to want a robot cleaner?

[ChinaSorrows]

DH thinks I am...
Not exactly like Rosie, the Jetson's robot (see awesome pic attached) but a robot vacuum cleaner.

History...Our vax has given up after 4 years. The seals on all the extendy, reclippy, dust drum bits have spent the last 3 years "screaming" (I wish there was a better description but they scream) and now, the rolly roundy brush has pretty much fallen off.

I think a robot vacuum would clean the floors whilst I was out (it's programmable dammit) and ensure that we come home to fluff free carpets. It's rather exciting! (Also, in my home it will be called Geoffrey, I may or may not be looking for giant googly eyes for Geoffrey and I will also hope to teach him to do laundry)
DH thinks I'm delusional and it will be an expensive waste.
We live in a 2 bed flat.
No stairs for Geoffrey to worry about.

We can afford him. We can't afford to buy him and then a replacement if he turns out to be shite.

Any wise MNers have a robot vacuum?

I'm specifically looking at the iRobot Rooba 651 in John Lewis here

they are fab, i have a neato called nigel - have now totally outed myself on here, tho tbh many know im blondes

Nigel is amazing, he cleans programmed and whenever we want him to, if he runs out of battery (rare) he takes his self home and recharges for about 30mins then go back to exact spot and cleans again

only time got stuck was when did downstairs then took upstairs and he ran out of power and couldnt get home so sat at the top of my stairs waiting for me , bless him .....

so i find better to take him upstairs as smaller and then place downstairs and can go home to charge if needs to, or do upstairs/downstairs diff days

sadly cant do stairs but thats what DF is for

neato are shaped in pic, where as romba as round so personally think neaot better shape for getting into corner and straight lines, he also tips his bum up to get into a corner and love love love the way he goes hom and reverses into docking station wriggling his bum

Nigel

I love mine - and it does a FAB job or corners, under beds and around the legs of things
it wanders from carpet to wood to mat wells quite happily

just have to remember to empty it each day

and wish I could get the cats to ride on it

Ah I love Roomba cat.

Reading this thread was a dangerous move! I'm not sure I can resist now! I wonder if it's possible to rent one in a sort of try before you buy deal?

My Dyson has just broken thank god... I've always despised the expensive fucker am very, very tempted now.

As long as you rem to empty then or they stop mid Hoover - but tell you to empty their box

They seriously are fab

No more arguing who hoovers and no more coming home /getting up in am to a messy floor

I think if we had one the cat would go stark staring crazy biscuit bananas - anyone tell me what their pet thinks?

Be careful if you have free roaming pets. I can't have one because my cat has a tendency to vomit sometimes, and I would not want to deal with the resulting carnage!

girl
My cats used to run out of the room when it trundled in - it is MUCH quieter than my SEBO
then they would jump onto a chair
now they just walk out of its way
I caught one of them sitting on it while it charged the other week (heated seat, perfect for cats)

I do not have it on a timer, I just set it running when I go out to the gym and come home to clean floors

Do they come with googly eyes or do you have to fit your own?

Have an Aldi one, and love it. It gets used mainly for the hall, sitting room, and main bedroom. It does a very good job, IMO.

If you can afford it, no brainer
I'm thinking of getting the vileda hard floor one if anyone has any experience please let me know, not a cheap purchase for me.

kaitlin
Just for you ... it goes way, way beyond googly eyes
hackingroomba.com/projects/roombamidi/

Wow Ta1kinPeece - who knew?

Have to confess to having googled Roomba with googly eyes and came up with these:

One of them has a moustache too in the style of Hercule Poirot!

I've been on the fence about Robot Vacuums but after reading everybody's reviews. I've just bought myself a roomba from Groupon. now what to call him?

We've got two, one upstairs and one downstairs. Both Roombas. DH suggested we get one as neither of us particularly enjoy housework! I can't be arsed to hoover, so they are a godsend!

Has anyone bought one for an elderly parent and how did they get on with it?

I'm feeling the need for one.

(I'm a bit of a vacuum freak anyway and it was only that we have mixed hardwood and rug floors that put me off - but you all seem confident that the latest models will cope happily with that mixture.)

We've just ordered one after reading the positive things you've said about them.
A neato d85. DH doesn't want us to use it till we get the New carpets downstairs

How do they cope with thresholds between rooms? We have solid wood floors with slightly raised (sloped) thresholds between each room. Would it make it over these or get stuck?

Mine goes from one room to another, if allowed . It climbs the door saddles, no problem.

Nigel copes no problem with entering different rooms :)

From carpet in living room to tiles in kitchen to Lino in bathroom

Sure an elderly person could use a Neato easily. Just press button to set off or programme and come on daily - must empty dirt box but the machine tells you when he's full