Roomba j9+ Review — Self‑Emptying Power That Avoids Pet Messes

I bought the j9+ based on all the reviews I was able to find and also that the previous s9 model was no longer available. The setup was super easy as long as one is comfortable using your phone’s app to handle all the tasks. The initial mapping was very cool to watch. If you’re a tech nerd, you’ll love trying to figure out how the algorithms are working to navigate the furniture, walls, entry ways, etc. In about 40 minutes R2D2 mapped out my first floor very accurately and was able to work it’s way around the jungle of chair legs at the dining room table. It took a while, but it managed!
After the initial mapping run, it went right back to it’s base and started charging automatically. Next was the actual vacuum run, but before that we decided to put a “no fly zone” around the Christmas tree and blanket around it. The app easily let me set up a 5×4 square which I placed in the map of the house – which was very cool, and pressed the “Vacuum Everything” button on my app. It was remarkable how R2D2 started in the room with the most dog hair and then proceeded to follow it’s map throughout the house. The suction on the wood floors was excellent, and I was impressed when it rolled over the few throw rungs we have, I could hear it kick into a higher gear because it recognized the carpet. Our black lab leaves plenty of hair around on our light colored floors which made it easier to see that R2D2 was doing a great job.
During the first mapping, I kept all the bedroom doors closed off the main hall. While it did the first vacuum I forgot the master bedroom door was open. It noticed the new opening, but did not enter the room. I took this as a new mapping run I would need to perform, but I was amazed when it completed the entire house, paused in the living room for about 10 seconds, and then proceeded back to the new opening it discovered previously. It recalled it found a new opening but did not disrupts it’s current task – it finished and then returned back.
We’ve only run it two times, but already we discovered that it remembered the master badroom, added it to the routine and completed the room before returning back to base. It also updated the map in the app and asked me about the new room and what to name it. I was also able to place the new boundaries for the entrance to the bedroom and master bath (which it also found while exploring).
The app also shows pictures of obstacles R2D2 came in contact with during it’s journey. A wire under the curio cabinet was captured in a crystal clear picture taken by R2D2 and sent to the app for me to decide whether this should be considered a permanent obstacle, or something which I could remove and it could continue working in this space next time. I simply moved the wire closer to the wall, let the app know it was taken care of, and we’ll see how R2 does with it next time.
I love this robot… I am super impressed by the effectiveness of the vacuum, the ease of the app, and how simple it was to set up. I have seen other reviews about noise, and speed, but it’s no where near as loud as our Shark standup (which is a beast) and regarding the time, I set and forget. So far I have not had to come to it’s rescue, but we also don’t have a lot of things laying around on the floor which I guess would complicate things. For about 500 sq feet, the app tells me it’s taking 90 minutes. No where close to fast, but I am writing this review while R2 is taking care of the floors!
Very happy and I’ll come back in a few months with an update….

I bought the j9+ after reading reviews and because the earlier s9 was no longer available. Setup was super easy if you’re comfortable using your phone app to handle everything. Watching the initial mapping was really cool — if you like tech you’ll enjoy seeing how the robot figures out furniture, walls, and entryways. In about 40 minutes R2D2 mapped my entire first floor accurately and even navigated the jungle of chair legs at the dining table. It took a while, but it managed.

After mapping it returned to base and started charging automatically. Before the first vacuum run I used the app to set a 5×4 “no-fly zone” around the Christmas tree and a blanket, which was simple and satisfying. Hitting “Vacuum Everything,” it started in the room with the most dog hair and followed its map through the house. Suction on the wood floors is excellent, and when it rolled over the few rug edges I could hear it kick into a higher gear for carpet. Our black lab sheds a lot on light floors, so it was obvious that the j9+ was doing a great job.

During the first mapping I had all the bedroom doors closed, so when I forgot the master bedroom door was open the robot noticed the new opening but didn’t enter immediately. I expected I’d need another mapping run, but it finished its current task, paused briefly in the living room, then returned to the new opening and explored it. On subsequent runs it remembered the master bedroom, added it to the routine, completed it, and returned to base. The app updated the map and even prompted me to name the new room. I also set boundaries for the bedroom entrance and the master bath, which it discovered during exploration.

The app shows photos of obstacles the robot encountered. It snapped a clear picture of a wire under the curio cabinet so I could decide whether it should be a permanent obstacle or something to remove. I moved the wire closer to the wall, marked it handled in the app, and we’ll see how it does next time.

I love this robot. I’m impressed with the vacuum’s effectiveness, the app’s ease of use, and how simple setup was. It’s not nearly as loud as our Shark upright, and I don’t mind the cleaning time — for about 500 sq ft the app estimates 90 minutes, which isn’t fast but it’s set-and-forget. So far I haven’t had to rescue it, though we keep floors fairly clear.

Very happy so far — I’ll check back in a few months with an update.

My wife and I wanted a robotic vacuum cleaner to manage dog hair. She bought a Eufy for upstairs, I bought this for downstairs. Simply put, this does not work (details below).

If you are thinking of rolling the dice on this despite the reviews, be warned, Roomba does not do returns through Amazon and I ended up paying $80 to ship it back to Roomba. It is not worth the risk.

If you are still deciding, let me go into more detail.

A little context – after I returned this I ended up getting a Roborock unit so I’ll be comparing this to my wife’s Eufy and my Roborock.

The software is bad – compared to the Eufy or Roborock, this thing is comically dumb. The first time I turned it on, it took forever to map the room (didn’t clean while mapping), barely sucked up the dog hairs, then spent the rest of it’s battery life trying to “dock” back into the bottom of my fridge before dying.

I thought it was a glitch – everyone makes mistakes – so I picked it up, put it back in its dock, and waited a day for it to recharge.

On day 2, I tried turning it on and low and behold, there was an error that prevented it from running.

This thing sucks in every way other than that which a vacuum should suck.

Comparing the Roomba with the Eufy and Roborock, this is MILES behind either.

Ranking the three, Eufy is the clear leader – strong vacuum and hair gathering plus intelligent AI that prevents it from committing suicide off a staircase. Roborock is second to Eufy – the AI isn’t as smart, the software isn’t as good, but it gets the job done and I’m going to be keeping mine since all I need it for is dog hair removal.

We bought the j7+ three years ago and it’s still going strong, so we picked up a second one for our three-story house to keep the upstairs on a daily schedule — plus the units share interchangeable parts. The j9+ is noticeably quieter than the j7, though both are much quieter than a regular vacuum. They do a very good job cleaning and we’re happy with the results. The mapping is flexible and, being low-profile, the robot fits under furniture other vacuums don’t reach; occasionally it’ll squeeze under a bedroom side table and get stuck, but setting an exclusion zone on the map fixes that easily. The maps are simple to edit. Overall we’ve liked the Roomba and it’s worked well for us.

Performs well on hardwood and ceramic tile but struggles with area rugs — it leaves a lot of cat hair behind even when I run it almost every day (6 of 7) and use the highest suction. It also catches on rug corners. After a week of its cleaning I used my upright and was amazed at how much hair it picked up, despite the iRobot’s claims about pet-hair performance. It seems to be a slow learner and gets stuck often. I’m hopeful it will improve with time.

This thing works pretty well. Only a couple of hiccups so far, trivial stuff. I have pets and the mess was constant. But not anymore. I always have my bare feet in the house and the difference is very obvious. I set this thing away every day and then once a week before I run out to town, I lift all the moveable things like chairs, ottoman, slippers and let it do its thing. Fabulous. Yes. It is loud when it empties itself, but it only does this for seconds and the end of its routine. The App is good too. Lets you customize the suction strength and how many passes etc. I like it. Once the drop the price again I will buy another one to replace my old roomba downstairs. I am almost tempted to buy the vacuum mop combo to give it a try.

I gave the product a good year to allow for quirks / learning curve. Don’t waste your money. I have never had a product work so poorly out of the box. Unreliable build and terrible software. Behaves like the device and the software were developed independently based on a list of specs and never actually tested together.

1. 20+ mapping runs won’t correctly map even with furniture picked up to give a bare floor.
2. Ignores rooms on its list. Yesterday it cleaned about 25 sf and said it was finished. No errors thrown; it can and will completely fail and think it finished the job.
3. Errors, errors, errors. Gets lost in empty rooms, enters rooms it’s not supposed to, thinks a scuff mark on the floor is an obstacle.
4. Doesn’t update its map correctly so the navigation gets more and more distorted as time goes on.
5. Will go in the dark under/behind furniture but a lit hallway is ‘too dark to operate’
6. Avoids dirt/dust because it thinks the dirt is animal waste.
7. At max power, still too weak to pick up bits of dry cat food. Just pushes it around the room. (Whiskas dry catfood, tiny pieces)
8. Dust and debris collects above the rollers instead of entering the bin, until it eventually fails. This is not a maintenance issue over time, it will happens during the first pass with a clean bin.
9. Asks you to clean and empty an empty bin. Repeatedly.

I live in a tiny space, it only needs to vacuum about 300sf floor. Brother’s Roborock can clean and mop 3x the square footage without any errors.