Our readers have bought thousands of entry-level Roomba 650s, but today we’ve spotted an all-time low price on the upgraded 690, which adds a few much-needed features.
As far as vacuuming performance goes, this should be essentially identical to the 650; the difference all comes down to connectivity. Built-in Wi-Fi allows you to schedule and start the Roomba from anywhere via a smartphone app, or even control it with your voice via Amazon Alexa or Google Home.
I know “smart” features on a lot of products are basically just an excuse to charge more, but as a Roomba owner, I think these make a ton of sense. I can tell you from experience that programming a Roomba without an app is something I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy, and the ability to start it remotely means you can run the Roomba while you’re out of the house, and come back to clean floors.
Today’s $275 deal is an all-time low, and a match for what we were expecting to see on Black Friday, so there’s no reason to wait.
The high-end Roomba 980 has also dropped to its Black Friday price of $800 a little early. Needless to say, that is not cheap, but compared to the 690, it’s a significantly stronger vacuum, and has a suite of sensors that can map your house, and even show you on an app which rooms it’s cleaned, and which it still needs to get to.
If you don’t need Wi-Fi, the Roomba 650 (which is mostly identical to the 690, save for the smartphone and Alexa integration) is down to an all-time low $250 now.
If you can get by without the smart home connection and scheduling features, pick up this Roomba 614 at an all-time low of $225.