i’ve had a roomba since the original first came out. i like it.
it doesn’t do as deep a cleaning on a carpet as a full sized vacuum, but since it’s so easy to use, there’s no problem in running it more often. that keeps dirt from getting ground down into the carpet, which is what you need a big vacuum to deal with.
the self-docking feature is good - i wish mine had it. the “virtual wall” basically lets you keep it in one room.
this is a good price - if i didn’t already have one, i’d get it.
I bought my girlfriend the 535 model of this unit, she lives in an apartment that has both carpet and tile with grooves. It picks up her dogs hair (She has a Shih Tzu though, they don’t shed as much as other breeds.)and anything else on the floor, and can apparently raise or lower itself to deal with different surfaces. She’s very happy with it. Can’t same the same for her dog, though.
I bought mine from a Woot-Off and have been very impressed how it handles cat hair. I have four cats and didn’t really vacuum under out bed until Roomba. It picks up a lot! I do find I have to clean the brushes a lot because the bristles are soft and the hair stays in them, but that there is hair there says it getting it. I’ve never had a problem with it bypassing the tower “wall.” It’s used in our bedroom and master bath and makes the transition between the medium carpet to the linoleum without a problem. Overall, I’ve been very pleased with it’s performance.
I WANT it. But I still can’t wrap my head around not using my vacuum cleaner. I still can’t believe that it can replace my upright/canister vac (yes, i have two - one for when people are sleeping, one for the daytime when jet engine noises are acceptable). Can anyone who owns this attest to whether or not it makes the standard-form vacuum entirely obsolete? Because I don’t need (read: have room for) a third vacuum. As much as I really want this, and I mean, it’s on my technophile checklist and everything!
Just got off a plane; skymall had this roomba for >300$. I can’t believe someone would pay that much for a roomba when a little patience will get you the same thing for half price on woot.
My family bought this from woot a few months ago after are older model broke. You can’t get it much cheaper than this. Cleans very well. put it in a room every 2 weeks, then you only have to manually vacuum every 6-8 weeks. Very quite. Good to get dust from under neath furniture and beds. Towers are really good if you want to use the whole battery on 1 room. I recommend buying this product. TO ALL BUYERS, Hope YOU LOVE IT!
It has no problem over tile grooves. It won’t make it up 1" transition pieces, but over standard thresholds, yes, usually.
I have a medium hair dog (like a labrador). Just the hair from the back room is enough to kill a Roomba 530 (make that five of them). iRobot makes a version that is designed better to handle pet hair. http://store.irobot.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3203440
I do have one Roomba 530 that is still running after over six months! This is the longest a Roomba has survived out of about 12 I’ve gone through in the last two years.
my big Sis and i each have one of these and they are pretty nice…they will get stuck under furniture etc…and if you watch it vacuum (i recommend you dont watch) it will drive you nuts, cause you will see it clean the same area several times, but eventually it all gets cleaned…amazing little machine!!!