iRobot Roomba 650 Robot Vacuum

I have wanted a Roomba for years but it wasn’t until my wife and I bought a new colonial where the downstairs was all wood floors that I finally was able to convince my wife to get one. Am I glad that I did! Our Roomba is awesome. I bought the 650 series, which is the pet version. We have a Jack Russell terrier which seems to shed non-stop, so there is little white hairs everywhere. The Roomba picks up the hair like it is its….well… job. Positives: The Roomba goes around in its random little pattern and does a great job picking up all the hair and dirt bits on our first floor which is roughly 1000 square feet. It negotiates furniture to include a kitchen island and dining room table. It picks up around 98% of the dirt and hair that is on the floor (more on the 2% in the negative section). It gets under our baseboard heating with its outside sweeper and really does an excellent job. With that being said, the majority of the area that it cleans is hard wood floors, with the occasion area rug. We have carpet upstairs but we don’t use it on that so I can’t really comment too much on how it does on large carpeted areas. If you look at the photos I have uploaded, you can see what it grabbed on one run and then the following day run. After each run it backs itself up into its docking station and recharges itself for the next run. I would use the timer and do it at night but I enjoy watching it go around and go through its process. Does it make noise? Yes. Is it loud like some people have stated. No. I don’t know how you could say that this is loud, it is not even close as loud as a large vacuum. I would compare it to a little 9v lithium battery hand drill that I have. It makes a noise, but you could watch tv as it travels by you with maybe one increase in the volume button. Negatives: (minor negatives) You need to think for it. We have to pick up our dining room chairs and the kitchen island bar stool and put them on the table so it can go around the table and kitchen island. If you have the chairs there, it might not be able to get under the table since it will bounce around on the chair legs and have a hard time negotiating the table and chair legs. I also have to block off an opening that is alongside of my recliner because the Roomba will go behind it and get kind of stuck back there for 5 minutes or so trying to get out. It did get out but I feel it is wasting time back there so I put some of my daughters toys in the way so it can’t get back there. I also close the door to my downstairs bathroom because of another person’s review that it sometimes closes a door and locks itself in their bathroom. I avoid that by just closing the door and keeping it from going in. I also have to pick up the floor for anything that would normally get caught up in a regular vacuum. Cords, shoes (and shoe laces) and other items that it will get wrapped up in. It is a vacuum and it has the negatives of any large vacuums, the only difference is you aren’t there to bring it back over the areas that it might have missed. The 2% that I feel it doesn’t pick up isn’t because it “missed it,” it is because it is usually in a transition area where the vacuum lifts up. If I have a bit of dirt along the edge of an area rug it will miss it because it is lifting up in the front to go over the rug. We also have a thick tread “mud hog” matt at our side entry that grabs dirt clumps upon entering the side door. The Roomba doesn’t do that great of a job on the deep crevices but I just normally pick the matt up and shake it outside…all better. Overall: If you take two minutes to pick up your area and plan ahead for you Roomba, your Roomba will make quick work of the dirt in the house. For the 2% that it misses, I grab a broom and a dust pan and sweep it up in 30 seconds. It is much quicker to grab that little 2% than to sweep my entire downstairs or do it all by hand with my other vacuum. Overall, I love the Roomba. It’s fun to watch, great to help out around the house to clean for us and really saves us time so we can have one less thing to do when it comes to cleaning up the house. If you follow the simple directions that come with the Roomba you won’t have an issue. It cleans and saves you time. So why would you not buy this? Other people have said: People have said its too loud – that’s crazy. It makes noise, but it is a machine and it’s a vacuum. The sound it makes is fine. Someone said they didn’t like picking up their dining room chairs – I don’t know how you would clean around them with a regular vacuum. You’d have to move them to do that anyway. Help you’re Roomba out. Don’t be mad at it because you don’t want to help your Roomba succeed. Someone said that they have to pick up their Roomba and put it manually back on the charging station – you didn’t follow the directions that say have the charging station in an open area so the IR signal can be seen by your Roomba to return. They even have a photo in the instruction manual that shows where to put the charging station so the Roomba can find it. Follow the directions. If you have a pile of dirt and some of it is a fine powder on the floor it doesn’t get it all - Neither will a large vacuum. It won’t clean up mud either. It’s a vacuum, not a mop. It can’t get everything. It only does one room then it has to recharge – I have an open concept Colonial that is around 1000 square feet in the downstairs. It does the entire downstairs (minus my bathroom, I close the door). If it can only do one small area before it has to recharge, you didn’t follow the directions, which states to let it charge overnight before its first use or the battery might not work properly. Their expensive – Yup, so is a nice vacuum, like a Dyson, a vacuum that actually works, not the crap you find at Walmart for $75. And it is a robot. Good vacuum and robot = not free. It doesn’t get the grit in the cracks and seems in the floors – First off, why do you have cracks in your floors? Secondly, in the natural small divots that are formed between the hardwood floor planks it picks up dirt just fine. In fact my wife just said “the floors look good.” She was the biggest skeptic of the Roomba due the cost and the expectations she had of it.

This vacuum is amazing. I have three dogs (two medium-haired, one long-haired), that all shed a lot. I was previously vacuuming the house once a week, which caused a significant amount of back pain, and that was not nearly enough. There was always hair everywhere. I picked this little guy up,(I named him Jeeves) hoping to relieve me of my duties, and I am so glad that I did. One thing you must understand when purchasing a robot vacuum is that, well, it's a robot. It is as smart as you will allow it to be, and you must be understanding of it's faults. I have him clean Monday, Wednesday, Friday in the morning so he is done when I get home. Each morning before I leave, I make sure that the chairs are pulled out from the kitchen table so that he can clean under the table. That is really all that I do as far as pre-cleaning prep work. He only cleans the first floor of the house, which is the only area that the dogs are allowed. This area accumulates a great amount of dog hair, and dirt from shoes and other miscellaneous items. I tested him while I was home, just to see how he works, and to see how good he would be able to clean. I was amazed at the thoroughness of him. He can maneuver in very tight areas, and even under objects that he can fit under. Jeeves is very quite, operating at around 75 dB (tested from inches away), and around 60 dB when tested at ear-level (6 feet tall). This is much quieter than our manual vacuum, which operates around 100 dB. Now, as I mentioned early, he is a robot and will be as smart as you allow him to be. Having three dogs, Jeeves accumulates quite a bit of hair in the brushes, on the wheel axle, and at each end of the brush axle. I will note that this hair is 90% from the long haired dog, so I'm not sure how he would hold up to medium haired dogs only. All of this being said, in order to allow Jeeves to maintain his smartness and operate with optimal performance, there is some mandatory maintenance. Before you sigh, ask yourself if you would rather have 5 minutes of maintenance or 45 minutes of thorough vacuuming (because he is VERY thorough) three times a week. First, I empty the dust bin, which is almost full every time. Then, I remove the filter and clean it off. Next, I remove both brushes and remove any hair that has accumulated (there is always hair here). Then, I detach the wheel and remove hair there too. Every 4 weeks I'll unscrew the 3-armed brush and remove hair that has accumulated in there too. I promise you, if you maintain your roomba in this fashion after every cleaning, he will work flawlessly for you. One alteration that I made was adding two-1/2" velcro strips to the front bumper (one to the very top and one to the very bottom). I saw another reviewer suggest this as it completely silences the front bumper (which can be somewhat noisey). You must be careful if you decide to do this, though, because you don't want to cover any of the sensors in the process (the antenna at the top front, or the glossy portion of the front bumper) If you are wondering if you should get this, absolutely do it. It has made my house 10x cleaner, while saving me hours (yes, I mean hours) each week. I longer have to walk around feeling grit under my bare feet. You must understand, though, that this is a robot and will make mistakes and sometimes miss a clump of hair or spot in the house. If it does, it will certainly get it the next time. This is not a maid who will flawlessly clean your house, but it's pretty darn close. Very happy with my purchase and I'm never turning back.

Este tipo de artilugios me eran desconocidos, sobre todo en México. Antes de comprar investigue sobre el funcionamiento, pros y contras, busqué reseñas en Youtube, unboxing y demás; muchas de ellas eran de US otras de España, también ví las reseñas de Amazon en dichos países y fue así que terminé de convencerme. Su funcionamiento me parece muy bueno, la limpieza si no la realiza al 100% (en términos estrictos) sí lo hace un 95%- 96%. Tengo dos perros en casa, lo cual hace indispensable la limpieza y Roomba ha hecho esta tarea muy fácil. Mi casa es de dos plantas y hay escaleras y partes por las que podría caer, pero ello no es problema para Roomba. La uso en ambas plantas y con una recarga le basta y sobra para dejar limpio todo (87 m² por planta). El único problema es en la recamaras, ya que cada tiene puerta y a veces le cuesta trabajo salir de algún cuarto o encontrar la base de carga, a demás si la puerta la dejo abierta quedan cierto polvo detrás de éstas. Por ello me es más fácil el cerrar cada y cuarto y dejarla aproximadamente 20 minutos por cada uno. Otra pequeña falla es con las esquinas de objetos pequeños, debido a que algunos de los sensores para Roomba detectan el volumen, es decir, si Roomba tiene cerca una pared ésta disminuirá su velocidad, en cambio si está en la comedor y el sensor no detecta la pata la silla del comedor (por falta de volumen) la velocidad con la que se entrarán en contacto no será mínima. Es muy pequeño este detalle, tampoco crean que después de cierto tiempo destruirá sus muebles. Este problema se soluciona comprando unos cojines que venden aquí mismo. El filtro que viene dura más de los dos meses. El costo de luz es muy poco, y se se compara con el gasto que tendrías que hacer para pagar a la persona del aseo, lo hace aún más bajo, sin tener en cuenta que encontrar una persona de confianza en difícil (robos y demás). Le doy 5 estrellas porque las fallas que tiene son mínimas, y probablemente en modelos más recientes ya no las tenga. Respecto a que su limpieza la lleve a cabo en un 95%-96% no afecta puesto que si se trapea después se completa al 100%, si se compara vs. un humano, tampoco se tiene un efectividad total, sobretodo bajo la cama y lugares de difícil acceso. Escogí este modelo y no uno anterior por la duración de la batería, el dirt detect, virtual wall.

Debo decir que, al igual que muchos otros usuarios, tenía dudas en adquirir este producto, definitivamente no es un juguete barato. Al final, después de ver muchas opiniones, videos y el manual, opté por decidirme. Después de seguir todas las indicaciones iniciales, pude colocar con muy poco esfuerzo el robot en funcionamiento. El resultado me sorprendió enormemente, a pesar de que tenemos en casa quien nos ayude con la limpieza y no tenemos mascotas ni niños, la cantidad de pelusa y cabello que puede acumularse en un día es impresionante. Realmente sentimos que el Roomba nos ayuda a tener mucho más limpia la casa. Lo que me gusta: - El robot realmente barre y aspira mucho mejor de lo que lo harías manualmente (punto de vista personal), sólo hay que acomodar un poco los muebles para que llegue a cualquier rincón y hará un trabajo excepcional. - El espacio de tiempo que te libera de una labor tan sencilla como barrer y aspirar es algo que realmente percibes, yo por ejemplo, puedo bañarme, lavar el auto o arreglar cualquier otra cosa mientras el robot hace lo suyo. - Nunca he visto que la batería se acabe, si bien el área no es tan grande (unos 100 m2), percibo que a la batería aún le queda bastante carga. - La limpieza del robot es algo sencillo aunque entretenido. En este punto, debo decir que inicialmente pensé que la limpieza del robot sería menos frecuente, pero para mi sorpresa, tengo que vaciarlo cada vez que lo uso por la cantidad de pelusa y basura que recoge cada vez que lo pongo a funcionar. Lo que podría mejorar: - A pesar de tener varios sensores, es inevitable que el robot se golpee con muebles y paredes, si tus muros son algo rugosos, inevitablemente comenzará a rayarse la parte frontal. Sería idóneo que pudiera tener una especie de parachoques intercambiable de fábrica. Conclusión - El Roomba excedió mis expectativas, definitivamente es un producto que recomiendo, lo que más valoro es el tiempo que libera en actividades de la casa y la calidad del trabajo realizado. Estoy muy satisfecho con la inversión realizada.

Mi vida a cambiado, con una niña 8 años, 2 perros y un gato, tenía que aspirar (aspiradora ciclónica) por lo menos cada tercer día, y mover los muebles para aspirar por abajo, cierto que no tiene la potencia de una de estas aspiradoras, pero el aspirado es muy eficiente, la primer semana lo ponía a trabajar en las dos plantas de mi casa, dos veces al día, a partir de la segunda semana, pasa una vez al día en cada planta, y ahora solo uso la ciclónica una vez a la semana en rincones, esquinas del techo o para sacudir muebles. Entones me ha ahorrado MUCHO tiempo, 2 o 3 horas a la semana. De todos los tapetes de mi casa solo se atora en uno, cabe aclarar que este es el preferido de mi gato para jalar los hilitos, entonces lo que hago es pasar el robot solo en este tapete, y después lo levanto, con los demás tapetes, incluso pelos largos, pasa perfectamente. Las mascotas no lo molestan, al principio solo curiosidad...el gato a veces lo persigue pero ni siquiera lo toca...se mantiene entretenido como él15-20 minutos, entonces TAMBIEN ES UN EXCELENTE ENTRENADOR DE CAZA PARA GATOS :-) TIPS: 1. Cuando se pueda, subir sillas del comedor, mesas de salas, otros muebles pequeños y tapetes para que el área de trabajo este lo más despejada posible, el robot hace su trabajo más rápido y el piso queda más limpio. 2. Retirar los platos de comidad de las mascotas y los platos de agua, porque si estan vacios, con poca comida o agua, o son pequeños, puede llegar a derramar el agua y/o la comida...ya nos salio peor, se hace un desastre que luego se tiene que limpiar 3. Usar el aditamento de pared virtual cuando se quiere limpiar un área a profundidad. 4. Secar el baño(s) perfectamente, y también sirve para barrerlo, especialmente en esta zona, deja el piso reluciente. 5. Aspirar el filtro y los cepillos cada semana o cada dos con la aspiradora ciclónica, quedan como nuevos, tener cuidado con el filtro de papel por la potencia de la otra aspiradora, con una pasada a unos cuantos centimetros de distancia es suficiente. 6. Usar el aditamento para quitar los cabellos que se enredan, cada semana o cada dos, si los cepillos estan limpios el tiempo de aspirado es más rápido. En verdad es un muy buen ayudante :-) 5.

It doesn't map out the space but the couple of cleaning patterns appear to be fairly effective at cleaning the space. It does a really good job following all of the walls and the only worry I have is that if you had a really big room it may not get all of the middle. However that usually isn't too dusty for me and it will get it on average so I think it is good enough. The biggest issue is that it has trouble getting out of some rooms just because they don't play well with its patterns. However it does seem to make it out eventually so that room just gets a bit more of the time that it really should. It also somewhat regularly closes doors and locks itself inside the room. A bit annoying but I've ended up setting up something to hold the doors open which solves the problem. The dirt bin is easy to clean and should last 4-6 cleanings in my medium sized apartment. However it does recommend emptying it each time.

You don't need the most expensive roomba to get the job done. It's worth getting this model for exactly the same purposes! I love my irobot (named her 'Rosie' - after the Jetson's robot). Anyway, it gets into the corners will and navigates around the rooms with easy. I'm always surprised at how much dust and hair it picks up. She's much more thorough than me and I don't have to hire someone to clean as often. It's really worth the investment. I left it to go on schedule today for the first time and she picked up my 'decoy' dirt so I know she got into every room. 1 con (but not worth losing a star over) is that the charger makes 'popping/knocking' sounds every so often. It's too loud to leave it in the bedroom. I contact irobot and they immediately sent me a new charger with no hassle (it was under warranty). The new charger still makes popping sounds but I've moved it into another room so I don't really care. It doesn't bug me as much. They also told me it won't ruin the cleaner or charger so I'm not concerned. If you've ever even remotely considered getting one, do it. You'll be very happy.