it just did logical things (so...not an Ecovacs :P ). I guess if it's really an issue you could try redoing the map. But I'd try rebooting the robot first, erasing the no-go zone and recreating it to try to trick the thing. Remapping is no small thing with these robots.

[@brentmarshall241]

@@MrRoombato Thanks again! One other thing that I learned from your videos, which I didn’t realize, is to go into the history and look at maps of coverage during individual runs (I thought it my “main” map was the only one). Long story short, doing this, I think I can see where I need to change this one zone in particular I am referring to. If it works on this one I can easily do it on my others!!

[@MrRoombato]

@@brentmarshall241 Very glad to help!

[@tonymcalister9878]

Thanks. LIDAR has many advantages, however, it sees dust ruffles as an obstacle, and won’t clean these areas. My old LIDAR robot, Ecovacs N8 Pro Plus, went under my sofa with a dust ruffle and couldn’t find a way out. I assume it backed in by mistake. I have the J7 now and it works very well.

[@MrRoombato]

That's not LIDAR, that's the object avoidance system. You can turn that off. Some of them let you adjust its sensitivity. But you've experienced why camera based object avoidance is better, while LIDAR is much, much better for navigation and mapping. The best robots have cameras in the front for object avoidance and LIDAR for navigation.

[@schannegrie]

Thank you for your video. My house has a 2nd floor, do I need to move the home base for mapping?

[@MrRoombato]

I think so, yes. But I'm not sure, it's been a while.

[@AndreOutlaw]

I have 2 Roomba vacs. An i6 and an i7. A few weeks ago the i6 scrambled its map. I didn't notice this until I told it to go to the wife's office and it headed to the master bedroom. I checked the map and everything was labeled correctly. I tried removing the labels and adding them back to the rooms but IIRC it didn't want to use the same room names. I ended up just deleting the map and had it doing mapping runs/cleaning runs for the rest of the day. The i7 which is older hasn't had this issue. I'm expecting the lidar-based Wyze vacuum to arrive any day now for the basement.

[@MrRoombato]

That happened to my s9, and by then I knew it was scratching my floors so I just returned it. Let me know how the Wyze works out!

[@AndreOutlaw]

@@MrRoombato Well, the Wyze arrived yesterday. And while this is only 24 hours worth of experience with it. I have to say that I'm pretty impressed. I originally had a problem with mapping but that may have been due to it getting stuck under a treadmill. I cleared the map and used the horribly named option to only map. It mapped my entire basement (about 700 sq ft) in 10 minutes. Originally I had it clean and map at the same time and that carried over to the next morning. While the battery isn't large enough to do the entire basement (3 rooms) on one charge what it can cover a decent amount of space in that time. There was only a small portion of one room left before it had to recharge. The battery lasted about an hour on normal suction. It may pick up more than the Roomba can. I had the Roomba clean the basement last weekend. The basement doesn't get any use outside of the workout room and laundry. Neither of those rooms was cleaned before I first emptied the bin. There was plenty of debris in the bin. Removing and cleaning the brush was very easy. I've also found that the vacuum doesn't bump anything that it can see. So washer, dryer, furniture, etc. It will get very close to them but never actually touch them. For objects that it can't see, such as my speaker stands, it will try its best to climb over them. While watching it you would be sure it will get stuck but it doesn't. But it's a scary/pathetic thing to watch. It also seems that the straight lines that it vacuums in is true North and South. After several runs, this is the only direction it will make a pattern in. My house is on a slight angle and it shows as being that way on the map it created. So when it vacuums it doesn't follow the walls it follows true North and will stop, turn, move a bit, and turn again so it doesn't miss anything. It navigates around chairs fine. But it is not very aggressive while trying to get into areas. It seems to give it one or two half-hearted tries and then just writes off any chances of getting into a tight space. Virtual walls seem to work fine. I have a sump pump hole that has a sketchy cover that I don't want it to get near. I've physically blocked it off but figured a virtual wall will give me a bit more insurance in case someone moves the box that I have there. Also, there's a slow drain that washer empties into that I would rather it not run through. And the treadmill that wants to keep it as a pet. Map editing seems to work fine. Out of the 3 rooms it initially only labeled them room 1 and 2 but I was able to easily add the 3rd room. I do however wish that I could rotate the map. The map is very accurate. I can tell where couches, furnace, treadmill, TV stands, etc are. The vacuum is loud. The quiet option is not bad. But still fairly loud. Because it's in the basement this isn't an issue. Even from the first floor it can't be heard. But if you're on the same floor as the vac you will know it's running no matter where it is on the floor. I think that's about it. I was simply shocked at how quickly it could map a floor. A huge difference from the 3 or more times someone has to send a Roomba out. I did also run it in complete darkness last night and it didn't seem to have an issue. For $250 bucks I don't believe that this can be beaten. If I would have had the Wyze vac before I owned the Roomba I don't believe I would have purchased a Roomba (let alone 2 of them). If I have a Roomba die on me I'd have no problem with replacing it with the much lower-priced Wyze vac and not sweat over losing the self-empting bin of the Roomba.

[@MrRoombato]

@@AndreOutlaw Thank you for that detailed review. It reminds me of when I got my first lidar robot after owning roombas for a while. :) I may pick one up to do a review.

[@LordDeadSpider]

Great info. Got my 1st robovac today. Its on charge 3 and still not done on its 1st clean/map job. I will make sure after it finishes to send it on just mapping runs to save battery and time. Each time it stops to charge is it suppose to make a history entry in the app? Or does it wait until the whole house is clean and then update the history?

[@MrRoombato]

It does save the map each time but it has this annoying thing were it doesn't show you the map until it thinks it's finished.

[@LordDeadSpider]

@@MrRoombato Good to know, thanks.

[@leyland9999]

Very good information that is of good use for first time users like me. Only one thing though. The sound of the video is full of echoing caused by wrong positioning of your microphone or caused by a not so good microphone. Other than that, big thumps up!

[@MrRoombato]

Thanks! I had a cheap microphone back then. Now I use those Rode wireless go things and they are great. Or just my phone if I can record "live."

[@vickigower8125]

thanks for the video Mike. My husband just purchased a Roomba for me and I tried it out for the first time yesterday. I did pick up all smaller items, and some medium size items that were easily moved and got them out of the way, but I didn't pick up and move any chairs. Other than physically moving my speakers that are mounted on stands to prevent the Roomba from driving all over the base of the stand. I suppose I could create some type of easily applied and removed wrap around barrier out of cardboard that could help with that. Also when it comes to the grates for the hvac system that are inlaid in the floor, the roomba seems to struggle just a bit going over those and I get worried that it could cause damage to the system itself. Have you faced any of these challenges, and if so how did you solve them? Thanks !

[@MrRoombato]

Create no-go zones in those areas.

[@vickigower8125]

@@MrRoombato Thank you. Didn't realize yet that I could do that. I appreciate you!

[@MrRoombato]

@@vickigower8125 You're welcome!

[@mattremer9507]

Great video bud! New sub! I just purchased the S9+ and I was wondering why you said you were sending your S9 back to amazon (I know this video is not new, so I'm wondering if you did ever send it back) I wanted the S9 because I don't have dogs so not worried about the poop detect. but I do have kids that drop stuff on the floor all the time so stronger suction was really important. Hope to hear back!

[@MrRoombato]

It was scratching my floors. The way the brush housing is designed, it presses those rubber brushes hard into the floor (good for cleaning). So when they pick up dirt it turns into sand paper. If you have carpet and ceramic you have nothing to worry about. If not, I'd take a close look at the floor after it passes.

[@jimwilliams1354]

Thanks for this excellent video. You indicate that the mapping may improve over time, even after you have saved and modified the map. What about optimization? My current map gets the job done, but it jumps from one side of the room to the other rather than long efficient rows. If I delete the map and do training runs, would I be able to restore from history if I don't like the result or does history get deleted also? Should I name the map the same as the old one? i7 with clean base, Android 5.2.3, robot 3.10.8. Thanks for your advice.

[@MrRoombato]

Thanks! I'm glad you liked it. The only way you can save the map, as far as I'm aware, is to trick it into thinking it's a different floor. You may have to move the base station. What do you mean by "jumps from side of the room to the other"? The robot is supposed to clean in rows, but in reality only does this in mostly empty rooms, and in empty areas of cluttered rooms. If yours does something completely erratic, then maybe erasing and starting over (or just starting over by making it think it's a different floor) is the way to go.

[@jimwilliams1354]

@@MrRoombato , thanks for your detailed response. By "jumping from side to side" I meant it cleans one side of the room then moves to the other, then back again and again. It works but just not efficiently. I think I am going to have to bite the bullet and delete the map and retrain. I have moved the base twice already, so I think it is too smart to be tricked into thinking it is a new floor.

[@MrRoombato]

Well, good luck! But before you do that, at least try rebooting it, if you haven't already. That sometimes clears up erratic behavior.

[@jimwilliams1354]

@@MrRoombato , will do. Thanks.

[@roki1981]

Thank you so much for telling us what iRobot should have. I got my J7+ with only the warning papers. I had to call customer support and ask them what I was supposed to do. "Just download the app and all the instructions are there." Great, but what's the name of the app? There were several when I entered Roomba J7 in the search. And the user guide does not tell you what you used told us. So once again, thank you for this.

[@MrRoombato]

Glad I could help!

[@SadMrPenguin]

Amazing video! So I found a deal on the i7+ for $400 and the s9+/Braava Jet bundle for $800. I’m really struggling to decide which one to keep. It seems like the i7 is honestly better at this point. The i7 mapped my house perfectly the first time. I just had to delete the map on my s9 again because it thought I added another floor. Any suggestions?

[@MrRoombato]

Thank you. Honestly? It depends on what kind of floors you have. If you have all carpet and ceramic, dunno, it's your preference. Sounds like the smart mop bundle is the better deal. If you have hardwood, laminate of vinyl (either the old cheap kind or LVP), get rid of both and get a T8 AIVI with the auto empty bin and vibrating mop thing. I just learned that they scratch your floors. I can't believe it, and iRobot refuses to acknowledge it, but I'm releasing a video today or tomorrow that proves it. The problem is how the brushes/extractor bars come into contact with the floor and how dirt sticks to them. It's the dirt that scratches the floors. No other robot that I own does this. It's shocking, tbh.

[@TheMddddd]

What if you add a rug that the vacuum doesn't work with. The thing used to work but now it gets stuck. I don't have the app

[@nelsonheather98]

I would like to add a thin rubber bumper to my i8+ . Are there any sensors hidden on its bumper that I need to take care not to accidentally cover with my stick on bumper?

[@MrRoombato]

Only behind the translucent red plastic. Don’t cover that and you’ll be fine.

[@shallinisharma9359]

Thanks for the video. Does it do multi floor mapping also. Can I move my vacuum to different levels?

[@MrRoombato]

Yes. Just bring it and the base station to a new floor and it should start a new map automatically.

[@shallinisharma9359]

@@MrRoombato thanks for your help. Another question please, will it save that map for future use or start making a new map everytime?

[@MrRoombato]

@@shallinisharma9359 It will save the map. I don’t remember how many it can save. I think three.

[@sienna8844]

@@MrRoombato how do I select new floor? I have a single storey house but I want it to vacuum in two parts of the house. Back of the house and front of the house. They are fairly large areas so I don’t think it would map the house properly if I left the door open between front and back of house

[@MrRoombato]

@@sienna8844 It actually should map it properly, regardless of size (well, unless you live in the Taj Mahal :) ). In fact you don't want to move the bin and treat it like two floors unless you want to keep the door between those areas closed every time it cleans. Because it will find the other area and mess up the map otherwise. If you're concerned about mapping and navigation, I'd recommend a lidar based robot like a Neabot.

[@skipro3]

My Roomba has created phantom areas, even rooms, to the map. It's either entering another dimension or something. How do I edit the map to delete these areas?

[@MrRoombato]

I don't think you can. You might have to start over.

[@Kurt013]

"Cleaning Zones"? Try Roborock. My old Xiaomi Roborock S50 (with a fw update received 1 or 2 years ago) has it. I think it can only let us choose one cleaning zone at a time, but it's an already "old" vacuum robot. Try the Roborock S6 MaxV (for example) or wait for the Roborock S7 that will be launched on March.

[@MrRoombato]

I have an S6 MaxV. It doesn’t let you save zones so you have to define one each time. 360 is the only other company I know of that has save-able zones.

[@Kurt013]

@@MrRoombato My mistake. I thought you were talking about simply choosing a cleaning zone. My S50 give the option to clean a specific room or zone but yes, i have to manually select which one.

[@MrRoombato]

The ability to save custom zones is a game changing feature. For example, my kitchen/dining room divide is offset from the wall. I can't divide the rooms the way they really are, it leaves part of the kitchen floor uncleaned. But I can set a zone that covers it, independent of walls. Also, my front door rug is a zone, as is the area under my bird cages. And I can dispatch a Roomba to clean any of them with google. I can't do that with any other robot.

[@nicorudie]

My small apartment (1076 sqft) took 4 hours just mapping and didnt save the map. So annoying, is it broken?.

[@ronaldklingler6071]

How do you delete currently saved mapped rooms. my S9 has lost its mind and I would like to remap the whole house

[@MrRoombato]

Deleting the entire map is one of the options in the app. You have to delete the whole thing, you can't delete parts of it.

[@richardsmith1161]

Good tips. I have a 960, This doesn’t apply to the vacuum. However I have an Brava M6 and the mapping works ok. My issue is the robot won’t follow the map, just goes to different area or just does a strip down the middle. It’s was better before the app update.

[@MrRoombato]

It's possible that the map got corrupted. Maybe try deleting the map and starting over? If the robot still can't make a proper map or navigate accordingly, it's possible that one of the sensors has gone bad. Does it spin in circles for no apparent reason?

[@richardsmith1161]

@@MrRoombato Issues started happening after a reset. Don't see it spinning around. I'm thinking there are troubles with my 2.4ghz band. Don't know if that affects the navigation

[@robynj4839]

should I remove coffee or end tables as well as chairs during mapping run?

[@MrRoombato]

Up to you. It will make it faster, but you don't NEED to remove anything. I would just maybe put chairs on tables. Or maybe just pick up as much clutter as you can. You don't have to watch it map so it doesn't really matter how much time it takes.

[@htiekmahned8859]

The side brush feels for carpet/hard floor transitions on map runs.

[@MrRoombato]

I know. It can find them after it maps.

[@belskisfastlance2782]

Can you move the base to a more remote location after through mapping, and retain functionality?

[@MrRoombato]

In theory, yes. In practice? It's hit or miss. Give it a shot and see if it works. LIDAR robots can do that effortlessly, but...well... :)

[@belskisfastlance2782]

@@MrRoombato You are correct. It didn't work, and now I have to re-map the whole house from the base location I actually want. Other than that the j7 is awesome. I replaced a Roomba 880 i had for 7 years, which worked well, but this is a whole other dimension in functionality. I am going to set up my Brava m6 next, which replaces an old Brava, and I am expecting the same level of advances in that unit too.

[@LovexxMuzik]

Like a drunk home from the bar. And footsies with the robot. You are very funny, my dude! HAH! Very informative, too. And I agree with @BabakHamedani -- music is very distracting (if not at a very low level, sans-lyrics, or classical), and it usually drowns out words that you are trying to hear being said in the video. Graphics also are usually poorly placed and cover parts of the tutorial you WANT/NEED to see. So...domo arigato, Mr. Roombato! xD

[@katrinamyers4768]

Is it possible to move the roomba base after a clean map is created? Will it find its way home? For instance if I determined that it’s actually in a really inconvenient spot.

[@MrRoombato]

It's possible and it sometimes does, but in my experience, it's hit or miss.

[@barbarajackson4143]

Nice video! My j9 is very new, 1 week. Set it on mapping twice now, app says complete. Part of my home isn’t in the map, shows rugs but hasn’t even tried to go to carpeted areas( bedrooms). Set it in bedroom and closed door, just kept hitting door then sent message it needed help! Thoughts?

[@MrRoombato]

Just keep doing full cleaning runs. Eventually it will find them. Maybe. :) You can also try the footsie thing I showed in the video when it's near the missing areas.

[@barbarajackson4143]

@@MrRoombato yes I did the footsie thing, it worked, thanks. Now problem is I can’t login to app. Asked for new password, got it , app keeps saying incorrect password. Don’t know what I can do now if I can’t access the app.

[@MrRoombato]

@@barbarajackson4143 That's odd. Call customer service. Or you can try uninstalling and re-installing the app first. All of the maps and stuff are kept in the cloud (Amazon web services) so you shouldn't lose any data.

[@barbarajackson4143]

Uninstalling- you mean Delete?

[@MrRoombato]

@@barbarajackson4143 Yeah.

[@steveritchie1301]

Can you move the dock to a different location? If so how. Thanks

[@MrRoombato]

In theory, you just move it, and the robot will figure out where it is during/after a cleaning run. This sometimes works.

[@MrNatalie2525]

One question is necessary to map the house. So it will clean faster and the bactteries last longer? I have i7 +

[@MrRoombato]

It will map as it cleans, so you really don’t have a choice. But yes, once you have a completed map, it cleans more efficiently.

[@JoeyRam.]

You are right on everything, I have the i7 and the 'no go zone' is not accurate, plus the camera to "avoid obstacles", is probably a decoy.

[@MrRoombato]

Do you mean the infrared sensor in the bumper? If so, it definitely has one, but it's terrible.

[@JoeyRam.]

@@MrRoombato The one on top.

[@MrRoombato]

@@JoeyRam. lol, no, that one is real, but it's not to avoid obstacles, it's to look at your ceiling and try to figure out where it is. It kinda sorta somehow works, but not nearly as well as lidar.

[@TalalShhadi-dz3rt]

هل يمكن اعاده إصلاحها أو برمجه

[@vincentricci2814]

I have a lanai on back of house that is 4” lower than my living room. How do I do a new map of only that area without messing up my existing map of the rest of the house?

[@MrRoombato]

Since it's never been there before (I'm assuming), you can just put it there and start a full cleaning or mapping run. If it's in an area it doesn't recognize, it will assume it's a different floor, which while not technically true in your case, is true enough. You can move the base when you clean that area, or just use it without the base. I'm not sure what it will do when it's done, probably just stop and alert you. Or you can buy a second base, self emptying bin or just charging dock, and keep it in that area.

[@AndreOutlaw]

@@MrRoombato I used to put my 1st floor vac in the basement on occasion to vacuum (sometimes without the base). It would either eventually give an "empty bin" notice or just stop. I don't remember if it complained about the battery when it just stopped or not.

[@jimmichener6970]

I have the j7+, it takes almost of the day to vacuum my house, a combination of flooring and carpets. It inefficiently runs from one room to another and then back again over and over. The area ib front of my bedroom closet gets cleaned at least 3 or 4 times. If it is learning, it's not doing well after months of use.

[@MrRoombato]

To be perfectly honest, the j7 is a fantastic vacuum except for one thing...VSLAM. Camera navigation is a terrible technology that really needs to be phased out. If I were you I'd get a LIDAR robot as my next robovac.

[@jimmichener6970]

@@MrRoombatoThis my first robot vacuum, so I'm not sure what to expect. I have one Aussie mix, we run it two and half times a week (whole house and main living area) it does okay on wood floors, but leaves clumps of hair on the carpets.

[@1991lyly]

I also have a parrot and I just bought the i7+ and the braava jet m6 .. I’m Nervous to send it to clean under the cage and have a soft poop trail all over the room .. any thoughts?

[@MrRoombato]

I haven't had that issue at all. Parrot poop dries pretty fast. What I've started doing is taking left over vinyl floor tiles and putting them down where the parrots poop when I let them out of the cages, then removing them before the robot goes to clean. If yours poops all over the floor there all day long, I'd keep the robot out of that area until maybe night time (yes he will freak out a little bit the first time, but they get used to it fast!).

[@karenagrimonti7379]

Can someone answer this: If I map the family/dining room with my chairs gone, then after I have company, I want to pull all the chairs away from the table and have the j7 vac under the table, then push all the chairs back in and have it vac around the table-and-chairs area, how do I tell it that?

[@MrRoombato]

You can't, but it will just vacuum there regardless of whether the chairs are there or not.

[@judimcnamara1332]

I’d like to remove one of my keep out zones but can’t select it. I’ve tried tapping it, pressing on it. Nothing seems to let me select it. Any ideas?

[@MrRoombato]

When you get to your map, you have to select "Zones" on the bottom right. You don't have to pick a zone type, that's to add more. But once you pick "Zones" then you can select existing zones to get rid of them.

[@toddregister6621]

My map has some odd things off the real map area. Wondering if I should just wipe it clean and start again?

[@MrRoombato]

If they affect cleaning performance, then yes.

[@Nitromudder]

The main downside to Lidar from what I can see is height. It is better for mapping but would not fit under my couch. With 2 large dogs and all the fur this is a highly needed feature for us. But this would not be an issue for others. might be the reason they are not using it.

[@JerryN7970]

My Roomba app is up to date but doesn’t have that map button. We have a Roomba 960. Does that mapping feature not show up on my app because of the model Roomba we have? Our Roomba makes a map during the vacuuming process; because after it’s done I can view the map it made, but can’t do anything with the map. It’s like the map is just an FYI of the area it cleaned.

[@MrRoombato]

Unfortunately that's correct. The 960 has what iRobot calls iAdapt 2.0, which does not store the maps it creates and makes new ones for each cleaning run. The i7 and s9 (and i3) have iAdapt 3.0, which stores the maps in their (actually Amazon's) cloud servers.

[@JerryN7970]

@@MrRoombato dang. I thought so. I’ve been wishing I could find a way to make mine go to specific rooms or areas. Instead all it does is vacuum the whole house!

[@MrRoombato]

We live in a great time if we are complaining that robots clean our entire house. :)

[@JerryN7970]

@@MrRoombato LOL very true!

[@bindiyabodian7818]

Thank you but I was hoping to get an answer to my problem. My iRobot mapped my master bedroom AND my master bathroom at some point. Everything was great but all of a sudden the master bathroom disappeared from the map!! Now it vacuums only my bedroom and does NOT go to my bathroom. I tried your footsie trick but the map did not pick it. How do I make it map my master bathroom along with my master bedroom without starting all over, mapping the entire house? Please help!!

[@MrRoombato]

If you can't force it in there, you may have to start over. It's not that big a deal, it does all the work after all. And if a room disappeared, your map may be glitched, so it's probably a good idea to start over regardless.

[@thegrimmer]

Interested in the Venn diagram of people with bird rooms and people who are robot vacuum review experts

[@MrRoombato]

You have to factor in consumerist tendencies. I think most people with bird rooms don't even know robot vacuums are a thing. Meaning they know they exist but haven't actually thought about them.

[@Clt.j1]

I have a roomba i1 and once I go on the app to try and map it I don’t see the option to map or to even check the map I was wondering if I just can’t do it or if im doing something wrong

[@MrRoombato]

Do you mean i7? If so, did you do a cleaning or mapping run yet?

[@Clt.j1]

@@MrRoombato no it said it was an i1 on the app

[@MrRoombato]

@@Clt.j1 Oh, sorry, I didn't know there was such a thing as an i1. From the product page on their website, it looks like a basic model without mapping capability.

[@Clt.j1]

@@MrRoombato oh I got it from Walmart and I saw all these videos where they could map so I was just curious

[@rickdobbins6824]

Nice video but I wanted to find out how to set Map Only. I did not see how to apply that function

[@MrRoombato]

It will prompt you to do a mapping run when you first set it up. Otherwise, go the map, and the option is there (somewhere...don't remember, but it's not hard to find).

[@AJeepADroneAndAnOldMan]

my J7 plus is not showing obstacles in the app after a run, in the area that they should appear it says "something went wrong" I have rebooted several times as well as doing 3 factory resets to no avail, any ideas?

[@MrRoombato]

That's a customer service issue. You need to contact them. It's not behaving the way it's supposed to. btw I also have a Jeep, a drone, and I am an old man.

[@AJeepADroneAndAnOldMan]

@@MrRoombato two of a kind, I was able to fix it by resetting the camera settings

[@MrRoombato]

@@AJeepADroneAndAnOldMan Glad it worked out!

[@he1i0s]

Any updates after 2 years? Did they fix any of mentioned issues?

[@MrRoombato]

No. :)

[@he1i0s]

@@MrRoombato I see it is updating the map every time after any cleaning of any area

[@jamesgerboc]

I am trying to understand why an i7+ seems to sweep randomly and without any consideration of efficiency. I watched it clean a small area in the entry, go to the kitchen to clean another small area, and then go back to the entry to do another area. It also cleaned a 6in x 10ft area beside a rug, not by running along the side lengthwise, but by doing in horizontally, 6in at a time with turns! Why would there not be a way to save battery and time by sweeping in a more orderly fashion and complete an area before moving to another part of the map? iRobot support thinks my question is stupid.

[@MrRoombato]

Sorry, I thought I replied to this...if this is a double reply, it's because something glitched. Cameras are not the best for navigation, so the cleaning algorithms have to account for the fact that the robot will have only the vaguest idea of where it is. That said, it should clean in straight lines most of the time. The only exception should be small spaces, rooms with a lot of obstacles or other complicated areas. If your robot doesn't use straight passes to clean a large, open area, then try rebooting it and see if that helps (hold down the clean button for about 10-15 seconds).

[@dieselsysel3664]

Great video. I noticed you have a cat with birds. Do you allow your birds out? I found a parrot and altho my Rottie is great with him. I don't think we could ever have a cat again. Any comments re: cat and parrot ownership? BTW, I am frustrated with my s9 roomba/Braava Mop 6 combo. First, the vacuum base had to be replaced as it would not auto empty bin. Second, the mop had to be replaced because it never shut off while charging and they sent a new one - WITHOUT A NEW BATTERY!!! I had a constant night light for 6 weeks and concerned about battery longevity. Stupidly I deleted the first map that was done great. Now I am remapping as I forgot to pick up rugs. However, the new map completely ignored my entire dining room and it will not allow me to add 'new cleaning zone suggestion'. No matter what. I have spoken to 5 real nice people for irobot, they just have a very difficult time speaking English. They have fixed everything and I love their products, but it is very frustrating to constantly get errors or issues. Thanks for listening and if you have a suggestion for the constant error trying 'to edit the suggested clean zone', I am all ears. I can't find anything on support that addresses 'unable to edit the suggestion clean zone suggestion'. Thanks

[@MrRoombato]

Yes, I let the birds out. The cat doesn't bother them. Although he'll kill wild birds if he gets out of the house, he knows not to mess with the birds inside the house. I don't know, I never taught him, he just knows. Sorry I can't help with the vacuum stuff, I stopped doing this about a year ago.

[@reviewhub24]

Liectroux M200 Robot Vacuum Cleaner & Mop Combo,Self Emptying,Smart Mapping,6KPa Suction,Virtual Blocker,Carpet Detection (220V): kzbin.info/www/bejne/bYe1lWiGgLqfopY

[@sienna8844]

Does the iRobot i7 + need to have full mapping run of the house in one go? So I can’t close any room doors and it will not find those rooms later ? Also, does the bin have to be permanently set in a location that the robot goes back to each time ? It won’t find the bin if I move it?

[@MrRoombato]

Basically, yes to both. In theory it can find a relocated bin but I wouldn’t recommend trying. It could work or it could mess up the map. Even LIDAR robots have problems with this sometimes, though not nearly to the same extent. And while it can and will find new areas if you had a door closed, it can be a frustrating process. It’s much better to have it map everything the first time (well, the first two or three times).

[@sienna8844]

@@MrRoombato thanks for reply. When it goes home to the bin each time (either cuz it’s full or needs to recharge) will it suck all contents in the bin each time? What if my house is really big, when it runs out of battery from mapping, does it go back to home then recharge and continue mapping where it left off? So that means if I want to open doors to rooms in the future, I would have to map the entire house again in the future? Do I have to put up dining chairs each time it vacuums or only first time (when it’s mapping) then is it ok to leave the chairs down when it actually vacuums, will it realize it’s cuz there’s something there that I haven’t removed from the mapping? What if I move furniture in the room… will it notice they are gaps where the furniture used to be but has been moved or removed and vacuum there?

[@MrRoombato]

@@sienna8844 Yes, it will empty the bin each time, then resume cleaning. If you're mapping, you can do a mapping run which won't have the robot clean, so it should be able to finish on one charge. You don't have to put chairs up at all, either while cleaning or mapping, it's just something you can do to speed up the mapping run. It will map just fine with them there, it will just take longer. You can move stuff and it will navigate its away around it without problems. If the move is permanent, you can update the main map from the clean map, as I show in the video.

[@sienna8844]

@@MrRoombato thanks again for explaining 🙂 when it’s mapping and runs out of battery, will it return home and empty the bin even tho it wasn’t sucking anything? My house is quite big but of cos not Taj Mahal lol. When it’s initially mapping the entire house, should I open the doors to the rooms I don’t use and let it go in even tho those rooms are jammed packed (used as store rooms), then in the future when I eventually clear and use the rooms, can the iRobot navigate in it and vacuum properly? Cuz I don’t want to have to map the entire house again later. I’m always at home by the way almost 24/7 with kids that nap so I can’t go out and leave it to do it in an empty house hence that’s y all the questions and the bin might wake the kids up.

[@MrRoombato]

@@sienna8844 Yes, it will return and resume. And yes, you should open all doors to rooms you want it to map. Just make sure there’s nothing on the floor for it to get stuck on. But…why are you so set on a Roomba? LIDAR robots are astonishingly better at navigating and mapping. The i7 is a good robot, but the trickier the layout the more issues will crop up.

[@Shlooomth]

My new J7+ refused to discover my whole entire hallway because the clean base was too close to the hallway. So I had to move the clean base across the house. It still hasn’t gone all the way into all the bedrooms on its own yet but I’m satisfied with its overall experience

[@MrRoombato]

Yeah, the mapping and navigation are still the same mess from the earlier models, unfortunately. The CEO of iRobot needs to go. He's too stubborn about lidar.

[@mdrudholm]

@@MrRoombato I'm unable to get mi I7+ to map an area of a bedroom despite it being free of obstacles. The charging base is nearby but by no means blocking access. It's quite frustrating that this is a problem with such an expensive unit. I wish I could just edit the map manually.

[@MrRoombato]

@@mdrudholm The i7 will avoid a fairly large area surrounding the clean base. How much room is there between the clean base and whatever else is obstructing passage to the other side of the room? If there isn’t much space, it may never get there. You could try blocking off the side it usually goes to and see what it does.

[@mdrudholm]

@@MrRoombato There's a couple of feet, but you're right, it does appear to be avoiding getting close to the clean base. Seems like an odd limitation. I guess I should find another placement for the clean base.

[@MrRoombato]

@@mdrudholm Yeah, that will definitely solve that problem.

[@tpfrk8977]

When trying to add a new floor, my roomba keeps combining my maps together into one and ruining them. Any tips? What am so doing wrong?

[@MrRoombato]

Are you moving the charging base to a different floor? If so, you should not. If it starts on its charging base, it will think it's on the original floor.

[@tpfrk8977]

@@MrRoombato Nope, I am leaving the base in the same location. I move the robot to the new floor and hit training run. For whatever reason it won’t build a new map for the new floor, it just wants to add it to an existing floor.

[@MrRoombato]

@@tpfrk8977 Have you tried rebooting the robot? Hold down the clean button for 10-15 seconds. That's probably one of the first things their tech support will tell you to do. All I can say about it at this point is that it's not normal behavior and your next step should probably be to contact customer service. They might tell you to factory reset the robot and remap, which, considering how long these things take to map, is unfortunate. But you never know, it could be something dumb that we are both missing. I'm sorry I couldn't be more help. If it does turn out to be something simple, if you don't mind, please let me know. Thanks!

[@tpfrk8977]

@@MrRoombato Thanks for the reply.. yes, last night I rebooted it and sent it on another run.. It seems to be working now. I thought that it had a pretty recent reboot but maybe not.. I appreciate the advice and will message back if it does it again.

[@MrRoombato]

@@tpfrk8977 Great! I'm glad I could help after all. Rebooting should be your friend. :) Mine stops charging sometimes. Sits rich on the dock, clean contacts and won't charge. Then I reboot and bam, back to normal. Thanks for the update!

[@satevo462]

Does the I-4 do mapping?

[@MrRoombato]

Yes. But I’m not sure well it maps compared to the camera models. Maybe the same, maybe worse…maybe better.