robot vacuum cleaners

[riddler 0]

All right, you convinced me to get one

BTW - I appreciate your writeup in parachutist about the wingsuit flybys. It's a tough call to make, but I think it's the correct one.

Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

[Opie 0]

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All right, you convinced me to get one

BTW - I appreciate your writeup in parachutist about the wingsuit flybys. It's a tough call to make, but I think it's the correct one.

Shoot I think he convinced me to buy one and get a pet. I wasn't even considering either one before this thread.

[kallend 1,626]

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Do they have a kid version? Because right now, I have a bunch of drawing paper, covered with tape, which is also all over the carpet, banister, and princess tent. Will it choke on colored pencils? (I got rid of the crayons over a year ago). Also, will it pick up glitter from clothes and teen-pop-star branded makeup?

Funny you should ask that. I just put the X-mas tree up and had a bunch of glitter and misc crap fall off the ornaments onto the floor. I tried sweeping it up myself and got some of it but not all of it. The Roomba the next day went ape shit where I hadn't gotten all of the glitter and picked it all up.

Its a semi smart machine, if it senses a heavy dirt spot it will concentrate on that spot; if it senses a step or a ledge, it will avoid rolling off of it. It will drive over almost anything, it has the ability to raise and lower itself to go from say a tile/wood floor to a throw rug that is taller in height. With that said, it drives over power cords and usually doesn't move them but some times they do get hung up on things. The dogs have chew toys and marrow bones,some of which are pretty big and you would think that the roomba couldn't roll over it but every once in awhile I'll hear the roomba call for help and there it will be high centered on a dog toy thats almost as tall as the roomba is.

It can trap itself in a bathroom or a room if it manages to get behind the door and close it as it bumps into the items in the environment slightly to sense objects around it and adjust it's trajectory. That is also a weird thing to get used to, it doesn't clean in a linear manner, it has this weird pattern that it follows for cleaning an area, which might explain why people sometimes find a dust bunny or two that it didn't get.

Overall, it's pretty good at just picking up dirt and debris and not sucking up other items on the floor that you wouldn't want it to pick up. I was highly skeptical before I bought the Roomba and read peoples reviews and issues with it but gave it a gamble and now I own two (I have a good deal of floor) and don't have any major heart aches with them so far. I know others may have a different experience or performance from their units but thats to be expected.

Which model(s) do you have?

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[LouDiamond 1]

I have the 550/560 Pet series. I cannot tell you what the differences are between the 550 and the 560. For all practical purposes they are the same machine with all the same parts in the box and look identical.



For those who are going to get one or are thinking of getting one, just keep in mind, you need to do a good cleaning on the Roomba when you empty the bin out. If you expect it to run weeks at a time without emptying the bin/cleaning it, it's probably gonna have some issues at some point.

"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required"
Some people dream about flying, I live my dream
SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING

[mdrejhon 8]

One note, the Pet series is a bit different from the regular Roomba's:
http://www.irobot.com/hrd_right_rail/roomba_rr/roomba_532/Roomba532_rr_faqs.html
Bigger bin, extra set of rollers for easier maintenance...

I don't have a pet (at this time), so I'm using the regular Roomba's. In general, as a rule of thumb, I found I need cleaning a lot more often if I'm having Rosie (er, Roomba) vaccuum the carpet rather than floors.

The regular Roomba is excellent on hardwood floors in pet-free households and is much lower maintenance, does not require cleaning/untangling nearly as much -- after the initial vaccuum, probably 1 in 5 vaccuumings (or even 1 in 10), rather than every vaccuumings. You still do have to empty now and then.

[oldwomanc6 38]

I have all hardwood floors, and have been toying around with this idea for a few years, but never felt they were advanced enough before.

Now i know what I want for Christmas!

lisa
WSCR 594
FB 1023
CBDB 9

[peregrinerose 0]

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Does the pet Roomba work on a tile floor, or just carpet?

Both. Most of my house is tile with small throw rugs/sections of carpet.

Hmmmm. We have 3 large dogs, 4 cats, and a rabbit downstairs. I sweep at least once, usually twice a day. Today I spent 3 hours hand scrubbing the tile. If the Roomba saves me even a couple of hours of work a week I'd be delighted. Might be worth looking into. Thanks for the info.

Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

[mdrejhon 8]

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Does the pet Roomba work on a tile floor, or just carpet?

Both. Most of my house is tile with small throw rugs/sections of carpet.

Hmmmm. We have 3 large dogs, 4 cats, and a rabbit downstairs. I sweep at least once, usually twice a day. Today I spent 3 hours hand scrubbing the tile. If the Roomba saves me even a couple of hours of work a week I'd be delighted. Might be worth looking into. Thanks for the info.

Get one per floor, or one per large house section -- it'll be even better, and you'll have a backup if one of the robots fail (which they might in a year or two from now) so you have a spare while you get the original repaired or replaced. For a household like yours, you'll like it so much that you don't want to be without it.

It's a big timesaver, as long as you have the budget for a couple of robots, and it's cheaper than paying a maid.