iRobot Roomba s9+ (9550) Robot Vacuum with Roomba s Series Replenishment Kit

Updated: 12/30/2024:After 3 months of operation, I must say the unit performs flawlessly. I am a very happy customer.I bought this unit refurbished, not new. I had initial problems and support verified that the unit was under warranty and helped me as though the unit was new. Almost all of the problems I had with the unit were related to my misunderstanding important details. I have found during the first 3 months of ownership, that doing routine maintenance such as replacing filters and brushes is so easy, and it only takes a minute or two. The parts are available on Amazon, Walmart, and other places at a significant discount.Original post:Regardless of what product you buy, whether it is a cell phone, a car, a drone, a computer, or a robot vaccuum cleaner, the most important thing is the support you get after you make a purchase. Everything breaks at one point or another, especially when you are dealing with mechanical things. This is where the I Robot company shines. They stand behind their products, and offer excellent support. And I mean they are VERY supportive.I had inital difficulties with the unit, and the I-Robot technical support staff worked with me. We figured out all of the problems, and the unit now works perfectly. Most of the problems were typical vaccuum cleaner issues like a clogged hose, dirty brushes, dirty bin area, and other debries causing issues. Keeping the unit clean and looking after it makes a big difference. Don't expect it to take care of itself because it can't. You have to help it out sometimes.A great feature is that the app for the unit will tell you when to replace filters and brushes. It even takes you to the store to select the correct part for you.The initial problems I had with the unit are listed below:1. It cleaned well at first but soon after It did not vacuum well and left a lot of obvious surface debris behind. The fix was to clear the pet fur that clogged the vaccuum hose that leads to the bin.2. The mapping feature just didn't seem to work. Initially it just mapped one upstairs bedroom and on suite bathroom. It ignored the second bathroom, bedroom, and loft. I reran the mapping feature many times and it just didn't look like my upstairs. But after reading up on it from articles they sent me, I realized it had mapped the places it could get to, not necessarily the whole floor plan. From there I was able to figure out where the rooms were. Now I have scheduled jobs that clean specific areas and stay away from other areas.3. The lid switch just didn't work. It started complaining that the lid was open the first day. Then the problem would become intermittent until it failed completely. Support people showed me a simple fix for that and now I no longer receive false errors.4. I used the phone app to register the product, and it used the serial number to register it with IRobot. But when I used it to get product support it failed to get the serial number. I couldn't copy and paste the serial number from the app either and it is a very long number.After a couple e-mails back and forth with technical support, they determined my unit was under warranty and told me that if I had any more trouble that it would be covered completely free of charge.I am very happy with this unit and I recommend it to anyone who is interested in a robotic vaccuum cleaner. It is really cool, and very much like the droids in Star Wars. It takes a bit to get used to but having a robot clean the floors on a regular daily scheduled basis is a very nice service to have. Rest assured their product support is there to help you get through any difficulty.

The first unit arrived DOA. iRobot sent a replacement unit.We have a 4,000 square foot ranch, 3 kids under 7 and 2 dogs. The Roomba was intended not to replace all of our floor cleaning (obviously), but rather a way to more frequently vacuum the heavily used main living areas without much effort from us (suck up dog hair and crumbs from the kitchen every other day, vacuum the living room and hallway carpet a couple times per week). The main selling point was the clean base because, in my opinion, it is the feature that finally made the robot vacuum "automatic".As I watched the Roomba embark on its first training run, I thought "wow, that is some really impressive technology". I loved seeing the map of the home appear in the app, and the ability to segment rooms, etc. etc. Cool!All I can say after owning it for 9 months, is that it is the most frustrating piece of tech we have in the house, and its not worth the money. I'd rather just move the furniture and vacuum the rooms myself a couple nights per week. We have the best wifi system, connected TVs, whole home music, voice automation through Alexa, connected cameras, a connected sprinkler system, the newest Traeger smoker with wifi, etc. etc. So we are no stranger to setting up and using these devices. Frankly, the software on this Roomba just needs a lot more work. Some examples:Some of our doors are on a 45 degree angle. That seems to drive the Roomba nuts. After about 30 attempts to make it vacuum or even just map our master bedroom, it has made it back to the home base successfully 0 times.An obstacle (like our baby's high chair in the kitchen) seems to cause the robot to re-map certain boundaries frequently, sometimes causing new pathways/openings to appear in the edges of walls on the digital map, and then it spends an entire battery charge trying to find its way through that opening, and then when it saves the map, it claims that it has found a new room on the map...Just today (what caused me to finally write this review), I decided to use the convenient "no-go" zone on the map to mark out an area where a small christmas tree is located in our family room. I was generous with the size of the no-go zone. Confirmed the map was saved and then sent the robot on its way. It ignored the no-go zone entirely and ran over the tree skirt and got its brushes completely tangled in the fabric while bulldozing a toy train that was around the christmas tree.When it does successfully complete a run (it seems to handle out dining room and kitchen well), it goes to the clean base and empties and begins charging, and I assume, updates the Smart Map. However, the next time I open the app to send it on a job, before I can start the job, the app switches to "saving clean map, cleaning available soon", and the robot lights up, and it appears to be updating the map for 5+ minutes before you are then able to start the clean. Why would it wait to perform a function that locks out the robot until the user is ready to use the robot again, often days after it should have complete that function? DumbOur house is not a mansion, but it is "good-sized". Our family room (where the Roomba base is located), is probably 20x20 and has two couches and a coffee table. We don't have a ton of junk sitting around the floor and we are diligent about picking up toys, etc. It takes it a full battery charge to vacuum maybe 80% of the room, then it has to charge for 90 minutes, then vacuum another 30-40 minutes to clean the family room.... we are averaging like 4 hours to vacuum the family room. Yet it can do the dining room, kitchen, and laundry room in about 60 minutes consistently with more obstacles (bar stools, dining table, high chair, etc.)... seems like it should be able to correct its efficiency in the living room.Pros:The cleaning technology is outstanding. Very powerful suction, and very thorough cleaning.Clean base is great.Looks coolAlexa integration works 80% of the timeSummary: I wish I could send it back. $1,100 is a lot of money to spend for an automation tool where you end up spending more time dealing with the frustrations (trying to figure out why its lost, moving obstacles it should have learned by now, picking it up when it dies halfway across the house and carrying it back to home base then waiting for it to charge so you can restart the clean, etc. etc. ). It sucks (pun intended).