I don't recall if there has been a discussion here about Roombas. I received one for Christmas, and have found it to be useful. It doesn't work so well on carpet, being much more a sweeper than a vacuum. However it does quite well for me on tile, which covers all of my house except the three bedrooms. Corners are missed to a degree -- can't fit a round Roomba into a corner -- and it sometimes seems befuddled, LOL, and does a lot of repetition, but I like it and it's fun to watch.
Can't use it in the MBR, it consistently gets stuck under the bed, and the carpet has a few buckles which it doesn't handle well. I have the base outside my utility room, with a schedule set for 9 PM on Wednesdays while I'm usually at work. It typically backs off the base, goes under the barstools, turns the corner into the living room, moseys around there, into the office, a little into the kitchen and dining room. Eventually ends up going down the hall, through both spare bedrooms, utility room, a little into the dining room and kitchen. I may close a few doors sometimes to keep it out of the utility or bathrooms since it tends to get distracted and spend more time there than needed and later close it up in those rooms to give them a going-over. Or use the virtual walls to concentrate it in a specific area.
A month or so ago I had a bad headache on a Wed evening, went to bed in a spare room for a while instead of heading off to work. Mr. Roomba fired-up, I heard it roaming around, then it came down the hall into the bedroom for a few mins and into the bathroom. It left the bedroom, I dozed off, then a while later it was back in the bedroom again, hahaha.
My dislikes are that the battery doesn't seems to last long, the little vacuum filter gets clogged quickly, it (the Roomba) gets scuffed and occasionally stuck when running under the cabinetry toe kick in the kitchen and bathrooms, and all the bumping-into-things is kinda goofy. Long-term reliability in regards to the bumping, and strain when getting stuck on or under something, is yet to be determined.
It's not something I would have considered buying myself, but I would now recommend them to anyone who perhaps isn't a whole lot enamored of vacuuming and has a large enough expanse of tile or other hard-surface flooring to make it useful.
Can't use it in the MBR, it consistently gets stuck under the bed, and the carpet has a few buckles which it doesn't handle well. I have the base outside my utility room, with a schedule set for 9 PM on Wednesdays while I'm usually at work. It typically backs off the base, goes under the barstools, turns the corner into the living room, moseys around there, into the office, a little into the kitchen and dining room. Eventually ends up going down the hall, through both spare bedrooms, utility room, a little into the dining room and kitchen. I may close a few doors sometimes to keep it out of the utility or bathrooms since it tends to get distracted and spend more time there than needed and later close it up in those rooms to give them a going-over. Or use the virtual walls to concentrate it in a specific area.
A month or so ago I had a bad headache on a Wed evening, went to bed in a spare room for a while instead of heading off to work. Mr. Roomba fired-up, I heard it roaming around, then it came down the hall into the bedroom for a few mins and into the bathroom. It left the bedroom, I dozed off, then a while later it was back in the bedroom again, hahaha.
My dislikes are that the battery doesn't seems to last long, the little vacuum filter gets clogged quickly, it (the Roomba) gets scuffed and occasionally stuck when running under the cabinetry toe kick in the kitchen and bathrooms, and all the bumping-into-things is kinda goofy. Long-term reliability in regards to the bumping, and strain when getting stuck on or under something, is yet to be determined.
It's not something I would have considered buying myself, but I would now recommend them to anyone who perhaps isn't a whole lot enamored of vacuuming and has a large enough expanse of tile or other hard-surface flooring to make it useful.
