Robotic Vacuum Reviews
Roomba
I don't know what the original Roomba was like, but the Discovery series seems quite refined. There is very minimal documentation to explain Roomba, that's how easy it is to use. Just put it on the center of your floor, press power, and then press the giant CLEAN button and Roomba does its thing. This one only comes with the slow charger, which is fine for my needs. The small battery provides an impressive run time, enough for at least 1000sq ft. It cleans under beds and will go pretty much everywhere it can fit. It DEFINITELY works.
My room seemed fairly clean, but Roomba proved it wasn't. Roomba picked up all kinds of lint, hair, and other nasty things. I think Roomba can replace a conventional vac, because you can set it out more often. A lot of thought went into the design, like the rollers and dust bin. Everything in it that needs attention (filter, dustbin, rollers, etc.) comes out VERY easily and goes back together very easily. It has both a brush style roller, and a rubber squeegee style roller. The design of the rollers makes them very easy to clean with the supplied tool to cut and brush out any entangled hair. With its soft knobby tires, it never gets stuck.
There's nothing really bad about Roomba, but there are a few things that I think could be improved. You have to be VERY careful that there is no exposed wiring or anything that Roomba's brushes will snag on. It's also a good idea to put away any rugs that may have loose threads or tassles. A few times, I missed a cord or a rug and Roomba's rollers got snagged on it. Poor Roomba made awful noises till I came and rescued it.
This makes me a little concerned about leaving Roomba alone if I'm going to leave the house. An improvement would be a load sensor that senses it's snagged on something and shuts off the motor, perhaps even alerting the owner with a few beeps. Maybe Roomba has this, and I just didn't wait long enough? Another minor issue is Roomba tends to get itself scratched up because it finds edges by physically bumping into things. Roomba also squeezes under counters where there isn't enough clearance and the top edges of it gets scratched up. This bothers me a little, because I'm (...)like that. If you don't mind a few battle scars, then this is no concern.
Overall, I wholeheartedly recommend Roomba for the person who hates vacuuming, and for someone who is just interested in high-tech toys.
By Shawn R. Lin "GnatGoSplat" (Battlefield, MO United States)
I got my new roomba today, and I can't say enough about how great it is. We had about 2 weeks of fur from our 2 golden retrievers built up on the carpet (yes - I really do hate to vacuum). I let the roomba go, and it sucked it up with no problem at all. In only about 15 minutes, it had done an AMAZING job.
The dust bin really does hold quite a bit. The only issue I find is that, because our dogs have long fur, I need to clean the brush off each time. That is just as easy as cleaning a hair brush.
The dogs love it, too. My oldest one is terrified of the regular vacuum and usually hides in the bathtub. With the roomba, she just follows it around. I can even put a tennis ball on the top and my two dogs will follow it around while it's going.
I was concerned our mess would be too much for it, but I was wrong. I highly recommend the roomba for anyone.
By J. Golbeck
Roombas have now evolved into surprisingly well-designed machines that provide a surprising amount of vacuuming for the purchase price.
Which Roomba:
- All current models have the same innards and cleaning abilities, making bottom-of-the-line Red a bargain. Even Red's missing 'Max' mode (allows continuous cleaning beyond one hour) can be used if you buy the optional remote.
- Color and case design change a bit from model to model, and higher-end models come with more accessories in the box. Cool features described in the higher models can be added later.
- The main benefit of the drive-up charging base, included starting with the mid-line Discovery, isn't actually the automatic charging. With the base in a room, you know where to find the vac when it's done. Without it, Roomba finishes wherever it pleases -- whether or not that's a convenient place for you to retrieve it.
- Because you empty dirt before or after use, the optional, top-of-the-line scheduling capability doesn't really add completely unattended cleaning capability.
Before you buy:
- You can't see one of the vac's best features in the product picture. A front-side brush sticks out the front-right side of the vac, so it gets as close into corners as upright vacs. With this brush and a wall-distance sensor, it hugs the baseboards and puts most vac's "edge cleaning" claims to shame.
- Design changes to recently built units fix problems reviewers report on units made before mid-2005. Check the serial number on the box when you get yours. Build dates June 2005 or later have the fixes. The build date is after the model number (JEN4xxx); six digit date should be greater than '050601', ignore the rest of the serial number after this.
- Roomba works quite differently than other vacs. Brushes pick up hair and larger dirt; the vac gets the dust that the brushes don't get. It doesn't replace a standard vacuum -- it cuts down how often you need to use it.
- On hard floors, the brush seems to give Roomba better results than standard suction-only vacs. On dense-plush or low carpet, it does well; but the big vac will need to come out for periodic deep cleaning.
- 3 1/2" tall and about 13" diameter, it easily gets under furniture and between chair legs. Front bumper clearance (a bit over 1/2" -- about 9/16" or 15mm) determines which rugs and doormats it climbs onto and which it sees as obstacles.
- It's not terribly loud, and not shrill, but the noise is busy enough that you'll likely want to be away or in another room unless you're also doing housework.
Getting used to it:
- Bumping into things first seems a rather crude way for it to find its way around, but it doesn't seem to leave marks, and it's vacuuming right up to things anyway. It takes longer to vacuum than you do, and its often random patterns seem inefficient. Let it be -- it does remarkably well at covering everything this way.
- Expect Roomba to work room-by-room, not to do the whole house unattended. In normal operation, it runs up to an hour for mid-to-large rooms then stops. At least on mostly-hard floors, it can fully clean two of these rooms on a charge.
- If a regular vacuum would choke on something, so will this. The time you normally spend picking things up as you go needs to happen before starting Roomba instead. (At least your hands won't be full with a vacuum as you pick up . . . )
- You do need to empty its dustbin and check its underside after each run -- after all, it's about the size of a couple of Dustbusters, and those don't run unattended over an entire room. Remove and empty the dirt/dustbin, turn the vac upside down on the counter, check the main brush and clear as needed. Yes, you'll be doing this more often than on a full-size vac, but then, you don't have to tend it the entire time it's vacuuming.
- The 'virtual walls' transmit a remote-control like infrared beam that's wider than you'd expect. If Roomba unexpectedly starts to act like it's just run into an invisible force field, that just may be what happened. Reposition, turn off, or turn down the 'virtual wall'.
Getting the most out of it:
- If you want vacuuming to be as automatic as possible, some 'trim' projects may be in order. Clip up hanging cords, and get out the double-stick carpet tape where needed. Consider neutering carpet tassels -- tape 'em underneath.
- Although Roomba can navigate mazes of table legs and other objects, consider small changes in furniture placement that can make big differences in how quickly Roomba gets the job done. Forests of openings that are just a bit wider than Roomba eat time --move some things together so openings are narrower than Roomba; others further apart to speed passage.
- Though it's natural to think first of using Roomba in main rooms, small rooms bring gains too. Drop the vac off in bathrooms, stair landings, and other small areas as you do other housework.
- All rechargeable appliance batteries lose power eventually. Roomba's is easily replaceable, and if a $50 battery lasts you a year of vacuuming -- that's actually quite a good deal in the world of rechargeable batteries. Tip: newer Roombas have a somewhat hidden, built-in 16-hour battery "reconditioning" cycle useful when runtimes drop after some months. To trigger this cycle, take the battery out, press/hold 'power' for at least 30 seconds, wait 10 minutes or so, then put battery back in & start charger. The need for this isn't indicative of a Roomba shortcoming -- other rechargeable appliances should support battery conditioning & replacement instead of forcing you to throw 'em away.
By S. Kalnoski
