16 out of 16 people found this review helpful.
iRobot Roomba my friend that sucks! In a good way.
Date of Review: Aug 28, 2009
The Bottom Line: The time this product saves makes it worth the money and the small effort to clean it. It does a great job!
I have two of these great vacuums, one for upstairs and one for downstairs. They are very reliable. The one I have for my upstairs is a scheduler and it just begins vacuuming the room on the scheduled time every day without fail and it goes right back to it's docking station when it is done. It can pick up just about any of the debris that a normal vacuum would pick up. You do have to make sure that you don't leave things out like socks or bras or long ribbons because they can get tangled in it and cause Roomba to stop. If this happens it's no big deal you just untangle it and restart it. I have had my Roombas for 2 years now, since 2007 and the only problem I have had is one of them recently needed a new battery. The cost of the replacement battery was worth it to me to keep my iRobot cleaning. I also have a iRobot Scooba and have a high opinion of it as well... read my review. Customer service at iRobot is very good and quick. I did a lot of research before buying this product and have found that most of the bad reviews are due to user error or not reading the instructions properly.
Update: I have received a few questions that I would like to answer here to the best of my knowledge. I hope this update is helpful to my readers.
Do you need to supervise it?
At first I would waste so much time watching it and waiting to see if it would get the whole room but after a couple of times of doing that I realized that it could be trusted to do it's job. I only need to make sure that I don't leave socks or bras out because those types of things can get tangled in it.
Where did you buy your Roomba for such a great price?
I got it on a special offer from Woot!
How much does it cost to replace the battery?
From iRobot I believe it costs about $70 but you will have to check their site to be sure. I got my replacement battery on Ebay for $40. We did not need to replace it until we had owned it for 2 years. I think it would have lasted longer if it had been used and charged regularly but we moved and didn't use it when we were living in a smaller place for a few months.
How do you clean it?
There is a removable compartment that easily slides off and you just dump it in the trash. The filter flips out and you can shake it off in the trash as well. The brushes both come out and the robot comes with a little cleaning tool that helps you to pull the hair out of the brushes. It takes a little time but you still save time by not having to vacuum.
Does it use filters? Is it bagless?
Yes it comes with a filter that is replaceable. As I said in my original review you can purchase replacements from the companies website and that I think they last longer than the company would have you believe. I don't replace mine until they look worn out. There is no bag, only a removable receptacle for the dirt.
How does it do on pet hair?
I have a dog that sheds quite a bit and I think the Roomba does an excellent job of getting the hair up. In fact, that is the majority of what I find in the receptacle when I empty it.
