Roomba : Who needs a slave when we have robots

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Inspect Your Gadgets > Roomba : Who needs a slave when we have robots

Darkpriest667: Feb 2, 2015; I'm sorry I impugned
your cocksmanship.

Alright, so I notice there is no Roomba thread and I just forked over 400+ dollars for an older model (the 650)

I am very surprised no one on SA has talked about these fascinating little robots.

There are currently 5 models to choose from: the 650, 770, 870, 880, and 980 here is the comparison from Roomba's site

# ¿ Feb 14, 2016 07:47

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# ¿ May 21, 2024 07:33

Darkpriest667: Feb 2, 2015; I'm sorry I impugned
your cocksmanship.

It says the 650 can only do one room but I had mine do my whole 2nd floor last night which has a CRAZY layout. It managed to do it ok. It did run out of battery the second time I think because my bedroom has a very weird setup and it kept missing the doorway. It picked up a lot of dog hair (I have one yellow lab) and a bunch of other stuff. I've cleaned the filter out twice. next week I'll do an entire clean of the unit. I am happy with it's performance and it was definitely worth the money.

As for 3rd party sites, I guess it depends on how much they are going to charge to repair it. I mean if it's more than 200 dollars you might as well just buy a new unit right?

# ¿ Feb 14, 2016 19:27

Darkpriest667: Feb 2, 2015; I'm sorry I impugned
your cocksmanship.

Dr Cox MD posted:

Roomba won't do black carpets, y'all!

I heard it's not good on any dark carpets actually. That the dirt detection system is based on the dark colors in the carpet.

# ¿ Feb 15, 2016 03:10

Darkpriest667: Feb 2, 2015; I'm sorry I impugned
your cocksmanship.

EugeneJ posted:

Bought one for a family member 6 years ago. It died within 2 years and I got Best Buy to replace it since I had an extended warranty. That one died 2 years later (notice a trend?) and since it was out of warranty I ordered a battery replacement kit from eBay and it still runs fine on the new battery.

There used to be some guy on eBay who would repair Roombas for like $50 if you mailed it to him, but I have no idea if he's still around.

I thought the batteries tend to last about 18 months and then had to be replaced?

# ¿ Feb 15, 2016 06:47

Darkpriest667: Feb 2, 2015; I'm sorry I impugned
your cocksmanship.

Well the 650 definitely can't do the whole floor, two days in a row it died in another room. I guess I'll end up forking over 1000 bucks for the 890 or wait for it to go on sale.

# ¿ Feb 16, 2016 23:54

Darkpriest667: Feb 2, 2015; I'm sorry I impugned
your cocksmanship.

stevewm posted:

IMO the Neato BotVac series is the better buy.. Cheaper, they all can do multiple rooms, they all use LiDAR to get around, they all auto return to the base, will resume a previous job if the battery dies, etc..

I have a BotVac 70e https://www.neatorobotics.com/robot-vacuum/botvac/, (the only difference between the various BotVac models is the included accessories and the LiDAR cover color!, It was cheaper at the time to buy the low end model and buy the upgraded accessories separately.) Paid $330 for it new on Amazon about 9 months ago.

Like all Neato bots it primarily uses LiDAR, along with IR wall sensing/edge detection and bump switches to get around. It will go around the perimeter edge of a area first and then do a back and forth pattern in the middle area. If it runs into something like a table leg, it will circle around it usually twice while hugging right up against it before moving on.

I have a ~1,000 Sq.Ft house that is about 50/50 carpet/laminate floors. The BotVac will do the entire house on a single charge and takes just under an hour to do so. If it does run low on charge it will return to the dock, charge, and then go back to where it left off and finish the job. I have it scheduled to run 3 times a week. All told, I'm happy with it. I do still occasionally run the regular vacuum, but the house stays overall cleaner with the BotVac running throughout the week.

The older VX series had problems with the LiDAR units wearing out since they used contact brushes to conduct power and data to the spinning portion of the LiDAR scanner; once the brushes wore out, it started having problems. The BotVac and later models use inductive power transfer and optical data transfer to solve this problem.

I thought about getting the neato but I read many reports that it was aggressive about trying to go over things instead of bumping and turning it would try to run over things that the LIDAR didn't detect.

# ¿ Feb 17, 2016 23:38

Darkpriest667: Feb 2, 2015; I'm sorry I impugned
your cocksmanship.

alternate.eago posted:

I have a collie, and my roommate has a english mastif. There is soo much dog hair in my house, despite keeping the dogs brushed and clean, and vacuuming multiple times a week. I've been thinking about getting a robot vacuum to run throughout the week while I'm at work. I don't mind emptying the bin every day, I just don't want to be disassembling it every day or every other day to pull hair out of the brushes.

I have hardwood floors, and area rugs throughout the house, along with thresholds for the different rooms (it's an older house and different rooms had hardwoods installed as they were added/renovated throughout the years). The main level is somewhere around 1200 sq feet. Is there a recommended robot vac that will work in my situation?

I know two of the roomba's are specifically made for pets. Mine is a 650 and I have a lab and she sheds like crazy.. Ive had it 6 days and I just cleaned the brushes today and untangled any dog hair.

# ¿ Feb 19, 2016 00:29

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# ¿ May 21, 2024 07:33

Darkpriest667: Feb 2, 2015; I'm sorry I impugned
your cocksmanship.

I've now relegated my 650 to only cleaning my room and the hallway. If i have it try to clean all 4 rooms and the hallway it dies. 3 rooms and hallway it dies.. 2 rooms and hallway it SOMETIMES can do it.. It's obvious the 650 was meant for one room. It does a drat fine job. I am probably going to go out and spend the 1000 bucks on the 980 to clean my entire bottom floor which is about 1600 square feet.

# ¿ Feb 24, 2016 00:17

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