iRobot Roomba J7+ Robot Vacuum COMBO Mop - A DISAPPOINTING First Impression

[MrBlueCreeper]

Roomba Combo J7 Faults:

Fault #1-Fault #8: The lifting mechanism has trouble extending the mop out, 5:03 - 6:07
Fault #9: Forgot to clean half the floor plan (Kitchen and dining), 14:30
Fault #10: Robot is going diagonally, 18:09 - 19:00
Fault #11: Water not dispensing fully, mop pad not saturated enough: 19:01
Fault #12: Robot is slipping on ketchup, 21:00 - 24:14

Additional Misses on paper:
Miss #1: No self-washing
Miss #2: No self refilling
Miss #3: No vibration
Miss #4: Overpriced

Let's compare the number of faults this iRobot has to the competition:

Deebot X1 Omni: 3 Faults + 2 Misses, Cannot dock, Connot go on the carpet with mops (miss), overpriced (miss), doesn't mop well, buggy app
Roborock S7 MaxV: ZERO faults and misses! Works flawlessly and does everything

Now compare the faults and misses to some of the worst robots you've ever reviewed:
Bissell ICONpet: zero faults + 4 misses, Bad navigation, bad edge cleaning, bad spot cleaning, and big dock boundary
Shark IQ: 2 faults + 1 miss, Buggy app and bad navigation qualities, small dustbin (miss, self-empty only)

This Roomba Combo J7 is the buggiest, overlooked robot you've probably ever reviewed! Shame on iRobot

[GoofyOldGuyPlays]

I hated my iRobot mop. Bought the Bissell based on your review and gave my brand new iRobot to my neighbor lady. The Bissell had some serious issues with dropping the pads around and getting lost all the time on my first one. And after getting a free replacement and lots of testing on my end to help the support agent, I now have a great mop. I really like it, especially changing the mop pads between each room as needed. It's not very good at knowing carpet so I have to mark those as no-go zones, but avoids them appropriately when marked. As for the ketchup here, I almost believe that is intentional and not accidental. Maybe add a second spot in the same run and see if it does it consistently. Having an "all-in-one" is my ultimate goal, but still not convinced yet. Yes, it seems Very loud. But if it means better suction, it would be worth it. Seems like a nice step up considering it is an all-in-one unit. Hopefully your full review will get some details on various objects and how well it does then, as well as more details on object avoidance; and if the new pad may have been causing issues with the streaking or if that is just bad design.

[KetoZdrowie]

What a GREAT review, I almost bought one. Thank you for you objectivity

[mdmehranrahman]

I feel like iRobot relies on their good reputation too much and they use that as an excuse to innovate/introduce new things so late. They are a very big and successful company though so I can 100% see them making a 180 in the possible future

[Jezijo]

We love you're long in depth videos!!! I just watch them at ×1.5 speed XD

[AntonioDal.]

Had a similar experience with the i8 combo which released recently in my country. IMO mopping features on vacuum robots are a gimmick.
Did you manage to fix the mopping lines or is the pad still unsaturated?

[Ragui]

I've had the Combo for about a month now. My results are identical to what this video shows. Erratic navigation, room skipping; and in many cases it gets lost - in fact I think it has gotten stuck on every single run to date. I'm mostly hardwood floors, with a few low/mid profile rugs. Even more disheartening, I live in a condo with floor to ceiling windows all around - seems that sun light completely blinds the vacuum, and even worse, the reflection on the windows seems to confuse. I have many robot vacuums, this might be the most disappointing. One upside - I'm betting it did actually find your ketchup and clean it (albeit sticky), that is way too much of a coincidence (the slipping wheels may actually be what signaled to the robot that there is a mess there - i.e. keep scrubbing till the wheels stop slipping).

[sargemonday]

Thanks Adam for saving me $1, 100! :^)

[grindTIME]

it was doing a deep clean on the ketchup.

kind of stupid of you to automatically assume something before it finishes

[ajbudda]

After watching this, glad I spent only $450 on the Shark 2 in 1 self empty. Yes the app sucks, but the robot cleans and mops incredibly well

[dillmon]

So I watched this video and everything I see shows a good hi quality functioning robot. As far as I’m concerned as long as you maintain it and replace water and cleaning fluid consistently it will do what it is supposed to do.

[michaeldisalvo]

13:10 You have that Booker T J7. Nice!

[rickgrimezz]

Yeah you have a poorly molded body... its blocking the arm from extending. I have seen this on a few of them. Its a manufacturer defect. Engineering thought they had that "Catch" solved (Update: So your mopping arm is free... which means the small plastic "Bur" as they called it... must have been small and the arm was able to push past the bur and release the mechanism) Guess not all units were caught before they were shipped.

Return the item... set up a cross ship RMA. They had a batch of bad ones get out of the warehouse 2 months ago... I assume you got one fo the bad units. I would RMA it and retest. This is not what the robot is capable of doing. Its just a defective bot. It also appears you have some software and battery issues as well.

Your video shows you started the job at 8:51... your battery should be less than half after 1 hour if you used suction maxed + the added power required for the mopper. I think you got a defective bot... I really do...

Also, it returned because it didn't have enough power to possibly finish the job... the first time?

[xloweric]

Thanks. This just confirms my decision to buy Roborock s7 Max V on Black Friday! Can’t wait.

[truckerjay]

So, I haven't finished the video yet would I be better off buying the I7 for 549.00 or the J7+ for 899? I'm getting rid of my EcoVacs 10+. I have mostly LVP with a few area rugs

[MrZhilvinas]

The ketchup spin is interesting. My combo did a similar dance the other day on a particularly sticky stain, though it was more spiral-y. Maybe it is a feature they never got to work correctly?
In principle it could easily sense that it just dragged the mop over something sticky from sudden change in required motor torque/floor tracking drift. You can see the robot deflect as its making passes over the stain at 19:47 and 20:53. The first time it ignores it but immediately after it has crossed the stain from both sides (i.e. 'felt' its edges and location) it starts doing the spin. Suspiciously directed towards the stain. But irobot would definitely brag about such feature to no end if it actually existed.
Perhaps it felt the extra drag and thought it got tangled, doing the usual dance to try and get unstuck? But it usually tries to drive backwards first, not into the object. Overall this is super weird. Given my unit has done a similar thing seemingly intentionally I am getting curious.
Have you done further testing with the unit?

[toddmiller]

What happen Roomba. You sent Alpha version out. Not even a beta version. Lol. This is why I have a Deebot. How does their Brava jet do on floors?

[cubinn]

Looks like for the most part works well at the cleaning but maybe bug in the software

[smartlifestyleeveryday]

Good job 👏 is good to see a YouTuber HONEST in his reviews

[ianoperator]

The developers logged-in mid test and desperately worked on that ketchup sounds better than it getting stuck spinning in circles until it accidentally cleaned it enough to get free. Not sure why the motor was so loud either.