$349 Roomba Vacuuming Robot

[svngguy]

http://www.amazon.com/iRobot-560-Roo...=irobot+roomba

$100 off, lowest price yet. no rebate, etc..

 

[tHa ShIzNiT]

I've always kinda wanted one of these but thats still a little pricey. I've always thought it would make a good present for the wife/gf. Kinda a tongue-in-cheek gift. =)

 

[svngguy]

Yeah, I probably won't pop on this until they go below $300. But I am happy to see robots serving us.. now for an automated robot lawn mower....

 

[Zap]

Woot! used to always have refurbs.

I've owned several.

 

[Double Trouble]

How does the Roomba fare against the Neato line of vacuum bots?

 

[SandEagle]

buy.com has the 560 refurbs for 248

 

[zerogear]

How does the Roomba fare against the Neato line of vacuum bots?

Neatos are a lot more efficient and powerful after using both, although my Rooma was 4xx series. I felt that Rooma just pushed dirt around and occasionally picked up dirt, where as I felt Neato were actually a vacuum cleaner. I even went around with a Dyson DC25 after Neato vacuumed up, didn't pick up much afterwards.

 

[kmmatney]

Neatos are a lot more efficient and powerful after using both, although my Rooma was 4xx series. I felt that Rooma just pushed dirt around and occasionally picked up dirt, where as I felt Neato were actually a vacuum cleaner. I even went around with a Dyson DC25 after Neato vacuumed up, didn't pick up much afterwards.

The Roombas finally became good vacuum cleaners when the AeroVac bins came out. I upgraded my 3 Roombas, and it made a huge difference. You can actually feel a strong rush of air coming out the back when they vacuum.

My biggest problem with the Roomba is that all 3 of mine have needed major work to keep running. The bumper sensors have failed on all three of mine after 18 months, requiring major surgery to repair. I've also had to take apart the gear boxes a few times, and clean them out. It seems like I'm constantly fixing them now. 2 of my units were refurbs, while 1 was bought brand new. The one I bought brand-new has required the most work to keep running, but it's also the oldest. it goes to show that buying refurbed is a good idea. I like my Roombas, but I really wish they had a better design for the bumper sensors.

 

[Knavish]

... I've also had to take apart the gear boxes a few times, and clean them out. It seems like I'm constantly fixing them now. 2 of my units were refurbs, while 1 was bought brand new. The one I bought brand-new has required the most work to keep running, but it's also the oldest. it goes to show that buying refurbed is a good idea. I like my Roombas, but I really wish they had a better design for the bumper sensors.

I've never had my bump sensor fail, but i have to spend 10 minutes pulling (long) hair out of the rotating parts every week. It's definitely not a simple empty the bin / clean the brush maintenance every week. Recently I had to disassemble parts with a screwdriver to find out why it would stop running after a minute or so. Some plastic gears were jammed.

I just looked at their website, and this comment under the Series 500 cleaning module fits my problem exactly:

I want to personally thank the person that wrote the review of buying the 700 module instead of this one. I had given up on this roomba for the same reasons people were reporting (i.e. pet and human hair would gunk up the gears and get them stuck). With this module I would spend more time cleaning the stupid brushes than the time it spent cleaning. Not very efficient.

I decided to give the 700 module and the aero bin a shot and now the thing works like it is supposed to (i.e. vacuuming).​

I guess I should try the 700 series module, as well. :thumbsdown: for $50 maintenance item.

----(edit)----
My impression is that you need to spend $50-$100 on parts every 2-3 years to keep these things running. It looks like I need to spend $85 on upgrades to fix their Series 500 design problems. Hopefully I don't have to replace the battery soon...

 

[homercles337]

Neatos are a lot more efficient and powerful after using both, although my Rooma was 4xx series. I felt that Rooma just pushed dirt around and occasionally picked up dirt, where as I felt Neato were actually a vacuum cleaner. I even went around with a Dyson DC25 after Neato vacuumed up, didn't pick up much afterwards.

Holy hell, are you some kind of vacuum collecter or something? Two robot vacuums AND a Dyson? I remember reading about some kid that "collected" vacuums...would you be him?

 

[Zap]

I don't have much of a problem with having to clean out the brushes and my Roombas picked up dirt reasonably well. The problem was that for them to be the most efficient at keeping a place clean, I'd have to run them weekly. Also, at least with mine the batteries didn't last a year before they were at half capacity. Also, NOT using them but leaving the unit on the charger pretty much killed off the battery really quick.

The two I have left live in the garage right now, doing nothing. I used them for a couple years but after the novelty wore off, I gave up.