topic Re: How Useful Is Your Robot Vacuum Cleaner? in Home

How Useful Is Your Robot Vacuum Cleaner?

Sooner — Wed, 24 Feb 2021 19:25:25 GMT

Do you like it and use it often? Is it effective on wood floors? Tile floors? Does it wet wash some floors?

And does it go under your dining table and around the chairs?

I am thinking of getting one and would love input from real users! THANKS!

Re: How Useful Is Your Robot Vacuum Cleaner?

AnnieBelle — Wed, 24 Feb 2021 19:30:21 GMT

I really like the robot vacuum for wood/laminate/hard surface floors. It picks up all the dog hair and the under-furniture dust bunnies. It will pick up surface lint and such from flat pile carpet, but I still use my upright for a better clean on rugs. I recently got the Bissell Spinwave, which also washes the floor. I'm happy with the job it does. I'm sure it's not as spotless as if you got down on your hands and knees to scrub the floor, but it's just fine for my requirements.

Re: How Useful Is Your Robot Vacuum Cleaner?

tucsongal — Wed, 24 Feb 2021 19:38:40 GMT

We got our Roomba from QVC about a year ago. I absolutely love it, although it is noisier than I anticipated. Our entire house is vinyl plank flooring with some rugs(a couple have to be moved because the Roomba catches on them but most are fine). I move our dining room chairs out so Roomba can get to the pedestal area. It goes under the sofa, beds.

I watched it closely at first because there are a few areas where it could get stuck, ie on the backs of our recliner bases. I just placed weights there to block it.

I run it once a week and it’s amazing how much dust is picked up. We don’t have any pets but there’s a lot of dust in the desert 🌵. Our house is small and I do half, let it recharge and then do the other half. Sorry, that may be more than you wanted to know lol.

Re: How Useful Is Your Robot Vacuum Cleaner?

patbz — Wed, 24 Feb 2021 19:42:15 GMT

We've had our Roomba for 3 years. Our son gave it to us as a gift (I'd never have bought one) and we love it! We have bamboo floors and two long hair doxies; we run it as needed ( sometimes daily ).

Re: How Useful Is Your Robot Vacuum Cleaner?

Ainhisg — Wed, 24 Feb 2021 19:48:54 GMT

Useful? Don't even get me started on how much I love, love, love, love, LOVE my robot vacuum!!! I have a Roborock E4 available on Amazon. Huge dust bin, huge battery, great CS, parts available on Amazon. The E4 vacuums in a back and forth motion--not in a ping-pong ball fashion like some lesser vacuums. There's no radar on it, so it is less expensive yet uses an electronic eye to know where it has been. One charge will vacuum our 1700 sq. foot house--lots of carpet and tile. It has an amazing brush where long hair hardly gets caught in it. I don't know how it does it, but the bin will be full of hair (mine and our two dogs) but hardly any will be wrapped around the brush. Roborock also makes vacuums with lidar if you want to go a bit more expensive. There's an active FB community to help with any issues, too. Check out the reviews on YouTube by Vacuum Wars of the E4 or any other Roborock products. I got mine at a promotional price when it first came out, but if it died tomorrow, I would be ordering another E4 at full price if I had to. I can't go without it! The lowest I have ever seen it priced is $180.

It does not map nor let you block off rooms. I do have some areas to which I don't want it to go and some things I don't want it trying to go under, so I take about 10 minutes before I run it to "pre-clean." I put barriers where I need them, make sure cords are put up, make sure the pups haven't dripped water from their water dish, etc. Then I turn it loose, and away it goes! It takes 90 to 110 minutes to clean our 1700 sq. ft. house. I use it three times a week.

ETA: My model does have a mopping system available, but I don't think it would work very well. It is my understanding that robot combination systems just basically drag a wet microfiber cloth around. Check out Vacuum Wars on YouTube for his review on mopping vacuums.

Re: How Useful Is Your Robot Vacuum Cleaner?

ScrapHappy — Wed, 24 Feb 2021 19:48:06 GMT

I really like mine. I have a Shark. I have a very large 3 story home with carpet and tile on top floor where bedrooms are, all hardwood on middle floor, and carpet and tile in finished basement. We liked it so much, we have 1 Shark for each floor.

Re: How Useful Is Your Robot Vacuum Cleaner?

eadu4 — Wed, 24 Feb 2021 19:53:29 GMT

I purchased one for my daughter and she LOVES it. Says it works great! I still have my Kirby I'm waiting until we upgrade the flooring in the spring (take out the carpets) and then I will probably invest in one.

Re: How Useful Is Your Robot Vacuum Cleaner?

Lucky Charm — Wed, 24 Feb 2021 19:53:45 GMT

Every day use.

Two cats.

Every day use (worth repeating).

It does go under dining room tables and chairs. I start mine in a particular corner in the dining area, let it clean that corner and then move one of the end chairs to that area. I do pull out the other dining chairs from the table, but you don't have to.

I love that it goes under beds and occassional chairs that you'd have to move otherwise to vacuum.

My homes are nothing but hardwood and tile in the baths. No carpets except bathmats. Normally I pick up bathmats to wash daily, but roomba will go over them and they are thick.

I don't use Wifi for mine or the *hidden walls* or whatever they are. I use a long piece of driftwood to partition off rooms, so it concentrates on a room as long as I want it to.

Otherwise it will go from dining room to living room, to kitchen and back to dining room. Whatever it wants to do. But....! I want it to run for about a half hour in each room. My homes are small and mine can do the entire downstairs in 3 hours.

I have 4 Roombas. They don't wash floors---I do.

Re: How Useful Is Your Robot Vacuum Cleaner?

FastDogWalker2 — Wed, 24 Feb 2021 20:28:26 GMT

Very useful! I have a Roomba. I use it in the bedrooms in our home. After I dust and change the sheets, I close the door and let it go. It does a great job and saves me lots of time. I don't use it in the "open concept" part of our home that has wood floors - too many opportunities to get stuck. Because I have two constantly shedding dogs, I vacuum the wood floors usually 2 x a day with my Shark. It goes under dressers, beds and night stands so I think it would go under dining tables, etc. HTH

Re: How Useful Is Your Robot Vacuum Cleaner?

Sooner — Wed, 24 Feb 2021 21:42:08 GMT

WOW thanks to all for the good information! I think I have to have one!

Re: How Useful Is Your Robot Vacuum Cleaner?

Jackyl — Wed, 24 Feb 2021 21:55:10 GMT

I have the Shark robot vacuum. I use it a couple times a week and it definitely picks up the dust and dog hair. I have the one that automatically docks and empties the contents. I'm glad I bought it, I find it very useful. I have tile and rugs in my house. Seems to work on all of it. Mine goes where it can fit.

Re: How Useful Is Your Robot Vacuum Cleaner?

Sooner — Wed, 24 Feb 2021 22:40:03 GMT

OK. I'm going to try the Roomba i6+ from Amazon because I can try it and if I don't like it, I can send it back and try something else. Amazon is good about that.

I was really torn between getting a simpler one, but was swayed by the dock where it empties the dirt -- now if that isn't lazy!

I sure appreciate the advice and will report back--so any other input is welcome here too, it will help me and many others I'm sure!

Re: How Useful Is Your Robot Vacuum Cleaner?

Free2be — Thu, 25 Feb 2021 19:11:49 GMT

I think you will love it, Sooner. I've had mine for a few years and use it mainly when I'm too tired to push the upright around which is silly. I really should let it do it's job more often as it does a very good job.

It won't get around furniture as well as you can with another style of vacuum where there are nooks and crannies, legs, and low furniture that the robot won't fit under but no vacuum is perfect, perfection being over-rated. LOL

Re: How Useful Is Your Robot Vacuum Cleaner?

Icegoddess — Thu, 25 Feb 2021 19:30:01 GMT

I'll be the one dissenting vote. Didn't care for it. Too noisy and scared the cats. Too much time trying to dig the cat hair out of it. They may have fixed that problem, but there actually used to be an article on the net called Where all the cat hair goes that gave instructions on how to take the thing apart to get at all the cat hair hiding spots.

The Scooba, which was the wet version often got caught on the toe railing of the cabinets and it left the floor too wet. Plus, I really needed to move the kitchen chairs to another room if I wanted it to get under the kitchen table. Just too many obstacles. I prefer a steam cleaner for my kitchen/bath floors.

Re: How Useful Is Your Robot Vacuum Cleaner?

LonestarBabs — Thu, 25 Feb 2021 19:55:00 GMT

I have a Shark ION without the auto-empty feature. I use it about 2-3 times per week and am amazed how much dust and dirt it picks up! I still prefer to use my upright vacuum for the bedroom carpets, but the Shark does ok there for general upkeep and maintenance. I can adjust the suction level. Had to get used to the clunking sound of it bumping against furniture, baseboards, etc. but there is no damage.

I have to periodically take apart the wheels and brush rotator to clean them of debris or hair that builds up, but it doesn't take more than 5-10 minutes. "Hazel" will become finicky and I know that it's time for a little maintenance.

My Shark didn't come with the barrier strips you put down to keep it away from certain rooms, etc. I do move a few chairs and one occasional table prior to her scheduled cleaning. Speaking of schedule: the app is convenient BUT flaky.

"Hazel" runs for about 2-1/2 hours each time and usually returns to the dock with about 30% remaining. I've been pleased with the purchase.

Re: How Useful Is Your Robot Vacuum Cleaner?

ladychas — Thu, 25 Feb 2021 22:03:05 GMT

I love my MRoborock S5 so much I ordered the S5 Max so I have one on each floor. Maps out your floor plan first ime it vacuums. After that you can limit vacuum to one room or zone cleaning. Has no go zones that can be set. Maps and control available on my phone and tablets for auto use. Both have the mop feature which I find helpful but not as good as mopping yourself, although it does get quite a bit of dirt off the floor. It does have feature where you can turn mop off for certain areas such as throw rugs. Only thing now is for it to empty itself automatically. I know Roborock is introducing this feature soon. I wouldn't trade these for anything. My hardwood floors look and feel so good after cleaning. I do not have any carpet only hardwood and tile and I have 2 cats that produce copius amounts o hair and the robot gets up all the hair even the hair that accumultes around the felt pads on dining room chairs and kitchen barstools which was such a pain to remove when using vacuum cleaner.

Re: How Useful Is Your Robot Vacuum Cleaner?

Lucky Charm — Thu, 25 Feb 2021 22:07:23 GMT

@Icegoddess wrote:
I'll be the one dissenting vote. Didn't care for it. Too noisy and scared the cats. Too much time trying to dig the cat hair out of it. They may have fixed that problem, but there actually used to be an article on the net called Where all the cat hair goes that gave instructions on how to take the thing apart to get at all the cat hair hiding spots.

The Scooba, which was the wet version often got caught on the toe railing of the cabinets and it left the floor too wet. Plus, I really needed to move the kitchen chairs to another room if I wanted it to get under the kitchen table. Just too many obstacles. I prefer a steam cleaner for my kitchen/bath floors.

My cats are afraid of everything, so they stay away from the Roomba, but the vacuum cleaner (and steam mop) scare them long after I'm done. It's ridiculous.

Re: How Useful Is Your Robot Vacuum Cleaner?

Ainhisg — Thu, 25 Feb 2021 22:42:33 GMT

@ladychas yay! Another roborock fan! . Aren't they just the best?

Re: How Useful Is Your Robot Vacuum Cleaner?

just bee — Fri, 26 Feb 2021 21:23:42 GMT

I'd been considering this model but haven't quite made up my mind.

Re: How Useful Is Your Robot Vacuum Cleaner?

SchippyLuv — Sat, 27 Feb 2021 00:30:13 GMT

I'm on a budget, so I bought a Eufy on Amazon for $175 which is usually $250. I just thought I would give it a try because with a dog and two cats, I'm constantly fighting the battle of the Fuzz...

Well I'm totally amazed at how much I love my Eufy! I use it every day. I love how it goes under and around everything, even the bed. I does a marvelous job on the baseboards, which are always a pain for me to do well. And my carpet always looks like the maid was just here.

Love Love Love my little robo-Guy!