iRobot / Roombas has anyone got one?

[MPH]

 So was thinking of getting one of these.  I’m just a little bit skeptical as to how effective they are… I wanted to speak to a  real person who might have got one. Not run the risk of some fake reviews on Amazon!

 

 

obviously there’s several different brands out there now..

 

do they actually do a good job? 
 

are there any that make the transition well from laminate/ hardwood floors back to carpets?

 

 

id be interested on hearing the opinions good or bad of someone who may have purchased one!

Edited 27 October 2021 by MPH

[stripeyfox]

As long as you don't have a dog....

 

https://www.boredpanda.com/robot-vacuum-cleaner-spreads-dog-shit-everywhere/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic

 

What Happens When Roomba Runs Over Dog Poo In The Middle Of The Night

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Elizabeth
Community member

 

 

Jesse Newton woke up in the middle of the night after his four-year-old son had crawled into bed smelling distinctively like dog poop. The smell was so horrifying, the man jumped out of the bed, only to discover that their Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner had run over their doggie’s pile, and now covered the entire house with the deuce – think rugs, floor, furniture and kid’s toys. All of this horror happened while the whole family was soundly asleep…

Newton, who described the event as a ‘pooptastrophe’ was so shocked that it took him a year to start speaking about the Roomba dog poop incident. “It’s taken me until now to wrap my head around it and find the words to describe the horror.”

“Do not, under any circumstances, let your Roomba run over dog poop… Because if that happens, the skid marks will be all over every conceivable surface within its reach, resulting in a home that closely resembles a Jackson Pollock poop painting.”

However, Newton was quick to defend his dog Evie, not blaming her for the whole dog poop Roomba ordeal: “This is the only time she’s done this, so it’s probably just because we forgot to let her out before we went to bed that night.” Fair enough.

More info: Facebook (h/t: ladbible)

Jesse Newton woke up at night after his four-year-old son had crawled into bed smelling like dog shit

Image credits: Jesse Newton

The man discovered their Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner had ran over their dog’s poop…

Image credits: Jesse Newton

And now covered the entire house with the doggie’s turd – think rugs, floor, furniture and kid’s toys

Image credits: Jesse Newton

“It’s taken me until now to wrap my head around it and find the words to describe the horror”

[MPH]

Haha!

 

 

the latest models can apparently detect that kind of thing!

[Captain...]

I bought one as a Christmas present for the missus.

 

The thing to think about us do you have the kind of house that is generally free of clutter and doesn't have many obstacles? If not it might not be for you. Check the height and clearance of things like tv stand and sofa it can get stuck on many things. We mainly tend to use it on the clean room setting have a quick clear up after the kids, put the chairs up and then set it going. It's just not practical to run it on a schedule without clearing up toys and shoes etc every night. Can easily get stuck on things like door mats and rugs.

 

The one I bought Bagotte has magnetic strips you can set down as a barrier to stop it going where you don't want to but you would have to keep ugly magnet strips down all the time.

 

For cleaning power it's pretty effective will pick up lots of dirt and dust in a single room while you sit back and have a beer, easily gets under beds and other harder to reach places, but of course they need to be free from clutter to clean effectively. We use ours sporadically and not that effectively but unless your place is the perfect layout for a Roomba and clutter free it won't be the solution to never having to hoover again, but you will be able quickly clean a room while you do other things.

[Captain...]

I also started a similar thread last year and got some advice, but I can't find it in the search function.

[MPH]

4 minutes ago, Captain... said:

I bought one as a Christmas present for the missus.

 

The thing to think about us do you have the kind of house that is generally free of clutter and doesn't have many obstacles? If not it might not be for you. Check the height and clearance of things like tv stand and sofa it can get stuck on many things. We mainly tend to use it on the clean room setting have a quick clear up after the kids, put the chairs up and then set it going. It's just not practical to run it on a schedule without clearing up toys and shoes etc every night. Can easily get stuck on things like door mats and rugs.

 

The one I bought Bagotte has magnetic strips you can set down as a barrier to stop it going where you don't want to but you would have to keep ugly magnet strips down all the time.

 

For cleaning power it's pretty effective will pick up lots of dirt and dust in a single room while you sit back and have a beer, easily gets under beds and other harder to reach places, but of course they need to be free from clutter to clean effectively. We use ours sporadically and not that effectively but unless your place is the perfect layout for a Roomba and clutter free it won't be the solution to never having to hoover again, but you will be able quickly clean a room while you do other things.

 

thanks chap! My wife doesn’t like clutter so most of that gets tidied away… we have a lot of wooden floors and  kids coming in and out often so we are looking at maybe. Getting something set up at night!

[Bellend Sebastian]

I've got a Eufy one that was about £140 on Prime Day last year.

 

Given that this is relatively cheap for such a thing I'd say it's been LOADS better than expected. Going from carpet to hard floor isn't a problem as it can get over a threshold of about a cm or so surprisingly easily (so doormats, rugs etc aren't an issue).

 

The only thing it really doesn't like are wires, and with all the devices and chargers lying around these days that's something you have to watch.

 

The thing that surprised me about it is how well it actually cleans - I was worried it would be about as effective as my father in law pushing around his 1960s "carpet cleaner" but it actually picks up loads of dirt, probably more than if you do the vacuuming yourself, probably because it's taking its time over it and isn't thinking about opening a can and going on the PlayStation. 

 

Because mine's a cheapo version it's a bit stupid, in that its movements are pretty random and it just goes off in one direction and then gets diverted by obstacles, so it's a mad criss-cross journey that eventually covers most of the floor before its battery gets low and it begins its forlorn, weary journey back to its base station (which it seems to have to look for rather than knowing where it is).  More expensive models can supposedly map your home, so they 'know' where everything is and can take a more planned and efficient route and presumably be a bit more thorough.

 

I bought it mainly as, even if it was a bit crap, if it was doing any cleaning at all it would make up a bit for all the times we didn't have time or couldn't be arsed to do it ourselves. It does such a good job though that I actually find myself having to do it less, so for the money spent I'm really happy

 

[VLC86]

12 hours ago, Captain... said:

I bought one as a Christmas present for the missus.

 

The thing to think about us do you have the kind of house that is generally free of clutter and doesn't have many obstacles? If not it might not be for you. Check the height and clearance of things like tv stand and sofa it can get stuck on many things. We mainly tend to use it on the clean room setting have a quick clear up after the kids, put the chairs up and then set it going. It's just not practical to run it on a schedule without clearing up toys and shoes etc every night. Can easily get stuck on things like door mats and rugs.

 

The one I bought Bagotte has magnetic strips you can set down as a barrier to stop it going where you don't want to but you would have to keep ugly magnet strips down all the time.

 

For cleaning power it's pretty effective will pick up lots of dirt and dust in a single room while you sit back and have a beer, easily gets under beds and other harder to reach places, but of course they need to be free from clutter to clean effectively. We use ours sporadically and not that effectively but unless your place is the perfect layout for a Roomba and clutter free it won't be the solution to never having to hoover again, but you will be able quickly clean a room while you do other things.

Who said romance was dead.

[Captain...]

1 hour ago, Costock_Fox said:

Who said romance was dead.

It's a great present, goes well with the ironing board she got a few years ago.

 

 

[Stivo]

I have had a roomba for 6 or 7 years and have been pleased with it. 
 

The one I have is a bump bot, it sets off and does a random walk bouncing into things and after 2 hours it starts watching out for its dock, and when it next passes it will dock and recharge.  Thus a session takes 2-3 hours depending on where it is relative  to the dock when the timer goes and how the subsequent dice throws work out.

 

As it’s a random walk coverage may not be 100% on every run, indeed it may sometimes omit a room altogether  but if you run it regularly that doesn’t matter.

 

It generally detects things before it hits them and slows down, but thin chair legs are not always detected
 

it detects stairs and doesn’t fall down them although it’s a bit alarming to watch.

 

It picks up a lot of fluff and dust, but is less good with say bits of paper.

 

it will go underneath beds and furniture which is good.

 

It is capable of shutting itself into a room if the door opens into the room as the random walk may cause it to bump into the door and close it 

it it goes into a shoe cupboard or you leave a phone charger cable on the floor it will get tangled on the cable/shoelaces and stop.

 

it has a small capacity collector bin that needs emptying after a couple of runs.

 

mine has a schedule timer but I don’t use it because I first empty the bin, then check the shoe cupboard door is closed, wedge other doors open, check for cables etc before running it.

Oh and to answer your question I have a mix of carpets, laminate, tiles, rugs and it goes between them without issue - it doesn’t bounce off rugs but climbs onto and off them.

 

 

Edited 28 October 2021 by Stivo

[MPH]

5 hours ago, Captain... said:

It's a great present, goes well with the ironing board she got a few years ago.

 

 

 

I bought my wife a new bag and belt for Christmas. She had the Hoover working great a week later.