We have two dogs that shed like crazy and get tired of sweeping/vacuuming so I thought about getting a roomba to do some of the work for us. We don't have any carpets so would we really need the pet one or a cheaper model? Any reviews, advice, etc?

9/5/2011 9:31:42 PM

DJ ROOMBA TURN IT UP


but seriously, my classmate has raved about it and she has a lab that sheds like crazy

9/5/2011 10:00:34 PM

I believe they make a heavy-duty one specific to pets

9/5/2011 10:08:08 PM

as long as you maintain and clean it out then it would work well for pets - assuming they don't destroy it while it's going

we have one and it's great for running while you are at work but we only ran it on our hardwoods and not our carpet - the only problem i had with it was my wife's hair would get tangled in it and made cleaning it harder

9/6/2011 12:20:05 AM

You have to thoroughly clean a Roomba after every use if you want it to function well. That means emptying the dust bin, removing all the hair/fuzz from the rollers, taking canned air to blow out all the dust from behind the roller assembly, etc... It takes about 15 minutes to clean properly. I end up having to disassemble mine for a really deep cleaning about twice a year to make sure all the sensors function and that the various mechanical parts don't bind. Also, I have to replace parts, usually worn gears, about one or twice a year. The batteries also have to be replaced about every 16 months. They are not maintenance free devices. Unless you really hate vacuuming, I don't find Roombas to be huge effort savers once I factor in maintenance.

9/6/2011 2:30:00 AM

Well that is disappointing to hear, I guess I will probably pass then.

9/6/2011 10:08:40 AM

are you that lazy
first you want something to pick up the extra hair and after you find something that works pretty well you dont want to have to clean it.

did you think those things held lots of volume? i mean they are pretty small. common sense, based on its size alone, should have told you that cleaning after using it would be smart.

its not that hard to clean either. a few friends have them and they love theirs.

9/6/2011 10:18:13 AM

Quote :

"You have to thoroughly clean a Roomba after every use if you want it to function well. That means emptying the dust bin, removing all the hair/fuzz from the rollers, taking canned air to blow out all the dust from behind the roller assembly, etc... It takes about 15 minutes to clean properly. I end up having to disassemble mine for a really deep cleaning about twice a year to make sure all the sensors function and that the various mechanical parts don't bin"

that wasn't true in my experience...and I've had like three of them. true enough you do have to empty the dust bin when it's full, but you don't have to take 15 minutes to clean the thing after every time it runs. every few months i'd clean out the brushes...but nothing to the point you're talking about.

9/6/2011 10:21:52 AM

I have one and love it. I only clean out the bin after each run and have only done the major take apart clean like twice in 3 years. But I don't have any pets.

9/6/2011 10:24:56 AM

^^This. Cleaning it takes about five seconds. Empty the dust bin - return the dust bin. The roomba will tell you if it needs any more maintenance.

That said, my roomba's battery was not very good. I got it second hand though, so I don't know how old it is. Also, it gets stuck on EVERYTHING. AC vents, toys, a shoe string one time. You really have to make sure everything is out of the god damn way when you do it.

Also, there are these lighthouse things you can get for them, so that the Roomba will do one room at a time, or not do some rooms at all. You can set it up to be a permanent wall, or a wall that opens once the roomba claims to be finished with the area it's in. Then it closes again after the roomba passes through. Pretty freakin cool.

9/6/2011 10:27:40 AM

I've also had three different Roombas and if I didn't clean them thoroughly, as I described above, after every use they would start to have major issues after about 4-5 uses.

I think they're really cool devices, but they need to be a little more robust for me.

9/6/2011 12:27:19 PM

Quote :

"are you that lazy first you want something to pick up the extra hair and after you find something that works pretty well you dont want to have to clean it. did you think those things held lots of volume? i mean they are pretty small. common sense, based on its size alone, should have told you that cleaning after using it would be smart. its not that hard to clean either. a few friends have them and they love theirs."

Emptying one != taking 15 minutes to clean one. If I have to take 15 minutes to clean the thing after each use then I would just take that 15 minutes to vacuum myself. I don't see how it is lazy to not want to spend a bunch of money on something that isn't an efficient use of time.

9/6/2011 12:39:17 PM

Quote :

"If I have to take 15 minutes to clean the thing after each use..."

you don't. that's misinformation.

9/6/2011 12:56:14 PM

^ That would make getting one a reasonable option. I figure since we just have hardwoods it wouldn't get clogged too much since even though there is a lot of pet hair, it is just laying on the surface rather than being deep in the carpet.

9/6/2011 1:45:59 PM

^^ You may think its misinformation, but its my personal experience. If owning a Roomba was as simple as emptying the dust bin and keeping the roller brushes clean then I would be much more enthusiastic in recommending them to people. Maybe they are a lot less trouble-free for hardwood floors than carpet.

9/8/2011 2:20:05 PM

^ Experiences can vary I guess. I had 3 on carpet (with a dog) and outside of emptying the dust bin every run (or 2-3 runs depending on dirtiness), and cleaning out the rollers every 5-10 runs, they weren't that big of a pain to me. Sure a couple times a year I'd do a tear down which would take 15-20 minutes and clean everything out, but it would have been major overkill to do that every time, or even every month.

9/8/2011 2:26:20 PM

BTTT

Should I get one that has the virtual mapping so you can see where and when it has cleaned? Or are the lesser models (690/890) with the random sensor cleaning fine? My house is single story <1500 SqFt

9/21/2018 12:33:21 PM

I do. Works pretty great, and since I never vacuumed anyway, it's a huge upgrade

It does get stuck from time to time and miss some spots, but it gets the job done. I don't have any pets, so I can't comment on how good of a job it does with stuff like that, but if you get a newer one that's big, I think it's well worth the $200 or whatever it was I spent.

9/21/2018 1:32:58 PM

Stick with the basic one. The bells and whistles aren't worth the money.

By the way, they seem to be more robust these days than they were when I made my earlier, 2011 comments in this thread.

9/21/2018 4:50:51 PM

ive got a neato robovac connected and loved it so much i got a second one for upstairs, a cheap model. i can 100% say get the nicer units as they've got lithium batteries instead of nicd, cover more, and suck harder. the newer/nicer unit also gets stuck a lot less.

9/21/2018 5:21:50 PM

Picked up the Roomba 960. Bed Bath and Beyond had this one on sale for $620 and let me apply the 20% off coupon in store. So i picked it up for $496+tax.

Already love this damn thing. The only item it had trouble with was a cowhide rug, but that was easily resolved. Did great under the couch and around the bedroom. Hit a lot of areas I could never get with my canister vacuum. Also, i really like this model with the mapping. It knows where it's been and where it still needs to go instead of just going on random cleaning trips.

9/24/2018 8:38:16 AM

i thought these were like $200

9/24/2018 8:56:41 AM

I got an Ecovacs Deebot from Amazon when it was on sale for like $160. It's rated very well and recommended by Amazon.

I honestly don't think it saves much, if any, time. I'd recommend getting a nice cordless Dyson or whatever comparable vacuum you want instead.

As others have mentioned, you have to clean out the bin and rollers. I have a long haired German Shepherd that sheds a fair amount, and I have to use scissors to cut the hair out of the rollers. The process is kind of gross and takes almost as much time as it would for me to quickly spot vacuum with a cordless hand vac.

The other thing to mention is that the vacuum will lose its way and just run out of battery in random places, go over the same area over and over in its "random" pattern, or go from hardwood to a very low rug and when it hits the edge just dump a pile of hair and dust on the edge pretty much every time. It's also been less than gentle running into stuff, sometimes knocking things over. It was novel for $160 but I'd never, ever, pay the price of some of these Roombas even if it did exactly what it was supposed to.

9/24/2018 9:34:55 AM

I love mine. It’s obviously not going to perform as well as an upright vacuum, but I have mine set to run every day. I empty the canister in the evening when I get home and clean the rollers when I think about it, once a week or so. I’ve got a border collie who sheds like crazy, sometimes I do have to cut the hair out of the rollers, but that’s 5 minutes max.

9/24/2018 4:20:46 PM

I just bought a eufy 11S for $179 on amazon. I'm hopeful that I'll like it, but I won't be surprised if I end up wanting to return it. we'll see how it goes.

9/24/2018 5:34:04 PM

do not get a samsung... spent twice as much as i did on our old neato on the thing... figured 7 years newer and twice as much (on sale for 30% off) this thing should be the shit... fuck it gets lost/stuck more than the neato.

9/24/2018 7:38:30 PM