Roomba robot Vacuum $161.27 shipped

[Kaido]

from Buy.com

The Roomba is a robotic vacuum cleaner. Think of it as a Dust Buster paired a remote control car, but shaped like a hockey puck. It drives around and vacuums your floor. It's not meant to replace your big vacuum, rather it's meant to keep your floors looking nice on a daily basis. All you have to do is drop it in a room and press the "Clean" button and walk away.

Includes:
Roomba Sage (Forest green model) with Spot/Clean/Max modes
Remote control (for driving it around or telling it to clean)
APS battery (better than the standard battery)
Fast charger (3-hour charger)
Home base (robot docks itself to charge back up automagically)
Virtual wall (shoots an IR beam that the robot can't cross to block access to other rooms)

To give you an idea of the cost of the included accessories if you were to buy them separately from iRobot.com:

APS battery: $60
Home base: $60
Remote: $20
Virtual wall: $30

You're looking at $170 just for accessories, not including the robot. Pretty nice deal. I've had mine for about a week and I really like it. I'll post a more detailed review in Off Topic after I've had it for a couple more weeks.

Some tips:
-No matter how antsy you are to play with it, let it charge for a full 16 hours before using it for the first time. After that it only requires a 3-hour charge. The battery lasts an hour or two, which is enough to clean a normal room. It will automatically go back and charge itself up on the dock when it's done cleaning. Again, don't play with it until that first 16-hour cleaning cycle has been completed.
-Do a thorough vacuuming of your house before setting up the Roomba. The Roomba is a surface cleaner like a Dust Buster, not a deep cleaner like a Dyson. If you do a good cleaning first and then run the Roomba daily or every other day, your floors will stay cherry.
-Roomba-proof your house. It's like baby-proofing. The Roomba is a vacuum and will choke on socks, wires, etc. It can also get trapped (stuck) between small spaces. My recommendation is watching the Roomba the first time you run it in a new room to see where the problem areas are. For example, my Roomba likes to climb the sloped base of my floor fan and then gets stuck on it sometimes, so I move it out of the way before dropping my Roomba in that room.
-Empty the dust bin after every use. It's cake, press the button on the back to release the tray and empty over a trash can. No bags, no fuss.
-Deep clean the Roomba once a week. It's simple. The beater brush and bristle both pop out, as does the filter. Use the included comb to pull any hair off the brushes. Empty out any extra dirt over a trash can. Easy.

It's a pretty slick little machine, especially for less than $200. If you are into hardware at all you will appreciate all the stuff that goes into it...microprocessor, sensors, drivetrain, and vacuum system. There are a variety of hacks you can do it, more of which I'll post in my review later. One of the nifty things is that you can build a Bluetooth adapter and control it from your computer or cell phone. Anyway, if you have any particular questions, just ask...I've been researching these for awhile and I'm pretty familiar with them now.

 

[ninethirty]

If you watch Woot for a while, they've had a lot of Roomba Sages and Discoveries up there in the past few months. I think they've been in the $150-ish range, but I'm not sure if they came with the accessories (but perhaps not that particular battery). But you have to wait until Woot is running that particular deal, so if you're in a rush, $161 isn't bad.

I got a Roomba Discovery in the last Woot-off; my girlfriend has a cat and it's my anti-cat. It's great fun. The look on the cat's face when we get it out is worth it.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: ninethirty
If you watch Woot for a while, they've had a lot of Roomba Sages and Discoveries up there in the past few months. I think they've been in the $150-ish range, but I'm not sure if they came with the accessories (but perhaps not that particular battery). But you have to wait until Woot is running that particular deal, so if you're in a rush, $161 isn't bad.

I got a Roomba Discovery in the last Woot-off; my girlfriend has a cat and it's my anti-cat. It's great fun. The look on the cat's face when we get it out is worth it.

Yeah, Woot had it for $139.99 + $5 shipping last time (same model). Wish that hadn't sold out so fast, but it's only $15 more for the Buy.com model, which is way cheaper than the iRobot model (and better). How well does your Discovery work with the cat hair? My brother just ordered the Sage for Pets, so we're going to compare them and see how well the "Pet" upgrade really works.

 

[superHARD]

Originally posted by: ninethirty


I got a Roomba Discovery in the last Woot-off; my girlfriend has a cat and it's my anti-cat. It's great fun. The look on the cat's face when we get it out is worth it.

But did it return to the base when it needed to charge up?

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: superHARD

Originally posted by: ninethirty


I got a Roomba Discovery in the last Woot-off; my girlfriend has a cat and it's my anti-cat. It's great fun. The look on the cat's face when we get it out is worth it.

But did it return to the base when it needed to charge up?

Mine does. It's pretty funny watching it on "final approach". Hasn't missed yet :thumbsup:

 

[squirrel dog]

Thanks,had to get one.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: squirrel dog
Thanks,had to get one.

You'll love it. Here's a quick overview of iRobot's residential products:

1. Roomba: Robot vacuum cleaners. They work great. I would say they are 98% ready for your average consumer. There are a few quirks, but all of them have workarounds (like getting stuck - you just have to setup your room properly). They are on revision 3 or 4 now and are pretty great little machines.

2. Scooba: Robot mops. They sweep, scrub, and mop your floor. However, they are first generation and have many problems. Right now they are super expensive too ($399 at iRobot's site, $200-$250 elsewhere). I would be willing to pay $250 if they worked better. I am going to wait for another revision or two before buying one.

3. Dirt Dog: Robot shop broom. Same as the Roomba, minus the vacuum. Works on hard floors and very thin carpet. Eats screws, sawdust, etc. Works great if you have a workshop or garage. It's a first generation bot in its class, but since it uses the same system as the Roomba, it works out just fine.

There are a ton of Roomba vacs available, but they are almost all the same. The latest models are classified as the "Discovery" models, which means they are all compatible with the upgrades you can get like remote controls, scheduling systems, advanced batteries, and so on. The only modern Roomba I would avoid is the $119 iRobot Roomba, the dark red one with the black bumper (the bright red one is okay). It is missing a few of the features and accessories that the rest of the line has. Besides, if you want cheap, you can get the Roomba Red (next model up) for the same price with a coupon. There are some 20% off coupons for robots and accessories here.

Aside from the cheapo dark red model, there are two types of Roombas: regular and Pets. Most Roombas are just regular Roombas, but there are special "made for pets" models that include a special brushes for dealing with animal hair. That's the only difference, the Pet models simply come with different brushes so that they don't choke on pet fur. Beyond that, the only real difference is in accessories (and colors, I guess). The $350 model comes with a bunch of accessories that the base $150 model doesn't. Here are the accessories:

1. Batteries: Regular or Advanced (APS). APS = better. I think that only the cheapo dark red Roomba comes with the non-APS battery.

2. Chargers: Regular or Fast (7 hours versus 3 hours). The Red comes with a standard charger, but the rest come with the fast charger. The fast charger is definitely worth the investment since it lets you use the Roomba two or three times as much as the regular charger does in a day.

3. Mounts: Wall, Wall Charger, or Home Base. The wall mount is simple a drop-in mount for the wall. Kind of useless. The wall charger is the same thing, but it hooks up to your charger and it charges the Roomba when you drop it in. The home base is a self-docking mount, i.e. the Roomba will drive itself back to the home base and dock itself, so it automatically charges itself back up. It actually works really well and you don't have to worry about charging it up, since it takes of that itself. For me, the downside is that there are steps to the next room in my place, so I have to pick up my Roomba and put it in the next room, vacuum, then put it back on the base. I think that a wall-mount charger would be a better fit for my situation. If your whole floor is flat, then the home base is great.

4. Virtual walls: Simple IR beam shooter that prevents the Roomba from passing an open area up to 13 feet long. Available in standard and scheduling. A scheduler virtual wall lets you program it to come on at certain times (you have to use the scheduler remote to program it, which also lets you program the Roomba to clean at certain times).

5. Remote controls: Like a TV remote - you can drive it around, turn on and off the power, and send commands like Spot clean or Max clean. There is a normal remote and a scheduling remote. You can use the scheduling remote with the Roomba as well as with the scheduler virtual wall so that the Roomba and virtual walls turn on at the same time to clean at the time periods you specify. You can get a scheduling kit for about $50 (a remote and two walls) at iRobot.

Other stuff includes spare filters, bristles, beaters, brushes, and combs. The brushes and combs last a long time, but the filters are supposed to be changed every 2-3 months. It's like $15 for a 3-pack. They include a spare filter with your Sage kit, so you are good for the next 6 months or so. The cleaning system basically has two parts: the brushes and the dirtbin. The brushes are the parts on the floor that suck up the crud on the carpet. There are 3 brushes: the side brush (small spinning brush on the side that kicks stuff into the middle of the robot and cleans the edges near walls), the beater brush (a rubber brush that "beats" stuff out of the carpet and also fluffs up the carpet), and the bristle brush (kicks stuff into the dustbin and picks up hair and other crud). They rarely need replacing, but if you do they are like $9 per brush or $30 for a full replacement package with a bunch of filters. The other part of the system is the dirtbin, which snaps off the back. It's simply a bin with an air filter. The air filter slides out for cleaning and replacement. That's it. Sounds more complicated than it is.

To get your Sage set up, you will need 2 AA batteries for the remote and 2 D-sized batteries for the virtual wall. For normal cleaning, you will only need a trash can. For heavy cleaning (about once a week), you need the included comb. It's really easy to disassemble the cleaning system; there are a couple tabs that pop the bristles off really easily. I recommend getting some canned air to spray out the guts, plus some Q-tips for getting inbetween the plastic pieces. Also, an Exacto knife is handy for cutting up hair that gets trapped around the tips of the brushes. The comb does a pretty good job of cleaning them out, but there is a groove near where the brushes fit in with the bottom of the robot where hair gets wrapped around. Make sure to have a trash can nearby to empty all the crud into. It takes 10 minutes tops to deep-clean this thing. Here are the things I'd suggest picking up right off the bat:

2 AA batteries (remote control)
2 D batteries (virtual wall)
Canned air (for cleaning)
Q-tips (for cleaning)
Exacto knife (for cleaning)

Once you get everything set up, the routine is simple. The Roomba takes care of the vacuuming and charging. Your job is to empty out the dust bin after each vacuuming job and to do a deep cleaning about once a week, then change the filter every 3 months or so. In total, you spend less than an hour paying attention to vacuuming per month. For the initial setup, let the Roomba charge for 16 hours, setup the room to be Roomba-friendly, do a good cleaning with your big vacuum, and then watch the Roomba's first run in every room to check for problem areas. After that just don't be a slob and leave things lying on the floor that the Roomba might eat and everything will be peachy

 

[Robor]

I had a Roomba Sage and it worked pretty well until I set it on my back porch to do indoor/outdoor carpet. It stopped working after that. Many times I would come home and find it in the middle of the floor - not stuck and not dead on charge. I would start it back up (power | clean) and it would continue. Definitely had issues with this one. and I still have to get it repaired.

I picked up a Roomba Discovery off Woot and compared to the Sage it is *much* better at avoiding things like ledges (sunken shower / sliding door tracks) and getting back to base. It's gone back every time so far. IMO if you're getting a robot vacuum get the Discover over the Sage.

Oh, and the Scooba is cool. More 'hands on' than the Roomba but still beats me doing the mopping!

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Robor
I had a Roomba Sage and it worked pretty well until I set it on my back porch to do indoor/outdoor carpet. It stopped working after that. Many times I would come home and find it in the middle of the floor - not stuck and not dead on charge. I would start it back up (power | clean) and it would continue. Definitely had issues with this one. and I still have to get it repaired.

I picked up a Roomba Discovery off Woot and compared to the Sage it is *much* better at avoiding things like ledges (sunken shower / sliding door tracks) and getting back to base. It's gone back every time so far. IMO if you're getting a robot vacuum get the Discover over the Sage.

Oh, and the Scooba is cool. More 'hands on' than the Roomba but still beats me doing the mopping!

Interesting...does your Sage have the latest firmware? My Sage works pretty well. It occasionally has a problem with stairs and sometimes gets itself stuck, but nothing major that can't be solved with a little thought. From what I understand, inside they are pretty much all the same.

Can you tell me more about your experiences with the Scooba? They seem to break pretty quickly and have various problems like the pump priming problem. Buy.com has the 5900 for $250 shipped, which seems pretty hot, but all the poor reviews have really turned me off towards it.

 

[jdogg707]

I love my Roomba and Scooba. The Scooba is actually my favorite, and other than a battery issue which iRobot took care of pretty quickly, I have found it to be extremely sturdy. It does a great job with my apartment (all hard surface floors), and since I have a puppy, it is extra helpful. I would definitely recommend grabbing one, got mine from iRobot when they had the friends and family deal.

 

[squirrel dog]

My house is mostly tile floors.I have been off work with a total knee replacement for the last two months and it is the first time I've really had a chance to see how hard my wife works to keep our home clean . A lot of her time is spent sweeping the tile floors . This will help and be a gas to watch I'm sure . I bet I'll be the first on my block to have a robot floor sweeper ! George Jetsonville !

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: squirrel dog
My house is mostly tile floors.I have been off work with a total knee replacement for the last two months and it is the first time I've really had a chance to see how hard my wife works to keep our home clean . A lot of her time is spent sweeping the tile floors . This will help and be a gas to watch I'm sure . I bet I'll be the first on my block to have a robot floor sweeper ! George Jetsonville !

You might want to consider the Scooba, which mops in addition to sweeping. I've read mixed reviews of it online, but maybe the owners in AT can chime in. Buy.com has the good model for $250:

http://www.buy.com/prod/irobot-scooba-5...washing-robot/q/loc/111/203937778.html

Also my Roomba works surprisingly well on hard floors. I had it vacuum the linoleum today and it was nice not to walk barefoot on crumbs and stuff

 

[SRGilbert]

Can anyone tell me if the Sage's that Buy.com is selling are shipping with the newer swival castor front wheel? It's black and white and spins freely in the socket.

Thanks

 

[imported_cheapdude]

Grabbing an extra one.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: SRGilbert
Can anyone tell me if the Sage's that Buy.com is selling are shipping with the newer swival castor front wheel? It's black and white and spins freely in the socket.

Thanks

This is NOT the updated model with the swivel caster front wheel. I figured it wouldn't be, based on the price. However, so far I have had zero issues because of the non-swiveling front wheel - mine has docked perfectly every time and has not left any marks on my carpet or linoleum.

 

[marvdmartian]

Now that I'm in a place with laminate wood floors, I'd love to get one of these........but am pretty sure it'd give my cat a nervous breakdown every time it ran!!

 

[SRGilbert]

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: SRGilbert
Can anyone tell me if the Sage's that Buy.com is selling are shipping with the newer swival castor front wheel? It's black and white and spins freely in the socket.

Thanks

This is NOT the updated model with the swivel caster front wheel. I figured it wouldn't be, based on the price. However, so far I have had zero issues because of the non-swiveling front wheel - mine has docked perfectly every time and has not left any marks on my carpet or linoleum.

Oh well, I had a tried out a Discovery with the old wheel and it was scratching my hardwood floors so I returned it.

Anyone looking for a LOT of info about Roomba would be best to check out http://www.roombareview.com they even have a very active forum just for Roombas!

 

[dds14u]

I've actually played around with the Sooba at my parent's.

It doesn't have any "back to base" functionality, but it definitely cleans well. You add the solution and some water then just let it run. It will try to clean the dirty areas extra although it doesn't always recognize where all the dirty areas are exactly.

The solution is an important part of it though. It not only helps it clean, but is actually made to help the moisture it leaves on the ground dry more quickly.

Maintenance includes cleaning the filter, washing out a tube, washing out the brushes and dumping the dirty stuff...can really be done in 5 minutes once you get the hang of it.

These things are great when you to just leave on and forget. They do miss some spots, but what can you expect?

 

[Robor]

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: Robor
I had a Roomba Sage and it worked pretty well until I set it on my back porch to do indoor/outdoor carpet. It stopped working after that. Many times I would come home and find it in the middle of the floor - not stuck and not dead on charge. I would start it back up (power | clean) and it would continue. Definitely had issues with this one. and I still have to get it repaired.

I picked up a Roomba Discovery off Woot and compared to the Sage it is *much* better at avoiding things like ledges (sunken shower / sliding door tracks) and getting back to base. It's gone back every time so far. IMO if you're getting a robot vacuum get the Discover over the Sage.

Oh, and the Scooba is cool. More 'hands on' than the Roomba but still beats me doing the mopping!

Interesting...does your Sage have the latest firmware? My Sage works pretty well. It occasionally has a problem with stairs and sometimes gets itself stuck, but nothing major that can't be solved with a little thought. From what I understand, inside they are pretty much all the same.

Can you tell me more about your experiences with the Scooba? They seem to break pretty quickly and have various problems like the pump priming problem. Buy.com has the 5900 for $250 shipped, which seems pretty hot, but all the poor reviews have really turned me off towards it.

I don't know what version my Sage is. I got it off of Woot a while back. I've been meaning to get it fixed but I've procrastinated so long on getting it repaired under warranty it might be out now.

The Scooba isn't perfect in that it's not going to get up a heavily soiled area but for light dirt or dust it does a great job. It's more 'work' in that you have to refill the solution and empty the dirty water but it's not that bad. I don't run mine that much though - maybe every few weeks. I let the Roomba do most of the work.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: SRGilbert

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: SRGilbert
Can anyone tell me if the Sage's that Buy.com is selling are shipping with the newer swival castor front wheel? It's black and white and spins freely in the socket.

Thanks

This is NOT the updated model with the swivel caster front wheel. I figured it wouldn't be, based on the price. However, so far I have had zero issues because of the non-swiveling front wheel - mine has docked perfectly every time and has not left any marks on my carpet or linoleum.

Oh well, I had a tried out a Discovery with the old wheel and it was scratching my hardwood floors so I returned it.

Anyone looking for a LOT of info about Roomba would be best to check out http://www.roombareview.com they even have a very active forum just for Roombas!

Ooh, that's good to know about the hardwood floors. Thanks for the tip! Finally, linoleum has a positive side

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: dds14u
I've actually played around with the Sooba at my parent's.

It doesn't have any "back to base" functionality, but it definitely cleans well. You add the solution and some water then just let it run. It will try to clean the dirty areas extra although it doesn't always recognize where all the dirty areas are exactly.

The solution is an important part of it though. It not only helps it clean, but is actually made to help the moisture it leaves on the ground dry more quickly.

Maintenance includes cleaning the filter, washing out a tube, washing out the brushes and dumping the dirty stuff...can really be done in 5 minutes once you get the hang of it.

These things are great when you to just leave on and forget. They do miss some spots, but what can you expect?

I think if I ever got a place with more hard floors I'd consider a Scooba. Right now the higher price, the problems I've read about, and the increased maintenance don't make it worth it for my tiny kitchen. I'm hoping the next version will have a docking station, and maybe even a refill station like those automatic pet water dishes - fill up the bucket and let it refill itself. I also read through the big thread on alternative solutions over at Roomba Review and it seems like a water/vinegar mix is the only viable alternative, but that the "Scooba juice" is still the best stuff.

 

[Kaido]

Now that I've had it for a week, the biggest problem I've seen is stairs. It has a "cliff" sensor that works reliably most of the time, but sometimes it screws up and my Roomba tries to commit suicide. I would suggest putting some kind of stair blocker like a 2x4 or baby gate to prevent the Roomba from even having to deal with the stairs. Dang robots.

But I still love it

 

[DrPizza]

Weird... I came here just to say that we really don't use the roomba discovery much; preferring to use the regular vacuum. I look at it more as a novelty than an efficient little machine. Perhaps it's because I only have 1 room that it can clean effectively; I have very thick, deep carpeting in my living room and it won't make it more than 2 or 3 feet across it. Thinking about sticking it in the garage sale.

It does do a good job on the hardwood floor room - keeps up with all the dog hair (3 dogs, shedding time of year.) But, I can vacuum that one room with an upright in just about the same time it takes me to empty out the roomba and clean all the dog hair out of the bristles.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: DrPizza
Weird... I came here just to say that we really don't use the roomba discovery much; preferring to use the regular vacuum. I look at it more as a novelty than an efficient little machine. Perhaps it's because I only have 1 room that it can clean effectively; I have very thick, deep carpeting in my living room and it won't make it more than 2 or 3 feet across it. Thinking about sticking it in the garage sale.

It does do a good job on the hardwood floor room - keeps up with all the dog hair (3 dogs, shedding time of year.) But, I can vacuum that one room with an upright in just about the same time it takes me to empty out the roomba and clean all the dog hair out of the bristles.

Yeah, the Roomba doesn't handle deep carpet very well. It does fine on my medium pile, but it leaves tracks. It does exceptional on thin carpet and hard floors. Also you have dogs, so there's the hair issue there. I also wouldn't recommend the Roomba if you have thick rugs or rugs with frayed spaghetti-style edges.

I am going to contact iRobot tomorrow about my stair problem; the good folks at Roomba Review also suggested going through the diagnostics to see if the cliff sensors are working properly. I'd love to get the stair issue resolved

 

[Bonesdad]

From my experience, Roomba is useless on carpets...I had one burn a motor out on a carpet. My house is all hardwood floor, and the Roomba is flawless. Nice to be able to get other work done while cleaning the floors at the same time.

I have a dog and a cat...neither one pays any attention to the machine at all. In fact, it runs into my dog if he's standing there and he just gives it a look.

Nice deal.