roomba vacuum cleaner.......talk me down or not?

[warmastoast]

I've been pretty good lately at "right-sizing" my lifestyle due to an impending divorce.  I've sold the new 4runner and got a 2 year old prius v.  My electric and water bills are now under very tight control.  My food budget is , well, within budget now.  I'm budgeting using YNAB and all seems good, I'm managing to save. I'm feeling pretty smug about it all until yesterday.

My soon to be ex-husband has bought himself a robot vacuum cleaner for his small apartment.  I am the one with the 3 kids, a dog and a rabbit and a much bigger house.  I can feel myself wanting to cry because just offloading one chore would make a big difference to me and I am feeling very resentful that he has "wasted" our money on this...

I have the cash to buy one but.... should I?

Does anyone have one?  2 of my friends have them and swear by them...

[Rural]

I'm far too cheap to buy one for myself, but I bless my mother every weekend for the one she gave me for Christmas (yes, they can afford it).


If it will dramatically impact your life, then maybe you should. That said, if the two of you are separated, the divorce should split the money as it stood at the point of your separation I - he should not be able to affect the settling up by deciding to spend frivolously now - it should come from his half.

[protostache]

We had a first generation Roomba Discovery for awhile. It was ok. The bin was pretty small and we had a cat, so it would fill up pretty fast. It wasn't that great on solid surfaces, tending to scatter rather than clean up. Also the first generations were not very good at automatic docking, so we always had to go rescue it and plug it in manually. Eventually the NiCad battery died, so we bought a new one, which promptly burned itself out while charging. Thankfully it didn't actually start on fire, but the whole kit went in the trash after that.

We might get another one at some point, if we know they've improved on docking and solid surfaces.

[prognastat]

Most here might disagree with me on this, but I have one myself. I got a neato http://www.amazon.com/Neato-XV-21-Allergy-Automatic-Cleaner/dp/B007JOJ9QQ. I was able to do some research and found that the newer models had the same general hardware and software, the only differences were a different bush and filter which you could buy separately for much less. I ended up getting the same thing for effectively $200. We have 2 dogs and cats and the amount of fur they shed is enough to drive us batty and it works miracles for us. All I have to do is run it every day automatically and I take less than 5 minutes a day when I get home to clean out the brush and filter. With only 1 dog you could probably get away with only running it 2-3 times a week. However even at that it would save 30+ minutes a week. In my situation it saved more like an hour a week and it keeps our house much more fur free if we did it ourselves, but less often. At saving an hour of work for me a week it has been worth it and if I look at it from how much I would make staying an hour extra at work that hour is worth about $30 to me. At that point it has paid for itself in just over 6 weeks. To me they are getting to the point of being worth it to the extent a washer or dishwasher are worth it to many people.

I think at this point there is still a decent bit of room for improvement, but I would say it is reasonable at this point and in the near feature will really be no different than having a dishwasher.

[geekette]

Take a good look at your furniture and layout. We had one briefly years ago (first gen, pre docking). We have breuer style kitchen chairs and bar stools (u shaped bases), so it could never a lot of the kitchen done, plus a step down to the family room, so that didn't work.

I know they've improved, but it still wouldn't work where we need it most.

[MrDelane]

Like the poster above, we were lucky enough to get one as a gift one year.
I never would have spent the money myself, but it is a 'nice to have.'

One inconvenience about it to keep in mind is that you really need to prep your house to run it - clearing the floor, potential obstacles, cables, etc.  We have no kids, so that isn't difficult for us - and having hardwood floors probably helps us too.  Our house was basically 'roomba-ready' before we got it.

All that said, yes, we do enjoy it quite a bit.  It is helpful.  That's easy for me to say because we didn't spend the money on it.  I believe the one we have was on sale at Costco for roughly $300.

Was it worth $300?  I don't know.  I do know that I wouldn't have spent my own money on it then, and if it were to break I probably wouldn't replace it now.  It is definitely a luxury, and one that I'm grateful to have, but I'm not certain it is worth the investment for me.

If you can find a way to receive one as a gift - or otherwise cut back on other things in order to make some room in the budget for it, then maybe.  But not at the cost of saving/investing another $300.  That's my 2 cents anyhow.

[maizefolk]

I have a neato and really really appreciate it.

My understanding is that the roomba designed ones just bounce around the room over and over again until they achieve adequate coverage. The neato comes into each room, swivels from side to side mapping out the room, vacuums the perimeter and then covers the rest of the space in a back and forth pattern like mowing the lawn.

I agree with the MrDelane, you do have to prep your house by clearing clutter and cables off of the floor. For me this is actually a plus in that it forces me to keep my house tidier than I otherwise would so that I don't come home to find my neato choking on a sock I left laying on the bedroom floor. ;-)

[sol]

All I have to do is run it every day automatically and I take less than 5 minutes a day when I get home to clean out the brush and filter.

This is the key that most people miss.  A robot vacuum is not any less work.  It is more frequent work, for a shorter amount of time.  It needs to be cleaned every time it runs, and depending on the amount and type of hair it finds the cleaning can take longer than would vacuuming the normal way.  It REALLY doesn't like long hair, which gets wound around the brush and bushings, so if you have a long haired animal or human you're better off just vacuuming.

I've had two in my life.  The batteries lasted about a year with daily cleanings (~$35 replacement) and it never did as good of a job as I could do with my regular vac.  It doesn't like to go under tables.  It doesn't do stairs.  It gets stuck on throw rugs and shoelaces.

If you really want to be super fastidious about your carpets, just vacuum for five minutes per day, every day.  You'll spend less total time, your floors will be cleaner, and you'll save yourself hundreds of dollars and hours of frustration.

My standard upright vacuum, by contrast, is virtually maintenance free.  I empty the bag about once a month, and otherwise I never think about it.

[prognastat]

All I have to do is run it every day automatically and I take less than 5 minutes a day when I get home to clean out the brush and filter.

This is the key that most people miss.  A robot vacuum is not any less work.  It is more frequent work, for a shorter amount of time.  It needs to be cleaned every time it runs, and depending on the amount and type of hair it finds the cleaning can take longer than would vacuuming the normal way.  It REALLY doesn't like long hair, which gets wound around the brush and bushings, so if you have a long haired animal or human you're better off just vacuuming.

I've had two in my life.  The batteries lasted about a year with daily cleanings (~$35 replacement) and it never did as good of a job as I could do with my regular vac.  It doesn't like to go under tables.  It doesn't do stairs.  It gets stuck on throw rugs and shoelaces.

If you really want to be super fastidious about your carpets, just vacuum for five minutes per day, every day.  You'll spend less total time, your floors will be cleaner, and you'll save yourself hundreds of dollars and hours of frustration.

My standard upright vacuum, by contrast, is virtually maintenance free.  I empty the bag about once a month, and otherwise I never think about it.

I haven't really experienced this, we have 2 long haired adults, 2 dogs and 4 cats and to do the same amount of work with a regular vacuum would take at least 90 minutes a week when the time spent on the neato only 20-30 minutes a week. If you had only 1 pet or no pets it would be less savings per week but the % saved would be about the same. Also I really don't like doing it, partially because with the amount of animals keeping it fur free makes me feel like Sisyphus. If you have pets though make sure you get one of the ones with a more powerful vacuum. They will be a decent bit louder, but if you run it while you aren't home that isn't your problem.

All that said, yes, we do enjoy it quite a bit.  It is helpful.  That's easy for me to say because we didn't spend the money on it.  I believe the one we have was on sale at Costco for roughly $300.

Was it worth $300?  I don't know.  I do know that I wouldn't have spent my own money on it then, and if it were to break I probably wouldn't replace it now.  It is definitely a luxury, and one that I'm grateful to have, but I'm not certain it is worth the investment for me.

You can get a good one for $200 if you shop smart, if you were to go used I'm sure you could get it even cheaper or you could get a better model for the $200.

Bottom line for me is, is it a need? No you can do it the old way and it will cost you less money, but more time. Is it worth it to see for the $200 I paid for one? It definitely was. Coming home to a clean home without dustballs of fur floating around feels great.

[GreenSheep]

We have one that my boyfriend's mom gave him, and I hate it. It's loud, it doesn't pick up much (we have wood and tile floors, no carpet), and before you run it, you have to go around the house moving things like cords and shoelaces that it could get stuck on. And it often gets stuck on things you can't move, like the bathroom door (well, you could close it, but then it wouldn't clean the bathroom floor), so you have to go rescue it.

As others have said, I feel like it just creates more work for me. I can sweep the floors in less time than it takes to mess with the stupid thing, and sweeping is relatively quiet.

I also agree with the long hair issue. It gets wound around and around the "guts" of the Roomba, and it's a giant pain to get it out. Sweeping and mopping FTW!

[Frankies Girl]

I'm on my second roomba. We probably will always have one as it works for our house and lifestyle. We got the current one for under $200 and it is the 500 series where it self docs and has better mapping of the room. We are two adults, one cat. Our first one lasted 4 years, this one is going on 2 and showing no signs of battery life reduction.

We have all wood and tile floors with very low pile area rugs (no tassles) and a one story house. Almost all of our furniture is high enough for the vac to get under, and we deliberately cleared out any floor clutter years ago so it really is just a minute to pick up cat toys and put the cat's bowls up on a counter to release the Ein (yes, that's its name). It has no issues at all with anything in our house (unless we miss a cat toy).

We use it to pick up the constant dust bunnies, hair, and cat litter. It is run every day to take care of the big stuff like that and the real vac is pulled out every other week to do a deep clean. I also end up using a dust mop to get under the really low furniture that the roomba can't reach (like bedroom dresser/chest).

No matter what level of vac you get there is hardly any real suction (can't compare to a real vac), just brush action, so it is will only pick up large pieces of dust/hair/debris from the rugs/floor. That's been our experience with this latest iteration as well. Think of it more like a broom sweeping - NOT a deep clean/vacuuming.

So if you have floors that are clear of clutter (or kids that can pick up things before a run), low pile or no carpets, minimal cords and fussy things at floor level and most of your furniture is high enough to allow it to go under, a robot vac might be worth your while to stay on top of the dust/hair/stuff without dragging out the big vac all the time. But if you have lots of stuff that would be a pain to pick up, then it probably is just a fussy gadget that would be more trouble than it's worth.

[JJ-]

We have one. We fire it up when we leave the house. It does a good job of gathering up the dog and cat hair and occasionally leaves the hair in giant tuffs behind as they get too clumpy for the brushes. We still need to vacuum once a week.

[sol]

We still need to vacuum once a week.

This was exactly my complaint.  People seem to think they can just spend $300 and never vacuum again, which is not the case.  You can spend $300 and vacuum slightly less often, but spend more time cleaning out your robot, and have one additional piece of clutter in your home.  A piece of clutter that will break in a year or two and need to be replaced.

It was fun, when I had one.  I liked coming home to clean floors covered in vac lines.  My dogs were less thrilled.

It's a short term luxury item.  A good upright vacuum will cost half as much and last ten times as long.

[Rural]

We've had no trouble with it scattering rather than picking up on our concrete floors, so hard surfaces may not be the problem they once were. Ours also had never had a problem docking. It's louder than the sweeper/mopped we had previously but does a better job. I empty the bin once a week (we run it once a week) and that's enough for two long-haired people, three cats, and two dogs. I have cleaned the brushes twice since Christmas, so maybe every two months? I do pick up my shoes to avoid the shoelace problem, but I don't know that that's a downside since it also means I don't trip over shoes and maybe fall on a concrete floor.


For cords, I've rerouted so they're not sitting on the floor, which is a plus anyway, and I love that it cleans under couches, beds, tables, and all. It won't fit under the sideboard, and therefore that area doesn't get cleaned, but it's not like I was going to clean under there any other way, either, so I am unfazed.

[Turkey Leg]

We have a Dust Buster, a Neato, and two Roombas. We no longer own a vacuum. (So I don't agree with the statement that you still have to vacuum once a week.) We haven't had a vacuum for a decade or so.

The Neato and one Roomba run on daily 8:00 am cleaning schedules in different sections of the house. The Roomba gets emptied once a week. The Neato is more finicky and needs emptied once every two days. (If I remember, I empty it every morning, but I forget sometimes.)

I think I like the Neato better, now that I've compared the two.

[pbkmaine]

DH ordered a Roomba the last time we split up household chores and he got vacuuming! We have 3 cats and he bought the one for pet hair. Now that I am back to vacuuming, I alternate it with the regular vacuum cleaner. The cats vastly prefer the Roomba to the regular vacuum cleaner. They will just watch the Roomba go by, but head for the hills whenever they spot the Hoover. We have three of the lights that act as boundaries and I will set them up and have the Roomba do a deep clean of the area rugs.

[Rezdent]

Definitely think about the way the house is laid out.  I had one for the first generation, in a house that was laid out in a way that worked.
It cut my vacuum days by 75%.

When I moved in with my SO, the house has a really different floor plan, the  furniture and cords weren't optimal, and there is a lot more dirt coming in the house.  My previously awesome Roomba was getting stuck constantly, needed emptying even before it finished one run, and missed a lot of area.
It finally just died.

I miss Roomba.  More importantly, I miss a small, thoughtfully planned, easily-kept house.  I am not replacing unless/until we move.

[prognastat]

We have a Dust Buster, a Neato, and two Roombas. We no longer own a vacuum. (So I don't agree with the statement that you still have to vacuum once a week.) We haven't had a vacuum for a decade or so.

The Neato and one Roomba run on daily 8:00 am cleaning schedules in different sections of the house. The Roomba gets emptied once a week. The Neato is more finicky and needs emptied once every two days. (If I remember, I empty it every morning, but I forget sometimes.)

I think I like the Neato better, now that I've compared the two.

Same here I manually vacuum maybe once a month if even that. I'd have to vacuum 3-4 times a week at least to keep it as fur free as neato does.

[maizefolk]

I'm another who doesn't actually own a normal upright vacuum cleaner.

Have had to replace the battery in my neato once since 2013 and new filters occasionally. Other than that it's just emptying the bin two a week (I have it run every day because why not?) and freeing the brush/moving to back to the charger once every couple of weeks when it manages to get stuck up something it choked on while I'm at work. 

[CATman]

I've considered it since it would help keep so much pet hair from collecting on the tile daily, but I am one of those weirdos who finds vacuuming relaxing. I love using my Miele canister so I don't think a Roomba is in my future as that means I would actually get to vacuous less.

[Goldy]

The neato signature XV is the way to go.  We run it about 2 times a week and have not touched the regular vacuum for over 2 years now. 

[shadowmoss]

Here is a friend of mine's experience with his Roomba:

http://retiredrod.blogspot.com/2014/03/roomba.html

[Spork]

Here's my experience:

We have 4 pets that are filthy.  We briefly tried a Roomba, but... something with the hard front wheel seriously scratched our floors.  And the more we ran it, the more scratches we got.  We went through iRobot customer service, which had us replace the front wheel... but that didn't help.  We gave up on it and since Amazon customer service is fairly awesome, they just gave us our money back on it.

Our floors are polished concrete... and I am sure tile or carpet would have different results.  I've considered trying another brand (Neato)... but haven't just yet.

[Rural]

Here's my experience:

We have 4 pets that are filthy.  We briefly tried a Roomba, but... something with the hard front wheel seriously scratched our floors.  And the more we ran it, the more scratches we got.  We went through iRobot customer service, which had us replace the front wheel... but that didn't help.  We gave up on it and since Amazon customer service is fairly awesome, they just gave us our money back on it.

Our floors are polished concrete... and I am sure tile or carpet would have different results.  I've considered trying another brand (Neato)... but haven't just yet.

Our concrete floors are polished-ish and are sealed, but I can guarantee that no scratch something as small as a Roomba could cause would show on them- think less House Beautiful and more Home Depot and you'll get the general idea of our floors.

[Mrs. PoP]

I'm on my second roomba. We probably will always have one as it works for our house and lifestyle. We got the current one for under $200 and it is the 500 series where it self docs and has better mapping of the room. We are two adults, one cat. Our first one lasted 4 years, this one is going on 2 and showing no signs of battery life reduction.

We have all wood and tile floors with very low pile area rugs (no tassles) and a one story house. Almost all of our furniture is high enough for the vac to get under, and we deliberately cleared out any floor clutter years ago so it really is just a minute to pick up cat toys and put the cat's bowls up on a counter to release the Ein (yes, that's its name). It has no issues at all with anything in our house (unless we miss a cat toy).

We use it to pick up the constant dust bunnies, hair, and cat litter. It is run every day to take care of the big stuff like that and the real vac is pulled out every other week to do a deep clean. I also end up using a dust mop to get under the really low furniture that the roomba can't reach (like bedroom dresser/chest).

No matter what level of vac you get there is hardly any real suction (can't compare to a real vac), just brush action, so it is will only pick up large pieces of dust/hair/debris from the rugs/floor. That's been our experience with this latest iteration as well. Think of it more like a broom sweeping - NOT a deep clean/vacuuming.

So if you have floors that are clear of clutter (or kids that can pick up things before a run), low pile or no carpets, minimal cords and fussy things at floor level and most of your furniture is high enough to allow it to go under, a robot vac might be worth your while to stay on top of the dust/hair/stuff without dragging out the big vac all the time. But if you have lots of stuff that would be a pain to pick up, then it probably is just a fussy gadget that would be more trouble than it's worth.

Our house (and occupants 2 adults, 1 cat) is pretty similar (all tile, 1 floor, a few low pile rugs) and we love our roomba.  Bought it 4 years ago (series 500) and within the last 6 months replaced the brush cage and the bin due to those motors eventually failing.  Battery was also replaced once after we left it undocked and then went on vacation which killed the battery.  But the replacements were easy and roomba is actually better than new (since we went with the advanced brush cage that didn't exist when we bought ours originally). 

In fact, I like roomba so much that when we replaced our floors with new tile, I bought a Scooba and designed all of our cabinetry so that the toe kick is a little higher to give roomba and scooba plenty of room to get in all the nooks and crannies since that was a place they used to get stuck on occasion.  Tidying up takes a minute before running roomba or scooba, but it's tidying that should be done anyhow so I don't consider it added time. Sometimesi pick up a cat toy or two and sweep out whatever's in the corners to make sure roomba gets it which might take a minute, tops?

Fwiw, I don't own a "normal" vacuum.  We just have roomba and a shop vac for heavy duty stuff.  I've been considering a dust buster to augment roomba since I HATE sweeping and vacuuming and it'd be nice for small jobs or what I currently do for the corners, but roomba does a good enough job that it's not urgent.

I look at roomba and scooba the same way I do a dishwasher.  Is it 100% necessary?  No.  But it takes a chore I loathe and makes it take 80-90% less effort.  And that's worth something to me. 

[Jim2001]

+1 for the Roomba 500 series.  Love it and will replace it if it ever dies!

[FrugalSaver]

I have one. Not sure it's worth $500 but they are convenient.

[scrubbyfish]

My experience (Roomba PetSeries595)

approximately three years; two homes; both ~450 sq feet; one child
have never needed to use any other vacuum
I am meticulously neat, and my feet are extremely sensitive to tiny invisible crap on the floor and Roomba does the trick
I run her every few days
I empty the bin every couple of weeks
clean brushes, etc, every few months
enjoy cleaning the brushes, etc, as a peaceful, quiet meditation
have not yet needed to replace the battery
have replaced only the brushes (once); the replacements came with
my floors always look amazing
I also need to mop way less
it's entirely happy to go under tables, around stuff, etc
love that it cleans thoroughly under my bed
it generally goes over or around cords; on the occasion that it "catches" one, it stops itself
the compartment allows you to retrieve lego pieces, etc, if those were missed in a tidy
excellent on my hard (laminate, and tile) surfaces as well as on my carpets (both low pile and thick)
the electronic "wall" works perfectly; I will do my main living area regularly, other areas less so, block an area via a door or e-wall

I adore coming home to such a clean place over and over!
When my landlords saw the results, they got one too :)
When I moved, I only brought what fit in our compact car with us. Roomba was a shoe-in.

Agree that small things need to be picked up first. Here I also have grate covers for some of my baseboard heaters that sit a couple inches off the floor. I remove those for a clean under the heaters, so it goes all the way under and also doesn't get stuck. I find "static things that hang about 2" off the floor" the only vulnerable spots that way.

I am wary of the "cheap" ones. I wouldn't bother with one less awesome than what I have.

[warmastoast]

I bought a roomba!

My almost ex-husband agreed with me that I had more need of it than him, so he's taken the dyson handheld and gave me the budget for the roomba.  I love it already.   It is fairly quiet and I just sat there watching it for a bit this evening before I went out.  I came home to clean floors and couldn't find the roomba - it had locked itself in the downstairs cloakroom!!

It even picked up the rabbit droppings which the dyson refused to do.....now to get the kids to tidy their bedrooms up :-)

Thanks to all of you for your opinions/advice.  I really wanted it but didn't want to waste my money on a "toy".  Anything I buy from here on has to earn it's keep and I think this will.

[sol]

I bought a roomba!

Wow, less than 12 hours after you started the thread?  I think you need to work on your hedonic delay mechanism.

[Cranky]

I don't think that a roomba would work in my house because of the layout.

But why does it take so long to vacuum for some people? You have very large houses?

When I had 3 kids and 5 cats and a dog in the house, I did vacuum almost every day, and it did take about 15 minutes/day.

Now I've got 3 adults and 2 cats (though one of them is the fur equivalent of about 10 cats) and I vacuum Monday and Friday mornings, for about 15 minutes, and downstairs in the basement maybe once/week. If we drop something on the floor, we clean it up..

[prognastat]

I don't think that a roomba would work in my house because of the layout.

But why does it take so long to vacuum for some people? You have very large houses?

When I had 3 kids and 5 cats and a dog in the house, I did vacuum almost every day, and it did take about 15 minutes/day.

Now I've got 3 adults and 2 cats (though one of them is the fur equivalent of about 10 cats) and I vacuum Monday and Friday mornings, for about 15 minutes, and downstairs in the basement maybe once/week. If we drop something on the floor, we clean it up..

Just over 20 minutes per manual vacuum here and would need to vacuum about 4 times a week to keep it even almost as clean as neato, would have to clean daily to keep it as clean since it runs daily. So that would be either over 80 minutes a week or up to 140 minutes to match it completely. If I had to manually do it though I would likely settle for slightly more fur and only doing it 4 times a week, but that still puts me at over 80 minutes compared to the maybe 20-30 minutes spent on cleaning neato each week.

I feel it is very similar to a dishwasher in concept. The dishes would take less time actually to do by hand than my vacuuming would, probably closer to 70 minutes per week. The dishwasher takes a little time to load and unload everything, but that is maybe 10-15 minutes a week. Also a dishwasher isn't quite as perfect at washing dishes as manually doing it, just like neato might not get it perfect every time, but it will o it good enough. So to me if you can justify a dishwasher to help with the ashes then can justify a robot vacuum. If you can't justify a dishwasher you probably won't like a robotic vacuum.

[celticblue]

I have a bobsweep. I really like it.
The downside is that you have to prep the apartment - but you only have to tie up loose cords once and then it's permanently ready. I would get a lower profile one if I bought again so that it could go under all my furniture.
The benefit that gets least mentioned is actually my favorite. A lot of the dust on your other surfaces is just dust blown up from your floors. With the robo vac cleaning every day I have to dust all my surfaces a lot less. That's in addition to coming home to the delight of clean floors every day.

[BTDretire]

It's just, high tech consumerism.
Another cool toy.
Fuggedaboutit!

I don't have any animals sheading hair.

[prognastat]

I have been doing lot of research into these types of robotic vacuums and I may be biting the bullet and getting one.

We have 2 boxers and they shed like crazy. I come home to a dark wood floor completely covered in dog hair and it's frustrating and  kinda gross.  I absolutely hate it. 

I think this may be a father's day gift for myself ;)

One of my dogs is a golden and black lab mix and has relatively long hair. He seems to manage to shed his full body weight in fur daily. Pretty sure a scientist should study it.

However the Neato XV I have doesn't struggle with it at all.

[warmastoast]

I bought a roomba!

Wow, less than 12 hours after you started the thread?  I think you need to work on your hedonic delay mechanism.

Well, you're probably right,  BUT I had been thinking about one of these for quite some months.  As I already wrote, 2 friends have them and love them.  I already had a pretty good, expensive dyson that was only about 2 years old (bought when we moved to the USA) and I kept thinking that I couldn't justify the expense of a roomba.  Since almost-ex-husband had to buy something to vacuum anyway, the financial barrier was gone. I would definitely put this on a par with the dishwasher and the washing machine for the time/personal energy it saves.  I am so overwhelmed with everything I have to do at the moment that as I watched this little robot do a job for me I cried.   

[Spork]

Here's my experience:

We have 4 pets that are filthy.  We briefly tried a Roomba, but... something with the hard front wheel seriously scratched our floors.  And the more we ran it, the more scratches we got.  We went through iRobot customer service, which had us replace the front wheel... but that didn't help.  We gave up on it and since Amazon customer service is fairly awesome, they just gave us our money back on it.

Our floors are polished concrete... and I am sure tile or carpet would have different results.  I've considered trying another brand (Neato)... but haven't just yet.

Our concrete floors are polished-ish and are sealed, but I can guarantee that no scratch something as small as a Roomba could cause would show on them- think less House Beautiful and more Home Depot and you'll get the general idea of our floors.

Our soil here is a really sharp sand.  I think it was a combination of that sand and the front wheel.  Whenever it did a bump and turn it left a pretty deep, noticeable scratch.  The floors were also brand new, so they had a high sheen at the time.  It might not be noticeable now that they've had a few years of wear.

[big_owl]

DINKs with no pets other than a turtle and we vacuum probably 2-3 times per year.  A Roomba might work in our house layout but is probably unnecessary.  We have mostly wood or tile so maybe it wouldn't do that good of a job.  We have a 25 year old Oreck instead.  It's a POS but gets the job done.  I use a mini 1gal shop vac for the wood floors since the Oreck will scratch them. 

[dilinger]

Ignore the people who talk about their experiences with early generation Roombas. My ex-gf worked for iRobot and we had a bunch of them, and I assure you - they were AWFUL.  The later gen models are much much better.  They no longer eat your cables and destroy your electronics or shoelaces, they no longer require manually pulling hair out of brushes, they have HEPA options, etc.  In other words, they're actually useful now.

After the 500-series, they upgraded brushes and stuff to not require manually pulling hair out all the time, and also larger collection bins.  I have a 500-series that was upgraded to the larger bin + better brushes (there's a kit for it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVJBLgXWOFk ), and an 800-series with the improved bin/brushes and HEPA filter.  Both work well, although with my house layout they tend to spend too long in a particular room.  In the 6 years that I've owned the 500-series, it's only needed a new battery once.  I run it about once/week.

Don't get a new one. $600-$900 (!) is too much to pay.  Get a used one on ebay or craigslist.  Battery replacements are easy and cheap.  Roombas are designed to be hackable. You can get a 650 on ebay in like-new condition for $150, for example.  I think a lot of people buy them new and then realize that it doesn't work for them (due to house layout or lifestyle).

Roombas can't get corners.  If you have carpet, you'll still need a vaccum for corners (and stairs).  If you have hardwood, a broom will suffice.  I just sweep out the corners every once in a while while the roombas are running.  However, I will be looking into a Neato when one of the Roombas die.  Given that the 530 is still going strong after 6 years, though, I'm not sure how long that'll be..

[sol]

Given that the 530 is still going strong after 6 years, though, I'm not sure how long that'll be..

This amazes me.  I've had two roombas, and neither one lasted more than a year with daily use. 

Towards the end, the battery life would get so short that it wouldn't run long enough to do a very good job, and then it would die before it could find the charging station.  The primary brushes always clogged with hair until the little plastic end caps wore into asymmetrical shapes and wouldn't let the brush spin anymore.  The front black and white wheel would clog with hair every week and have to be removed so the sensor behind the wheel could read distance.  The little side spinny brush would break off or strip the center screw, making it useless.  Eventually, I'd just get a long string of error beeps that meant "take me in for service" and I said no thanks.  Running my upright for ten minutes once a week did a better job, for less hassle.

[dilinger]

Given that the 530 is still going strong after 6 years, though, I'm not sure how long that'll be..

This amazes me.  I've had two roombas, and neither one lasted more than a year with daily use. 

You're comparing daily use to weekly use, though.  52 times per year vs 365; over 6 years, I've probably run it 300 times.

I have replaced the side spinny brush a few times, but I've never had to buy a new one (it originally came with replacements).  The old main brushes were crappy and would clog with hair; the new ones (the upgrade kit I mentioned) don't have that problem.  It's night & day.  I replaced the battery last year.

[Zombie Burger]

If you want to be talked down from getting a roomba, consider what would happen if your dog has an accident before it runs. That could trigger a laborious floor cleaning event.

[MandyM]

If you want to be talked down from getting a roomba, consider what would happen if your dog has an accident before it runs. That could trigger a laborious floor cleaning event.

This. Or if a cat coughs up a hairball. I have pets and a roomba and I rarely run the roomba anymore. If I use it, it has to be when I am home because I was nervous about the puke/poop potential, but also because one of my cats thinks it is a toy and will pounce on it, generally resulting in the Roomba getting cornered. I really hoped that he would want to ride on top of it, but he just wants to be in its way.

I also have to store the Roomba in a closet because the cat learned how to turn his toy on. The first few days I had the Roomba, I kept coming home to find the damn thing in the corner with a dead battery.

I have wood floors and I find that a large push dust mop (dry) is a great for a quick sweep to get the fur. Broom and/or regular vacuum for more complete cleaning.

[scrubbyfish]

Given that the 530 is still going strong after 6 years, though, I'm not sure how long that'll be..

This amazes me.  I've had two roombas, and neither one lasted more than a year with daily use. 

You're comparing daily use to weekly use, though.  52 times per year vs 365; over 6 years, I've probably run it 300 times.

I'm 3-4x per week (sensitive feet and eyes!) for 3 yrs though, and still the only swap is one set of brushes (which came with). Of course, what's more relevant is total square footage run, but so far so good for me!

[dcheesi]

I think it really is an individual thing. At the end of the day, keeping up with a Roomba is probably just as much work as vacuuming, especially when you consider that you need to run it more frequently to get good results. However, I personally find that I don't mind the frequent minor efforts in maintaining the Roomba as much as I do the occasional larger effort of pulling out the vacuum and using it.

[prognastat]

I think it really is an individual thing. At the end of the day, keeping up with a Roomba is probably just as much work as vacuuming, especially when you consider that you need to run it more frequently to get good results. However, I personally find that I don't mind the frequent minor efforts in maintaining the Roomba as much as I do the occasional larger effort of pulling out the vacuum and using it.

I would disagree that it doesn't save time. The question of how much time though depends on how often you need to vacuum. The less often you need to vacuum the less beneficial it is. If you are living alone or as a couple in a 1 bedroom/bathroom apartment without pets, are both pretty clean and spend most of your time out of the home(either at work or doing other things). Chances are you could get away with only vacuuming once every month. At which point it is saving you maybe 1 hour of work a month which is not that much. However if you have kids and/or pets, most of all long haired pets, along with a larger home and two adults this quickly becomes a much more frequent thing. It also depends on the level of clean you want. It is saving me at least an hour a week which is more worth it to me, but depending on your situation it might be less of a win.

[honeybbq]

I love my Roomba soooo much. I almost want another one for the top floor lol.

We have 3 dogs and a toddler, and I have long hair.... it runs every day and it is FULL every day. It definitely saves me HOURS of cleaning time despite the daily clean out. (I only clean the bin every day, the brushes maybe once per week).

We've had it for years, and every year or so we replace the brushes/batteries, etc.

Congrats on your new purchase, I'm sure you'll love it.

[AZDude]

Everytime I see a roomba or one of its competitors I stare and dream about buying it... but I own a broom, a dustpan, and a vacuum cleaner. $300 for a robot cleaner seems excessive, but I don't judge those who have one... because I'm sure one day I will walk by, check by bank account balance and say "what the hell, I'm buying it".

[Digital Dogma]

Last week I chased my girlfriend around the house with the canister end of the vacuum cleaner. While she worked the front half, I hauled the back half and reeled out the cord. Quick and clean, people power! I didn't even get stuck in the corner very long, and only ate one shoelace.

[iris lily]

I recommend hard surfaces everywhere.

Then just sweep, as in with a broom. It is meditative. I look forward to it and I hate vacuuming.

I wonder i f central vac systems are still a thing.