Don’t believe the hype of the iRobot Roomba 890 wi-fi connected vacuum robot

THIS $1099 gadget promises to greatly improve your home life, only there are deal-breaking errors which were discovered during the testing.

WHEN my mother and father taught me how to do my own washing, cooking and cleaning during my teenage years, I knew there was very little chance of them pandering to my household needs when I finished school, let alone well into my early 30s.

So with the skills needed to be a somewhat functioning adult — emphasis on somewhat — I flew the nest and set off on a journey to become a domestic god like no other.

Only, I quickly learnt that performing chores was proper shit. Why would I want to spend my Saturday morning cleaning the house when I could be out exercising or still in bed with a bottle of water, Panadol and an alert from UberEats saying my delivery was on the way?

Needless to say, I sucked it up and did what needed to be done to ensure my home didn’t look like it could be feature on one of those many documentaries about hoarders.

And while I now have a decent cleaning routine, I am still looking for ways to streamline the process so there is more time for the good things in life like rap music, beers and footy.

So when I was offered the chance to review the iRobot Roomba 890, I clearly jumped at the chance to outsource some of my cleaning to wi-fi connected vacuum robot.

Roomba robots are now compatible and controllable with Google Home and the Google Assistant.

DESIGN

The Roomba 890 is what you would expect from the brand, with the robot vacuum keeping its round design — measuring 35.3cm in diameter and 9.1cm in height.

At the core of the products technology is the “AeroForce 3-Stage Cleaning System” that uses tangle-free multi-surface brushes and powerlifting suction to pull in embedded dirt, debris, and pet hair from wherever it hides.

The edge-sweeping brush has also been specially designed at a 27-degree angle to sweep debris away from borders and corners.

While it might not have the visual localisation technology of its more premium counterparts, the Roomba’s 890 has a full suite of sensors which allow it to seamlessly navigate around obstacles and under furniture.

The product also provides the smarts to avoiding stairs and other drops — a dual mode virtual wall barrier has also been include to cordon off any area you don’t want it to go.

In addition, the Roomba has patented dirt detect sensors, which recognise concentrated areas of grime in high-traffic zones of your home, providing additional cleaning in those spots.

The 890 has been designed to connect to the iRobot HOME App, which provides tricks, tips and support, while also allowing you to schedule and monitor cleaning jobs from anywhere.

An indicator has been included to inform you know when the bin needs to be emptied — you can also view the bin level and status through the app.

Finally, the product has been designed to automatically return to the charging station between cleans so you shouldn’t have to worry about it running out of juice.

The 890 was great under furniture, but not so great when it came to getting over my rugs.

DO THEY ACTUALLY WORK?

All of these cleaning systems and connectivity features sound amazing, but do they really do as they say or is it nothing more than creative marketing jargon? The answer is complicated.

Getting a decent vacuum of my house without the effort of physically performing the task is always welcomed, but the product hasn’t been without its issues.

While the auto-adjust cleaning head automatically adapts its height to keep the multi-surface brushes in close contact with different floor surfaces, the vacuum doesn’t really respond too well when it comes in contact with the rugs across my home.

Instead of making its way over the edge of my rug and cleaning its surface, the Roomba constantly hits the edge and turns the opposite direction as if it had come in contact with a wall.

What was most frustrating about this was that it would sometimes make it over the threshold, but more often than not it didn’t, which left me more than a little disappointed.

While the robot can be preset to vacuum up to seven times per week, if your house has many different levels like mine you will need to ensure the unit is fully charged and in the part of the home you would like to clean before walking out the door.

I admit the design of my house and minor task of positioning the vacuum in the required room before leaving is still much easier than manually performing the chore, however it was still enough to provide a certain level of annoyance.

In terms of battery, the Roomba 890 can operate for up to an hour off a single charge, although it’s likely you will need to empty the catcher long before this time comes to an end.

Again, the catcher is something I have mixed feelings about because having to empty it after every room is a little annoying, but seeing how hidden much dirt, dust and debris the product collects is impressive.

The Roomba was a little too aggressive with its suction

As the 890 lacks visual localisation technology, you need to ensure the floor is free from all chargers or other items which might get caught in the crossfire when the vacuum is on duty — on more than one location I had to free a tangled USB-C cable from the product.

This willingness to cause a tangled mess also caught me out when the Roomba grabbed hold of a thread of carpet, got tangled and tried to roll away, subsequently ripping up a good chunk of the carpet in my hallway — not really ideal considering the cost of the product.

I might sound like I hate the product, but this isn’t the case. I have been very happy with the cleanliness of the areas the Roomba had been able to clean and loved the fact it could also be connected to my Google Home and controlled using voice commands.

I also believe that my older house is not the optimal environment to be using such a product — hence the carpet incident and need for rugs everywhere.

If you are somewhere with huge open living areas, the $1099 Roomba 890 would be perfect for your needs, although if you live somewhere older like me, you might have to keep with the traditional method for now.

What has your Roomba experience been? Continue the conversation in the comments below or with Matthew Dunn on Facebook and Twitter.