with my birthday money do I get roomba or scooba, and in UK or DE?

[ErnestTheBavarian]

I really want a floor cleaning slave.

Can't work out if a scooba can replace a roomba or do you need to hoover 1st?

I have almost entirely tiled floors.

So, when you've decided bwn roomba and scooba for me, can you help me decide - in UK they are a lot cheaper than here, but it would be difficult to take back if it breaks down, plus here, it has a 2 year warrenty, but in UK only 1year

On Amazon, UK the scooba is currently £299 which is 349 euros. On Amazon DE it's 429 euros, so 80 euros more to buy here, but does have 1 more year warrently plus ease of taking back if a problem. 420 seems wildely extravagant though, miles worse than £299. Dunno if I could do it.

Hiya
Scooba isnt really a proper hoover so to speak as far as I can tell. Its fine for just sweeping before mopping I think, but it wouldnt do the sort of hoovering the roomba does

I got my roomba from John Lewis and the replaced the whole thing when the charger cable broke
I now want a scooba as well so I have clean shiny floors as well as hoovered ones.

Well, I really couldn't get both. So, am stuck. My floors will really show up dirt ( have chosen something pretty but impractical. So is having to sweep all the time do scions can do it's stuff better, or roomva doing it's stuff and only mopping say 2 or 2 a weekvack to sq 1 - hmmm roomva or scoova? No one got both who can say?

Make sure your expectations are not too high whichever you go for. I have a roomba and I heart my roomba but deep down I admit its partly because I lusted after it for so long and so now I have to go on about it to visitors who notice it.

It is not a substitute for a hoover. It will pick up light dust but will not do anything stuck onto the floor eg cornflakes etc. It is ok for putting on every morning whenI leave the house to pick up bits of dirt that have been walked in, dustballs etc but I still need to do a full hoover round twice a week. The spinning brush thing breaks really easily and has to be replaced frequently.

There are better things to spend birthday money on!

I have both. I have floorboards downstairs and carpet upstairs. I love Roomba so much, it's really made a difference to the cleanliness of our house! I would disagree that it is not as good as an ordinary hoover, although it obviously can't get into corners.

So I got a Scooba and it really doesn't live up to Roomba. You need to run Roomba first because the Scooba vacuum isn't really that good. It's just not as well developed and is a lot more expensive. I was a bit unimpressed with the scrubbing brushes, they just seem so puny. It does work and I'm glad I've got it (because I seriously hate house work - can you tell?) but it just isn't as good as Roomba and I don't think it lives up to the rave reviews on the website.
Hope that helps...

a) would it be worth getting a roomba? We have a big house that doesn't get vacuumed often enough, but the ground floor is on two levels with a mix of carpet and stone, and the first floor is on four levels. Would I have to pop round lifting the roomba up steps? How small a height difference can it cope with?

b) would it be really awful to buy DH a roomba for his birthday?

it won't go up/down different levels. it will cope with the edges of a rug but ours gets stuck on the back door mat.

If you have diferent levels it will need picking up emptying, rechanging and then moving to the next room. The collection chamber is very small.

Don't get me wrong I do like my roomba and thechamber is full when its run its cycle but it isn't all its cracked up to be. Its good for keeping on top of the housework and if you run it very day it will make a difference but you do still need to hoover a couple of times a week (and I'm NOT a tidy freak)

Hmm, I think only you can know how your DH feels about presents! Mine would have been bemused but probably wouldn't have minded but then we don't really do presents.

Roomba has a cliff sensor so it doesn't fall down steps but therefore doesn't clean stairs either - you would have to move it yourself I think, on your different levels.

However, there is nothing like the joy of sitting down with a cup of tea to read the paper or to mumsnet whilst you can hear the hoovering doing itself! Or you can programme it to do it whilst you're out.

Hmmm. Possibly wouldn't really suit us, then. But it would be fun, so I'm still tempted!

At the moment I have to sweep our floor twice a day. If I don't do it, it is ankle deep in breakfast/sand/crumbs/general children debris.

Our new floors are pale sandy beige glossy tiles which will be easy to clean but show up everything. OK, so not the scoobs, but maybe the roomba, if I can convert my lazy bunch to picking up their stuff.

Chunglimum, hate to say it, but with al your split levels it doesn't sound good

Thanks for your honesty. Much apppreciated to have an objective view.

I'll see if I can get one on special sometime, so I will get one but not rush out and pay full price. What models do you have? I think I'm looking between 520 & 555? But think 520 might be too small for us (says does 3 rooms, but 555says does 4?)