iRobot is one of the most trusted names in the robotic vacuum industry. The Roomba i4+ and Roomba i6+, while similar, do have a couple differences. Here’s a look at the most salient differences you should know before making your purchase decision.
Contents
- 1 Difference 1: The Roomba i4+ uses floor trackers to navigate, while the i6+ uses cameras to navigate.
- 2 Difference 2: You can tell the Roomba i6+ to clean a specific room via the app or voice commands. You cannot do so with the i4+.
- 3 Difference 3: The “keep out zone” feature in the app is available on the i6+, but not on the i4+.
- 4 Difference 4: The Roomba i6+ is more expensive than the Roomba i4+.
- 5 Similarity 1: Both robot vacuums come with the auto-emptying clean base.
- 6 Similarity 2: Both use anti-tangle brush rolls.
- 7 Similarity 3: Both vacuum the floor in logical, straight lines.
- 8 Conclusion
The Roomba i4+ has floor tracking sensors tracker that maps the room and then drives to clean. The Roomba i6+, on the other hand, uses cameras (in addition to floor trackers) to navigate around furniture and corners.
Both robot vacuums create a map of your house, it’s just the technology that they use to create the map is different.
Difference 2: You can tell the Roomba i6+ to clean a specific room via the app or voice commands. You cannot do so with the i4+.
Because it has a camera, the Roomba i6+ has the ability to be directed to a specific room. You can either use the app or voice command. The i4+, on the other hand, does not have such capabilities.
Difference 3: The “keep out zone” feature in the app is available on the i6+, but not on the i4+.
Keep out zones in the app lets you tell the app not to clean a certain area. You can specify areas that you don’t want the Roomba to clean, like your kitchen or your office. This feature is only available on the Roomba i6+, not on the Roomba i4+.
Difference 4: The Roomba i6+ is more expensive than the Roomba i4+.
For those on a budget, I recommend getting the i4+, because it has all the important features you would probably care about. Although the i6+ is nice, the additional features do not justify the extra cost. Having said that, spring for the i6+ if keep out zones and directed room cleaning is important to you.
See Roomba i4+ on Amazon
That’s it for the differences. Now onto the similarities.
Similarity 1: Both robot vacuums come with the auto-emptying clean base.
Both the iRobot Roomba i4+ and i6+ come with a self-emptying clean base docking station. The clean base is where the robot returns to when it’s done with the cleaning job. A motor in the clean base suctions the contents of the robot into the clean base’s vacuum bag, where it can be eventually emptied by hand.
There are versions of these vacuums that come without the clean base, and they are named the Roomba i4 and i6, respectively. The plus in in Roomba i4+ and Roomba i6+ refers to the fact that they are the base robot vacuums PLUS the clean base.
Similarity 2: Both use anti-tangle brush rolls.
Both robots also have an anti-tangle brush roll to prevent hair from getting tangled in the rollers. Lower end robot vacuums often come with bristled brushrolls, which are a pain to clean. The anti-tangle brush rolls makes hair clean up a breeze.
Similarity 3: Both vacuum the floor in logical, straight lines.
Both robots have the ability to map out your house, and therefore can clean the floor in an efficient, linear manner. Gone are the “bump and turn”, drunken-sailor style cleaning of the more basic Roombas.
Conclusion
As you can see, the Roomba i6+ has a few features that the Roomba i4+ does not. What’s really nice about Roomba is that they have a wide range of products to suit different needs.
If you still have a hard time deciding, I recommend getting the Roomba i4+. It has all the important features you need in a robot vacuum and costs less than the Roomba i6+.