iRobot
Roomba i3+ EVO review
About the product
Is the Roomba i3+ EVO worth it?
iRobot’s Roombas are the best-known robot vacuums on the market, often setting the bar with their technology and improved user experience. They have a reputation for being pretty pricey, though, so the Roomba i3+ EVO stands out for offering many advanced features at a mid-tier price.
Like many high-end Roombas, it has a convenient self-emptying base and uses mapping technology to learn your home’s floor plan. It also boasts 10 times the suction power as Roomba’s 600 series and cleans in neat rows to pick up as much dirt and debris as possible.
The BestReviews Testing Lab put the i3+ EVO through its paces to see how well it cleans in real-world conditions. This testing included its performance on both hard flooring and carpeting, as well as with different types of debris, to see just how well it stacks up against other Roomba models and what kind of homes it works best in.
What is the iRobot Roomba i3+?
Product specifications
Battery life: 96 minutes | Dimensions: 13.26” L X 13.26” W x 3.63” H | Dustbin capacity: 0.5 L | Weight: 7.44 lb | Mapping: Yes | Self-emptying: Yes | Voice commands: Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri | Scheduling: Yes
Released in 2022, the Roomba i3+ EVO is exactly the same as the Roomba i3+ from 2020 except that the EVO offers smart mapping. As with many pricier Roombas, the Roomba i3+ EVO can map a space to learn specific rooms for targeted, customized cleaning. We sent it out on a mapping run before vacuuming, and it accurately identified the rooms in our testing area to help focus its cleaning. It offered similar accuracy to high-end Roombas like the j7+ and s9+ but didn’t allow us to correct or fine-tune the map afterward as those models do.
It vacuumed in neat rows with the aid of its floor-tracking sensors, which proved fairly effective in capturing all visible dirt and debris in our testing area. It also features Dirt Detect technology like many Roomba models, so, on the smart map after cleaning, we could observe areas of higher dirt concentration where it worked harder.
Like the Roomba i1+, j7+, s9+ and other advanced models, the i3+ has a self-emptying base, which allows for completely hands-free cleaning. During testing, it automatically emptied itself seven times when its bin was full, so vacuuming was never interrupted. The Clean Base can hold up to 60 days’ worth of dirt and debris, and we found that removing the enclosed dirt-disposal bag from the base was extremely easy, with no risk of getting our hands dirty.
To see how the Roomba i3+ compares to other products in its space, check out our reviews for the best Roombas.
Pros
- Offers accurate mapping
- Battery runs for more than 90 minutes
- Cleans efficiently
- Solid performance on hard flooring
- Self-emptying base for hands-free cleaning
- Costs considerably less than other smart-mapping models like the j7+ and s9+
Cons
- Suction on carpeting isn’t as strong
- Doesn’t handle pet hair well
- Doesn’t have obstacle avoidance
- Doesn’t allow for Keep-Out Zones
- Ran into charging issues during testing
Roomba i3+ EVO price and where to buy
The Roomba i3+ EVO regularly costs $499.99. It’s available on Amazon.
Testing the Roomba i3+ EVO
When we tested the Roomba i3+ EVO, we started with the basics. We ran the robot to time how long its battery lasted before it needed recharging and how long it took to fully charge from an empty battery. We also timed how long the i3+ EVO’s dustbin took to fill. Our testing evaluated the vacuum’s efficiency, too, so we noted how long it took to clean a room and the square footage of the space.
To better understand how the i3+ EVO performs, we conducted specific tests with different types of debris. We placed pet hair, coarse kosher salt, kitty litter and cereal on both hard flooring and carpeting to determine how well it could handle the messes on both flooring types. Additionally, we tested how well it could pick up debris in the corner of a room on hard flooring and carpeting and around furniture, including a couch and chairs. We also tested how well the i3+ EVO performed in homes with multiple flooring types, observing how well it transitioned from carpet to rug, carpet to hard flooring, hard flooring to rug and hardwood to carpet.
Finally, we examined how easy the i3+ EVO is to use and maintain. We tested the iRobot app by scheduling cleaning sessions, sending the vacuum out on a mapping run, rebooting it and cleaning it. We also used voice commands through Alexa to operate the i3+ EVO, testing basic prompts like “start vacuuming” and “pause vacuuming.”
Carpet performance
We tested the Roomba i3+ EVO mainly on a medium-pile carpet. In our first test, we placed coarse kosher salt on the carpet. On its first pass, the robot captured most of the salt but left a few visible particles behind. While it missed the remaining salt when it cleaned the next row, it eventually went back over the area and removed the remaining salt.
Next, we placed a handful of cereal on the carpet. The i3+ EVO struggled to pick up the cereal, crushing several pieces beneath its wheels and grinding them into the carpet fibers. On its second pass, it removed most of the crumbs but left several tiny particles behind. The Roomba j7+ also crushed a piece of cereal during testing, though it picked up all the remaining crumbs on its next pass. Like most Roomba models we tested, including the i1+ and i8+, the i3+ EVO did much better with kitty litter. It removed all of the kitty litter on its first pass.
The i3+ EVO had the most trouble when we tested it with pet hair on carpeting. We placed a midsize clump of hair in its path, and it left behind a small chunk after its first pass. It went over the area again and removed most of the remaining hair, though a few strands remained on the carpet. When we tested the Roomba j7+ and s9+ with pet hair on carpeting, these models offered a noticeably superior performance, picking up all the hair on their first pass. The i3+ EVO’s performance was similar to the Roomba i1+, which also left behind a small tuft of pet hair during testing.
We evaluated the i3+ EVO’s ability to pick up kosher salt from the corner of a carpeted room. It captured approximately half of the salt but pushed or blew the rest deeper into the corner, where it could not retrieve the particles. This wasn’t unusual among the Roomba models we tested, though — only the s9+, which has a D-shape that fits more easily into corners, successfully removed nearly all of the salt.
Hardwood performance
Overall, during our testing, the Roomba i3+ EVO’s performance and suction power on hardwood and other hard flooring was better than on carpeting. However, it ran into the same problem that nearly all the Roombas we tested did — it would sometimes blow debris particles out of its path on slick surfaces like hardwood without capturing all remaining pieces on subsequent passes.
When we placed coarse kosher salt on hardwood, the i3+ EVO picked up nearly all the salt on its first pass. It blew a few particles out of its path and didn’t capture all of them on subsequent passes over the area. Its performance with salt on hard flooring was similar to the i1+, but the i8+, j7+ and s9+ were slightly more effective.
Cereal proved more of a challenge for the i3+ EVO on hardwood because the particles are bulkier. We placed a handful of Cap’n Crunch cereal in its path, and it removed all but three pieces. Those stray pieces were blown beneath a nearby table that the robot was too large to fit beneath, so we had to remove them ourselves. We had a similar experience when we tested the i3+ EVO with kitty litter on hardwood. However, this was somewhat common among the Roombas we tested, including the 694, i4 and j7+ Combo.
When it came to pet hair on hardwood, the i3+ EVO was up to the task. We placed a medium-sized clump of hair in its path, and the robot removed all the hair in a single pass. During our testing, we found that most Roombas had an easy time removing pet hair from hard flooring, though.
Finally, we tested the i3+ EVO’s ability to remove kosher salt from the corner of a room with hardwood. It picked up more than half the salt as it cleaned the area, but it blew several particles out of its path and deeper into the corner, where it couldn’t reach them on subsequent passes.
Battery life and navigation
We were pleasantly surprised by the Roomba i3+ EVO’s battery life during testing. The brand claims the robot can clean for up to 75 minutes, but we found that it lasted 96 minutes. When the battery was fully drained, it took an hour and 48 minutes to fully charge, which seemed pretty quick for such a long battery life. Overall, we didn’t notice any difference in how fast the battery drained based on the flooring it cleaned. However, it used less battery when it went out on mapping runs than when actively cleaning.
The i3+ EVO’s navigation proved to be pretty advanced during testing. We sent it out on a mapping run before cleaning, and it mapped approximately 150 square feet in just 14 minutes. The process was extremely easy and didn’t require any assistance from us. The finished map was highly accurate, too. However, we couldn’t adjust the map on the i3+ EVO, whereas we could adjust the maps created by the i7+, j7+ and s9+. We could clean specific areas once the map was established, though, making it easy to target the robot’s cleaning.
Transitioning between different types of flooring can be a challenge for some robot vacuums but not the i3+ EVO. It moved most easily from carpet to rug but also traveled over the wooden or metal trim between carpeting and hardwood in both directions without issue. It didn’t have any trouble going from hardwood to rug, either, unless the rug had a thicker, banded edge. In those cases, the edge sometimes rolled up beneath the robot, so it had to back up and try a second time before making it over.
The i3+ EVO never got stuck during testing, though we did observe it occasionally bumping into furniture. It doesn’t have obstacle avoidance like the j7+ and j7+ Combo, so it couldn’t sense items in its path and move around them. We placed a handbag in its path, and the i3+ EVO bumped into it three times before it finally got around the purse. It performed similarly in tests with a shoe and a rubber pet toy.
Roomba i3+ EVO app
Like all Roombas, the Roomba i3+ EVO is compatible with the iRobot app, which is available for Android and iOS devices. The app provides access to many of the robot’s features that make cleaning even more convenient.
During testing, we found the iRobot app easy to set up — it took approximately five minutes to download, create an account and recognize the i3+ EVO. It also featured a user-friendly design that made it easy for beginners to navigate. The app kept track of all the cleaning and mapping runs that the robot went out on and also allowed us to check on its overall health, providing details on how many hours until components like the high-efficiency filter, edge-sweeping brushes and dual multisurface brushes would need replacement.
We found the app crucial to the i3+ EVO’s operation because not all the available features can be accessed directly on the robot or through voice commands.
Mapping
We sent the i3+ EVO out on a mapping run through the iRobot app by pressing the Map button below the product image. It focused solely on learning the space during this run, so the suction was turned off for more efficient mapping.
Scheduling
We used the iRobot app during testing to schedule cleaning sessions for the Roomba i3+ EVO. It allowed us to choose a start time, the days we wanted it to clean and where we wanted it to clean. The i3+ EVO successfully followed the schedule we created, automatically going out at the same time each day to vacuum the testing area. You can also use voice commands to schedule vacuuming.
Cleaning preferences
Through the Product Settings menu in the iRobot app, we adjusted the i3+ EVO’s cleaning preferences. The default setting was for the robot to do one pass in a given area, but we changed it to two for a more thorough cleaning. After adjusting these preferences, the i3+ EVO successfully performed two passes on its next run, which provided a deeper clean.
Reboot
When a Roomba runs into an error, it may be necessary to reboot the robot. You can do it directly from the i3+ EVO by pressing and holding the “Clean” button on top for 20 seconds. However, we found it even easier to do through the app because we only had to tap a button and wait one to two minutes for the vacuum to reset.
Roomba i3+ EVO Clean Base
The i3+ EVO comes with a Clean Base that allows the robot to empty itself while vacuuming. The self-emptying feature was one of our favorites during testing because we never had to worry about the robot stopping in the middle of cleaning when we were unaware the bin was full. Instead, the i3+ EVO automatically returned to the base when it sensed it was full and emptied itself into the larger dust bag inside the Clean Base. The process was fairly loud, though we didn’t find it much louder than a standard vacuum cleaner. It took less than 20 seconds, too, so it wasn’t disruptive for very long.
The i3+ EVO’s Clean Base is larger than the standard base that comes with the 692, 694, i3, i4 and i7 — the width is essentially the same, but the self-emptying base is taller, measuring 19 inches tall or nearly 15 inches taller than the standard base. We didn’t have trouble finding space for it during testing, but it’s not as easy to hide under furniture, such as an end table, the way you can with the traditional base.
The large dust bag in the Clean Base is designed to hold up to 60 days’ worth of dirt, so you don’t need to empty it too often. When we took the bag out of the base, there was no contact between our hands and the dirt. However, when we removed the i3+ EVO’s internal dustbin from the robot after it had completely emptied itself, there were still small particles and debris left behind in the dustbin. We found this to be the case with all of the self-emptying Roombas we tested, though, including the i1+, i8+, j7+ and s9+.
Features
Like the other Roombas we tested, the i3+ EVO has dirt-detecting sensors on its bottom to identify areas with higher concentrations of dirt and debris. In these spots, the robot works harder to remove the dirt until its sensors no longer detect as many particles. During testing, we observed the i3+ EVO in dirt-detection mode when the ring around its “Clean” button flashed blue. Afterward, we could also see the areas marked on the i3+ EVO’s map with dark-green dots and found no visible debris left behind in those spots.
The i3+ EVO is compatible with home assistants like Alexa for voice commands, which is a convenient feature for in-the-moment cleaning. Its available commands aren’t as extensive as those for the j7+ or s9+, but we tested several basic prompts, such as “Alexa, ask Roomba to start vacuuming” and “Alexa, ask Roomba to pause vacuuming.” We found the i3+ EVO highly responsive to these commands, taking just a few seconds to follow the prompt.
Roomba comparison
The Roomba i3+ EVO falls right in the middle of the pack with its price, and our testing revealed that its performance and features put it there as well. Its advanced navigation and suction power on carpeting make it a better option than entry-level models like the 692 and 694, but it doesn’t hold its own against premium Roombas like the j7+ and s9+.
However, in fairness to the i3+ EVO, those high-end models cost hundreds of dollars more, so we expect them to deliver superior performance and usability. However, both the j7+ and s9+ cleaned carpeting more effectively than the i3+ EVO and handled pet hair with greater success. That makes them a better choice if you have pets or want your Roomba to replace your standard vacuum fully. The j7+ even has obstacle avoidance, so it won’t run into pet accidents and smear the waste across your floors.
With 96 minutes of cleaning time, the i3+ EVO offered solid battery power. By comparison, the 692 and 694 only ran for 70 to 75 minutes before recharging, while most other Roombas provided approximately 90 minutes of cleaning time, including the i1+, i4 and i8+. The j7+, j7+ Combo and s9+ provided more than 90 minutes of run time, but most advanced Roombas have a Recharge and Resume feature; this lets them return to their base to charge when they run out of power and then pick up the cleaning right where they left off. In our testing, the i3+ EVO never needed to clean for more than 70 minutes, so its battery life was more than sufficient.
While the i3+ EVO performed well among other Roombas given its price, the i1+, a lower-priced model, scored higher during our testing, particularly in key areas like overall performance, ease of setup and user experience. The i1+ doesn’t create smart maps, but its performance on carpeting was similar, if not slightly better, than the i3+ EVO.
Roomba i3+ EVO benefits
The i3+ EVO’s smart-mapping feature allowed it to create a highly accurate map of our testing area. We sent it out on a mapping run before vacuuming, and it took less than 15 minutes to identify the two rooms and capture their layout. It also costs $250 to $550 less than the other smart-mapping Roombas we tested, such as the i8+, j7+, j7+ Combo and s9+, so it can fit a wider range of budgets.
Since it knew the space before it began cleaning, we were impressed by how efficiently the i3+ EVO cleaned, vacuuming 114 square feet in 27 minutes. Considering this efficiency, the robot’s 90-minute battery life also provided plenty of time to effectively clean the average living room.
Additionally, despite the lower price, the i3+ EVO provided a similar performance on hard flooring when compared to high-end Roombas like the j7+ and s9+ — it removed nearly all of the debris it could reach on a single pass (carpeting was a different story, though; see the drawbacks section below). But our favorite feature during testing was its self-emptying base. It emptied itself automatically while cleaning, so vacuuming was never interrupted. Plus, we never had to get our hands dirty.
Roomba i3+ EVO drawbacks
While the i3+ EVO cleaned well on hard flooring, its suction power on carpeting just didn’t match up to high-end models like the j7+ or s9+. It struggled to remove all debris particles on its first pass and sometimes crushed larger pieces like cereal, leaving behind crumbs. We also found that it had a tough time pulling hair off carpeting, so it isn’t the best fit for a home with pets.
While the i3+ EVO can create smart maps, its navigation isn’t as advanced as models like the Roomba j7+ and s9+. These high-end robots allow you to create Keep-Out Zones, so the vacuums don’t clean certain areas of the house. Because the i3+ EVO doesn’t have the Keep-Out Zone feature, we couldn’t prevent it from vacuuming in certain spots unless we physically blocked it from the area. The lack of this feature may be frustrating in a home with small children and/or pets, where small items are often scattered around the floor.
Additionally, the i3+ EVO doesn’t have obstacle avoidance like the j7+ and j7+ Combo, so it can run and bump into items in its path. It repeatedly bumped into a handbag, shoe and pet toy during testing before finally moving on. As a result, if you have pets, the i3+ EVO may run into pet waste and track it all over your floors.
Finally, the i3+ EVO was the only Roomba we tested that ran into charging issues. When we first set up the robot, we placed it on its base to charge fully before sending it out. It lit up to indicate it was charging, so we let it be. However, when we returned more than an hour later, it had stopped charging and still didn’t have enough power for cleaning. We had to reposition the robot on the base several times before it began charging again. The next day, we encountered a similar issue, even though the i3+ EVO had been on its base to charge overnight. When we rebooted the robot, it finally charged properly.
Should you get the iRobot Roomba i3+ EVO?
The i3+ EVO is a solid, mid-tier robot Roomba with many convenient features, but based on our testing, this model would work best if you don’t plan to use your robot vacuum to do all your vacuuming. If you use a standard vacuum for deep cleaning and just want a robot to pick up the slack in between, the i3+ EVO is more than up to the task.
Carpet: 3
The i3+ sometimes left debris and pet hair behind on carpeting that it didn’t remove when it cleaned in subsequent rows.
Hardwood: 4
It performed well on hardwood but occasionally ran into the same problem that many other robot vacuums do on slick, hard floors — it blew debris out of its path where it couldn’t reach.
Floor transition: 4
It moved easily between different types of flooring, though it struggled once or twice to get onto rugs with thicker edges.
Navigation: 3.5
It maps pretty accurately, but it doesn’t allow for Keep-Out Zones and can bump into items repeatedly before moving on.
Ease of use: 4
The iRobot app and simple onboard interface make operation pretty easy, though we were frustrated by charging issues during testing.