Consumer Technology Anyone own a Roomba or something like it?

[Mercury33]

Thinking about grabbing one of these for Christmas and was wondering if anyone had one and what you think of them. Reviews seem to imply they’ve come a long way. I think it would be perfect for us, smallish house with mostly hardwood and a few area rugs. Just kinda curious how thorough they are in terms of getting under chairs and things. 

[ort]

We've got the Deebot N79S. A more budget version of the Roomba. ($150 or so)

 

It works pretty well. We originally bought the N79 and we had all sorts of problems with it, but the small changes they made to this "S" model seem to make it a lot better. (I sent our malfunctioning N79 back and they gave us a newer model as a replacement, customer service was very good)

 

It's not as smart as a Roomba and only moves in a random pattern, but it picks up a lot of crap. We have cats and it is always full of fur and dirt.

 

It does get caught up on cords and things left on the floor. If you have kids or are messy at all, you have to be careful. It gets stuck on things like socks, pokemon cards, nerf darts, etc...

 

I originally wanted it to go on a schedule when we weren't home, but that's not really realistic, so we just do it when we're around. Honestly, it's been better than I expected. I don't think it would replace a real vacuum, but it does help.

[GeneticBlueprint]

I have a Chinese knock-off called an iLife. It's great for pet hair. Not really great for anything else.

[PaladinSolo]

I have an iLife as well, they're dumb as hell as they go in random directions, but the dustbin fills up everyday on it, and you never see dust just settling along the walls, as far as under furniture it depends on how tall it is and the furniture, and whether or not a rug is there.  The couches in the living room are slightly taller and goes under just fine with or without a rug, and the couch in the family room it gets stuck when theres a rug under it.  You can also dock them under couches so they're completely out of sight, and to empty them you just call them out with the remote.  It usually moves over cords and stuff fine, but socks and toys can get stuck and it will stop, also watch out with refigerators as they can get "stuck" where the wheels still spin so it won't stop and just continually grind the floor leaving marks, i haven't had this happen but i've seen it start to and others have had it happen so i put a piece of wood to stop it from getting stuck there.  Throw rugs can also get it stuck as it can lift them and pull them into the brush.

 

You're still going to have to vacuum rugs and stuff though, it has a "Max" power setting but you have to manually set it and it kills the battery life on it and i have it run when i'm not home.

[elbobo]

I bought this over the summer

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0798FVY69/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

it works great on my hardwood floors especially for getting under the beds. It does like to eat cables and it was getting stuck under couch but I just put the footrest up on them now and it is fine.

[Spork3245]

 

[TheLeon]

Tom Haverford approves.

 

[Pikachu]

[RedSoxFan9]

4 hours ago, GeneticBlueprint said:

I have a Chinese knock-off called an iLife. It's great for pet hair. Not really great for anything else.

 

I want one for pet hair but my dogs would probably destroy it.

 

anyways Newegg has one on sale

[sblfilms]

I married a Mexican woman, so, kinda?

[Brian]

I looked into one but gave up. There are just so many models and options. It made me feel old. 

[misfit410]

My wife has purchased several, and from my experience I will only get Roomba from this day forward..  Our other two broke because even though we did everything right eventually they went haywire and threw themselves down the stairs and they just get stuck on everything, whereas the Roomba has been consistently good at navigating and giving us no issues and also because things like long hair and such can eventually get caught in the rollers and cause damage and Roomba parts are so much easier to find on the cheap (it's rarely more work than taking out a screw, replacing a modular piece and putting the screw back).

 

You will have to change how you do things around the house when you get one, such as keeping wires off the floor and not leaving clothes and such laying about because they will get caught in it and while it's little more than a headache really thing wires can absolutely get destroyed by them.   In fact because of this I keep my mancave door shut until I have time to really neaten up the wiring.