We just got a new dining room set and my wife wants me to consider that her birthday and christmas presents.
However, I’m not gonna do it.
I’m thinking of getting her one of those robot vacuums, the Roomba.
I just worry that it doesn’t really work very well.
Anybody have one or know if they do what they claim?
I don’t personally own one, but my BIL tried one out at a store - apparently, he threw some of the “testing dirt” onto the floor, and the Roomba picked it right up, no problem. Sis wouldn’t let him get it though, I think she was creeped out by it.
Part of the reason I want to get it is because she cleans houses for a living. If it works well, she could dust the room, go do the bathroom or kitchen and let that thin vacuum for her.
I’ve been eyeing them. It doesn’t do the one thing that I want it to, which is vacuum the place while I’m not around. I want one where you can set it to run at say, noon, Monday through Friday, and I just come home and notice that the place is not getting any dirtier. All of them seem to require that a person start them.
But maybe the manufacturers are worried that they’ll grab a cat by the tail or something while the user is not at home, and then they’ll get sued.
My folks had one they used for a while. It’s not very powerful – before you use the Roomba, especially the first time, you had to give the room a good vacuuming with an upright. (Kind of like washing dishes in a sink before putting them in a dishwasher.)
Anyway, once that was done, you had to set up the electronic barriers that kept the robot from wandering out of a room or into something that might get it stuck (like a reclining chair) and it would run for a couple of hours on its own until it died.
Basically they used it to clean one room a day. They’d charge it at night, and set up the barriers in the room to be cleaned as they got ready for work (or the night before). They’d set the Roomba free as they left. When they got home, the room would be cleaned and they’d charge the Roomba up again. Reset the boundaries, wash, rinse repeat. Occasionally it would get stuck, and there were some things (like dog hair) that always choked the little bot up, but my mom felt it did a decent enough job of keeping the day-to-day mess down.
All and all, they considered it a neat experiment, but if the carpet really needed to be CLEAN they’d always fall back on their old Eureka. I don’t know if they still use the Roomba at all anymore.
This was the first generation Roomba. Supposedly the newer models have longer battery life and better AI to get around. If they could make it go back to its charger and activate on a schedule, though, I bet they’d have a lot more takers.
EZ
It does go back to it’s charger, but as far as I know, you can’t set it to clean for a specific time.
How much dirt do they hold? Then look so small, I can’t help but wonder whether they can clean an appreciable amount before filling up.
Personally, I don’t see the big deal in pushing around an upright. I think I can do my whole house in less than an hour, and that includes moving all but the biggest furniture.
I always viewed those little monsters as government spies, I mean hell, if they can see dirt, what else can they see? Hear? Record?
But that’s just me.
Continue… 
Government spies EXACTLY!
First it was the Atomic Clock that everyone had to have. Because we all know how freaking hard it is to set the clock back with time changes twice a year…booo hoooo.
When the Government realized that these clocks were just being placed in the TV room and all they saw was the couch and the lard ass on the couch, the came up with a new sort of EVIL!
They tried those Galilleo Thermometers, which are ALWAYS STUCK at 68 degrees, optimum spying temperature. But they failed to catch on as the weather channel is more exciting to watch and the WC can only do so much spying.
Roomba can quietly go room to room, spying on the dull existance that is your pathetic life.
Big Brother is Here, my friends. Mark my words. He is in the form of a vaccuum cleaner.
Will the madness never end?
My 69 year-old mother uses one, and loves it. The trick is to use it every day, so you never build up too much dirt on the floor. It has three settings, which are basically time settings, for small, medium, and large rooms. It self-docks, and is generally a real boon to her. He cat love it, too, and lies down in front of it so allw the ‘side sweeper’ brush to scratch his back. Of course, that never lasts, as the machine turns as soon as it hits him.
I have one and I love it. Lots of people wouldn’t, though. There are two things about it that can be frustrating, however:
The battery will eventual lose its ability to hold a decent charge. You are then looking at buying a replacement battery, unless you can get a replacement under warranty.
It uses optical sensors inernally to detect whether its bumped into something, how fast its wheels are turning, etc. Occasionally a dust bunny will get into a place where it blocks one of those sensors, and then your Roomba will be useless until you open it up and blow the dust out of the sensor. Pretty major design flaw there, actually - a vaccuum cleaner that can be disabled by a bit of dust in the wrong place.
Also, I have been told that they don’t work on thick carpet (work okay on my carpet though, but it’s not very thick).
But they are cool little gadgets and they do free you from one boring household chore, so I like mine in spite of its shortcomings.
The commercial shows it on hard floors, no carpets.
Does it work on carpets?
It works on my carpets, but they are quite low pile. My sibs and I gave our mom one for Christmas last year, but her main carpet was too thick for it to work properly. So I got it (yay!).
I love it. It forces me to keep crap off the floors. Occasionally, I’ll go through the place with my Hoover, but most of the vacuuming is done by the Roomba. I really like the fact that it goes underneath the beds fully, unlike my Hoover.
I have yet to use the barrier-thingies - my Roomba is free-ranging.
I gave baby bro and his wife the Deluxe as a wedding present. They love it. They have mostly hardwood floors and two dogs, and the Roomba takes care of the dog hair pretty well. No battery problems, docks easily, etc. Of course, with deep-pile rugs or high sills between rooms it may not be as great. And it doesn’t have a nozzle that can get the dog hair off the couch or do the drapes or anything.
But overall, it’s fine, with a cool website too. Also, much entertainment value watching goofy doggies watching the Roomba. 
When it first came out, the Times tech reviewer said it was the most hypnotic machine ever, and my brother said it was indeed for the first few weeks.
If she’s a housecleaner, I think one of the smaller ones would be a good investment IF she kept it charged at home, since you’re not going to know where the sockets are everyplace you go. It needs a place it can park itself on the wall where its dock is plugged in. And she might have to go over spots with a conventional vacuum. But what the heck, the smaller ones are pretty reasonable.
First, if you own a pet, especially a heavy shedder, buy one. This thing is the best way I’ve ever seen for getting hair out of carpets.
We own 2 of them. The original that came out about 2 years ago, and this little gem. It’s not perfect, though, here’s some good an bad I’ve found in the last couple years.
Bad:
It doesn’t have appreciable suction. It has a small amount of vaccuum, but relies heavily on the sweeping action of the brushes. You may still want to go over it with an upright, but we usually only have to once a month or so.
For the first few times running it, you may want to watch it for a while to see if it can get hung up on anything you haven’t thought about. And you have an area rug or any other decoration with fringe or tassels, you’ll have to move them.
The battery lasts quite awhile, but unless you live in an apartment, it’s unlikely you’ll be able to do the whole house in one day without another battery.
Good: Pet hair. I can’t stress this enough. Run the upright, then run Roomba 2 or 3 times and see how much keeps coming up.
Hardwood floors. You will virtually never have to sweep again. It also will work on concrete. (Basement, garage, even the driveway or patio.)
Very convenient. The “borders” (small battery powered units that emit a laser to be picked up by the optical device on the machine) are rarely needed unless you have an open staiway. I’ve never used any of ours as we can close the door to the stairs.
It’ll go fully under beds, dressers, tables, desks, etc where it’s otherwise tricky with a regular cleaner.
The dirt container holds more than you may think. It looks small, but just puts it away like that little Japanese guy with all those hot dogs. Plus it has a replaceable filter built into the exhaust port to trap dust.
There’s more, I’m sure, but now I’m sounding like a salesman. Though maybe I should put the first one on e-Bay.
I would love to see this. I’ve been tempted to try one, but I am afraid the dog would attack it.
Thanks, guys! I want one so bad but my boyfriend is convinced they don’t work. Now I will send this thread to him - we live in an apartment, and we have pretty low pile.
I want everything robotic. I would so buy the maid from the Jetsons - Rosie? But I really want Robbie from I, Robot.
Well thanks all.
I guess I’ll get her one.
I just hope I don’t get the “you got me a vacuum for my birthday!” scream.
The Roomba is supposed to detect dropoffs (such as stairs) on its own, so you shouldn’t need to block off your stairs. I don’t have any dropoffs in my apartment, though, so I haven’t tried that out. I use the virtual walls to confine the Roomba to one area so it doesn’t wander all over the apartment. Incidentally, it uses infrared, not a laser.
My mom has one. Two, actually. She likes to race them. They work pretty well, but the original version (and maybe other versions too, don’t know) took a bit of effort to clean out. You can’t just dump out the stuff in the bin, but occasaionally you have to get in there with a custom tool and clean out the brushes, which is sort of a pain.