My wife and I bought a Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner the other day, and it just doesn’t seem to want to charge or work. At first it looked like it was charging, and we left it in the dock for neary 16 hours, but it will not rove the floor cleaning. Is there a quick fix to this, or have we gotten ourselves a shiftless lazy bum of a robotic vacuum on our hands? It was…ahem…a floor model which we bought at the allegedly Best Place To Buy Stuff.
Try taking the battery out and putting it back in again, and make sure it clicks on both sides. Mine has that problem if it isn’t getting good contact.
If that doesn’t work, try iRobot’s website. Their online help is actually quite good.
My first one did the same thing only after a few days. Check the web site first for a few things to try, and if those don’t work, call them. Their phone technical support is also very good. But eventually, I had to send mine back to them for a replacement - which has been working without problems ever since.
I think you Roomba owners might enjoy this standalone tidbit from The Onion.
Heh… my younger brother swears that the Roomba we bought our parents for this last Christmas has become their new pet. They don’t refer to it as “the Roomba”, but instead just “Roomba”, like it has a proper name.
So how much pet hair can it handle before it freezes up? I have a dog and two cats, none long haired but all champion shedders.
I can answer that: A shitload.
I’m actually working on my third Roomba now. First one wouldn’t charge a la the OP. Second one worked like a charm until it didn’t (about two weeks after I got it - just stopped sucking). Third one works like a charm for now.
Back to the pet hair - my dog is a serious shedder. Her little doggie playfriends are much much worse. The Roomba is incredible at picking up the pet hair. To an extent that I never would have believed before buying it and using it. I’ve never had it stop picking up, but I have had it’s dirt chamber STUFFED with pet hair.
Obviously the big problem is that pet hair goes EVERYWHERE - counters, top of the fridge, beds, couches, closets, bathtubs, etc. - and simply picking it up off the floor will not solve much. But, it’s better than nothing.
The Doctor
That’s great about the pet hair. I did see a testimonial on their website from someone who has four cats and two small dogs, so it must be pretty good.
As for the other responses, I appreciate the info, but in the end we decided we’d been fools to buy an unwrapped product of this kind, so we returned it for a refund and bought a proper stock one. We also got the product replacement guarantee from the store, so if anything ever goes wrong they’ll just replace it. So far it is still on its initial charge and seems to be working the way it’s supposed to.