Roomba questions (which I haven't seen answered elsewhere)

[FromGirders]

Have talked myself into a roomba, but have one or two questions.

If you buy a scheduling one,can you put it on in between scheduled cleans, eg to do rooms that wouldn't normally be on its round?

How does it cope with long hair?

How does the docking bit work? presumably it has to be quite close to a plug? Does it take up a lot of room? Just how big is a roomba?

TIA

Anyone?

I have one - it isn't a scheduling one though.
I am basically very happy with it. I use it to do mini cleans and then do a proper hover round every now and again as it isn't very good at doing into little corners etc.
I also have long hair and it seems to cope ok. You do need to clear the brushes that spin around every now and again, but doesn't take long. You need to empty it anyway.
The docking bit needs to be near a plug - it comes with a cable a couple of m long. The roomba is about 1ft diameter, so you need that space on the floor for it to dock.

Thank you.
Anyone else to answer the scheduling question???
Please?

bump

Somebody?
Anybody?

Sniff. Anyone??

I've been thinking about one of these. I searched on youtube and got some good clips which gave me an idea. Would help you re size, docking etc. I was surprised how loud it seemed to be.

Havn't got one yet, but quite sold on the idea.

what the hell is a roomba? it sounds like some sort of magic cleaning robot??

ooh have just googled it

Can i add my question please.

Where sells them cheapest at the moment and is it worth taking out the warranty?

They are loud - it is a vacuum cleaner after all! I normally set mine going when I'm about to leave the house, so it is all clean when I get home
I've had mine for nearly 3 years and had no probs with it at all.
I think that we got ours at John Lewis as they gave a warranty anyway.

Are they good for picking up dog hair?

how do your pets react to it if you leave it on when you are out?

My cat is ok with it, it's not as noisy as I expected it to be. I sat in the room on the computer while it was working yesterday and wasn't bothered by it.

I don't have pets, but it did once set our intruder alarm off

You can put it on between scheduled cleans.

Long hair/dog hair/cat hair all fine. You need to clean the brushes very regularly.

Docking station is plugged in and the Roomba has to be no more than a certain distance from it to be able to dock (can't remember off-hand what the distance is).

34cm diametre by 7cm high. Just measured him as he has gone to sleep after cleaning up for me while I'm sat here. I heart my Roomba soooo much.

Just remember they are sweepers. An additional help on a day-to-day basis. You will still need to vacuum sometimes. Well, depends I guess how fussy you are. You might decide it's good enough!

The under sofas thing worries me - how easy is it to rescue bits of lego from inside it?

Easy - no problem at all.

Glad you asked that, RD!

amends Christmas list

What do you do, just open it up and sift through just in case once it's done its trundle?

Exactly - you can sift through as much as you like - amazing what you find in there sometimes!

It's a lot easier to rescue bits of lego from a Roomba than from a vacuum cleaner bag.

It also acts as an ideal incentive to the DC - our two will pick up toys way more thoroughly if they are allowed to wake Roomba up when they are done than if it is 'just' so that I can vacuum with Henry.

There's another thread here btw- might give some more info (cool videos too)