Customer Reviews

iRobot Roomba 3100 Pro Elite Robotic Floor Vacuum

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

What a great gift. I received a Roomba for a holiday gift and I am so happy with it. I hate to vacuum. I'm a sewer and always seem to drag threads all over the house. No problem when you have a Roomba. Roomba picks up threads, hair, dirt, dust, etc. It goes in places other vacuums could never (under the bed & entertainment center) I have 90% rug (short pile), 10% hard wood in my home, but it works great on both. I set up the virtual walls, so I can keep Roomba in the area I wish to clean, press the button, it plays a song and goes to town. When it's done, it plays another song and shuts itself off. I empty the bin and plug it back in to recharge the battery. That's it... I still use my upright once in a while to get that deep down dirt, but not as often as I used to. It would get the fifth star if I never had to see my upright again.

Roomba Pro Elite is worth the extra money. You need two virtual walls and the spot cleaner. The remote is handy too.

Like many reviewers, I love my Roomba...when it works.

My biggest problem is battery power. My Roomba came with a badly photocopied dire warning that something horrid would happen to the battery if left plugged in more than 6 hours at a time. To fix it, I needed to register the product and they would send me a power adapter.

This was last year.

I now get constant emails from Roomba pushing their latest product, but after 3 follow-up attempts, no power adapter.

If I time it *very* carefully, I get enough charge from my Roomba to clean the floor of one room. If I don't, it'll whine a little then shut down.

I bought it assuming I'd plug it in to charge at night, set it loose in the morning, and rotate between the rooms of my house. Instead, I have to nurse it half a day for an hour's charge, then carefully monitor charge time to ensure it doesn't spend too long plugged in. The charge fades by morning, so I can't just plug it in for six hours, unplug it, and set it loose the next day. No, it needs immediate charging before it works, then to be left alone to sulk in a corner.

The Roomba does a great job on both tile and carpet - not as good as a thorough vacuuming, but good enough I would only need to vacuum once a month if I could rotate it between rooms as per my original plan.

If you can get one of the few working models, you'll have a very happy experience. Just read the many cheerful reviews. If worried about reliability, well, just remember you can get a low end Dyson vacuum cheaper than a new Roomba.

I am optimistic about the new model with the 3X larger dustbin and additional features - when you own a Roomba, you WANT it to work. They're cute. I am not, however, optimistic enough to buy a new one, at least, not until the reviews are six months old and the reveiwers still happy with the product.

the product works incredibly well at vacuuming my hardwood floors. i haven't bought any area rugs yet, so we'll see if it gets tripped up on it.

it's an absolute pleasure to vacuum my floors now (and i used to HATE vacuuming). just pick up any cords lying on the ground, start roomba, and go out and run errands. when you return, the room is very nicely vacuumed.

i have yet to really need the remote control. the virtual walls are handy, but not necessary (as long as you have something else in your house you can lay down as a physical barrier). however, the MAX function on the pro elite is a worthwhile function to have. it runs the roomba until the battery is completely discharged, which is helpful for large rooms.

negatives:
1. the battery life is very mediocre (the only reason i gave it 4 stars instead of 5). it takes about 12 hours to charge, and only runs for about 1 hour. that means that it actually takes me a full day if i want to clean my entire place. if you've got the extra cash, i'd strongly recommend purchasing a rapid-charger and an extra battery.
2. it gets caught up on power cords laying on the ground.
3. cleaning the brushes (recommended every 10 uses) is mildly complicated. it's the only reason i'm hesitant to give one to my mother as a present.

but any product that makes a slob like me actually want to vacuum the floors is a big winner in my book.

I love my Roomba !!!
But the one feature that was missing for me was the ability for it to clean unattended like when I was at work or asleep.

If you need to put your Roomba on an Automatic Schedule for Cleaning? All Roomba models do not have anyway to start it to clean automatically without manually pressing a button to start it. I thought I would let you know it is now possible to put you Roomba on an unattended clean schedule with the Roomba Timer. You have the ability with this Roomba Timer to set any 3 start times during a 24 Hr period to start its cleaning cycle.

I bought the Roomba Timer 3 months ago and it works great. I set it to start cleaning at 2:00 am in the morning and I wake up to a clean house. I also have it start cleaning at 12:00 noon while I'm at work so I come home to a clean house.


Check this site out if you need more information or would like to order one.

http://www.acomputeredge.com/roomba
Bookmark this site you may need it in Future


Hope this information will help you get more out of your Roomba now or in the future.

I love my roomba when it's working - it even gets dog hair out of the carpet. If I can get a dependable one it will be well worth the cost and I would rate it 5 stars.

Problem 1 - After a few days it stopped working properly. It runs for a couple of minutes then stops. It's not the battery - I tried 2 of them.

Problem 2 - I bought it from Amazon instead of somewhere cheaper because it is so easy to return merchandise. I didn't realize (although I should have) that it's not actually being shipped from Amazon so it doesn't have the same easy-return policies. I'm still trying to figure out how to get this Roomba replaced.

It is a fantastic invention and with a little more quality control I could easily recommend this to everyone I know. I hope they work out the bugs - this is a great time saver. Before mine broke, my floors were spotless all the time.

I think the biggest problem is lack of durability. It does need to be cleaned, and often, but the little plastic piece that holds the main brush roller in place literally burns out after a few used and it just then spins around in open space. Then it is only a matter of time before it stops working altogether.

I suppose these would be good for light cleaning, but if you have animals or kids save your money. It does well on pet hair the first time you use it but after that it seems to tax the poor dying machine to death. This is a great idea and perhaps in 3 years after irobot has worked out all the kinks it will be a fabulous product.

The other problem is the battery issue. They do use cadmium batteries which means if you don't use it to the maximum each time or if you leave it plugged in and charging all the time that the battery will begin to weaken and will not last as long each time. I was careful with mine but it has gone from 60 minutes to maybe 20. Again, the issue is durability.

What I would say if that if you really do not have time to vacuum and really need one of these to purchase the service contract. At least then you can get a new one every 2 months. But if you don't want this hassle either, then hire a maid. It's probably just as affordable.

This is truly a great idea, but after a month of use, the battery stopped holding a charge. I brought back to the store, and got a new battery with an attachment to prevent this battery from breaking, but it did not fix the problem. I have not returned the second time. My sister has one as well, which broke after the 4th month, and Roomba replaced it. That was about a year ago, and she is on her 4th Roomba. Each time she goes in, gets a replacement, and it breaks. She is fine with this, as she feels that going to the store for a new one every so often is less effort than vacuuming. It does seem that the more she uses it, the longer it lasts. Just be warned.

First, let me say my rating of 4 stars is only because you have to manually recharge the batteries, unlike its newer counterpart (which my family has!). However, if you have a room-size floorspace and you're not home to keep the maintenance done, this is the gadget for you! Turn it on, set the boundaries (there's little posts for that) and it will clean until it stops! Will go under couches and chairs, won't chip paint or damage wood furniture. We have two dogs and it does wonders keeping the fur down as well as little bits of stuff that our pre-toddler daughter might like to "taste." Excellent for flat carpet - I'd suggest this as a gift for a new apartment owner, college dorm resident, and anyone who has very little storage space.

I love this thing! I have three dogs and lots of dog hair. To have a 'Bot clean the house while I cook breakfast is a wondeful concept. And the concept worked when it worked. When the concept did not work was when it did not work. The Roomba broke within two months of purchase. They were great and replaced it. The new one broke again. And now the third one broke. They all seem to have the same problem. After a month or so of usage, they buzz around like a scattered and confused droid. Backs up and backs up and backs up. Starts. Stops. Turns. Turns off again. Maybe the 'Bot is not up to the task of dog hair - I dont know. All I know is I have now had three, each one broke, and I am shopping for a new vacuum. (these are the robots our military are going to take into combat???)

I am a patent attorney and thus have a natural proclivity towards products like the Roomba. I have tile and carpet in my house - the carpet is medium pile. The Roomba literature claims it will work on carpet. However, once I charged the unit and started on the carpet it will travel for about 4 feet then stop and turn around (rather than traveling to the boundaries of the room). After a couple minutes, it would beep in frustration and stop. My carpet is new so the fibers really jammed up the unit but it was easily cleaned. It probably works well on low-pile carpet such as those in hotels.

However, put it on tile and it truly works wonders. We have a 1,500 sf lanai around our pool. A child-fence kept the Roomba from falling in the pool and it did a great job on the pool deck. If you have hardwood floors, don't hesitate here - buy two of these.

The vacuum comes with a wall-mounting bracket. Annoyingly, they did not make an aperture in the bracket so you can view the recharging state (hint, hint, iRobot - on your next mold cast for the wall mount, allow us to see the recharge light).

Overall a great example of engineering.