iRobot Scooba® 380 Robot Lava-Pisos Review

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(More customer reviews)Got the 380 just over 30 days ago... (although, this review applies to the whole scooba line as they are all very similar)
I want to start off by saying that I have the roomba 530 and 560 and I love them both, wouldn't be able to keep my house clean without them.
However, with the scooba 380 I was severely disappointed:
While it does clean the floor somewhat effectively, it is gravely overshadowed by the below points that make me wish I had returned it within the 30-day return policy.
Here is what I have experienced over the last 30 days (used it about 8 times to clean high traffic kitchen area and bathroom floors).
My first impression right off the bat was that it does not have the same build quality of the Roomba series which was immediately noticeable upon unpacking. From the sharp plastic edges, defective charging unit to the light houses, the whole experience is a lot cheaper and clumsier than the roomba 500 line. It is almost as if it was made by an entirely different knockoff company...
Despite allowing the scooba to charge overnight, it is not capable of completing two full cleaning cycles on 1 battery charge, misleading from the marketing materials, again this is the 380 which is supposed to be able to clean larger rooms with two complete cycles.
Long recharge time (about 3 hrs+).
You need to clean the brush, filter and rubber tube every couple of cycles.
Requires you to empty the dirty solution tank for every cycle (obviously, but one of the many steps to using this product).
Unlike the roomba it does not figure out how long to run for. If you fill the tank and put the scooba in a small bathroom it will run for the same amount of time as a large room, like a kitchen, very frustrating. iRobot's advice for this shortcoming is to put less solution for smaller rooms, not an elegant or easy solution. You have to calculate the water/solution ratio for small spaces, which is a pain and still haven't figured out.
I have dark hardwood floors, leaves SOME streaks and tire marks even after wet spots have dried.
Once it completes a cleaning cycle it beeps every minute or so, so if you want to run the scooba at night it will annoy you to put it back to charge, I hate appliances and gadgets that beep unnecessarily. At least the roomba 500 series does notifications with nice tones rather than retro beeps... (I know this is nitpicking but it speaks to the low quality of the unit and user experience as a whole).
It gets stuck more frequently than my 2 roombas and sometimes is able to sneak under one of my area rugs, making a mess and eventually getting stuck. iRobot mentions that it is able to "sense" carpets, only if they are heavy enough to trigger its clumsy bumper system.
The standalone charging unit is defective. It does not complete charging the battery, forced to use the scooba's inconvenient multi pin charging port on the side to recharge. The faulty charging base is a widespread problem, refer to user forums online & irobot's website for reference.
Not capable of self-charging as with the upper level roomba series, a must-have feature to make these robots worth the time (and $$$). (Have to connect a clumsy multi pin connector that has to be oriented exactly right to plug properly.)
Clorox solution is expensive, after spending almost $500 on this robot it hurts to have to buy this expensive proprietary solution although, have not tried vinegar, heard that it can affect certain types of hard wood floors (which I have).
Loud and squeaky (due to scooba's rubber squeegee), can't be in the same room as the scooba if you want to relax... Oh and FYI in iRobot's scooba product video (on their website) depicts a rubber belt sweeping away dirt (part of its "first stage" of cleaning), not so: That belt is just a stationary squeegee and dirt is supposed to be directed to vacuum ports on either edge of the robot, disappointed when I discovered this.
The virtual walls are not up to par with the roomba's virtual walls (500 series). It has an extremely wide beam, more so than the roomba lighthouses. This makes using them a bit more difficult as the scooba stays pretty far away from the virtual walls, thus loosing cleaning coverage. One solution is to try to hide it on the opposite side of a doorway.
All in all, I can not recommend this current generation of scoobas (they all function nearly identical, its just the battery and accessories that differ). There are just too many niggles about this product that lead to an overall bad user experience.
If you want a robot to clean something then go with the roomba, its effective, fun and easy to use.
As for easy mopping:
A swiffer mop (or similar product) in about 5 minutes can do what takes the scooba about 45 minutes + maintenance (not to mention 3 hour charging time) to accomplish. Simply put, this product does NOT make mopping easier, in reality it takes longer, is more frustrating and requires a lot more patience than a already simple process.
Hopefully irobot will have a major revision of the scooba to make it worth our time and money.
2 stars because this product has some potential and it does somewhat clean the floor, but again I don't like this product and I wish I hadent kept it outside the "30 day satisfaction guarantee"
Finally, I read a lot of reviews before buying the scooba, anyone who says they simply love it and blindly give it 4 or 5 stars has got to be affiliated with iRobot in some way...

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iRobot Roomba 4230 Remote Scheduler Robotic Vacuum Review

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(More customer reviews)Simply put, it exceeds my expectations. I'm traveling in a 26ft class C Rv with 3 dogs and a husband, all of which shed copious amounts of fur. My partner was very critical of this vac before we got it, and to be honest, I bought it for our cabin, not the RV. However it arrived while we were on the road so I took a risk at an "told you so" and used it in the RV. To my delight, we are hair free for a month now without having to lift a finger (except cleaning the bin and brushes on a regular basis) and the skeptic even praises it and named it Hazel. For a techno-phobe, this is saying something. It does a good job avoiding problem areas like steps and squeaky toys. The dogs watch it from the sofa and have accepted it as a family member. I find we watch it a lot too. It's mesmerizing. We run it once a day, often as we walk the dogs, and return to a very clean floor. I disagree with those who say it is a toy. It is not a toy; it does a good job maintaining a floor on a daily basis. I wouldn't expect it to replace my regular vacuum but rather replace daily vacuuming. We use a shop vac once every two weeks for those hard to reach areas that dog fur always seems to find (door pockets, top of dressers, etc), and use Hazel for daily maintenance to keep our travel quarters shedding fur free.
Two things you need to be aware of about this device. It doesn't like rugs with tassels, or shoe laces, or anything else a normal vacuum doesn't like. Roomba doesn't always see these things as obstacles. It does a great job of getting un-stuck (it uses what I call the dung beetle approach by rearing up and turning around...fun to watch).
You also need to keep it clean. I clean mine every other day. Emptying the bin is one thing, but I use the included cleaning tool to keep the brushes hair free on a regular basis. Since we have so many dogs in a confined space, it can build up hair on the brushes quickly. At first I thought this was going to be a bother, but its something I enjoy doing. Its like grooming a friend (in a monkey at the zoo kind of way).


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iRobot Roomba Scheduler is the latest vacuuming robot from iRobot. Join the over 1.2 million Roomba owners who have discovered the smarter way to clean. With Roomba Scheduler, you can program Roomba to clean when you're not home, at night, daily, or when you go to work. Nothing keeps your home cleaner than cleaning every day--with Roomba Scheduler, you can!
Scheduling Capability
With Roomba Scheduler, you can easily program Roomba to clean when you want. Roomba will leave the Home Base at your scheduled time, effectively clean the floor, and return to the Home Base to recharge its battery for the next cleaning cycle. If it weren't for the clean floors, you might forget Roomba was there.
Simply program the desired cleaning time into the Scheduler Remote, then send the cleaning schedule to Roomba and the new Virtual Wall Schedulers. Both Roomba and the Virtual Walls will turn on at the time you have scheduled.
Roomba Really Works
Roomba features a patented 3-stage cleaning system that is proven effective. First, the small spinning side brushes grabs dirt and debris in corners and along walls, sending it into the main cleaning path. Second, two counter-rotating brushes pick up large particles, pet hair, and other debris. Third, an extremely efficient vacuum picks up the remaining fine particles. All of the dirt and debris is deposited into a large capacity, easy-to-empty bin.
Roomba's cleaning head automatically adjusts to any floor surface including wood, tile, linoleum and low-to-medium pile carpet. Roomba can even sense dirtier areas of your floor and will clean more intensely there.

Roomba Covers the Entire Floor
Roomba automatically calculates the appropriate cleaning time in any situation. Roomba will cover every part of the room an average of 4 times per cleaning cycle, and because Roomba cleans under furniture and other obstacles--Roomba actually cleans more of the floor than standard uprights. Roomba will even return back to its self-charging Home Base at the end of a cleaning cycle or when its battery is running low.
To start a cleaning cycle, simply press the clean button and Roomba immediately begins calculating the size of the room, the number of obstacles in the room, and the cleanliness of the room. Roomba automatically monitors its environment and adjusts its behavior over 67 times per second.
During a cleaning cycle, Roomba automatically reacts to many different obstacles and situations. Roomba features integrated cliff sensors that allow the robot to turn away from stairs and other cliffs. Roomba's non-marring bumper senses furniture and other obstacles. Roomba also has infrared wall sensors that allow the robot to clean on the perimeter of the room and around obstacles. Roomba also features special escape behaviors that allow it to quickly get out from under chairs and off of troublesome thresholds.
Roomba Scheduler comes with two special Virtual Wall Schedulers to confine Roomba in the area you want to clean. Simply place the Virtual Walls in a doorway and send the cleaning schedule to the Virtual Wall. The Virtual Wall will turn for the duration of Roomba's cleaning cycle. Roomba automatically detects the invisible infrared beam of the Virtual Wall and turns away. Virtual Walls are great for keeping Roomba in one room or away from cords and other obstacles.
Easy to Use
Roomba Scheduler is very easy to use. Simply set the time you want Roomba to clean and send the schedule to the robot, or just set the robot down and press "Clean." At the end of the cleaning cycle, Roomba Scheduler will return to its Home Base. Replaceable air filters prevent dust and dirt from escaping back into the air and the large capacity bagless bin is easy to empty. Roomba's brushes can be removed by hand for easy maintenance.The Scheduling Remote also allows you to turn on and steer Roomba from across the room.
Roomba's cleaning head automatically adjusts to any floor surface including wood, tile, linoleum and low-to-medium pile carpet. Roomba can even sense dirtier areas of your floor and will clean more intensely there.
Roomba's Power System
The vacuum's advanced power system consists of a fast-charging battery, a three-hour charger, and a power source--it supercharges the unit for up to 120 minutes of continuous cleaning. When the battery is low or it has completed a cleaning cycle, the vacuum automatically returns to its charging Home Base so that it will be ready for the next cleaning session. Roomba can clean up to three 14- by 16-foot rooms before the Roomba Battery needs to be recharged.
What's in the Box Roomba Scheduler, scheduling remote, scheduling virtual walls (2), home base, fast charger, cleaning tool, spare brush pack, APS battery.

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iRobot 500 Series Roomba Vacuum-Cleaning Robot with On-Board Scheduling Review

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(More customer reviews)First let me say that I agree with people who say that the robot does a competent job of cleaning. You should SEE the dust bin after vacuuming! I am also in awe etc etc, but I'm going to try to focus on things that others have not mentioned.
My 550 (560 actually, I think...it came with a few more odds and ends in the box) is actually my second Roomba. The first was the Discovery SE, one of the 400 series. The 400 was pretty good with two exceptions: 1) It would not work on rug fringe. It gets hopelessly tangled in less time that it takes to say "Wait!" The second problem with the older 400 series is that the battery dies fairly quickly if you do not use it VERY frequently. I use it once/week and by second battery is showing its age.
In any case, the 500 series is advertised to be able to deal with rug fringe, and indeed it does so reasonably well. It is also supposed to be able to do 4 rooms using these "lighthouses" that have been previously mentioned. To summarize, these are little gadgets that put out an IR (UV?) beam that the robot can see; it generally will not cross the beam, so you can use the beam to mark off rooms. After a certain amount of time, the robot sends out an RF signal to the lighthouse, and the LH lets it through into the next room. Repeat for 4 rooms if desired. Then the robot knows how to find its way back to where it started to plug itself back in to recharge. Cool.
Here are the problems with the lighthouse scheme: First, the beam gets wider very quickly. So there is a fan-shaped area in front of each lighthouse that never gets cleaned. In other words, when moving between the two rooms, the beam gets shut off but when cleaning either side, the robot will not enter the fan shaped area that the beam covers.
The second lighthouse problem is that the robot seems to use time rather than room size or complexity to decide when to move from one room to the other. In other words, for larger or more complex rooms, it simply does not cover the room before moving on to the next.
A non-lighthouse problem that you should know about with the 500 series is that I think they must be lower-slung than the 400 series. My 500 robot is not NEARLY as good is climbing up onto a rung as the 400. The 400 got stuck in fringe, but without fringe, it is nearly flawless. The 500 tends to push the rug around, bunch it up, and even get caught if it bunches up the rug in a corner that it has not way to get out of without getting back over the rug.
You MUST be sure there are no cords on the floor. For example, a floor lamp, a computer power cord, etc. My robot has gotten caught when I forget, and nearly pulled down a few items with dangling cords.
And finally, I have one room with hardwood floor and a rug about 6 or 8 inches smaller than one dimension of the room. So there is a 6+ inch "valley" between the rug and the wall. The 500 series does not clean the 6+ inch valley well at all. It goes along it, but does not pick up dirt well. I think it is probably that the brush is on the rug on one side and on the floor on the other, but is touching nothing in the middle. I end up taking a dry mop and going along the valley and pulling dirt out into an open area where the robot can get it.
Given all that, though, the robot saves a LOT of work. If there is something special happening, I would probably bring out the hand vac and get all the little corners and fans and valleys that the Roomba does not reach, but for every-day/week vacuuming, it is way easier than doing it by hand despite its problems.
==========================
Update 3/24/2009: I've had two problems, both fixed/replaced under warranty. First, it refused to dock. It would nose up to the dock and keep pushing and pushing; then finally back up and try again. Repeat forever. Used email support (I think). After doing a bunch of tests that they requested, they sent me a new dock. All ok now.
Second, the robot started spinning in circles. Even if I used the remote to try to make it go straight, it would turn. Sounds like a drive motor on one wheel died or something. In any case, I think I phoned this time. After a bunch of tests, they had me return the robot (minus dust bin and top insert) and they replaced it.
Now it works well, and guess what? The new robot can get up on rugs much better than the old one. I don't know if there was a hardware or software change, or if my old one was defective in some subtle way that I did not know about. I guess I might give this new unit an extra star if I could.
Interestingly, my 400-series also had to be replaced once, but it has worked fine ever since. I hope that will be the case with this one as well.

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iRobot 4110 Roomba Floor-Vacuuming Robot, Sage Review

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(More customer reviews)OK. First let me say that this product is amazing and well worth the money. As an engineer, this thing has amazing obstacle avoidance software, and it navigates rooms extremely well. I put a good deal of research into this vac before I bought it - so let me tell you what you can expect, and more importantly- what not to expect. The majority of reviews that are negative are from people with defective units or people who expected something completly unrealistic. On a side note - all of the units have the same capabilities. So I would recommend that you buy a slightly cheaper unit like this one to test it out. If you really like it, then buy the schduler seperately. The high-end vacuum is no different than the low end one. The only exception is the red - which doesn't have "max" clean mode. This particular package is very good because it has the home base, which is very useful. You can let it run while you are gone, and it will charge on it's own when it's done. I did not find the remote to be useful. If I want the roomba to clean in a specific place, I pick it up and carry it there. You cannot use the remote to drive the roomba onto the charger, and the instructions are pretty clear about that. So, I do think it is a useless component.
My wife and I have about a 1500 square foot house. To really get the most out of the unit, we divide our house into 3 smaller areas, and we move the roomba each day into whatever area we want to clean (one large bedroom, the living room, and two smaller rooms joining a bathroom). We then run it while we are gone during the day in the heavily travelled areas once a day and in the less travelled areas once a week. We thought we'd use it more, but honestly, the floors have been so clean - there is no need to run it in an area more than once a day. I was suprised at how well it will navigate between rooms if you leave the doors open. Anyway, the floors are very clean - much cleaner than they ever were with an upright. The roomba really does a great job on the baseboards and under furniture. It picks up dust and pet hair very well. The suction is NOT as strong as an upright, but the unit will cover most areas several times - and after several times, it will pick up as much or more than most uprights. It has to hit larger pieces of debris head on to be picked up. There are some cases where the roomba may hit a small spot only once or miss a spot completely after a full 1-2 hour cylcle. However, if you run it multiple times in a day in the same room - you will have very clean floors very quickly. It takes the Roomba a few runs to reach an "equilibrium" where it's picking up about the same amount of dirt each run. But expect it to pick up a lot of dust and dirt the first few runs.
Let me tell you what not to expect of the Roomba. If you think you will buy this vacuum, set it in the middle of your house, punch a few buttons, walk away - and your floors will forever be clean - do not buy this vacuum. This vacuum does requre that you empty the bin at least once a day if you use it on carpet. It does requre that you find out what type of items it may get stuck on the first few times you run it. It does reqire that you make sure you don't have cords or tassels in its way. It does requre that you clean the brushes every few uses. The roomba cannot do anything a normal vacuum does not. It cannot clean over tassels, it cannot magically hop over 1/2" thick area rugs, it cannot run over wires and ignore them. If you are willing to do these few things, such as "roomba-proof" the room, and clean the brushes - it is MUCH EASIER than a traditional vacuum. It will keep your floors very clean, and you will be very happy.
Let me tell you a story about why the robot is still a robot and it can't do everything on it's own... My wife and I were watching TV and the roomba was cleaning (it's not really louder than a dust buster). We have a puppy... Well... the puppy pooped on the tile entryway while we were watching. The roomba... ran over the puppy poop and drug it all over the carpeted floor next to the entryway while smearing the poop all over itself (brushes, small places, dust bin). Needless to say - it was not pretty - and we had caught it after about 5 minutes. One and a half hours, and 150 Q-tips later - the roomba was clean, the carpet was clean - and the puppy was outside. Lesson learned - watch what the Roomba may run into. It's not completely fool-proof. It did it's job... and if I had watched the puppy - things would have gone well.
This is a great product if you don't have unrealistic expectations. It's a great product if you don't get a dud. The jetsons are not here yet - but I can honestly say my carpet and hard floors are much cleaner than they have ever been, and the unit is very easy to use. It is well worth the money.

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iRobot Roomba 510 Vacuuming Robot Review

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(More customer reviews)No, this is not going to be a review telling you how awful the Roomba is. Actually, the 510 is a really wonderful maintenance robot. The problem is that for just a little more you can get the Roomba 530 which comes with the Home Base. What that means is you never have to plug in your Roomba to recharge it: whenever it's done cleaning it automatically goes back to the home base for charging. Although the Home Base is available separately, it is not compatible with this model, leaving you with no upgrade path should you ever want this extremely convenient feature.
More expensive models have a timer for programmable operation (Roomba 560) and even a remote control (Roomba 580t).
All models are identical in terms of performance. The diminutive size and quiet operation would lead you to believe these are little toys akin to hand vacs... until you get back to a thoroughly cleaned room.
I set the 510 loose on the cats room, where the little devils send litter flying everywhere. The room has hardwood floors and an area rug. When I came back, the Roomba was sitting proudly in the middle of the room, and the rug was spotless. There was hardly a trace of litter or cat hair on the hardwood floors, either.
So, the Roomba is definitely a thumbs up. However, I wish I had paid more attention to the product line and at least picked the model that docks back to the home base. The 510 is potentially a tripping hazard, so it's well worth the extra fifty dollars to move up to the model 530.

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Fully Automatic Robotic Vacuum Cleaner Review

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(More customer reviews)First off this vacuum was given to my wife as a gift. So I can't really say if it's with buying but I can tell you it's with using. I feel that it sweeps great and works well in open areas as well as cleaning under Furniture. It also a great way to great multi task; you just it on and let it go and then you and do something else. Cleans great on carpet and hard floors. There are some down sides to this vacuum. It takes a long to sweep and it always seems to miss something on the floor. It would be a lot faster to use a normal plug in vacuum to sweep and a lot of times you will have to go back and sweep places that the vacuum missed. But still it's cool to say I have a robot that cleans.
So all in all if you get this vacuum as a gift I think you will like it. If you buy it I don't think you will feel that you're getting your moneys worth.


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iRobot Roomba 550 / 551 AeroVac Technology Vacuum Cleaning Robot with On-Board Scheduling, 2 Extra Filters, 2 Virtual Walls, & 2 Extra Bristle Brushes Review

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(More customer reviews)I have had Roomba's for years... They do require a little maintenance (Brush cleaning, cleaning the pet hair from the ends of the rollers) but overall they are pretty great. Cleaning the brushes is no big deal, I do it when I empty the bin. It takes a minute or two to empty the bin and clean the brushes, and it's ready to go.
We have two pugs, and they shed constantly. The 500 series Roomba's are a pretty huge improvement in design (I am a mechanical design engineer) They have redesigned the roomba to make everything modular, so if something does wear out, it is very easy to replace. My old Roomba was the first model with the scheduling ability, and I did have to replace a few things. I had to replace some transmission parts, and the batteries. Of course, I had to replace the brushes and filters many times over the years. I upgraded the batteries to give it more time to vaccuum, but the 550 seems to be pretty great right out of the box. It can run for almost two hours sometimes, depending on how big the space is I want it to vaccuum. It is also much easier to program than the old Roomba, it took just a couple of minutes and you program it right on the Roomba itself.
The Roomba 550 is also much quieter than the old Roomba was... MUCH QUIETER! It slows down before it bumps into things and the vaccuum itself is not bad. That was the biggest improvement I saw initially, with battery life and ease of replacing parts coming in right after that... (It's nice that the parts are easier to replace, time will tell how useful that is... Hopefully, it won't need much beyond brushes and filters. :-0 )
The virtual walls are also improved... They only take 2 C cell batteries, and the batteries seem to last longer. On my old Roomba, you had to schedule the virtual walls as well as the Roomba using the remote, and it was a little clunky. The new virtual walls don't require any programming. The only thing that has ever malfunctioned with the virtual walls is the dogs have apparently played with them and they occasionally are not pointing in the right direction... It is also not as obvious as they used to be regarding which side is the front... I have found the roomba cleaning the room I wanted it to stay out of because the Virtual wall was aimed at the doorjam instead of across the doorway; apparently it got kicked and whoever set it back got it backwards.
The Roomba 550 is $250 at Costco, and if the thing does ever break, you can return it to Costco for a replacement or your money back. (One of the little perks of membership, if you are not satisfied they will take it back fairly indefinitely...):-)
That is the primary focus of this review... Why would you pay over $315 with shipping plus tax at whatever your states rate is?
I think the Roomba is a pretty cool little device, and I recommend that people who want to keep their house vaccuumed all the time buy it... But I would recommend buying it at Costco.

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iRobot 53501 Roomba 500 Series Vacuum Cleaning Robot with Self-Charging Home Base Review

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(More customer reviews)I just received my Roomba 535 and I couldn't be more pleased. My primary concern before purchasing was whether or not it would have sufficient suction and coverage to really clean my carpets; after running it several times, this is no longer a concern. It's a hungry little devil, and I'm floored by the amount of dust, hair, and debris that it captures. On the first 4 runs alone, I had to empty the bin 7 times. At this point, it's picking up less as the carpets have become drastically cleaner, and daily maintenance should keep it that way.
Aside from pickup power, it also does a great job of navigating my nontraditional layout, and intelligently avoids things like my knotted leather rug that can't be vacuumed. Daily cleaning is as simple as tapping the "Clean" button with my toe on my way out the door each morning, and I come home to beautifully cleaned carpet.
It does seem to have a bit of trouble getting back to its dock from time to time, but it's pretty fun to watch it try. I'm a little embarrassed to say that I find myself quietly cheering it on to success when it goes looking for the dock.
I would highly recommend this product; not only does it do a great job cleaning and providing full-floor coverage, but it's really fun to have around as well.

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iRobot Roomba 4210 Discovery Vacuuming Robot, White Review

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(More customer reviews)I've been a Roomba user for almost two years, so I know the benefits of a little automated vacuum. However we had three primary complaints that iRobot has addressed in this new version:
1. Inconvenience of coming home to a dead battery
2. Difficult to clean
3. Noisy
4. Could not focus on dirtier areas; only cleaned randomly.
1. We have gotten into the habit of, as we are walking out the door, putting the Roomba to work. However, we always used to have the problem of coming home to Roomba with a dead battery (inevitably it would die in the worst spots, like under our bed just out of reach). Then we would have to plug him in to our charger (which we had to shell out sixty bucks for) and wait for two hours to use him again. That was complaint one for the old version.
iRobot has fixed the battery issue on the Discovery. The fast charger (which we had to pay for before) is now built in. Secondly, and what has proven to be my favorite new feature of the new Roomba, the little vacuum automatically finds his docking station when his battery is about dead. I do have two recommendations on this note, however. The docking station appears to work just like a virtual wall, Roomba doesn't know that it is there unless it crosses its path, so you make sure that it is in a wide open room where Roomba is sure to cross its path in its waning minutes of power. Secondly, now you have to be extra sure to Roomba-proof the room so that he doesn't get stuck. If he's stuck he won't be able to find his way back to the charger.
2. The new version has gotten much easier to clean, especially the main brush. All the pieces now pop in and out of place easier and there are no screws to remove any of the pieces that need cleaning. This has proven to be a huge benefit.
3. The Discovery is noticeably quieter than the older versions, especially on tile surfaces.
4. The new line of Roomba Floorvacs comes with sensors that can detect dirt. That was the first thing we tested when we got our Discovery. I had pieces of Styrofoam broken into small pieces and it detected it and automatically performed a spot clean on that area. Then I put him in the kitchen where I had accidentally dumped a bag of cereal on the floor and then managed to step on it...Roomba focused on that area and cleaned up every little crumb.
I love my Roomba. I 100% recommend that you get one. [...] I bought mine at a local store in the mall and had to return my Pro Elite version 4 times before I finally got one that wasn't buggy. Then, under the warrantee, after my fourth one went on the fritz I was able to upgrade to the Discovery for free. So far after 2 weeks, the Discovery has been bug-free.
Nevertheless, because of the many issues that I have had in the past, and as with any new and emerging technology, buy it where you can purchase an extended warrantee and easily return defective devices.
Notwithstanding, buy a Roomba. Even though my wife and I never have time to clean our floors have been spotless for the last two years.
I hope this helps.


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iRobot Roomba 5th Generation Vacuum Cleaning Robot Review

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(More customer reviews)This one clean our house really good. I really love it. It saved my energy and replaced our cleaning lady Dana so I call her Dana now.

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iRobot Roomba 5th Generation Vacuum Cleaning Robot Review

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(More customer reviews)I am delighted with my Roomba 540 for what I expected it to do-- it's actually a bit better than expected so far, though I have not yet owned it long enough to rate longevity/reliability. I have two small boys (7 and 5) and two cats (one long-haired) and I decided to use the Roomba upstairs rather than downstairs-- it is easier to control the clutter upstairs in our house, and therefore more practical for our use to use it up there on a routine basis.
Roomba vacuumed under a challenging queen bed, navigating over some cords, between two underbed boxes and six box-spring support pillars, and still getting out to the edge of the baseboard under the head of the bed-- great since I don't exactly move an oak bed around very often. Roomba covered the floorplan of a fairly complicated floor layout completely in the MBR, found the MBath, and cleaned up the tile floor very well, navigated back out (not using the included lighthouse yet) and discovered the hallway and one of the kids rooms as well as the kids' tile bathroom; it did a nice job on all. I did shut off the closet doors before starting Roomba. It navigated itself into and out of some pretty tight corners.
Roomba bumped into a balled up shirt on my son's floor and navigated around it rather than trying to eat it, though I don't recommend that approach routinely.
Roomba did have a couple of difficulties, which I found to be minor, compared to actually vacuuming:
*Now, I have not yet used the included lighthouse to mark off the rooms and help Roomba navigate-- but Roomba has not yet managed to navigate itself back to its base for recharging-- I have to go find it after it's done and take it home.
*On the first pass under that bed (which was in dire need of a good vacuuming) Roomba's brushes had a little more cat hair than it could handle and it spit out little hair balls here and there which I was able to pick up easily and discard-- maybe half a dozen tops. However on the second and third runs, when that floor was much cleaner, this did not happen.
*The directions suggest emptying Roomba's dustbin and cleaning its filter every three cleanings. OK, I've already indicted my dirty carptes here, but I've found it worth emptying/cleaning each use at least at first, but fortunately this is really simple to do-- push a button, pop out the easy to handle bin, dump in the trash, clean the filter (same as a dryer lint filter in your clothes dryer) pop bin back into Roomba with a click. No big deal, no mess, at least IMO.
On the up-side, when cleaning for the first time and encountering a lot of cat hair, Roomba's was stopped, and when I picked it up, a human sounding voice informed me that I needed to clean Roomba's brushes. This was easy to do and Roomba was back on its way. My unit came with spare brushes and a spare filter, suggesting these parts will need periodic replacement.
But if vacuuming takes only pushing a button to start and putting it back with a stop past the trash can when it's done later (or at your convenience) then I'm sold. And it seems to be doing a nice job with good coverage of the floor areas. I would give one to my mother.

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iRobot 330 Scooba Floor-Washing Robot Review

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(More customer reviews)It meets the 80/20 rule. It does 80% of the work that you would do if you did a thorough, good clean yourself. However, I usually don't do a thorough good clean myself on mopping floors since I left the navy.
obviously, make sure that your floor is swept before starting Scooba. (I use my Roomba since I am doubly lazy..) Scooba won't get into the corners, but neither do I when I mop.
The point is.. I don't like mopping. Neither does my wife. The hardwood floors never get mopped. I have a dog & 2 cats. Thus, the kitchen floor always looks like &*$(#! most of the time. Now it doesn't. It looks great. I'd suggest it for people that hate mopping & just want someone (or thing) to do it..
The first time I had scooba clean, it ran, but no water came out, and ittold me to check the tank, so i fiddled with it (pulled it apart & put it together again) and it worked. perhaps I didn't put the little rubber tube in right or didn't snap things together right the first time.
It works great on mud, dried food & dried spills. It missed some hardened, caked on gunk that would take a bit of scrubbing with a brush, or, scrubby part of your mop, but I didn't expect it to get those. In my case, it got up things like hardened jelly & stuff, but whatever the trash can has been grinding into the floor for the last couple years, it couldn't get up.
When you are done with Scooba, you do have to empty it out, give the tank a rinse, and clean the brush & a removable tube, to me though, thats easier than cleaning a mop. Though some people don't clean their mops, I would strongly suggest it with scooba.
You also need to buy their special cleaner, which to me, isn't that bad, since if you didn't use it, you'd be using another cleaner anyway. Scooba is quite efficient, as well. it uses 1/8? cup of cleaner and a quart or so of water on my floor (200 Sq. ft). If I were mopping, I'd be using more of both. I tried vinegar, which did pretty good, but the clorox appears to work better. I bet if you used Scooba more often, then vinegar would be fine.
The best time to use Scooba, in my opinion, is right before leaving in the morning, watching the TV downstairs, or going to bed (provided that 45 minutes of hair dryer sounding noise in another room doesn't bother you). That way the floor is dry when I come back to it. Some people have complained that it leaves the floor too wet after a mopping, but, to me, it appears the same as after when I mop myself.
so, in summary, if you just want the floor mopped. get Scooba. If you a perfectionist, its not for you.

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iRobot Roomba 440 Vacuum Cleaner the Roomba 440 Cordless Robot Vacuums so You Don't Have to Just Press the Clean Button and Roomba Does the Rest Review

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(More customer reviews)This vacuum is soooo close to perfection. If I had known then what I know now I would have turned it over and carefully examined everything before first use. Instead, the bearing flew out and I could not figure out where and how to replace it....first try was wrong so it disappeared. It took two weeks to get a replacement. The signal beeps aren't clear (to me) so now on the 3rd try to use it, the vacuum keeps stopping and beeping. I have yet to figure out what's wrong. The instruction booklet was written by robot lovers...not real specific for someone like me.
On the other hand, this vacuum cleans far better than I had any right to expect. It makes me positively chortle. No furniture moving. No noise; I can sit in the same room with it. It picks up everything. Presuming I eventually get it back to running the way it did the first two days I will be the happiest customer ever.

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iRobot 610 Roomba Professional Series Review

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(More customer reviews)I've used the Roomba 610 and 560. I now have two refurbished 560s in our house, at the same price as one 610. And it's definitely a better value.
Before I talk about the 610, let me share what's good and bad about Roombas in general, based on my experience with both the 560s and 610:
Pros:
- You don't have to vacuum, the Roomba does it for you
- Scheduled cleanings so you don't even have to worry about it or be home to hear the noise
- Floors stay clean without much effort
- One button start it and forget about it
Cons:
- Absolute pain in the butt to clean these things. There's the two brushes, the front wheel, the spinning brush (which requires a screwdriver to remove), and the dust bin. All of these must be disassembled, cleaned, and reassembled, at least once per cleaning session.
- It's not effort free. As I said above, lots to clean, which requires 5-10 minutes each time you want to run the Roomba.
- With pets, the fur gets wrapped around EVERYTHING. Maybe without pets our cleaning of the Roomba would be easier, but the whole point of these devices is ease, and they do not deliver.
So the nice things about the 610 are:
- Easier brush cleaning than the 560. Not much easier, but easier. Hair & fur still get wrapped around the edges of the brushes and into the mechanisms, but it's 5% easier to clean on the 610.
- The accessories case and accessories. The brush cleaning tool is nice, but it doesn't clean the brush holders, where all the stuff actually gets wrapped up and is difficult to clean.
Not so good things about the 610:
- No carrying handle. This seems inconsequential, but after having a way to pick up my 560 without having to pick the whole thing up from the bottom, where all the dust and dirt accumulates, you appreciate a carrying handle. Why didn't they include this on the 610?
- Only two lighthouses. They say it can clean four rooms, but they only include two lighthouses. My experience has been that three rooms is pushing it, so unless you have small rooms two lighthouses may be OK.
So why did I get two 560s if I have so many problems? I hate to vacuum, and I'd rather clean all the brushes and edges once a day than push the vacuum around for 45 minutes. So it's a trade-off.
Read other forums and you'll see that the 610 is not recommended, it's basically a 560 with lipstick.

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Roomba 440 Cordless Robot Vacuum Review

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(More customer reviews)This is my second Roomba and I love them. If you have hard wood floors and no time to sweep this is gold! Be aware that they still aren't perfect. It will get caught on cords, and try to kill itself with a lost sock. You will probably be replacing it in 2 years. That said I run mine twice a week and love it.

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iRobot Roomba Pet Series 562 Vacuum Cleaning Robot Review

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(More customer reviews)We've had our Roomba since January 2010 and approx. 6 months later, I still love it and am really glad we made the purchase. It took a little convincing for me to get my husband to agree with the purchase, but now he calls it "his vacuum", and likes to show it off to our friends and family when they come over. For us, it really has reduced my weekly in-house workload. With two cats in the house, birds, bunny, and a dog, pet hair gets tracked throughout the house. With two young children, our kitchen (hardwood floors) gets nibblets of food all over the floor. Setting the vacuum up to focus on one room (by using the virtual walls) makes a big difference. Frequently ours is venturing throughout the entire house.
The only problem we occasionally have is when it gets stuck under our china cabinet, or stuck while trying to suck up a toy that was left behind, or shoelaces hanging off a shoe left out. All very minor issues. I will say, it's a bit odd, when in the middle of the night (like last night), I get woken up by it coming into our bedroom. My guess is it gets turned on by the cats while they're running around playing at night. I hope that's all it is. ;)
I will say that I do still run my other vacuum cleaner (an old Rainbow) about once a month. We have a particular rug in our living room that the pet hair gets ground in after a while and it's hard to get it up with the Roomba, but in general, the carpets look like we regularly vacuum, and you can see all it picks up when you clean it out. Note that you do have to clean it out regularly, and by that I mean, every time it's done with a cleaning. This might seem a pain to some, but it really only takes about 5 minutes to do it. It's worth it to me if it means I can program it to come on whenever I want and come home to cleaned carpets. On another positive note, it has made my kids and husband do a lot better with tidying up better.

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iRobot 530 Roomba Vacuuming Robot, White Review

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(More customer reviews)If you are new to Roomba, you will wonder if it is worthwhile. The answer is clearly YES, since anything it cleans is that much less for you to clean. However, which is better, the old (and cheaper) Roomba, or the new models like the 530?
First, the 530 comes with the charging/base station, and this is very useful. I have placed this in the entranceway which leads into the livingroom, the kitchen or the bedroom. Using the virtual walls (included), I block off rooms so that it can only do the entranceway + 1 other room. I simply press the "Clean" button, and it backs itself off the charging stand and then spends the next 2 hours cleaning, finally returning to the charging stand. Nice!
Should you upgrade from an older model Roomba (I now use my old Roomba upstairs)? It depends on your situation. By-the-way, the old virtual walls do NOT work with the new Roomba.
New Roomba:
Fall down stairs? Never
Climb onto thick throw rugs?Sometimes
Effectiveness on hard floors? Excellent
Effectiveness on carpets? Good
Trap itself in electrical cords?No
Trap itself in carpet fringes?No
# rooms it can do at once? 2
Ease of emptying dirt?Fairly good
Scare cats and dogs?No
Clean under low furniture? Yes
Quietness? Fairly

Old Roomba:
Fall down stairs? Never
Climb onto thick throw rugs?Rarely
Effectiveness on hard floors? Excellent
Effectiveness on carpets? Good
Trap itself in electrical cords?Usually
Trap itself in carpet fringes?Always
# rooms it can do at once? 2
Ease of emptying dirt?Fair
Scare cats and dogs?No
Clean under low furniture? Yes
Quietness? Fairly
Edit: 1/8/10
Roomba DIED! Nine beeps. Can't say I am happy. I called iRobot and they say the issue is due to a defective bumper which is NOT fixable. Since my warranty is expired, they offered me a somewhat discount price on a new Roomba. I am not sure what I will do.
Edit: 5/7/10
There directions for a cheap (although complicated) repair for this problem in the posts below.

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