Roomba - robot vacuum cleaners

[jcdenton08]

Have just "discovered" these while checking out the "Spykee" webcam robot. The reviews are absolutely immense, 5 stars on pretty much every site (Amazon, Google shopping - there's even fan sites).. and weirdly it doesn't feel like the typical viral marketing "BUY THIS IT'S GREAT" nonsense from the manufacturers.

This was more for relatives who are disabled than myself, but on reading all the reviews im quite tempted to ditch the Dyson in favour of one of these beasts.

Does anyone own or have any experience of these, and are they really as good as made out? The model with the best reviews is the Roomba 530, which is £249.99 on Amazon.

Sources;

iRobot 530 Roomba Vacuuming Robot, White | GoVacuum

Amazon.co.uk: Customer Reviews: iRobot Roomba 530 Vacuum Cleaning Robot - UK Version inc. 1 year warranty

 

[Long Saulty Seagull]

I've had a Roomba 560 for a couple of years and it's a fantastic piece of kit. My apartment has hardwood floors throughout and a tiled bathroom and the Roomba is used three times a week and does a fantastic job of making sure the floor is dust free. I set it to run at 10am whilst I'm at work and it's done it's stuff and parked up in the charging dock by the time I get home.

You'll need to empty the dust box and filter regularly and change the filter and brushes every six months, but that's a minor inconvenience compared to having to hoover the place manually.

A word of warning though. If you have rugs with tassles or extra thick shag pile rugs, you may encounter some problems with the Roomba getting tangled up in the tassles or the shag pile.

 

[jcdenton08]

Brilliant, thanks for the response. Any idea about the difference between the 530 and the 560? There is between a £50 and £110 difference depending where you look.

We also have a wood floors with one large rug (no tassles). They look absolutely brilliant - do you still need to do an occasional vacuum or does this do it all?

 

[Long Saulty Seagull]

Check out iRobot Corporation: Home Page

The 560 has 1-4 room coverage whereas the 530 has 1-3 room coverage. Their definition of room coverage is:

"The robot uses dozens of sensors to automatically monitor its environment and adjust its behaviour up to 67 times per second to cover every area of the floor an average of four times. Room Coverage refers to the average number of rooms that the robot will clean on a single battery charge. Cleaning time may vary based on floor surface and the extent of dirt and debris."

The 560 allows for auto scheduling whereas the 530 doesn't. As in my previous post, this allows me to set the Roomba to go off on its own whilst I'm at work. I assume that the 530 will have to be started manually, which means you put up with the noise whilst it goes about it's business or you go down the pub for a couple of hours or so.

I will occasionally (once every two months) go round with a handheld vacuum to clean the skirting boards and any corner where the Roomba's sweeper brush can't quite reach due to irregular corners, etc.

 

[Juan Albion]

How does it handle stairs that go down? Do the sensors stop it falling down them?

 

[Napper]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewdbilSWjaM&feature=fvw

 

[Long Saulty Seagull]

How does it handle stairs that go down? Do the sensors stop it falling down them?

Yes. There are four sensors in the bottom at the front, which do detect when the floor drops away.

 

[Long Saulty Seagull]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewdbilSWjaM&feature=fvw

 

[Juan Albion]

Yes. There are four sensors in the bottom at the front, which do detect when the floor drops away.

Now I must admit to being rather interested. I also like the look of the pool cleaner. Never had my own pool before (moving next week to a house with one) but have heard they can be a fair bit of work. That pool cleaning robot on their website looks like something out of Star Wars. Or maybe Spiderman as it climbs up walls.

 

[auschr]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2S8qPybLbs

 

[Napper]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTxW3GWZ5hI&feature=related

 

[Captain Haddock]

Have just "discovered" these while checking out the "Spykee" webcam robot. The reviews are absolutely immense, 5 stars on pretty much every site (Amazon, Google shopping - there's even fan sites).. and weirdly it doesn't feel like the typical viral marketing "BUY THIS IT'S GREAT" nonsense from the manufacturers.

This was more for relatives who are disabled than myself, but on reading all the reviews im quite tempted to ditch the Dyson in favour of one of these beasts.

Does anyone own or have any experience of these, and are they really as good as made out? The model with the best reviews is the Roomba 530, which is £249.99 on Amazon.

Sources;

iRobot 530 Roomba Vacuuming Robot, White | GoVacuum

Amazon.co.uk: Customer Reviews: iRobot Roomba 530 Vacuum Cleaning Robot - UK Version inc. 1 year warranty

We have one but it's started playing up (albeit after a good innings).

Does a pretty decent but imperfect job, fun if you have an adventurous, danger-sports-lovin' cat (we don't but there's always youtube!).

It roams with a randomness reserved only for the drunkest of Cpt Haddock's which is entertaining but ultimately a bit frustrating....perhaps I shouldn't oversee Roomba like an overbearing boss-from-hell in future!!!

Only other drawback is the American 'narrator / voice': "Roooomba's brushes need cleanin'" etc.

All in all keep the Dyson but try Roomba for a bit of hoovering on the side....woof woof!

 

[Stoo82]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewdbilSWjaM&feature=fvw

Love it!

 

[CheeseRolls]

I had a cheap imitation which I paid 37 quid for. It initially worked very well, but it didn't last. Samsung are about to enter the market, which should provide some proper competition and bring prices to a more realistic level. Give it a couple of months and I expect a price war

 

[jcdenton08]

I had a cheap imitation which I paid 37 quid for. It initially worked very well, but it didn't last. Samsung are about to enter the market, which should provide some proper competition and bring prices to a more realistic level. Give it a couple of months and I expect a price war

Argh, even more decisions now!! From what I can work out, the Panasonic ones are shithouse, and Samsung f*** most things up, so I might wait for the price of the Roomba to come down and get one over the summer..:US:

Captain, do you use yours on carpet or wood floors?