irobot – The Interiors Addict

If you’ve followed me for a while, you’ll know about my longstanding love affair with Bertie, my iRobot Roomba robot vacuum. If there’s one thing I recommend over and over again to busy mums, it’s one of these. I mean, that smug feeling of someone (ok, thing) else doing the vacuuming while you work/go out/do something fun is hard to beat.

My new BFF Ernie hard at work in my kitchen

It’s no secret I’m a bit of a neat freak, which can be challenging in a house with two young boys. The sand! The crumbs! The dirt! Shame robot vacuums can’t do anything about the random rocks that appear everywhere but that’s another story…

But I’m afraid I’ve started cheating on Bert with my new friend, Ernie! You see iRobot let me try one of their newer models. I’ve had Bertie (the iRobot 980) for about four years and he still does a cracking job and several times a week. But Ernie! Well, Ernie goes one further by emptying himself! I KNOW! It’s a dream.

And I have one to give away (worth $1,899) to one of you lucky lot so keep reading until the end.

Ernie (I’m not weird because everyone names their robot) is the iRobot Roomba i7+ model. No more emptying the machine’s bin into the rubbish yourself (which always makes a bit of a mess). This model can empty its own bin for up to 60 days into an AllergenLock bag. This also means a lot less of what might happen before, where I’d be out and the robot would stop because the bin was full and take itself back to the docking station.

Handles under the couches, and from rug to hard floor and back again, with ease!

And while we’re talking about efficiency, Roomba i7+ runs continuously for up to 90 minutes, then automatically recharges and resumes cleaning to complete the entire job. When it has a low battery, the robot will intelligently recharge for the amount of time needed to continue cleaning and get the job done. Gosh, how I love this! No wasted time!

The only downside of this (and it’s small) is that the docking station is much bigger (that dirt has to be emptied into something, right?!) which may just mean you have to think a little harder about where to position it (near a good WiFi signal) if you’re fussy about things being out of sight!

Ernie at his docking station, which he empties his own bin into! It tells you when it’s full and needs emptying.

Everything else about Ernie is so much better though (sorry Bert!). There’a a lot more tech in the iRobot HOME app and from a user experience perspective this just means it’s even easier to get it to go exactly where you want it to!

Imprint Smart Mapping allows you to control which rooms are cleaned and when, for vacuuming that works around you and your schedule. Plus, you can tell your robot to stay away from certain areas or objects with customisable Keep Out Zones. Patented iAdapt 3.0 Navigation with vSLAM technology allows the robot to map its surroundings to seamlessly clean an entire level of your home. The robot creates visual landmarks to keep track of where it’s been and where it has yet to clean. So clever, right? But super easy to control yourself from your smartphone.

Our playroom, for example, needs vacuuming most days, so I love being able to tell Ernie to do just that. The back of our house, where the bedrooms are, tends to get less dirty than the communal living, kitchen and dining areas at the front, so when Seb goes back to school, I’ll be putting the robot on a schedule to automatically clean those areas when I’m doing pick-up every other day. The best feeling!

Ernie even goes up and down the fall in the tiled floor where the open shower is (obviously only when the floor is dry!)

While we don’t have pets (unless you call two small boys animals), the i7+ is a great choice if you do, or if you suffer with allergies. Its premium three-stage cleaning system cleans the dirt and pet hair you see, and the allergens and dust you don’t.

I also find this model a lot quieter so I don’t mind having it on even if I’m home working.

If like me, you have the iRobot Braava jet m6 mop as well (or are thinking about investing, especially if you win the vacuum in our competition!), the Roomba i7+ even tells it to start mopping when vacuuming is complete. Now that’s what we call teamwork! I will definitely be setting up this function!

After a week of trialing the i7+ I am super impressed. It is quieter, has a longer battery life, more smart features, and (my favourite) the self-emptying function is THE BEST. I’d love you to have one too! Make sure you enter the competition by completing the below form. Open to Australian residents only.

If you’re not lucky enough to win, stay tuned for a generous discount code next week!

All the details on the i7+

Disclosure: I was gifted the iRobot Roomba i7+ for the purposes of an honest review.

The winner was Craig Burtenshaw from ACT. Get 20% off selected iRobot vacuum and mop models until the end of Sunday 24 October 2021 with the code JEN20 at https://www.shopirobot.com.au Excludes bundles and accessories.

Smart home devices: 7 everyday life-changing gadgets

Our homes are our sanctuaries; spaces where we can rest and spend joyful moments with our families. Lately, homes have become even more important, with many of us now spending…

Regular readers will know I’m somewhat of a clean-freak so it’ll be no surprise that I jumped on the chance to try a top of the range robot mop! I already have a robot vacuum, Bertie, and we are great friends, so I couldn’t wait to see how a mop version could change my life! I’m here to give you my honest review, and the best part is, there’s a chance for you to win one of your own! More on that later.

*The mop doing a great job of my kitchen/dining area*

My friend Phoebe is the kind of person who does her research before committing to a big purchase (she probably had a spreadsheet comparing different models!) and she recently bought the iRobot Braava jet m6 robot mop. So when I was offered the chance to try the same, I already knew I was probably onto a good thing!

The m6 is iRobot’s first ever Wi-FI connected mop and the first to pair with the company’s newest robot vacuums. This means when the vacuuming is done, the Roomba i7+ can communicate with the new m6 that it’s time to start mopping. Mind blown? I know!

This smart home gadget mops multiple rooms, floor types and large spaces to deliver fresh floors throughout the entire home. You simply attach your preferred cleaning pad – wet mopping or dry sweeping – and the robot takes it from there. It uses fancy technology to get to know your home’s floor plan (and it will get better at it with practice), giving you total control to choose which rooms are mopped and when.

Using the easy iRobot HOME app, the m6 can be scheduled to mop a certain area at a certain time. Or you can manually press the CLEAN button and away it goes. You can even use Alexa or Google Home to start it cleaning but best not tell my five year old as he already drives me nuts with all his “OK Google!”

When the robot mop is finished cleaning, you simply place it over a bin (if you’re using the disposable pads) and hit the ‘eject’ button to drop it into the rubbish. I much prefer to use the washable and reusable pads though. If you set it to mop while you were out, you can view reports in the app to see where it cleaned and view other stats about the cleaning job. The m6 takes itself back to its docking station, complete with drip tray, when it’s done, or if it runs out of battery power before it’s done, it’ll take itself home, recharge, then resume by itself later.

So, what do I think? I (neat)freaking LOVE it! It does a good job, it’s great at getting around corners and right up to the edges of rooms and objects, it detects rugs and goes right around them and I didn’t see it spray a rug or a piece of furniture once. Like my robot vacuum, it goes under furniture and gets to places I would never normally have the inclination to! It’s also very quiet which means I can happily have it on in the background while I’m working from home (not the case with the vacuum in a one-storey house).

It’s really easy to set up (including the app), fill the tank and replace the pads. I barely skimmed the instruction manual. If I had I might have realised sooner that you can adjust how wet it gets the floor and I had it on maximum which led to a few instances of Charlie skidding around and slipping over (#mumfail!). I’m now using it on minimum wetness which is totally adequate and doesn’t leave the floors excessively wet. This means we can walk around (carefully) even when it’s in use. That said, it’s really up to you and common sense whether you’d run it when people are around or wait until you’re out, or in bed!

In the interests of an honest review, there are only a few downsides and they’re minor. The robot wasn’t able to get across the lip on the floor underneath a sliding door where the kitchen and living room meet. This can happen with anything 3mm or above which I’m guessing is the same thing that stops it mounting your rugs which is a good thing! So I have to physically place the m6 in the living room/entry after it’s done the kitchen/dining but that’s ok. It also makes it easier in some ways to do these areas separately.

It’s not super quick but that make sense when you consider it needs to do a thorough job without having a human behind it, pressing down on the mop to get the job done quicker. Like watching paint dry or the kettle boil, it can get a bit painful, but that’s why you should just leave it and get on with everything else that needs doing in our busy lives! If you’re going to watch the mop do its thing you might as well be doing it yourself! My top tip is to put it on when you go to bed and wake up to clean floors. How amazing does that feel? Very! To give you an idea, the m6 takes around an hour to do either my living room/entry or my kitchen/dining but they’re pretty large spaces with a lot of ‘obstacles’ to get around. It can do both these areas without running out of water too.

You have to use the special iRobot cleaning solution which isn’t cheap at $19.95 for 473ml and you can’t pick it up at the supermarket. I also really miss the smell of my favourite Method almond floor cleaner but as they say, you can’t have it all! And I don’t miss mopping the floors myself! I should also mention that it claims to be able to do the job with water only, so you don’t actually need to buy their solution. I haven’t tried this yet though.

A robot mop is definitely a luxury item but if you have mostly hard floors like us and you’re a busy household, or you have kids and pets making a lot of mess, it could be a game changer for your family. And I always think if you’re going to invest in something like this, it pays in the long run to get the best out there.

The Braava jet® m6 robot mop, RRP $1149, is available for purchase online and in major electrical retailer stores. It comes with pads and a sample of cleaning solution (good for two tanks). Additional reusable washable wet and dry cleaning pads are available for purchase separately.

Today, iRobot is a global enterprise that has sold more than 25 million robots worldwide, including the Roomba robot vacuums. Their engineers are building an ecosystem of robots and technologies to enable the smart home.

Like the sound of it? For your chance to win, complete the entry form below and make sure you’re following both @interiorsaddict and @irobotaustralia on Instagram. Entries close at midnight AEST on 11 June 2020. See Ts&Cs below.

Terms & Conditions: Offer is open to all Australian residents except employees and immediate families of Addicted Media (Interiors Addict), associated companies and agencies and participating outlets. Delivery is free of charge for all iRobot Mops. The prize includes the iRobot Braava jet m6 Robot Mop, excluding accessories and bundle packs. This offer is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with Instagram.

Disclosure: I was gifted this robot mop for the purposes of this review and my views are honest and my own.