iRobot Roomba 694 [690, 692]  Robot Vacuum Review

This vacuum feels very well-built. It has a high-grade hard plastic body and drive wheels with a rubber tread. The body feels sturdy, and its removable dustbin is made of thicker plastic than the dustbins found in other robot vacuums in the same price range, like the eufy RoboVac 11S. Out-of-the-box setup is very simple, only requiring you to plug in its docking station.

This vacuum has many parts that need regular maintenance.

• Dustbin: You can easily remove the dustbin by pressing the release button. You should empty it into a garbage bin after every cleaning session.
• Brushrolls: You'll need to flip the vacuum over and remove the brushroll compartment door to access the bristle brush and beater brush. The bristle brush has long bristles and can take a while to clean, especially if you have a pet with long hair. You'll also need to remove any tangled hair from both brushrolls' bearings. You should clean them once or twice per week, depending on whether or not you have pets.
• Filter: The filter is located inside the dustbin, and you can pull it out via release tabs. You can clean it by tapping it against the edge of a garbage can. You should clean it once or twice a week, depending on whether or not you have pets. Make sure to remove it and clean it before emptying the dustbin.
• Side brush: You can remove the side brush by unscrewing it from the bottom of the vacuum. Like the bristled brushroll, it's very tangle-prone, with hair getting wrapped tightly around its bearings and trio of arms; you'll need to use a pair of scissors to cut away any long hair, which can be a bit of a hassle. You should clear it of any hair or debris approximately once a month.
• Front wheel: While you can pull the wheel free by hand, you'll probably find this easier by using a set of pliers or a flat-head screwdriver to lever it out of its socket. You should clean it every two weeks. Also, you should clean its socket of any debris to allow it to spin freely.
• Sensors/Charging pads: You should wipe down the sensors and charging pads on the vacuum and dock station with a dry cloth once a month.

This vacuum incurs high recurring costs.

• Filter: You should replace the filter every two months. You can find a three-pack of replacements here.
• Brushrolls: You should replace the brushrolls every six to 12 months. You can find a replacement head unit (which includes both rollers) here.
• Front wheel: You should replace the front wheel every 12 months. You can find a replacement here.

You can buy all these parts together as a single 'Replenishment Kit', as seen here.

This is a fairly compact robot vacuum. The lack of a LIDAR mapping sensor allows it to fit under obstacles with less difficulty than alternatives with LIDAR sensors like the Wyze Robot Vacuum.

This vacuum's internal dirt compartment is moderately sizeable as far as robot vacuums go. If you're leaving the vacuum to clean up very small, lightweight debris, you won't necessarily have to empty it at the end of every single cleaning session.

This vacuum only has a simple charging dock and no self-emptying capability.

• iRobot Roomba 694/692/690 Robot Vacuum
• AeroVac dirt compartment
• 2x AeroVac filter (1x AeroVac filter is included with 692 variant)
• Beater brush
• Bristle brush
• Charging dock
• Charging cable
• User guide

The following accessory is exclusive to the 690 model:

• Virtual Barrier device

This vacuum offers outstanding battery performance. This vacuum has a surface detection feature that automatically adjusts its suction power depending on the floor type that it's on. As such, its battery life can vary significantly depending on the mix of carpets and bare floors in your home. If you have a home with minimal carpeting, it can provide over two hours of runtime on a single charge. There's a battery indicator light on top of the vacuum, and you can also see the battery level through its companion app.

This vacuum has a few quality-of-life features. It has a surface detection feature that allows it to change its suction power automatically depending on whether the vacuum is cleaning bare floors or high-pile carpet, or when it passes over an especially dirty area. Its head also changes height on carpeted floors.

The iRobot Roomba 694 robot vacuum delivers excellent hard floor cleaning performance. It can handle most debris with ease in a single cleaning cycle. That said, corners are a bit of a pain point.

The iRobot Roomba 694 robot vacuum does a decent job cleaning high-pile carpets. Though its side brushes tend to throw around some debris, this vacuum can clean most large and medium size debris. Fine debris tends to remain in the carpet fibers, and it struggles to clean along walls and in corners as well.

Unfortunately, this vacuum's cliff sensors kept triggering on our black test carpet. We tried to cover the sensors with paper, tinfoil, and white tape, but the issue persisted. Finally, we created a conical-shaped tape cover. This isn't a solution we recommend for day-to-day use, but it's something to keep in mind if you have dark carpets.

The iRobot Roomba 694 does a bad job cleaning low-pile carpet. Its side brushes toss around a lot of debris, and it struggles to clean along walls and in corners. As a result, you'll need to run multiple cleaning cycles.

This vacuum's pet hair pick-up performance is great, especially for an entry-level device. It can clear most pet hair in a single cleaning cycle, even pet hair that's stuck deep in carpet fibers.

Airflow performance is poor, though the iRobot 694's performance in this regard is far from unusual when compared to most other budget-friendly robot vacuums. It'll have a hard time lifting up large amounts of debris.

This vacuum is very quiet, and you won't have to speak very loudly to be heard over the sound of its motor, even if it's cleaning within the same room. However, its wheels are somewhat squeaky, even in the absence of any significant obstructions.

This vacuum does a decent job of maneuvering itself. Despite the lack of room mapping capability, it's impressively thorough when it comes to coverage; while it might clean some areas more than once, it seldom misses other areas entirely. Still, you might want to consider something like the iRobot Roomba i1 if you're looking for an entry-level robot vacuum with smart pathing. The iRobot 694's small size lets it fit under furniture like couches and low tables. While it can move freely from bare floors to rugs, it can sometimes get caught on rug tassels. Thankfully, it can climb over low-lying obstacles like electrical cords, but it might push them around a bit.

Unlike the iRobot Roomba i1, which is equipped with a high-efficiency filter, this vacuum does a terrible job of sealing in fine allergens like pet dander.

This vacuum does terribly when it comes to sucking up debris in cracks and crevices. Like a lot of low-powered robot vacuums, it doesn't exert enough suction force to draw out debris from deeper crevices, and its bristled brushroll is ineffective in helping to lift debris.

This vacuum is ineffective when clearing away stains, though that isn't surprising, given the lack of a mopping feature.

This vacuum isn't designed to clear away liquid spills.

The iRobot 694 has okay physical automation features. There are a trio of buttons on its top cover. The 'Clean' button has it start a cleaning session, the 'Dock' button has it return to its docking station, and the 'Spot Clean' button has it vacuum a small area. You can also set up voice commands with Alexa or Google Home devices. It's also compatible with magnetic boundary strips, which you can lay down to stop the vacuum from going to certain areas, but none are included, and they'll have to be purchased separately at an additional cost. That said, the older 690 model comes with a Virtual Barrier device that you can use to keep the robot from entering certain rooms. Unlike the iRobot Roomba i1, it isn't compatible with self-emptying docking stations, which would reduce hands-on maintenance requirements. Due to the lack of any sort of advanced mapping capability, there's no recharge and resume capability either, which would allow it to pick up a cleaning session from where it left off if it needed to return to its base station.

The iRobot HOME app is pretty comprehensive. You can use it to start and stop the vacuum, check the battery, schedule cleaning times, and get the vacuum to return to its charging dock. However, unlike the Wyze Robot Vacuum, this vacuum doesn't map out its coverage area, which would allow you to set up virtual boundary markers or schedule cleaning sessions for individual areas.