Soulboy Posted February 1, 2009 Report Share Posted February 1, 2009 (edited) :D I saw one of these at a friends house and was so impressed that I got one and absolutely love it. Somebody bought it for me from Costco and I think it was about £160. The main reason I love it is that its incredibly easy to use. In my case I have it under a low shelf that the Kitchen bin lives on and its hidden and out of the way. When I am going out, I just press the clean button and it sets off and does its thing for an hour or so and when I get home it has vacumed everywhere, found its docking station and put itself back on charge. The only thing you need to do is empty the dust section (which comes out very easily just with one button). But the other thing I love about it, is the fact that it is very slim (only a few inches high) and therefore goes underneath all the furniture including sofas, TV stand, beds etc - areas that normally dont get done that often. More positives are that it has a 'cliff sensor' so it wont fall down stairs etc and you also get a little 'lighthouse' which you can put down to stop it going across the invisible beam. Now, the thing that suits me is that all my downstairs is Walnut flooring which is very dark and used to look dusty all the time. The majority of my downstairs is open plan too, so it works brilliantly here. Upstairs is all newly carpeted, and it is not as good here. The suction is obviously not as good as a bigger vac, and the dirt container fills up quite quickly with new carpet fluff. If some of the doors are not wedged open, it can also nudge tham and close them and lock itself in a single room. I still use it upstairs, but I think you need to give it a go with a full size vac every so often as well. Another negative is that once or twice it has got snagged on some cables running along the skirting board - so these need to be moved or secured. All in all, I absolutely love it and cant praise it highly enough if you have solid floors. This Vid isn't the exact model I have got, but it gives you a good idea of what it does. YouTube - Roomba Edited February 1, 2009 by Soulboy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterS Posted February 1, 2009 Report Share Posted February 1, 2009 Now that looks cool Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve2 Posted February 1, 2009 Report Share Posted February 1, 2009 my solicitor friend has one and i love the way it stops before it goes over an edge. I have just got him a strip of carpet to go up a level from one floor to the slightly higher floor+++ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy_Bangle Posted February 2, 2009 Report Share Posted February 2, 2009 They are great! I've had one since since last summer and it makes light work of my oak floors. I love the fact that when the battery is getting low it goes off and recharges itself. If you're a linux geek you can even hack the OS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soulboy Posted February 2, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 2, 2009 The only really annoying thing is that when it has to talk to you it has an irritating American womans voice. This is it in demo mode. YouTube - roomba demo I think they should have made it with a Jeeves and Wooster type butler voice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tipex Posted February 2, 2009 Report Share Posted February 2, 2009 That would absolutely do my head in, I hate it when 'objects' talk to you for no reason, in that video it gives over no information whatsoever, other than to tell you what is probably in the manual anyway? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_Tone_ Posted February 2, 2009 Report Share Posted February 2, 2009 Would the unit set off a PIR on the house alarm? When I move am considering one as we will have hard floors downstairs - I notice John Lewis sell them for £175 they were £150 odd last year! Buy Domotec Roomba 530 Vacuum Cleaner online at JohnLewis.com Cheers Tone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tipex Posted February 3, 2009 Report Share Posted February 3, 2009 The only way to find out if it will set off your PIR's is to try it. If it does you can buy new lenses for most PIR's that have a low level cut off incase you have pets, they are called pet lenses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soulboy Posted February 3, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 3, 2009 They never set the PIRs off in my house. As for the voice, the bit on the vid is just a demo mode, which I suppose they use to demonstrate when selling it. The only time it talks to you after that is just with warnings - mine has only done it once. It stopped when I was seeing if it would vacume the duvet and it said 'check cliff sensors' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_Tone_ Posted February 3, 2009 Report Share Posted February 3, 2009 Cheers for that chaps. Tone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sms720 Posted February 3, 2009 Report Share Posted February 3, 2009 I have an iRobot Scooba - the floor washing equivalent of the Roomba. That is also a fantastic bit of kit - the wife (who would normally be very sceptical) loves it - as does everyone who has seen it in action. Will probably get a Roomba next month... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigyb Posted February 3, 2009 Report Share Posted February 3, 2009 I got a 530 today from Costco, it impressed the GF so I guess it can stay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sms720 Posted February 4, 2009 Report Share Posted February 4, 2009 Could any Roomba owners please tell me the minimum height clearance it would need to clean under something - say a sofa? I can't seem to find that detail on iRobots website Thanks Simon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tipex Posted February 4, 2009 Report Share Posted February 4, 2009 Are they any good on carpet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soulboy Posted February 4, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2009 I have just measured mine It goes under my glass TV unit which is 9cm high and I think the actual height is less than 8cm. And yes it does work fine on carpet, but not quite as well as a conventional vac. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steelwind101 Posted February 5, 2009 Report Share Posted February 5, 2009 LOL! That looks cool and a good review. You have made the googleads change to vacuum orientated ones! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mollox Posted February 5, 2009 Report Share Posted February 5, 2009 Can it cook and is it any good in bed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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