Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I've used the Roomba 890 for a few weeks now and here's what I think... I own a 2000 square foot, single story home. I have a dog that sheds everywhere and 2 long haired cats. My household has a 4 year old that leaves crumbs everywhere and I too have long hair that sheds a lot. Most of my home has hardwood flooring, which shows every single one of those hairs. We have tile in the wet areas and carpet in a couple of the bedrooms. We also have rugs in the usual places, front door, back door, living room, kitchen, bathrooms etc. I have back problems, which makes both the daily vacuuming and sweeping really uncomfortable. I owned one of the first Roomba models that came out and replaced it with newer robo-vacuums that were cheaper over the years. I purchased my last robo-vacuum based off of its trendy color and the relatively low cost. I would set it to clean as soon as I left in the morning and it worked, but I often found myself coming home and having to play hide-n-seek to find the vacuum. I can count, on both hands, the number of times the vacuum actually made it back to the base. I owned that vacuum for about 8 months before it died. I received a replacement from the company, which I was using up until I got the Roomba 890. So here comes the Roomba 890 with Wi-Fi connectivity! It would be an understatement to say that I was excited, but skeptical after reading what this Roomba was capable of. I don't claim to be great with technology, and honestly, setting the Wi-Fi feature on this Roomba was the part that made me most nervous. I opened the box and wow, this vacuum is nice. Inside the box were the instructions and warranty paperwork, a second filter (first one came installed), vacuum, base with charging cord, and the virtual wall barrier. The design of the vacuum is unique in that the bottom half is tapered outward and feels like a hard silicone. If you've never had a robo-vac before, this is important because it will avoid having dings and paint transfer all over your baseboards. This is huge to me. The vacuum is a tad heavier than the other brands I've had, which makes it feel really sturdy. It's also got a really sleek and modern looking design, which I don't mind displaying. Underneath, it has one 3 arm brush that spins to get baseboards and near walls and corners cleaned. It also has the actual vacuum part of the device. I was interested to find that the spinning cleaning brush on the vacuum part is actually made of silicone and has grooves and raised bits on it. It's not like most other vacuums that have the typical short twisted bristle brush that has to be cleaned every so often, as long hair and strings get wrapped up in it. I can't tell you how much I hated cleaning the short twisty bristles on my last robo-vac and every other vacuum I’ve ever owned. I set the base up in a corner of my dining room. It's visible, but out of the way. I downloaded the iRoomba app on my Samsung Galaxy. The app and the instructions told me exactly what to do and how to register the product. The app didn't take up much space on my phone, which is always a plus. You can even name the vacuum, which I think would be really helpful if you had a multi-level home and more than one Roomba. After figuring out that my Wi-Fi was actually off, connecting the vacuum was a breeze. I didn't have to try to set up timers on the home base, like some other brands of vacuums have you do. The set-up process was super easy and takes only minutes. It says that the vacuum was supposed to come partially charged, which I am not sure that mine actually was. I let the vacuum charge on the base overnight, which wasn't a big deal. In the morning, I was excited to try the Roomba. I turned the vacuum on by pressing the large button on the top of the vacuum. I totally forgot that I could use the app! The Roomba makes beeps when it backs off of the charging base, something my last robo-vac didn't do. My dog was curious about the beeping, but didn't bark at the vacuum at all, which is a win for me. The Roomba navigated its way through the legs of my dining room table and 6 chairs pretty well. It moved in a strange pattern, but it looked pretty efficient. I stood by and watched the Roomba move through the legs of my saddle style bar stools. The Roomba was fully inside of the 4 legs of the stool and moved the stool only about an inch while navigating its way out. My last vac would push the stools around while it was trying to get out, as they are pretty lightweight stools. I started becoming really impressed watching the Roomba hug the walls of my breakfast bar, even after the wall had about a 30 degree angle turn to it. I put the barrier up to block off my kitchen, as I was making breakfast and I move all over the place. The wall barrier was actually pretty neat. It gives you the option to choose a straight line vs am arched barrier for the Roomba to not cross. This is not something I’ve had the option with on other brands. The barrier itself has a sleek design and is all too attractive to my dog. She loves to nudge it and knock it over, something she was not easily able to do on a different barrier. I wish that they would make the base a little wider than the rest of the device. Or, maybe they could make the base out of the same hard silicone type material that is on the bottom half of the vacuum itself. If you don't have a dog that likes to knock the base over, it's not an issue. Overall, the barrier is more helpful that it is inconvenient to me. The Roomba kept cleaning my house and about 15 minutes later I heard it start making a bunch of beeping noises and then it started talking to me, loudly. I found it in my office and it told me that something was jammed in the vacuum and that I could reference the iRobot app if I needed help. I looked in the trash bin but couldn't find an obstruction, all I found was an embarrassing amount of pet hair. I emptied and put the bin back into the vacuum and still got the alert message. I took a few more pieces apart and found a piece of a ceramic pencil holder that my cat had knocked off of a desk about 6 months ago. The piece of ceramic was slightly curved and was about 2 inches by 1 inch, a sizable piece of debris. I'm impressed that the vacuum was able to get something of that size, shape, and weight vacuumed up. I was also impressed that the Roomba was able to find this piece and get to it, as it must have been behind/under the foot-board of my large desk. After removing the piece and checking that it didn't damage the Roomba, it didn't, I put the pieces back on and the vacuum went back to doing his thing. I watched the Roomba transition easily over thresholds between flooring and transitioned onto and off of rugs really well. So far, it has not caught the corner of a small rug and drug it around...something I've had happen with other vacuums in the past. I spent a lot of time watching the Roomba on his maiden voyage through my house. I am all too fascinated by its weird pattern and ability to clean my floors. I watched it suck up a phone charging cord that was left hanging on the floor, rookie mistake on my part. The Roomba stopped and sang its song, alerting me that there was as issue. It was really easy to pull the cord out of the Roomba and back to work he went. The Roomba went on his cleaning spree for just under an hour and then went back to his charging base. The journey to the charging base was not a straight line path, however, the Roomba made it back before the battery died, something my last robo-vac did not accomplish often. The Roomba did not clean my entire home in one session, but each area that it cleaned was cleaned quite well. Overall, I'm impressed. The Roomba 890 is thin enough to get under my coffee and end tables. It gets under my desk and nightstands with ease as well. The Roomba 890 is significantly quieter than other robo-vacuums that I have owned. While I am not going to put it in a room with a sleeping baby or have it run while I am watching TV, it's definitely quieter than others and picks up more debris. The Wi-Fi connectivity feature is pretty neat. I can press a button on my phone and have the Roomba clean my floors while I am away or in another room. I can see the stats of the Roomba while using the app too. Personally, I find the features on the app more convenient than having a remote for the Roomba. I lose remotes frequently, but I always have my phone on me. I see that the Roomba 890 can be used with Amazon's Alexa and Google assistant's software, but I don't own either of those. For the last few weeks, I have been running the Roomba while I am at work and have not had any issues yet. However, I am sure that the next time the Roomba picks up a large piece of debris, or eats a phone cord, that it’ll stop and I’ll have to play hide-and-seek to find it. I am hoping that the battery won't die and when I get home, I can use the app to easily locate the Roomba. This is not something I have experienced yet. I really like the Roomba 890 and use it almost every day. It helps me keep my floors clean and grit-free. I can walk around barefoot and rarely step on a crumb. When you have a 4 year old that likes to roll around on the floor, keeping the floors clean is really important. I've tried other robotic vacuums and this one is better than most. The price point seems fair and I would/will buy another when this one wears out one day.