Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Background: Last year we bought a Roomba 650 and we use it religiously. If you have one of these things already then you know what I'm talking about. If you don't have one of these then you are probably thinking this is an epic waste of money. You're wrong, for oh so many reasons. Let's start with the 650, not this product (obviously) but to give a little context. The 650 is slightly smaller than the 870, it's pretty powerful and has a decent battery life. We set the schedule (which is very easy to do) for our 650 to begin patrolling at 9:15 am and let it get on with things. Each day we empty the bin and each day it refills it. The battery on the 650 lasts for around an hour, maybe 75 minutes. It's long enough for the robot to cover a few thousand square feet and pick up a full bin of dust and dirt. It's small enough to get under most items of furniture, sofas, tables, etc. We do have a few items that it can't get under, but I just move those once a week and let it get to work. The 650 uses brushes and bristles, it works solidly, although you will want a few spares to swap out. Also, you will want replacement filters as they get dirty very quickly, no matter how clean you think your home is. We have children and find that we need to go around each evening to make sure they've not left anything small on the floor, as the Roombas are indiscriminating and will happily suck up necklaces, toys and other items. On the plus side we've also found that telling the kids the robot is going to eat their toys is a great motivator to get them to clean up! The 650 finds its way back to the dock most, but not all days. Probably twice a week we need to play 'hunt the Roomba'. Sometimes it wanders in to a room and accidentally shuts the door after it, resulting in one very clean room, an exhausted robot and dust everywhere else. In these instances we simply put him back on charge, give him a rest for a little while then set him loose again. Overall the 650 is a good starter-robot, recommended for those wanting to dip their toes in to the robot market without splurging big bucks. Now, the 870. Slightly larger than the 650, it has a larger bin, better (HEPA) filters and an improved guidance and sensor system. The 650 will hit walls and furniture with a solid bump, not so the 870 which has more of a delicate touch. The 870 also has a slightly better battery life, I would say that it gets around 75 minutes on average, extending up to 90 if it's feeling particularly dedicated that day. The biggest difference, however, are the brushes - the 870 uses rubber brushers with no bristles, you would have thought that this makes it a worse vacuum than the 650 which employs a roller and bristle combination, but the opposite is true. Thanks to its improved vacuum power and brush system the 870 picks up dirt and dust like you wouldn't believe. In addition to the kids we also have 2 birds and a dog and every day our faithful 870 runs on his schedule (again, very easy to set up) and collects dog hair and dirt like a demon. He almost always finds his way back to his dock, probably 90% of the time. The HEPA filter is great, but you will want additional filters to swap out as they collect dust very quickly. The new filters from iRobot are better than the stock ones that the Roomba comes with, and if you register your robot online with iRobot they will send you two extra filters for free. The 870 also has a 'bin full' indicator, which is handy because the passage for the dirt to travel through to get in to the bin is smaller than in the 650. This is good because it increases suction and results in a more thorough clean, but bad because it's a smaller gap for dust to bottleneck in. You will want to empty this bin and clean out the filter every day to keep your robot running nicely! Summary: We love both our 650 and 870. There are pros and cons to both. If you're not shy of spending money and you want a thorough clean, then stretch to the 870, it's worth it. If you're just exploring how our robotic friends will be helping us stay clean in future and want cleaner floors then the 650 is a perfectly good starting point.