Roomba 650 Review | 2019 | Must Read This Before You Buy

The iRobot Roomba 650 has been a staple in our household over the past 3+ years. It’s the bare-boned basic version of the Roomba, but it’s still hit the mark in our book!

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Brief Background on How We Use It

We bought the Roomba 650 in 2015 for $325. It gets used anywhere from daily to weekly. We live in a two-story house and it lives downstairs, where we have wood floors and tile. We have two dogs and a sandy backyard, so the Roomba stays busy!

What We Love About Our Roomba 650

The convenience! We love outsourcing the labor of sweeping the floors and vacuuming to the Roomba. It makes our lives easier and our home cleaner.
Low Maintenance. Our Roomba has performed well since we’ve bought it 3+ years ago with practically no maintenance. It works just as well now as it did on day one. iRobot recommends some regular maintenance, but it’s nothing major. We don’t care for gadgets that come with complicated maintenance schedules that must be adhered to in order to function properly. And honestly, we’ve hardly done any of the recommended maintenance and it still works like a charm.
Awesome Customer Service. More on that below.

Issues We've Encountered & Fixes

Dock Broke. Shortly after we purchased the Roomba, our docking station stopped working. We think it was related to a power outage, but we haven’t had a problem since, so we’re not sure exactly what happened. The iRobot customer service was extremely helpful and sent us another docking station free of charge!
Roomba Gets Stuck. We found that there are two places in our home where the Roomba always gets stuck (and then automatically turns off). The first place is on folding closet door tracks when the doors are open. This is an easy fix, as we can just shut the doors. The second place our Roomba gets stuck is on the tracks of our sliding door that leads outside. This is a not-so-easy fix. This is super frustrating. The 650 model has the ability to pre-set the Roomba to run at a certain time, but this is hard to take advantage of since our Roomba needs “rescuing” so much.

Room for Improvement | What We Would Change

Quieter. We wish the Roomba 650 was a bit quieter. No, it’s not any louder than any other vacuum. Yes, we realize it’s a vacuum.
Ability to Get Unstuck Or Avoid Certain Areas. As mentioned above, there are just certain areas where our Roomba always gets stuck. We’ve been able to come up with a few workarounds, but it would be nice if the Roomba could “learn” to avoid these areas altogether or have the ability to get unstuck.

*Note: The 650 is an older model and was one of the more basic ones when we purchased it. I’m curious to know if the more recent and upgraded models are any better in these two areas. I know some of the upgraded models have technology that “map” the layout of your house and I’m curious if it would then learn to avoid certain areas where it would otherwise get stuck.

Honest Review | Would We Buy the Roomba 650 Again?

100% Yes. Even with its quirks, the Roomba has been worth it. If you break down the numbers, over 3 years, our Roomba has cost about $9 a month. And there’s no sign of it slowing down, so hopefully we’ll get another 3 years out of it.

For us, the Roomba has actually saved us money, as we have put off hiring a house cleaner thanks to the Roomba. Even if you have a weekly house cleaner, there’s always a need for maintenance in between cleanings.

Using the Roomba does take significantly longer than if we were to sweep or vacuum ourselves, but it’s nice being able to just press a button and do something else with that time. Sometimes, in effort to save time, I confine the Roomba to one room (using either the “virtual wall” it came with, or more often than not, a physical barrier, like a closed door, baby gate or dog bed). I also use the “spot clean” feature regularly if I have a concentrated mess.

Although the Roomba 650 is completely sporadic in its cleaning, I hardly ever have to go back over an area after it’s run a full cycle. For reference, our downstairs is about 750 square feet, with several rooms, hallways and nooks and crannies. I typically empty the Roomba with each use.

As previously mentioned, we purchased the Roomba 650 for $325 back in 2015 (and I believe this was on sale at the time). Currently, the Roomba 650 is selling for $500+ on Amazon. I would not repurchase the Roomba 650 at this price! It appears iRobot actually isn’t making the 650 model anymore, which explains the drastic price jump.

The most similar model to the 650 that is currently being sold on the iRobot website is the 614. This is currently selling for $250. This is the cheapest and most basic version of the Roomba currently being sold by iRobot (you can buy from Target!).

The 650 and 614 are pretty similar, with the major difference being that the 614 doesn’t have the option to pre-schedule. This isn’t a deal breaker for us, as we never have used the scheduling feature with our Roomba. If the ability to pre-schedule the Roomba is important to you, then you can pay more for this feature found in other models. When reading various comparisons on-line, I kept reading the Roomba 614 has a HEPA filter, but this is unfortunately untrue (I verified with iRobot).

More About the Various Roomba Models

The 600 series

The Rest of the Roomba Models

FAQs

Is the Roomba 650 good for dogs/pet hair?

Yes! We have two dogs. Although they are not heavy shedders, I often cut my husbands hair and let the Roomba do the clean up. It has not had a problem picking up every last bit of hair – everything from the thick clumps of curly hair to the small fine pieces!

Does the Roomba 650 clean multiple rooms?

Yes! We have a strange layout, and the Roomba maneuvers to each room – down hallways and in and out of multiple rooms.

Does the Roomba 650 learn the floor plan?

No. The Roomba 650 moves sporadically. It does not learn the floor plan of your house. As shown in the infographic above, you’ll want to invest in a 900 series Roomba if you want it to learn the floor plan of your house.

Does iRobot still make the Roomba 650?

No. iRobot no longer makes the 650 model. You can still buy it from third party retailers, but most likely it will be overpriced and not worth it! Check out other Roombas in the 600 series if you’re looking for a basic Roomba. Of course, there’s lots of other Roombas out that come with really cool features!