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- Vacuuming robot picks up dirt and debris with the touch of a button
- Easy-to-empty bagless dustbin; fine-filtration system traps allergens
- Anti-tangle technology; gentle-touch bumper system; built-in cliff sensors
- Self-charging Home Base, 2 Virtual Wall Lighthouses, an extra filter, and more included
- Measures 16-3/4 by 21 by 5 inches; 1-year limited warranty
Makes life a bit easier
I got my Roomba about 7 months ago. I run it every day at 2:00 so I can come home to a clean floor. I found that the lighthouse feature didn't work so well so I just use them for virtual walls (it almost never found its way back to the base using the lighthouses). I have a small house with tile floors so I run it in the main 3 rooms of the house everyday and then manually run it in the back of the house where it is less dirty a couple of times a week. I find it does a good job for the most part. It is not perfect but with three cats and an enormous long haired dog, it has really helped. I even noticed a lot less dust on the furniture. It cannot get everywhere but on the other hand it gets places that are hard for me to get to like under the bed. It doesn't replace a vacuuming with a regular vacuum but it surely keeps everything pretty nice between major cleanings. It requires a bit of attention daily....especially with the amount of hair from my animals. If you don't clean it the brushes get wrapped up with hair and start to bind. Cleaning it really isn't that big of a deal and takes far less time than sweeping up daily.....a couple of minutes and its done. It finds the base about 80% of the time, it gets caught on a couple of things that I cannot help and sometimes it just seems to stop in the middle of the room for no apparent reason. It also will lock itself in a room sometimes, it pushes the door shut. The side brushes do break but irobot sent me some for no charge, I think I am on my third brush. Irobot's customer service is helpful and easy to reach. My only concern is that my little roomba will not lead a terribly long life. I would likely buy another but I would hope that something this pricey would last a while. It does work hard for me every day and cuts down on my daily housekeeping so overall I am happy.
It is the future, and robots clean my house
I received this little guy as a wedding present (along with the Scooba, woohoo!), and I'm really glad I have it. If it were a little more affordable, I would have purchased it for myself. To provide a little context for this review, I am a person with neither the time nor the inclination to clean my floors, ever. I do own a broom and a mop, but mostly as decorating accessories.
The Roomba is not a perfect floor-cleaning machine, but neither is it marketed to be. It's round, so obviously corners will suffer a little neglect. It's non-sentient, so it can't untangle itself from that nest of cords you left on the floor before turning it on. And it's small, so you'll have to empty out the dust bin once, maybe twice each time you use it.
But compared to nothing? This robot is amazing. It's cleaning a week's worth of filth off my hallway floor as I type this. It sings cute beeping songs, it can find its own way home (to the charging dock) when it's done, and it does a pretty good job vacuuming floors! I have wood floors, so maybe I'm not noticing spots it's missed, but when I watch it wander around the room (which is kind of an irresistible urge when it's on - you'll see), it seems to do a thorough job of picking up dust & dirt. (Note: I've never used it on an actual mountain of dirt, just dust bunnies and crumbs and the detritus of daily life.)
I haven't actually tried the scheduler function, though it seems useful if you can remember to keep your floor pretty clear of obstacles on the day it's scheduled to run. I also haven't tried the invisible wall things, because they require D batteries, which I haven't owned in something like 10 years. I just move large obstacles (chairs, garbage cans) from the center of the room to the doorways I don't want the roomba to exit through, and that works fine.
Overall, the robot looks and feels sturdy, hasn't had any issues out of the box, and has made my life (and my floors) about a thousand times cleaner. Buy it if you're a slob, but not if you're already ultra-fastidious about keeping your house clean.
My Cleaning Buddy!
We bought our first Roomba last month and from the first day we were very impressed. I had thought that it was more of a toy or novelty, but this is a serious cleaning assistant! I'm impressed by its diligence in cleaning around obstacles and in corners. Yes, corners -- even though this thing is obviously ROUND, it has a small flat brush that spins around beyond the case to get into the corners.
We have a long hair cat and it does a great job picking up the hair. We clean it after every use and I'm amazed at how much dirt and hair it picks up. It's easy to dump out the dirt, but it's also very easy to clean the brush and roller. I really don't mind cleaning it because I know how hard it has worked!
My wife likes this better than I do -- because now I'm in charge of vacuuming and it's fun! I suppose the suction may not be as great as some of the non-robotic vacuums, but because you can run it more frequently, it gets more dirt and our floors are really clean!
It's easy to start using it -- there's even a demo mode that acts out its basic motions -- and tells you verbally what's happening! It navigates cords and other obstacles very well and it gets hung up someplace, it's smart enough to know it's in trouble so it lets out a little tone or says something and then turns off instead of grinding away.
One last thing -- a pet peeve of mine is that vacuums are so noisy. This one isn't completely silent, but it's pretty quiet -- even quieter since you don't have to stand over it -- it sounds pretty quite from another part of the house!
Love this robot
I just love this robot so much. It did take quite a long time to clean one room (over 30 min for sure), but it always does a great job. Comparing to the conventional vacuum cleaner, this one is much quieter and smaller. The only problem I have so far is that it can't recognize black or even dark blue carpet area. I have a rug with a dark blue edge. This robot can't reach those areas.
I Can't Believe I'm Satisfied!
I was definitely a skeptic when it came to the Roomba Vacuum. Years ago when we had lots of energy and small brains we purchased a Kirby vacuum cleaner. That thing is like pushing around a Volkswagon but since it cost so much we were compelled to use it for eternity...even if it didn't work. Luckily my wife has been out of town for a couple of months and I decided to take matters into my own hands. That's when Ruby entered my life.
Ruby the iRobot 560 Roomba Vacuum has removed more cat hair that Ima Jean's Groom-a-rama does in a year! The little brush on the side found all of the cat's secret hiding places for chicken bones, rubber bands, popcorn, sweet gum balls, and what-not. The only thing that would make it better would be a built in chipper-shredder. And maybe a little dozer blade on front. Possibly a larger dirt containment bin...say a half bushel.
Seriously, this thing is great. I highly recommend it to everyone that hates to vacuum. I've had it a month and vacuumed more than ever before in my life. It's easy to use and clean. It also seems to be of good quality.
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