Those robot vaccuum cleaners (Roomba etc)

[PetiteRaleuse]

Does anyone have them? Are they any good? Are they noisy?

My vaccuum cleaner is coming to the end of its useful life after several years of faithful service. Our floors are all wooden / tiled with just one or two small rugs. I was wondering if a robot cleaner would do the job but don't want to invest in one if it isn't going to do a decent job/last.

We have pets and toddlers so the house needs to be vaccumed daily. It is quite a small house with no stairs.

Any recommendations?

[EnglishGirlApproximately]

Aldi are doing a cheap version for 150 at the moment. It would be great if you bought one and let us all know if its any good

[PetiteRaleuse]

Ha ha, unfortunately I'm not in the UK so I doubt they are doing the same offer over here. Nice try though

[hedwig2001]

I like the idea of these and read a few threads on here about them.
The story about a roomba spreading cat poo around the house, after a feline "accident" rather put me off!

[Furball]

I bought a valida one from B & Q for £100.

Well.......it wasn't great at vaccuuming, very sporadic in it's pathfinding way.

then when it needed it's first re-charging it wouldn't charge

so I took it back and got a refund. I think in this case I got what I paid for.

[EnglishGirlApproximately]

Dammit, I really need someone to buy the Aldi one before I waste £150 on it!

[Chopsypie]

How does a circle get into corners?

I think they would probably be okay to maintain an okay level of cleanliness but you would still need a proper Hoover to do an indepth clean

[PetiteRaleuse]

Yeah I assume I would still need to do it myself occasionally. The daily use on my old hoover is knackering both it and my back though. Plus I am lazy and like the idea of it just pootling around on its own overnight

[ChameleonCircuit]

Just seen this. We have a Roomba, he's great. Gets into corners because there's a rotating brush that sticks out from it that sweeps stuff in from edges for the vac to suck up. We just pick up stuff off the floor (toys etc), pull dining chairs out so he can get under the table and then leave him to it. DH Dysons once a week or so. He does it because it just makes me sneeze!

[JazzAnnNonMouse]

We have one - got it on groupon for £30 instead of £300 or something ridiculous so look out for one on there!

It's ok, glad I didn't pay £300 for it!
It'll do light vacuuming and is good at dust, not so great at when it actually looks like it needs hoovering

[PetiteRaleuse]

Are they noisy?

[MichaelFinnigan]

Ours is quite noisy, but we just set him to do his work while we are out. No more noisy than a normal cleaner

[PetiteRaleuse]

I was hoping to set it to work at night. But we're all on one level with very thin walls.

[JazzAnnNonMouse]

Mine is much quieter than my normal vac but beeps incessantly when it's run out of juice

[Petitgrain]

We have a Roomba 770, it works much much better than our Miele which we thought worked just fine. The first few times round the house it picked up embarrassing amounts of dirt, proving that our previous vacuums just don't compare really. I'm evangelical about them now and got one for upstairs too

[Carriemoo]

We had one but had to get rid as it kept setting off the house alarm. I do miss it though.

[PetiteRaleuse]

No alarm here. Except for the dog

Thanks for your answers :)

[erin99]

I like ours, but we have a normal vacuum too. The roomba is good for day to day but sometimes you need to do it properly. Apart from anything else, the roomba is not brilliant at stairs, sofas, cars etc...

The main plus with the roomba is that it motivates husband and children to tidy up. DH is much more inclined to vacuum now we have it, and DCs race to tidy their rooms and be the first to put the vacuum on. Ours has a name and is almost like an extra pet :)

[erin99]

Oh and when we put it on at night, it does bang into radiator pipes which sends noises up the walls. We now just use it in the day.