Roomba driving me nuts!

[CeciliaMars]

I got a Roomba iRobot for Christmas. Tried mapping it yesterday. I picked up all the furniture and cleared the floor of obstructions. Turned on all the lights. Three hours later - no map. It had got lost, lost wifi signal, failed to find its home... it seems to think I have hours on end to help it to map - with no kids / dogs around...help - what am I doing wrong?!

They're crap in my experience. We got one for Christmas one year, not sure why as our house was small and had steps into every room. It just annoyed the dog. Not even sure where it is since we moved! I think they're best suited to large, open planned homes

My house is pretty open plan and all on one level downstairs... I've got a horrible feeling it's going to turn into an expensive mistake that sits in the cupboard...

I live ours, wouldn't be without it. It can learn/map whilst it cleans it just takes longer.

Mine is brilliant she's mapped out the route and sweeps and mops at 5am.

Have you got a cat?
If so give the Roomba to the cat, a lot of cats seem to like sitting on them and being transported around a room without any effort - rather like being in a sedan chair. I would imagine.

Note: if you haven't got a cat, get one!

More of a dog person!

I had a robot cleaner. Had the same problems. We put it down to living in an old house with thick walls..
After reading about yours it doesn’t seem like that’s the issue. Oh joy. I was going to try again when I moved not sure I’ll bother now.

I sent mine back and got a refund..

Just set it up and let it go. It will map itself. But sort out the wi-fi strength so it doesn't lose that (if that was the problem).
I switch mine on at bedtime when I am going upstairs and have it set to run again at 4am.

We love ours! It isn’t a Roomba model but maps, sweeps and mops and I found it had our downstairs mapped in no time. I set it to different rooms depending on what’s needed (the back room which belongs to the kids mostly, or the dining room and kitchen after dinner!) and the kids are well trained in making sure there’s nothing around it can eat! It saves me hoovering daily (still do a proper hoover and mop weekly) - particularly as my children are basically made of crumbs!

If you just let it clean as it goes, do you have to pick up everything off the floor every time it cleans, like dog bowls / bar stools etc?

Depends if it can cope or not. Some stools have a foot which it tries to climb on - so we tuck the foot under the sofa (C shaped stool). Dogs bowls get pushed around and may be somewhere unexpected in the morning but not a problem.
Loose wires or belts etc will get wound round so need to be picked up off the ground.
And furniture blocking the near vicinity of the docking station need to be moved.

We don't do much - things are now streamlined so it just needs a quick glance around and maybe a couple of things moving.