For those with a Roomba...

[MadTessaSpall]

There seems to be a few (old) threads on the irobot Roombas, and tbh the comments on here have been so positive I'm seriously tempted to go for it despite the cost, having a perfectly good Hoover (that isn't used half as much as it should be ) and a rather dubious DP ("How much? For a Hoover?")

Having read up on some of the models though I'm not really sure which one to go for - I don't want to go for the cheapest model if really it's one of those situations where it's worth paying the extra for the extra features. I don't think I'd really use it that often whilst we're out as we have an alarm with motion sensors so am wondering if it's worth the extra for the model with the timer? Any thoughts/advice? I am too excited about this.

[erin99]

Mine is a few years old now. Bear in mind on older threads they were probably cheaper. I paid £150 for mine. It's fine, but it wouldn't be worth £300 IMO. The newer ones are meant to be more intelligent at covering the whole floor.

[TranmereRover]

We went for the one with a load of sensors but have never used them because shutting the door does just the same. Yes, they set off the alarm so you can't go out with it on. Unless your house is huge I probably wouldn't put it on with a tier because it's pretty noisy. I have to confess we only use it for the kitchen and hallway (tiled floors) so yes it was expensive but not in terms of the HOURS OF LIFE it's saved.

[scrimper]

we have a second hand one from eBay. paid £180 I think. I love it. It gives me the motivation to clear the floor every day and therefore the house stays so much tidier. I have had it about 6 months and have not used my Dyson since

[CoffeeandCakes]

I have the new 880, and I love it It cleans really well - it's scheduled every day to run and cleans for an hour and a half every day! I have it set during the week for when I've left for the school run, and later at weekends. As the poster said above, it makes me clean the floors of clutter every morning before it starts so the house stays tidier.

It came with lighthouses to block rooms off, but I don't use them as I prefer to close doors when it's finished a room. I find it does a better job if I'm in the house closing doors, than if i leave it to it's own devices as it goes to find another room to clean.

It's been brilliant for me as I would really like to vacuum every day but never got round to it! I've kept our old dyson as that does do a more thorough job, but only need to vacuum with that about once a fortnight.

[Mostlyjustaluker]

I gave been looking at this www.diy.com/nav/rooms/cleaning-laundry/vacuum-carpet-steam-cleaners/Vileda-Cleaning-Robot-13168594 it is only 98£ put I don't know if it is any good.

[MadTessaSpall]

Thanks - I'm really tempted by the thoughts of HOURS OF LIFE saved, but then I really don't Hoover as much as I should anyway. Think I might just have to take the plunge...

[threeislovely]

I'm really tempted by a Roomba. I seem to spend hours of my life hoovering - each room has laminate floor so all the dust really shows! Just trying to persuade DH that it's worth the money....

Anyone got good arguments?

[todayiamfat]

DH was horrified when I bought one. But he now openly recommemds it to however will listen! It's cut down on dusting too as it goes off every night.
Ours isn't as good as it was. Its about 4 years old now and the stupid amount of dog hair it has sucked up has started to knacker it I think. But, if I put it on AFTER the 7 yr old dyson, it still manages to collect a full 'bin' of crap!

They have a different brand reduced in my local aldi. Think it was £120.

[erin99]

threeislovely I think the HOURS OF LIFE argument has it really, if you already spend a lot of time vacuuming. Me, I only did it weekly anyway so not much time saved.

However the big benefit is that everyone loves a gadget. DC are motivated to clear floors so their rooms can be roomba'd, and DH uses it a lot more than he ever vacuumed before. Actually that latter point may not be the best one to convince DH :) we've never used ours on hard floors but I guess it'd still work.

[threeislovely]

Woo hoo!!!! Just ordered my Roomba!!!!! The 'think how much time I would save' argument was a winner!! Very, very excited by the prospect of not having to hoover every day

[jetSTAR]

watching with interest...

[Siarie]

I've got the new 880 model, it's great if you have pets as there are no brush bits on the underneath. So you can easily untangle and remove pet hair without too much fuss from the rubber bars.

Really great, I only have to vacuum maybe once a week now and I'm very tidy so If I felt it needed it I would vacuum more.

I think you could go for the cheaper models but I like the improvements that have been made with the 880. You get two virtual lighthouses which can be used as virtual walls or a lighthouse to guide the Roomba between rooms.

Really great!

[MadTessaSpall]

Um...I dread to think how often I actually hoover, based on some things people have written on this thread. Siarie, there is no way I even Hoover once a week, let alone every day! I do, however, spend a lot of time looking at the floor thinking it could do with a bit of a hoover, so maybe I will save hours of life after all. threeislovely, please report back on your new shiny roomba!

[Whatdoiknow31]

Ooh very interested in this for our family room. Does anyone know if it goes under table/ chairs (where the dog hair collates) and around bar stools ok?

[CoffeeandCakes]

It depends how wide the spaces are between the chair legs. Mine goes under the dining room table, but can get stuck between the chair legs if I've left all the chairs pushed under. I quite often leave a chair out for an escape route! It goes under the sofas, the cupboards that are raised up and beds which is fantastic as I hate pulling out the furniture to vacuum underneath.

[Muddlewitch]

This may be a very silly but if you put it in upstairs and go out does not fall down them?
I had never heard of them before this thread, am now v tempted.

[Muddlewitch]

silly question

[erin99]

No it has sensors to stop it going down the stairs. They work well. What it will not do, though, is hoover the stairs. Unless there's a new dalek-like attachment for newer models!

Like coffee's, ours can get jammed between chair legs and under a particular coffee table. I put a couple of dining chairs up out of the way so there aren't too many places for it to get trapped.

[BertieBotts]

We have a cheap Dirt Devil one and it's okay but only picks up small bits, like sand. It won't pick up anything bigger than a rice crispie. We still keep the normal hoover and have to use that as well. Plus, it's noisy. You can't watch TV while it's on unless you use headphones. We quite often put it on as we're heading out. As others say though you'll want to supervise it the first few times to see where it gets jammed or stuck. We have some long cardboard corners which I think came in the packaging for an Ikea table and those work perfectly as barriers or you could use a pool noodle or something.

Having said that... it's definitely worth the money. It saves having to hoover so often, it keeps the living room looking neat and tidy (if not only because we have to keep "stuff" off the floor so it doesn't get caught up in it) in a way that I never really managed to achieve before, not without hoovering 2-3 times a day.

DS also loves it and we use it as an incentive for him to clean his room

[BertieBotts]

Even the vvv cheap model we have stops automatically above stairs (DH very funny the first time waiting to catch it just in case)

Getting through chairs and stuff you would have to measure. Day to day it goes around our chairs but sometimes if we're going out or at night we stick the chairs on the table, like at school! Then it does a proper uninhibited clean. But it does well going around obstacles. They have little brushes like street sweepers. It gets stuck under our iron radiators so we block those off.

[Whatdoiknow31]

Ooh very tempted :-) how do they cope with pet hair? We have have a border collie that has stages of moulting, would it be best to pick the hair up first ? ( wooden floor and it collates in certain areas when his moulting and I have been a slat tern and not brushed him for a couple of days)

[threeislovely]

Well, I was lying in wait for the postman in a vain hope that the Roomba might land today! However, there were sadly no big parcels so I am going to have to wait and hope for Monday.

Rest assured that I will update ASAP.

[CoffeeandCakes]

My 880 does a really good job picking up cat hairs, but with longer hair (like mine!) it can still get a little caught in the ends of the rollers. It is easy to remove though.

I found the best review for all the different robot vaccums was here:
www.cnet.com/uk/products/irobot-roomba-880/2/
Having said that, I have never seen hair wrapped around the outside of my rollers like one of those pictures on that review, there must have been a lot of hair in that house!

[erin99]

Not sure about cat hair but our older 500-something is fantastic at picking up my hair. Much better than our "real" vacuum. It does get wound round the brushy roller but you just whizz the cleaning tool thing along it to clean, and I wouldn't have thought pet hair could wrap round like that.

[Titsalinabumsquash]

We have a 720 it's a few years old and I think it's winding down it's on how effective it is.

We love ours though, he's called Brian and DS3 like to pal about with him,

We dint use lighthouses or anything and it really does save a lot of time, this is the selling point for me, it's the same reason I got the dishwasher