REASONS TO BUY
Easily picks up larger debris from carpets
Includes dirt disposal system
REASONS TO AVOID
Abuses furniture
No barrier limits
Poor flour pickup
iRobot Roomba i3+ EVO Review
Watch out for this model if you value your furniture; it tends to abuse every obstacle in its wake
Credit: iRobot
RELATED: Best Robot Vacuums of 2024
Our Verdict
The iRobot Roomba i3+ EVO is a mediocre robot vacuum with very basic features and functions but lacks the cleaning strength and intelligence to be worth much consideration at all. Beyond the lack of strong cleaning abilities and barrier protection, this model absolutely abuses furniture due to its poor intelligence and poor obstacle avoidance, including an inability to avoid pet droppings. We recommend investing your dollar in a better-suited model from our lineup of the best robot vacuums.
Compare to Similar Products
 This Product iRobot Roomba i3+ EVO | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Awards |  Best All Around Robot Vacuum |  Best Bang for the Buck | |||
| Price | $550 List $355.41 at Amazon | $430 List | $315 List $199.00 at Amazon | $550 List $359.98 at Amazon | $230 List $229.99 at Amazon |
Overall Score  |
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| Star Rating | |||||
| Bottom Line | This model puts the hurt on furniture and aimlessly bounces around your home | This is an advanced robot vacuum that's within reach for everyone in the market | This model is a great option overall, competing with pricier options in most tests | The new standard for a smart, workhorse robot vacuum | With newer tech available at a similar price, we think you'd be better off looking elsewhere |
| Rating Categories | iRobot Roomba i3+ EVO | Roborock Q5 | Wyze Robot Vacuum | Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid | Eufy RoboVac 11S Slim |
| Navigation (30%) | |||||
| Home Coverage (20%) | |||||
| Carpet Cleaning (15%) | |||||
| Hard Surface Cleaning (15%) | |||||
| Pet Hair (10%) | |||||
| Convenience (10%) | |||||
| Specs | iRobot Roomba i3+ EVO | Roborock Q5 | Wyze Robot Vacuum | Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid | Eufy RoboVac 11S Slim |
| App Features Score Total | 11 | 16 | 14 | 14 | 2 |
| Pet Hair Captured | 34.0% | 42.7% | 25.3% | 28.6% | 20.6% |
| Edging Performance | 4.0 in | 2.0 in | 3.0 in | 4.0 in | 1.3 in |
| Manufacture Bin Capacity | .53 L | .47 L | .55 L | .4 L | .6 L |
| Manufacture Station Capacity | 2.2 L | N/A | N/A | N/A | No |
| Mopping | No | No | No | Yes | No |
| Measured Diameter | 13.3 in | 13.8 in | 13.5 in | 13.5 in | 12.5 in |
| Measured Height | 3.8 in | 3.8 in | 3.6 in | 4.0 in | 2.8 in |
| Warranty | 1 year limited | 1 year limited | 1 year limited | 1 year limited | 1 year limited |
| Recharge & Resume | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Measured Brush Width | 6.75 in | 6.50 in | 6.25 in | 6.00 in | 5.50 in |
| Multi-Room Navigation | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| App | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Barrier Type | None | Virtual | Virtual | Virtual | None |
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Our Analysis and Test Results
This robot offered average performance across many of our test metrics but left much room for improvement when it came down to home coverage and navigation compared to robots with seemingly more intelligent programming, sensing, and algorithms.
The i3+ EVO is a mediocre option in the world of robot vacuums.
Credit: Abriah Wofford
Performance Comparison
The Roomba i3+ EVO has a larger docking station.
Credit: Abriah Wofford
Navigation
Navigation is arguably the most important factor for a robot vacuum and is the most heavily weighted of our six test metrics, at 30% of each vacuum's overall score. Unfortunately, the iRobot Roomba i3+ EVO did not excel in our series of navigation tests.
This model abused furniture in its quest to navigate.
Credit: Abriah Wofford
The i3+ EVO navigates in a very erratic pattern, often bumping furniture, and even pushing chairs out of its way a bit, especially while finding its way back to the docking station. Lastly, the EVO was unable to avoid our simulated poop in our poo-avoidance test.
A confused robot failing to avoid furniture legs.
Credit: Jessica Riconscente
Home Coverage
The iRobot Roomba i3+ EVO fell right in the middle of the pack when it came to home coverage, a test metric worth 20% of each product's overall score.
The app that comes with the EVO lacks some of the intelligence features present in other models.
Credit: Abriah Wofford
An app allows users to set virtual barriers, no-go zones, and multiple rooms within the app. In this metric, the i3+ EVO does a decent job of spot cleaning. However, when covering rooms, the EVO is not always the most gentle on furniture or obstacles. While it isn't quite as bad as most furniture abusing models our team tested, it pushed chairs away around and made some collisions with the walls. Overall, its movement seems less than efficient.
Help I'm trapped! The i3+ EVO struggles to navigate furniture and has a hard time thoroughly covering areas.
Credit: Jessica Riconscente
Carpet Cleaning
The iRobot Roomba i3+ EVO exhibited an extreme range of performance across our carpet cleaning tests. It did a dismal job picking up rice, missing almost all grains on short pile carpet, and only made an ever so slight improvement on fluffier carpet. Oatmeal also proved to be elusive for the EVO, but instead of just missing oats, it also broke them down and dispersed a dustier mess.
Dismal results from our rice cleaning challenge.
Credit: Jessica Riconscente
Surprisingly, after failing badly at cleaning both rice and oatmeal, the i3+ EVO did a great job picking up cereal from the carpet. The minor victory was short-lived, and the EVO did a very poor job in our last test, where it was tasked with picking up flour but failed miserably.
The EVO does a surprisingly good job picking up our frosted mini-wheat cereal.
Credit: Jessica Riconscente
Hard Surface Cleaning
The Roomba i3+ did an average to a below-average job in our hard surface test metric and earned a commensurate average performance. It did a rather average job of picking up rice and a below-average job of cleaning up cereal. However, it balanced such poor performances by doing a good job of cleaning oatmeal and a better job cleaning flour.
A poor flour cleaning performance on hard surfaces.
Credit: Jessica Riconscente
Pet Hair
The Roomba i3+ does a great job of cleaning pet hair, approaching the performance of some of the best models we tested, lifting 34% (that's 1.7 grams) of hair during our tests.
Convenience
The EVO offers about-average convenience, essentially tying with half of the test group. It offers basic features and functions but is nothing more than mediocre in all aspects of convenience.
The dust collection system is one of the few convenient features of the EVO.
Credit: Abriah Wofford
Should You Buy the iRobot Roomba i3+ EVO?
The iRobot Roomba i3+ EVO is quite expensive. While it does a great job of picking up pet hair, other less expensive models offer better all-around performance. Therefore, we could not suggest buying this model over other better and more affordable options.
What Other Robot Vacuums Should You Consider?
The iRobot Roomba i3+ EVO doesn't excel at any specific function that would make us recommend it over much more capable and better all-around models like the Eufy RoboVac X8 Hybrid.
—
Jessica Riconscente and Benjamin Hickok
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