Roomba 880 vs 870 Review: What’s better?

You’ve been looking for robotic vacuums, and you have heard that Roomba is the ideal one among the other brands. You have narrowed your options regarding the Roomba 880 and 870. 

But what exactly are the uniqueness between the two? If you have been scratching your head and unable to figure out which one you should get, well, then you are not alone.

Also read: Get shocked by reading Roomba 650 vs 665 review!

Designers just don’t do a good job explaining the differences between their models, and iRobot is no exception at all. Instead, they opt to function with a long list of technical buzzwords that sound fancy; however, they don’t mean anything to you.

If you don’t have time for Roomba vacuum’s comparison review to fully understand it, you could click here to purchase the 880 at Amazon right away as it’s the winner. 

Roomba 880

Roomba 870

To find out how these 2 robotic vacuums differ, what they’ve in common, and if there is anything that is unique about them, we will discuss, compare and also evaluate some of the crucial parts of Roomba 880 and 870.

Setup Process

The first thing we require to talk about is the one and only setup processes of Roomba 880 and 870. Today, no one wants to buy smart gadgets that take ages to activate, and also nobody is willing to spend hours reading guiding manuals and watching tutorials on YouTube.

Fortunately, both of these Roomba 880 and 870 are quite easy to set up, though. We won’t write step-by-step guides since we will be wasting your time. Setting up both 870 and 880 smart floor cleaners take around just 5 to 10 minutes.

Just push the appropriate buttons on the surface of the robotic vacuum and then command it to begin cleaning.

Although the setup process is quite straightforward, you may like to know that Roomba 880 and 870 include an excellent user’s manual guide in the package of both of these robotic vacuums.

If you somehow get lost while doing the setup process, you could always check the manual for further guidance as well. In addition, iRobot has an incredible support team.

They are always ready to support customers in need. We have talked with them a few times and could say for sure that they always provide professional answers and tips a lot of friendliness.

Also read: Very Shocking expert testing of Roomba 860 vs 960

Design

Every customer that aims to automate their home wants to buy products that look modern, attractive, and also “techie.” Have you ever met a guy who is not concerned about the interior of their house? Well, we don’t think so.

So it’s much important for our robotic vacuums to always be visually appealing; and also, when visitors come round, it is a plus if our vacuum looks so dashing that we hiding it out of sight is not required.

Besides that, the visual aspect, it’s essential to know the dimensions of Roomba 880 and 870 since it could play a very important role regarding cleaning your places.

Roomba 870‘s design

The Roomba 870’s dimensions are 13.9 x 13.9 x 3.6 inches, and also it weighs only 14.2 pounds. Roomba 870 is entirely unique from other Roomba models. Top of that, The first significant unique you will notice is the color of this 870 model.

Unlike the best Roomba models like Roomba 860 and 650, Roomba 870 looks a little bit unique. It seems like iRobot wants to make something unique and then decided to make it more lightly colored.

Besides that, the color Roomba 870 quite much looks identical to the 880 models. Roomba 870 comes with solid construction. When you lift this up, it feels like a tank, though.

Some of our friends own this Roomba 870, and every time we see it, this intelligent floor cleaner catches our eyes. Frankly speaking, it’s a beautifully manufactured robotic vacuum that stands out from the crowd.

Roomba 880’s design

Yes, Roomba 880 is another great-looking robotic vacuum that weighs 8.4-pounds and comes with a width of 13.9 inches and a height of 3.6 inches. Roomba 880 is one of the dashing looking robotic vacuums.

It’s true that liking an individual floor cleaner’s pattern is a matter of taste, but if we discuss this topic in more detail, the majority of Roomba 880 users are satisfied with the model’s style.

Roomba 880 is a robotic vacuum that maintains iRobot’s branded minimalistic style. A few weeks ago, we visited a guy who happens to own this Roomba 880. Seeing the real one, and not just a picture, we can vouch that it looked quite attractive and also well-constructed.

Also read: What’s so fabulous about Roomba 880 vs 890?

Performance Comparison

When anyone decides to buy robotic vacuums, the first thing they should think about is the performance abilities. In this specific case, it’s essential to know if Roomba 880 and 870 could perform at an acceptable level.

If these 2 robotic vacuums cannot meet our needs and mostly underperform, we should not invest in such machines. So let’s talk more about this to avoid any issues.

Roomba 870’s performance

Certainly, Roomba 870 is a notable robotic vacuum that is known for having a hyper-performance rate. Compared to the ILIFE A4 and Roomba 650, the 870 works a lot better, more efficiently, the battery lasts longer as well, and the navigation system has improved as well. To start with, Roomba 870 is quiet.

You might forget sleeping when the robotic vacuum is running, however, it is possible to watch TV, listening to the radio, or you can even read. The auto-docking function and The long battery life makes the Roomba 870 even more impressive.

We have tested Roomba 870 many times, and it cleans the room for approx 75 minutes non-stop. While the battery runs low, it will automatically return to its charging station.

We must mention that there were instances while Roomba 870 failed to locate its charging station. That may be an issue if the issue systematically recurs, and we cannot leave Roomba 870 to recharge and then continue unsupervised.

Roomba 870 has an important feature, the dustbin indicator. So if its dustbin gets full when Roomba 870 is cleaning the place, it will alert the user that the vacuum’s bin should be emptied for the machine to resume cleaning.

The significant drawback of Roomba 870, which decreases its performance abilities, is the random cleaning pattern. Roomba 870 is not as modern as the new Roomba models, and it cannot determine whether some places require extra or less cleaning.

It may hit the identical spots over and over, which will result in excess energy consumption and also half-cleaned rooms.

Also read: Who wins? iRobot 805 vs 860?

Roomba 880’s performance

Talking about Roomba 880, it’s one of the popular robotic vacuums which has one of the higher approval rates on Amazon. It is a highly-rated intelligent floor cleaner that has thousands of satisfied users.

Roomba 880 is a more modern robotic vacuum than the one 870 models. It surpasses the 870 models in navigation, vacuuming, cleaning abilities, and energy consumption as well.

When it’s true that Roomba 880 is a random cleaner robotic vacuum, it cleans better than the 870 models, though. If you have ever encountered a Roomba 880 and then having seen previous models put to task, you will definitely have noticed the difference.

Roomba 880 cleaned the place more thoroughly than any previous generation models, although the way it moves is intelligent and more efficient.

Roomba 880 happily goes under the bed and also eliminates those irritating dust bunnies. In spite of the HEPA robotic vacuum cleaners being considered as loud, Roomba 880 is relatively much quieter and produces much less noise than the 870 models.

What we love…

What we love about the Roomba 880 model is that it has flawless battery life. Roomba 880 has about two to three hours of cleaning power, and that is pretty much enough to clean an entire apartment.

It’s totally true that it takes much time to clean carpets and rugs; however, if you got a light cleaning to do, Roomba 880 will do it without requiring a single recharge. The navigation system of Roomba 880 is better than the Roomba 870; it could be left alone because it does move around more efficiently.

Unlike the old previous models, Roomba 880 will not crash into stands, tables, walls and will not fall down the stairs either.

Roomba 880 is an ultimate dust picker. It does not leave anything behind. It’s pretty much crucial to know that, at very first, Roomba 880 will need a little babysitting for you and the intelligent floor cleaner to figure out how to cooperate.

Even If Roomba 880 has trouble understanding the room when it’s cleaning, you could help it by placing it on the Virtual Walls.

Also read: Top comparison Roomba 620 vs 761. Let check it out.

Features

While Roomba 880 and 870 shares most functions, there are few exceptions as well. It is kinda essential to know the functions of these robotic vacuum cleaners to make sure we are not buying products that will not meet our expectations.

To help you find what these robotic vacuums are having, we have created a handy table where we compare Roomba 880 and 870.

If we judge both of these vacuums based on the table above, Roomba 880 is a superior vacuum with better capabilities and features. The Multi-Room Navigation System is what makes this Roomba 880 exceptional.

Roomba 880 could navigate its way to other places in your house. It could clean different rooms unsupervised, and you are not required to give any extra commands. (By contrast, you could only place your Roomba 870 in a single room, and it cannot navigate its route from room to room.) you can also look towards Roomba 805 vs 890 comparison and check it out which one is good.

Cleaning Capabilities

Another essential subject we must discuss is the cleaning capabilities of Roomba 880 and 870. The main reason why everyone buys robotic vacuums is their cleaning capabilities, and if these models cannot deliver satisfying results, we should not even consider purchasing either 880 or 870.

So, to avoid the decision based on guesswork, let’s dig down to some more detail and find out how well Roomba 880 and 870 perform.

Roomba 870’s cleaning capabilities

Certainly, Roomba 870 is a dashing robotic vacuum that has terrific cleaning abilities. Roomba 870 has extremely awesome HEPA filters, an upgraded navigation system, and it smoothly cleans up any dust. Along with these, weight also matter a lot, you can find out the Best Lightweight Vacuum cleaner for you as well as elders.

The battery life is improved, and now you got roughly seventy-five minutes of runtime. The larger change the 870 model has is the brushes.

Old models and other robotic vacuum cleaners have bristles. Roomba 870 has shifted to the rubber brush, and it has made a huge difference. At first, it may seem like a disadvantage. However, the cleaning operation has improved.

Compared to the 650 models, Roomba 870 provides a sharper clean. When the Roomba 870’s battery runs pretty much low, it returns to its charging station to get a full recharge.

There is a little issue with the auto-docking you must know. Sometimes, Roomba 870 fails to locate its charging station and gets lost on the way.

Leaving an active Roomba 870 on its own could be quite problematic; for instance, if you go out and hoping your house will be cleaned in the meantime, you may return to a half-cleaned home with a battery-dead Roomba 870.

Also read: How is iRobot Roomba 620 attracting these many buyers?

Keep reading…

You will have to wait for 4 hours for it to recharge again and then put it back to work. However, that’s the worst-case scenario. Roomba 870 manages to locate its charging station 95% of the time.

So losing its route to the charging station is the clear exception. Roomba 870 has a full bin indicator as well, which is a fabulous feature.

Whenever the trash bin gets full, Roomba 870 will notify the owner by sending a notification. On top of that, iRobot is enough to send 2 extra filters for free.

When we tested this Roomba 870 and made it clean things like fur, dirt, and dust, it did a good job. It left minimum to no dirt or fluff behind. The largest drawback of Roomba 870 is that it is a random-cleaning robotic vacuum.

It cannot understand that places need extra or less cleaning. Roomba 870 has Virtual Wall Technology. However, it there’s not a huge difference.

To add up, Roomba 870 leaves few spots untouched, and you may require to finish cleaning the floors by yourself. If you are okay with giving a little manual back-up, then Roomba 870 could be an excellent decision.

Roomba 880‘s cleaning capabilities

We’d exclaim, Roomba 880 is a highly appreciated robotic vacuum and one of the best popular and frequently purchased. Compared to the 870 models, Roomba 880 provides sharper results, and on top of that, it leaves no dust behind.

When iRobot analyzed the cons of 870, they tried their best to solve all the problems with the Roomba 880. After a ton of work creating this new one model, iRobot created something very unusual.

Roomba 880 was the first vacuum that had a multi-room navigation system. Besides that, Roomba 880 was one of the best smart floor cleaners which tried to clean homes in a pre-planned manner.

With the use of the Virtual Wall Technology and also the robotic vacuum’s improved sensing abilities, Roomba 880 became able to understand the structure of the house.

It became much better at detecting obstacles on the way, and it minimized the number of instances when the floor cleaner crashed to tables, walls, and stands or fell down from the stairs. The Roomba 880 is an ideal cleaner too.

With five times more power and improved battery life, Roomba 880 became one of the ideal popular devices on the current market. What makes this robotic vacuum so great is that it cleans better than humans.

Roomba 880 smoothly runs under your tables, beds, sofas, etc. It deducts dust bunnies, you could leave it activated when you are not home, this vacuum is intelligent enough in order to charge itself when the battery gets finished, and the vacuuming power is quite extreme too.

Also read: Can iRobot Roomba 635 truly become your best cleaning friend?

Some deep info

What we want you to inform you is that, at first, Roomba 880 will need some babysitting. It is a temporary process, and it will last until you begin understanding each other.

Roomba 880 is a potent machine that eliminates all the things it faces. It is so effective in sucking up dust and debris that sometimes you might find yourself emptying the Roomba 880’s dustbin every twenty minutes.

As for the noise, it is relatively quiet compared to any other HEPA vacuum cleaners. But not ultra-quiet. You can’t sleep when the 880 is running (unless you are in a different area) or be able to focus on work, watch TV, read, etc. Roomba 880 has unbelievably fantastic battery life.

We have tested how long it goes without a charge, and, to our surprise, the Roomba 880 worked for two hours non-stop. That is an incredible result even if we consider the fact that cleaning a medium-sized home takes about one and a half hours.

If you got severe allergies, make sure you leave the place where Roomba 880 is currently cleaning. It daily throws dirt in the air that might cause sneezing.

Advantages and Disadvantages

So we have discussed some of the most critical parts of these robotic vacuums. We have rated their design mechanism, talked about the beginning setup process, and also reviewed the functions and features.

Another important matter we require to write about is the benefits and disadvantages of Roomba 880 and 870. Before we hit the buy button, we require to know the cons and pros of these floor cleaners to avoid purchasing the wrong machine.

To help you with this, we have created 2 more tables that list the disadvantages and advantages of Roomba 880 and 870.

Roomba 870

Roomba 880

The tables show that the Roomba 880 is a superior vacuum that exceeds Roomba 870 in all significant aspects. Since Roomba 880 is the newest model, it functions better than the previous, has improved capabilities, better detecting skills, and cleans much more effectively.

Considering that the cleaning pattern and the navigation system are the 2 most essential aspects of a smart floor cleaner, we should look for a model that scores well for these particular points.

Also read: Which one works better? Roomba 890 vs 960

Support

iRobot has an ideal support team. We have had talks with them many times, and every time we raised a question to ask for tips and talked about some new features and stuff, they always replied professionally and then gave precise, helpful feedback.

You could reach iRobot’s support through their official website. You could either call them, chat with them using the live chat or email them.

Comparison Chart

Before we conclude our comparison review, we would like to compare Roomba 880 and 870 directly. Since this is a comparison review, we cannot conclude it by saying that it is a tie.

We must choose a winner so that the customer could know which of these 2 robotic vacuums is superior. We have created a detailed table that compares some of the most critical points of Roomba 880 and 870. Just by looking at this table, you could determine which of these 2 is a better purchase.

Again, it is pretty much obvious that the Roomba 880 is a superior robotic vacuum cleaner that has better cleaning power, capabilities, and intelligence.

Unlike the Roomba 870 model, Roomba 880 needs less attention; its automation is more modern and reliable, it provides a more delicate clean, needs little to no manual interference, and could navigate itself throughout the entire house.

Summary

Roomba 870

• Comes with Virtual Walls, not Virtual Wall Lighthouses
• No remote control

Roomba 880

• Comes with two Virtual Wall Lighthouses
• Comes with a remote control

Let’s Conclude