Roomba 690

iRobot Roomba 690 vacuum, when it first came out two years ago, cost $400 from Amazon, tax included. Now it sells there for $280, making it a real bargain, compared to models 890 and 990. This reasonably priced model with Wi-Fi connectivity is also compatible with Amazon Alexa. For my small house with a low-level carpet, Roomba 690 seemed like a good choice.

The Roomba came with the Home Base charging station and a pair of Virtual Wall barriers. During initial charging of the Roomba’s battery I downloaded iRobot mobile app to my Samsung Note smartphone. In order to create an account and register my vacuum I needed my Roomba’s serial number. One removes the dust bin, turns the device over and here it, a 21-characters alphanumeric string on the white paper strip glued to the plastic body.
Default device name Roomba can be changed in the Settings.

Having logged into my account in the iRobot Home App, I selected Roomba device type and Set up a New Roomba. The mobile app guided me through the steps:

• Setup Home Base and charging vacuum battery
• Define WiFi name and password. [The app displays the name of the WiFi home network that the phone was connected to and asks for the password]
• Activate Roomba and connect it to the home network. [Press Home and Spot Clean buttons simultaneously. Roomba flashes WiFi icon and sounds a tone once ready for cleaning]

Initially playing with my new toy was a fun, but when it came to cleaning I was disappointed. There is a lot of preparation before one lets Roomba to do its work around the home: remove cables and area rugs, move chairs to make more room for it to get under the table. And still it gets stuck under a futon.

From the app here is the 2-year history of Roomba’s performance:
Number of Cleaning Jobs: 40 jobs
Total Job Time: 3 hours 30 min
Dirt Detect Count: 19 events
Overall Roomba did not become my main cleaning device, and most of the time I use my old vacuum.