- Robotic floorvac with dirt detection and convenient infra-red cliff sensors
- Auto adjusts to any floor surface; 2-hour continuous cleaning; easy-to-empty debris bin
- Edge-cleaning sidebrush; stasis sensor; virtual wall for confining to designated area
- Rechargeable APS battery, 3-hour charger, 2 virtual walls included
- Measures approximately 13 by 4 inches; 1-year warranty
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Product Details
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Product Description
Roomba Robotic FloorVac
Customer Reviews
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
222 of 227 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A mixed blessing, but still useful,
By
This review is from: iRobot Roomba 4105 Intelligent Floorvac Robotic Vacuum, Sage (Kitchen)
I have the Roomba 4110 which looks just like this one, but is part of a special combo kit that bundles a few accessories such as aninvisible barrier unit, remote control, and the charging station which acts as an automatic home base.
Overall, this Roomba does its job fairly well, but has problems in certain situations. Will this replace your handy vacuum cleaner? Absolutely not. It does help with daily surface cleaning, which is good if you have pets that shed constantly for example. If you run the Roomba every few days or so, it will help make your regular vacuum chores easier (the bag will fill up less often, less rigorous cleaing will be required, and so on). Below are some limitations I have discovered. Also, I have found some issues with the available accessories that you might want to consider as well. The manufacturer isn't kidding when they suggest clearing your floors just as you would if you were to vacuum normally. See my comments below for some specific issues. Keep in mind that this "intelligent robot" is really just a vacuum cleaner with wheels that wanders around blind until it bumps into something, which in turn causes it to turn and wander off in a new direction. It picks up dirt, dust, and pet hair pretty well. It seems to be handy for places like under the bed which are difficult to vacuum with a normal vacuum cleaner. It also does a pretty good job of cleaning the edges of floors along walls and furniture. Over time it will cover the majority of the floor space in a given room. It is interesting to watch it wander around and do its job (and be ready to rescue it if it gets stuck). The Roomba *will* wander all over your house if left unattended. You can buy the "electronic barrier" accessories to keep it in certain rooms, but I found it just as effective to simply shut doors or block doorways or halls with a laundry basket, child gate, or a similar barrier that you have handy around the house. It seems to have problems with small carpets, throw rugs, or door mats that are thin and light. Ours likes to get caught up on the corners of those kind of rugs and get stuck until rescued. We have wall-to-wall carpeting in some rooms which doesn't seem to bother the Roomba. That kind of carpetting does seem to slow it down a tiny bit as it rolls across, but doesn't really bother it. I imagine "deep pile" or very thick carpeting would give it major problems though. It can usually bump and turn its way around large tables and furniture, but if we leave small lamp tables or "TV tables" out, ours seems to get stuck between the legs and will bounce around in a circle until rescued. Our Roomba kit came bundled with the automatic recharge unit that allows this Roomba to "find its way home" to recharge. I found this feature "cute" but not really all that useful. If I press the button sequence to command it to "go home," it could take upwards of half an hour wandering around the room trying to find the charger. It gets worse if there are any obstacles (such as a shoe or table legs) in the middle of the floor of the room with the home base chager. If the battery gets low while it is wandering around another room, there is a good chance that the battery will run out as it wanders around trying to find its way home. In my opinion, don't bother buying this accessory. Just set the Roomba on the manual charger when you are done running it. Lastly, our bundle kit also came with a remote control unit that lets you drive the Roomba around manually. This works fairly well and is good if you want to help it navigate around some tricky furniture or corners. I have found one issue though. If you happen to use the remote in the same room as the home base charger I discuss above, our unit will randomly decide it is time to "go home," regardless of battery status or how I am trying to control it with the remote. The only way to prevent the Roomba from getting confused when I use the remote control is to unplug or cover up the home base charger so the Roomba can't "see" it. This is a pretty annoying "feature." Update [1/20/2006]: After about a year, the battery became weak and had to be replaced because it would not hold a charge. I have heard from others informally that the batteries last around a year before needing replacement. So in addition to my above comments, I would add that it looks like there is possibly a $50 a year "maintenance fee" in addition to the purchase price of a Roomba due to the potentially limited life expectancy of the rechargable battery. Update [3/20/2006] The main roller brush no longer turns due to to the gears jamming and the plastic brush assembly cracking. In the end, it looks like I got just over a year of useful service from this product.
51 of 55 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
What a Cool Little Gadget!,
By Ed C. (Bellport, NY) - See all my reviews
This review is from: iRobot Roomba 4105 Intelligent Floorvac Robotic Vacuum, Sage (Kitchen)
I needed an extra "quirky", fun gift for my wife for Xmas and saw this advertised on a shopping network. I had remembered how she was in awe of it at a neighbor's house, so I ordered one. Well, a week later, the thing has barely stopped! We use it everywhere; rugs, carpet, barefloors.... the thing cleans very well and is very thorough. It won't "deep clean" or replace your regular vacuum, but it is good for a general cleaning or spot cleaning. A regular vacuum, in my opinion, should be used every couple of weeks. Where this robot really shines is under beds and furniture. We brought it to my parent's house (where my mother keeps an impeccable house) after Christmas to give them a demo and let it rip in their three bedrooms. The machine turned itself off in two of the three rooms because the bin filled up with too much dust collected from under the beds! Of course, logically, the next time those rooms are done, the dust volume won't be as much and the machine will complete it's "mission". I can't say enough good things about it. The model I bought came with two virtual "walls", six extra filters and the hanger to store and charge it on the wall. I also sprang for the self docking charger. When the Roomba gets tired or is done cleaning, it will seek out the charger and "dock" itself and begin charging for the next session. It will not leave the charger on its own! It's worth the extra 50 bucks to see this thing line itself up for docking. Kinda like the space shuttle approaching the internatinal space station!
22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
What to Expect,
By
This review is from: iRobot Roomba 4105 Intelligent Floorvac Robotic Vacuum, Sage (Kitchen)
OK. First let me say that this product is amazing and well worth the money. As an engineer, this thing has amazing obstacle avoidance software, and it navigates rooms extremely well. I put a good deal of research into this vac before I bought it - so let me tell you what you can expect, and more importantly- what not to expect. The majority of reviews that are negative are from people with defective units or people who expected something completly unrealistic.
My wife and I have about a 1500 square foot house. To really get the most out of the unit, we divide our house into 3 areas, and we move the roomba each day into whatever area we want to clean (one large bedroom, the living room, and two smaller rooms joining a bathroom). We then run it in there 2-3 times that day and move it into the next area the following day. I was suprised at how well it will navigate between rooms if you leave the doors open. Anyway, the floors are very clean - much cleaner than they ever were with an upright. The roomba really does a great job on the baseboards and under furniture. The suction is NOT as strong as an upright, but the unit will cover most areas several times - and after several times, it will pick up as much or more than most uprights. It has to hit larger pieces of debris head on to be picked up. There are some cases where the roomba may hit a small spot only once or miss a spot completely after a full 1-2 hour cylcle. However, if you run it multiple times in a day in the same place - you will have very clean floors. If you think you will buy this vacuum, set it in the middle of your house, punch a few buttons, walk away - and your floors will forever be clean - do not buy this vacuum. This vacuum does requre that you empty the bin at least once a day. It does requre that you find out what type of items it may get stuck on the first few times you run it. It does reqire that you make sure you don't have cords or tassels in its way. It does requre that you clean the brushes every few uses. The roomba cannot do anything a normal vacuum does not. It cannot clean over tassels, it cannot magically hop over 1/2" thick area rugs, it cannot run over wires and ignore them. If you are willing to do these few things, such as "roomba-proof" the room, and clean the brushes - it is MUCH EASIER than a traditional vacuum. It will keep your floors very clean, and you will be very happy. Let me tell you a story about why the robot is still a robot... My wife and I were watching TV and the roomba was cleaning (it's not really louder than a dust buster). We have a puppy... Well... the puppy pooped on the tile entryway while we were watching. The roomba... ran over the puppy poop and drug it all over the carpeted floor next to the entryway while smearing the poop all over itself (brushes, small places, dust bin). Needless to say - it was not pretty - and we had caught it after about 5 minutes. One and a half hours, and 150 Q-tips later - the roomba was clean, the carpet was clean - and the puppy was outside. Lesson learned - watch what the Roomba may run into. It's not completely fool-proof. It did it's job... and if I had watched the puppy - things would have gone well. This is a great product if you don't have unrealistic expectations. It's a great product if you don't get a dud. The jetsons are not here yet - but I can honestly say my carpet and hard floors are much cleaner than they have ever been, and the unit is very easy to use. It is well worth the money.
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