To wonder what's the point of a robotic vacuum?

[Shufflebumnessie]

Over the past few years DH has often suggested buying a robotic vacuum cleaner. So far I have managed to dissuade him but I accidentally saw an email yesterday and it would appear he's bought one in the Amazon Black Friday sale. As he's not told me that he's bought it I can only imagine it's meant to be a Christmas present for me but that's a whole other thread!!

I honestly can't see the point in them. We have young children so toys laying on the floor are a pretty constant in the lounge so it won't have a nice clear floor space to clean. Plus, I'm assuming it can't get into corners so we're still going to have to get the normal vacuum out.

Are there any positives to them? Will it revolutionise the cleaning of my house?

@twofurrycats - can you tell me what brand or model your cheapy one is?

@LtGreggs it's vinteky I got it from Amazon for about £55

Thanks! Am browsing Amazon now...

They are amazing! The best tech we have ever bought! You do need to tidy first of course but it takes a few minutes and then it hoovers everywhere for you. We have one and just move it between floors. I use a handheld for the stairs. It's great for the in between clean hoovers as it obviously doesn't do corners, sofas, skirtings. I luckily have a cleaner who comes once a fortnight and does that. I HATE hoovering so it's been brilliant. Ours is called Rodney.

You will all be delighted to know that the Amazon listing describes this as "gift for mother"

The only issue I have with them is how noisy they are

A friend has one that goes for an hour a day. She lives in a block of flats and id go fucking crackers if I was her neighbour

I've bought myself one (the neato d5) in the Black Friday deals. Reason being I hate vacuuming and intend to set it going downstairs whilst I'm out walking the dog every morning and upstairs in the evening. It was recommended by a work colleague who has cats and says it picks up all hair and takes itself back to the charging station to charge up if the battery is low and it hasn't finished. She uses her phone to operate it. I've got a G tech air ram I will use for the stairs.

I wanted one until a friend had a major clean up job after the dog had an accident! We laughed but it was horrific.

My sister rang me recently, and I told her I’d just bought a robotic vacuum for my dad.

The connection wasn’t great.

She then spent the next five minutes shrieking down the phone, demanding to know why I’d bought our father an EROTIC vacuum cleaner. 🙄

*heads off to Amazon to look for a robot Hoover and add it to my wishlist

I have a robot vacuum (£25 on eBay for a second hand one that costs £200 normally) I love it..

I also have a dog... he's not so sure but is happy for it to take his toys round the room so he pops them on for a ride

Which Roomba do you recommend? Big price range

Have a Dyson robotic hoover love it, tell the kids the robots coming they start tidying their toys. It occasionally eats discarded socks, but generally I press the button run out of the house come back to a reasonable job. I don’t use an upright only a handheld for stairs and spills.

Definitely recommended

It's there to do the easy and actually quite soothing 5 minute task, once you've picked up all the kidcrap off the floor.

I love mine. It motivates me to pick up all the junk that gets strewn a round and it does a nice thorough job getting into corners. My house has never looked so nice. My 20 something son is so impressed he has asked for one for his flat for Christmas!

I have one - an expensive one (I mention this so that nobody retorts that I don't like it because I have a basic model). I don't like it

If you have a large house it will not do a whole floor before the battery is spent and it needs recharging

If you have dogs the dirt and dust compartment will fill up very quickly and need emptying after every use

It will also get itself stuck in certain places. The fridge for instance has a gap underneath which the robot vacuum thinks it can get under - it can't, it gets half under then gets wedged in there

Mine is about as much use as a fart in a bucket. I have to supervise it in the lounge and the dining room because it gets stuck under the furniture in the lounge, and tries to eat the dining room rug, and if I don’t release it, it just overheats.

It is mildly useful in the kitchen and utility room, but only if I move all the furniture. And even then, it can’t get into the corners, and gets stuck against the bottom of the cupboards.

And although it is supposed to be able to navigate back to its charging station when the battery needs recharging, it has never ever done this. Not once.

And last, but by no means least, the cat doesn’t ride round on it, so there is not even any entertainment value. It sits in the corner mocking me about the money we spent on it.

I've had my roomba for years and I wouldn't be without it. It's programmed to start hoovering daily before the get home, so I get back to a clean floor downstairs. Plus it can easily get under the beds, table, chest of drawers.

On the downside, my cat is is terrified of it.

It would be my dream. I've just realised what our family gift will be this year.
I will happily lift the 100 toys and move to the other room, while it vacuums

I want one so badly but only for near where one of the litter trays is kept. It has different litter from the other tray and tracks really badly. I have visions of my little robot vacuum friend toiling away beside the litter tray all day to prevent me having to sweep about five times daily but they’re so expensive!!!

Has anyone here seen the story of what happened when a man’s dog had an attack of diarrhoea during the night, and his Roomba was programmed to vacuum - and spread the poo everywhere!

Here. Enjoy!

We've got stone and wood floors so we've got a little robot mop. It's fantastic! Does a better job than me and watching them zoom about is really cute.

Tell me about robot mops please! Had a robot vac years ago it was crap but was a very early model. I could be very tempted, we have almost all hard floors downstairs including a very large hall that is a pain in the arse to keep clean.

Recommendations gratefully received :)

If you have the mop version do you need a vacuum version too?

We have fully tiled floors. And many dead insects each day. 🤮🐜

We bought one for when I was pregnant as we have a dog and the cleaner hoovering once a week just doesn’t cut it, and I didn’t want to lug hoover around. However the problem is you have to move rugs and cables etc out of the way, and it takes a bloody long time vs just hoovering yourself! My cleaner has now moved the charger cable for it anyway so I can’t use it 😑