Hey, I consider carpet cleaning as a form of home repair, sooo .................
Anyone use a Roomba robotic vacuum? A little robot frisbee looking thing that is supposed to be automatic.
Likes/dislikes? Pros/Cons?
Any particular advice for finding a good a robotic vacuum cleaner?
Steve
Doesn't have any problems going from kitchen or bathroom tile to carpet. The most challenging spot in the house is from the ceramic around the fire place to the deep pile carpet and so far it hasn't had any problems there either.
Someone mentioned it doesn't work on deep pile carpet....not true. The living room, dining room and hallway has fairly deep pile sculptured carpet and it has no problems with it. It does put more of a drain on the battery though. Shag would probably pose a problem but I doubt there's anyone on the face of the earth that would still have that in their house :)
Like I said, it won't take the place of a regular vacuum cleaner but it does a good job at maintaining the house. From what I've read on Epinions, people that have shedding pets love it.
My suggestion is to buy one locally. When it first came out I was going to purchase it through mail order but in the back of my head I thought it may end up being an expensive gimmick. When Bed, Bath and Beyond got them in stock I picked it up knowing I wouldn't have to go through any return hassles and expensive shipping if it turned out to be a piece of junk. If you go that route and decide you don't like it, just throw it in the box and take it back.
George
I have a customer that uses one and loves it. She uses it on a ceramic tile floor that is about 500 square feet.
AZ Craig
Its a real vacuum cleaner sweeper. It's very novel but it would never take the place of normal weekly vaccuuming.
To look at it, it seems like there's no room for the dirt. No bag, no canister, nothing.
8^)~~~ Sue (remove the x to e-mail) ~~~~~~"I reserve the absolute right to be smarter today than I was yesterday." -Adlai Stevenson
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There's room. You just have to empty it a lot.
Good review, thanks. How does it handle changes in elevation? We have several rooms that are hardwood floors with area rugs. The vacuum would need to ride up about a 3/8" edge to go from the wood to the carpet. Will it handle that?
Joe F.
It should make it. It wont do deep pile carpets though.
>Tx. Joe F.
Consumer Reports just gave a short review the current issue. Bottom line: 'The Roomba cleans uncluttered bare floors, but even some cheap vacuums outperform it on both floors and carpets." Other highlights: has problems getting back up on area rugs and took 25 minutes (as opposed to a manual 3 minutes) to clean an 8 X 8 room. Battery lasts for about 90 minutes before recharge is necessary.
Well, that's not too bad... and it may not do windows but if it can blow up a doll I can finally replace the G.F!
I recently went out and bought a Eureka vacuum on CR recommendation. I struggled to put the darn thing together by the pictures (no words at all if I recall correctly), happily walked into the living room, and discovered it just would NOT suck up sand. Not at all. I had sand on the rug, a cheap imitation oriental with very low pile, because it had just snowed. I watched the sand jump around as I rolled over it and happily settle back down.
Bottom line: don't necessarily believe Consumer Reports!
I've had a Roomba since July. I've learned the hard way what it can and can't do--to the point that I had to send one back and get a free replacement.
It absolutely cannot deal with rug fringe. I've tried folding, taping, rolling, rug fringes, but it eats them every time, and messes itself up when it does.
But it is absolutely great on hardwood floors, and I TOTALLY disagree with the CR assessment. I have a multiple cat household AND a long haired collie. I run the Roomba in a different room daily. It does a wonderful job on pet hair and picks up kitty litter just great. It does not do edges as well, so once in awhile I get ambitious and break out the old electrolux and get picky.
Yes it takes a long time, but who cares? I bought a back up battery and a fast charger. I can keep the little bugger running all day long that way. This is time I now have to myself, even if I could ultimately do it faster than the Roomba.
Yes, you do have to take the brushes off & clean them periodically, but it is not hard.
If you have lots of hardwood floors, I recommend it!
So true.
I have flagstone floors. Believe me, they are not smooth. I wonder if the Roomba could handle them. Probably not??
My foyer is flagstone, and is not really flat, but not as irregular as some flagstone I've seen (it's cut in rectangles, not free form). I use the Roomba there with fine results.
Could I get you to look at the charger? Is it 110 only or is it a
110-230? I´m considering buying one but since they charge over twice as much here I am considering getting someone in US to buy me one and have it sent here (Denmark).Anders
Use a 120 -240 transformer its low amp and will be cheap.
coming back. UGH.
There are three versions shown on the Roomba web site. Which one does your experience recommended?
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