This is the reason we went to the moon, people.
We received delivery of our Roomba Scheduler on Friday and the little beggar has been cleaning our floors non-stop ever since.
This could be the greatest consumer product ever released.
I find myself watching it more than I do my HDTV.
Little worried about how far to push it though, after seeing the Animatrix.
Don't want to wake up one night and have it and the microwave organizing a coup against me.
Honestly though, I am in utter disbelief at how well this cleans.
We just had new oak hardwood floors installed in three rooms on our main floor, and this little guy picks up dirt where you can't even see it.
It can go from hard surfaces to carpet with seemless transition.
Also ordered the floor washing cousin of the vacuum.
Hope it works out as well.
I told my boys the robots are getting their $5/week allowance now!

Ham.Clan
;)

Received the Scooba 5900 last Friday.
This is the floorwashing cousin to the Roomba vacuuming robot.
Very impressed with its performance.
The unit takes 2-3 hours to fully charge and performs its cleaning cycle in about 45 minutes.
We tried it on the tile floor in our kitchen and eating area and it is shocking to see the dirty water that gets emptied from the tank. Completely black. Mopping apparently does nothing more than redistributing the dirt evenly across the floor.
Very happy with both and highly recommend.
If you are a "wooter", you can sometimes find these for a good deal.

Ham.Clan

Ham.Clan

Very curious about these little fellas.

1) How do the iRobots deal with corners? I would think that being round, that room corners, etc., would present a problem?

2) How hard is it to find the Scooba cleaning solutions (i.e. what stores carry them) or do you just use regular floor cleaners?

3) Did you purchase these off the web or retail?

4) How much height clearance does the unit need? I ask because I have a few pieces of furniture where the unit might get "trapped" as the front floor "opening" is higher than the sides/back.

Mods, Perhaps this thread should be in the Home Automation forum?

moved and I echo some of those questions. To be honest, I'm really skeptical. I also can't understand how it can go from rugs to hardwood.

Ours is pretty good. The biggest issue with it are the area rugs that have a 'frill' to them. It gets caught on those.

You do have to scan around the floor to make sure there is nothing that will damage it, particularly the little brush that extends out for corners/walls. We've had to replace that once, and now the replacement is also damaged.

Our experience...

We have the Roomba Discovery model. Have had it for about 2 years.

It's great for under beds and things like that. We just leave it in a bedroom, close the door and it runs for 45 minutes or an hour and then beeps happily that it's done. And it really does pick up an amazing amount of stuff you didn't know was there.

We don't use it as much as I thought we would though. It's mostly our fault though. We forget to set it up in the main areas when we are elsewhere. When you are in the area, it's noisy and obtrusive. We need to change our habits.

It does get into corners better than expected because it has a little rotating brush that sticks out. Not perfect, but pretty good.

It won't replace your other vacuum but it is cool and kinda entertaining.

I bought the Roomba Sage on ebay last spring from a distributor in Ontario and had it delivered to my parents in Halifax for around $145. My mom wanted something to clean under the beds as it's getting harder for her to reach. They love it! They use it all around the house. It won't replace the regular vacuum because it's not as thorough, but it does increase the time betweem vacuuming considerably. For under the beds, it's all they'll ever need.

Oh, and forgot to say that we got our Roomba Discovery from Canadian Tire.

1) How do the iRobots deal with corners? I would think that being round, that room corners, etc., would present a problem?

As mentioned, the Roomba has a spinning brush on the leading right edge of the unit that get's pretty deep into the corners. It doesn't get everything, but it does get most dirt quite nicely. The Scooba has no spinning brush, and therefore cannot clean right into corners but does do an admirable job. Remember, it doesn't have elbows ;)

2) How hard is it to find the Scooba cleaning solutions (i.e. what stores carry them) or do you just use regular floor cleaners?

I just purchased extra cleaning solution from the iRobot webstore, nine 32 oz. bottles. The unit came with an 8 ounce bottle, and I would guess that each floor washing cycle uses around 2 - 2.5 ounces. Therefore, the cleaning solution goes quite a long way. Regular cleaning solutions are verbotten as they immediately void the warranty. The Clorox solution designed for the Scooba is a bleach-free low foaming solution that provides traction on the wet floor.

3) Did you purchase these off the web or retail?

I bought both of these new (not refurbished) off of ebay. I have seen the Discovery model in the Canadian Tire catalogue. My model is one above that, the Scheduler. I have it programed to clean everyday at 8:15 am, just as I'm leaving for work. I will put the unit and it's recharging base in the room I want to be cleaned, set up the virtual walls (infrared barriers) if I'm doing a larger area that just one room, and the Roomba will clean the entire area in about 60 minutes and return to its base on it own to recharge. As rwalker mentioned, you do need to change your habits a bit to ensure there are no obstructions or items that could clog or jam up the brushes. It really takes no more than a few seconds to set it up.

4) How much height clearance does the unit need? I ask because I have a few pieces of furniture where the unit might get "trapped" as the front floor "opening" is higher than the sides/back.

I measured both units and they need about 3.5 inches of clearance

For anyone that's interested in seeing these marvels operate, go to the iRobot website and click on a model to see a video of it action.
I can't state enough how impressed we are with both of these machines.

Ham.Clan

I guess I like the fact that if you're savy enough, the roomba is hackable so you can mod behaviour, technique:
http://www.roombareview.com/hack/Roomba_SCI_Spec_Manual.pdf tons of info out there, but I am not posting due to forum rules.

Here is a roomba cam:
http://www.vacuumcleanerlive.com/

I saw the ads, and didn't believe a word of it. My wife loooved the concept.

When Canadian Tire started to carry them, I thought... perfect! CTC will take anything back. So we will get one, it won't work, I'll take it back for full refund, and obtain bragging rights for being correct again!

Well, so much for bragging rights. The thing works amazingly well. Others are correct - you will still have to do a "deep clean" vac on some schedule to suit your preference. But, for in-between, "company is coming tonight and we don't have time to vacuum" situations, it is perfect.

Problem is, you don't really save anytime since the thing is so fascinating to watch....

I tried a Roomba. It was on sale at CTC for $299. It did a good job and the cat loved it but I had a couple of concerns. The main one was that it went around bashing into furniture. We have some older (antique) wood furniture that I figured would be damaged with prolonged use. If it moved slower and had a better sensor system I would have been more comfortable. The other was value for the money. At $300 ($400 MSRP), I felt it was overpriced. It is Ok for a first generation product but I think there are a lot of improvements to be made.

I just saw this on the shopping network for $189. Is this a good deal?

I just saw this on the shopping network for $189. Is this a good deal?

That depends what model it is and whether or not it is a refurbished unit.
I would go to the iRobot website to check it against the MSRP.

The main one was that it went around bashing into furniture. We have some older (antique) wood furniture that I figured would be damaged with prolonged use.

We have many antiques as well and I worry more about the iRobot than my furniture!

It's the Roomba Vacuuming Robot 2.1. It's also brand new, not refurbished.
It also comes with an extra set of brushes and the virtual wall set-up.

I see they also have the 'scheduler' but it is $349.

I have three Roomba Schedulers, and a Scooba. The schedulers run when I'm at work five times a week. I would be concerned if I owned antique furniture as over time they do tend to mar wood. I doubt if this would happen with the scooba, unlike the scheduler, the pace it runs is quite a bit slower, and it is quite gentle when it hits an obstruction and changes direction.
However if you have heritage/heirloom/antique furniture I would not recommend the Scheduler. For myself with my cheap Ikea, it works fine

Do you have to setup limits for rooms for them??? I have a 1000 sq ft bungalo, and was wondering if I could just let the thing go, and it would clean every room in the house which door wasnt closed.

Yes, it will clean every room in the house as long as there are no obstacles like steps. Area carpets can be a problem as well. The Roomba also comes with a "virtual barrier" that limits movement with a light beam.

You can have your Roomba do more, if you haven't already


http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/feature-top-5-roomba-hacks

I too was a little skeptical but having only heard good reviews about the current generation of machines I thought I'd give it a try. I also considered the 'Canadian Tire will take anything back' option as a backup. But this baby is here to stay. CDN Tire carries the 'Discovery' model which is one down from the 'Scheduler' model. They are the same except that the Scheduler will start and stop on a schedule that you program. Nice to have it start after you leave the house, clean like mad, then you come home to a clean house and the Roomba has found its way back to it's home base where it is happily charging up for tomorrow.

A couple of things to consider before you go the extra mile for the Scheduler (about $75-100 price difference). The Discovery and Scheduler models themselves are EXACTLY the same (aside from colour). The scheduler comes with an advanced remote control that gives it the additional funcationality. The Discovery robot does not come with the remote (it does have a basic remote) but it has all of the capability built-in to accept a schedule if you've got a scheduling remote. And the price for a Roomba Scheduler remote... about $45 at an online Canadian robot shop (no names mentioned but you can figure it out from here) - or check out ebay. So my recommendation - if you aren't sure, then just get the lower model and add the remote later if you feel it's worthwhile.

Also, we have kids so having this sucker (to coin phrase) start automatically could be disasterous to my kids' lego collection. We pretty much have to do a trip through the house before we let it go to pick up all the junk that the kids leave around so the scheduler option is of limited value for us.

All in all - a very excellent product so far.