After reviewing many low-end vacuum cleaners and taking into account the performance of an ECOVACS DEEBOT that we have on our first floor, I decided to order the Roomba 614 for our upstairs area since iRobot has an amazing spare parts catalog (including even replacement batteries!) that should help this one to far outlast other entry level robot vacuums. After using it for a few months, I think this makes a great robot vacuum for an apartment, the elderly, or a family's upstairs.Think of the 614 as the iPod Shuffle of robot vacuums - it comes from the industry standard brand, but it's very basic in functionality. I think that's okay; the Roomba 614 gives up features our DEEBOT has such as a remote and a scheduling timer, but doesn't having a remote to tell the vacuum what to do and where to go defeat the purpose of it autonomously vacuuming your house? The only reason I use the DEEBOT remote is to pause it when it begins its scheduled clean and I'm on a conference call from home. Since the 614 requires you to manually click "Clean," I find no need for a remote for the Roomba. Plus, I don't mind manually clicking "Clean" because these vacuums will hit everything in their wake. You really can't use an autonomous vacuum without first picking up your house, so not having the scheduled clean means you can first tidy up and then have it vacuum the house on your terms.The simplicity of the Roomba further extends to its audible alerts, which I think makes it an excellent choice for elderly or tech-averse people. When the Roomba gets stuck, it audibly says "Error: Please move the Roomba to a new location and click clean." This tells the user exactly what to do, whereas the DEEBOT will beep like a dead fire alarm for 5 minutes until you get fed up with it and give it attention - and then you have to figure out why it was beeping in the first place.Saving the most important part for last: this Roomba does an excellent job of cleaning. Granted, we have hardwood floors, no pets, and no kids, so we are an easy use case. The 614 doesn't have the mapping technology that saves pictures of your floor plan like the more expensive models do, but it hasn't really been a problem so far. We use it about once a week, and the canister is almost always nearly full. We have a Shark upright vacuum that we use for heavier cleans, but I've found that the Shark isn't picking up much more than the 614 has already gotten. Most impressively, the edge sensing technology is phenomenal. Our entire upstairs is loft-style, and the Roomba has about 30 feet of edge to deal with where it gets perilously close to falling 12 feet (photo in review). We didn't buy the extra $60 "invisible wall" sensor, and the Roomba has been entirely successful not falling without it.Overall, the Roomba 614 is a great value as a simple, easy-to-use budget robot vacuum. I definitely prefer it over our DEEBOT, and the lack of additional features hasn't been a hindrance at all in its usability. iRobot nailed the basics such as suction, user interface, and the fantastic edge detection system, and I highly recommend it as a robot vacuum for a small home or upstairs.NOTE: The only issue I had with the Roomba 614 is with our IKEA Poang chair. The rear of the Poang chair is low enough that the Roomba cannot detect it, yet it's high enough that the Roomba would get stuck multiple times during a cleaning. If you have a Poang chair and are interested in this vacuum, I recommend putting the Poang chair on felt non-slip furniture pads (photo in review). Raising the Poang 1/8" has prevented the Roomba from getting stuck anymore, and the $3 furniture pads are much cheaper than buying a $60 Roomba "invisible wall" for a $60 chair.