Robo Floor Cleaners

[dirtbiker]

We've had a robot vacuum for a couple of years now. What we've discovered is that it doesn't work well with two young kids. Nearly every morning we find 'Emma' somewhere with a small toy stuck in it, even when we thought we had everything picked up. We eventually just quit using it. It's not a robot vacuum problem, it's an us problem, for sure.

 

[target2019]

Roomba i3+ placed in service beginning of 2021.
- app setup had a glitch or two with my WiFi
- runs 60-90 minutes without recharging
- not good with fringe on rugs
- creates a map when cleaning completed
- does not map rooms, can't send to a named room
- dirt tank smaller than expected
- instead of clean everywhere command, much simpler to put in a room and push start
- has Home button to send back to charging dock. May get another dock for 2ND floor.

Overall it's a clean machine! Paid $500 or so, with additional warranty. We have a mix of carpet, wood parquet, area rugs, and tiles. So it's a pretty challenging environment, and also shows you why you don't need so much clutter on your floors or under beds.

It sounds like cheaper competition may be a good choice for 2ND floor instead of another charging dock.

The post above is from another thread. Now have 4-5 month report on the i3+ by Roomba. Still satisfied, and eternally greatful this model does not have the software problems which accompany smart mapping. Charlotte is smart in some ways, but just goes out with a simple mind to clean everywhere. So I've learned workarounds to common problems.
- Three floors with the main floor having three separate levels requires planning. I've tossed out some clutter that interefered with a run. Also I divide and conquer. Guitar cases and lightweight furniture make for convenient blocks.
- I take her upstairs (LoL) twice, divide the 2nd floor in two, and let her go! That's another day each week.
- First floor is another day
- Two step down areas another day.
- Run time is about 30 minutes in each of the 6 areas.
- 3/8" threshold she could jump eventually, but that uses more eneergy. So I have a 1" wide transition ramp screwed in.
- Area rugs with fringe? She can deal with that, but it is simpler to just roll the rug up before starting a job.
- Cleaning rollers are not what you'd expect, with no bristles. The roller covers are a silicone sleeve or similar, and can tear, get nicks, etc. The replacement parts are too expensive.

You quickly find the failure points in your environment.

 

[SheitlQueen]

After years of refusing to buy one, I finally did because I got tired of trying to keep up with all the cat hair. And I hate having to vacuum around dining room chairs and under furniture. I bought a Shark IQ robot vacuum that empties itself. It was on sale at Costco for $319. It does a really good job. Once a month I do vacuum a couple of area rugs I have because the cat hair can really get embedded in them. Even the regular vac has trouble with it. But over all I'm very happy with it. Just program it to run every other day and I don't have to life a finger. I'm thinking about trying one of the mop robots but haven't decided yet. I do talk to the robot but I haven't named it.

 

[Ready]

Roomba has some very advanced robotic vacuums on the market costing upwards of $1000+. They have some amazing technology in them but I just can’t justify paying that much for a vacuum. I have to imagine that technology will be available within 12-18 months in some more moderately priced vacuums so you are paying quite a premium to have the latest technology for a relatively short period of time.

 

[harllee]

I use my robot vac Rosie in the most simple way. It is a $130 Eufy model, very basic, no mapping etc. It is only DH and I in a small one story house, no children, no pets. I did not like the way Rosie ran willy nilly on its on and would get caught on the floor registers and cords, etc. So when I am ready to use Rosie I stand beside her and guide her with the remote. If there is a chair or something in the way I just move it. If an area (like under the dining room table) is extra dirty I have her spend more time there. I use her about once a week (more often if there is an extra dirty spot) and it takes about an hour. Afterwards the floors are very clean. Works for me.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

My Roomba i6+ has always been very good at the automatic mapping, etc. I never got the firmware version that was reported to have the problems, and it just updated itself to the newest version that was supposed to fix those issues. It ran the whole house today and there were no issues.

I'm amazed at how long the bag in the base lasts. It's supposed to tell you when it's full and I just now replaced it the first time since getting it in February. Good thing since the Roomba bags are expensive - I need to find a cheaper brand.

 

[catii]

We have one Roomba for each floor, & 4 cats for each Roomba. Interesting that each cat prefers a certain floor to ride around on. The Roombas have been working for years, but wife & I are engineers, so easy to keep them rolling.

 

[ocean view]

Oh, yea. She quits running when she gets stuck, and we have a hard time finding her in our house. We have too many places for her to hide.

Sounds like this would be a good use for the Apple tile thingy

 

[Bamaman]

I think my wife bought Rosie refurbished for $199. Original cost was $700. Good deal. I cannot get over the job it does on her bedroom carpets. Rest of the house is hardwood, and it's never been so clean.

I had no idea how much hair a 135 lb. Rottweiler puts out.

Now she bought "Roosevelt" online. He's a less sophisticated mop version of Rosie, but he does pretty good too.

 

[Ronnieboy]

DW keeps saying we should get one of these Roomba's but I can't comprehend it doing a good job on carpet? We don't have shag carpet by any means but it isn't berber either. I guess it works decent on in-between those two carpet types?

Just watching the commercials and the flimsy looking 'fishing line' brushes don't look like they would do much.

 

[harllee]

DW keeps saying we should get one of these Roomba's but I can't comprehend it doing a good job on carpet? We don't have shag carpet by any means but it isn't berber either. I guess it works decent on in-between those two carpet types?

Just watching the commercials and the flimsy looking 'fishing line' brushes don't look like they would do much.

My cheap Eufy does a great job on my plush oriental carpets. There is one with long fringe that I did have to turn under to avoid it being sucked up. I would think it would do a good job on most any carpet.

 

[Another Reader]

My cheap Eufy does a great job on my plush oriental carpets. There is one with long fringe that I did have to turn under to avoid it being sucked up. I would think it would do a good job on most any carpet.

Where did you buy it?

 

[harllee]

Where did you buy it?

I bought my Eufy back in December on Amazon for $130. Looking at Amazon just now there are none that cheap but there are some for around $150. Mine does not map and I have to empty the dust bin myself but it does have a remote and goes back to the charger on its own, pretty amazing really.

 

[bizlady]

We have Eufy and Roomba. Happy with both. When we upgraded a Roomba, we put the old one in DH workshop- really nice to get the sawdust etc under tables. Also move it the garage occasionally to clean- much nicer than sweeping and kicking up sand.

 

[PaunchyPirate]

DW keeps saying we should get one of these Roomba's but I can't comprehend it doing a good job on carpet? We don't have shag carpet by any means but it isn't berber either. I guess it works decent on in-between those two carpet types?

Just watching the commercials and the flimsy looking 'fishing line' brushes don't look like they would do much.

My house has bare hardwoods, large and small area rugs that are relatively low in their plushness, as well as a large section of plush carpeting. My new Roomba i7+ works equally well on all of them. On the plush carpeting, it seems to struggle a bit to get through it and the spinning brush thing that sticks out the side comes to a halt now and then, BUT I found that the end result is that the carpet is clean. All-in-all, the end result appears to be that the Roomba cleans about as well as my push vacuum does.

I'm quite pleased with the quality of its cleaning ability.

 

[target2019]

DW keeps saying we should get one of these Roomba's but I can't comprehend it doing a good job on carpet? We don't have shag carpet by any means but it isn't berber either. I guess it works decent on in-between those two carpet types?

Just watching the commercials and the flimsy looking 'fishing line' brushes don't look like they would do much.

On iRobot models (Roomba) the side brush is actually quite sturdy. I know I had opinions about these vacuums, but after using one for 5 months I understand the different designs of rollers, motors, and so on.

The i3 Roomba has found lots of dust from deep down in our wall-to-wall. The sidebrush is there to stir up dust in the carpet which meets a wall. It guides larger pieces to the center of the vacuum. The siliconized rubber covered rollers do the bulk of the work. A very strong vacuum pulls the dust and dirt into the removable (also self-emptying on i-series models).

The limitations are there. You just need to use one of these in your environment to find what works and doesn't.

 

[Another Reader]

I bought my Eufy back in December on Amazon for $130. Looking at Amazon just now there are none that cheap but there are some for around $150. Mine does not map and I have to empty the dust bin myself but it does have a remote and goes back to the charger on its own, pretty amazing really.

Which model? At that price point, I would give it a try.

 

[harllee]

Which model? At that price point, I would give it a try.

Eufy 25c. I don't see it on Amazon but Walmart has it for $150.

 

[Another Reader]

Eufy 25c. I don't see it on Amazon but Walmart has it for $150.

Thanks! Target has the 35c for $180. Because it's an experiment, I'm holding out for a lower price point.

 

[misanman]

For the garage?

This may seem like an strange question, but would a robot sweeper work okay to keep a garage floor clean? That's one area of our house that doesn't get a lot of attention so I'm intrigued by having a robot run (maybe every night or every other night) cleaning things up. Bugs me to have a dirty/dusty garage floor.

Seems like it could easily navigate underneath the cars, etc.

Buying one for this purpose could also fit into the "Blow that Dough" thread!

 

[Ready]

This may seem like an strange question, but would a robot sweeper work okay to keep a garage floor clean? That's one area of our house that doesn't get a lot of attention so I'm intrigued by having a robot run (maybe every night or every other night) cleaning things up. Bugs me to have a dirty/dusty garage floor.

Seems like it could easily navigate underneath the cars, etc.

Buying one for this purpose could also fit into the "Blow that Dough" thread!

Yes, it can pick up dirt and dust in the garage quite well. But if you are expecting it to navigate around cars and other obstacles, I would not buy a random bounce vacuum. You would be better off buying one with mapping capabilities and object detection so that it can detect where your cars and other objects are and navigate around them.

I had a Eufy random bounce vacuum for a while. It worked OK as long as the floor layout is very simple. But if you have too many objects for it to avoid, or an unusually shaped floor layout, it will vacuum the same spots over and over again while missing other spots.

It used to be there was a big difference in price between mapping robots and random bounce robots. But once Wyze entered the market with their $249 LIDAR based vacuum the price gap narrowed significantly. For this reason I no longer recommend random bounce vacuums. The price savings is not enough to justify the significant downside of not having mapping and object detection capabilities.

 

[cathy63]

This may seem like an strange question, but would a robot sweeper work okay to keep a garage floor clean? That's one area of our house that doesn't get a lot of attention so I'm intrigued by having a robot run (maybe every night or every other night) cleaning things up. Bugs me to have a dirty/dusty garage floor.

Seems like it could easily navigate underneath the cars, etc.

Buying one for this purpose could also fit into the "Blow that Dough" thread!

Some models require light to "see" what's in front of them, so if you plan to run it at night in a dark environment, you'll want to read the specs before buying.

 

[target2019]

This may seem like an strange question, but would a robot sweeper work okay to keep a garage floor clean? That's one area of our house that doesn't get a lot of attention so I'm intrigued by having a robot run (maybe every night or every other night) cleaning things up. Bugs me to have a dirty/dusty garage floor.

Seems like it could easily navigate underneath the cars, etc.

Buying one for this purpose could also fit into the "Blow that Dough" thread!

It would be a good idea to look into the physical features of the robot. A cement floor and hard objects would tear up the rollers of the iSeries Roomba. As mentioned above, some mapping robots need light to create the map and follow it on future runs.

 

[harllee]

This may seem like an strange question, but would a robot sweeper work okay to keep a garage floor clean? That's one area of our house that doesn't get a lot of attention so I'm intrigued by having a robot run (maybe every night or every other night) cleaning things up. Bugs me to have a dirty/dusty garage floor.

Seems like it could easily navigate underneath the cars, etc.

Buying one for this purpose could also fit into the "Blow that Dough" thread!

If it were me I would buy a cheap robovac without mapping and every couple of days move the cars out of garage and let the robovac go at it. If you don't pay much for it and it gets messed up on something on the garage floor you would not have much money tied up in it.

 

[tulak]

I bought an Eufy last year and it’s ok, but after having a Wyze for the last few months, I’d never go back.

As for avoiding dog poop, run the vacuum manually. This is what I do with the Wyze. It gives me a chance to prep the area and I don’t have to worry about any accidents due to it running automatically.

Now I’m debating if I should splurge for another one for the other floors in the house. I don’t mind manually starting it, but I don’t want to move it to different floors.