Robot Vacuum Cleaners...

[MoeFOH]

I hate vacuuming. So I've been pondering the purchase of one of these robots. Also, got a cat about 6 months ago... Cat fur is driving me nuts! As well, we have all timber floors here and every little bit of stuff picks up on the soles your feet... maddening! 

I have a mate who recently (somewhere in the last 12 months or so) bought a robot vacuum cleaner and swears by it. Says it's one the best purchases they've ever made. Now, I have no reason whatsoever to doubt him, he's kind of a tech guru/genius and researches products thoroughly before purchase, etc., but he's the only one I know that has one. I'm thinking maybe they're not as commonplace in Aus as in the US...?

Anyhow, anyone got any experience with them, advice to offer?

I'm kind of keen to get one just to see if the cat will ride around on it... 

[RickG]

I hate vacuuming. So I've been pondering the purchase of one of these robots. Also, got a cat about 6 months ago... Cat fur is driving me nuts! As well, we have all timber floors here and every little bit of stuff picks up on the soles your feet... maddening! 
I have a mate who recently (somewhere in the last 12 months or so) bought a robot vacuum cleaner and swears by it. Says it's one the best purchases they've ever made. Now, I have no reason whatsoever to doubt him, he's kind of a tech guru/genius and researches products thoroughly before purchase, etc., but he's the only one I know that has one. I'm thinking maybe they're not as commonplace in Aus as in the US...?
Anyhow, anyone got any experience with them, advice to offer?
I'm kind of keen to get one just to see if the cat will ride around on it... 

First off they are more sweepers not vacuums. Secondly, they are awesome. We got one Black Friday, and it’s the best purchase I’ve made in a long time. We have a few dogs, and lots of dust and hair, I have to empty it daily, but the floor stays spotless. Plus it’s cool to freak out visitors when they are over.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Trevor2118]

Ex-wife purchased one.....apparently it was totally useless.  You would probably more success by training your cat to lick up his/her/its (trying to be politically correct here) own fur. 

[PigFish]

Have had them for years.

They will bang up your baseboards. You have to clean them every time you use them, especially with pet hair. It helps if you own an air compressor to clean them. Keep them clean and hair free and they will do well on solid surface flooring.

You won't spend as much time cleaning them as vacuuming. But it does become a pain. You cannot be afraid to take them apart to get the hair out. As long as you are okay with that, then go ahead.

If my wife owned this without a nearby facilities engineer (that is janitor... meaning me) it would never work long!

-Piggy

[Trevor2118]

1 minute ago, PigFish said:

If my wife owned this without a nearby facilities engineer (that is janitor... meaning me) it would never work long!

-Piggy

That might explain my ex-wife's problem. 

[Colt45]

you will be assimilated....

[RickG]

Have had them for years.
They will bang up your baseboards. You have to clean them every time you use them, especially with pet hair. It helps if you own an air compressor to clean them. Keep them clean and hair free and they will do well on solid surface flooring.
You won't spend as much time cleaning them as vacuuming. But it does become a pain. You cannot be afraid to take them apart to get the hair out. As long as you are okay with that, then go ahead.
If my wife owned this without a nearby facilities engineer (that is janitor... meaning me) it would never work long!
-Piggy

Mine will not even touch the baseboards with the sensors, and it has the 2 spinning brushes that cleans the edges pretty good.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[PigFish]

Just now, Trevor2118 said:

That might explain my ex-wife's problem. 

With no offense meant to the fine women of this board, these things are not woman friendly! Not any woman that I would want to .... well, never mind that!!!

We also have one of these little Dyson battery stick-vacs. The damn thing is really handy, but gotta' be cleaned often and again if you cannot take one outside and hit it with compressed air, you will never get it cleaned. Compressed air is a must for these things, or an endless supply of filters!

Cheers! -the Pig

[PigFish]

1 minute ago, RickG said:

Mine will not even touch the baseboards with the sensors, and it has the 2 spinning brushes that cleans the edges pretty good.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

... you see that is what I get for keeping things in good shape and running forever... They get obsolete!

Mine is the old fashion, bash the baseboard type.

[HarveyBoulevard]

I think they help with general upkeep but they don't prevent the need to vacuum.  I find that it is primarily used to pick up the excess dog hair. You don't really notice it until you empty the filter, but it is truly amazing how much dog hair they can pick up on a single sweep.

If cat hair is your primary objective then this may be just the tool you need. I only have one because we have a dog.

 

[rguinn]

Mine got stuck under things constantly and lost its schedule programming too often. I don’t even know where mine is, under my coffee table maybe...useless 

[MD Puffer]

Swiffer Wet Jet. Takes 5 min and actually cleans your floors 

[Jimmy_jack]

I have an iRobot. One of the best purchases I’ve made in years. Yes you have to empty them and there is some general maintenance. But damn it’s great. Still have to do one thorough vacuuming once a month. 

However it’s connected to our WiFi. We can tell it to start vacuuming while we are at work or whatever. It’s on a schedule as well.

if you get the more expensive version it’ll even have a sort of gps map trail of its path and will outline your homes interior. Kind of neat.

[Ishmael]

https://www.gearbest.com/robot-vacuum/pp_009816316347.html

This will change your life.  Best one on the market IMO.  Best bang for your buck by far.  I am thinking about getting a second one for my other floor so I don't need to move it around so much.

[Habana Mike]

Ours kept getting stuck on 1/2" high kitchen sink mat and thought it was going to die a horrible fiery death if it stepped off. Returned after 3 days.....

[boopdeep]

We love ours. Picks up a ton of dog hair.  We programmed it to run in the middle of the night, and we wake up to cleanish floors. 

There are some substantial differences in models and like some things, you get what you pay for. 

We bought a mid-range one and it got stuck under the couch and on uneven surfaces.  After about 1-year, it finally ripped its own sensor off going under a couch. We exchanged it (love Costco), for the same model, and this one, for whatever reason, is much better. Never runs into walls, never goes under the couch, and never gets stuck. Don’t know why there’s such a big difference. Same model  

In any event, while expensive, we believe it’s worth it, especially for pet owners. 

I saw an ad recently for a model that cleans/empties itself for about a month before you have to empty it.  Pretty neat. 

[NorCalAaron]

Wife loves our Samsung unit, does a decent job on our hardwood floors and the area rugs, having two small dogs and two girls ages 1 and 3 the little robot finds its share of debris.  As  @HarveyBoulevard has mentioned, we still put the battery powered Dyson to work as the robot has difficulty navigating the dinning room with the chairs and table, over all we are happy with its "performance."

I've only heard of one nightmare relating to these robots and it happened to my sister, kind of funny if you ask me.?  Her unit started up while she was off at work and ended up finding a few loose piles of stool? her ill French bully left behind, as you can imagine it ran around the entire house blazing a hell of a trail of dog chet from one end to the other. 

 

[MoeFOH]

21 hours ago, HarveyBoulevard said:

If cat hair is your primary objective then this may be just the tool you need. I only have one because we have a dog.

 

Cheers. Yeah, it's certainly a major factor. Feels like you just clean it all up and next minute the stuff's everywhere again. Having the robot on duty seemed like a good solution. Thanks again. : )

[JIK]

I have a cat and a dog. I love it. Turns on twice a day and fills the bin. Seems like it’s worth it to me. 

[Ult1mat3X]

Roombas work best on perfectly even hardwood floors in homes maintained by OCD people with no children.

However, think of the hacking potential for mechanical and electronic parts.

[zyxwvu44]

I've had a few different Roomba's over the years and they really are great! It's basically all your maintenance done by itself...you just have to do deep cleans every so often. My dog has now figured out to turn if off by pressing the button with his nose, so watch our for that!