The robot vacuum market is already huge, but it’s still growing as more and more of us turn to these devices to lighten our loads and keep our homes clean. It seems they’re much more than a passing fad, and these robotic house elves are here to stay.

Despite being around in some form since the 1980s, robot vacuums have only recently taken off in a big way. The technology is now there so your house gets cleaned without kids, toys or pets being terrorised. And the price of them is becoming more realistic too.

iRobot, perhaps the kings of the robot-vacuum world, has just launched its latest model – the i5 and i5+. This is a mid-range robot vacuum that it hopes will offer value as well as reliable cleaning.

We will dive into the functions in depth later on in this review, but just to give an overview this robot will vacuum, and while it does so it maps your house. You can then name the rooms on the map and ask it to clean specific rooms.

The i5+ also has a clean base docking station, which automatically sucks the dirt out of the robot and stores it in a bag. This means less emptying and fewer allergens in the air.

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How we tested

We set our roomba i5+ off to work in a less than clean house, using it on carpets and hardwood floors. Our kids obligingly left toys out in its path to see how good it was at avoiding obstacles. And while we don’t have a pet, we do have very long hair so we were able to see how it dealt with that.

We wanted to see how it cleaned – was it getting into the corners and around the sides? Did we find we were still having to do a more in-depth clean afterwards? And were the functions actually useful? Ultimately, was it an agent of chaos or calm in our lives? Read on to find out.

iRobot roomba i5+ robot vacuum and clean base

Robot roomba i5+ robot vacuum and clean base.jpg

Buy now £589, Irobot.co.uk

Rating: 8/10
Battery life: 90 mins
Bin capacity: 500ml
Noise level: 64.9dB
Voice control: Alexa, Google Assistant, Siri
Onboard camera: No

Set up

It’s incredibly easy to set up the i5+. There’s a quick-start guide in the top of the box, but essentially you plug in the base, pop the robot on it and it fires up. You can then download an app which links your phone to your robot via Bluetooth. From here you can send your robot out on its first cleaning mission.

On the first few jobs it will be creating a floorplan, which then appears in your app. Once done, you can label the rooms manually yourself in. And after your robot has got its bearings, it can then be sent to clean any combination of rooms ad hoc, or you can set a cleaning schedule for it.

Want it to clear up in the kitchen after the kids have chucked Cheerios everywhere during breakfast? No problem, just set a schedule to clean the kitchen for once the kids are out of the way. Perhaps you want to set the robot to vacuum once everyone’s in bed (it’s quite quiet) – again, just set a schedule.

Functions

First and foremost is controlling the vacuum from your phone. This is all really simple. The app is fairly pared back compared to other brands’ we’ve tried, which makes it fuss-free to use.

As we said, you can ask it to clean rooms. However, you can’t ask the i5+ to clean specific areas of your floor (this is sometimes called setting clean zones), say under your dining table after dinner. This is, however, one of the few functions it lacks and is the reason why it’s slightly more affordable than some other models on the market.

Lack of clean zone aside, the map the i5+ produces is accurate and useful. It won’t make a guess at what furniture you have in a room, but it will show you where the dirtest areas of your house are. More importantly, it will remember this (some might call this judgy, but we’ll get past it) and then work harder in this area when it’s running next time. This meant the area around our backdoor looked vastly better after a few cleans from our i5+.

The automatic dirt disposal is another great feature. After every clean, the i5+ returns to the clean base, like some sort of robotic homing pigeon. It then connects to the base which instantly fires up, sucking out all the dirt from the robot.

It’s worth noting that is does this in a closed system, which minimises how much dust then gets re-released into your air. It also has an allergen lock, which iRobot claims captures 99 per cent of pollen and mould. This system also means you don’t have to empty the bag as often – iRobot reckons every 90 days – which lightens your mental load slightly.

In terms of how best to control the i5+, there are a number of ways. We’ve already mentioned the app, but there are also buttons on the actual robot too. You can even use voice controls such as Alexa, Siri or Google Assistant.

We tried this with Alexa, and it does work well so long as you remember the exact phrases you need to say. We admit we were a bit rubbish at doing this, but it’s easy enough to set up via the “skills” in the Alexa app.

You can also set do not disturb functions on, so the robot won’t run during set times. This is great if you have a regular Zoom call that you don’t want disturbing, or if your kids still nap during the day and are light sleepers.

Another little function we loved was the child and pet lock. Set this from your app and it disables the buttons on the actual robot. As a family with some very “curious” and tech-obsessed toddlers, this was very handy indeed.

Performance

We were very impressed with the cleaning job our i5+ did. It got under beds, in corners and close to the edges of the room. It obviously cannot move doors, or furniture, so really tough places to reach are still going to need to be vacuumed by you.

However, the sensors were smart enough to avoid anything left directly in its path – though it did become stuck on cables and other life detritus that we’d forgotten to pick up before it runs. Be warned, errant Lego bricks won’t last very long with the i5+ around.

In terms of suction, iRobot claims the i5+ is 10 times more powerful than its older models. We couldn’t directly test that particular claim, but it did fare well even on our thick-pile carpets. It moves in lines across the floor for more efficient cleaning, and left track marks in our carpets that the groundskeepers at Wimbledon would be proud of.

Underneath the model are two roller brushes with different textures, suited to different floor types. We found that one of these brushes quickly ravelled up a lot of our long hair, which was quickly sorted using the quick-release catches on the side, but you will need to keep an eye on this. Similarly the side-sweeping brush is good for flicking dirt up into the path of the robot on hardwood floors, but ended up getting hair caught in it and us having to rescue it.

We also loved the timer. This brilliant feature will tell you how long the i5+ estimates it’s going to take to finish its job which is super handy if you have an impending deadline – such as family and friends coming over, or the kids arriving back from school.

We also liked that when our i5+ was running out of charge, it returned itself to the dock to recharge and then once it had enough power to finish the job it picked up where it left off. A lesson in self care and efficiency that we could all learn from.

The verdict: iRobot roomba i5+

We were thoroughly impressed with the i5+. It has a really great spread of functions, and is priced fairly for those who want to invest in some robotic home help but don’t want all the bells and whistles. It’s fast become a piece of kit in our house that we just can’t do without.

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iRobot roomba i5+ review: A thrifty robot vacuum that cleans up on performance

Without the bells and whistles, this mid-range cleaning machine is simple but effective