Rating  - Fantastic Cleaning Machine
Pros : Cleans Effectively, Hassle Free Operation, Cleans Under Furniture, Deep Cleaning Ability, Covers Entire Room, Pet Friendly
Cons : Frequent Maintenance, Some Corner Issues
Best Uses : Pet Hair, Tile Floors, Large Rooms, Hardwood Floors, Small Rooms, Carpeted Rooms
Describe Yourself : Pet Owner, Busy household, Homeowner
My Robot's Name : Scooby
I just have to say that this product is Fanatastic. I purchased this for my wife as a christmas present while vacation in the US this year. It has been cleaning our rooms left right and centre. It cleans and cleans well. Our pets couldn't bet bothered. We have clutter in our rooms so we sometimes need to move stuff so scooby could get his job done. Because of the clutter I just purchased additional virtual walls/lighthouses so that we can strategically place it in a cluttered room to make it easier for our roomba. In the end we really have no complaints. This christmas, I'm getting the scoba.
Rating  - Not quite "there" for everyone yet
This review is based on an earlier model (the 535 - a special edition), but I just want to mention a couple points that probably apply to all the models.
The main thing I want to emphasize is that you really do need to have someone in the house who doesn't mind working on the dirty brushes, getting the hair and fibers removed. And it does need to be done fairly often, although it will vary with the number of people and pets and how much they shed.
I was glad to find that it wasn't just a glorified bump-and-go toy with a vacuum unit attached. However, it apparently doesn't have the computing and sensing power to do any advanced mapping and trap avoidance. Certain arrangements of furniture and walls or other obstacles can cause it to be stuck in an area for awhile, going over and over some odd corner until it happens upon the narrow space giving access to the rest of the room.
It is also small enough to fit between the legs of some chairs, which allows it to clean under them, but this can lead to it becoming "lost" in a virtual maze under a table surrounded by chairs. Likewise, the low height which allows it to glide effortlessly under our couch and some other furniture is just high enough so that it gets stuck at one or two places under other items of furniture, and you might not want it to go under some things where it would disturb small items you are storing there. Proper placement of a Lighthouse unit can solve these problems, but if you are using them for room dividers, you may want to buy another one or two. Then again, you may find some simple physical object will serve as a barrier for places like that.
I am happy with my Roomba, although I've had some very frustrated moments. I just want to be sure that purchasers realize that a Roomba is not like a regular vacuum but with the ability to clean all by itself. The small dirt container and the brushes that jam up from hair too quickly make its use and your experience with it quite different from that of a regular vacuum, and its tendency to get more or less (or completely) stuck when confronted with certain furniture or arrangements thereof means that you may have to make some adjustments or keep one eye on it every time it runs. Take note of the measurements and do some measuring of things in your house, and consider how complex the arrangement of your furniture is. The remote might help in this area, at least if you use it in time to save yourself from having to get up and rescue the thing from the low ledge under which it would have gotten jammed.
I would certainly recommend the Roomba, but only to people with the money and an interest in robots, perhaps hobbyists, or if you just like to have the latest nifty gadgets and modern electronic marvels. I've recently ordered the book "Hacking Roomba" through Amazon, and I'm looking forward to doing some experiments that might improve my opinion of this machine. I have already read that the newer models (even in series previous to the 500s) have a relatively easy to access interface that can be used without making irreversible changes or voiding the warranty. Again, not something for just anyone, but a bonus for anyone with some basic electronics and programming experience.
I'm tempted to say that it might be worth a try if you have a child who wants a pet, but you have reasons for not getting one. It would be much more like a real pet than the toy dogs and cats and humanoid robots I've seen lately. It isn't friendly or cuddly, but neither are turtles, hermit crabs, etc.
Rating - made my life so much easier
I have a pyranese, two lab mixes, and two cats. Was I concerned about the potential for spending several hundred dollars on something that couldn't handle that kind of hair? Yes. Was I frustrated when I would vacuum in the morning and the next day the fur balls would be lined up for roll call at the base of the stairs? Yes. Could I resist when my 530 series (has the base but not the scheduling feature) went on sale? No. There is maintenance involved. I empty the bin and clean the brushes before every use. I pick the up the cords and unplug the air purifier and the stray sock here and there before I push the start button. I find it a very fair trade for being able to walk on my floor without feeling the teeny bits on the floor on my feet. It moves from the area rug to the floor without problems. The rug which used to be covered with the long white hair from my pyranese, is now clean. It does better, like the manufacture recommends, when I run it every day. It has less work to do I suppose. The cleaning doesn't bother me either. I pull out the bin, tap it against the garbage and pull open the filter and give that a few taps with my fingers as well. That's done. The brushes are very easy to clean. I don't care for the brush tool, I do a better job just pulling the hair off. The design is easy to understand- anything yellow can come off. It takes me two minutes to clean and ten seconds to put it all back on. I find hair wrapped around the ends about every other clean, but again not a problem to pull it off; it isn't the vacuums issue, it is my pyranese with his long white hair. Again, this little bit of maintenance saves me so much time that I have zero complaints about that! I have had no issues with any brushes, including the infamous side brush I've read frequent reviews about. I use the lighthouses to clean one room better before moving on to the next room. It finds its docking station about 95% of the time. I don't know if this is a fault with it, or if the brushes needed to be cleaned and it just stopped in the middle of cleaning because I've started it when I've gone to run errands and come home to find it in the middle of the floor. When you press the start button it will tell you the problem, but I tend to just place it on its dock, satisfied with the cleaning. There are corners that it can't get to, and dirt will slowly build up there. I vacuumm that up with my regular vac about once every two weeks, sometimes longer because it isn't very much. I was pleasantly surprised at how well it got the walls and around table legs. I am now working on month 3 with my little vacuum and I don't want to be without it. It is less loud than an upright vacuum but does make noise, but cmon. It's vacuuming! For pet owners, I would avoid the scheduling roomba because you will have to clean the brushes frequently; you might as well save the money and just do it before you press the start button. I do love the docking station. Again, I highly recommend this little guy!
Rating - Works Better than expected
First let me mention that I have all concrete floors though out my house and some very small thin rugs. It keeps most of the pet hair off the floor and cuts back on our cleaning duties.
Go to the Product Information page
page 10 of 10 5 6 7 8 9 10
Customer Reviews for iRobot,560,853816560011,0853816560011,B000UUBCNO, |
