Roomba question

[Mike P]

Hi,

My wife looked at a Roomba today and wants it for Christmas. I would love to know before I buy it for her, if it will work for us. How many people here own one? Are you happy with it? Our house is about 5000sf, we have a cleaning service every other week, she is just looking to fill the space between the cleaning service to get rid of the Beagle hair(2 very cute beagles I might add). Any advice would be great.

Happy Holidays All,

Mike

 

[RAM]

I've had a Roomba for a couple of years now and have been very happy with it. Two of my kids also use one at their houses and like them. They do a much better job than I originally thought they would.

 

[Rupp]

I have one and we love it. It's going on 4 years old. I've had to replace the battery once but it's a work horse. As mine ages it's getting louder but we have some friends that just purchased a newer model and it's extremely quiet. The dirt bin is small on these so if the dogs put off a lot of hair you may not get a full cleaning without having to empty.

 

[Digger]

I have one and a Beagle as well (also 2 cats). It picks up a lot of hair and dust. I think you have to make sure you run it daily to really keep up. I actually have our alarm beep the keypads every night to remind us to do certian things like empty the Roomba, take meds, etc.

With 5000 sq feet you will probably need more than one. I would try one first to see how you like it. I think Costco has a decent return policy etc.

 

[damage]

should work fine for a short haired dog. we have an australian shepherd and we have to clean the brushes out as the long fur tends to muck it up pretty quick. it does a good job though.

 

[nick_l]

I had (have) a Roomba and several dogs. When Roomba was working I loved it. The biggest problem is the SMALL dirt collection bin. I pretty much needed to empty it every time it ran. If they could come up with an auto-emptying Roomba I'd buy several in a moment.

Anyhow, I said I had a Roomba because, while I still have the unit, it no longer runs. It wasnt the fault of the Roomba. I had a wonderful old shepard who, as he got up there in years, would occasionally have to leave "presents" for us in the middle of the night. Well one night Roomba got ahold of one of these and let's just say, while it tried its little robotic heart out, it was never really the same after that (to be fair, if I got ambitious and took it COMPLETELY apart and cleaned/scraped it all, I am sure it would run again. I just dont see that happening in the near future though).

So, while there is no way it will come close to cleaning your square footage, it will do very well in smaller areas of your house.

Nick


P.s. Make sure you get a unit that has scheduling.

 

[ano]

Hi,

My wife looked at a Roomba today and wants it for Christmas. I would love to know before I buy it for her, if it will work for us. How many people here own one? Are you happy with it? Our house is about 5000sf, we have a cleaning service every other week, she is just looking to fill the space between the cleaning service to get rid of the Beagle hair(2 very cute beagles I might add). Any advice would be great.

Happy Holidays All,

Mike

First remember, its more like a carpet sweeper than a "vacuum." It does have a vacuum, but its just to gather the dust that the brushes sweep up.
Second, in my house at least, I need to block several areas to prevent it from getting into trouble. Problem areas are lamp cords, tight areas, think rugs on other rugs, papers on the floor, and furniture just slightly lower than Rumba's height. etc. It avoids some of these, but certainly not all.
Third, its not going to cover your entire house, obviously, it can do one or two rooms at a time. It also really doesn't replace full vacuuming. A Rumba with a 3 watt motor is not going to replace your vacuum with a 700 watt motor. Period.
Fourth, remember it has to be emptied often. You can use the scheduler to schedule it, but that doesn't empty it. You need to do that.

But, a Rumba can clean in corners and under the bed where other means may not get.

So its handy, but does require some care, and if there are trouble areas in your home, Rumba will find it. In some ways its like a little kid or dog. And it does find some dirt, but compared to a full-size vacuum, the amount is pretty small. I wouldn't cancel your cleaning service quite yet.

 

[drozwood90]

I've got 2 left from my original set (one for each floor + 2 scoobas).

With the new floor plan in the new house I don't need the roombas.

If you are interested I'll give you a good price!

--Dan

 

[bmil]

I loved mine at first but the time and effort expended to take it apart to clean out the brush compartment, etc. and moving objects around so it wouldn't get caught or go into other areas just became too much. It was much easier to use one of those swiffer sweepers in between major cleanings. If I didn't have to clean it out every time I used it then it might have been a different story.

But I didn't have to deal with dog hair either...

 

[WSeverino]

Have the roomba and scooba. They are well worth the money!

 

[wuench]

I had one, it is no longer functional. I replaced the battery once, and eventually it started slowing down. It lasted about 2-3 years. The roomba is fun to watch and besides cleaning is great for entertaining kids and dogs. There is also an RS232 port on it, and aftermarket bluetooth modules so it has the potential to be interfaced with HA systems. I played around with that a little and it looks promising.

It does require emptying almost every time it runs, and every couple of months I had to do maintenance to clear out the sensors. I agree with the above, if they just made the docking station into a big trash bin that sucked out the waste bin and cleaned it up inside, it would be much more convenient. All of the sensors, including bumper, etc are optical sensors and not sealed. So as dust builds up you will find the roomba bumping into invisible walls and you need to disassemble and blow these out.

You also need to prep somewhat, make sure there aren't any wires, or cables on the floor, move some rugs that it gets stuck on regularly, rearrange some chairs so it doesn't get stuck under a table, make sure there is enough space behind stuff, etc. It also seems to think some heating registers are a drop off and either won't go over them or get's stuck between them and the wall and can't get out. I also added some magnetic door bumpers to keep doors open so it can't trap itself in a room. Sometimes it will go into a small room and close the door on itself. Oh, and if you have motion sensors make sure they are pet immune.

Also, like mentioned above, it is great for day to day pickup/cleaning but you still need to vacuum for the deep cleaning.

This was all for the older models, I don't have a new one, it might be the newer ones have resolved some of these issues.

 

[signal15]

Woot.com has those things cheap all the time. I think we paid $80 for ours. At $80, it's worth it. At $300, it's not. Ours mostly cleans hard floors to keep the sand and dog hair at a minimum. It's not a replacement for using a real vacuum on carpeted floors, but will take up dirt and debris that is on the surface of the carpet.

If it breaks, I probably would not buy another unless it was really cheap.

 

[ano]

Hi,

My wife looked at a Roomba today and wants it for Christmas. I would love to know before I buy it for her, if it will work for us. How many people here own one? Are you happy with it? Our house is about 5000sf, we have a cleaning service every other week, she is just looking to fill the space between the cleaning service to get rid of the Beagle hair(2 very cute beagles I might add). Any advice would be great.

Happy Holidays All,

Mike

If she can wait til Feb. this makes the Roomba look like a toy...
Neato

 

[signal15]

Hi,

My wife looked at a Roomba today and wants it for Christmas. I would love to know before I buy it for her, if it will work for us. How many people here own one? Are you happy with it? Our house is about 5000sf, we have a cleaning service every other week, she is just looking to fill the space between the cleaning service to get rid of the Beagle hair(2 very cute beagles I might add). Any advice would be great.

Happy Holidays All,

Mike

If she can wait til Feb. this makes the Roomba look like a toy...
Neato

I would definitely wait for this thing to come out if you're in the market for one. I just don't find the Roomba to be very good at what it does.

 

[Mike P]

Thanks for all of the input, as always, you guys are great. I will be waiting until early next year to check out the new one.


Thanks again,

Mike