Reviewer: Christopher Keys| Date:2009-06-30

The roomba 535 was, as I understand it, created for the Home Shopping Network by iRobot and was discontinued after they finished selling it. Based on the 530 model, it does have a noticeable upgrade. The big upgrade is the addition of the lighthouse technology. Lighthouse is an advanced virtual wall that ensures your roomba will clean the room it's in first, then move on to the next room and ensure it's cleanliness. The lighthouse can be switched as well to function as a virtual wall if you don't want the roomba to venture into a particular part of the house.

We've had our 535 for about six weeks now and we love it. It tackles daily vacuuming quite well and returns to its base to recharge when it's done. We have a 1700 sq ft home and it does a great job of handling the whole house on a single charge. It does require some daily maintenance, where you empty the trash bin and clean the brushes daily, but this takes only 1-2 minutes and is a snap with the included tool. It goes under our furniture and picks up anything that's hidden under there. It even pushed out a pair of sunglasses that we were missing.

Flooring:
We have 4 types of flooring in our home: Carpet, linoleum, laminate flooring and ceramic tile. The roomba covers them all and transitions seamlessly between each.

Pet hair:
We have 3 dogs; a maltese, a silky terrier and a german shepherd. We didn't realize how much dog fur was lying around until we sent the roomba off on it's task, now we see the fur as we empty the container. I've heard its a wiz with cat hair as well, but we're not cat people.

There are 2 cons with the roomba:

1. It doesn't replace your standard vacuum. With daily use of the roomba you're standard vacuuming job will be greatly reduced, and it will get deep into the carpeting that the roomba cannot. If you vacuum once a week like we did, we've dropped to once every 3-4 weeks now.

2. The roomba isn't great with corners. You'll notice that you may have a buildup in the 90 degree corners of rooms.

iRobot support:

As I sing the roomba's praises, I do have to point something out. After a week of use, our roomba started making a thumping noise. I contacted irobot's technical support and found that we had a defective brush housing. They sent a new housing out right away and it installed in about 5 minutes. They've designed the roombas with replaceable components, so they're easy to swap out if needed.

Other common questions:
What about stairs?
The roomba has stair sensor technology that will stop it & reverse it if it senses a drop off.

Can I schedule it to clean when I want to?
Not out of the box. There are programming tools to do it if you really want to. I just hit "Clean" before I leave the house for the day. There are other versions that have a schedule function built in (ie. the 560)

What about cords? Does it get stuck?
There are safeguards against cords as well as technology to stop the brushes if it senses a cord and the roomba pushes on and the brushes resume when the cords are no longer sensed.

On a 1 to 10 scale, I give it a 9, but on a 1 to 5 scale, I give it a 4. I hope this helps.

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Reviewer: H. Nguyen| Date:2009-05-14

I bought this item in Sep 2007. Used it very lightly. A couple of weeks ago, the light started blinking red. I thought the battery went bad and ordered an expensive set of authentic iRobot battery as replacement. Still the same problem. Tech support confirmed that the machine itself was shot.
The plastic construction of brushes is of lowest quality: easily damaged by tangled hair, etc.
A model (also 500 series) sold at Costco seems to be better made.

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Reviewer: Linda M. Breaux| Date:2009-05-01

I love my Roomba, it does a great job and I love to watch it work. You need to divide up your rooms by using the lighthouse as a virtual wall or put something in the doorway to keep it from going to another room. You will be surprised at how much dirt it picks up.

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Reviewer: UmitoYama| Date:2009-04-03

I, too, got this on special through Woot.com and though "Little Button" (yes, we named him) has only been with us for 2 days, he's already an indispensable member of the household.

Indeed, both my wife and I are already regretting that we did not bring one of these into the family earlier.

We used to vacuum once a week (if that) and there certainly was no joy in the task. Little Button? That is the sole purpose of his existence. Everyday, we can just hit the little CLEAN button and head off to the office or out to dinner and Little Button heads straight to work with single-minded purpose and relentless determination. Dust, crumbs, hair --- none stand a chance against this little guy. And for the first time in years, the areas under our bed and dresser are getting regular vacuuming attention. Goodbye 2cm thick layer of dust under the bed.

There's a great review for the 530 model that points out another great perk of Roomba: Aside from the obvious benefit of never having to vacuum again, if you're like us (okay, me) and not always good about ensuring that things are tidy and put away, you get the motivation of knowing that Roomba's ability to do a good job vacuuming is dependent on you keeping things neat and potential obstacles out of the way. I'd like to think that this a change that is going to stick.

As if all this weren't wonderful enough, once the little guy is done vacuuming, he finds his way back on his own to his charging station (though I have to admit, it's a bit creepy when we set him to work before we leave the house and then come home to find him docked and glowing softly in the corner).

Finally, there is just something mesmerizing about watching the Roomba putter around and do its thing, especially if there's an obvious patch of dust or hairball somewhere. You just sit there watching and wondering which pass is going to be the pass it manages to pick it up.

We are totally in love with our Roomba and planning to purchase more for family members (the mopping one for my wife's mom, the vacuuming one for my mom) and as wedding gifts for people we want to love us forever.

Roomba has already earned itself a coveted place in our pantheon of modern gadgets that have changed our lives for the better:

1. Toto C100
2. TiVo HD
3. Roomba 535
4. iPhone

Roomba. Rocks. We love you, Little Button.

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Reviewer: Courtney Robertson| Date:2009-04-03

I bought the 535 model on woot.com because I had read mixed reviews and wasn't sure I wanted to pay $300+ for a Roomba just yet. I've had mine for two weeks now and I'm not sure how I ever lived without it! I've got dark hardwood floors and a very furry Golden Retriever. I used to vacuum with my upright two or three times a week but since I've had my Roomba I haven't pulled it out once.

It's not perfect but it is supposedly a learning robot and it does seem to be doing better every time I run it. I now spend 3 minutes emptying the bin and cleaning the brushes instead of 20 minutes vacuuming (and moving furniture to fit my upright). The Roomba even gets under my kitchen table with the chairs still in place! And it transitions from hardwood to rugs without any problem.

If you're looking to fully replace your upright vacuum this probably isn't for you. But if need some help keeping the pet hair under control the Roomba is your perfect companion!

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Reviewer: e.m.| Date:2008-12-30

I have wanted a Roomba for a while. I have a perfectly good vacuum (so I thought) but it was getting on in years and was cumbersome, plus I hate vacuuming and being a pet owner I really need to do it more than I would prefer (never). So when I found the basic Roomba very on sale I was suspicious and decided to research reviews first. In short, people seemed really excited about their Roombas. Its maybe the best reviewed product I have ever come across. These people seemed a little over-enthusiastic, but the few negative reviews seemed trivial so feeling confident I went and bought my Roomba (for $90). Now I am one of those crazy fans too. I am in love with my Roomba.
When I brought it home I ran my regular vacuum first. My house looked clean. Then I ran the Roomba and checked the dust compartment. I was both horrified and fascinated at how much junk was in there. Who knew I was living in such squalor and filth! It was weirdly satisfying to dump it all out. Every time I run it I am shocked at what it picks up. I haven't had the trouble with carpet tassels that others report - but it does try to eat my bath mats. On the occasion that it does get stuck, it is really quite good at getting itself unstuck and negotiating obstacles. Dump the dust compartment every time, clean it every handful of times - this will stay easy if you do it regularly. Don't clean it over the trash; it is so easy to disassemble (and reassemble) that the smaller pieces can fall out into your trash can which means you'll have to dig for them - obviously I learned this the hard way. I talk about my Roomba like it's a new puppy and am convinced that everyone needs to own one.

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Reviewer: John Q. Public| Date:2008-07-31

If you need to vacuum but do not all ways have the time you'll find that this will do The Job and Do It Well, it is not a toy or a another faddish gadget it works and works well.

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Reviewer: Just a reviewer| Date:2008-06-30

First of all, I like the roomba 400. It's much cheaper than the 500 series, and it gets the job done in my house.

One note about batteries. I have two same models. One has NiCD as opposed to NiMH battery, which is presumably standard in the more recently sold Roomba 400 model. However, there is one advantage to the NiCD battery: it doesn't self-discharge as quickly as the NiMH battery pack. With the NiCD, I can just recharge, take it out of the roomba, and leave it for weeks without losing charge. I just have to make sure to fully discharge it when it runs because of the possible "memory effect" of the NiCD battery type.

Secondly, the bottom of my walls where the roomba bumps into have black streak marks because the roomba runs into it too hard. Also, when I check after it's done vacuuming, I find that it's eaten up a lot of carpeting. I'm not sure whether all vacuums do it, but it seems more noticeable in the roomba because there are two separate compartments for fine dust particles and what the coarser brush picks up.

I've decided to deal with the wall streak by buying foam adhesives and placing it on the bumper. It's working well now. I bought it from a place called roombaexchange.com, and I would just prefer to buy my own if I could find any other place that has similar foam adhesives that I can just cut on my own because the one from roombaexchange.com doesn't cover enough on the top of the bumper guard.

Overall, while I like not having to vacuum manually, I really wish iRobot would have used more standard form for its battery because the battery's proprietary form is much more expensive than it has to be. In fact, there are aftermarket vendors who sell Roomba batteries, even longer lasting and lighter Li-ion batteries, with varying degrees of success.

I also wish that I didn't have to shell out a couple hundred $$ more for the 500 series which apparently bumps into walls without as much force. The bumper guard foam has been working ok, but I had to remove it when my roomba died on me, and I had to send it in for an exchange.

And that is another story. iRobot is slow with their customer service. Once you email them, they may respond quickly at first. Then their responses get very slow to the point where you are not sure whether they are ever going to respond.

Eventually, I got my RMA number after a week, sent it in, and received a new one under warranty after another week.

So beware. If you ever need customer service, you'll probably get frustrated.

For $100 though, the 400 model is much more cost effective than the 500 series, and I have two of them which I can use simultaneously.

When it works without problems, it's worth it. But once it breaks down, you're in for some headaches from their customer service.

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Update: After about 6 months or so, I have some new perspectives on this. There are areas under the wheels and the brushes that collect dust. In fact, the area under the wheels collected so much dust that roomba started to skip and then stop on its own a few seconds after I started it.

Roomba tech support did not give me the correct advice on how to fix this. Instead, after I used my home vacuum to clean the wheels thoroughly, it started working again. Requiring another vacuum to clean this vacuum cleaner is very poor design, but on the bright side, now that I know this, I vacuum the underside of my roomba about once a month and have had no problems. I don't know if the 500 series are susceptible to this problem, but I would still get a 400x series for the price savings.

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Reviewer: T. Hill| Date:2008-05-26

good for 30 days, Then the roller brushes fail. Bad service department when calling had difficult translation about product when talking to a manger he know what had happened to the vacuum. I sent the vacuum to them for repair. Four months latter no replay from comany.

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Reviewer: eng9880| Date:2009-07-05

We have had the Roomba for a month now and we like it. It is nice that you can do two things at once. It does a thorough job and out dog adapted to it very quickly. It does need to be cleaned a lot, but with that said is easy to clean and maintain. We wish we had three of them since it really only does one room at a time. It came with two virtual walls, but because we have so many doorways in our house, we could use two more.

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Reviewer: Jake Blues| Date:2009-07-02

The whole point in buying a Roomba is to save time. Any time you save is quickly lost by the amount of time spent cleaning the brushes or walking around the house to see where the Roomba stopped due to the battery running out without even making an attempt to dock with the charger. The Roomba doesn't seem to follow any sort of pattern when cleaning. During every cycle, it will go over one area multiple times while completely ignoring other areas. I also find that the Roomba is just tall enough to get stuck under our sectional and the dresser in the bedroom. In fact, just today I had to free the trapped Roomba from the exact same spot three times.

The actual vacuuming that it does do is fairly ineffective on anything other than hair or loose surface dirt. For a good, deep vacuum you'll still have to break out your upright.

I'm a robot-loving nerd but the Roomba just doesn't do it for me. The idea is years ahead of the technology required to do the job effectively.

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Reviewer: Lynn S.| Date:2009-06-30

I gave this product 4 stars because it's effective and fun, but doesn't completely meet my expectations (like returning to the docking station and needing to be plugged in 24/7) but it's close. I've used this for a couple of weeks so I'm still wary of it's lifespan as other reviewers mentioned. I suppose purchasing it from BedBath & Beyond would make a return easier.

I have a house with two XL cats. I really dislike the loud sound of a traditional vacuum and needing to attach a hose to get anywhere near corners or under furniture. This unit's noise is very tolerable and cleans places I never have. The cats aren't afraid of it either.

I section off a room at a time and then go do something else. I wouldn't run this while out unless the room really has no hazards for the robot like something to get wedged under. I dump the bin and filter fluff into the trash after each room. I don't run it in every room, every single day. I think that's a little psycho. The clean floors have made me want to mop them with the swiffer wetjet I also hadn't used in many months.Very nice results.

This vacuuming has really cut down the amount of swirling hair balls and floating hairs in the house - fewer eye irritations and allergy symptoms like my husband used to get when he would clean something around the house. I got the kit from HSN with two towers that I've needed to block off the oddly designed old house that I live in. Transitions onto area rug easily.

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Reviewer: M. LU| Date:2009-06-21

Got the 532 two days ago and we thought it was a miracle since it works great in our 3 dog house hold. But today, it starts to act up and require cleaning of the cliff sensors. However after cleaning the sensors per instruction in user manual, the unit still goes backwards a few steps then stop and give same error again. So, this is going back. I do like the idea and the product and I am hoping I just got a bad unit by luck. Maybe I will wait a little bit longer before try another one.

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Reviewer: Nikolas T. Everett| Date:2009-05-25

Cute robot. My three year old loves it and it really does work. In fact he saw a picture of it and yelled, "thats the robot right there! Be happy robot. It wants to clean the floor." When I explained I was writing a review for the robot so other people would buy it he said, "it ought to stay with us."

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Reviewer: Alan Suding| Date:2009-05-16

Some of the add-on parts used are no longer available (wireless routers) or replaced by newer versions (BlueSmirf). Fundamental approach still applies but will take some reader knowledge to apply with current products. Interesting hack book nonetheless.

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Reviewer: jef| Date:2008-09-15

Great book, I would suggest getting more than one roomba so you can mod one and still vac the floors. Top fun, all good info in one book, Yes you can get most of the info online but I think its better to have the directions at hand when halfway through a mod instead of rushing to look it up again link after link

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Reviewer: David L. Bump| Date:2008-07-22

I've only gotten into chapter 3, with a few peeks in the back, but so far this book has lived up to my expectations and more. It has all sorts of basic information for people who haven't had much experience with tinkering with electronics. There's also plenty of reassuring and cautionary information for those concerned that their attempts to play with or improve their Roomba will break it instead. I'm looking forward to trying the experiments -- the book will be worth reading even if I never get around to them, though.

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Reviewer: PJT| Date:2007-01-25

I received a "Rootooth" adapter as a Christmas present so I bought this book to expand on hacking Roomba. It is very detailed and easy to follow. The book assumes that you have some basic programming knowledge (i.e. MS VB, MS C#, MS C++, Java)to get the most out of it. You need to know how to compile and execute Java code to do the experiments in this book. It has some cool experiments and a lot of references to downloads for any utlities you will need to hack Roomba. I would highly recommend "Hacking Roomba" as a must have.

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Reviewer: Donald Cochrane| Date:2007-01-15

As a SW programmer interested in SW Robotics Control, this book goes over a lot of those things you would want to do with the Roomba. The iRobot Roomba is a great platform for this and the book highlights these features nicely. Well worth the purchase.

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