 A Worthy Successor to the Roomba Line |
| Review Date: December 12, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Lisa Shea, |
We have two Roombas plus a Scooba in our house. When one of the batteries on one of our Roombas finally reached the end of its life cycle, we decided to donate that Roomba to a friend and to get ourselves the new top of the line - the Roomba 560. We got this right when it first came out, but we waited several months before posting a review. It's pretty much impossible to review one of these Roombas after only a few days! It takes weeks if not months to start to see how well they last over time, and what breaks down. Believe me - been there, done that.
So now it's many months later, and I have to say, we are quite pleased with the improvements of this Roomba over the previous generations of Roombas. So first, for those who don't even have ANY Roomba yet (hard to believe!). Roombas are awesome. We have cats, and we work from home so we're home all day. It is AMAZING how much dirt and dust and junk collects in the carpet every single day. Who really has time to vacuum their carpets twice a day any more? With the Roomba, you set the scheduler to do it while you are asleep. You wake up in the morning, the carpets are clean, the air is fresh, and you empty out the dust bin. It is just wonderful.
Even those without pets might be amazed how much lint and such the Roomba will find every morning for you.
I have a noise meter and have done several tests with the noise meter. The Roomba is much quieter than other regular vacuums. It is NOT silent - it can't be! How could it vacuum up dirt and be silent? But it is quieter than the alternatives, and heck, you're sleeping anyway. I can easily sleep through a Roomba running.
Now, on to the improvements of this new Roomba over previous models. First, it has a cool feature where the speed drops when it senses it is approaching a solid object. The old Roomba would just run full tilt into an object - wall, couch etc. - and then turn around. This one slows down so that it hits the object gently. Sure the old Roomba wouldn't dent the walls with its powerful force, but still, it's nice to have it be gentle on furniture and your building.
Next, for better or for worse, the new Roomba is much more aware of when its bin and brushes are getting grungy. I admit I didn't clean my other Roombas as often as I should have. And it led to problems. This new Roomba will actually stop and warn you when it's getting full and when the brushes should be cleaned. If you're a procrastinator like I am, this is a good thing. If you're a clean freak that empties the bin every time, and cleans the brushes every time, then you probably won't even notice this feature.
The anti tangle technology is nice. The previous Roomba would start to eat a cord and just keep going until it was really stuck. This Roomba at least tries to get itself untangled. Still, I don't recommend leaving cords and strings and things lying around. You're just asking for trouble if you do.
The new system uses a "lighthouse" instead of just a wall. With a lighthouse, you mark out a room so the Roomba finishes with that room completely before going on to the next room. They are like section markers. We tend to just use walls, but if you have two large rooms the lighthouse feature might be really helpful for you.
After several months of running we have had NO problems at all with our Roomba. No broken brushes, no falling off pieces, nothing. It is still going strong and we are very pleased with it.
Highly, highly recommended! I am happy to give personal advice and I even have videos of Roombas on my website. I love Roombas, they have saved me countless hours of work, and they make my home a much cleaner and easier-breathing place to be. |
Scratch Vacuuming Off Your List! (Almost)
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| Review Date: September 11, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Phyllis Staff, Dallas, Texas USA |
Did you ever just fall in love . . . with a piece of well-designed technology? I sure fell for this one. How lovely to have something else take care of one of my least favorite chores!
Why I love this gizmo:
(1) Goes about cleaning the floors quietly (forget the noise of a conventional vacuum cleaner);
(2) Does a better job than I ever could because it can get under the beds fully to get out all the nasty little dust bunnies, and it crawls along the baseboard to pick up the bits that hide on the edges of the room;
(3) Cleans for a predetermined amount of time, and then puts itself to bed (while it recharges itself);
(4) Can be scheduled to run whenever you choose; and,
(5) Does a great job of picking up cat hair (my old vacuum did not).
Problems?
Yes, but mostly they were just getting used to its operation. I had to learn to pick up throw rugs and clear the area of cords. I had to learn the robot's eccentricities and plan for them.
I also discovered that a cat landing on the Roomba in the middle of the night would start it going - so we woke up to clean floors.
Worth it?
You bet!
Five stars, and a big thanks!
UPDATE: October 4, 2007
My Roomba produced an error message that I was unable to clear. So I called (not emailed, but called) the support center. The Roomba needed to be reset, and, with the help of the support person, I accomplished this and we're back in action.
The support was superior, so if you have a problem, just give them a call. If your call is like mine, you'll find them highly responsive and eager to help solve your problem.
UPDATE: November 30, 2007
About four weeks after my initial review, the side brush fell off. The part that holds the brush screw was broken.
I called the company who said they'd send out another part in five days or so. That was followed by an email that said a month. Now it is six weeks later . . . still no replacement part.
While the vacuum still works, the baseboard cleaning is absent without the side brush. And I am in the dark as to when I will receive a replacement. This would cause me to reduce the number of stars I give the Roomba 560, if Amazon would allow me to do so.
I still think this is a good product. It still does an adequate job of cleaning up cat hair and other debris. But, I think the price is too high given the quality of that brush.
In my book, iRobot has some 'splaining, and apologizing, to do.
UPDATE: Augst 1, 2008
Now my roomba has developed horrible screaming noises that might be coming from the wheels, but who knows. And I now have the replacement gizmo for the side brush (after 9 months).
I am sorry that I cannot adjust the stars on this review. If I could I would now rate this product one star (can't give zero). I strongly recommend not buying a Roomba!
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Coolest thing ever...
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| Review Date: September 22, 2007 |
| Reviewer: R. Cichocki, Henderson, NV USA |
I bought this vacuum three weeks ago. I have only had to break out the big vacuum once in that time. With three dogs in the house, vacuuming was a daily necessity. Programing the 560 took less than a minute. It runs at night while we sleep and cleans three large rooms. Once room is tile with three large wool area rugs and lots of furniture. It gets under the tables and around bar stools with no problems. The light houses keep it in one room for about 35-40 minutes then move it on to the next. The other rooms are hardwood with several area rugs. The Roomba easily climbs over the rugs and gets the dirt. We used to find hair balls daily with a husky in the house. No more...
I have to admit that I was a skeptic when it came to these products. Now I am completely sold on them. A second unit upstairs keeps all the carpets free of hair. I can't think of a better gift for parents or newly weds. |
Exceeded expectations in a BIG way!
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| Review Date: October 12, 2007 |
| Reviewer: lapis, Chicago, IL United States |
I'd been looking at Roombas at different times over the years, and with this newest (latest, greatest) version, I decided to give it a shot. Well, it performs much, much better than I could have imagined. I genuinely assumed it would miss areas and not be able to really get dirt out of corners (I mean, how could it really get to everything, right?), but I was wrong. It cleans my wooden floors so well that when I saw a spec on the ground after it was done (I can't help but inspect closely), I found the spec was actually a small paint splatter that dried to the floor long ago. It really, really gets everything! Then when it's done, emptying it and cleaning out its brushes are ridiculously easy -- and I'm obviously pretty lazy, since I bought a Roomba.
I've been using this 2-3 times a week in between when the person who cleans my house does the whole place. We have two cats, and my biggest concern is the high traffic areas of the living room, long (and relatively narrow) foyer, and the entrance to my dining room. Those three areas are connected, but of vastly different shapes and sizes. I didn't want to have to set them up to clean separately, so I decided to see if Roomba could manage the connected, but not traditionally "continuous" areas. It worked brilliantly right from the start. I keep expecting it to get lost when it is in the corner of my dining room or at the other end of the foyer, but it doesn't. It goes over and over every part of each room/section until all is clean.
I've never used a Roomba before, so I don't know how this new one compares to the older models, but I can say that one my concerns was about cords. I'd heard complaints with earlier models, but it was supposed to be improved with this one. Well, it's totally fine. I don't want to have to put cords up all over, and for the most part I don't. There is one very thin phone cord that I get nervous about so I put it up, but otherwise, it handles all the other cords without incident. It does not navigate small throw rugs as well as I'd hoped (they tend to get bunched up), so I move those out of the way. But it handles large area rugs well, cleaning both the carpet and the hardwood floors around it.
I see that another model comes with a remote control, but I have no idea why you'd need one. The whole point of the machine is to let it do its thing -- I don't want to move it around by remote control myself. And I have not once had the need to do so.
If you've been on the fence and can afford it, I'd go for it. I'm really-really happy that I did.
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