Author |
Message |
Karuuna
Board Administrator
08-31-2000
| Saturday, February 21, 2009 - 2:04 pm
Anyone have one? Which model? Do you like it? Hate it? Is it good for picking up pet hair?
|
Skootz
Member
07-23-2003
| Saturday, February 21, 2009 - 2:19 pm
Herckie use to have one I think.
|
Urgrace
Member
08-19-2000
| Saturday, February 21, 2009 - 2:25 pm
My gf has an iRobot Roomba® 562 Pet Series, and since she is a cleaning nut I assume it works great. She has a cat and dog of her own and a couple that come to visit with family from time to time.
|
Mameblanche
Member
08-24-2002
| Saturday, February 21, 2009 - 7:12 pm
Kar I'm so glad you asked! I'm also in the market for one. How much do they run for moneywise, and where can I get one in Canada?
|
Boberg
Member
10-04-2002
| Wednesday, March 11, 2009 - 3:12 pm
I have had two Roomba's. I love mine, I have the Roomba Discovery Model #4210. If you have indoor pets that shed and you can't stand the hair, it is a must have. I have two virtual walls, I just turn the Roomba on, put up the virtual walls to keep it where I want it, and push Clean. No more hair. For best prices check out HSN, just put in search box "Roomba" or check with Amazon.com...they sometimes have them refurbished at great prices.
|
Mameblanche
Member
08-24-2002
| Wednesday, March 11, 2009 - 8:13 pm
Boberg, what is a virtual wall?
|
Holly
Member
07-22-2001
| Wednesday, March 11, 2009 - 8:43 pm
Boberg, I've just checked them out at Amazon and they have 5 or 6 models, ranging from $350-$129. I don't know what a virtual wall is or if I'd even need it. I just basically want it to keep my tile floors clean of pet hair and litter paws. Nothing fancy. Which one would you recommend?
|
Twinkie
Member
09-24-2002
| Thursday, March 12, 2009 - 8:56 am
Will they go on and off throw rugs?
|
Lumbele
Moderator
07-12-2002
| Thursday, March 12, 2009 - 9:08 am
Kar, I bought one last year for dh for about CDN$ 250 at Walmart. It was the lower end model 510 without the recharge base. Works great for "in-between" clean-ups. However, if you are looking for something to do a thorough cleaning, this is not the way to go. Hilda (Ogden for Corrie fans) is let loose in the main living area (laminate) a couple of times a week. She picks up dust and the dog's crumbs so that the place looks presentable. Can't speak to pet hair since Charlie sheds very little. For carpets it's the same - a superficial clean, but nothing thorough. But we love her just the same. While Hilda does her thing, we are free to do other stuff. Hilda has enough juice to do living/dining room and kitchen before she has to go to the Rovers (recharge), as dh calls it. A virtual wall is a doohickey that you place on the floor, aiming it at a another, nearby wall to tell the Roomba "you can't go beyond this line", literally "a virtual wall" (kinda like a laser beam barrier). It comes in handy, if you want to do something in part of the area the Roomba is working, so you don't trip over it all the time. Holly, I think they all come with at least one "virtual wall" doohickey. Not vital, but definitely handy. If you want it to do large areas while you are out of the house for most of the day, I'd definitely get one with a recharging base. We are usually home, so it was not important to us. Twinks, yes, it will.
|
Karuuna
Board Administrator
08-31-2000
| Thursday, March 12, 2009 - 9:37 am
I bought the 532 pet series. Apparently it has a stronger brush that pulls pet hair out of the carpet more thoroughly. I do have a cleaning crew that comes in once weekly and does a really thorough job. But with 3 dogs and 4 cats, once a week is simply not enough! I got a really good deal from the irobot website, $30 off and free shipping - that was better than anywhere else. HSN didn't carry the pet models, so that didn't work for me, but their prices look very good for the other models!
|
Dipo
Member
04-23-2002
| Thursday, March 12, 2009 - 9:51 am
I have one but have never been able to get it to start. Do any of you know if there is somewhere I can get it repaired/looked at?
|
Urgrace
Member
08-19-2000
| Thursday, March 12, 2009 - 12:14 pm
Dipo! What about sending it back or making the seller fix it?
|
Dipo
Member
04-23-2002
| Thursday, March 12, 2009 - 12:41 pm
Ugrace, I got it from Woot, and it was right after I had bought my house and didn't get around to even opening if for 6 months, so I figured that option was out. That is why I still have it and have been trying to figure out if there is some way to have it looked at/repaired. Maybe I should contact the roomba people and see if they will look at it for me, maybe then I would at least know if I should just trash it.
|
Eeyoreslament
Member
07-20-2003
| Thursday, March 12, 2009 - 2:04 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTxW3GWZ5hI
|
Hermione69
Member
07-24-2002
| Friday, March 13, 2009 - 2:31 pm
Karuuna, how are you liking it? I have one dog and 4 cats and my carpets are terrible!
|
Karuuna
Board Administrator
08-31-2000
| Friday, March 13, 2009 - 2:44 pm
It just arrived yesterday, and I'm hoping to get it unpacked and plugged in tonight. You have to charge it fully for 12 hours before you can use it. Hopefully i'll have some news for ya tomorrow!
|
Karuuna
Board Administrator
08-31-2000
| Friday, March 13, 2009 - 6:01 pm
For anyone interested, Roomba (irobot.com) is having a one day sale on St. Patrick's day. This is actually a really good deal, since the cheapest I've been able to find a Pet Series Roomba previously was $319. For One Day Only find a Roomba Scheduler at the end of the rainbow! One Day Only – Tuesday, March 17th you’ll save $50 on an iRobot Roomba Scheduler Vacuum Cleaning Robot and get a FREE Pet Upgrade Kit (a $29.99 value) plus FREE Shipping*. iRobot Roomba Scheduler: Was $329.99 NOW only $279.99
|
Hermione69
Member
07-24-2002
| Friday, March 13, 2009 - 6:04 pm
Ahhhhh! I want one so badly!!!
|
Lumbele
Moderator
07-12-2002
| Saturday, March 14, 2009 - 8:24 am
Canadian Tire is offering a Roomba with dock station and 2 virtual walls for $270, so we picked up an early Christmas gift for the newlyweds.
|
Karuuna
Board Administrator
08-31-2000
| Saturday, March 14, 2009 - 12:44 pm
Well, my little pal and I finished the bedroom and bath, and I think he did a good job. I have to imagine that underneath the bed must have been overwhelming, since who knows when it was last vaccuumed. He petulantly quit and demanded that his brushes be cleaned and bin emptied before we went any further! Now, he's fast at work on the kitchen, which is hardwood and a bit easier I think. He picks up the stray kitty little particles with no complaints, cords don't give him a worry at all; and so far none of my throw rugs have thrown him. He goes on and off with ease. So I'm pretty pleased at this point!
|
Holly
Member
07-22-2001
| Saturday, March 14, 2009 - 2:15 pm
So, how do these things work? Do you set them on a timer to leave their "dock" and go clean or do you have to manually set them off. What I imagine is something that goes around the house while I'm out, picking up pet hair etc. (light cleaning) and then returning to it's dock to recharge. How often would you have to change it's bin if there's not much beside hair to pick up? TIA. I am all smooth marble type tiles throughout the house, so I'm wondering if this would be any better than a daily swiffering (except it's doing it, not me!)
|
Karuuna
Board Administrator
08-31-2000
| Saturday, March 14, 2009 - 2:32 pm
For me, it worked better on the hardwood, but that may be the under the bed issue. The manual says to empty and clean brushes after every three uses. You can get one with a scheduler, that goes off each day, does its thing and then re-docks to recharge. Those were more expensive, and I work at home a lot so it seemed easier to get the one that I just set in the middle of the room, push the button and then it goes. Cleans each room for about 25-30 minutes, then shuts itself off. It does have a 'dock' button, so I can push that and if it's not too far from the dock, it will go park itself and recharge.
|
Colordeagua
Member
10-25-2003
| Saturday, March 14, 2009 - 3:16 pm
Do Roombas actually do a decent job of vacuuming carpets and hard floors? I've always dismissed them as some expensive enough "toy" that really didn't do a very good job at all. Vacuuming / floor cleaning is not my favorite thing.
|
Sadiesmom
Member
03-13-2002
| Saturday, March 14, 2009 - 11:07 pm
Roombas do a good job, not a great one, but you are more likely to use it more often since it takes little effort besides cleaning the brushes. I have had my Roomba for 2 years. I use it only once a week where I have wall to wall carpeting. I found it gets caught on fringe of area rugs. My ffrined uses 2 every day and her battery failed after 1 year, but there is a cheap alternative to the official batteries. I bought mine off of woot, it was refurbished and I never had a problem, I got it for under 100 dollars. This January, there was a woot for 4th generations for 150, but that is unusual, they generally go for about 150 now for one. There are also the cheaper work shop model and the gutter cleaner. I also bought a scoomba from woot for about 125 and it works fantastic, except in corners, but it washes and dries the floor excelently, so I don't feel the need to wash more than once a week. With Woots, you have to open them right away to get them replaces. I bout so many things from there, but only 1 gave me a problem, it took 2 weeks to geta replacement printer, and that had a slight crack, but works well.
|
Holly
Member
07-22-2001
| Sunday, March 15, 2009 - 9:32 am
About Woots...do they only offer one special deal per day? (They have no search button on the page)
|
Karuuna
Board Administrator
08-31-2000
| Sunday, March 15, 2009 - 9:56 am
Colord, Sadies is right, they do a good job, not a great job. But it's surprisingly good. I don't think they would replace regular vaccuuming, but in my house with so many critters, once a week vaccuuming isn't enough. This way, I get another 1-2 vaccuumings in, and it really does help!
|
Sadiesmom
Member
03-13-2002
| Sunday, March 15, 2009 - 10:11 am
Woots offer 1 deal a day but sometimes they have "woot-offs" where they sell off stuff that did not sell before, changing as soon as they have a sell of. There is a tool that will noticfy you when the woots change. The key to getting a good deal is to check as close to midnight central time, when they change woots. Roombas tend to last because they used to be ffrequent woots, they are not as frequent now, about once a month. Check between thanksgiving and Christmas for some good deals though.
|
Holly
Member
07-22-2001
| Sunday, March 15, 2009 - 10:16 am
Good to know. thanks, Sadiesmom.
|
Ladytex
Member
09-27-2001
| Friday, March 27, 2009 - 8:34 am
Woot-Off has the Roomba 535 right now for $149.99. Probably won't last long ...
|
Dipo
Member
04-23-2002
| Friday, March 27, 2009 - 9:10 am
Thanks, I am going to try again.
|