Experience with Roomba

[Huck344]

Anyone have any experience with the Roomba robotic vacuum? Do they clean well? I've been fascinated with these things for years. The other day, I saw them for sale at Costco and am thinking of pulling the trigger.

[ryanjoachim]

I've seen countless articles on them, but I've never wanted to get one. They seem more of a gimmick to me, and with 2 rug rats running around I don't think it'd last long anywhere but a non-child household.

[Huck344]

Don't have kids (for now), just my wife's two cats who would be totally freaked by it, so that's a plus!

I have to admit, I like gimmicks. You should see some of the stuff I've bought off of infomercials (word of advice, do not light your car on fire after using infomercial auto wax. It doesn't work!).

[concealer404]

The cats definitely hate it. Except for that one on youtube that will get on the Roomba and ride it around. And THAT is hilarious.

They do an OK job. I still had to go around after it every couple weeks to get stuff out of corners and such. It won't replace a human vacuuming, but it'll definitely cut down on the amount of time you spend vaccuuming.

If you like gadgets, then go for it!

[Lorthos]

Yes, I've had one in the past. Had it setup for use in our Kitchen in our trailer house. Have since moved over to the farm house, and sold the Trailer. The Roomba went along with the trailer as the floor in our present kitchen has that indoor/outdoor carpet....

It's definately not a gimmick, it worked great. Its got its own docking/charging station and you just hit a button on the remote and off it goes. Scoots around the kitchen floor like a busy little robot:) It was amazing the amount of dirt, dog hair, that it picked up that you didn't even notice on the floor. It did take quite awhile to do its chores but I usually just started it before we left for the day. When its done it scoots back into its docking station like a good little robot..

My wife scoffed at me when I got it for her for Christmas...she changed her mind in a hurry after we used it a few times...

[Huck344]

Thanks for the feedback. That helps a lot and gives me an idea. My wife's birthday is in a couple of months. . . That might be a good gift!!!

[devani]

it worked great for us too...the brushes break from the body so they need to be replaced every few months....other than cleaning them every month, it was great....

you really need open floor to get most of it....if you have alot of furniture or low clearance ones, I would not advise to use it....

then we returned it almost after a year and went back to simple hand vaccum....baby in the house wife's home most of the time...

[nooshinjohn]

Thanks for the feedback. That helps a lot and gives me an idea. My wife's birthday is in a couple of months. . . That might be a good gift!!!

Wrong answer...

Getting the wife anything that cleans is a very bad idea, but that's just my experience.

[bobman1235]

So, this isn't really goig to affect your purchase, but it's an amusing story.

I was at the vet with my dog on MOnday, and was talking about house training issues. So the vet told me about another guy who had a dog with house training issues... and one day while the guy was at work, the dog did his business on the rug... and the guy had also just bought a Roomba... so for 8 hours while this guy was at work, his Roomba happily spread his dog's mess around his house.

Made me feel better about my dog's ~weekly accidents :)

[Rodeo0530]

I had one and it worked alright, but it also had to clean up after 4 cats and their seemingly endless supply of hair. G/f was also unable to keep things off the floor that would get in its way. I like my dyson much, much better.

[edbert]

I got one from my grandparents because they never used it. I will say that it does better in open floor plans than something with lots of obstacles. If we are needing to clean house I will stick it in the bathrooms to clean the floors in there and generally the kitchen while I vacuum the rest of the house traditionally and get other things done. I run it a few times a week in our kitchen because with two young kids there is constantly little crumbs on the floor. I move the chairs out from under the table, turn it on and go to bed. Saves me time and it gets up everything on hard floors. It also does a pretty good job of getting some of the dust away from the baseboards and will fit under most raised furniture to clean in places you other wise wouldn't. It definitely won't replace our main vacuum, but it does a good job every time we need it to.

[AudioGenics]

think they are still expensive even at a sale price for a vacuum

[Huck344]

Frys has iRobot's shop vac version of the Roomba (it's called the dirt dog)for $99.00. According to reviews, it can work inside as well, so since it's much cheaper than the others, I will try that one out first I think. Thanks for all the feedback guys!

[mewisemagic]

i got two and batterys went bad in both:(. $70 a piece to replace