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I was a Roomba doubter. It seemed ridiculous, expensive and gimmicky. So, when I was offered a chance to use one of these gizmos, I jumped at it - mainly to prove my theory they aren't needed. Plus, right out of the box, my cat absolutely detested it, hissed, puffed up and generally ran around in a state of terror.
Whelp....more than a week later, I am in love. Never saw it coming. Our Roomba even has a name now - Emily - courtesy of my daughters. The cat has also been won over - coming from wherever she is napping to follow Emily around on her cleaning cycle. Entertainment for lazy house cats....apparently an unadvertised bonus? Here's how we fell in love:
-Don't ask me if the Roomba has a pattern, she seems pretty drunk to me, but there is some method to the madness, because she does end up in all of the rooms and ends up picking up a lot of junk on the floor (before the Roomba we thought we were good housekeepers - apparently not).
-She's smart - she has built in sensors so she doesn't slam into walls or fall down stairs. She slows down if she senses she is approaching something she might run into.
-The Roomba phone app is fantastic, you can set a cleaning schedule and do all sorts of other cool things remotely from your phone.
_This Roomba is specifically designed with pet hair in mind. As you can see from the photos - she picks up alot. This was after we had vacuumed recently.
-She holds a decent charge - over a hour and a half before needed to recharge again.
Here's some lessons learned:
-She is a huge fan of Barbie hair and will suck up the hair of any doll on the floor, usually leading to a haircut for Barbie to get her out of the Roomba's jaws. Same thing goes for mini blind cords, My Pretty Pony, etc.
-If you pick the Roomba up and move it during the cleaning cycle, it will not find the Home Base when the Dock button is pressed, unless it is placed facing the Home Base within 6 ft (1.8 m) of the Home Base.
Based on all the stuff she's vacuumed up in recent weeks, I can't thank her enough.
