My teenage son and I tuned into The Daily Show With Jon Stewart last night for our regular fix of political satire, only to find a Future Shock segment called "Roombas of Doom." The piece covered warrior robots made by the same company that makes vacuums. (Watch the segment below.)
I thought the story was a spoof until I saw the CEO of iRobot Corporation being interviewed. I'm familiar with the company because we've reported on its robotic home appliances. At the next commercial break, we decided to check out the iRobot site. Right there next to a link to Roomba vacuums and Scooba floor cleaners was a link to "Government & Industrial Robots," including the iRobot's Packbot, Warrior, and a squadron of other military-grade robots. (The SUGV model is shown.)
My son asked whether he could buy one. Why? Perhaps he figured the iRobot Negotiator might persuade my husband and me to give him his own credit card or extend his curfew. It was a moot point, since these devices are sold only to governments. You can buy the company's home robots, though based on our past tests of these appliances, you might not want to.
As part of our October 2008 review of vacuums, we found that the Roomba 560, $350, was among the worst performers at cleaning edges and corners and sometimes ventured beyond its electronic borders. And in a May 2006 story, we reported that a mop was faster and more thorough than the Scooba, $399. Both easily wiped up coffee, grape juice, and tea stains, but the mop was better on stubborn stains like crayon and shoe polish.—Celia Kuperszmid Lehrman
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A mop doesn't mop the floor. An obedient son or daughter might mop the floor, but until I get one of those I think the scooba does an irreplaceable job and I find your critiscism of the scooba is missing the point. A robot mop is considerably more than a mop, duh!
I bought a Roomba two years ago, and it has been a blessing to me. I have weak legs. I do not have the time or energy for cleaning floors and getting down on knees to clean under beds or other furniture is impossible. I start mine when I leave for work and come home to clean floors. I hope they develop one for cutting grass!
Knowing how poorly the Roomba performs, I'd be nervous about being in the combat zone with my Waarba comrade!
We have had a 530 Roomba for over a year and think it does a more than adequate job. We find it's ability to clean under furniture, beds, etc to be more thorough than when we used our upright. We tend to find that we also use it to clean more frequently than when we used the upright. It is a great convenience and I think you may be too hard on the concept.
We bought both the Roomba an Scooba. We have a 3100 sqf single story house with Hardwood and tile floors throughout. We also have two cats. The Roomba did not really do a good job on our area rugs, but does help remove a lot of the dust and nearly invisible pet hair laying around the house. Reducing the amount of time wasted dusting floors. The Scooba on the other hand was great in eliminating a of the dirt and grime off the floors especially in our tiled kitchen and dinning room which we use every day. We were impressed.
I hate sweeping floors and do it about once a month (clearly, this is not enough....) My friends raved about their Roomba so I bought one. Wow, I have clean floors all the time now! Once a week before I leave for the gym I push the button on top of it and leave. When I get home my floors are clean. Hard to complain about that! Yes, it does miss the corners, and sometimes it didn't find its way back to its homing base (so I pick it up and put it there). But considering that I didn't have to do any of the work, and my floors are always clean now, I'm pretty darn happy. I wish I could afford the one that mops too, but it is pretty pricey considering that I only mop once every six months.
We bought the Roomba 610 and Scooba 530. We have a large single story house with hardwood floors and tile. We also have 2 cats. The 610 was good at picking up a lot of hair and dust of the hardwood but not very good on the area rugs. The Scooba 530 did a very good job cleaning the tile floors and hardwood eliminating a lot of mopping except for the hard to reach places.
I got Roomba 530 3 months ago and I LOVE IT. As I tell my 5 year old son, I found a new friend! I am a working mom, so finding time to clean is always an issue for me. I like to come home to my clearn floors. Roomba does very fine job of cleaning the bare floors and I also use it upstairs on the carpets. It's been a good find for our family.
I don't think that the Roomba was ever intended to "replace" a large vacuum cleaner or a mop, so I think you missed the point of this type of a device.
For me, it is outstanding at keeping the pet hair and small dirt at bay for 3 or 4 days at a time until I am able to hit things with a big vacuum. For that, it is perfect. Besides, I don't know ANYONE who sweeps every day because they/I just don't have the time. I have also found that it takes me less time to do the "heavy" cleaning after Roomba then before because I only need to concetrate on the spots that it can't get.
I had a roomba several yrs ago & loved the concept but got tired of the belt always breaking. The customer service was great but I gave up after a few times. I have purchased another one and I love it as well,I just wish the dirt drawer was a little bigger, but maybe after a few more times my floors will be cleaner(they certainly seem to be)and I won't need a bigger drawer.I am impressed how even after vacuuming with my upright, how much this product picks up. Probably because it goes under the beds & couches every time.I am so pleased that I am going to buy my daughter one for christmas.The only minus is that you have to clean the wheels & empty the drawer almost every time for it to work optimally. But,that's a good thing right?
You guys are missing the point. You can't compare the tiny robot to a full upright vacuum. Obviously the upright wins!
But....
How often do you move the bed and vacuum under it? Dressers? How much vacuuming do you get done when not at the house? How many days a week do you vacuum? These are all areas the Roomba wins.
We own the Kenmore vacuum that has been the Consumer Reports best buy for years. It's amazing. My wife vacuumed our room, and then I did the Roomba. I was disappointed to see the Roomba dead in the corner later in the day. Why didn't it make it back to it's home base?!? I picked it up, turned it over, and saw that the little guy was completely full and kept picking up dirt/hair until it was completely tangled in the brushes. AFTER my wife did the room. Why? It went under the bed and dressers, which we haven't gotten under in too long. I cleaned it out, very easy, and sent him on his way again.
My allergies are much improved without all that pet hair and dust in our bedroom!
Plus the coolness factor. Don't forget the coolness factor....
My Roomba has been very helpful at keeping the dog hair under control in my house, but I have had to replace the cleaning module once, get a new battery, and now the cleaning module needs replacing again! This appliance is not cheap to purchase and the replacement parts are not cheap either. I'm a little perturbed by this because my total cost of ownership now is up to $530.00 and I have only had it for a little over year. It does the job, but is not reliable.
I observed that you have rated the Roomba 560 as being the worst, among the robot vaccuum cleaners. Quote, "As part of our October 2008 review of vacuums, we found that the Roomba 560, $350, was among the worst performers at cleaning edges and corners and sometimes ventured beyond its electronic borders". I just bought one and it picks up dirt that our Hoover Windtunnel has missed, mainly along the walls. Perhaps your tested Roomba did not have side brushes?
It cleans my garage floor with impeccable thoroughness. It has never wondered from the sensors. This machine is remarkable and I am very pleased. Perhaps you should wonder why you are getting negative feedback about your testing of I Roomba vacuums. This time I based my purchase of the Roomba by Google, (I Roomba 560 Reviews)! Since your review of the Roomba was very limited, (not much info.).
In Re: Gerald Bomay
Did you happened to read amazon reviews on the 530, a lot of people were unhappy with it as well.
Read this one for the 560: http://www.amazon.com/review/R1IYG4EXHVPPJC/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm
It is entertaining.
Well it appears the problem is with comparing a roomba to a vacuum cleaner. I doubt if CR were doing a series on Dish washers they would compare the cleaning results of the dish washer to a rag some elbow grease & a brillo pad. The dish washer would loose every time. Excepet if you factor in the time saved and conveinience. No My dishwasher doesnt get my dishes 100% clean but i use it every day & clean up the stuff it misses or cant do by hand. CR shouldnt compare apples to oranges and think its doing its doing a fair comparison.
It is time CR reviews the half dozen auto-vac's available. These vacuums make a weekly choir into a monthly one, or keep in check the rapid buildup of pet hair/feathers/debris. CR needs to include a long term (year) test, and include ease of replacing parts and customer service (much like car ownership).
There is a lot of robots to check out (Wiki as a user CR? ;) )
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_domestic_robots
I think CR is missing the point. I've had a Roomba for over a year. In the past, I would vacuum about once a week. Roomba is scheduled to vacuum once PER DAY. It definitely doesn't have the power of a standard vacuum cleaner, but what it lacks in power, it makes up in frequency. My house is always vacuumed when I get home!
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