22 out of 22 people found this review helpful.
Think of it as an Industrious but High-Maintenance, Non-Cuddly Pet
Date of Review: Feb 7, 2009
The Bottom Line: More interesting than practical.
It's the 21st century - you know you want a robot!!
It is truly enjoyable watching "Cy" (my Roomba 530) randomly scoot around the floor, sweeping up the schmutz.
He navigates across different surfaces, around, under, and alongside things with relative ease, minding the Lighthouses and then finding his way back home to the charger base to "feed" when he's done. OK, so that last part is a little creepy - the machines know how to feed themselves!!
And he does a good job overall...I mean, the hardwood, area rugs and vinyl floors are cleaner/shinier when he finishes. In fact, he cleans under chairs, sofas, rugs and tables that I admit are usually skipped when the big vacuum is used.
Here's the rub...you have to work pretty hard and be patient to reap that benefit. Checklist before setting him loose in his home turf, the greatroom:
- Move 2 small lightweight throw rugs and their grippers
- Move fireplace tools
- Move fireplace screen
- Close doors to den/media room
- Put out lighthouses, one under the back of the sofa to prevent Cy from getting stuck in a cul-de-sac behind it
- Put kitchen chair in pass-through to front entry to block Cy, because the 2 lighthouses are already engaged.
The cleaning cycle takes about a half-hour. When he's done his thing these items have to be put back where they belong. He doesn't like the lightweight rugs, and in his cleaning vigor tends to scoot the fireplace stuff all over the place, making a racket.
From an efficiency standpoint, I could already be 70% complete using the big vacuum for a more thorough result in the same area by the time the Cy-prep is finished. And so that's usually what I do.
Setting him loose on the kitchen requires less prep (just flipping the chairs to the top of the table), but honestly, a broom and dustpan or swiffer would take only 5 more minutes for the same results. Without the need to empty Cy's dustbin, clean the filter, or take him apart to clean the other "innards".
The big clean in my experience is required with every other use - one use being 150 - 175 square feet cleaned.
And unfortunately, after running less than 10 times, poor Cy is showing signs of decrepititude. The end-caps on the bristle brush have deformed, stopping him dead in his tracks. A little surgery with a sharp blade took off the melty-looking bit which caused the problem...but replacement parts are in the near future if he stays in service.
Guess that's part of the manufacturer's revenue stream plan, as they direct-market replacement parts and filters, which are recommended to be replaced with each 3 months' use. (Shhhh...don't tell anyone, but they can be gently washed, like a Dyson's hepa filter).
Next model up has programmable cleaning cycles. This would be very handy if the Roomba didn't require an internal clean-out so frequently.
Positives:
- Cleaning is effective
- Dust bin is easy to empty
- Returns to charging base by itself
- Clever navigator, slowing down before bumping gently off of walls and furniture (no damage)
- Communicates status by tones, or by canned female-voice messages
- Entertainment and novelty
- Wow, isn't it just cool?
Negatives:
- Not a true time or effort saver
- Cleaning the Roomba itself is tedious...reminds me of a "light" version of disassembling a big vacuum beater-bar assembly to unwind hair
- Fragile
Though not the most practical of purchases, I'm still very glad to have Cy.
