I've seen videos... but exactly how big a house cat can ride on a Roomba?

R70Runner wrote:I've seen videos... but exactly how big a house cat can ride on a Roomba?

Unless your cat is literally huge, it shouldn't have any problem at all riding on the thing, if it's so inclined. The 530s are at least a foot in diameter, probably closer to 14". I honestly can't even envision any cat not being able to fit on it while sitting upright.

it will not effect your security system, the motion detectors are pet immune for small dogs or a cat so it wouldnt pick up the roomba.

I noticed the woot write-up of today's 530 mentions: "You can set it to work at a set time, like while you’re out of the house, and it returns to its base."

I didn't think you can schedule the 530 to run at a set time. Can someone confirm or deny this? (I'm in the market for a Roomba that can be scheduled with no hacking.)

Thank you!

Tip: If you don't want Roomba to go under couch etc low enough to get it stuck....you can use a rolled up a hand towel, roll of coins, etc and put it under the couch. Almost anything similar will work.

I have a Sage and early Discovery model. Just replaced the battery in the Discovery after 2 years (I think) for about 30 bucks via Amazon iRobot oem part. My Sage does the circle dance, and I keep meaning to take it apart, but haven't yet.

You must maintain them. I use canned air very carefully and tweezers to pull out chunks of dust, and the tool that comes with it to slice hair from the brush. Never did a major overhaul.

It may sound like a lot of work, but I prefer it to dealing with gross bagless units by far. How nasty are those? ewwwww

It's not that these things are miracle workers, it's that they allow you to multi-task. I've been very happy with mine, after Roomba-proofing the house. It was well worth the time invested.

RazorClarity wrote:I have had the exact opposite experience. I bought two of the early Sage versions a very long time ago and they are still running strong, twice a week, every week for years now. I had to replace the batteries a couple of years ago, but that is the ONLY thing I have ever done in terms of maintenance (aside from thorough cleanings).

I love my robotic minions and if they keep going like this, my grand children will enjoy them as well.

I wonder how this would work in my class A 39' motorhome? I'll give it a try and find out.

Probation doesn't speak to me -

You know I see a lot of useless posts - not relevent anyway. None Of Them seem to get pulled and slapped with probation.

These vacummes seem small - what is the capacity? i don't understand how they can be so great if the units are smaller than a regular vacumme's dirt bag or container or whatever they catch dirt in.

hw can they be that great? do they suck stuff or do they sweep? Like a restraunt sweeper?

Do yourselves a favor and order an Aerovac bin afer you order your Roomba. Your Roomba will pick up alot more dirt and won't be as loud. iRobot should really make the Aerovac standard on all Roombas. I ordered two more (I have the 540 from a previous Woot). One for the upstairs and the other is going to make a great wedding present for my brother (if it gets here in time, it's next Friday).

tawfiqmp wrote:Does this actually work effectively?

I agree with Beaniebobo...we actually have three of these things (not this specific model..next level up)and they do a better job of vacuuming than a conventional upright vacuum. All of ours can be programmed to run when we aren't home or on any schedule we choose. We have cats, so they get a lot of that dander up. My father has one. Put in new carpet and 6 months later it was still picking up the lint (or whatever they call it!) of the new carpet. Occasionally gets stuck under a couch or cabinet but not often. Usually has re-docked itself by the time we get home.

I have this model, and liked it a lot. But I didn't use it as often I I should and sitting idle is bad for the battery — which is not covered by warranty. So now it sits idle even more while I try to justify to myself the cost of a new battery.

lowr3nt wrote:Does anyone know if this lil' guy will trigger an alarm system motion detector if I set it to clean as I leave the house?

It depends on how low your motion sensors are set. I never had a problem.

I bought the same model here 6/9/09 for $10 less. Had to return to Roomba within the 90 day period and they replaced with a properly working unit. This one was purchased for my girlfriend and she loves it and bought a 2nd older one to use with it. I have the 535 and have had no problems with mine.

I got an iRobot here on Woot (not sure what model). It broke the first time I used it when it hit the stringy edge of a throw rug. I registered on their web site and I sent them numerous messages and I called them a few times and I never got a response. Finally I threw the junk in the garbage vowing to bad mouth them for life.

Refurbed + pre-Lighthouse virtual wall + $10 more than last time = Woot Fail. Too bad, I can live with the first two but charging $10 more for an item that is becoming more and more outdated kills it for me, otherwise I'd have bought 3.

iRobot...iRumba,,,,iFurb....iPass

mkentosh wrote:Will my cat mess with this when it runs?

Our lot follow it cautiously around the room for about a minute. Then they get bored and go to another room, typically. Occasionally one does stay interested longer, but she never messes with it, just follows it around the room.

I found one second-hand. Cranked it up and it grabbed my (nosy) cat's tail. Just keep that in mind, pet owners.

I have one of these (560, includes the timer which this doesn't) for my office, it's great - when we first got it, we spent about 30 minutes just watching it work - it's adorable. It appears random at first, but then you can see it's actually cleaning everything several times.

It misses some stuff around edges of furniture and thick rugs, so you still need to vacuum occasionally, but it usually gets carpets cleaner than a regular vac (unless you go over the carpet 10 times) and scoots right under couches, beds, etc. You do need to clean the bin pretty much every time and the brushes every few times if you have pets or long-haired people, but it's easy enough.

I love it so much I'm getting one for the home.

best thing: does a pretty good job, and it is neat to turn it on and come back to a clean room. we have 3 short haired cats and 2 long haired dogs, so it gets a real workout.

worst thing: having to clean it out is dirty and time consuming. Would probably be less work and less unpleasant for folks with fewer animals.

Advice: use regular vacuum when you have the time, use the roomba when things look messy but you do not have the time to do a regular vacuuming.

Final word: would buy again.
not a time saver since I think the time cleaning it out probably equals the time I would have spent vacuuming. However, does allow us to shift the time we would have spent vacuuming to time spent later cleaning it out.

Bought one last time around (month and a half ago??). Was very happy with it. Two days ago when I try to run it it keeps stopping saying "please clean Roomba's brushes." They are clean!! Save your $$. It did a good job while it worked.

I got the 540 model last time it was on here, and my floors have never been so clean! Sure, it gets stuck every once in a while, but the majority of the time it's able to clean both my kitchen(tile) and living room(carpet and a small rug) and return to its base with no problems. It even plays a happy little song when it gets there!

There is a bit of a learning curve to it, but once you mess around with your virtual wall a bit and find the right spots to put it, it's a breeze.

One thing to look out for is small, loose cables like cell phone chargers. My Roomba likes to gobble them up. If both ends are plugged in, no problem. If it gets the end of the cable it goes nom nom nom.

Having said all that, I will summarize by saying that I'll be buying another Roomba whenever this one dies, and it doesn't show any signs of doing that any time soon.

Massive Overkill wrote:Do yourselves a favor and order an Aerovac bin afer you order your Roomba. Your Roomba will pick up alot more dirt and won't be as loud. iRobot should really make the Aerovac standard on all Roombas. I ordered two more (I have the 540 from a previous Woot). One for the upstairs and the other is going to make a great wedding present for my brother (if it gets here in time, it's next Friday).

I second the Aerovac recommendation. It prevents much of the hair from wrapping around the brushes and dramatically improves the amount of dirt collection. We use our Roomba regularly in the dog's room to keep the dirt/hair from migrating to the rest of the house. The Aerovac made a huge difference for us. All for only $34 or so.

These can also be used for robotic Pac-man.

I have a mostly black rug with red and yellow designs, and the Roomba stops every time it goes over the carpet. The sensor detects the black as a drop, an edge, so I still need to use an upright on the rug. Otherwise, works well.

ckeilah wrote:There was a problem with the original side brushes. After a few weeks they would start shedding arms until they had no side-brush at all. They must have been made with inferior Chinese plastic, as opposed to the new ones that are probably made with just sub-standard Chinese plastic.

Mine's over a year old & I still have the original-factory installed side brush on mine. It's not a problem & these units are much sturdier then the 400 series in every way.

It seems as though woot! will not stop until every wooter is roombafied. I will be sticking with my Dyson (purchased from woot!) and vacuuming on a weekly basis. I'm not calling roomba users lazy, but somethings I'd prefer to do myself and save a little cash.

The best part about mine was it replaced my Biatch uva Wife! (*_*)

I bought three Roombas over the years and the only one totally satisfactory was this one, the 530. It took the earlier 4 or 5 models to cure the flaws.

These can be handy in ways not expected.

Yesterday a wine glass landed on the tile kitchen floor with the predictable result. Broom and pan got the larger pieces but shiny glints could be seen here and there. In 30 minutes while I read a book, Roomba got them all.

Seriously, if you have a medium or long haired dog, avoid these suckers. I bought one a couple months ago and it can't get a single room done without my having to clear it's brushes. I find myself spending more time babysitting this thing than I would just using my Dyson (also purchased from woot). If you don't have a shedding pet then go for it.

smartheart wrote:Roomba returns.

(Over and over).

FINALLY!
I have been waiting for a Roomba for months! I saw one once during a wootoff 3 months ago, but by the time I hit "I want one" it was gone.

I am so excited!

lowr3nt wrote:Does anyone know if this lil' guy will trigger an alarm system motion detector if I set it to clean as I leave the house?

I install alarm systems for a living. Find out if you have a Pet Proof motion sensor. If your motion sensor is not Pet Proof then it will set your alarm off. Most alarm companies put the manuals for each device used inside the alarm panel.

We've had a 400 series roomba for several years now, and we are happy with it. But, we pretty much just use it for our bedroom/master bath. We used to have a furry dog that slept in the bedroom, and we used the roomba every day to pick up all that hair. We didn't like having to clean out the brushes after each vacuum, but it was better than dragging out the big vac and cord each day. We really like how roomba picks up all the dust bunnies under the bed. We did have to come up with a solution to the roomba getting hung up on certain things. When the battery dies, we get it re-charged inexpensively at a local battery shop. We even took the roomba to Florida with us, when we had our dog, to keep the rental looking great. One thing we gave up on was trying to use the virtual wall to keep the roomba from falling down the stairs; the sensor on the roomba is not dependable for this, either. The problem with the virtual wall is that it blocks off to big of an area so it can't get from room to room and still avoid the stairs. I'd get another one if this one died.

How loud is this vacuum? Can I run it at night if I am sleeping in another room?

I bought this end of March last year from Woot, received early April.

It died literally within a week of the expiration of it's one year warranty.

My previous attempts at Roombas resulted in batteries that don't last more than a year either.

Don't expect it to last. Expect to replace it this time next year. If you're cool with that, it's a fun thing!

Will somebody please convince me why I should buy a Roomba? I keep seeing 'em here on Woot periodically, but I have yet to be convinced. Can anyone tell me if it will effectively pick-up labrador retriever hair. Also, can it take an occasional beating from the afformentioned lab? I know she is going to try and fetch this thing...

beaniebobo wrote:I have one of these, and all i can say is that this Roomba S-U-C-K-S!!! Seriously, it will pick up everything! Works better than the upright it replaced!

LOL!

It's lots of fun to load them into a clay pigeon launcher and blast them with a 12 gauge.

One of the best purchases I've ever made was a Roomba. Run it daily, clean it often (daily when the cats are shedding is best) and experience floors so clean you'll swear your mom stopped in to vacuum.

The only 'trick' I had to learn was exactly what needs to be cleaned. There are a couple of places where hair will collect and adversely effect operation. Pretty much anything yellow can be and should be removed when cleaning.

lowr3nt wrote:Does anyone know if this lil' guy will trigger an alarm system motion detector if I set it to clean as I leave the house?

Most motion detectors can be set to respond to movement at a given height (such as 3 ft.), low enough to alert to a human intruder, but high enough to allow the homeowner's dogs or Roombas to go about their daily activities without triggering the alarm. It works at my home this way, and I have 2 dogs and 2 Roombas (this exact model from previous Wootings)!

caruso22 wrote:How loud is this vacuum? Can I run it at night if I am sleeping in another room?

Not 'loud', but too loud for sleeping imho. Definitely not as loud as an upright vacuum, but I'd wager that one would have to be a pretty heavy sleeper to not be awoken by a roomba in the middle of the night, even if asleep in another room. Best to be set to run when one is at work, or even just running out for errands.

Of course, the first couple of days you'll just want to sit around and watch it scurry around and ram into things. And scare the cats.