So I have 4 roomba's. A 981 (Eve), a i7 (Bishop), a 680 (Blossom-14 years or so old) and a Braava Jet M6 (Wall-E). They all work wonderfully. This started out as a hobby...buying them on fleabay, repairing them and selling them. Keeping a few. Now, however, with my Wife's OCD about the floors and our dog, my little Fire Team gets deployed daily on search and destroy missions, and they always meet the challenge on a daily basis...and my floors are dirt/dog hair/human hair free. They are very smart, and sometimes I am just in awe at how well my i7 navigates around the house...just blows me away. Wall-E, well, he belongs on the short bus. But he does what I ask of him. IMO-DON'T buy them new. You can get them second hand (like on Mercari) for HALF of more less then what you would pay for a new one....with many times less then a few hours on them. I have never purchased one new....why would I?
As for spying on me I have nothing hide. It is worth it to me to keep the peace in the family, keep my wife's OCD down, and to keep the house clean. I'm good with it.
My hope, is that Amazon doesn't WHORE THEM OUT. They are FAR MORE RELIABLE AND DURABLE then the Chinese ones. Far more. Easier to work on, easier and less expensive to find and buy parts for as well. A HUGE PLUS.