Roomba 650 vs 690: Pros & Cons and Verdict

There are dozens of robotic vacuum manufacturers who promise to create the most outstanding, reliable and durable products. While the advertisements seem to present lucrative deals, the devices for sale are often, in reality, poorly-built and nonfunctional.

Obviously, that isn’t the whole story, and there are products out there that ‘do what it says on the tin’. iRobot is one of the most reliable and respected brands on the market and has released several best-selling robotic vacuums. Two of their notable creations are Roomba 650 and 690.

These two smart floor cleaners are well-known for being reliable, functional and powerful devices that have high ratings and thousands of satisfied customers.

Roomba 650 vs 690: Pros & Cons and Verdict

In this article, we’ll review, compare and rate the most important aspects of these robotic vacuums. We’ll present detailed charts, and lastly, we’ll come up with a reasonable verdict and crown one of these two as the leading product.

1. Setup

The first topic we need to write about is the setup processes of Roomba 650 and 690. Today, everyone looks for smart gadgets that are easy to activate since no one likes spending hours reading manuals, watching guides and surfing hundreds of forums.

It’s essential for Roomba 690 and 650 to have a simple setup process since it plays a significant role in user satisfaction.

Since both Roomba 650 and 690 belong to the 600-series edition, they have a similar setup process, and you’ll have zero trouble completing it. I can speak from my own experience and confirm that setting up either of these two takes 5-10 minutes.

Here’s a short guide on how to set up your robotic vacuum:

• Plug in the dock
• Pull out the yellow plastic sticking out from the battery
• Connect your robotic vacuum to the dock and wait for it to charge fully
• Download the mobile application and follow the setup guide (in case you get the 690 model. Roomba 650 doesn’t work with the iRobot’s app)

The packages of both smart floor cleaners include a wonderfully written user’s manual that’ll guide you through the whole process. Alternatively, reach out to iRobot’s support team. Their customer care is outstanding.

2. Design

It’s essential for a modern smart home product to be both functional and beautifully designed. Smart home shoppers always look for devices that are eye-catching and attractive. People only want to buy devices that will look good in their home (or office) interiors.

If Roomba 650 and 690 fail to please the eye, buyers might consider getting other, more aesthetic, robotic vacuums.

Roomba 650

Roomba 650 is a beautiful robotic vacuum that has the all-time best-seller status. One of the significant factors that contributed to the success of this smart floor cleaner is its looks.

Roomba 650 is a smart floor cleaner with a highly covetable design. If you don’t know how the 650 model looks, take a look at the picture below:

Roomba 650 is truly one of the most attractive robotic vacuums I’ve seen. It’s still one of my favourites, and as other owners stated, it’s something that raises curiosity and makes guests wonder what on earth this sleek, little thing is.

Besides the visual aspect, it’s important to know the dimensions of the smart floor cleaner since it plays a vital role regarding cleaning. The dimensions of Roomba 650 are 13.4 x 3.6 x 13.4 inches, and it weighs 11.7 pounds. Fortunately, it’s well sized, and the 650 model will have zero trouble reaching the trickiest parts of your house.

Roomba 690

Roomba 690 is a newly-released robotic vacuum that has caught everyone’s attention. It’s a most promising smart floor cleaner and has changed how affordable robotic vacs position on the market.

If you don’t know how the 690 model looks, take a look at the picture posted below:

Unlike the Roomba 650, the 690 model has a silver finish. It seems iRobot wanted to offer something new and trendy. As a result, they ditched the iconic minimalistic, black look of traditional Roomba models and released the 690 in a black-and-silver body.

Roomba 690 measures 13.0 inches wide and 3.7 inches tall. Those dimensions are pretty good, and Roomba 690 will easily crawl under low-profile furniture.

Like other traditional 600-series models, Roomba 690 has a large ‘Clean’ button on top of it. There’s another icon for sending the device back to its docking station.

3. Features

What we need to write about now is the features of Roomba 650 and 690. One of the main reasons why people purchase robotic vacuums are their features and capabilities. Hence we’ve created a detailed chart that shows the features of both smart floor cleaners.

ROOMBA 650	ROOMBA 690
Auto Docking	3-Stage Cleaning System
3-Stage Cleaning System	Smartphone Control
Self-Recharge & Auto Adjust to Floors	Amazon Alexa & Google Assistant Integration
Convenient Scheduling	Wi-Fi Connectivity
Virtual Wall Technology	Auto Recharge
Spinning Side Brush	Spot Cleaning
Good Battery Life	iAdapt Responsive Navigation
Dirt Detection	Virtual Wall Technology
Simple Operation	Convenient Scheduling

The chart clarifies that the Roomba 690 is an enhanced robotic vacuum built on the Roomba 650 robot platform. It now offers more features, flexibility, and power.

Roomba 690 is the most affordable smart floor cleaner that offers the features associated with an expensive robotic vacuum at a much lower cost.

4. Performance

What we need to cover now is the performance rates of our robotic vacuums. We need to be sure that Roomba 690 and 650 belong to the category of smart floor cleaners that can get the job done.

There have been a lot of reports where people mention the ineffectiveness and inefficiency of their robotic vacuums. It’s essential to know that Roomba 650 and 690 won’t be causing us much trouble.

Roomba 650

We’ve tested Roomba 650 in a 16×20 room. The robotic vacuum took around an hour to get the job done, and after giving the signal that the cleaning process was over, Roomba 650’s dustbin was full of dirt. To fully charge your smart floor cleaner takes an hour and a half.

Suggested Read: Roomba 650 vs 860: Pros & Cons and Verdict

The most important aspect of the cleaning process of a robotic vacuum is the style it uses. Now, it’s true that Roomba 650 isn’t the smartest vacuum on the market and it’s well-known that it has some issues.

The main drawback of Roomba 650 is its random cleaning style. In other words, the smart floor cleaner has no idea which places require less or more cleaning. It frequently misses spots, and it’s common for the robotic vacuum to hit the same spots over and over.

Such cases lead to extra battery consumption, which, together with the protracted vacuuming, extends the time taken to do the job since the smart floor cleaner might need a few charges to complete the cleaning process.

Roomba 690

Roomba 690 was tested in the same room and had to operate in the same conditions. While Roomba 690 was more effective and delivered better results than the 650 model, it had certain problems that were a bit annoying.

Being Amazon Alexa-enabled and having enhanced sensing abilities makes the 690 model outstanding. Still, here’s what made us question the statement that the ‘Roomba 690 is a complete smart floor cleaner’.

Suggested Read: Roomba 620 Review: Pros & Cons and Verdict

The cliff sensors of Roomba 690 often mistook rugs for edges and stairs. It looks like the infrared sensors of Roomba 690 have a hard time differentiating dark coloured furniture from danger.

While that’s not a huge problem (not everyone has black rugs lying around), we’ve noticed another issue with Roomba 690. It has trouble returning to its docking base. If you didn’t put the station base in an obstacle-free area and Roomba 690 is far from it, there’s a possibility of the smart floor cleaner not returning.

The actual cleaning process of the 690 model was pretty good. It cleans much better than the majority of its competitors, and Roomba 690 surely beats the 650 model in every aspect.

5. Cleaning Abilities

Knowing the cleaning abilities of these smart floor cleaners is the crucial aspect of our comparison article since the main reason why people purchase robotic vacuums is their cleaning abilities. If Roomba 650 and 690 can’t perform at an acceptable level, there’s no incentive to purchase one.

Roomba 650

Roomba 650 is pretty good at cleaning. We’ve tested Roomba 650 on rugs and hard floors. We made it clean fur, spilt things, dirt, and dust. The results were more than acceptable, and we didn’t expect the smart floor cleaner to have such a positive effect.

Due to the random cleaning style, Roomba 650 might miss a spot or two. If this happens, you can either reactivate your robotic vacuum and make it go for another round or manually clean what’s left.

As soon as the smart floor cleaner finishes its work, it’ll automatically return to its docking station to get a full recharge. It takes around an hour and a half for the robotic vacuum to fully charge.

One of the drawbacks of Roomba 650 is that it doesn’t notify you when the dust bin gets full. You have to manually check it every once in a while to make sure it’s not full.

Must Read: Roomba 650 vs 880: Pros & Cons and Verdict

Roomba 650 doesn’t work with iRobot’s mobile application, it doesn’t have a remote control and doesn’t integrate with Amazon Alexa. Since the robotic vacuum is a bit old, it doesn’t have the modern features and integrations.

You might ask what’ll happen if your robotic vacuum gets stuck between walls, on rugs, under the sofa or somewhere else? Will it free itself or should you manually take it out?

Luckily, Roomba 650 is excellent at freeing itself from cords, strings and rug fringe. It automatically reverses the brushes and backs up.

Roomba 690

Roomba 690 is a Wi-Fi connected robotic vacuum that supports Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant integrations. It can be controlled via voice and offers a lot more flexibility than the previous generation smart floor cleaners.

Roomba 690 is superb at cleaning, and it delivered sharper results than the 650 model. The navigation system of Roomba 690 is advanced and navigates itself more effectively.

The integration with Amazon Alexa went smoothly, and Roomba 690 was pretty good at listening to the commands. The only drawback we’ve seen here is that the smart floor cleaner has trouble returning to the docking station.

We’ve tried pressing the icon on top of the robotic vacuum, doing it via Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa but for some reason, Roomba 690 didn’t feel like returning there.

Interesting Read: bObsweep PetHair vs Roomba: Pros & Cons and Verdict

The charging process of Roomba 690 took more than two hours, and on a single charge, the smart floor cleaner lasted for 75 minutes.

We have to say that the 75 minutes of Roomba 690 were better than the 45 minutes of Dyson 360 (on max mode).

What I don’t like about the mobile application of the robotic vacuum is that it doesn’t have the feature for manual controls. If the robotic vacuum is stuck and can’t free itself, it would’ve been great if we could navigate the device via the phone app.

The AeroVac Technology of Roomba 690 made the smart floor cleaner a lot stronger than previous 600-series models; it has 5x more vacuuming power.

Lastly, Roomba 690 still relies on acoustic sensors and it doesn’t offer the enhanced sensors of the likes of Roomba 960 and 980.

Still, Roomba 690 is the most efficient, functional, flexible and affordable robotic vacuum. It’s the only 600-series smart floor cleaner that is W-Fi equipped.
 

6. Advantages and Disadvantages

While slowly moving to the closing parts of our comparison article, it’s essential to know the advantages and disadvantages of our robotic vacuums to avoid any misunderstandings before purchasing either of these two.

To find out all the advantages and disadvantages of Roomba 650 and 690, we’ve created two detailed charts that show all the pros and cons of these smart floor cleaners.

Roomba 650

PROS	CONS
Auto Docking	Weak AI
3-Stage Cleaning System	Weak User Experience
Simple to Use	Long Charging Times
Self-Charge	No Wi-Fi
Smart Cleaning	No Amazon Alexa & Google Assistant Integrations
Good Battery
Relatively Quiet
Smart Schedules
Virtual Wall System
Works With All Floor Types	Purchase Roomba 650

Roomba 690

PROS	CONS
Wi-Fi Connectivity	Faulty Docking Feature
Mobile Application Controls	Small Navigation Issues
Amazon Alexa & Google Assistant Integrations
Good Battery Life
Self-Charging
3-Stage Cleaning System
Enhanced Sensors
5X More Power
Easy to Use
Affordable	Purchase Roomba 690

So both of these robotic vacuums offer excellent features with a few cons. Roomba 650 and 690 are top-notch smart floor cleaners that are affordable and flexible.

Judging from the charts above, it’s visible that the 690 model is a superior device that offers more diversity, flexibility, and freedom.

7. Support

It’s essential for modern smart home products to have responsive, informative and reliable customer care areas since buyers often get confused with specific processes and after failing to find answers on their own; as a last resort, they reach out to the support teams for further guidance and tips.

Luckily, iRobot customer care is outstanding and is one of the best in the robotic vacuum industry. I’ve reached out a few times and always received professional answers and tips.