iRobot Roomba s9+ vs. Roomba i7+ vs. Roomba 980 Robot Vacuums
- Loredo Litherland
- Jun 5, 2019
- 6 min read
iRobot Roomba s9+ vs. Roomba i7+ vs. Roomba 980 Robot Vacuums iRobot is probably the most well-known vacuum robot manufacturer on the planet and for very good reason. Their line of Roomba products isn’t just a selection of random robot vacs for picking up dust and fallen debris from your floors, but they make life much easier with their wide range of convenience-adding features.
Roomba 980
In this article, we’re going to take a look at a few of iRobot’s latest robot vacs to hit the market – the Roomba s9+, the i7+, and the 980. For those of you who absolutely cannot stand vacuuming their floors, you may want to play close attention. The best robot should provide the most convenience – e.g. you can maintain spotless floors with minimal effort – so you can maintain a worry-free lifestyle.
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Cleaning Effectiveness
s9+ Several tests have been conducted to gauge the cleaning effectiveness of these three robots, including manually embedding sand into medium-pile carpeting and weighing how much of the sand the robot managed to suction up. Of all the tests done, the s9+ has consistently remained on top. A lot of the s9+’s cleaning power has to do with the reduced speed of the side brushes which push debris into the intake rather than scatter it around the floor.
Roomba i7+
i7+ and 980 The Roomba i7+ and 980 are just one step below the s9+ in terms of cleaning effectiveness. Unlike the s9+, these robots’ side brushes still rotate a tad bit too quickly to pick up more than 80% of the embedded dirt in carpeting. The good news is that the i7+ and 980 work excellently at picking up fallen debris on smooth surfaces like tiled floors and floor boards.
Conclusion: Although the i7+ and 980 are great robot vacs, it takes considerably more passes to achieve the same results on carpeted floors as the s9+. So basically, the effectiveness of each of these robots are practically the same, but note that it’ll take more time, and thus more battery power, for the i7+ and 980 to complete a similar task as the s9+. All three robots work well at picking up dirt, cereal, and pet hair.
Roomba s9+
Design
s9+ As time goes on, more and more robot vacuum cleaner manufacturers are ditching the traditional disc shape and are instead opting for a half-moon design. The s9+ is an example of the perfection of this design as the rounded corners allow the robot’s brushes to reach corners, floor-to-wall edges, and around furniture legs.
i7+ and 980 The i7+ and 980 are disc-like in shape and, if you’ve ever used a robot before, will struggle to reach corners and around furniture legs. Combined with the scattering effect of the side brushes, these robots will be unable to clean a room as well as the s9+ and its half-moon figure.
Conclusion: Once again, we found that the s9+ is a notch above the i7+ and 980 in terms of design and shape. Disc-shape robots aren’t going anywhere anytime soon, but their lackluster performance in cleaning corners is becoming more and more apparent. Unless you don’t mind sweeping up the edges and corners of a room, the s9+ is for you.
Roomba 980
Self-emptying Bin
s9+ and i7+ Perhaps the most ingenious feature of the s9+ and the i7+ is its self-emptying bin. The charging dock comes with a large, vertically standing canister which automatically removes the contents of these robots’ dustbins when they’ve reached capacity. These canisters hold up to 30 bins of dirt which require emptying every few weeks or so, depending on what sort of stuff the robot has suctioned up.
980 The 980 does not come with such a feature. Instead, like our forefathers before us, you’ll have to empty the robot’s dustbin when it’s full manually. It’s not something to moan and groan about seeing as how the robot does most of the dirty work.
Conclusion: The lack of an auto-emptying feature in the 980 is by no means a deal-breaker as it does come with a rather sizeable dustbin. However, since robot vacs are made to satisfy the inner-laziness in us all, the self-emptying s9+ and i7+ are the much more convenient options to go with.
Roomba i7+
Virtual Walls
s9+, i7+, and 980 All three of these robots are equipped with smart-mapping technology that creates a digital layout of your home’s floors. This is neat since it tracks where any obstructions lay as to create an efficient cleaning plan. However, if you want to prevent these robots from venturing into certain territory, there’s no way to program boundaries into the digital map. Instead, these robot vacs come with virtual walls, which are a physical barrier that commands the robot to turn around upon contact.
Sequential Cleaning
s9+ and i7+ For those of you that are seriously considering the iRobot Braava Jet m6 Robot Mop, you might like to know that the s9+ and i7+ work together with the robot mop to vacuum and mop your floors. The s9+ and i7+ have a sequential cleaning feature that’s compatible with the m6. After the robot vacs have finished vacuuming your floors, they can be programmed to send a direct command to the m6 to begin mopping.
Roomba s9+
980 No such feature exists in the Roomba 980. If you have the Braava Jet m6, then you’ll have to manually command the robot mop to take over after the 980 has completed its vacuuming cycle. But then again, using the mobile app, you could always program the mop’s cleaning schedule to run right after the 980’s by setting up their cleaning times. Or you could shout at Amazon Alexa to command the robots to do your bidding.
Roomba 980
Conclusion: The s9+ and i7+ were made with ultra-convenience in mind. The s9+ and i7+ work together with the m6 Robot Mop to keep your floors free of debris and as spotless as can be. The Roomba 980, on the other hand, requires you to work a little harder (which is not hard at all) to get it and the m6 working on a seamless sequential cycle.
Verdict
After taking a close look at what the iRobot Roomba s9+, i7+, and 980 have to offer, we have concluded that the latest and greatest model – the s9+ – performs the best and is the most convenient to have. Although all three models work well on smooth and carpeted floors, the s9+ slower side brushes and half-moon design make it the best at cleaning corners and edges.
But the most prominent feature of the s9+ and i7+ is their sequential cleaning ability along with the Braava Jet m6 Robot Mop which automatically begins its mopping cycle after the Roomba s9+ or i7+ has completed vacuuming.
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