If you’re looking for a comprehensive iRobot Roomba E5 review, then you are reading the right content. Robot vacuums have proved to be a handy device for homeowners. They help in handling the most stressful job for most homeowners, which is to clean and mop the floors. With many vacuum robots available in the market, it can be quite difficult to end up with a unit that would serve you very well. Thus, the need to read vacuum robot reviews is necessary. Interestingly, we have reviewed quite a lot of robovacs from different brands on this website.
iRobot Roomba E5 Review
Roomba vacuums are among the leading robot vacuums in the market. There are lots of Roomba vacuums that have proved their worth and relevance in different homes. The iRobot Roomba E5 is a highly intelligent bot with quite many capabilities. It is a smart home cleaner that can be instructed to ignore some parts of the room while performing a cleaning task.
Also, Roomba E5 can pick up pet hairs, as well as navigate under the sofas and open base furniture in the room to perform deep cleaning. It is a lightweight bot that you can easily move around, but there may be no need to touch the bot; however, expect you want to clean up the filter, untangle the brushes, or dispose the content of the dustbin. Roomba E5 doesn’t require human assistance to clean up multi-rooms; all you need do is to give instructions from the mobile app.
Compared to other iRobot vacuums in the Roomba 600 series, this vacuum robot is very much advanced and promises of a better performance. Homeowners who have Alexa-enabled devices can leverage Alexa voice commands to control their E5 robovac. Google Assistant voice commands also work on this bot; so, it’s either you use Alexa or Google assistant or the mobile app, whichever suits you the most.
Interestingly, this robo-vac can get very close to the walls and clean up the edges using its tangle-free side brush. With 5x suction power, the E5 will certainly pick up any dirt or allergen it encounters on a surface while cleaning.
Technical Specifications
- 3-stage cleaning with rubber brushes
- Up to 5X suction
- 4 x 13.4 x 3.6 inches
- 3 pounds
- Full-suite intelligent sensors
- Up to 90 minutes runtime
- Wi-Fi connected
Design and Build
* Oval-shaped body * On-body control buttons
* Recognizes virtual barriers * Low-profile height
* Detachable components * Attractive design
Roomba E5 flaunts the typical circular body design of robotic vacuums. It features three button controls on the body, while more controls are accessible via the mobile app. The robovac is stylishly finished with polished black color, measuring 13.3 inches wide and 3.6 inches high. At 3.6-inch height, the E5 easily passes under the sofa, bed, and other furniture in the house that has a low clearance. Without the mobile app, Roomba E5 can still be sent off to clean when you tap the big silver-coated “Clean” button on the center of the bot. Beside the “clean” button lies two other buttons at the left and right sides, respectively; the buttons are used to send E5 to the charging station or clean a spot.
Features, Performance, and Techs
* IFTTT compatible * Scheduling
* Multi-floor support * Picks up everything
This robovac goes around picking up anything it encounters on the floor. Roomba E5 is capable of taking up allergens, grains, and other solid particles into the dustbin. It performs very well on different floors, including low and high pile carpets. The E5 bot comes with a set of brushes for cleaning different places. Also, the auto-adjust cleaning head works as expected, and the bot can easily move on from one floor type to another without getting stuck.
However, quite unfortunately, the Roomba E5 does not come with advanced navigation and mapping system, as you would see on iRobot Roomba I series or S series. Nevertheless, it is capable of finding its way into various rooms and corners in the house. iRobot claims that the bot utilizes a full-suite of intelligent sensors for navigation.
Also, Roomba E5 works with patented 3-stage cleaning utilizing tangle-free rubber brushes. iRobot reports that the rubber brushes system on this bot performs a unique action; the first brush loosens up dirt from the floor while the second brush suctions the dirt into the dust can. Roomba E5’s navigation isn’t so efficient, but it is acceptable.
Navigation, Scheduling, and Controls
Although Roomba E5 doesn’t come with an advanced navigation system, it doesn’t fall off the cliff, neither does it collide with any obstacle in the room. iRobot reports that E5 uses a Dirt DetectTM and Smart Navigation technology, coupled with a full suite of intelligent sensors to operate. The Aeroforce cleaning system on E5 is really impressive and powers the bot to perform neat cleaning.
Controlling Roomba E5 has to be from the app; it doesn’t have many control buttons on the body, neither can you activate certain features using voice assistants. However, with the mobile app, you can access a lot of features, such as setting free cleaning schedules and other things.
If there are places you wouldn’t want your E5 bot clean, you have to set up virtual barriers in such areas. But the virtual barriers are sold separately. Without setting up virtual barriers, Roomba E5 may get into places you don’t want and meet serious obstacles that may halt its performance.
The scheduling feature is one of the best for most homeowners. It lets the user set schedules when the bot should get down to work even when the owner is not around. However, this is not selective room cleaning; you have to either set a one-time schedule where E5 will vacuum your floors at a particular time in a specified day/date, or set a daily/weekly schedule where E5 will have to always vacuum your floors on a particular day of the way.
Comparatively, Roomba E5 outperforms most robot vacuums within its price range from other brands.
Mobile App
The official Roomba mobile app is available for Android mobile smartphones and iOS devices. It houses a lot of features to control your Roomba E5 robovac. Interestingly, the Roomba mobile app is intuitive and easy to use. Also, the app guides you through setting up your robovac with your home Wi-Fi network. In fact, all owners of Roomba vacuums’ are expected to have the app installed on their smartphones. Virtually, there is no other effective way to monitor and control your bot expect via the mobile app. 2.5GHz home Wi-Fi network is required for the E5 to function as expected. Also, the app shows handy notifications and information about your E5 bot. If you wish to see places where your bot has cleaned so far, see on the “history” option on the mobile app.
Battery, Charging, and Auto-resume Function
iRobot didn’t specify the capacity of the built-in battery on Roomba E5. However, the battery lasts for more than one hour after each full charge. The charging takes up to 3 hours if the battery went down to a very low percentage. Apparently, this robovac runs for up to 90 minutes on low-level suction modes. But when the bot engages high-level suction (up to 5X), the battery drains much faster. Ninety minutes may not be enough for this robot vacuum to clean up a whole big house, but it is acceptable.
Roomba E5 can find its way to the dock station without human assistance. However, you need to take it from the dock station and return it to the place where it stopped cleaning due to low battery. That is to say, Roomba E5 doesn’t support auto-recharge and resume.
Roomba E5 Noise Level
If you’re inside a room and Roomba E5 is cleaning the next room, certainly, you will hear it as it cleans. The background noise level is about 64.4dB. Plus, the bot makes louder noise when working with the higher suction. Due to the noise made by E5, your pet may be startled and begin to jump around looking for is making the noise.
Pet Friendliness
Yes, the E5 is pet-friendly. It picks up pet hairs and dander from your floors, as well as other litters caused by your pet.
Summary of the Roomba E5 review
This robotic vacuum isn’t the latest from iRobot, but it is still relevant because it does a good job. You can schedule the bot’s cleaning times, as well as access a lot of features from the mobile app. Also, the app utilizes a set of infrared sensors to dodge obstacles while performing.
However, unlike the high-end Roomba models, Roomba E5 cannot map your house, and it does not support selective room cleaning. Furthermore, this model lacks mopping capability and does not support auto-recharge and resume.
Finally, this robovac obeys virtual barriers, but you have to buy the virtual barrier unit(s) separately. Overall, iRobot Roomba E5 is a decent-enough robot vacuum for homeowners on a budget. Alternatively, you may consider budget-friendly high-end robot vacuums from Roborock. See on Amazon
