Robotic Slaves

Nakatomi2010

So, wife and I are going to be moving into a new home in a couple weeks and it's flooring is going to consist primarily of hardwood laminate and tile, with carpet in the bedrooms. We have three cats, whose hair has a tendancy to get everywhere. I've been looking at the iRobot Roomba more and more and was wondering if anyone here has used them...

I'm wanting to get one that can clean on a schedule, this way I figure I can just have it vacuum like every other day while we're away at work... But my wife's father is being all like "We know people who have them and they're not happy", which based on the people they know to me sounds more like "I know people who have them and have no clue how to use it properly"... So I'm here asking you folks...

Do you use a Roomba at home? Which model and do you like it?

Bonus question: Do you use a Scooba at home, and do you like it?

Thanks.

Epyon9283

I have an older Roomba scheduler (I think that's the model). It had a tendency to get stuck in odd places in my house so we had to be around to dislodge it once we heard it beeping.

Nakatomi2010

Epyon9283 wrote: »

I have an older Roomba scheduler (I think that's the model). It had a tendency to get stuck in odd places in my house so we had to be around to dislodge it once we heard it beeping.

The newer ones have features that avoid this... Well, supposed to...

krapst78

I wrote this in the H/A forum when discussing the roomba and I think it's still pretty applicable.

I have a 3rd gen Roomba 550 and I would not recommend it. The thing about the Roomba is that it depends on your living situation. I live in a small studio apartment with hardwood floors with a depressed entry area. The area is not low enough for the "cliff sensor" to detect and the Roomba will fall off and become incompacitated. This causes the robot to continually sound off a loud annoying warning signal until it is picked up and placed on level ground. The Roomba also does a very poor job of avoiding non-tethered obstacles and loves smashing repeatedly into the wall over and over again. If you have any lightweight chairs, lamps, or anything with an extension cord going across the floor, be prepared to have them "rearranged". Basically I have to adjust my room for the Roomba instead of having the Roomba adjust to my room. Owning and operating a Roomba is just like having a really stupid one-eyed accident prone dog.

autono-wally, erotibot300

that cleans

Mazer Rackham

Instead of spending your time cleaning you will be spending time maintaining your damn Roomba. Be prepared to swap out bristles and clean out the Roomba etc constantly. Pain in the fucking ass.

Wezoin

I have the 560, and it does a fairly good job. Have to clean the brushes every three days or so, but it only takes a few minutes. I have 2 cats and a dog, so I probably should have gotten the 562 (pet edition), not sure whats really different about it, but apparently it deals with pet hair better. I don't use my normal vacuum anymore at all, just put the roomba on whatever floor I want cleaned and leave it to do its thing. I schedule it to clean the main floor of my house at 3am everyday, so I wake up to a nice clean main floor, that said, there is one rug in my kitchen it gets stuck on, so I pick it up before bed. For the upstairs I just wait until I feel like it needs cleaning then carry it upstairs and push start.

That said, I have worries about how well they are built. I find myself calling them every month or so to get a new part sent out (covered under warranty) but still, once the warranty is up I have a feeling keeping it running would become expensive. None of the parts I've replaced have broken again though, so maybe I just got a lemon and am slowly replacing it with better parts. Other people I know don't seem to have the same bad luck I do with the parts.

I would recommend one, as its improved the cleanliness of my house quite a bit, but there are some issues to consider.

Gihgehls

The only difference with the pet roombas is they have these little plastic disks at each "pole" of each brush. This stops hair from getting where the brushes mate with the brush drive assembly. I have two cats and a regular 5XX series (not pet) and the minor difference means I just have to occasionally pull the yellow bearings off the brushes and clean those. I've owned three Roombas and they have all performed well for me.

Axen

I actually have two of the earlier models. I forgot which, the classic red ones that have two settings "Clean/Don't Clean". I also have a docking station for each of em.

I find the little guys really handy. I turn them on in the morning, one is in my living room and the other in my bedroom. They go about doing what they do. When I get home from work both of my rooms are vacuumed nicely and the little Roombas (Hack and Slash as I call them) are, usually, back in their "homes" recharging. I think a real vacuum would do a better job, but I am lazy and robots are cool.

They are generally good at not getting stuck and have a pretty good track record of getting back into their homes. Still, once in awhile I will find one with a dead battery underneath the couch.

I personally don't find them all that loud, certainly more quiet then my vacuum.

I was looking into the one that mops floors too. I only ever hear good things about the newer models so maybe I will replace Hack and Slash at some point in time. I would really like the one you can schedule.

Gihgehls

You can schedule your current Roomba Red with the scheduling remote.