Roombas

[happygonicky]

Hello all,

Have finally persuaded DH that a Roomba is a good idea (took one appearing on Breaking Bad!). Does anyone have any experience of different models? If you pay more for later models, is there a massive improvement? Feel OK about spending £300-400 (birthday present in part), would not be wildly keen on spending much more unless it was going to be much better...

Thank you!

We have had a Roomba for several years and my parents had one before we got ours. At the point when we bought ours the main difference with the newer/more expensive models was that they were programmable, ie. you could set them to clean a particular room say every Friday. We have never used this function as it's easy enough to switch on and you have to empty it after every use anyway. Maybe if you work really long hours and want it to vacuum several rooms every day then it would be useful.

I've no idea what difference there might be with a newer model than ours, though.

Following....

I have been tempted by This one But not sure if it will be any good.

I can't really afford £300-400 but really, really want a roomba!

I'm pretty sure that's the model we have. We've replaced the battery at least once, but that might be because DH has a habit of simply unplugging it when it's in the bedroom to make the lights go out and the manufacturer's recommendation is to keep it permanently charged.

As to whether it's worth the money: the big plus for me is that it goes under our wooden frame bed where I can't clean easily with the normal vacuum. I guess the rest of the time it gets used as an alternative to sweeping the floor - spot clean under the high chair, put on in the hall to get all the sand and dried mud.

The comedy value is high. Recently we came home and couldn't find Roomba in the hall where we'd left him it. Went up and down stairs several times assuming the cliff sensor had failed and it had suicidally thrown itself into the cellar, then finally discovered it hiding behind the washing machine in the utility room - it had closed the door behind itself and couldn't get back to the charging station.

Roomba is fantastic! Mine has lasted 2 years, and is worth every penny.

those who have one. What model do you have? And will one roomba hoover an entire 3 bed house? or would I still need to hoover upstairs?

I've had two of the earlier models - both packed up within a year :( not sure if the later models are more reliable / robust? Our house was also too cluttered for it I think - it kept getting wedged under the kitchen table and chairs and couldn't go from the wooden floor onto the rug in the hall.... I really loved the concept of it but the reality didn't really match up unfortunately.

We have the one you can programme. When we bought it we both worked full time so it was useful to have it go round when we were out. I think if I was buying one now I wouldn't bother with the programme-able version as I'm SAHM and it goes round our kitchen at least once a day to clear up the fall out from meal times.

I couldn't be without it. We also have the one that mops the floor but I don't think I'd buy it again. We got it half price.

I've got the 770 and it's absolutely brilliant. It's vacuum action is far better than our regular Miele and Dyson. I just wish I had splashed out more and bought the 780, which will clean one room and then move on to the next and so on over the entire floor. With the 770 it's better to use it room by room and move it between areas yourself IYSWIM, otherwise it will roam randomly and you can't be sure everywhere has been done.

Aldi are selling one which is cheaper but not sure if it's decent

m.hotukdeals.com/deals/robot-vacuum-cleaner-aldi-149-99-1856014?mforwarded=true

th Aldi link seems to be an old deal.

Looking at the specs for the 780, I can see that it has a bigger bin than ours (550?), better filters and a touchscreen. Ours has buttons for start, spot clean and dock; as we don't program it, we don't need a touchscreen. A bigger bin would be good, better filters are probably only a must if you have dust mite allergy or similar.

Ours came with two Lighthouses (which we don't use). The new one seems to have replacement brushes, which ours doesn't (but we haven't wanted or needed to replace them so far).

The point about clutter is a good one imo. Roombas don't deal well with tangles of cables, or chair legs (it may circle round when it hits one, but it may just turn around and go off somewhere else). You can put the chairs on top of the table or in another room, but the more preparation you have to do, the less time saved by using Roomba instead of a normal vacuum.

The link had reviews of the aldi roomba x

We got one about a month ago. I really like it. We are in a 3 storey Victorian Terrace - carpets, rugs, wood floors and tiled kitchen. It copes with it all. I usually put it on before I go to work and it does the ground floor. Then I put it on in the bedrooms with the door shut so it does just one room at a time upstairs (have to keep doors shut to stop cat sneaking in to lie on beds) - do that as needed. Do a quick pick up before I go to work of shoes with laces or cat toys and that's it.

I have the 780. 2 years and going strong. Does living areas 5-6 times per week, and all other rooms once a week (fairly big Aussie house, lots of sand all summers...) I love the great suction, and that it goes under beds and cupboards. If it broke now, I'd replace it in a second!

We love Bob our roomba. He's It's awesome. I love coming home from work and finding (oh sod it, can't be bothered with striking out - I love him!) he's vacuumed the whole house for us (we have a bungalow). And he keeps my DDad occupied when the DPs visit - he's quite happy to spend the morning watching Bob, constantly muttering, "Marvellous, how does he know how to do that bit?" under his breath .

We got him using vouchers my colleagues gave me as a wedding present and at the time I had upgrade envy as we have a fairly old model without programmable functions or lighthouses or anything. But tbh they're not really necessary. You can just set him off as you leave the house and clean him out when you get home. Bigger capacity would worth paying more for though.

I've found both Ebay and Amazon useful for spares (we just changed the battery after 4 years - DH has a tendency to unplug everything when we go on holiday and it eventually killed Bob's battery along with the phone grr - and I replace the filters and brushes fairly regularly).

Oh, and after another parent and I raved to my CM about our roombas she's gone and got the floor washing one. I think she got it on a special deal, but she's very happy with it.