Roomba / R2D2 slash fiction. Thanks a lot. :eek:
Vacuuming ? You’re using your roomba for vacuuming ? You guys don’t know how to have fun, do you ?
There are also some Roomba fourums somewhere which can be helpful.
I have one (on loan to my sister ATM) and I loved using it. We had a chocolate lab (indoor dog!) at the time. He used to shed a whole 'nother dog about once a week. I had to empty the dirt pan and blow the Roomba out with compressed air about every other day, but it was well worth it to get rid of all that disgusting hair and dander. shudder We have an electric air compressor on the back porch, so that was no problem to do quickly.
We no longer have the dog, so I lent the Roomba to my sister. She has a Scooba at her workplace and they love it - hence her interest in the Roomba.
Yes, I was reading that last night and might give it a try later today. I don’t remember if there was a specific pattern of beeps which might help me diagnose the problem. I have to swing by Canadian Tire anyways today, so I’ll see if they have compressed air. We actually bought another canister vacuum since, which it pretty good (deals very well with the insane amount of cat hair left behind by thiscat!)
ETA: Mine is a 500 series, but I assume the sensors are in similar positions, and it’s probably the same advice anyways.
Can they reliably climb over a wooden threshold molding? How about the Scooba?
No (to the Roomba). Not ours, anyway.
We like ours…it gets under the furniture that the vaccuum can’t get to. It does a pretty good job cleaning. Plus it freaks out the dogs.
On the ONE time it worked correctly, it did indeed climb over the wood threshold.
However, it is official.
We got a lemon.
It gets packed up, will return it to Target today and, surprisingly, I am actually going to get another one to replace it.
If that one doesn’t work perfectly out of the box, this venture into robotics is officially over.
A friend of ours just gave us their Roomba Scheduler after they found they didn’t use it. We have both dogs and cats, so it’s been pretty good about helping suck up some of the hair, but it’s less ideal than I’d hoped overall. It seems a little sketchy about actually running when it’s scheduled and it gets stuck fairly often (I guess we need to Roomba-proof the house). I still dream of having a team of Roombas automatically sucking up all the pet hair so I don’t have to vacuum all the damn time, but I’m not sure it’s going to ever be a reality.
Edit: And we had to buy a new battery after the one they gave us stopped holding a charge, but the new one is working great. Something like $40 on Amazon.
Oh, I love my Roomba. It does a good job on my tile floors, picking up cat hair, feathers, and seed hulls.
My first had an issue, apparently, of not having been lubricated correctly at the factory. A year into it, when the gears tore up, I packed it up and sent back to iRobot and promptly recieved another one, brand new (not refurbished) in the mail. All I paid was shipping to iRobot.
Why do I suddenly get this vision of one terrified parakeet and an evil cat lurking in the corner…
My SO just headed off to exchange the Roomba…will charge the new one and, hopefully, tomorrow all will be well.
I have to admit, on my third call to customer service, they offered to send a new battery free of charge, but we both figured it would be easier and faster to just return this one and start over.
the battery is the weak point of the roomba. they last only about a year to a year and a half.
with my allergies it is worth the 30-40 dollars for a battery every now and again. sneezing fits are not fun.
my roomba does go over an odd threshold, it is about 1/2 inch up, 1/2 inch down, 1/2 inch up. sometimes it will get stuck a bit if it goes onto it sideways and not head on. the scooba will not cross it.
the roomba does have trouble with airvents on the floor, i think it is the sensor thinking it is going off a stair. it won’t roll over them.
This is beyond geeky…we have two Roombas, one with a scheduled routine…and one with a RooTooth so we can call it and start it up.
The next enhancement will be a small webcam so we can see if it’s getting stuck.
We love our robots 
I have two: an older one (Discovery, needs a new battery) and a newer one (500 series, Woot! buy).
Love. Love. Love them. 
One of my allergies happens to be to dust (and pollen), so it’s in my best interest to keep up on the gunk that settles onto the floor/carpet as much as possible. Since I have no inclination to vacuum every other day, I have the Roomba do it for me. I have it set to start up a couple of hours before I usually get home, so by the time I arrive any dust that it has kicked up has had a chance to settle.
The only time I’ve had problems with the spinner brush falling off is when either a) I haven’t cleaned off the accumulation of hair from around/under it, so it has essentially spun itself off or b) (500 series) after putting the spinner brush back on after cleaning it, I neglected to push it onto the plastic bit hard enough for it to ‘click’. (It takes a bit more pressure than you might think.)
I found that a Leatherman Micra is wonderful for doing maintenance. You can easily remove the screws if you need do, and the bottle opener bit is great for prying off any hair that’s gotten wrapped up. Cans of compressed air are a must-have tool as well. I would recommend if you’re blasting out the dust that you do so either outside, or in the shower, unless you like dust flying everywhere. (The canned air also works well on cleaning out the filter.)
It can make it over some thresholds: depends on how much of a height difference there is, and sometimes on the angle it comes up at it. I have two thresholds that are a bit high/steep: the Roomba can make it over if it approaches at an angle, but has problems if it tries to tackle it straight on.
A Roomba tip: the first few times you let it roam about, follow it around so you can see what it has problems with. It may decide that a particular rug should belong to it, and try to drag it around like Linus with his blanket. 
<< Yes, I keep in mind ‘will the Roomba fit under it?’ when buying furniture. >>
i do that as well, funiture must be flush to the floor or have roomba clearance.
the other day i came home and poor roo was in the middle of the floor with a placemat stuck in it. one of the cats must have knocked it on the floor in an attempt at killing the roomba. roos do like throw rugs and cat toys, they are yummy.
how is the new roomba doing, dmark?
So far, the new one is perfect, didn’t even have to wait for the huge pre-charge.
Zooms all over the place, got all the dust and fuzzies off the floor although it seemed to spend a lot of time under the beds and sofas (gee, wonder if that has anything to do with us not vacuuming under there for ages…).
It has a bit of a problem getting onto the throw carpet in the middle of the living room (about an inch thick) but when it gets a “running start”, it hops right on top of it and does a good job.
Yep, this one seems to be working great.
We have decided that if we are still happy with it in about 6 months, we might consider that Scooba to do the floors as well - other than that one carpet under the coffee table, our entire house is hardwood/tile so the Scooba might be something we could use.
You might have noticed that it has a “dirt sensor” with a light that comes on to indicate that it’s going over that spot a little more than normal as a result. I suspect if you peeked underneath the furniture while it’s there, you might see it working away frantically with the “dirt!” light on.
Glad to hear this one’s working well.
I have one (the 400 series) and despite the problems, I still love it.
Problems I’ve had:
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Battery died after a few months. I had a warranty, so I got a new one for free.
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The back part that holds the dust bin stopped latching after only a few runs, so that it falls off all the time. Easily fixed by taping the sides with scotch tape.
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The side turny brush lost one of its brushes after an altercation with my fringed rug, which leads to…
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It can’t handle my thick wool area rug. It eats the fringe and is not able to get on top of the rug to vacuum.
Cons versus a regular vacuum: You have to do more Roomba-proofing than you would with a regular vacuum, such as making sure cords are well-tucked away. You have to keep it maintained by cleaning regularly. It can get randomly stuck.
Pros: You don’t have to vacuum, you don’t have to vacuum, you don’t have to vacuum. I know some people say it doesn’t do as good a job as a regular vacuum, but it my experience it does better. It cleans over the same area multiple times versus a couple passes with the vacuum and it goes under furniture and the bed.
i’m glad your new 'bot is doing well. the dirt light cracks me up as well!
dirt detected!!! swarm!