iRobot Reviews

I've had my Roomba for over a year, and I don't use it weekly as they suggest (or even bi-weekly) and my filters are falling apart. Backwashing with an air canister hasn't worked, though perhaps this is because my place is INCREDIBLY dusty.

Back-wash the filter after each use with canned air and they will last almost forever.

What a great gift. I received a Roomba for a holiday gift and I am so happy with it. I hate to vacuum. I'm a sewer and always seem to drag threads all over the house. No problem when you have a Roomba. Roomba picks up threads, hair, dirt, dust, etc. It goes in places other vacuums could never (under the bed & entertainment center) I have 90% rug (short pile), 10% hard wood in my home, but it works great on both. I set up the virtual walls, so I can keep Roomba in the area I wish to clean, press the button, it plays a song and goes to town. When it's done, it plays another song and shuts itself off. I empty the bin and plug it back in to recharge the battery. That's it... I still use my upright once in a while to get that deep down dirt, but not as often as I used to. It would get the fifth star if I never had to see my upright again.

Roomba Pro Elite is worth the extra money. You need two virtual walls and the spot cleaner. The remote is handy too.

The vacuum does a surprisingly good cleaning job. I was surprised by how much dust it picked up, and that it could lift a lot of sand out of the carpet. It's simple to empty, and cleaning the brushes is easy once you get the hang of it. The seemingly random pattern will clean a room quite thoroughly, as long as you set it to the right room size and just let it go. I expected it to be just a carpet sweeper, and I hoped it would get rid of enough dog hair that I could get through the week without having to vacuum. It performs better than I had expected, in that regard. Everything the manufacturer said about the vacuum was reasonably accurate, which is very important to me.

It does have a major flaw, though. The first one's brushes stopped turning when the end of the rollers stripped. Both iRobot and Amazon.com were great about getting it replaced. Then the second one picked up a toy that got stuck in the rollers, and the drive mechanism stripped. iRobot agreed to replace it, so we'll see how it goes. They should make the drive train user-serviceable (maybe a belt the owner could change).

If you buy one, you'll want the rapid charger and maybe another battery. Make sure you pick up anything that could get caught in the brushes, and do not use it on deep-pile carpets. This machine is great when it works, and it's made by what seems to be a good company. I hope they are able to work the bugs out, because this could become a "must have" item for busy people.

The only problem is this is supposed to save you labor and time, but I stood there watching it clean one room after the other. I wonder how it will hold up in the long run, but I'm hooked on this thing.

What a great gift. I received a Roomba for a holiday gift and I am so happy with it. I hate to vacuum. I'm a sewer and always seem to drag threads all over the house. No problem when you have a Roomba. Roomba picks up threads, hair, dirt, dust, etc. It goes in places other vacuums could never (under the bed & entertainment center) I have 90% rug (short pile), 10% hard wood in my home, but it works great on both. I set up the virtual walls, so I can keep Roomba in the area I wish to clean, press the button, it plays a song and goes to town. When it's done, it plays another song and shuts itself off. I empty the bin and plug it back in to recharge the battery. That's it... I still use my upright once in a while to get that deep down dirt, but not as often as I used to. It would get the fifth star if I never had to see my upright again.

Roomba Pro Elite is worth the extra money. You need two virtual walls and the spot cleaner. The remote is handy too.

The vacuum does a surprisingly good cleaning job. I was surprised by how much dust it picked up, and that it could lift a lot of sand out of the carpet. It's simple to empty, and cleaning the brushes is easy once you get the hang of it. The seemingly random pattern will clean a room quite thoroughly, as long as you set it to the right room size and just let it go. I expected it to be just a carpet sweeper, and I hoped it would get rid of enough dog hair that I could get through the week without having to vacuum. It performs better than I had expected, in that regard. Everything the manufacturer said about the vacuum was reasonably accurate, which is very important to me.

It does have a major flaw, though. The first one's brushes stopped turning when the end of the rollers stripped. Both iRobot and Amazon.com were great about getting it replaced. Then the second one picked up a toy that got stuck in the rollers, and the drive mechanism stripped. iRobot agreed to replace it, so we'll see how it goes. They should make the drive train user-serviceable (maybe a belt the owner could change).

If you buy one, you'll want the rapid charger and maybe another battery. Make sure you pick up anything that could get caught in the brushes, and do not use it on deep-pile carpets. This machine is great when it works, and it's made by what seems to be a good company. I hope they are able to work the bugs out, because this could become a "must have" item for busy people.

The only problem is this is supposed to save you labor and time, but I stood there watching it clean one room after the other. I wonder how it will hold up in the long run, but I'm hooked on this thing.

Got the Roomba for Christmas thinking it would be really neat to have. We don't have carpet, so I thought it would do a great job. It did the first couple of times. However, it stopped picking up all the pet hair no matter how often I did the suggested "maintenance" on the vacuum. I find that to be a pain as well, having to unscrew things and try not to lose the tiny screw, etc. etc. It's kind of a gross process anyway. Also, I have now found there's a reason it only comes with a 90 day warranty. Got it in November, and it broke tonight. The rubber tread around one of the little wheels ripped and came off. What a strange piece to break. I don't see a replacement part for that on the iRobot web site, so my husband is trying to glue it back together. I might as well just throw it away. I wish I had asked for something different for Christmas! =(

The Roomba is cool technology, but it wasn't the solution for us. We have two dogs, and mostly carpet.

As soon as it arrived, we fully charged the battery (12hrs) and set it loose in our living room. From our upstairs bedroom, it sounded like somebody was being mugged. eeeeeeeeee.... BOOM! eeeeee.... BOOM! eeeeeee.... BOOM!.

It did a decent job, but not nearly as thorough as a real vacuum. Noticably poor at cleaning border areas... ie, carpet edge meets hardwood, I watched it repeatedly roll over clumps of dog hair in these borders and not pick them up.

Perhaps, since it's battery powered, it doesn't have enough suction to pull hair all the way into the dust bin, so it just wraps it around the brush.

When you add the time spent cleaning the brush, moving chairs so it doesn't get trapped and emptying the smallish dust bin two times per room, you could have used a conventional vacuum and done a much better job.

I would recommend Roomba only for non carpet, no-pet situations. I returned mine, but will not rule out the next generation of these devices.

I put Roomba on my christmas list kind of as a joke cause my boyfriend thought it was stupid. Well, Roomba has certainly proven him wrong! I also recieved the rapid charger, which, if you have a lot of house to clean, charges the battery in 3 hours instead of 12. I've gotten at least an hour out of Roomba's battery each time, many times it will go much longer. I have hardwoord floors in my living room and a low pile carpet in my hallway. I am UTTERLY AMAZED at what Roomba picks up. Sure, its filling the dust bin is one thing, but when you flip the bin over to empty the particle bin, you'll be shocked. It picks up sooo much dust and dirt. This is a blessing for me since I have severe allergies and asthma. It is also fun to watch. (Who can say that about your standard upright?!) It wasn't so hot picking up Christmas tree needles, but then again, I didn't expect it to be. It also liked to drag the fringed tree skirt around and any thin cords that are left on the ground. I'd definitly recommend Roomba for lazy people like me who hate to clean!

Overall, YES this thing works with Roomba with no doubt! But you gotta consider the price is way to high for just a virtual wall unit.....

I FIND IT WORKS FINE ,AND IT KEEPS THE VACCUM IN THE ROOM,YOU WANT IT TO STAY IN.

I'm now on my second RoombaPro. The first died just under warranty even though I was assiduous about cleaning it between uses. It was cheerfully replaced via mail by IRobot--no questions asked.

That said, I'm a Roomba fan. Since the machine cycles over the floor again and again, it gets things a lot cleaner than I do while vacuuming by hand. It's especially impressive at picking up Golden Retriever fur and dust from our bare floors and berber carpeting. I can vacuum by hand and then immediately get better results with Roomba.

If you have pile carpeting, avoid it, since battery power gives it limited abilities to deal with the greater resistance of deeper piles.

Consumer Reports recently ran a largely negative review that failed to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the product. (Typical CR: trash whatever is unusual.) If you're an "early adopter" willing to do the upkeep on the machine, if you're interested in watching the Roomba at work and figuring out its cleaning algorithm, if you'd rather not spend time vacuuming--get a Roomba. If you're not a little "handy," if you have deeper pile rugs, don't bother.

I recommend that any prospective purchaser read all the Amazon reviews before purchasing.

By the way, the Roomba is perfect for cleaning pool tables!

I love this thing! I bought one of these for my husband to give me for my birthday (yep..he's that kind of guy:-) I was a bit concerned as we have an open floor plan with lots of furniture about. I didn't need to worry. This thing goes (and goes, and goes). It has no trouble navigating around any of my furniture, heck it even circles my end table legs to clean under the table. It's also great for getting the kids to pick up their toys (okay guys, I'm setting out the roomba, toys up). If it helps, I've got 5 kids, 2 cats, and 1 dog. We have all laminate and tile flooring. I am NOT a neat freak, so there's definitely stuff for the roomba to pick up. Even the hubby was surprised at how well the roomba picks up.

Two points. It's definitely louder than I thought it would be (maybe a little quieter than a regular vacuum). No talking on the phone or watching TV while the Roomba goes about it's job. We use it at night downstairs, this way everyone's upstairs in bed and the noise is not a factor. It would also be fine if you are using it during the daytime - simply in another area of the house. Shop around for the best price. I was able to get the Roomba Pro with a remote (which makes it operate the same as the Elite model it just doesn't have the pretty useless wall hanger thing), from HSN.com for 149.50 including tax and shipping. The price was $199 - the entertainment coupon book (available nationwide) has a 25% off HSN.com coupon in it, which brought the price down to 149, and there was no tax or shipping. I would also suggest investing in either an additional battery or the rapid charger (an extra battery will be cheaper). I have been able to cover approximately 1000 sq ft on a single battery charge, but the 12 hour wait for charge time with one battery gets real old real fast. Also, don't expect this to take the place of your regular vacuum cleaner (or broom and dustpan). It's great for maintenance cleaning, and you won't have to vacuum nearly as often, but you will still have to vacuum really well every once in a while. I highly recommend the Roomba!

I have two kids, two indoor cats and a dog. "Roombie" is a life saver for me. I run him almost every day. He keeps the fur/hair/crumbs from getting out of control. The house is cleaned every other week with a real vacuum, but Roombie keeps it neat and tidy in between. I will admit that I spent about two weeks "Roomba proofing" my house and figuring out areas that he could clean in one run. I have a lot of Pergo and tile, but my bedrooms and family room are carpet. I did tape under the fringe on two rugs and replace two others with non-fringe rugs. I have three or four items per area that I pick-up before he runs (fragile statues, fringed throw rugs, a very long shag rug, etc,). Once I figured out what caused him problems it was easy. I am constantly amazed at the amount of hair and debris my Roomba picks up. He fits under several sections of the sectional and under beds(where one cat likes to sleep). He gets the corners amazing well. I have been VERY impressed. I start him before I leave for work, then plug him in when I get home. I think one of my cats thinks he's a playmate! We empty him after every cleaning and I clean his large brushes once a week. My only wishes are that 1) on large room setting he run until his battery dies and 2) the little rotating side brushes were replacable (mine are pretty beat up already). I LOVE my Roomba!