Anybody using a roomba and/or scooba

[rfisher]

My brother has a roomba and loves it for their carpeted floors. They let it run while they're at work. My new house is all tile. I've been looking at the scooba by irobot. They are almost $1600, and I'd like to know if anybody has used one. I read some of the reviews, but I don't always trust them. Anybody here actually used either?

 

[MacMadame]

We've had roombas by iRobot and now we have a kobot, which is a cheaper knockoff. We have wood floors and they work fine. I don't know about tile. The Roombas work well on carpets but the kobot does not. It's designed for non-carpeted surfaces.

I feel like they tend to get banged up (from hitting the walls & furniture and occasionally falling down a step even though we've got it blocked off) and stop working too easily considering their cost. Mr. Mac says they are very high maintenance. I think that's why he got the kobot. If that thing falls apart, at least it's not that much money down the drain.

Because of how often they die, there's no way I'd spend $1600 on anything that worked in that way. Not unless it had been out for years with stellar reviews. And maybe not even then.

 

[Japanfan]

I had a roomba some years ago and it was really hard to direct with the remote, I had to keep re-positioning it manually. Hopefully the newer models work better.

 

[Deleted member 1204]

I had a Roomba for hardwood floors. It worked really well if you Swiffer'd the floors before and after you used it... (I hated the damn thing and will never buy one again.)

 

[Aussie Willy]

Does it come with a free cat in a shark suit?

 

[sk8pics]

I have a roomba and love it. I have used it on laminate floors and it works fine, though it's a bit loud. I mainly use it to vacuum my bedroom since it goes under the bed fine, obviously. I've had it 4 or 5 years and never do any maintenance on it other than cleaning it after each use.

 

[flyingsit]

We bought a Neato with great reviews and sent it back after a few weeks. It would get stuck against walls, get lost and not go back to its base, vacuum the same areas 3 times and miss other areas entirely....

 

[once_upon]

My kids have roombas and my oldest uses it on their marble titled floor. They have 2 large dogs and 3 kids.
I think the roomba just could not keep with the amount of dog hair and crumbs. They have the Dyson pet vacuum which doesn't seem to keep up either for the bedrooms.

Their best control of pet hair is whatever the every other week cleaning service usues

 

[twinsissv]

I had a Roomba many years ago. I got tired of having to untangle it from my fringe-edge rugs. And after the novelty wore off, it just sat there looking cute. My kitty did enjoy watching it roll around although she never climbed aboard.

 

[Japanfan]

Their best control of pet hair is whatever the every other week cleaning service usues

Most likely a broom and dustbin, stopping frequently to pick out the clumps of pet hair that the broom collects.

That's what I use.

 

[made_in_canada]

My kids have roombas and my oldest uses it on their marble titled floor. They have 2 large dogs and 3 kids.
I think the roomba just could not keep with the amount of dog hair and crumbs. They have the Dyson pet vacuum which doesn't seem to keep up either for the bedrooms.

Their best control of pet hair is whatever the every other week cleaning service usues

This is why I haven't invested in one. When I vacuum, I have to empty my big vacuum frequently or it clogs with pet hair so I can't see a Roomba keeping up.

 

[RunDanceSkate]

We use one, all hardwood (actually bamboo) floors,except tile in bathroom and front entry. It is an 800 square feet bungalow. It runs once a day in all the non bedrooms. Weekly in the bedrooms. We have a fluffy medium sized dog and a small cat. The pets do not go in the bedrooms, therefore it is run less there. Our current roomba is 3yrs old. Our previous one is at least 10 yrs old and still going strong at our son's apartment.

 

[Ageless]

I do not have any personal experience with room as, but this story was going around last year.

https://www.google.com/amp/amp.usat...-night-his-roomba-ran-over-dog-poop/88667704/

 

[alj5]

No personal experience, but my friend has a roomba and she literally just posted today how much she loves it. She's got a newborn, a toddler, a tween/teenager, and several cats.

 

[Japanfan]

I do not have any personal experience with room as, but this story was going around last year.

The family has been overwhelmed by the response they've received from the post. Along with the hundreds of thousands of people who the post has reached, Newton said he's had companies offer help—the family is receiving a free house cleaning and a few other gifts as well.

Really? I mean, really?

Gifts and a free housecleaning because a Roomba failed to clean up doggie do, which it is not designed to do in the first place.

That's just plain ridiculous? How about giving a free housecleaning to a poor single mom of four with health issues, instead?

I figure the companies offering to help must be trying to sell something. Otherwise, their offer doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

 

[antmanb]

@rfisher would the poodles attack it or be scared of it?

 

[rfisher]

@rfisher would the poodles attack it or be scared of it?

One would attack and one would bark his head off. I would have to run it at night. They don't pay any attention to the vacuum cleaner, but something moving of its own accord would be a different story.

 

[Colleen]

I have a neato - I like it. Sure, it isn't as thorough as I would be, and it takes longer, but it vacuums while I relax with a glass of wine We have two cats, it does well with cat hair both on carpet and hardwood floors. I don't program it, just push the button when the hair piles up. It does get hung up on cords or other stuff on the floor so I try to remember to pick that up before it runs. The dust bin is usually full when it's done and it beeps to remind me to empty it.

All in all - I'm happy with it. The cats like to stalk it but so far neither has gone for a ride on it.

 

[MacMadame]

Gifts and a free housecleaning because a Roomba failed to clean up doggie do, which it is not designed to do in the first place.

It didn't just "fail to clean up" the doggie doo. It spread it all over the living room and ground it into a rug to the point that the rug had to be thrown out.

It's funny to read about, but I would NOT want that to happen to me. It would take hours to clean up and cleaning up smeared feces is not fun.

 

[Japanfan]

It didn't just "fail to clean up" the doggie doo. It spread it all over the living room and ground it into a rug to the point that the rug had to be thrown out.

But that's not a failure of the product.

Roomba is designed to pick up dirt, dust, hair and debris, so its bristles would also pick up doggie doo, which is wet and therefore would stick to the bristles and not be moved to the dirt/dust bin. Consequently, the doo would spread and get ground in to material like a rug - as Roomba does exactly what it is programmed to do.

I would NOT want that to happen to me. It would take hours to clean up and cleaning up smeared feces is not fun.

No one would want that to happen. It would be horrible. But I question whether gifts from companies are appropriate.

Ultimately, it was a user error.

 

[skatemomaz]

But that's not a failure of the product.

Roomba is designed to pick up dirt, dust, hair and debris, so its bristles would also pick up doggie doo, which is wet and therefore would stick to the bristles and not be moved to the dirt/dust bin. Consequently, the doo would spread and get ground in to material like a rug - as Roomba does exactly what it is programmed to do.



No one would want that to happen. It would be horrible. But I question whether gifts from companies are appropriate.

Ultimately, it was a user error.

Well it wasn't user error so much as an unexpected event, he never characterized it as a product failure. If you read the story, he didn't ask for a replacement or for the gifts offered. The replacement was given because of the lifetime no questions asked warranty and the offers of housecleaning etc were unsolicited.

 

[MacMadame]

The dog pooped on the rug while they were sleeping and right before the roomba started up. I don't think that's "user error" so much as an unfortunately accident especially as the dog had never pooped in the house before.

And if companies want to give them gifts, what's it to us? They didn't ask for them. I suspect the companies were looking for some free publicity by latching into a viral event. Plus the story was well written so maybe they were just saying "thanks for entertaining me."