 3 dogs and an RV |
| Review Date: November 10, 2005 |
| Reviewer: Randy Reeves, Gold Bar, Wa USA |
Simply put, it exceeds my expectations. I'm traveling in a 26ft class C Rv with 3 dogs and a husband, all of which shed copious amounts of fur. My partner was very critical of this vac before we got it, and to be honest, I bought it for our cabin, not the RV. However it arrived while we were on the road so I took a risk at an "told you so" and used it in the RV. To my delight, we are hair free for a month now without having to lift a finger (except cleaning the bin and brushes on a regular basis) and the skeptic even praises it and named it Hazel. For a techno-phobe, this is saying something. It does a good job avoiding problem areas like steps and squeaky toys. The dogs watch it from the sofa and have accepted it as a family member. I find we watch it a lot too. It's mesmerizing. We run it once a day, often as we walk the dogs, and return to a very clean floor. I disagree with those who say it is a toy. It is not a toy; it does a good job maintaining a floor on a daily basis. I wouldn't expect it to replace my regular vacuum but rather replace daily vacuuming. We use a shop vac once every two weeks for those hard to reach areas that dog fur always seems to find (door pockets, top of dressers, etc), and use Hazel for daily maintenance to keep our travel quarters shedding fur free.
Two things you need to be aware of about this device. It doesn't like rugs with tassels, or shoe laces, or anything else a normal vacuum doesn't like. Roomba doesn't always see these things as obstacles. It does a great job of getting un-stuck (it uses what I call the dung beetle approach by rearing up and turning around...fun to watch).
You also need to keep it clean. I clean mine every other day. Emptying the bin is one thing, but I use the included cleaning tool to keep the brushes hair free on a regular basis. Since we have so many dogs in a confined space, it can build up hair on the brushes quickly. At first I thought this was going to be a bother, but its something I enjoy doing. Its like grooming a friend (in a monkey at the zoo kind of way).
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Independence from the floor stuff
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| Review Date: October 16, 2005 |
| Reviewer: Charles Pugh, San Diego, CA |
| I spend a lot of time away from my house and don't always have any time to clean when I am home. I also like to have a fairly clean house with minimal work when I do get home. I got this vacumn about 2 weeks ago. I wanted to give it a fair chance before I reviewed it. Setup was incredibly easy and only took about 5 minutes. Everything was already in the machine except for the battery. I had the vacumn charged and ready to go 2 hours after I got home. The first couple of runs it picked up more dirt than I expected. I had it run once a day every day for the first week. Since then I only use it 1-2 times a week. It does such a good job that there is no need to run it more often in my place. The main area I use it is the front room and kitchen areas. They are connected at one end and the machine has no problem cleaning both without getting lost. The scheduler function of the walls and the vacumn work as they are supposed to. One of the few drawbacks is the fact that it is quiet due to a fairly low power suction motor. This necessitates the repeats of areas that iRobot talks about. The machine is sturdy and hasn't marked up any of my furniture or floorboards. It is small enough to fit under the overhang of my floor level kitchen cabinets. It runs much slower on deep carpet and although it can clean that type of area it isn't recommended. Clean up is easy and only takes a couple of minutes. I recommend cleaning out the dust bin area with a damp cloth at least twice a month. The kit comes with extra brushes and filters so that you don't have to worry about that when you first buy the vacumn. The whole kit comes with the scheduler vacumn, 2 scheduler walls, the scheduler remote, the floor base station with portable charger, and brushes and filter in place plus the extras mentioned above. You need 4 AA batteries for the remote and 4 C cell batteries (2 each) for the virtual walls. Be sure to thoroughly read the owners manual before using the vacumn the first time to make sure you know what it is going to do. Check the website to find out what the sounds mean. I definitely recommend this kit and will be buying the Scooba (their mop version) as soon as it comes out also. |
The roomba is worth it- but know what you're getting.
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| Review Date: August 28, 2006 |
| Reviewer: R. Dotson, Houston, TX |
OK. First let me say that this product is amazing and well worth the money. As an engineer, this thing has amazing obstacle avoidance software, and it navigates rooms extremely well. I put a good deal of research into this vac before I bought it - so let me tell you what you can expect, and more importantly- what not to expect. The majority of reviews that are negative are from people with defective units or people who expected something completly unrealistic. On a side note - all of the units have the same capabilities. So I would recommend that you buy a slightly cheaper unit to test it out. If you really like it, then buy the schduler seperately. The high-end vacuum is no different than the low end one. The only exception is the red - which doesn't have "max" clean mode. I personally recommend the sage unit that comes with the home base. It has everything you really need to fully test out the unit - the home base is particularly useful, but the black basic remote (not the white scheduler remote that comes with this unit) is not very useful.
My wife and I have about a 1500 square foot house. To really get the most out of the unit, we divide our house into 3 areas, and we move the roomba each day into whatever area we want to clean (one large bedroom, the living room, and two smaller rooms joining a bathroom). We then run it in there 2-3 times that day and move it into the next area the following day. I was suprised at how well it will navigate between rooms if you leave the doors open. Anyway, the floors are very clean - much cleaner than they ever were with an upright. The roomba really does a great job on the baseboards and under furniture. The suction is NOT as strong as an upright, but the unit will cover most areas several times - and after several times, it will pick up as much or more than most uprights. It has to hit larger pieces of debris head on to be picked up. There are some cases where the roomba may hit a small spot only once or miss a spot completely after a full 1-2 hour cylcle. However, if you run it multiple times in a day in the same place - you will have very clean floors.
If you think you will buy this vacuum, set it in the middle of your house, punch a few buttons, walk away - and your floors will forever be clean - do not buy this vacuum. This vacuum does requre that you empty the bin at least once a day. It does requre that you find out what type of items it may get stuck on the first few times you run it. It does reqire that you make sure you don't have cords or tassels in its way. It does requre that you clean the brushes every few uses. The roomba cannot do anything a normal vacuum does not. It cannot clean over tassels, it cannot magically hop over 1/2" thick area rugs, it cannot run over wires and ignore them. If you are willing to do these few things, such as "roomba-proof" the room, and clean the brushes - it is MUCH EASIER than a traditional vacuum. It will keep your floors very clean, and you will be very happy.
Let me tell you a story about why the robot is still a robot... My wife and I were watching TV and the roomba was cleaning (it's not really louder than a dust buster). We have a puppy... Well... the puppy pooped on the tile entryway while we were watching. The roomba... ran over the puppy poop and drug it all over the carpeted floor next to the entryway while smearing the poop all over itself (brushes, small places, dust bin). Needless to say - it was not pretty - and we had caught it after about 5 minutes. One and a half hours, and 150 Q-tips later - the roomba was clean, the carpet was clean - and the puppy was outside. Lesson learned - watch what the Roomba may run into. It's not completely fool-proof. It did it's job... and if I had watched the puppy - things would have gone well.
This is a great product if you don't have unrealistic expectations. It's a great product if you don't get a dud. The jetsons are not here yet - but I can honestly say my carpet and hard floors are much cleaner than they have ever been, and the unit is very easy to use. It is well worth the money.
Ok - So I wanted to edit my review. The roomba has honestly done such a good job - that we no longer run it two or three times a day in the same room. We run it once a day in the heaviest travelled areas (living room & kitchen), and on the weekends in the guest bedrooms. It really is fantastic. In fact, when we whipe off the counters or the table - we just whipe dust and crumbs onto the floors - because we know the roomba will pick it up pretty soon! |
A Godsend for disabled or busy people and GermanShedder owners
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| Review Date: October 14, 2005 |
| Reviewer: gsdsmiles, New Jersey |
Strengths: Does exactly what my DysonAnimal does...without me!
Weaknesses: Doesn't brush my German Shepherd or prepare meals or do laundry
Summary: The Roomba is a Godsend for me. I am disabled and own a German Shepherd who sheds tremendous amounts of hair and my 1,000 square feet of Pergo shows every blessed one! (Grrrrrrr) It does a perfect job. It is amusing to watch as it unsticks itself from tight spots. It transistions itself very well from rugs to pergo to ceramic tile and the battery life is very long. (I usually set mine to clean at 2:00 am and it cleans EVERYWHERE. No dustbunnies and I have CLEAN WHITE SOCKS because it's so thorough! It returns to its homebase with a belly full of doghair, dust and sand.)During the day, (if company is coming) I have to turn mine off after about an hour and a half...it will keep on going cleaning up after my dog otherwise. Watching my dog and the Roomba interact is worth the money alone. Whenever it bumps into one of her bones, my dog frantically hides every single one of her bones EACH time this happens! Other than that she considers it an affible family member! It's very gentle. It gently rides over her tail or gently bumps her nose while she sleeps. It goes gently along the edges of my stained glass fireplace cover, my drapes and cleans perfectly around the legs of chairs, everything for that matter. And unlike my Dyson, it doesn't leave dust on itself. It takes 1 to 2 minutes tops to empty the bin, shake the filter and clean the brushes.....I feel totally spoiled! My disabled friend recommended it to me. She still has the ORIGINAL Roomba model as well as six Basset Hounds and 2 teenagers! Rush to get one if you prefer doing things other than vacuuming!
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WOW!
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| Review Date: December 3, 2005 |
| Reviewer: Shopper, |
12-3-2005 I have to say, I was skeptical at first... but, if you let it run it's course uninterrupted it picks up a lot of dirt/pet hair/etc! I am really surprised at how well this little guy cleans! It is amazing to see it in action... you think at first it has missed a spot/didn't pick something up, and then comes back and gets it on another round. It even got my edges pretty good. Obviously, you have to make sure everything is picked up. I babysat it for the first while to get to know it, and see if it would stop on anything (had no problems at all). I make sure there are not any obstacles (cords, large trash, string, etc) in the way; and let it do it's job! It is easy to clean out, and set up... make sure you charge it before you use it, as the instructions state. Works great on both tile and carpeted areas! WHAT A DREAM!
(mom of 3; 2 dogs; and a construction husband - who actually likes it too!)
12-23-05 Still love the thing... It's almost like when microwaves or cell phones came out...once you have one, there is no going without. I have been using the roomba on a daily basis in the high traffic areas of the house (kitchen/Living room/hallway). The bedrooms every other day... So, it has been working hard; and has not let me down. I purchased an extra battery and charger through "Irobot", the manufacturer. It makes it possible for this little guy to work all day! It is amazing at what it manages to pick up on a daily basis. I have been using the "scheduled" option in my living room daily w/ the virtual walls; and it is amazing to see the roomba back out of his dock (sounds like a tractor with the back-up beeping!)and clean the living room; when scheduled... My kids have made a game of making sure the living room is picked up before the little guy gets going. I am also able to get more things done during the day; and I don't have to skimp or put off the vacuuming. I LOVE having my carpet vacuumed daily; and it has been better for my husbands allergies...
You do need to clean/wipe it out once in awhile; but Irobot made it easy to do. It was meant for you to clean/change the brushes; and wipe the sensors off. I figure it is vacuuming my house constantly and it only takes 5 minutes or less to clean it up once in awhile (no big deal). I do dump the chamber on a room by room (or use by use) basis. The directions are simple and even can find information on the Irobot site about how to take care of it.
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