Roborock E5 Robot Vacuum

The robot vacuum post that you didn't know you needed! TL;DR Roborock E4 {$179-$269} Roomba i6+ {$549-$799} If you're looking to get a robot vacuum, I would like to say DO IT. As to which brand to pick, it's a toss up, and completely depends on your budget. I bought our Roborock on sale for $179 last year and have been very pleased with it. My heart was originally set on the more pricey Roomba self-emptying units, but since I am frugal and wanted to see if it would even work here, I went with the lesser expensive bot. We have a house full of old furniture and rooms so I didn't know if a robot would even jive here. I have been VERY pleased with our Roborock. It has done a great job over the last few months while we are not home. I would say, realistically, 8 out of 10 times it went off without a hitch. It went down our foyer stairs one time and had also gotten itself lodged under my sewing machine and other furniture a handful of times. Every day that it did its cycle (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 9am) I would come home and empty the trap. It has a washable filter and I cut the hair from the brushes and cleaned the sensors. It has been well worth the $179 to not have to see cat hair, hay, gravel, stove dust, and leaves everywhere. A week ago I bought the unit I had had my heart set on. Well, the unit a tier above the one I had had my heart set on. The lowest priced Roomba unit with the self emptying dock has been at about $500 for the last year, the i3+. The next level up, the i6+, has run about $799. Last week, and even now, Amazon has had the i6+ for the same price as the i3+. My assumption is that a new i6+ is probably coming out soon so they're blowing them out. WHICH IS FINE, I want one. I don't spend a lot of money on goofy things, except 1978 El Caminos, so I decided to spoil myself with this i6+. To be honest they were similar in price LOL. I'm an adult with adult money, no kids, and a farmy kind of property with a dusty wood stove so I did it. After purging, donating, selling, and burning almost everything I owned in the fall, having a clean house feels absolutely amazing. Having a clean floor 24/7 is almost euphoric. I enjoy being home and no longer have those nagging feelings of dread about things I need to be cleaning. I also very much enjoy the kitty cats and Chris and I have raging allergies so I need something to clean up the hair. My feelings so far on the two: Quality of the clean: Roomba and Roborock seem to clean the same. I was very pleased with both. The Roborock generally took a little more than an hour and would get down to about 30% battery life. It was also slower than the Roomba. The Roomba is a faster unit, almost a bit more violent, and takes about 3 hours to complete the first floor. It does seem to be more thorough and charges itself halfway through a first floor cycle. Apps: I didn't want to get another brand so I'd have a second app, but I went with the Roomba anyway. The Roomba has a far superior app. And by far I mean, from here to Australia. The Roborock app is great and easy to use, but very primitive. You also cannot choose certain areas to clean with the E4. It cleans everything or nothing. The Roomba i6 created a map of our house and will just do certain areas that I tell it to. It can do certain rooms on different days of the week or on command. Both tell you when to perform regular maintenance on the machines, when they are stuck, or if software updates are needed. Parts: I like that the Roborock company and Roomba BOTH offer replacement parts at affordable prices. I have been able to take apart and clean out the Roborock really easily. I won't have to do anything to the Roomba for a while, but I will have new brushes, filters, etc. on hand for when it is due. Clumsiness: The Roomba is definitely a superior machine, but it should be, at 3x the price of the Roborock. The Roborock is very primitive but very gentle. Like I said, only 1 time out of dozens of cleanings did it go down some stairs. And it was probably my fault for not cleaning the sensors. The Roomba is much, much faster and almost more violent, sometimes bashing pretty hard into my furniture and woodwork. I think after a few cleanings, it will figure itself out and no longer hit so hard. The Roborock is definitely a more simple, slower, and more methodical machine. Roomba goes in curvier lines and seems to have a method to the madness. Roborock says eff this madness, I need to go in a straight line or I'll die. Convenience: Both are great in that they are vacuums that I don't have to push around. We have so much wood floor, furniture, and trim - it is super cool to not have sheh just pushed up against it. I also cook a lot so the crumb thing was driving me bonkers. I do have to manually empty the trap on the Roborock, but it's not bad at all. A few seconds and I'm done. The filter is also washable, so it lasts a long time. The Roomba has the base that sucks the dirt out of the machine and into a disposable bag. 1. The base sounds like a god dang jet taking off when it gets the dirt out of the vacuum. 2. I haven't quite gauged how long it will take to fill the bag. Now I'll have to purchase bags from time to time. I'm not sure how I feel about it. But having to not have to remember to empty the little bastard is convenient since I have it running 3 days per week. Sounds: Both are god dang vacuums. They sound like vacuums. Run it while you aren't home. I hate seeing people complaining about the noise in online reviews. IT'S A effING ROBOT VACUUM, WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT? Physical differences: They are approximately the same size and weight. Both are black and have cameras and sensors in approximately the same areas. Major differences are that the brush on the Roborock is 1 actual bristled brush, while the Roomba has 2 rubber "brushes" that work simultaneously to pull dirt between them, instead of sweeping dirt up into a bin like the Roborock. Both seem to function very similarly, but I'd have to give the blue ribbon to the Roomba. I want to point out that the other reason I went with the Roomba was that the higher quality Roborocks [$500-$800] only come with vacuum AND mop features, and I did NOT want a mop feature. They also do not come with a self-emptying dock. I personally don't see how you can jam a mop system and a vacuum system in a bot the same size and not compromise the vacuum capabilities. I also read a lot of reviews that the mop part is just a glorified restaurant pre-packaged moist toilette and having it drag that around my entire first floor seemed kind of gross. It's just us and the cats, I will mop when I need to.