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Original poster

Robo vacuum?

32 replies

LouiseBelchersBunnyEars · 24/07/2021 19:46

Has anybody got one of these? I’m really really tempted, the idea of having one swooping around downstairs while I’m upstairs is really tempting.

If you do have one do you recommend? What brands are the best?

Thanks

OP posts:
sfeirical · 24/07/2021 21:29

eufy or Roomba.

I prefer Roomba, but eufy is cheaper.

mineofuselessinformation · 24/07/2021 21:39

Lots of people will tell you roomba or eufy.
I got one on a lightning deal from Amazon. (£90 at the time and the reviews were good).
I'm really pleased with it!

mineofuselessinformation · 24/07/2021 21:40

Oh, mine is a Lefant.
(It gave me the fright of my life earlier when I'd been in the garden, came back in and heard it and thought there was someone in the house - until I remembered I'd set it going upstairs!)

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Cleaning
Terrazzo · 24/07/2021 21:42

Loads of people have them!

We have eufy. Love him! I rarely vacuum anymore, just every so often for stairs and skirting boards.

We also have eufy security cameras which are fab.

Iwant2move · 24/07/2021 21:47

I had a Neevo when they had just been released. It was brilliant but had software glitches and had to be returned frequently. I replaced it with a Roomba which I has proved to be rubbish. I now have a Eufy which was half the price of the Roomba and is brilliant.

BergamotMouse · 24/07/2021 21:50

I think it depends on your flooring. I think eufy works well on hard flooring. We decided to get a roomba as these are better with carpets. It is brilliant. So much better than our dyson!!

LakeShoreD · 24/07/2021 21:59

I have the all singing and all dancing Roomba that maps the space, does the whole downstairs top to bottom daily as per it’s daily schedule, not missing an inch and knowing to avoid the cat’s bowls. Then it even slinks off to empty itself. Love it.

Eufy has no idea where he is and just bounces off the walls cleaning the same spot over and over and completing neglecting the area where your child got play doh crumbs. Then, because he’s a vampire, he drops dead entirely because the sun shines on him through a window. My advice would be don’t waste your money but people seem to rave about him on here so maybe I was unlucky (3 times thanks to the free replacements).

I also got a free Samsung one when I bought a fridge, that was also utter rubbish and just moved dirt around.

AlCalavicci · 24/07/2021 22:00

I have a Eufy 11s and love him .

I can't do links on my phone but if you search for my name and a thread title something like New robot vac parents . ( I am not the OP but posted on the the ad a lot ) there is loads of pageges recomending lots of different vacs and some mopping ones too . Lots of questions answered too .

LakeShoreD · 24/07/2021 22:00

Oh and no carpets here! Only a living room rug.

Campervan69 · 24/07/2021 22:04

I love my eufy. He does downstairs in the morning, goes back and charges himself up. Then I take him upstairs in the afternoon. I never hoover now, except for the stairs of course.

Mykittensmittens · 24/07/2021 22:08

I have a eufy (and yes he does have a slight paranoia about sunlight).

But he’s an efficient beast and for the money I have no regrets. I still Hoover once a week but that’s more a thorough hoover of a deeper pile in the living room plus little corners.

For the daily detritus of our large white-tiled kitchen diner he does a good job. He’s a bit obsessed with the base of our bar stools, and hates when the sun shines in and freaks out that he’s going to fall down a hole, but I can control it from my phone or Alexa so even if I’m working I can generally not have to manually intervene.

We have it programmed to follow a schedule but he’s recharged within 3 hours so often of a PM I’ll just shove it upstairs on a 60 min carpet cycle. He’s eaten a sock, and taken the front off a magazine, but the DC were warned not to leave crap lying about. He’s also dragged a lamp down the hallway…by the cable…my fault I’d unplugged it to go into the loft so it was fair game.

It’s just one of the jobs off the list on a daily basis for me, but it probably won’t completely replace a thorough human vacuum every week.

MrsFin · 24/07/2021 22:09

Depends on your furniture.
Ours kept getting stuck under chairs and other furniture.

3ormorecharacters · 24/07/2021 22:27

We've got a Eufy. I love not having to vacuum (well, not often - still have to do stairs and awkward corners every now and then). But if I was to get another I might consider paying extra for a fancy one which maps out rooms and plans a route. The Eufy is a bit frustrating in its randomness - it always seems to spend ages going over the same spots while neglecting others. It also seems weirdly attracted to places where it gets stuck so needs a bit of an eye kept on it.

MouseholeCat · 24/07/2021 23:36

I've got a Roomba. My advice is to go for the best model you can afford even if it means saving longer/waiting for a good sale.

I forget exactly what it's called but the room mapping feature that our Roomba has is really useful. I know people who don't have that and their vacuums get stuck a lot more and seem to miss areas if they have to charge halfway.

Even the best models still have their foibles. Make sure you change up the filters as the battery life won't be great. Our Roomba also struggles with high pile rugs so we have to vacuum those. It's also good to go around and pick up errant socks and things that can get stuck in them on the days where they are scheduled to run- it's really annoying to come home to find they got stuck 10 minutes into vacuuming.

maddy68 · 24/07/2021 23:37

They're really good

Sparklfairy · 24/07/2021 23:38

Eufy! MN helped me name him (Boris) Grin

Donationwitheverypack · 24/07/2021 23:48

I have Eufy. Life changing, I tell you, life changing

Original poster
LouiseBelchersBunnyEars · 24/07/2021 23:49

Thanks all, I’m really tempted!
The Roombas look really good, but don’t know if I can justify the cost, although I do like the look of the ones with the emptying bins.

I didn’t realise some were random, I thought they all sort of went backwards and forwards in a line.

My thought was to kind of set it off as I went upstairs and leave it to sort out, or set it for a timer early morning.

I have been looking on Amazon there is a eufy one for £129 or one for £169. I don’t really fancy spending more than £200, or are the cheaper ones significantly crapper?

The Roomba one is over £700, l which I can’t really justify any time soon.

I did see one on there for £1500 Shock

OP posts:
Throwntothewolves · 24/07/2021 23:50

I have one, it's great. Except when it found a puppy poop behind a chair in the livingroom...

123rd · 24/07/2021 23:57

We have an eufy. It's set to go off in the middle of the night so no issues with sunlight. Bloody brilliant IMO

Original poster
LouiseBelchersBunnyEars · 25/07/2021 00:04

@Throwntothewolves

I have one, it's great. Except when it found a puppy poop behind a chair in the livingroom...
Omg 😱 Luckily no pets here!!
OP posts:
AlCalavicci · 25/07/2021 02:56

Mine was the cheapest one at around 175 about 2 years ago , yes he does go at a very random pattern which if you are stood watching it ( which you def will do for the 1st few days ) it is a bit frustrating but he eventually covers all the floor , my ground floor is open plan and about 35 foot long in total he runs for about a hour and a half .

He is certainly half vampire though, he is fine on bright days as long as there is not a sharp contrast in the (sun) light bits of carpet and the dark areas , at certain times of the day mine wont come out from under the bed unless I shut the curtains !

The only thing you have to be really careful about is making sure the floor is clear of things they can eat . thin wires like head phones , phone chargers shoe laces , elastic bands etc must be moved but it is no more than you would move with a normal vac.

If mine died tomorrow he would get a decent burial I would go in to mourning for a suitable period of time ( until next pat day ) and buy another like a shot .

AlCalavicci · 25/07/2021 03:00

Oh I should say that mine can not be controlled by Alexa et al , but does have a remote control so I can 'drive' him to grubby areas , I can also set it to spot clean , when he cleans a circle about 3 foot across or just get him to do the edges of the room

SCMocha · 25/07/2021 07:50

I have a Neato. You can get them close to half price on black friday etc. It has side brushes which help with edges etc. It's run by an app and you can set no-go lines within that. It seems very good with hair especially, and the bin and brush are both quite easy to clean and change. It is supposed to have clear space on either side and at the front, but I have mine under a chair, and it works much of the time but sometimes can't find the stored floorplan because of it and needs to be started again. I think most of them with floorplans work in the same way. I do have to tidy up and make sure cables are out of the way, doors are open, chairs up on the dining table etc.

I think mine is the Neato 650, but there is not that much difference between the models - they might come with different brushes and filters, but you can interchange them so you can just buy different ones if you want.

olympicsrock · 25/07/2021 07:54

I have a eufy which we called Bob the Bot. Does an amazing job on our hard floors downstairs. Shuffles round for an hour a day , then takes himself back to his charging point . we never Hoover now. One of the best things we ever bought!