iRobot Roomba 555
This is a good a reason as any to buy this
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Love my Roomba. Everyone should have one.
This one is better. I posted it on deals a few months back and it’s still going. (different coupon code now though).
Essentially the same roomba, 3 year warranty and 2 virtual walls. Mine came with the upgraded aerovac dust catcher, but it doesn’t list it as having it…
Free shipping too.
Coupon code ‘luckyfriend’ takes an additional 15 dollars off.
Judging from store reviews, they really do honor that three year warranty as well. And going on what others say, the Roomba will die a few times in that time.
Given the frequncy this shows up on Woot, I would think everyone does have one.
So… can anyone with a Roomba share regarding pet hair? A few times a year my beloved dog Lulu blows coat and I can’t vacuum enough. Well, daily vacuuming would be enough, but as I said…
Pet hair seems to be the biggest challenge for all vacuum products… any experience from a Roomba owner? Thanks. Woof.
I’ve ancient Roomba (400 series) and two miniature Aussies weighing about 30 pounds each & shed like mad. You know that commercial with the cat on the stairs? He sneezes and the carpets look like he’s exploded. That’s my house almost every day.
My Roomba works like a champ on our wood floors, but can’t keep up with the hair on the rugs, so I use a refurbed Dyson from woot on them.
I really should just cut the time spent on the rugs and vacuum the dogs instead.
Roomba “555?” I’m pretty sure this is a 560, but the 555 tag is a joke to state that it has a timer…
I have 2 dogs and 4 cats (don’t ask!) and got a room a several years ago to keep up with the fur tmbleweeds that gather daily. It does an incredible job. I still vacuum once a week, but roomba keeps it well in check in between. Only problem I’ve found is that roomba will stop after 45 mins or so and announce that I need to 'clean roomba’s brushes" - which also means the waste receptacle is full. Pet fur really tangles in the brushes. If I’m not around to do it, that means it’s the end of its cycle that day, but it has probably picked up most of the fur that day anyway. It just means you have to play hide and seek when you get home to find, clean and recharge it.
We have this series of roomba along with a Chow and 2 cats. The hair output on the dog alone is ridiculous. We set the schedule to run every day while we’re at work, and clean out the bin every morning before we leave. It is always filled with hair. Every day, a new full bin. This is on the floor with wall-to-wall carpeting (since roomba can’t climb stairs, it stays where we spend most of our time).
I would recommend a squaretrade warranty, since ours jammed up due to a design flaw and they gave us a full refund on our purchase price. The replacement part was only about $40. That’s the best part, the entire robot is built out of easy-to-replace modular parts. Since that mishap, the roomba has been going strong for over a year without any additional maintenance.
The Roomba 555 is sold in the UK. The 560 is sold in the US.
For what its worth, I did quite a bit of research before purchasing a robotic maid overlord. I ended up going with the Neato XV-12 and have been extremely happy. It seems ‘smarter’ than the Roomba products and determines a path to cover the entire floor as opposed to bouncing around randomly. Oh… and it has a freaking laser turret on top.
I have 3 dogs including a siberian (think mucho shedding), 2 500 series roombas, and a neato. The neato blows away the roombas. All 500 series are essentially the same body, and parts are interchangeable. All 3 bots need to be emptied after every run so scheduling is pretty useless. I clean them in the morning and start them off as I leave - all are noisy, the neato by far the loudest. The roombas need brush detangling as well, after every run. Neither roomba (from 2008 and 2009) have original cleaning head module, they get clogged, I disassemble, clean, and lube, and this takes about an hour. Eventually you need a new one. The neato - just empty the bin.
In short I spend about 10 minutes a day on the robots. 30 seconds on the neato, rest on roombas. The roomba may be a little better on edges. I run a roomba and the neato in my really big great room at the same time, and the neato has 5x the hair and dirt of the roomba.
Cannot recommend them. I have some additional reasons to prefer neato, like the 2 companies customer service, but this is getting long.
I don’t see hairs lying around like I used to - in drifts. The roombas did pretty good prior to neato coming, it’s even better now. House still needs a real cleaning periodically. So the hair control is a big plus.
As others mentioned, you can expect the brushes to get tangled with hair, essentially every time it is used. But they have improved.
The original Roombas have a two compartment dustbin which has since been replaced by the single compartment “Aerobin.” Besides being easier to empty, the Aerobin provides greater suction over the brushes, reducing the hair tangling. The Aerobin is interchangable with the original, and costs about $30 from iRobot.
You can also get an extra capacity bin which lacks the fine dust filtering that the others have (this was used on their shop model).
My Neato does great with pet hair. And it doesn’t randomly wander, slamming into everything for navigation.
Neato really is the next generation of Roomba. More suction, capacity and easier to clean.
I’m a convert.
I have 3 cats that seem to shed constantly. I have a Roomba 530 from a previous woot and it does a very good job of getting all the hair. Now I absolutely HATE vacuuming so the roomba is a blessing. I also have one of the older 400 series, but my husband stole that to take to work because the custodial people won’t clean in his electronics shop.
First thing I did was buy the aerovac bin–definitely worth it as it is bigger and has an additional fan to pull in the dust. I also got a spare set of brushes for my cleaning head. When one set is tangled with hair, I pop the second set in while I clean the first set.
I was quite tempted to pick this one up but could only find it as a non-US model. Has anyone gotten it and is the power cord/adapter compatible with US electrical outlets?
Hey woot I just noticed that this is not a good deal… Last time moofi had a new 555 for 229 and this one is a refurb! What gives?
I love my roomba. Def worth the money. My cats aren’t spooked by it anymore.
Terrible product. NO (zer0) support from the company. Doesn’t work well and jams.
Save your money!
I had an older Roomba that I used to help with a shedding Elkhound. It cleans, BUT, you have to de-hair the beater brush after each use. This kind of defeats the purpose of having a robot, IMO.