Roomba robot vacuum

[George Cantstandya]

I recently got one and I love this thing. I was skeptical when I first heard about them years ago. It seems they have made some good advancements over the years. My entire main floor is dark laminate and I have a yellow haired dog that sheds like crazy. So the hair shows up all over the place. I was getting tired of fighting the dog hair all the time so decided to give Roomba a go.

So far it has really impressed me. It goes under furniture that is high enough with no problems so gets a lot of those areas where hair and dirt seems to accumulate. It cleans well along the baseboards. I didn't get the top end model so it doesn't map the floor plan and just kind of goes around all over the place. But somehow it still manages to get pretty much everywhere. I schedule it to run at night while I'm sleeping, wake up in the morning, all the dog hair is swept up and my Roomba is back in its dock charged back up. I empty the dust bin and it is ready to serve my bidding for the next cycle. :)

It certainly doesn't replace more detailed cleaning with a standard vacuum. However it keeps most of the dog hair and other dirt cleaned up to save me from having to vacuum a few times a week.

[SunsetBengal]

I, much like yourself, have been curious of the roombas. When they first came about, I dismissed them as a gimmick. I'm glad that you have experienced positive results with yours, and may consider buying one for our home. Where we live under the trees, between us and the animals, we frequently need to vacuum multiple times per week, just to keep up with the debris that gets tracked in.

[HarleyDog]

Mine sucks and here's why. I too have a dark laminate floor and my wife has many rugs around the house. Shag is the worst. But it struggles over the rugs and also I think my Roomba is an alcoholic. It keeps banging into shit, backs up and bangs into the same shit over and over again. So, with this in mind, I took it to an AA meeting. Brought it home and the same shit. Maybe it's on meth or something and I'm looking at things from all the wrong angles? Taking it to an NA meeting soon.

Don't even call customer service. Lady said, "Sir, I think your drunk. I said NO, I think your drunk because I cant stand a word your saying?" End of conversation. Ho!

[George Cantstandya]

Mine does fine over the few rugs I have but they have medium to low pile height. The only issue I forgot to mention was that it would not fit under my sofas. So I screwed 1 inch thick pieces of wood to the bottom of the legs put them on no slip pads and that solved that problem. I have not seen it bang in to the same spot repeatedly but aside from its first run as I stated it runs at night. So I have no idea what it is up to during that time. I just know I wake up with clean floors.

I've got him upstairs doing the master bedroom right now. :)

But yea, when I was doing my research reading tons of Amazon reviews and such, there were a fair amount of complaints for various reasons. I think it really depends on the layout of your house and type of furniture. So they probably are not for everyone. The new fancy ones (and much more expensive) from what I reading have a camera that maps your floor plan and you can use the app to designate no go zones. I guess for places it might get stuck or if you don't want it going in to a room with a bunch of Legos or something all over the place.

[jfkbengals]

On my third one now, but it is in need of a new battery (again) so it isn't running. I've had them since about '04 or so, and can't live without. As was already stated, you need to do a thorough cleaning first. But after doing so, you can run the Roomba daily and it will keep the floor spotless. If you have a scheduling model, you can schedule it to run when you are at work and will have a nice, clean floor when you get home.

[xxlt]

What about electric cords? I would worry about Roomba chewing them up. Especially the meth model, which might chew, spit, repeat. Fire hazard?

[jfkbengals]

(06-02-2019, 09:39 AM)xxlt Wrote: What about electric cords? I would worry about Roomba chewing them up. Especially the meth model, which might chew, spit,  repeat. Fire hazard?

Nah, they sense when they have pulled one into the rollers, then reverse them to remove it.  If it works, it keeps going.  If it doesn't, it will try again a couple of times and then shut down and make an alert tone or voice (depending on the model) that tells you to get it unstuck and hit resume.

[grampahol]

Both the Mrs and myself are what we like to refer to as cleaning challenged when it comes to floors. Another nice term might be slobs, but I'm not going there. She's a borderline hoarder so getting to those nice, clean floors in this house would be only one hallway and the bottom of the shower...maybe..
We have several vacuums, but they're going to outlive us both.. OH WELL.. I'm over it. I've given up on attempting to get her to do anything remotely related to house cleaning.
People liked to say she was a terrible house keeper, but she kept the house in her divorce to her ex.

[sandwedge]

(06-01-2019, 04:54 PM)George Cantstandya Wrote: Mine does fine over the few rugs I have but they have medium to low pile height.  The only issue I forgot to mention was that it would not fit under my sofas.  So I screwed 1 inch thick pieces of wood to the bottom of the legs put them on no slip pads and that solved that problem.  I have not seen it bang in to the same spot repeatedly but aside from its first run as I stated it runs at night.  So I have no idea what it is up to during that time.  I just know I wake up with clean floors.  

I've got him upstairs doing the master bedroom right now.  :)

But yea, when I was doing my research reading tons of Amazon reviews and such, there were a fair amount of complaints for various reasons.  I think it really depends on the layout of your house and type of furniture.  So they probably are not for everyone.  The new fancy ones (and much more expensive) from what I reading have a camera that maps your floor plan and you can use the app to designate no go zones.  I guess for places it might get stuck or if you don't want it going in to a room with a bunch of Legos or something all over the place.

Like most maids, it's probably setting on the couch drinking your booze and watching westerns all night while you sleep.....