Robot vacuum: Talk me into or out of buying one

[AMandM]

When roombas first came out, years ago, I fantasized about having one, but it was clearly a fantasy. We were grad students with small kids who dropped stuff all over the floor, so a robot vacuum was both unaffordable and impractical.

But now I'm reconsidering. I read @LinLin's post on the facepunch-worthy purchases thread and soon after came across this YHL post. Robot vacuums seem to be both better and cheaper than they used to be. I'm thinking of getting one and running it every night while we sleep. Advise me!

Pros:
Our kids are grown and our floors are somewhat clearer, though by no means free of obstacles.
It would be good for us to have the incentive to tidy up the floor every night.
We are really bad at vacuuming, so it would increase the cleanliness of the house. (DH: It can't be worse than what we do now.)
Some people have allergies, so reducing dust would be a big plus.
I love the idea of a mechanical servant.

Cons:
My chief concern is that I don't know if a robot vac would cover the ground thoroughly. Our house is small and divided into several small rooms. It's also somewhat crowded with furniture, baskets, storage bins, etc.

Opinions, please!

[Paper Chaser]

I like mine. I run it a couple of times per week as I'm walking out the door. It doesn't eliminate the need to vacuum periodically (I still do it every 7-10 days or so, or whenever company is coming over.

I've got mostly hard floors, no pets, and keep a fairly tidy place and the dust compartment still gets filled up and needs to be emptied every couple of uses. It's easy to forget that part if the vacuum parks itself out of sight after it runs, so make sure you're not forgetting that aspect of ownership.

[LD_TAndK]

Don't do it, it's unnecessary junk. You don't need your floor vacuumed daily, especially with no kids.

Just vacuum manually whenever you see fit with a cheap regular vacuum. Put something on in your headphones and savor the process. Use it as an opportunity to inspect and tidy the house. Enjoy the light exercise.

[Metalcat]

I bought a relatively inexpensive iLife robot vacuum and I run it almost every day because I'm very sensitive to dust. It is 100% worth the $200 I spent on it. Granted, I'm also the kind of person who had hepa filters running at all times because I can't do dust.

I wouldn't buy one of those absurd $1500 robots, which only offer marginal benefit over the cheap ones. Mine has also lasted several years with frequent use, and when I bought it, it had better battery life and was quieter than the leading Roomba model at the time.

I'm sure the Roombas have gotten better since they've exploded in price, but I can't see any features they could possibly have that would be worth paying 5-7 times more for.

If an ultra clean home with minimal dust is a priority for you, then a cheap robot vacuum is well worth the expense. If you aren't that bothered by dust then it's a total waste and regular, normal vacuuming is sufficient.

[clifp]

I picked up a Shark Pro, $399 Amazon sale, during Xmas. I've had several Roomba and they have been steadily improving, but this is the first one I'd say is unequivocally good enough to replace routine vacuuming.  Instead of having to empty and clean many moving parts each time it vacuums like the early roombas, the Shark empties itself into a gallon size container which you empty every week or so. The brushes also need to be cleaned about once a week. I have two giant maine coon cats who shed long hair constantly, so I suspect it will be less for most people.

It makes a map of the house and you can specify areas that need to extra cleaning, e.g. living room. As well as area that shouldn't be cleaned, e.g. where the cat dishes are down and a closet which I often forget to close the door.  I in the month I've used it I've only had to rescue the Shark 3 times when it got stuck.  Overall the Shark is better and cheaper the Roombas.

[nereo]

We got one as a gift anddidn’t expect to like it as much as we have. It doesn’t replace cleaning the floors entirely, but it does a good job and knocks down the frequency considerably.
One specific setback is that we can’t run it if kiddo has left toys on the floor, which is often. Instead we just run it in whatever room we’ve picked up, and cycle through.

[mistymoney]

Don't do it, it's unnecessary junk. You don't need your floor vacuumed daily, especially with no kids.

Just vacuum manually whenever you see fit with a cheap regular vacuum. Put something on in your headphones and savor the process. Use it as an opportunity to inspect and tidy the house. Enjoy the light exercise.

we clearly live on different planets.....

[IslandFiGirl]

I love mine. I have 2 dogs, so I run it everyday at 9am. It does a great job (though no vacuum gets ALL the dog hair). If you don't like vacuuming (I don't) then I'd go for it. It does keep things tidier, and I tend to clean up even more when I see the floor looks nice. I wouldn't run it while you sleep though, it bumps into things and would definitely wake me up. I have a shark and it self empties into a bin which I love because I only have to empty out the bin maybe once a week. Yeah, I definitely vote for getting one!

[kenner]

I'm definitely on team robot vacuum...I've got a roomba (technically two of them) and love it because if I didn't have it the place would almost never get vacuumed.  It's just not something I think about the vast majority of the time, and especially between my hair and the cat's things have the potential to get ugly.

On the other hand I didn't spend hundreds never mind thousands...I got a pair off ebay listed as nonfunctional, intending to use the chassis/motors to work through a couple electronics projects I was kicking around at the time.  I think they were ~$30 for the pair.  But it turned out that with a cleaning and a factory reset both of them worked just fine so I put them to work for their original purpose.  I think they've each needed a new battery since, but for being something like 10 years old (ETA--10 years since I've gotten them, the specific models are older than that) that's not bad, and my only real objection is that the cliff sensors don't handle black carpeting/black squares on carpeting well.  A couple pieces of foil over the cliff sensors has fixed that problem, and now one lives upstairs and one downstairs (and the upstairs one has only taken a few tumbles when I've forgotten to block off the stairs).

[GilesMM]

Do it if -
- you have nothing on your floors
- you don't mind a meticulous cleaning of the robot vacuum fairly frequently
- you know it will only do a partial job and you will still need to vacuum about as often as now
- you know it will get stuck and you will have to rescue it
- you know it makes noise at sometimes inconvenient times
- you know it as a lot of parts which need periodic cleaning or replacement
- you have extra cash for it and no better use for the money

[MayDay]

I lovvvvvvve mine.

Roberto the Robot Vac is now Roberto the third. All 3 have been cheap "off brands" at around 100$ each. Eufi or something, iLife, etc.  Not Roomba but target stocks them so not super obscure. Older models, not the fanciest. None are smartphone enabled and all roam about randomly.

I used to sweep my whole house (all wood floors) daily because the particles on my feet bug me. Now Roberto runs once a day on the main floor and once a day in the basement.

I love him.

Yes it takes some work.

1. You have to keep your floor clear. I consider this a positive. Cords are bundled up using command hooks etc. Clean up your shit.

2. You have to knock the dust or wash the dust off the filters. I knock them off outside once a week.

3. Yes they make a little noise, so Roberto does the main floor at 6 am which is when we wake up for the day. Then he dicks himself at about 7 when we leave. Then we carry him downstairs to run at 5 pm when we get home. He is annoying if we are trying to watch TV or sleep. We also like him to have a little supervision. See YouTube videos of Roombas smearing poo into carpet. We empty him daily whenever we start him.


That's a lot less work than sweeping 1600 square feet daily.

[ChickenStash]

I keep wanting to get a new one but my experience with one a few years ago was a turn-off. With my old one (early roomba brand) I spend more time cleaning the robot than it would have taken to vacuum. Pet hair would wrap around the brush and make it useless in a few days requiring a partial disassembly to de-fuzz the brush. It did OK with anything other than pet hair, though.

This was also the dark times when things mostly ran with NiMH batteries so the batteries were always a problem. I would assume that part is fixed in the modern era.

[Metalcat]

Do it if -
- you have nothing on your floors
- you don't mind a meticulous cleaning of the robot vacuum fairly frequently
- you know it will only do a partial job and you will still need to vacuum about as often as now
- you know it will get stuck and you will have to rescue it
- you know it makes noise at sometimes inconvenient times
- you know it as a lot of parts which need periodic cleaning or replacement
- you have extra cash for it and no better use for the money

As a counter:

-There are animal toys on my floor and I don't need to pick them up unless they have strings, my robot just pushes them around.

-Mine doesn't require meticulous cleaning, I just dump the bin and replace the hepa filter when it gets dirty. It takes about 30 seconds.
 
-I've never meticulously cleaned the robot. I've maybe wiped it down with a wet rag a few times a year. And when DH had long hair, I would have to de-hair the brushes, which took about a minute.

-Mine does a thorough job, I have never vacuumed my floors with a regular vacuum. I do dust the baseboards periodically though.

-Mine does get stuck, and it beeps for help. Occasionally having to kick it out from under the fridge door is much less work that doing a full vacuum.

-Mine doesn't make noise unless it's running. So I pick the times it makes noise.

-I have never had to replace anything except the hepa filters, and once over several years of constant use I've replaced the little brushes because the first set got ruined by DH's long hair, which I didn't realize was tangling them because I rarely clean it or do anything to it.

-I didn't spend extra cash on it. My vacuum was old, crappy, and partially broken and I was looking to replace it. Instead, I bought a $200 robot vacuum and kept the old broken vacuum that can't do floors, but can still suction enough to clean my sofa and car, which is pretty much all I use it for.

I don't know about units other than mine, if the expensive ones need tons of maintenance, but mine does a great job on my wood and tile floors, and for may years now has required very, very minimal maintenance.

That said, I live in a small apartment with no stairs and a simple layout, and minimalist furniture, all of which can be gotten underneath by the robot, no carpet, no shedding pets, and I'm very tidy in general.

If you have any factors that make regular vacuuming necessary anyway or make the robot vacuum less useful (ex: low clearance furniture), then you aren't gaining much from having a robot on top of a regular vacuum.

[LD_TAndK]

Do you need an e-waste sweeping butler to achieve self-actualization? Are you such a highly efficient overachiever that freeing up thirty minutes a week will truly improve your life? Or will you be spending your new found time surfing the internet?

I think people fall into a trap of thinking something is drudgery and skip ahead mentally to getting the task over with. Which turns a neutral experience into a negative one.

Consider being more mindful and thorough during your vacuuming kinda like: https://www.raptitude.com/2011/09/how-to-walk-across-a-parking-lot/

[ixtap]

My parents live in a small house and put extra leaves in the table.when they have company. The Roomba had a hard time learning their housem didn't help that Mom would stand in a different place and allow it to attack her, sometimes. Oh, and my niece visits regularly with her dog who attacked the Roomba if it was moving when she was there. It just wasn't for them.

My SIL has a huge house with wide open spaces, but she didn't feel like the random pattern of the Roomba did a good enough job, so she got rid of it, although not as quickly.

[nick663]

We bought a cheaper one (iLife V8s) a couple years ago.  We have a mix of hardwood, tile, and different types of carpet.  The model we bought was rated really well for hard surfaces and mediocre for carpets and that matches our experience.  It's really nice to have the hardwood/tile areas clean though as I used to sweep those every time I saw dirt/dust (which was about twice a week).

If it broke tomorrow we would buy another one.

[Blackeagle]

My Roomba was one of the better purchases I’ve made.  I’m very happy with both it and the robot mop I got with it as part of a package deal.

For me, at least, it was very much a “know thyself” purchase.  I hardly ever vacuum (I’ve literally gone months without vacuuming).  The Roomba doesn’t do as good a job as a person would, but I actually run it every day and it keeps my place much cleaner than I would left to my own devices.  Big quality of life improvement and worth every penny for me.

[okisok]

I have yet to reach self-actualization through drudgery, so I love mine. Yes, it does require some effort as it'snot a magic spell, but it's much less than dragging out the vacuum to go over the whole house.

Keep cords out of its reach and empty the dust bin every time it runs and it will keep the floors grit free. It didn't get rid of all the dog hair from my lab mix but it really kept it down.

Yes it can get stuck and make noise at weird times but so do I. I manage.

[AMandM]

Thanks, everyone!
The anti-robot comments have actually helped me realize what is so attractive about them to me.

Don't do it, it's unnecessary junk. You don't need your floor vacuumed daily, especially with no kids.
Just vacuum manually whenever you see fit with a cheap regular vacuum. Put something on in your headphones and savor the process. Use it as an opportunity to inspect and tidy the house. Enjoy the light exercise.

Leaving aside the fact that I don't have headphones or anything mobile to attach them to, if I came anywhere close to vacuuming manually whenever it's needed, I don't think I'd be tempted by a robovac. I acknowledge that I'm looking for a technical solution to an organizational/motivational/moral/spiritual deficit. But the deficit is there, and a technical solution may help to overcome it while I can still work on my organization/motivation/morals/spiritual life.

Do you need an e-waste sweeping butler to achieve self-actualization? Are you such a highly efficient overachiever that freeing up thirty minutes a week will truly improve your life? Or will you be spending your new found time surfing the internet?

I think people fall into a trap of thinking something is drudgery and skip ahead mentally to getting the task over with. Which turns a neutral experience into a negative one.

Consider being more mindful and thorough during your vacuuming kinda like: https://www.raptitude.com/2011/09/how-to-walk-across-a-parking-lot/

It's not so much a matter of freeing up my time, or avoiding drudgery, as of making a task happen that I currently spend almost zero time doing.

For me, at least, it was very much a “know thyself” purchase.  I hardly ever vacuum (I’ve literally gone months without vacuuming).  The Roomba doesn’t do as good a job as a person would, but I actually run it every day and it keeps my place much cleaner than I would left to my own devices.  Big quality of life improvement and worth every penny for me.

I think I may be in the same position.

Thanks again, everyone.

[Malossi792]

We have one.
A while ago we rented a smallish apartment with a simple layout and hard floors everywhere.
There we loved it, used it all the time (literally each and every day), small living spaces get dirty seemingly within hours if you have offspring involved.
Now, same family, living in big-@SS (for us) SFH, and the lil' thing hasn't left its box since we moved in.
My 2 cents.

[startingsmall]

It's an absolute essential for us, with two cats, a dog, and a bird that sheds dander and likes to toss birdseed.

We don't have any fancy mapping technology, app access, or anything like that. Still, I run ours everyday and only pull out the "real vacuum" every couple of months to get tricky corners, baseboards, etc. I also like that its is low-profile enough to go under most of our furniture, so it keeps our living areas much cleaner than I otherwise would with a broom or regular vacuum. (I have allergies/asthma, so this is a big perk.)

We have this Eufy ($159): https://www.amazon.com/eufy-Super-Thin-Super-Strong-Self-Charging-Medium-Pile/dp/B07R295MLS/
We've had it since November 2021, so it's probably run ~400 times by now. I replaced the roller brush ($14) in November 2022, but it's otherwise going strong!

[MandyT]

Somehow I'm just seeing this! You know how I feel about my iRobot, except for that pooptacular problem when I first ran it. :)

I see you mentioned that you feel you have a motivational/organizational deficit. You might be interested in the Struggle Care podcast (https://www.strugglecare.com/podcast-rss). The host also has a great book and TikTok. Her whole thing is that your home has to work for you...not the other way around. If you (like me) have a functional barrier like ADHD—or a pain issue or chronic fatigue or anxiety or whatever—you should feel justified in doing whatever you need to do in order to make your home work for you.

Maybe I'm reading too much into your comment, but Struggle Care has been very helpful for me!

[sisto]

We recently got one and really like it. I was originally in the camp of it being overpriced unnecessary. Then I was talking with a friend about one they had and how they loved it to stay on top of dog hair. I decided to give it a try in order to keep the pet hair under control and save time on the regular vacuuming. I was amazed at how well it worked. I help keep dust and hair from building up in hard to reach places that require manual vacuuming. I feel that it has also cut back on allergens. The only real downside is a small dust bin requiring frequent emptying, but that's still better than running the vacuum manually all the time. We bought the Eufy model from Amazon.

[FrugalShrew]

So I tend to be a luddite anyway, and have higher privacy concerns than the average person, but I would definitely be uncomfortable with letting Amazon map my home (https://www.wired.com/story/amazon-irobot-roomba-acquisition-data-privacy/).

Also, I realize the odds of any one person's Roomba photographing them on the toilet and leaking it to the internet are slim, but it has happened (https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/12/19/1065306/roomba-irobot-robot-vacuums-artificial-intelligence-training-data-privacy/).

Plus, vacuuming or sweeping is great free exercise. :)

[Metalcat]

So I tend to be a luddite anyway, and have higher privacy concerns than the average person, but I would definitely be uncomfortable with letting Amazon map my home (https://www.wired.com/story/amazon-irobot-roomba-acquisition-data-privacy/).

Also, I realize the odds of any one person's Roomba photographing them on the toilet and leaking it to the internet are slim, but it has happened (https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/12/19/1065306/roomba-irobot-robot-vacuums-artificial-intelligence-training-data-privacy/).

Plus, vacuuming or sweeping is great free exercise. :)

That's why it dumb to pay a fortune for the one that maps your home. The cheap ones don't and cost less than most conventional vacuums.

[dandarc]

So I tend to be a luddite anyway, and have higher privacy concerns than the average person, but I would definitely be uncomfortable with letting Amazon map my home (https://www.wired.com/story/amazon-irobot-roomba-acquisition-data-privacy/).

Also, I realize the odds of any one person's Roomba photographing them on the toilet and leaking it to the internet are slim, but it has happened (https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/12/19/1065306/roomba-irobot-robot-vacuums-artificial-intelligence-training-data-privacy/).

Plus, vacuuming or sweeping is great free exercise. :)

That's why it dumb to pay a fortune for the one that maps your home. The cheap ones don't and cost less than most conventional vacuums.

This. Plus even though the cheap ones just do a random walk, doing that every single day is far better than the alternative of "dandarc vaccums the house once per quarter. Maybe."

[bryan995]

We have a roomba 985. It does a decent job at keeping up with the dust/crumbs. We run it every other night. Once a week we bring it upstairs and let it go to town on the carpets.  Its bin is always full and needs our attention to resolve. I sort of wish we had the updated model that can self empty itself.

It does not replace manual vacuuming.

It’s good - but I much prefer when our hose cleaners come once a month. They do a 10x better job!

[Tardis81]

Mine arrived yesterday and it’s love at first sight. Roborock Q7, AUD699 (USD470). I think it will immediately become as useful as dishwasher, washing machine and tumble dryer. We are a household with 3 adults, 2 kids and 4 pets and I HATE vacuuming. Happy NY to me!

[AMandM]

Well, we did it. We chose the Eufy 11S Max, one of the cheapest models available but also one of the most highly rated on Consumer Reports, and one of the few that is not wifi enabled. We love it! Some part of the house has been vacuumed every day, our bedroom is noticeably less dusty, and we're less likely to ;eave clutter out on the floor. A win all around!

[RWD]

[...] and one of the few that is not wifi enabled.

That's good because Eufy can't be trusted with your data.
https://www.theverge.com/2022/11/30/23486753/anker-eufy-security-camera-cloud-private-encryption-authentication-storage

[lutorm]

We don't have one, but personally I'd rather get a robot lawn mower than a vacuum. At least the house doesn't need vacuuming when you're not there...