The iRobot H1 is a cordless handheld vacuum. It's well-built, easy to move around, and offers great overall performance on low and high-pile carpet. Depending on your usage habits, it also has a relatively long battery life for a handheld vacuum. However, it's somewhat demanding in terms of regular maintenance and incurs a couple of recurring costs. It also slightly struggles when it comes to dealing with bulky debris, like cereal.
Our Verdict
The iRobot H1 is decent for bare floors. It clears pet hair and small debris like rice without too much difficulty but can struggle somewhat with larger material, like cereal. There are also quite a few parts that require periodic maintenance or replacement. Thankfully, its lightweight design makes it easy to carry around for extended periods, and it feels rather well-built.
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Good build quality.
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Superb pet hair cleaning capability.
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Relatively good battery life.
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Demanding maintenance requirements.
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Somewhat high recurring costs.
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Small dirt compartment.
The iRobot H1 is satisfactory for low-pile carpet. It does an exceptional job of sucking up pet hair and deals with larger debris, like sand, with little issue. It might take an extra pass to clear fine debris like baking soda on this surface type, but its performance is still decent in this regard. Unfortunately, there are quite a few parts that need regular cleaning, and you have to replace its filters somewhat frequently.
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Good build quality.
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Superb pet hair cleaning capability.
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Great overall performance on low and high-pile carpets.
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Relatively good battery life.
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Demanding maintenance requirements.
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Somewhat high recurring costs.
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Small dirt compartment.
The iRobot H1 is good for high-pile carpet. It easily sucks up pet hair and larger debris like sand and does a satisfactory job of clearing small, fine material like baking soda. It's easy to maneuver around obstructions, and it feels rather solidly built. Unfortunately, its dirt compartment is small and needs frequent emptying. It also incurs a few recurring costs and has a couple of other parts that need regular cleaning.
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Good build quality.
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Superb pet hair cleaning capability.
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Great overall performance on low and high-pile carpets.
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Relatively good battery life.
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Demanding maintenance requirements.
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Somewhat high recurring costs.
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Small dirt compartment.
The iRobot H1 is excellent for cleaning pet hair. It sucks up pet hair on everything from bare floors to high-pile carpet without an issue, and it comes with a turbo brush to help you clean up this kind of debris from upholstered surfaces with less difficulty. It also has an allergen-trapping HEPA filter, which is handy if your pet sheds heavily. Unfortunately, there are quite a few components that need periodic cleaning, and its dust bin and exhaust filters need frequent replacing.
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Good build quality.
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Superb pet hair cleaning capability.
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Allergen-trapping HEPA filter.
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Demanding maintenance requirements.
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Somewhat high recurring costs.
The iRobot H1 is an exceptional choice for cleaning your stairs. Its lightweight construction makes it easy to carry up and down staircases, while its cordless design means you don't need to worry about staying close to an outlet. It also feels quite sturdy and delivers impressive overall cleaning performance on low and high-pile carpet. Unfortunately, its handheld design can make it a bit of a hassle to clean large amounts of space.
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Superb pet hair cleaning capability.
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Compact design.
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Relatively good battery life.
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Demanding maintenance requirements.
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Somewhat high recurring costs.
The iRobot H1 is amazing for cleaning the inside of your car. Its cordless design means you don't need to stay close to an outlet. It also comes with a crevice tool, upholstery cleaner, and turbo brush, allowing you to tackle messes in tight corners or on car seats without much of an issue. It's also compact and lightweight, making it easy to store or carry along with you.
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Superb pet hair cleaning capability.
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Compact design.
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Relatively good battery life.
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Demanding maintenance requirements.
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Somewhat high recurring costs.
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Superb pet hair cleaning capability.
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Demanding maintenance requirements.
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Somewhat high recurring costs.
- 7.6 Bare Floor
- 7.7 Low-Pile Carpet
- 7.8 High-Pile Carpet
- 7.6 Pets
- 9.0 Stairs
- 8.3 Cars
- 5.8 Workshop
- Updated Oct 11, 2022: This vacuum's suction force has been retested with a more accurate manometer. The test results for the 'Maximum Suction' and 'Normal Suction' fields have been updated. All relevant scores and text have been updated.
- Updated Aug 05, 2022: Converted to Test Bench 1.1.
- Updated Jun 06, 2022: Converted to Test Bench 1.0.
- Updated May 12, 2021: Review published.
- Updated May 10, 2021: Early access published.
- Updated May 03, 2021: Our testers have started testing this product.
- Updated Apr 28, 2021: The product has arrived in our lab, and our testers will start evaluating it soon.
- Updated Apr 20, 2021: We've purchased the product and are waiting for it to arrive in our lab.
Differences Between Sizes And Variants
The iRobot H1 is only available in one color variant, Black, and you can see its label here.
If you come across another variant of this vacuum, let us know in the discussions, and we'll update our review.
Compared To Other Vacuums
The iRobot H1 is a compact handheld vacuum. It offers great overall performance on carpeted floors and feels well-built. It's also heavier than alternatives like the eufy HomeVac H11 and has a smaller dirt compartment than some models, like the Hoover ONEPWR Cordless Hand Vacuum.
If you're looking for an alternative, check out our recommendations for the best handheld vacuums, the best handheld vacuums for pet hair, and the best car vacuums.
The Dyson V15 Detect and iRobot H1 suit different purposes. The Dyson has a stick/handheld design that's much better suited to cleaning larger spaces, but it can be used in a handheld configuration for spot-cleaning some areas. It has a much longer battery life, has a wider range of tools and accessories, incurs fewer recurring costs, and offers significantly better performance on all surface types. Meanwhile, the handheld-only iRobot feels better built, isn't as demanding to maintain, and is easier to store.
The HoLife HM036E is better than the iRobot H1. The HoLife is less demanding in terms of maintenance, incurs fewer recurring costs, takes less time to recharge, and delivers significantly better performance on bare floors. You can also use it to clean liquid messes thanks to its included nozzle attachment, but we don't currently test for that. Meanwhile, the iRobot has a larger dirt compartment, delivers better performance on low and high-pile carpet, and comes with a turbo brush.
The Black+Decker dustbuster AdvancedClean+ Pet and iRobot H1 each have their advantages, and one may suit you better than the other, depending on your needs. The Black+Decker incurs slightly lower recurring costs, is a little less demanding in terms of maintenance, has a larger dirt compartment, and delivers better performance on bare floors. Meanwhile, the iRobot clears more debris on low and high-pile carpet, feels better-built, is easier to maneuver, and takes less time to charge despite offering similar battery life, though that can vary with real-world usage.
The Shark UltraCyclone Pet Pro+ is better than the iRobot H1. The Shark is easier to maintain, incurs fewer recurring costs, is slightly lighter, and delivers superior cleaning performance on bare floors as well as low and high-pile carpet. Meanwhile, the iRobot lasts much longer in its least powerful suction mode, though that can vary in the real world. It also comes with a wall-mount rack station, making it a little easier to store.
The Shark WANDVAC and iRobot H1 each have their own advantages. The Shark is easier to maintain, incurs virtually no recurring costs, is notably lighter, and recharges much faster. Conversely, the iRobot comes with a motorized turbo brush as well as a larger dustbin and performs notably better on high-pile carpet. It also has a suction power adjustment feature and lasts much longer in its most energy-efficient configuration.
The iRobot H1 and Hoover ONEPWR Cordless Hand Vacuum each have their advantages, and one might suit you better depending on your needs. The iRobot is better-built, comes with more tools and brushes, including a turbo brush, and delivers better performance on low and high-pile carpet. It also lasts longer in its least powerful suction mode, though it takes significantly longer to recharge than the Hoover. The Hoover also delivers better performance on bare floors, is easier to store, incurs fewer recurring costs, and is a little easier to maintain.
The iRobot H1 and Wyze Handheld Vacuum have their advantages; one may suit you better than the other, depending on your needs. The iRobot has a bigger dirt compartment that needs emptying less often, a turbo brush for dealing with messes on upholstered surfaces, and superior performance on low and high-pile carpet. The Wyze does a better job of cleaning bare floors, is less demanding in regular maintenance, and incurs fewer recurring costs. It's also more maneuverable thanks to its smaller size.
Test Results
The iRobot H1 is well-built. It's made entirely out of plastic and feels solid overall, though its built-in dirt compartment does feel as though it could break if it's dropped. The vacuum requires no assembly out-of-the-box, and it's easy to attach and remove its included tools or take out and replace its filters.
This vacuum has a couple of parts that need regular cleaning. However, its simple design makes it easy to access these components.
- Dirt compartment: You should empty the dirt compartment after every use by pressing the 'bin empty' button near the bottom of the compartment over a trash bin. You can also wipe out any stuck-on debris with a damp cloth.
- Cyclone: The cyclone is located inside the dirt compartment and can be rotated to remove it. It should be cleaned periodically with cold water, but make sure to remove the dust bin filter before doing so.
- Dustbin filter: You can pull the dustbin filter from its housing inside the cyclone. There isn't a specific maintenance interval, but the manufacturer recommends cleaning it after heavy use under cold water.
- Exhaust filter: The exhaust filter is near the back of the vacuum, and you can remove it by pressing in the two release tabs. Like the dust bin filter, no maintenance interval is given, with the manufacturer recommending that you should wash the filter under cold water after heavy use.
All parts you clean with water should be left to dry completely before putting them back in the vacuum.
The iRobot H1 has a couple of recurring costs.
These parts aren't currently available from the manufacturer website. If you'd like a handheld vacuum with fewer recurring costs, check out the Dyson Humdinger.
The iRobot H1 is easy to store. It's compact and comes with a small rack station that you can screw into a wall.
The iRobot H1's dirt compartment is okay. It's smaller than that of alternatives like the Shark UltraCyclone Pet Pro+, but it's made of clear plastic and has a max fill indicator to let you know once it's reached peak capacity.
- iRobot H1 vacuum body
- Cyclone
- 1x Exhaust filter
- 1x Dustbin filter
- Turbo brush
- Upholstery tool and hard bristle brush combination tool
- Crevice tool
- Charging AC unit cable
- Rechargeable battery
- Wall-mount rack with screws
- User guide
The iRobot H1 is cordless, and its range is limited only by the remaining battery life and the room left in its dirt compartment.
This vacuum is amazingly portable. It's heavier than some other cordless handheld vacuum, especially smaller models like the BISSELL AeroSlim/TurboSlim, but still easy to carry around for extended periods.
The iRobot H1 has decent battery performance. Used in its most powerful 'Max' suction mode and fitted with its turbo brush, it supplies just over 15 minutes of continuous runtime. It lasts for about 25 minutes in its minimum suction mode, close to its advertised maximum battery life of 24 minutes. That said, battery life can vary drastically depending on your usage habits.
This vacuum has a couple of quality of life settings. You can swap between maximum and minimum suction power settings to suit different surface types or use the continuous power switch to have the vacuum continue sucking without your finger pressing on the trigger.
The iRobot H1 comes with a couple of different tools and brushes. You can use the crevice tool to tackle messes in tight corners. The combination hard bristle brush and upholstery tool lets you alternatively clear stubborn stuck-on debris or clean furniture. The default turbo brush is also well-suited to clearing material on fabric-lined surfaces.
You can use the iRobot H1 in an alternative configuration by removing its turbo brush and using its crevice tool to extend its reach.
This vacuum offers decent performance on bare floors. It sucks up pet hair and small debris like rice without an issue but struggles somewhat with bulkier debris, like cereal. Unusually, it performs better with large debris when its dirt compartment is partially filled instead of when it's empty. Large debris can also get stuck in its turbo brush brushroll.
The iRobot H1 has good performance on low-pile carpet. It sucks up pet hair without an issue and clears an impressive amount of larger debris like sand. It might take an extra pass to clean fine debris like baking soda, though the vacuum's performance in this respect is still satisfactory.
The iRobot H1 offers great performance on high-pile carpet. It doesn't struggle much with pet hair or larger material like sand. Its performance with small, fine debris like baking soda is worse, but it still picks up a decent amount of this kind of material.
The iRobot H1 is decently maneuverable. It's heavier than some other handheld vacuums, like the eufy HomeVac H11, but is still easy to maneuver when cleaning on top of furniture or shelves or around obstructions like electrical cords. Its controls are easy to reach, and its textured grip provides a secure hold. That said, its handheld design makes it a poor fit for cleaning large areas.
