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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
I like the Roomba, but this is expensive, January 20, 2010
This review is from: iRobot Roomba 550 / 551 AeroVac Technology Vacuum Cleaning Robot with On-Board Scheduling, 2 Extra Filters, 2 Virtual Walls, & 2 Extra Bristle Brushes
I have had Roomba's for years... They do require a little maintenance (Brush cleaning, cleaning the pet hair from the ends of the rollers) but overall they are pretty great. Cleaning the brushes is no big deal, I do it when I empty the bin. It takes a minute or two to empty the bin and clean the brushes, and it's ready to go.
We have two pugs, and they shed constantly. The 500 series Roomba's are a pretty huge improvement in design (I am a mechanical design engineer) They have redesigned the roomba to make everything modular, so if something does wear out, it is very easy to replace. My old Roomba was the first model with the scheduling ability, and I did have to replace a few things. I had to replace some transmission parts, and the batteries. Of course, I had to replace the brushes and filters many times over the years. I upgraded the batteries to give it more time to vaccuum, but the 550 seems to be pretty great right out of the box. It can run for almost two hours sometimes, depending on how big the space is I want it to vaccuum. It is also much easier to program than the old Roomba, it took just a couple of minutes and you program it right on the Roomba itself.
The Roomba 550 is also much quieter than the old Roomba was... MUCH QUIETER! It slows down before it bumps into things and the vaccuum itself is not bad. That was the biggest improvement I saw initially, with battery life and ease of replacing parts coming in right after that... (It's nice that the parts are easier to replace, time will tell how useful that is... Hopefully, it won't need much beyond brushes and filters. :-0 )
The virtual walls are also improved... They only take 2 C cell batteries, and the batteries seem to last longer. On my old Roomba, you had to schedule the virtual walls as well as the Roomba using the remote, and it was a little clunky. The new virtual walls don't require any programming. The only thing that has ever malfunctioned with the virtual walls is the dogs have apparently played with them and they occasionally are not pointing in the right direction... It is also not as obvious as they used to be regarding which side is the front... I have found the roomba cleaning the room I wanted it to stay out of because the Virtual wall was aimed at the doorjam instead of across the doorway; apparently it got kicked and whoever set it back got it backwards.
The Roomba 550 is $250 at Costco, and if the thing does ever break, you can return it to Costco for a replacement or your money back. (One of the little perks of membership, if you are not satisfied they will take it back fairly indefinitely...):-)
That is the primary focus of this review... Why would you pay over $315 with shipping plus tax at whatever your states rate is?
I think the Roomba is a pretty cool little device, and I recommend that people who want to keep their house vaccuumed all the time buy it... But I would recommend buying it at Costco.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Useful Novelty, October 15, 2009
The Roomba is as close to the Jetson's house cleaner as we are going to get in 2009/2010. It won't replace Hazel or an undocumented housekeeper, but it will pick up most light debris off the floor. You will be satisfied if you do not demand fastidious housecleaning. No, it won't pick up all the hair off the floor from a shedding dog or an aging husband, but it is excellent at capturing those pesky dust bunnies. The technology inside the crazy critter is more impressive than its cleaning prowess. The thing docks itself for recharging like a shuttle docking with the space station. How cool is that? The two electronic lighthouse/invisible walls included in the package either guide or block the machine's entry into an adjoining room. Possibly the most impressive feature of the Roomba is its low profile that cleans underneath the dining room table without having to move all the chairs. Roomba is simple to use and a lot of fun for those with pets as long as you can keep them from sending Roomba to that big carpet in the sky.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
As revolutionary as the dishwasher!, October 12, 2009
FIRST, if you haven't already, sign up for the Gold Box Deal email alerts.
I have no carpet whatsoever in my house. For reasons I won't go into other than to say you can never get the nasty stuff completely clean no matter how many times you vacuum and shampoo, I hate it. I have four cats, one very messy African Grey parrot and two elementary aged children so, naturally, I could sweep or vacuum every room in the house three times a day. Being an extremely busy person and wanting to do everything except sweep, a robotic vacuum cleaner sounded like manna from heaven.
I have drooled over the Roomba for a long while and have researched it endlessly. A co-worker has one and just loves it. Because of the price, though, I thought it was out of my reach until one day a couple of weeks ago when I checked my email. There it was---the Roomba was a Gold Box Deal and it was more than half off!!! Oh, yeah! Picturing the Roomba slowly rotating on a pedestal bathed in bright light my fingers flew across the keyboard as I rushed to order mine before they ran out or the deal closed. I'll admit that afterwards I had a little buyer's guilt. I could buy a whole lot of brooms for $179. When it arrived (lickity-split and with free shipping thanks to my Amazon Prime membership) I looked at the box a while and contemplated sending it back. Then I thought that I'd give it a test drive just once since I'd gone to the huge trouble of ordering it. (Just kidding!) I took it and the charging station out of the box. After giving the manuals a cursory glance I plugged in the charging station in an out of the way but Roomba accessable area. Out of curiosity I tried to get the on board demo to start and ended up turning it on to vacuum by accident (apparently it comes at least partially charged). Off it went with me, the children, and the cats sitting on the couch watching in awe (OK, maybe the cats were looking more with suspicion).
The Roomba is unreal. You can see it working out where everything was in the room. It would bump into something and turn a little bit then go again bumping along until it figured out what was in front of it. As it went by something straight it would hug the edge and vacuum away. Table legs were not a problem either. The Roomba would bump them and then vacuum in a circle hugging all the way around the table leg. The final test was whether it would get stuck and force me to constantly come to its rescue which would defeat its purpose. So I watched in anticipation as it approached the birdcage. (Did I mention I have a really messy parrot?) I want to note here that the cage had a case of soft drinks sitting a little off to one side. First it bumped a leg then adjusted its position and under the cage it went. As with the table legs it would move around bumping and adjusting as it vacuumed. Then came the make or break challenge. It scooted out from under the cage through two cage legs that were just wide enough for the Roomba to get through and bumped into the case of soft drinks. I could see that there wasn't enough space for it to just turn and go the other way. Surely it was stuck. Not so! I watched while it turned and bumped several times until it got itself lined up just right and went right back through the same narrow cage legs and then continued about its way. Test passed with flying colors--it was a keeper. The docking function is totally cool as is the cheerful tone it gives when you need to empty the dirt cup. I hate to admit this but because it goes over the floor so many times it does a better job of getting all the dirt up than I do.
Now after a week of using the Roomba its become a member of the family. I'll sheepishly admit that I talk to it as it works. Once, when I walked into its path as it was vacuuming its little heart out, I stopped and said, "Excuse me." which is completely ridiculous. Just as ridiculous as me chasing it down to get the magazine it had sucked onto and was dragging across the floor and saying, "Give me that back!!"
Final analysis: The Roomba is an innovation comparable to the dishwasher and even the washing machine. I can easily see a future where everyone has one or more of them at work in their homes. It is yet another way to multitask in our busy lives. I couldn't recommend it more highly.
You know, the makers of the Roomba also have a robot to mop your floors. Hmmmm
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