iRobot i7 vs i8: Difference and Comparison

In the 21st Century, technology has grown tremendously and has spread itself into various segments of our livelihoods and industries. Over the years, people have seen an increase in the number of ‘smart’ devices that occupy their houses.

Starting from smartphones, smart TVs, and smart fridges. These home-based technological advances have also extended to smart vacuum cleaners, known as Roombas. 

The Roomba is a robot that functions as a vacuum cleaner and automatically roams about the floor of a house and sucks up the dirt on the floor. One can then empty the dust collected by the Roomba, which will be ready for use.

Roombas also has an accompanying smartphone app that gives users various performance insights into the machine as it moves about the house. Many Roombas also have a camera, which gives the person a feed of the Roomba’s surroundings.

The Roomba is manufactured by iRobot, which has produced several models, including the iRobot i7 and the i8.

Key Takeaways

1. The iRobot i8 has a higher suction power than the i7, making it better at picking up debris and pet hair.
2. The i8 has a more advanced navigation system, allowing it to map multiple floors and specific rooms, while the i7 can only map one floor at a time.
3. The i8 also has a larger dustbin capacity and a self-emptying dock, making it more convenient for those with larger homes or frequent cleaning needs.

iRobot i7 vs i8

The iRobot Roomba is a robot vacuum designed to clean hard floor surfaces with dual multi-surface brushes and a power-lifting suction. Its i7 series has a small battery with 75 minutes of run time. The i8 series has a large battery with a 90-minute run time and comes with a virtual wall barrier.

Comparison Table

Parameters of Comparison	iRobot i7	iRobot i8
Battery	The i7 has a smaller battery than the i8.	The i8 has a larger battery than the i7.
Availability	i7 is available across most stores, offline and online.	i8 is available at Costco, and one needs a Costco membership to purchase it.
Suction Power	The i7 has lesser suction power than the i8.	i8 has nearly 10 times the suction power of the i7.
Brush Type	The i7 has a bristle type brush.	The i8 has rubber brushes.
Price	The i7 is cheaper than the i8.	The i8 costs more than the i7.

What is iRobot i7?

The iRobot i7 is one of the latest in-line Roombas manufactured by iRobot. i7 is among the higher-end Roombas in the market and comes with a fairly reasonable price tag too.

One of the best features of the i7 is its mapping capabilities. It can map entire floors very accurately and hence deliver good cleaning results that are pretty impressive. 

Another thing in the i7 is its ability to be controlled using voice commands or the smartphone app that the Roomba accompanies.

This is a step by the company iRobot towards the Internet of Things (IoT), which integrates several devices over the Internet and makes them work together simultaneously and in harmony.

Thanks to the mapping structure developed by the i7, a person can now instruct the i7 to clean a particular spot more rigorously or not clean that spot at all.

These customizable options are of great use. However, they are only available when one pays the hefty price that comes with the machine. The cheaper cleaning robots in the market do not have such characteristics and only basic suction capabilities.

To learn a room’s mappings and directionalities, the i7 may take two to three rounds. However, it is worth it, as that helps it proceed logically rather than just moving randomly about the room.

What is iRobot i8?

The iRobot i8 is a high-end Roomba manufactured by iRobot, which is available only at Costco to people who hold an active Costco membership. This makes this device exclusive and is a marketing motive, as it promotes Costco with its sales.

The i8 is almost the same shape and size as the i7. However, it has a battery that is 20% larger in size than the i7, enabling it to cover more area and clean for longer durations. The i8 lasts about 90 minutes, while the i7 lasts 75 minutes.

The i8 has a recharge and resume feature. When the i8 sees that it has a low charge, it will automatically go to the charging station and charge itself once it is complete.

It will automatically go to where cleaning was stopped and resume. This is possible due to the excellent floor mapping technology provided by iRobot.

The i8 also has the better suction power to remove dirt than its previous models. The suction power of the i8 is nearly 10 times that of its previous models.

Main Differences Between iRobot i7 and i8

1. The main difference between the iRobot i7 and i8 is that the i8 lasts long and thus can cover more surface area than the i7 because the battery of the i8 is 20% larger than the i7. The i7 can run for up to 75 minutes, while the i8 can run for 90 minutes.
2. The i7 is available across most stores, while the i8 is available at Costco only.
3. The i8 has more suction power than the i7.
4. The i7 has bristle brushes, while the i8 has rubber brushes.
5. The i8 is costlier than the i7.

References

1. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/1598056/
2. https://academicjournals.org/journal/SRE/article-abstract/276C29031421