Customer Reviews

Irobot Roomba 562 Pet Series Vacuum Cleaning Robot

5 star:		(68)
4 star:		(36)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

We've had our Roomba since January 2010 and approx. 6 months later, I still love it and am really glad we made the purchase. It took a little convincing for me to get my husband to agree with the purchase, but now he calls it "his vacuum", and likes to show it off to our friends and family when they come over. For us, it really has reduced my weekly in-house workload. With two cats in the house, birds, bunny, and a dog, pet hair gets tracked throughout the house. With two young children, our kitchen (hardwood floors) gets nibblets of food all over the floor. Setting the vacuum up to focus on one room (by using the virtual walls) makes a big difference. Frequently ours is venturing throughout the entire house.

The only problem we occasionally have is when it gets stuck under our china cabinet, or stuck while trying to suck up a toy that was left behind, or shoelaces hanging off a shoe left out. All very minor issues. I will say, it's a bit odd, when in the middle of the night (like last night), I get woken up by it coming into our bedroom. My guess is it gets turned on by the cats while they're running around playing at night. I hope that's all it is. ;)

I will say that I do still run my other vacuum cleaner (an old Rainbow) about once a month. We have a particular rug in our living room that the pet hair gets ground in after a while and it's hard to get it up with the Roomba, but in general, the carpets look like we regularly vacuum, and you can see all it picks up when you clean it out. Note that you do have to clean it out regularly, and by that I mean, every time it's done with a cleaning. This might seem a pain to some, but it really only takes about 5 minutes to do it. It's worth it to me if it means I can program it to come on whenever I want and come home to cleaned carpets. On another positive note, it has made my kids and husband do a lot better with tidying up better.

I've had quite a few Roomba cleaning robots, and was interested in the 562 because it's advertised as being new and different for homes with pets. Experienced "Roomba" users should note (as I failed to) that the new bin advertised for the pet model is simply a different bin that's used place of the normal one (as opposed to a secondary bin that's used concurrently, as I'd incorrectly assumed). The sweeper bin can be used in place of the normal bin, and seems to disables the vacuum functionality, making the Roomba a sweeping robot.

The Achilles Heel of this robot (as with all Roomba floor-cleaning robots) is the constant need to clean the machine's brushes. We're not talking once every few days here--we're talking 1-2 times per cleaning cycle. You don't set the Roomba to clean while you're at work and expect it to be done when you get home. You learn to expect to find it in the middle of the floor, requiring a brush cleaning before it can continue. And ultimately--after a year or two--you expect it to require factory repair or replacement.

Note that I give this model 4 stars despite what seems like a fairly middling review. That's because it works pretty well, but is hardly maintenance free. Note that we have two Labrador Retrievers. I'd expect that people without pets would have an easier time with the Roomba, and that people with longer-haired pets would fine it even more challenging to keep the brushes clean.

Our Roomba is really part of the family. We call him Paco (don't know why, it just seems to fit). We have four (4) dogs, two long hair and two short hair. Without Paco, it is impossible to keep up with the hair and dirt they bring in. By running Paco every other day, we manage to keep the hair to a minimum, even under the beds where cleaning is nearly impossible. Cleaning Paco up is easy if you have the right tools. My problems with the Roomba (my third one) is that it is impossible to get a person on the phone or on line. Emails to iRobot are generally answered within 30-45 days which is also a problem. They send extra brushes, sweeps, etc., with the robot which helps but I keep an old comb, a small screwdriver, a hemostat, and an old toothbrush to clean Paco. I'm hoping that this one lasts longer than the other two.

I have a beagle who sheds an unbelievable amount of fur. My home is 100% ceramic tile floors. One morning as I walked through the house, the sun hit the floor at just the right angle to make the floor look like I had shag carpeting! Her fur was everywhere!

I had heard about the Roomba, but was put off by the price, and wondered whether it would actually work. Having seen my new "shag carpeting", I decided to give it a try.

It has been the answer to my prayers.

It really cleans my floors. When I walk barefoot in the house my feet FEEL clean; no grit, no dog hair. Very easy to empty out the dustbin. It does all the things they advertise. It is programmed to run every morning at 8:00 am. It automatically finds its way back home when finished. I have not had to bring out the upright vacuum cleaner. I set it up to run in each room in the house: under beds, under dressers, bathrooms, kitchen. I use the two Virtual Walls to contain it in each room, so each one gets a thorough vacuuming. Absolutely worth the money.

Very happy with it.

I have a very hairy Shetland Sheepdog. If you don't vacuum (and brush) every day, you're in a world of hurt.

I've had my Roomba for about a month now, and use it every day. It gets clogged to the max with hair, but I don't expect any less. I clean it after every cycle with a pair of manicure scissors and the brush cleaning attachment.

This is actually my third IRobot machine. I have a Scooba I've been using every other day for three years to mop the kitchen floor. Other than a replacement battery, it's had no problems. I had another Roomba I used for two years before it was stolen during a burglary (I guess he was a clean thief.)

I've found the IRobot machines to be smartly designed, functional, and very durable. (Plus, I don't have to vacuum or mop - what's not to love?)

Cleaning Power: A great helper but be prepared to clean the Roomba after every cleaning and don't expect the suction to compare with heavy duty vacuums. After running it through 3 cleannings for 4 rooms, I used the Animal Dyson vacuum to collect a full container of dirt from the carpets. The best part of the Roomba for me was the way it navigates under dressers and beds to clean areas that are normally hard to reach with a vacuum. Some adjustments will be necessary for the rooms you want cleaned on a regular schedule. I recommed a couple of small doorstops to prevent access where it frequently gets stuck. The virtual walls can also be used but I find the blinking light too much for any sleeping areas.

Maintenance: Cleaning the collection bin and filter is simple and quick. Clearing the brush area takes a little more patience as a lot accumulates on the ends requiring you to cut out tangles. The batteries are typically going to require a replacement after 6 months unless your cleaning cycles only require a small area. The self-docking feature works every time and I've only had to manually assist when it gets stuck below a dresser.

Value: Purchasing this directly from the manufacturer is cheaper and includes extra brushes and filters. The 562 model has worked for collecting pet hair with minimal problems and you can find free shipping or other coupons online.

Entertainment: OK, watching the dog panic and then slowly adjust to simply keeping an eye on the Roomba was fun. A Lab might opt to leave the Roomba alone but others may decide this thing must be stopped.

I recently purchased the roomba pet series and want to share my thoughts. I actually like the product, but it is really not made to work for houses with large spaces and rooms. The roomba is really challenged at my house, which is 4700 sq. ft. It is always going back to recharge, or stops frequently for me to clean the brushes, etc.

Having said that, I think if you live in a house that is 2500 sq. ft. or less, it would work much more efficiently. It does get a lot of dirt and pet hair so I give it 5 stars for that. Anyway, I just wanted to share as I really do like it, just takes too long to get anything cleaned with it in my size house.

First of all I'm a little confused because when I bought this it came from Hammacher Schlemmer but it looks like the source may have changed. Anyway, Hammacher Schlemmer sent me a Roomba 564 instead of the 562. I contacted iRobot to find out the difference between the two and they said there is no difference (which is odd). Hammacher Schlemmer sent me a separate mailer that said they took the liberty to give me an upgrade and that the 564 has improved suction and a pet food halo functionality. Personally, I think they shorted me the interchangeable cleaning bin advertised for the 562 model. But I had already opened, used, and liked the Roomba 564 so I decided to let the issue drop.

I'm a big tech gadget geek and this is my best purchase ever. Granted I've had it only a couple weeks but I must say it's incredible. That said, my home is probably perfect for Roomba. Here are the specs of my place that I think suits Roomba well;

-Small place (1000 square feet), 6 small rooms, no stairs.
-My place is very "minimalist". Very little clutter on the floor.
-All hardwood floors with two area rugs. Both rugs are rather thick and Roomba jumps on when no problem. It will deflect off the rug if it hits at an angle but jumps on it with a direct hit.
-My Couch and matching chair has good clearance and Roomba slips underneath with room to spare.

I used Roomba 3 times in the first 3 days and it picked up an incredible amount of stuff. You should keep a close eye on Roomba the first time you run it because it picks up things that you didn't know where there which can clog it. For instance, it picked up a discarded guitar string from under the couch which wrapped around the roller pretty good. Also it found various small screws, beads, etc. Now the place is incredibly clean and I plan to schedule Roomba only once a week. Before I leave the house on the day it is scheduled I do a quick sweep to move dust out from the few places Roomba can't reach and move my plants away from the wall, pick up socks, etc. It's so cool to come home on cleaning day and see Roomba sitting on the charger and a noticeably clean floor throughout. Also, I was pleasantly surprised to see Roomba make it over the ~1.5" high threshold into the kitchen with no problem. It can be pretty aggressive when it doesn't sense a wall in front of it.

My advice to a potential purchaser is;
-This thing really works. However it seems to me that rugs really tax the little guy and I would be concerned about the longevity of the Roomba in a all-carpeted place. Maybe run it once or twice a week. But it works wonders getting dust bunnies off the hardwood floor and cleaning my 10' square area rug.
-You must clean it after every run. Empty tray, clean brushes, pop off the front wheel, take off the rotating brush, check the wheels. 5 minutes and you are done. I actually enjoy this process.
-I bought the "World Famous Ultra Soft Bumper" for $20 and I feel much better about it bumping into things - both for Roomba and the furniture.

And please also note that the 562 and 564 do NOT have lighthouse capability. People seem to confuse lighthouses with virtual walls. The 562/564 only works with virtual walls. But in my place Roomba cleans every room and makes it back home each time so I don't seem to need the lighthouses.

I hope this helps & I'm perfectly willing to answer questions you may have to my comments.

First off, it was well packed and arrived quickly from this vendor.

The set-up involve pulling a plastic battery slip and docking it. Very simple. It came with extra filters, brushes, dust bin, cleaning tool.

After a couple hours plugged it was ready to use as indicated by the green light and we let it loose. It crawled around our floors under furniture and randomly hitting every bit it could reach. It was amazing just how much stuff it got that our dyson and laziness to move heavy furniture it got.

It has been in every room of the house now. Each time getting home revealed just how much our std vac was missing.

Cleaning the brushes is the only part that takes a bit of time. Maybe 2-3 minutes if you have multiple pets like us. Still much faster then running a vacuum every day, and still having to clean the brush wheel.

It is cleaning upstairs right now while I relax.

two thumbs up so far!

I love my James. We have 3 cats roaming the house and the carpet gets really clean. But the brushes, there is some design fault there. The hair gets stuck between the brush and the little screws on the side and you have to clean it with a needle or something to get it out. So that can be a nuisance.