Vacuum cleaner- Irobot or traditional Vacuum cleaner

[tonylau]

I am in the market of buying new one, just wondering should I go with auto-programmed like Irobot or go with normal traditional one like dirtdevil, dyson?
My apt has mostly carpet area.

[jm1]

A Roomba supplements a normal vacuum, but doesn't replace it. A Roomba isn't as strong, and doesn't get into the corners and under some furniture and--of course--can't vacuum anything except the floor.

That being said, it's a time-saver for me because we have light-coloured carpet and see every piece of dirt, hair, dark lint, etc. We run the Roomba weekly and it gets rid of most of the visible stuff and only do a full cleaning with the normal vacuum every two/three months or so.

If you have an apartment, it probably doesn't take you that long to clean with a normal vacuum. Use a normal vacuum, save your money, and consider a Roomba to save time when/if you later move and have a lot of floorspace to clean and less time to do it.

[kriskap]

I bought a Roomba and took it back. I live in a busy home with 3 kids and pets and there is no way the Roomba could keep up with us, even as a between-vaccuuming product.

1) It takes forever
2) It's nowhere nearly as thorough as you are

Sure, it's fun to watch and if you're single or a couple with no kids and with hardwood floors and light dust only, it might be fine to run while you're at work. For anyone else -I would recommend a good quality vaccuum cleaner, especially if you have mostly carpets!

[pkguy]

I bought one for the novelty and that's about all they're worth. It takes almost 45 minutes to cover one large bedroom and still misses a lot of spots. They are not a real vacuum, more like a carpet sweeper. Plus they take a lot of upkeep cleaning hair out of the brushroll and out of the wheels etc when you have pets like I do.
Now I just use it for the family room every couple of days, it's all tile in there. On carpet it's even worse, the battery runs down much quicker.

[speedyforme]

still thinking if I should request it as a house-warming gift

would it work for a "clean" single guy who has minimal dust and lots and lots of hardwood/laminate flooring?

[tonylau]

Thanks for all advice, especially JM1, it's very clear to me now.

[canadiantj]

I use the Roomba to do the day to day pet hair in the high traffic areas. Not too loud to use at night. Wake up to freshly vacuumed kitchen etc. Turn it on, and forget about it. Then use the Dyson to vacuum every other day and for the less trafficed areas. The roomba is good, but not the be all end all.

[pkguy]

Speedyforme, it might be ok for you. The less clutter of furniture legs and stuff on the floor the better when it comes to a roomba. Area rugs, scatter rugs, etc can cause problems. You kinda have to Roomba ize your place to get best results. That means picking up big stuff, moving things out of the way etc to lessen the chance of it getting snagged etc. So if you've got a somewhat minimalist place go for it .

[mr_yellow]

I don't know what model the other posters used but I recently got to try out a Roomba 540 in my condo and it was surprisingly great.

1) you do have to "prep" your room by picking things up and moving cables, etc... but it's no different than moving stuff around when you're vacuuming. Some may say it's more effort but that's probably cause the roomba goes places you wouldn't normally get to with an upright (under beds, coffee tables, etc...) which forces you to tidy up places you normally wouldn't.

2) the suction of the model I used (540) was surprisingly good. It does take a few times for the roomba to pick up things like hair or lint, but the algorithm it uses is designed for that. It picked up all the junk on my carpets with ease.

3) the roomba can get stuck on low hanging objects but it's pretty easy to block off those areas once you discover it. (the roomba got stuck on the middle frame under my bed). But overall, the roomba's low profile allowed it to get under things easily. And it saves me the hassle of vacuuming under tight spots like side tables or chairs.

Overall, borrowing the roomba for a week was enough to convince me to get one for myself. The convenience is worth it to me. My old vacuum never picked up as much stuff (but it was a small shark upright with no rollers) and I don't have the space to keep a bigger fullsized vacuum...

[SAN66]

Roomba is great. I own one of the newer 580 models. I usually set it to run, go to the gym and when I come back my floors are clean. If you don't have a large place and don't have any large pets or children its perfect.

The newer models work well on carpet and don't get caught on rugs.

You do have to roomba proof your home. It will get stuck on any low surfaces, like ikea poang chairs or non straight legged coffee tables. My roomba has a tendency to get stuck in the bathroom too, it will smack into the door and then move out of the way only to have the door close behind it.

It also really depends on how well you would have normally cleaned, roomba cleans the floors as well as I used to on a regular basis, but not as well as a clean freak would.

[speedyforme]

my main issue is under the bed, I have a platform bed and no matter how well I swiffer, it never ends...I figure a romba can fix that up

[afici0nad0]

we are also in the market for an irobot (or similiar brand) to complement our vacuum.

i didn't realize how expensive the professional series' can get (+$500CDN). that's like another full-fledged vacuum.

[embguy]

we are also in the market for an irobot (or similiar brand) to complement our vacuum.

i didn't realize how expensive the professional series' can get (+$500CDN). that's like another full-fledged vacuum.

Agree, it only last for a year. The maintenance cost kicks in... to keep it running.