Reviewer: E. Brooks| Date:2009-07-12

SUMMARY:

Surface Used: Tile Floors
Sq Ft Cleaned per Use: 1000 Sq Ft (3 Rooms separated by 2 lighthouses)
Time to Clean Each Room: 20-30 Min.
Pets: NONE
Maintenance: Clean after every use. Used Canned Air to save time!


USAGE/REASON FOR BUYING:

I have exposed bricks that produce a ton of dust on the floors. This requires me to sweep/vacuum daily. Roomba is pricey, however for my situation, Roomba is a very acceptable and reasonable alternative to having to sweep up the dust every day. I decided to pay for the convenience of not having to do it myself. I can only attest to the ability on floors, not carpeting.

PROS:

*Convenience. Roomba does about 85-90% of the work. Remaining % is for having to sweep hard to reach places as well as keeping items off the floor that could potentially get in the way.
*Battery life works for me. Cleans all 1000 sq ft and docks to charge.
*Cleans under furniture. No longer have to move couches or beds to clean thoroughly. (Thank Goodness!)
*Frequent cleaning = less dust = A+ for allergies.
*Haven't experienced problems with side brushes yet.
*Maintenance of the Roomba takes less than 5 minutes. I had a bagless vacuum prior that required far more maintenance than the Roomba so this is not a con for me.

CONS:

*Cost. Appropriate for those who are paying for convenience. In retrospect, would have considered lower model since I don't use the scheduling like I thought I would have.
*Lighthouses were DOA. Pro: Amazon replaced Roomba in 2 days.
*Roomba doesn't detect my dark colored furniture well. Smacks into it.
*Roomba doesn't navigate my area rug very well. Does OK with smaller throw rugs.
*Dock placement was trial and error. Took a couple of times before finding a good location.
*Can usually traverse cords, however on occasion, the Roomba will yank the cord and the attached product. Could end badly depending on the situation.
*For my Roomba to effectively clean in a less time consuming manner, I feel like I need to purchase an additional lighthouse (which is an added expense).


Suggestions:

1. Clean Roomba after every use for places 1000 sq ft and more. I like to use compressed air like what you use for laptops/keyboards, to blow out some of the debris.

2. Place the dock in a very open and central area where Roomba can easily find.

3. Invest in lighthouses for larger floorplans to allow for Roomba to clean (and finish) one area at a time before moving on to the next room. Otherwise it will take forever to finish.

Bottom Line: I think the convenience factor makes this product worth it. I don't desire nor have the time to clean my floors like they require. I'm satisfied with my purchase.

Review from Review from Amazon

Reviewer: Roseann Santella| Date:2009-07-09

I absolutely love the Roomba. It does a fantastic job and keeps the constant buildup of dog hair and tracked-through dirt in control on a daily basis. Make a few furniture adjustments and the Roomba is good to go unattended and returns to its docking station on its own. It's worth the cost. I haven't pulled out my ancient stand-up vacuum since I started using Roomba one month ago.

Review from Review from Amazon

Reviewer: M. Nichols| Date:2009-07-04

Wow - this is evidence that iRobot does its homework. Easier to clean than the old slide-out filter we had. Seems the cleaning is more thorough, and it appears to be 'smarter.'
We use ours during our RV trips as well as at home.
Even though this isn't the pet vac, it picks up the dachshund hair.

Review from Review from Amazon

Reviewer: Techie Lawyer| Date:2009-06-25

My Roomba Discovery has been acting up lately (after vacuuming my condo 3x per week for 3 years) and I reluctantly put down the cash for this new model. Wow, am I pleased!! First, and most important, this model is about 1/2 as loud as the Discovery, I was watching a movie yesterday while the Roomba was doing its job in the same room, could never have done that with the Discovery. Second, programming it is intuitive and a cinch. Third, the docking station works much better with a easier dock and more solid electrical connection (though you need to anchor the docking station down, I used two small pieces of 3M double sided tape on my hardwood floor). Fourth, the vacuum pattern seems to be smarter. Fifth the unit is easier on my furniture.

Couldn't be more pleased!!!

Review from Review from Amazon

Reviewer: S. Hopper| Date:2009-06-22

I received my Roomba as a gift from my husband 6 months ago and have been waiting to write my review. I read so many reviews before purchasing that complained about parts breaking and the machine not working after a few uses. So I wanted to make sure that my Roomba was going to live up to all of my expectations before finally submitting my review.

I have never had any problems at all with my Roomba. I think some of the problems I've read on here can be eliminated with these tips:

1) Roomba is not meant to replace regular vacuuming and I don't think they are built to be used every day. I use mine in between regular vacuuming, about 4 times a month in our 2 heavy-traffic rooms only.
2) Removing small objects and clutter from the floor before using Roomba will eliminate problems such as getting tangled and crashing into things. To me, picking up these items is part of cleaning anyway. If the Roomba is constantly running over things, that is bound to wear down its parts more quickly.
3) The lighthouses, virtual walls, and docking all work with no problems if you block Roomba off to do one room at a time. Letting it wander freely around multiple rooms will cause the battery to go down before it finishes and will cause it to wander forever before finding the docking station. I've never had a problem getting the Roomba to dock itself when in the same room with the docking station. And the battery always lasts long enough to do 2 rooms.
4) Clean the Roomba after each use. It only takes a couple of minutes, much less time than it would take to run a regular vacuum. This helps the Roomba and its parts run smoothly.

My favorite things about my Roomba:

1) I have back problems, so it cuts down on having to push and pull a big vacuum around (and the Roomba only weighs about 5 pounds)
2) It vacuums under the bed, end tables, etc, so no more moving furniture to clean.
3) I was very surprised and pleased with the amount of dust and particles it picks up. It has as much sucking power as my regular vacuum.

Overall, I am extremely pleased with the performance of my Roomba and think it is worth the money. One more tip: the replacement filters are very expensive if purchased directly from iRobot. I was concerned about this since those have to be replaced every few months. But I found them on eBay at prices half of what iRobot was asking.

Review from Review from Amazon