I can’t speak to specific models, but we have a low end Roomba. (Long reason why - I’m allergic to dogs, and we planned on adopting a dog that doesn’t really shed, but we got one who only sheds a little bit, so we got a Roomba for a nightly clean to help with that).
I think it will work well for what you’re describing. It’ll never be as good as even a single session with a real vacuum, but I do think it lets you postpone a real vacuum, if that makes sense. In our case, I should be vacuuming the house every other day, but the Roomba lets me get by with once-weekly vacuums if I run the Roomba once each night.
As with any appliance, don’t forget your basic maintenance. Empty it every time it cleans. Clean the rollers and filter once a month or so.
I’m curious to hear how it works on your carpet. I’m hoping it works out well!
I’m still on my old Neato model from before they got “smart” with apps and such. It still works, mostly, though I have to manually redock it now for some reason. I’ve been periodically researching newer models in case it ever fully conks out, or if the prices come down enough I can just purchase a new one as an upgrade in suction. Not yet. I’m kind of holding out for a cheaper second generation Dyson with better software, preferably with a lower clearance so it can still get under the sofa, but realistically it’s probably still going to be too expensive. The Roomba 960/980 seems to review well, though the 980 is really expensive.
Got it today, and so far so good, not amazing, but certainly useful. If the thing is reliable I can see it being very handy in the long run. I let it loose in my bedroom and bedroom bathroom. That gave it some great big clear areas with some cluttered edges. It had to work with carpet (cat fur) and tile (cat litter), while also getting between the little hump where the carpet starts/ends. After 30 minutes it got stuck in a place where it shouldn’t have been stuck, but the bin was full so I figured it was a good stopping point. The bin was completely jammed full with cat fur (been around 8 days since last real vacuum) and there was a little bit of litter.
Its pattern didn’t always make complete sense. It really favored one side of the room and kept going back to it. Once it discovered where the long open areas were it did remarkably well and just going up and down in what looked like parallel lines. In the cluttered areas it did ok at working around, but it kept going back to the same areas and not really making any progress.
Anyway, if this keeps up, I can see running it every couple of days making a huge difference. Just worried about reliability, especially when it became stuck for no apparent reason.
One of the cats found it really entertaining as well. All the excitement wore her out.
We’ve begun testing the Electrolux Pure i9. It’s one of the first robots with 3D laser mapping available in the US. That should help it avoid obstacles like stray socks and—this is big!—dog and cat poop. It has performed well in our preliminary tests, sporting the best navigation we’ve ever seen in a robot vacuum and solid cleaning capabilities. But because of its high price ($900 at the time of this writing) and its limited battery life, we’re still deciding whether to recommend it.
My Roomba is something like 7 years old now, on its third battery replacement. It still does the job fairly well on my small thin-carpet/tile floored condo, but the running time is falling steadily. I suspect the aging internal workings are drawing more and more battery power for the same amount of clean time.
I’ve been poking around looking for options for the inevitable sad day when it gives up the ghost. Of the various reviews I’ve read, I liked this one the best:
I’ll likely end up with a Roomba again if the prices aren’t ridiculously higher, since the one I have now has done so well.
Not to discourage the thread as these do work ok. But, if you have an outlet in an appropriate and convenient place, I prefer a cordless stick vacuum. The Dyson V6, as it’s very lightweight. In maybe 1 minute I can vacuum under the table, right into the corners, up a few hardwood stairs, down the landing to the powder room, a bunch of other places, and dust/dirt/sand which the robot vacuums just won’t get such as my tweed-like mat.
I love my Roomba. Since getting it a year or so ago, my house had never been this clean. I think that’s the biggest thing… I would never vacuum every day. Hell, i probably wouldn’t vacuum every week.
But the thing vacuums my entire first floor every day, and picks up like, half a cat’s worth of fur. Every day.
On a totally separate note, I have decided that the unit worth of hair stuck in a vacuum roller shall henceforth be known as an Armando. @ArmandoPenblade
My cats are short/medium haired, so I can’t speak for longer haired animals, but it does ok with fur. It gets a ton of it, but as I read in reviews it does leave little clumps of hair. The rubber cylinders twist it together so it’s easy to just pick up the couple of spots of it after a cleaning though.
I am running it daily to see how much it gets each day and by day 3 it went a full 40 minutes and didn’t fill up. It is making a huge difference. It doesn’t replace a real vacuum, but it doesn’t make my carpet look a lot better daily.
Plus one of my cats is still fascinated with it. She’s not scared of it anymore but she watches it for it’s full run. If it gets out of her eyesight, she creeps over to get a view. Keeping young indoor only cats entertained is huge problem for me, so I am grateful. Of course the other cat couldn’t care less anymore.
I’m not sure why anyone would say they are useless with dog hair.
With car hair at least, my Roomba is a champ. One thing that is nice is that it has little ribbed roller things instead of brushes, which is a great innovation, as they don’t run into the problem of just becoming a solid fur roll.
Seriously though, the thing picks up a massive amount of hair, every day.
Ours picks up dog hair just fine (2 dogs, one with very long fur, both shed like mad. Together they probably add up to the skin surface area of about 1.5 of your dogs). My problem with it is the small dust bin. When we actually use it every day, our floors stay way, way more clean than running the conventional vacuum once a week. But I wanted a Roomba so I could be lazy. I found, to my dismay, that it takes effort to empty the bin and clean all the dog hair off the rollers every day, so the lazier option ended up being the regular vacuum on the weekend.
Definitely get one with the rubber rollers, since you don’t need to clean them then.
Also, then on the setting that makes it finish it’s job even when the bin is full. With fur, it’s overly conservative in terms of determining when it’s full. As long as you empty it every day, it’ll clean a whole floor of a house.
