Anyone else own a Roomba?

Lost Lake

Lost Lake

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I bought one for the warden, being the caring husband I am, but I had ulterior motives.

Roombas are little round robot vacuums that actually do a really good job of cleaning!

Abby the bestest-doggy-in-the-whole-wide-world sheds a couple times a year and keeping up with that was a pain.

The Roomba makes this a snap! It just hums along and does its job without a hitch.

We named ours Rosie after the Jetson's robot. I bet most Roombas are named Rosie.

Our Roomba can be programmed to vac when we want, and is one of the 'pet-hair' designed vacs. It's pretty smart and doesn't eat cords or rugs, knows to stay away from stairs, and zips right under tables and sofas.

The robot docks itself on its charging station when it is finished or running low on battery. Mine came with a couple of 'virtual walls' which are lasers that keep the robot confined to certain rooms or areas.

My ulterior motive? The kids keep the floors uncluttered now! Rosie will do all the vacuuming if you keep your shoes off the floor and hang your book bags up.

I picked mine up at Costco and it was only $300. So far we love it!


Roomba630VacuumInAction.jpg
 
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I have an old one from when they were first introduced. Neat little thing. I should get a new one for pet hair but i think my rat terrier would be petrified of it while it did its thing. He is such a baby when it comes to anything loud or unknown

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No but I do remember the spoof on Saturday Night Live which of course can not be mentioned here on the family oriented forum.

I was pretty darn funny!!!:D
 
When we put MIL in the home my wife brougt home her Roomba. I tried it, Angus got hold of it, I found it out in the back yard after he had marked it, it don't work any more. :rolleyes:
Wife was mad-but I told her that she needed the exercise anyway.









Note to self-when dog trashes MIL's Roomba and wife gets mad-don't snicker and tell the dog GOOD BOY!!!!!!!!!!!
 
I always thought that would be nice to have. Never pulled the trigger on the purchase, I guess I'm a little skeptic of the whole idea. It sounds too good to be true!
 
Now theresa wants one. To me it looks like a toy. I wonder how good they can really do? How can such a small thing compare to a regular vacume? I bet it would drive the cats nuts.
 
Were in the had one group...

We dont have wall to wall just hard wood and rugs. It would get stuck on half the rugs. It would get stuck on the transition or edge of the rug. Then some of the furniture has legs, the thing would not see it and get stuck under the couch or chair.

In the one room where it did work it seemed to go over the same spot for ever and not get to some others.

My wife is a total clean freak and this just wasnt doing it. Also it didnt seem to have the suction of the real vacuum (dyson).

This was I guess eight years ago.
 
we are on our fourth.... they are nice, but typically last about 2 years of daily vacuuming not bad considering....

One tip keep your clothes picked up.... I have replaced two main motors due to ours hitting tshirts on the floor, they bind up and fry the little motor.

We have tile, and had hardwood before with only a few short pyle rugs, and I have never seen the thing hang up. It is not for the perfectionist though, as it cleans well, but not perfectly.
 
I only have hardwood and the thing worked pretty good. It would just bounce around the room till eventually it got all the entire room. I only used it one a week or so and mostly in the living room.

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I know several folks with Roombas so I looked into getting one. During my internet research I discovered a competitor to the Roomba, called the Neato. The latest model, the 21, seems to have some advantages to the Roomba and is cheaper than most Roomba models. I paid $349 on Amazon, with free shipping. The two things it does better than the Roomba are: if it needs recharging, it remembers where it stopped, so after returning to the charger to re-charge itself, it goes back to where it left off and continues cleaning. The Roomba just starts over again. I use the Neato for a whole level of my house, about 1500 sq feet, mostly carpet but also tile. It takes a few re-charges to do, but it covers virtually every inch of the house. The second thing it does better than the Roomba is in overcoming obstacles, like the fringe of an area rug, or a threshold between rooms. Every once in awhile it gets caught under a piece of furniture, but most of the time it just cleans the whole house. My wife now rarely if ever uses the regular vacuum on this floor of the house, since the Neato picks up the dust that settles on the carpet and keeps it nice and clean. Watching this gadget is pretty amazing. I can't use it when my youngest grandchild is around, because he thinks its a toy and runs after it, pressing the on and off button repeatedly. We run ours at night when we go to bed and the next AM I can see the "tracks" where it went on the carpeting but its back by its charger just waiting for the next cleaning. Pretty impressive device.
 
The same guy that invented it has a new invention out now called Baxter. Do a search on youtube for it, I have seen the thing in action and it is awesome. If any of you have any repetitive tasks in your work life this thing is the answer, and unbelievably affordable. I had the owner of my company convinced to purchase one when they were released to sale, but it didn't happen before he retired and the new owner is a lot more strapped for cash...
 
The newer robots have sensors that won't allow anything trapped to burn out a motor. They are pretty smart that way. They can cruise over fringe rugs and if something gets tangled they're supposed to reverse the brushes and spit it out.

There's a little spinning brush on the side like a weed whacker that hugs the walls and gets in corners. It does a really good job.

My sister has an older one that when the sensors would pick up an excessive amount of dirt it would play a happy tune and spin in circles in that area until it was clean.

Unfortunately mine doesn't do that, or it's not programmed from the factory for the 'happy tune'. Mine does have a couple of dirt sensors, and when it find extra dirt a blue light comes on and it does one circle in that area.

If you get one, plan to watch it work the first couple times you start it. It's fun to watch.

I think the pet model just has a larger waste bin. Not sure if that's it.

There's some cute videos of cats riding on the Roombas. My Lab doesn't give it a second thought unless it keeps vacuuming where she's laying down. After it makes her move more than once she heads upstairs and lets it do its thing.

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We had one and enjoyed it for a few days...Came home one day and noticed it gone. Found it in the toilet. The only suspect was my Lab, and he didn't crack under interrogation. I swear he walked by me a few hours later with a smile and a tail wag..
 
Bought one today at costco. Fun to watch. My wife has her foot and leg in a cast so that was a good excuse to get one. Its amazeing. I think it told me to lift my feet. I thought they were a toy but this is doing a amazeing job! It Just finished up, went to its dock and is recharging!
 
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