THIS… is the iRobot Vac essentials and my third iRobot vacuum to match my s9+ and m5 mopping duo that I have been looking to start phasing out of my house as they are starting to show their age and admittedly, the s9 took a trip down the stairs and never came back! My s9+ was awesome, but my m5 is still the best mop in the house - and even though it doesn’t vacuum the app lets me run my vacuum and then the mop in a 1-2 conjunction through in-app software which is always nice. Lets see how this stacks up to my growing parking lot of home vacuum and mops!

This is at the entry-level of robot vacuums and with that, it only vacuums which is awesome because I wanted it for the upstairs section of my house as something that sweeps up the crumbs between manual Dyson sweeps on the weekends (or when I remember).

Setup is and continues to be a strong suit for the Roomba, and I think anyone could out of the box set this up. The docking station was rather light so I was worried it would move around as the Roomba docs with it, but I never saw that issue come to fruition and it stayed in place. The app is super clean for iRobot, to the point it is almost hard to find things such as the ability to customize the suction power for the robot but with a few taps it is easily changed! This model does not come with map integration, so no go zones are not gonna be available to you, which for me is somewhat of a hassle as my furniture can be a robot death trap as are some of my rugs as well. This is a feature you will see on the higher models from iRobot so if it is something you think you will need, then stop now and move on up the lineup!

I will say, I was completely underwhelmed with the performance and capabilities of the vacuum. From always seemingly needing manual intervention to the inability to pick up floor fuzz, this is truly an entry-level light-cleaning robot. I am also unable to do certain things that we see other competitors in the market have across their lineups such as edit the map, custom cleans and voiding out areas as the robot sometimes can go under furniture and get lost under it and…STAIRS! I took this to my first floor as it is hardwood, and I saw a better performance in cleaning ability. I am rather jaded by my s9+’s serious suction power, and I had assumed that the power would disseminate down the product profile by now… but I guess not just yet. It does, however, leave nice carpet lines…with fuzz left in them lol.

Navigation is not a strong point for the robot, but once it gets it paths down it seems to really do a good job at optimizing the room over time, it just takes a significant amount of manual intervention the first several times. Something that was fun to watch was the force that it would bump into things with - even moving my subwoofer over a smidge. Not hard enough to hurt anything, but enough to make you look! I really wish this came with the option to upgrade to a tower to be able to vacuum out the debris that it picks up so that I do not have to empty out the container from time to time, that said it is super easy and not a hassle.

I think that this is perfect for your smaller studios, hardwood floors or super simple layouts. It is super quiet, sleek, and easy to tuck away in a corner and after training it to do what it needs to do… isn't the worst. I think for a couple hundred more dollars you get a significantly better product, but that is true with everything ever! I think that while I would recommend this product, it is truly a your mileage may vary product - it is entry-level… so you should come in with the expectation that this technology also didn't exist 10 years ago. That's why shopping at BestBuy is super cool, you never have to worry about getting a bad product, Best Buy has an excellent return policy and even better customer service, so you never have to worry about buying a product that you don’t like… so why not test it out?! iRobot has a large product portfolio, and BestBuy has an even larger home robot profile…so they have something for every level of your home!

The Roomba Vac Essential is iRobot’s no-frills, budget-friendly, entry-level robot vacuum. It’ll perform all the perfunctory duties you'd expect including running on a schedule, remote start and stop via the iRobot app, home automation integration, and returning to the base station automatically to charge. However, don’t expect more advanced capabilities like room mapping, obstacle avoidance, or self-emptying.

The robot has a 12.5” diameter and is 3.25” tall with a matte black finish, front and side bumpers, side sweeping brush, and 3 cliff/fall sensors. There are two spring-loaded, large driving wheels on the bottom that allow it to traverse uneven surfaces with ease, a 360° front wheel for executing tight turns, and central roller brush for picking up dust and debris. Both the side brush and roller brush are removable for cleaning or replacement, and the battery can also be removed for replacement or disposal. This robot is designed primarily for cleaning hard floors, as the base station needs to be placed on a hard surface with 1.5 ft of clearance to the sides and 4ft of clearance in front and away from stairs. I appreciated the inclusion of a Velcro cable organizing strap on the back of the dock.

The 0.1 gallon dust bin has a small capacity that generally needs to be emptied manually after each run. A cleaning brush and hair tangle razor is conveniently stored on top of the bin to help you clean and maintain the machine. The bin releases from the back of the robot with the press of a button and has a one-way dust flap over the intake to prevent accidental spilling of its contents. The hinged top opens easily for emptying, and it can be handwashed, if needed. There’s also a washable and replaceable HEPA filter in the lid that cleans the air as it exhausts from the machine and a spare filter is included. I find that the vacuum does a good job picking up fine dust and debris and captures a fair amount even after I’ve already cleaned with my upright vacuum.

The robot runs back and forth in parallel rows, which I prefer over the “random” path method. There’s also a spot cleaning function to clean a 4 ft diameter circle wherever you place the robot down. The robot is supposed to be able to detect and avoid furniture, though that said, it will still bump your walls and furniture when it first encounters them; once it knows their locations, it will slow down as it approaches any area where it previously made contact with something. A rubber strip at the bottom of the bumper helps cushion the impact, but this can leave black marks on your walls and floor trim. I would have liked to have seen an additional bumper along the top to better protect the glossy plastic over the sensors, as I know from experience that if it picks up enough scratches over time from collisions, they may reduce the effectiveness of the sensors.

The main drawback to the simplicity of its functionality is that you cannot control where it travels to clean. It also has no memory of where it has already been, so if the unit returns to the station to recharge before it finishes cleaning all the areas it has access to, on the next run it will not pickup where it left off; it will simply start over again from the beginning. For me, the robot ran for 1 hour and 15 minutes on high suction on our first floor before returning to the station.

The robot successfully avoided falling down steps and crossed ¼” high floor transitions between rooms just fine. It was also able to navigate up onto a ½” thick mat, and the short height allowed it to go under and clean right up to the toe-kick of our cabinetry. However, the clearance under our dishwasher is a bit lower due to uneven floors, and it ended up rubbing the underside of the steel door and picking up some scratches on top of the unit. It also has a tendency to push around or knock over lightweight items that sit on the floor. Unfortunately, there is no way to prevent the robot from entering an area other than physically blocking its access or path, for example, to prevent it from going near a fireplace or pushing pet food and water bowls.

I found that when it went over several power cords, it was able to cross them without getting stuck or tangled, though this may not always be the case. It did get stuck once under a rocking recliner and trapped under the kitchen table in between chair legs and had to be rescued; it sent a notification to the app when this happened. If you cannot locate the robot, you can activate an audible tone from the app that plays for a few seconds to help you find it, provided it has some battery life left and WiFi signal.

In the app you have the option to change a couple settings, mainly suction power from low, medium, and high, which may save or consume more battery power respectively, and setting it to clean without a time limit or a timed session of 15, 30, or 45 minutes. You can also schedule regular cleanings to start at a specific time on recurring days of the week or automate it to do so when you leave and/or return home using triggers such as GPS location, smart lock activity, or events detected by other smart IoT devices.

You'll have the option of setting up smart home AI control using Alexa or Google assistants, and those worked just fine for starting and stopping cleaning using voice commands. When cleaning is paused, the job will automatically be cancelled if it is not restarted within 1 hr and 30 mins. The app will keep track of data from the 30 most recent cleaning events within the last 90 days, and keeps a count of lifetime number of cleaning jobs, total runtime, and “dirt events” (when it senses an area/areas that may have a lot of debris).

Overall, I found this robot vacuum to be a very basic but effective robot vacuum that can automate regular cleaning of the floors. It can be remotely controlled, integrated into a smart home ecosystem, and effectively picks up a good amount of dirt and debris. It’ll work best for folks that have hard flooring, a lot of open space that is free of obstacles like cords and delicate or lightweight décor, and a small enough area that it can be covered in a single cleaning session. Just remember you’ll need to regularly empty its bin manually and physically block it from going anywhere you don’t want it to.

I have used many robot vacuums in the past 4-5 years and this one is good without being great. Its a solid 7.5/10.
The package is simple enough and its ready to use in under 5 minutes. Just attach the side brush, remove the foam pad used to keep the bumper in the same place, peel off the film from the sensors area in the front, and you are off to the races. You can start using it immediately, with the buttons on the machine. But most everyone will also want to connect it to the app, which is also extremely easy, since on turning on the device seems to automatically be in pairing mode. So, on the app you just select add device, once its found the device, it will ask you to press a button on the machine, to ensure you are connecting to the right one AND that you do have physical access to it (and are not randomly trying to add your neighbour's Roomba). It asks you for your Wifi password and its connected. Now you can start, stop send home and locate it from the app.
The app also allows you to set schedules. You can also set the vacuum power and hence inversely how silent it is and if you want it to make a single, multiple or dynamic passes while cleaning room. Dynamic just figures out if its a big room - then just 1 pass, else 2 passes to keep the time taken consistent.
Some weird stuff, I don't understand why Roomba's only have 1 side brush when some other models have 2, it just makes sense that it would sweep in from both edges, but guess they've made their decision. Also, the sweeper brush underneath WILL get hair entangled, I have used these types of brushes before with soft bristles, and they always are full of hair and you have to cut those off atleast once in a couple of weeks or maybe longer depending on your household. These are not the rubberized brushes, that barely get any entanglement - but also don't brush as well. The dust collector seems big enough, I have only had to empty it once in about 3 runs. And there is an extra filter in the package once we do need to change it.

Apart from this, as I mentioned there is nothing extraordinary about it - the app doesn't have options to control it and move it in different directions if you want, or force it to sweep just the edges of the room or a spot ( you can clean a specific spot but by using the physical button).

If you are in the market for an entry level robo vacuum, this will serve the purpose.

iRobot Roomba Vac Essential Robot Vacuum (Q0120) - Black

The first impression of the Q0120 is that it is smaller with less height than many other robot vacuums. It still covers a 7” swath with each pass, but it gets under virtually any furniture that’s on legs. It does a very good job of cleaning as well; comparable to two other larger scanning robot vacuums we have for other parts of the house.

Our experience is that it is a no-fuss device. As soon as it leaves the charging station, it pivots and heads out in a straight line avoiding any obstacles in its path while picking up its interrupted straight line of cleaning on the other side of the obstacle. It continues in this pattern until it either needs recharging (up to 120 minutes depending upon the surface it’s working) or the job is done – in either event it simply heads back to the charging station where it will stay if the job’s done or it will take off again if more remains to be done.

If you use the smart phone app, it can be set to clean while you’re away, set up a cleaning schedule etc. and will even provide a map of the area it cleaned so you can look at it later to see what was done. Just note that the Q0120 Roomba Vac Essential requires a 2.4Ghz Wi-Fi network if you plan to use the phone app. We have a 5Ghz Wi-Fi network only so I wasn’t able to use the phone app, but for me that wasn’t an issue since I like the simplicity of tapping the button to send the Q0120 on its cleaning job, or if you feel it’s done the job but it keeps working, you can tap the home button and it will return to the charger where it will stay until you need it again. I really like the simplicity of this instead of using a phone app.

The Q0120 will run at different power levels depending on the surface/cleaning job at hand. You can hear it running, but it’s not a distraction.

We use it in a master bedroom that adjoins a master bathroom and master closet. It has not gotten stuck anywhere and travels under a dressing table, two leather chairs and a king bed plus navigating around shoes and boxes of such in the closet.

It has a large dust bin which we’ve not had to empty yet after two complete cleanings of the above mentioned on suite.

Overall, we are very pleased with our new Roomba Vac Essential Q0120. It does as good a job as larger robot vacuums we have yet it is easy to use and definitely gets under furniture the other ones will get hung up on trying to go under them. Simple to use so we are very pleased!