Roomba 694: Multi-Surface Robotic Cleaner with Dirt Detect Technology
From this Roomba 694 review, you will find out about the robotic cleaner that ensures automatic and smart cleaning of your home while requiring a bare minimum of your attention. It's also one of the most affordable cleaners in the Roomba lineup.
Dimensions
The Roomba 694 has 13.4 inches in diameter and 3.54 inches in height. The weight is 6.77 pounds. Inside, it contains a dustbin of an average capacity (0.35 liters).
Features
The robotic cleaner has two main bristle brushes. They can grab dirt from both hard floors and carpets. The vac is also equipped with one edge-sweeping brush that is designed at a 27° angle to reach edges and corners. The bot employs a standard 3-stage cleaning system. It has a Dirt Detect technology that allows the cleaner to spot dirty areas and clean them more thoroughly. The cleaning head automatically adjusts its height to get on the carpet. In addition, it keeps the brush in closer contact with the carpet bristles.
You can fully control the vac using the iRobot Genius app. Apart from standard functions, it also allows you to schedule the cleaning sessions and set the cleaning time (15, 30, and 45 minutes). It's also possible to use a smart voice assistant (Alexa or Google Assistant) to control the cleaner. Connect it to your smart speaker, and you won't have to move a finger to give commands to your Roomba 694.
The cleaner has a full set of smart sensors to navigate the floor surface: under and around furniture, along edges, etc. Unfortunately, it lacks a mapping feature or zoned cleaning. So, the vac won't create a layout of your home's floor, but it will move in a consistent cleaning pattern (straight lines).
The Roomba uses a 2100 mAh battery that runs for 90 minutes, and then the cleaner automatically docks itself. As it's stated in the Roomba 694 manual, the bot takes 3 hours to fully charge the bot.
The unit is equipped with the AeroVac filter. So, it has quite a basic filtration system that is worse than the HEPA one, but it still enhances the cleaner's performance by filtering dust, pollen, and other dangerous allergens.
In fact, this model is very similar to the Roomba 675, but it has a slightly better cleaning performance and costs a bit more. In my test, it removed around 95% of all debris from the floor (cereal, pet hair, etc.). Just make sure to remove the electrical cords from the cleaner's way since it detects them as obstacles.
This Roomba cleaner may lack some high-tech features, but it ensures pretty good automatic cleaning. That is why it wins an overall score of 8/10 for its features.
Design
The body of the iRobot Roomba 694 robot vacuum cleaner is made of black plastic and has a round shape. There are 3 buttons on its upper surface: Clean, Spot cleaning mode, and Home. The last two buttons form a ring around the large Clean button. The cleaner moves across the floor surface using two large rubberized wheels.
Such a design proved itself as a convenient one many years ago. So, I'm confident in estimating it at 9/10.
Conclusion
Although this Roomba cleaner lacks the most advanced features, it still gets the job done, so you can forget about cleaning your home every week. So, in the final part of this iRobot Roomba 694 review, I can recommend this model to anyone looking for a simple, low-cost cleaner that can ensure good cleaning results.
