 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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My house has NEVER been this clean
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| Review Date: July 28, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Nancy, Oberlin OH |
I've had the Roomba 562 for over 2 weeks. We have a cat, dog, messy bird, and two kids, so I schedule and run it every day. I am VERY happy with it - and my husband, who was not sold on the idea of buying it - is a major convert. I like it so much I often run it more than once a day - once in our main living area, and again in another corner of the house - an upstairs bedroom, the basement, etc.
Maybe it's just that I'm used to a broom . . .
We have wooden floors and three 5' x 8' area rugs. It moves effortlessly from surface to surface and cleans places I never do - like under the couch and beds, behind the doors, between the toilet and the wall, or in the front entranceway. Our furniture is high (Sigmund can go under anything with a 3.75" clearance), so it essentially hits all the corners and cleans under everything. It has negotiated wires fine AS LONG AS THEY ARE PLUGGED IN. It does fine around tricky stair edges and works fine around music stands, random teenage shoes, and miscellaneous books lying around our floor. I cannot believe how much it picks up daily - my rugs are absolutely splotless and my younger son's dust allergy is entirely gone.
What I worried about and what happened . . .
I did a lot of research before buying this. I was worried that (a) my house was too cluttered with wires and small toys (b) I'd have too much pet hair (c) it would run out of steam before it did our entire downstairs (we live in a comfortable bungalow) and (d) cleaning the dustbin and brushes would be a major hassle.
I found:
a) Sigmund has no trouble with normal clutter like shoes, books, boxes, music stands, or banjos. It did pick up my son's Legos, but I just pulled them out of the dustbin when I emptied it. No problem.
b) The pet hair was no problem - even the first time I ran it. As others have said, it picks up a little less every day as the house gets cleaner and cleaner. The house was basically neat when I first started it. I set it to clean the two main rooms (living and dining) first before I let it wander more broadly. It cleaned them fine without stopping on a single charge, then moved on to the kitchen. MY hair was more of a problem. I have long hair and it will tend to wrap around the end of the brushes. The 562 comes with a brush cleaner that works well - easier than cleaning a hair brush. I clean the brushes every three days or so. It takes less than two minutes.
c) The first few days, I set Sigmund cleaning the living room, dining room, and kitchen, because I was worried about it running out of battery before everything was clean. It did just fine and returned to base to charge. After those rooms were spotless, I just did the kids' rooms and our very messy library. Now, most days, it can do all six rooms plus the bathroom. When one or another room is a real mess, it may not make it through all of them.
It is very easy to close one or another door if you have one room that's your priority for the day. The kids close their doors when they've left their toys out and don't want them bothered. I close the library door if I want it to do they kids' rooms or the kitchen. The 560 & 562 come with two pillars that make the roomba finish one area before moving on to the next. That significantly increases its efficiency.
d) Cleaning the dustbin is exactly like emptying a dustpan. I don't understand what people were complaining about. You pull it out of the front, shake it over the garbage pail, and stick it back in. What's depressing is just how MUCH dust comes out of it - was my house really that dirty for all these years?
What I really didn't expect . . .
When the floor is really, really clean it is much easier to keep the rest of the house clean.
The kids pick up their rooms so that Sigmund can clean it. For two weeks! This is definitely a record!
What it doesn't do well . . .
If you have LOOSE cords, the roomba will eat them and turn itself off. So if you have a USB cord hanging out from your computer the roomba will try to suck it up and it will wrap around the brush and turn off. As long as they're plugged in, you're fine.
It won't pick up long, thin, stiff things. This includes straw from a broom or paper from a shredder. If I notice it, I pick them up by hand.
It can miss things deep in a corner or just at the border of the floor and a carpet. I just kick those spots out towards the center if I notice and it picks them up the next time through.
It is important to remember that the roomba works on probability - it doesn't get every single spot every single time. It gets most spots every single time. But over the course of a few days, most places are hit every day and every single spot is hit a few times. I sure as heck don't vacuum or sweep every day. My house is infinitely cleaner than it was before.
I am very very happy with the unit.
Two things to remember . . . It's a vacuum cleaner, not a cleaning lady. It doesn't do stairs. And any given day, you might be able to do a marginally better job vacuuming than it can. But it will spend 2 hours vacuuming every single day. Will you?
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Update at 2 months:
The Roomba worked consistently in my 100 year old cement basement, made my mother's condo immaculate, and did my mother-in-laws very dusty attic. It also did under all of their furniture - something they can't do because it is difficult for them to move the furniture at their age.
It worked perfectly around all the wires of an in-home dialysis system.
The lighthouses are very useful to organize and concentrate cleaning. At least once a week I will keep Roomba in just one room to make sure it gets every spot.
Although I had wanted a Roomba for years, what finally pushed me into getting it was that we just couldn't get rid of a massive flea invasion. The animals had been pestered for a full year (even with all the veterinary flea killers and frequent, serious cleaning). Although they never bothered the humans in the house, I was spending hours every week combing the animals. ROOMBA GOT RID OF THE FLEAS. Fleas breed with eggs and the larva feed on shed blood. All of that is in rugs, in cracks in the floor, and in odd little corners. Roomba took my cleaning just that one more push over the top that we finally got rid of them. What a blessing! That by itself was worth its price.
IMPORTANT: Many reviews of older Roombas say that spare parts are not available. THIS DOES NOT APPEAR TO BE TRUE OF NEW MODERN UNITS! All of the parts on this machine are modular and you can buy the spare parts through Roomba on their website and also purchase some through Amazon. I haven't needed them yet - mine is still fairly new, comes with extra brushes, and is under a full year warranty. However, every part can be exchanged. The review in several computer magazines also mentions this modular feature. The videos on their site are great. It is my understanding from those reviews that this is a new feature in the 560 series.
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Update at 4 months . . . Some observations, suggestions, and warnings . . .
I have now had the opportunity to watch Roomba perform one or more time a day for several months. Some observations:
It works superbly on floors and area rugs. These become spotless over the course of a few days and Roomba almost never gets into trouble. It works well, but has more problems, with deep wall to wall carpeting. For example, my mother has a very deep Berber style carpet. It did wonders for its cleanliness and the rug really needed daily cleaning. On the other hand, the long threads that shed from in the carpet did make it more of an effort to clean the brushes.
Almost all of Roomba's request to 'clean the brushes' came from my leaving something big on the floor - a plastic bag, a 3" lego piece just the wrong size, or a yard or two of ribbon. In other words - the same kind of thing a regular vacuum cleaner would have trouble with. Worst thing that has happened so far is that it tried to eat the pull off of some drapes and then turned itself off. I had to disassemble the wheel to untangle it. My fault - I should have put it up on the window sill.
Again, long hair and threads that wrap around the ends of the rollers are Roombas greatest enemy. The new (?) tool for cleaning the brushes is great - one swipe and it's clean. However, that will not clean the tangles of long hair, dust, or wool that wrap around the end of the brushes. I typically need to clean these every three days or so (a 2 minute job). BUY A LONG PAIR OF FORCEPS. They nip right into the small spaces, pull everything out, and make the job very easy. Without the forceps, it takes me ten times longer.
I noticed that after two months Roomba was giving me a slight hesitation every once in a while. When the company called to check if everything was going okay, I mentioned this. They told me to reset the Roomba (push two buttons simultaneously). The problem was fixed.
WARNING TO PET OWNERS (Gross, but important): If your dog ever messes while you are out, this is not a good time to schedule Roomba. We had been home all summer and Roomba ran every day at noon. When our scheduled changed in the Fall, the dog was home all day alone. One day, she obviously needed to go out before we got home and Roomba ran right through it and tried to clean it. NOT a pretty sight - thank goodness it was on a wood floor, not the rug. Good news, Roomba is definitely modular, it all came apart and cleaned up very quickly with water. The worst were the wheels. Think of cleaning sneakers after walking across a cow meadow.
In any case - if your dog EVER has this problem, I strongly recommend scheduling Roomba to run at night, when you're at home and you know that will not be an issue.
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I am continuously amazed at how much cat and dog hair, dust, and miscellaneous stuff Roomba picks up every single day. Certainly more than a very full dustpan and with only a 30 second bin dump of effort on my part. The air in our home is very noticeably cleaner. Interestingly, the animals have stopped sleeping on their beds and started sleeping on the rugs because they are cleaner and more comfortable. And my son now runs to pick up his Legos as soon as he hears Roomba start - saving my feet infinite pokes in the dark. I can't imagine not having it - despite it's cost. And my husband tells me at least once a week how happy he is we bought it. |
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