Do you have a roomba or something like it?

[mommy2allyandaveri]

I am in the market for a roomba type product for our laminate flooring. What do you have and do you like it? Roomba's seem super pricey!

 

[ZehnJahren]

I had one in my last house - all laminate flooring upstairs. It was an interesting little thing. I'd say it was worth the money just because it did MOST of the work. Of course, it doesn't work too well in oddly-shaped rooms but went right under our couch and other furniture so it was nice to keep those areas clean.

Because the room was oddly shaped, it often couldn't find its dock at the end of the cycle and we'd come home to find it out of battery in the middle of the floor. You also have to clean out the bin after every use; it's not very big, so you can't let it go for a few days.

It scared the crap out of the pets, though, and once we found a chunk of the dog's hair in the front of it, like it ran into him and took a bite. The dog and cat mainly started going downstairs to get away from it.

 

[3boymthr]

I have a Roomba and I love it but the kids hate it and tend to turn it off whenever I turn it on. I dont have laminate rather hardwood throughout (the house predates laminate). I don't think it's a perfect substitute for broom and dust mop on hardwood but I think it's a great in-between daily cleaner. I have an older model that doesn't find it's dock rather it would start beeping when it needed to be charged and it will do an entire room before it needs to be charged. It also had to be emptied multiple times during a cleaning cycle but inch for inch of room traveled it also picks up way more dirt than my regular vacuum. It will go under the beds no problem but it doesn't fit under my sofa. It also jams if it finds a lego. As PP mentioned it doesn't do odd shaped rooms well and I found it also doesn't do x-large rooms well - it tends to get lost in one end of the room but average sized square/rectangular rooms are just fine - it's also great for hallways.

 

[tinkerone]

had one but found it to much of a bother. it never found its docking station, which was a selling point for us. it also used to get stuck in lots of places like when it got to the sofa for some reason it would jam itself in and not be able to get out unless you picked it up and started in a new direction. the bed was like that as well, always got stuck there.
there was the need to empty it and keep the filter clean and replaced which seem to be a lot of work I would not normally do on a daily basis. it wasn't to long before we decided to yard sale it.
over all, I like the premise but didn't like the actual product so much and for the money, well, its not cheap.

good luck on your choice.

 

[chris31997]

We loved ours. As long as the kids left it alone and keep it downstairs and it could "remember" to find its dock, it would dock. But after awhile, it was too muich fun playing with a very expensive toy and it forgot where the dock was. It also never fell downstairs.

Cleaning it was not a big deal because we had a bagless vaccuum, and I would have to clean that after every use.

 

[Swimalie]

We had one and while I used it a lot, it was a pain. It would get stuck on our fireplace, stuck partially under the couch, etc. We got new carpeting in the main floor and it would just stop, for no reason. We have hardwood as well and it did okay but would not get the corners. Eventually it died and we got rid of it. So it's nice but having to set up al of the blocking stations became too much and not worth it.

 

[lucyem]

I think it depends on your space and needs. I have a roomba and a scooba. In our last house they were great. All new wood flooring, I put it down and pressed start and went to bed. Mine does not dock. Off it would go. Did a fab job on daily little stuff. When we moved to a 250 yr old house it only worked in the kitchen so both have been packed up. Uneven floors and thicker throw rugs are not roombas friends. Moving again and excited to use them again.

 

[tvguy]

My mom bought us one several years ago for Christmas. She was out of ideas for gifts, and thought it would amuse our cat!

We just pulled all our carpet out and put laminate in everywhere but one room. Frankly, I'd be afraid to use it on the laminate since the makers instructions say no devices with brushes should be used to clean the floor. Works fine in the carpeted room, and it is nice not to have to pull the big vacuum out for just one room. Leaves interesting patterns on the carpet too.

 

[Spacepest]

I was given a used Roomba from my mother. My mother is disabled and bought a Roomba to help her clean her floors. It worked great on her laminated and carpet until she refloored her house with a darker colored carpet. The Roomba stubbornly refused to go on her new dark colored carpet. So she gave it to me to try and use it at my house. I'm not exactly sure what model it is, but my mother said she bought the most expensive, feature loaded one available.

Its a nice product, but from my experience it clearly has limitations.

Most days, it works fine. But other days, there are problems.

First off, my home has no carpet. Its only tile and laminate, some of it dark colored. The Roomba I was given is extremely tempermental--it would refuse to work on my mother's dark carpet, but would work fine on my equally dark tile and laminate flooring.

I think its ok for daily maintainence cleaning, but is no substitute for deep cleaning. I use it on the first floor of my house to pick up dust and pet hair throughout the week, and one day a week I still have to use a traditional vacuum or broom because it misses corners and won't clean under some furniture, and sometimes it gets mysteriously stuck under furniture or can't find its recharging station.

If I use it on the second story of my house, it would go near edge of the stairs, freak out, and turn itself off. (Defeating the purpose of a Roomba...I want a device to vacuum my house unattended while I'm not home!) Twice it actually fell down the stairs, even though my model has extra sensors in it that are supposed to prevent that sort of thing from happening!

If you have longhaired pets, the hair will get caught in the wheels, motor, blades, etc, and jam it up. I had to take mine apart every couple of weeks to clean it because our long haired cat's shed hair kept causing it to malfunction. (Now that I no longer have a long haired cat I don't have this problem anymore).

Also, if you have pets it may scare them, or run over them if your pets are lazy. One day I came home to a traumatized cat and a nonfunctioning Roomba because the machine had sucked up one my cat's favorite small toys. Oh yeah...if you have kids or pets who leave small toys lying around, they will get sucked up and jammed in the Roomba.

Also, it seems like my Roomba hates my husband. For some reason, EVERY time he turns it on, it malfunctions. Most days I use it, it works fine (within its limitations).

Noisewise, it is about half as loud as a traditional vacuum cleaner.

I've had my Roomba for about a year and I'm not sure if I would buy a new one, at least not without more updated, less stupid models being released.

 

[j2thomason]

I have had 3 roombas over the past 10+ years. I agree that they are great for everyday "spot" cleaning, but not great for deep cleaning. My current roomba I have had for 3 years and it just died. Two-three years is the typical life span if you are cleaning it regularly. The prices have gotten so ridiculously high I doubt I will get another one. If I could find a decent one under $150 I might buy one again, but it's really just a convenience item and doesn't always work well. They are very temperamental and persnickety