The Looj (iRobot) - Anyone Use One?

[whirlcool]

Last summer I bought one of iRobots (the people who brought you the Roomba vacuum) latest gadgets. It's a gutter cleaning robot.

You just drop it in the gutter, turn on the remote control and away you go safely cleaning your gutters while you are safely on the ground.

I was somewhat skeptical about how good it would work, but yesterday I used it and it indeed does do what iRobot says it will do.

Our gutters were clogged pretty bad. Not only did it have a lot of oak tree leaves, but pine needles as well. We've been here 7 years and I hadn't cleaned the gutters yet. So I put the Looj into the gutter, climbed down off the ladder and turned the unit on. OMG, you wouldn't believe the mess that came flying out of that gutter! Leaves, twigs, grit from the shingles on the roof and lots and lots of DUST! I was amazed. Before I knew it, I had a few neighbors come over to watch it work. It makes kind of a loud "Flip, Flip, Flip" noise. Everyone was amazed. The only problem I had with it was that whenever it encountered a piece of asphalt shingle, it would slip. When we bought the house, the previous owner had just put on a new roof. The installers didn't go a very good job of cleanup and their were left over pieces of roofing in the gutters. But all I had to do was to pull out those pieces of shingle and away the Looj went. Even the dogs liked it, they were watching as it moved down the gutters. I think they were suspicious of it.
It took about 2 hours to clean all the gutters on the house. The only thing left in the gutters was some of the shingle grit. I just rinsed the gutters out with the hose and that stuff rinsed out quite easily.

The remote control is pretty comprehensive. You have Looj forward and backwards, flipper flip right, fliper flip left, flipper on, flipper off.

It responds almost instantly to signals from the remote control. I imagine this unit would be a boon to people who have second or third story gutters that need to be cleaned.
It seems that iRobot is making some pretty good products these days.

http://store.irobot.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2874294

 

[DADoES]

Don't have a Looj...

and no gutters on this house, but I saw it when perusing iRobot's web site. My Roomba works better than I expected (on tile, not as good on plush carpet), it's running right now (scheduled 3 times per week). RJ has a Scooba, it works nicely as well.

 

[58limited]

I have a Roomba and have considered getting the Looj. Thanks for the product review. I have a lot of debris in the gutters from the recent hurricane so now would be a good time to get one. I also want a Scooba, 'cause if there is anything I hate more than sweeping, its mopping. I will be having the wood floors in three rooms redone after Thanksgiving, and the tile replaced in the kitchen as well. Might be a good time to get a Scooba too.

 

[jeffg]

We use a leaf blower to clean out our gutters. The whole house takes about 15 minutes.

Another option is a wet/dry vac with a long 4" hose. It's a lot slower, but it saves cleaning up the yard afterwards.

 

[petek]

Who'da thunk it LOL

With 8 large oak trees just in my yard alone and a near 50 ft pinecone infested spruce tree my gutters are a nightmare. What I do is climb thru the bedroom window upstairs onto the lower roof and blast them with a leaf blower, then I clamber up onto the upper roof and do the same. I just bought some of that mesh gutter screening that fits over the gutters so I'll be installing that come springtime. Cost me about $25. Next door had it installed last year and paid about $300 to have it done.

 

[sudsmaster]

My property has a lot of gutters, probably about 1,000 feet, and some of them I can't access because they are installed above roofing that won't support a person's weight and which also blocks access from a ladder.

I wind up having to use a high pressure hose to try to clean out those sections.

I installed screens over one section where I've planted trees that overhand and drop a lot of leaves on the roof, but the screens are not a great solution either (non standard roofing that makes removing/installing the screens very difficult).

The Looj sounds like a possible solution.

 

[whirlcool]

The one thing about the Looj is that is it is only about 2-1/2" inches tall. You have to make sure that there is 2-1/2" clearance between the gutter hangers and the bottom of the gutter. In my case there was so much dirt build up (my leaves were composting in my gutter!) that I didn't have enough clearance. So I had to help the Looj a little bit. But once I got all the sandy dirt out of the gutter, the Looj worked smoothly.
Yesterday I went up and looked in a few of the gutters after they dried. There was absolutely nothing in them, not even a spec of dirt! So until next year.

 

[petek]

There's a house a few blocks from me that was so bad they had plants sprouting from their gutters.

 

[sudsmaster]

I checked out a few Utube videos on the Looj. Not all of them were positive. One showed the Looj getting stuck trying to plow through a tangled mat of long pine needles. Can't say I was too surprised at that.

A while ago I bought one of those hooked hose wands meant to clear gutters. I'll probably wind up using that to clear the gutters around here. It's all single story so it's generally not too high, and except for the gutter in the forbidden zone (between two non-walkable sections of roofing) it will probably work. I'll just have to wear my poncho because it's sure to rain down wet leaves, mud, and sludge.

 

[neptunebob]

As Frank Zappa would say...

Is that a real Indian poncho or that a Seeeaarrrrs poncho?

 

[whirlcool]

I watched those Looj videos as well. One guy had a lawn growing in his gutter, and the one with the straw was more like a straw brick rather than just plain debris.

I think the Looj works correctly if you haven't let your gutters get to the point of growing plants. Mine hadn't been cleaned for at least 7 years and the Looj did a pretty decent job. It encountered some dirt in them and I did have to drive it back and forth a few times to get through it, but in the end my Looj won.
I think when I use it again next year it won't have as many challanges.

 

[petek]

As much as I love gadgets as you all know I'm more and more shying away from anymore that run on rechargable batteries because I'm sick and tired having bought all these things over the years and then having to toss them out after a year or so because the batteries are toast and you can't replace them. That's my only real quibble with this and the Roomba vac, otherwise I'd have had one of those toute suite.

 

[58limited]

The Roomba I have came with a warranty that covered the battery for three years. During this time I had to replace it twice. I just recently had to buy the third replacement battery - the warranty expired.

 

[whirlcool]

And our Roomba battery lasted only 8 months before it refused to recharge. We didn't replace it, the Roomba just went to the storage locker.

 

[mattl]

My scooba had a bad battery too, but it was irobot's fault and they stood behind it. They sent out a little dongle to reprogram the unit and prevent over charging the battery, which is what killed it. They did replace the battery too.

A friend of mine simply rebuilt his batteries. It's just a matter of opening the case and using stock rechargeable batteries.

 

[petek]

I was just passing by this post again and it suddenly dawned on me the name Looj for Luge, that Olympic bobsled thingamebob where they go down that icy chute on a sled

 

[shanonabc]

My Scooba has been in repair... For two months... After paying $600 AU in July for it i am most certainly not a happy camper...

 

[whirlcool]

Peterk:

According to the Offical iRobot website, that is exactly how they came up with the name for the Looj, just like the winter sport.