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anyone here own a roomba?

#1
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3/14/05 at 6:17pm
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so we have a dyson thread, how about a roomba thread?

the new place is one story, no stairs, so I'm considering one of the self charging discovery models to wander around and clean the place... but don't know if they're worth 200 bucks or not.
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#2
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3/14/05 at 6:48pm
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Honest answer: they suck. Hard. (IMHO). I've seen it up close, played with one, and found it to have about the effectiveness of a dust buster with less accuracy and a high annoyance factor.. but that's just me
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#3
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3/14/05 at 7:32pm
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Had one for 2 years. Got the original. Surprisingly, it actually works pretty well. It won't do any deep cleaning but for day to day stuff it gets the job done, and much better than any dustbuster. Mine is always completely full after a run around the apartment. Having one that automatically went back and recharged itself like the new models would be icing on the cake.

Only issue I've had is that hair tends to get stuck in the brush easily and needs cleaning frequently. If you have pets or a wife/gf with long hair that can get annoying. Not sure if the new models address that issue but the early ones suffer from it.

All I need is a robot to do my laundry and I can officially be called 'lazy'.

edit: One last thing, if you have cats watch out. This thing must be programmed to seek them out. I swear it changes directions just to go after mine. :b
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#4
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3/15/05 at 8:06am
  • Joined: May 2001
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Quote:
Got the original.

The new model is actually pretty different underneath. The dirt/dust collection bin and filter are completely different and much easier to clean out.

It's fantastic, but you have to let it do it's job before declaring that it doesn't work. Depending on the size of the room you are cleaning, it will probably hit the same spot at least 5 times. That's when your carpets starts looking better. After one pass, it doesn't look like it works, but come back when it's done and it's obvious that it does a pretty decent job.
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#5
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3/15/05 at 8:27am
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The first time I saw this thing all I could think was " Yeah right" and then a friend of mine actually bought one. After two weeks of using it she told me that it doesn't work anywhere near what they advertise. She said that she programmed it to clean a large room and it missed all sorts of spots an left major dirt. She even tried it out on her hardwoods and it scratched the hell out of them. She returned it and got a full refund.

I've nothing but bad things about both dysons and roombas. I've never used one myself, but just based on what people I know who have used them, I would never shell out that kind of money.
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#6
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3/17/05 at 10:47am
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I have the newest model (I think). It says "iRobot" on it. No connection with the movie. Maybe it is Sharper Image.

Anyway, it was for my Grandma and of course she did not like it. I don't really care for it. In my house it will miss multiple spots. It seems that if I want to clean the good spots I have to sit and watch it work. Either picking it up like a cat and placing it down where it needs to clean.

I think it has a remote but not very useful at all.

The Roomba is good for cleaning areas of light mess. Maybe it would be cool for lazy people. But I think I am pretty frakin'(too much Battlestar) lazy and I like my regular vac.
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#7
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5/9/05 at 6:06am
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I got a discovery model this weekend and it's been awesome!

my house is a ranch so it does all of it, only got stuck once when I forgot to close off a bathroom door and it got a hold of a plush rug, but otherwise even picks up the bark dust the dogs track in. cool!

it's short enough it even cleans under the sofa.
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#8
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5/9/05 at 12:48pm
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Does a very good job for me. I guess YMMV.
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#9
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5/9/05 at 1:19pm
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I have had one for two years and think it is great. It learns your rooms after multiple uses and until it gets the patterns down it isn't impressive. It can also have problems in rooms with a lot of furniture.

One trick with large rooms is to use the electronic walls to break the room in half. The run cycle for large rooms can simply be too big for it.

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#10
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4/3/08 at 7:51am
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Re: anyone here own a roomba?

Reviving the thread...

From what I have been able to tell (read), these things are getting better and better, and now I think I want to buy one for my wife for our anniversary (next month).

The only problem I can see is that we live in a townhouse. Do they make a model that can be set to do the downstairs maybe two days a week then carried upstairs two days a week - learn two zones, I suppose?

I still haven't seen on that does stairs yet... :-)

We had to do a "battle stations" cleaning last night, as the folks who put in our marble shower and bathroom want to come over and show their work to a potential client, and we realized how much easier it would be if we had, at least, a general, regular vacuum routine set up. (We both work full time, and some things don't get as much attention as they should.)

Anyway, let me know.

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#11
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4/4/08 at 5:35pm
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Re: anyone here own a roomba?

I've got one - the discovery non-scheduler model. It works great here - we have all tile floors, which it performs well on. But after 5 months of only being run twice a week (and being cleaned meticulously after every 3-4 uses, blown out with compressed air, etc) it began doing the "Roomba circular dance of death" which basically means that some under roomba sensor is hung and it slowly backs up and doesn't clean. Reading online forums on them, this is not an uncommon problem.

If you have a larger area to clean or pets that shed, they are great, but otherwise its probably still more of a gadget than a serious cleaning appliance. A big plus for pet hair is that it is low enough to drive under many couches and coffee tables, getting to places that it isn't as easy to get to with usual vacuuming.
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