robot vacuum

[DEC-1982]

I did see references to Roomba but the threads were quite dated.

We are looking at getting one (hardwood flooring and a few rugs). We are considering the Eufy. Has anybody used this one? And/or do you have other recommendations for robot vacuum cleaners?

https://www.amazon.com/eufy-Upgrade...83008&sr=8-1&keywords=eufy+boostiq+robovac+30

We have no pets and it is a one storey house.

 

[CoolRich59]

We have the EcoVac Deebot N79 and have been pretty happy with it.

The only issue we have is that, while it’s supposed to head for its recharging base when the battery gets low, more often than not it dies before finding the base.

 

[Chuckanut]

Keep in mind that my Roomba is now over 6 years old and the newer models are supposed to have better suction, etc.

I got a Roomba years ago when I replaced carpeting in the living area with tile and wood flooring. I think it works great on both the tile and carpeting. I use it 3-4 times a week and am amazed at the amount of junk, including the finish destroying fine grit that it picks up off wood and tile.

Carpeting is another issue. It is just a surface cleaner, thus great for wood and tile, but cannot deep or even somewhat deep clean carpeting, IMHO. I think some of the tests from consumer organization will back me up on that.

Also, it is great for getting under things one does not want to move. In fact it is so great at getting under things that I use it every few months in carpeted rooms to get under the beds. It's practically chocking on the dust, lint and other stuff it picks up. I figure I don't need deep cleaning under the bed as much as I do the carpet we walk on daily.

Oh, the battery lasts about 3 years in my experience before it won't handle a cleaning job without needing a recharge. I think a new one cost me about $30. It really sprung back to life with the new battery. I hadn't realized how much it was dragging before.

 

[Car-Guy]

The DW has been using Roomb's for years. Seems to work okay for routine cleanings but you need a good vacuum cleaner for heaver cleanings. Average life of our Roomb's seems to be about 3 years. (at best) I like the fact that they don't throw out a bunch of dust in the air when in use like most regular vacuums. Also nice to just let it go by itself.

 

[candrew]

DS & DIL have one of these robo-vacuums - I think it's a Roomba. They have two dogs that shed and the Roomba seems to do a good job keeping dog fur off their tile floors.

They've given their Roomba a name. Ernie. Our 18-month-old granddaughter doesn't care much for Ernie. After Ernie finishes his workday and parks himself in the docking station, granddaughter makes it a point to go over there and give him a whack.

 

[fosterscik]

I have an older Eufy Robovac 11. It works really well on hardwood floors and the few rugs we have. Can't comment on its carpet performance. It's quiet and works really well with cat hair. It does get stuck sometimes under some furniture (the newer model you are considering has a lower height - would love that). It does get "lost" quite often. I have to track it down and manually put it on the charger. It would be nice if it were a little smarter. When it finally dies I will probably pay for a smarter unit.

 

[tfudtuckerpucker]

We have an Xiaomi mi. We like it. Here are the pro's/con's (although I can't compare with other robot vacuums)

Pro's
- I love the Lidar mapping. It doesn't use the "drunken sailor" approach. You can see a map of your floorplan, where it's vacuumed and how much is left to do.
- if it the area to be vacuumed is too big for the battery, it will return to base and recharge, then finish
- you can do "zoned vacuuming", where you control the areas it is to vacuum
- at the time, the price was the best (currently $280), and had good reviews.

Con's
- the dust bin is pretty small, so it constantly needs to be emptied.
- It's from china, so I had to translate from chinese to english (thanks google!). There's better english support now, but it all came in chinese. If you buy one, be prepared for some hassles with setup

It's still evolving. I'm thinking of hacking it so it's under voice command (like, "vacuum the kitchen"). This is not built in yet.

 

[Moemg]

I have a Roomba which I have had for over three years . I love it . I am always amazed at how much it picks up . We have hardwood and area rugs and it does a decent job . You have to empty it every time .

 

[Teacher Terry]

Our roomba is 3 years old and love it. We have 3 dogs and one is a huge shedding machine.

 

[DEC-1982]

Very good feedback, thanks to all who posted here.

 

[l8_apex]

I have that Eufy, or one that's very similar to the one the OP linked to.

I've been through a few robot vacs in the past decade now. They get a lot of use as I have two large Bernese Mountain Dogs.

The Eufy is so-so. It just goes in random directions and hopefully covers all the ground before finishing (and it doesn't always cover all of the floor I've found). The other negative is that the brush roller is quite narrow, I'd guess about 5 inches. The upside is that it's quiet, and the noise that it does make isn't irritating. I can be at home while it's running.

I also own/use a Neato botvac. It is much better at its job, but it's noisy. It seems to map out a room, do the edges, then do the whole floor in a laid-out back and forth pattern. The roller underneath goes across the whole width of the machine. Downside is that it's a lot more expensive and IMO it's too noisy to run while I'm at home.

Both machines rarely get stuck, and that was a very real problem with prior generations. Be aware that the one main ongoing cost with this items is the battery, I typically get 2 years out of a set.

Both machines have small dust bins, so I empty them after each use. I also have to clean out the dog hair from the rollers and wheels just about every time as the dog's long hair gets wrapped around things. Those downsides are completely outweighed by the upside of the machines getting the floors clean, even in places (like under a bed) that I wouldn't vacuum.

You can't really have loose electric cords on the floor as the vacuum will get stuck on it. You also can't have rugs that are made of long loose fibers, nor can they be more than about 3/4" tall as the vacuums will have a hard time driving up over the edge of that rug.

 

[dvalley]

Timely thread that pushed me to take the plunge. My last Roomba was 12yrs ago and I wasn't thrilled with its capabilities nor its poor battery life (and the cost of replacement batteries). These things appear to have come a long way since then.

I just bought the Eufy RoboVac 30 after reading a bunch of reviews and comparing to the cheaper ($30 coupon available right now) EvoVac Deebot 79NS and the more expensive Roomba 690. Even though I do have Alexa and some of these robovacs have Alexa controls I believe having wifi/bluetooth chips will add additional drain on the small batteries and really it's not something I imagine using a lot. Anyway, we shall see how well it works.

 

[MBAustin]

My sister gave me one for Christmas a couple of years ago. I like it but it consistently chokes on the dining room rug fringe and it’s not programmable to skip that room. Does anyone have one that deals with that problem?

 

[Big_Hitter]

I have one of these. Works great.

http://www.householdme.com/coredy-robot-vacuum-cleaner-review/

 

[DEC-1982]

I am going to take a detailed look at the alternatives suggested here. I have some concerns about the Eufy and the threads/strands on my rug, and also it not doing the whole house sometimes. I like the idea of building a map and cleaning a room in an organized manner; on the other hand I don't want to learn Mandarin.

 

[Jerry1]

Great thread. I’m thinking of getting one just to send it under the beds (no carpet). Do any of the allow you to program them to say do a rectangle the size of a bed?

 

[tfudtuckerpucker]

I was an "early adopter" for a xiaomi mi vacuum- thus the chinese. English instruction manual is here. Amazon reviews look pretty good. I think it is comparable to the Roomba 960/980, at a lower price. You can do a "zoned cleanup", where you use the app to draw rectangle(s) around the area(s) you want cleaned. Here's a screen capture of a zone being defined. We've used it several times per week since christmas, and my experience has been good- it's been reliable and works well. I really like how you can see where it went, and what is left to vacuum (pic here).

I am not making any money from this- I'm just a frugal careful shopper.

 

[Koolau]

We have a newer Roomba (the old one wore out.) We have all hard surfaces and it does a decent job - maybe not great, but good enough for bare feet not to turn black before the next shower.

We get ancient volcanic dust and grit blowing through the condo and, for that, on hard surfaces, its really great to have a robot get into "most" of the places that such stuff collects and hides.

Agree that the Roomba usually picks under the king-size to die, rather than returning to the charger - okay, couple of times a year. The thing drives me absolutely crazy if I'm there when it runs. It will go over the same place 6 times (I'm not exaggerating) and then miss someplace else. It's NOT smart, but it is persistent. SO, in a couple of days, it WILL get almost everywhere. It always amazes me how much dirt it picks up. I swear there is cat hair in it (and we don't have a cat - maybe it's just mine!)

Anyway, I'm lazy, not particularly particular about "reasonable" cleanliness, so it works for us. Can't comment on other brands. Would like to think the "science" is advancing. I do know the newer one we have is better than the older one AND it has a longer battery life. Having said that, it's just as "stooppidd" as the old one, so YMMV.

 

[ls99]

Have a Roomba, run it every other week or so. Helps that I always take off my shoes immediately by the entry door.



Does a decent job. But I think it is also good at giving a haircut to the rugs. Lots of fuzzies when I dump the dust collector. Sometimes I wonder how long before the rugs get totally scalped. It is funny how sometimes it works the same 5 square feet over and over. Kind of comparable to a drunk taking many steps yet not making any headway.


Still have to push a damp towl or mop around to get the fine dust off the hardwood floors. Overall it beats pushing a vacuum cleaner around.

 

[DEC-1982]

I was an "early adopter" for a xiaomi mi vacuum- thus the chinese. English instruction manual is here. Amazon reviews look pretty good. I think it is comparable to the Roomba 960/980, at a lower price. You can do a "zoned cleanup", where you use the app to draw rectangle(s) around the area(s) you want cleaned. Here's a screen capture of a zone being defined. We've used it several times per week since christmas, and my experience has been good- it's been reliable and works well. I really like how you can see where it went, and what is left to vacuum (pic here).

I am not making any money from this- I'm just a frugal careful shopper.

Thanks, I will definitely take a look at this one.

A stray thought - Will China somehow be watching me through this device? Maybe I am just getting paranoid.

 

[Chuckanut]

.

A stray thought - Will China somehow be watching me through this device? Maybe I am just getting paranoid.

I don't know if the Chinese will be watching you through your robotic vacuum, but anything in the world of The Internet of Things is another attack point for the bad guys. So, make sure you buy your robot vacuum, Wifi light bulbs, baby monitors, etc. from a company that takes security seriously and will automatically update them from time to time to keep ahead of the bad guys. If not an auto update at least an email message telling you to update the device.

Or create two wifi networks in your home: one for the 'things' that use wifi, and another one for all your important work like banking, investing and this site.

Often companies buy free or very inexpensive outdated software (sometimes with known security flaws) to use on their cheap products. When the software security faults are exploited, the company has no financial incentive to update the software or warn you to update it.