bmmeup wrote:I bought one of these as refurbished a couple years ago and was sorely disappointed. It arrived filthy with so much hair and carpet stuck in the brushes and wheels that it wouldn't move...plus the dust bin was still full...and yes, it did not work either. The return process to roomba was a nightmare...many, many emails just to get an RMA number plus a trip to UPS.

Weird. You think it was a mistake that got sent out without being checked?
Mine looked absolutely brand new.

Not completely sold on the 90 day warranty from this deal, but other re-sellers sell refurbished by irobot roombas with warranties up to 3 years, for a little more.

Don't think I could bite on this one with a 90 day.

great product, missed some spots, but hey, its better than getting my lazy butt to do it

Don't do it, Neatos are better! Trust me, I'm a Roomba survivor.

My Roomba came from from woot and was new in every way. Freddy the cat follows it around. It picks up hair like a champ. My wife thought I was buying another toy. She loves it!

Love my Roomba. We call it "the maid". Love that it goes up under the bed and in tight little corners that the Kirby can't get to. Does a good job of picking up dust and pet hair. Keeps everything looking fresh and tidy. It doesn't suck out the deep down grit the way an upright does, but i can live with that. With two dogs, our maid keeps all the dog hair out of the bedroom and out from under the bed.

Heard a pretty hilarious story about one of these things going after a dog turd. Apparently had to replace the brushes.

If you buy one of these, make sure to get the optional remote control. It comes in handy when Roomba goes nuts and tries to repeatedly knock over your stuff or chase your cat around the room.

For a device that has such simple path finding logic, my Roomba seems to have a secret sadistic side. It often tries to make a bigger mess than it cleans up!

Oh... and don't buy one of these if you have a long haired cat. The hair gets tangled up in Roomba's brushes, and the poor thing will be repeatedly screaming it's "Do DO! Clean Roomba's Brushes!" warning message in no time.

Great review from someone who has had it a long time with pets and kids.

http://www.amazon.com/iRobot-560-Roomba-Vacuuming-Silver/product-reviews/B000UUBCNO

Plus an amusing video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RD1qUNeM74I

I wanted a Roomba pretty bad, so I went down to Fry's Electronics and picked up a 560 (not exactly the same as this 530) for $350. I was very happy with the Roomba, but by chance I checked the Fry's site (shopping for something unrelated to the Roomba) and found that the 560 had been marked down to $270. Since my purchase was within 10 days, I went down to the Fry's store and they were helpful and efficient in applying their 30-day "price-match" guarantee and crediting the $80 difference to my card. Kudos to Fry's for making that possible for me, but the more salient point is that I still paid over $100 more for a model with an only slightly-enhanced feature set.... so to me, this seems like an excellent deal.

iRobot's comparison, 560 vs 530. Hope this link works: http://store.irobot.com/comparison/index.jsp?categoryId=2501652&prodList=pid_3881236.3881234

EDIT:
And I've been thinking about this "Aerovac" upgrade to mine, http://store.irobot.com/product/index.jsp?productId=11903764-- from what I've been reading, it can seriously improve the power of your Roomba 5xx.

Tip: After you receive your Roomba from Woot!, go to irobot.com and register your Roomba. Within minutes, you will receive a 15% off any accessory coupon, so you can save a substantial amount on the "Aerovac" upgrade suggested above, or on a pack of replacement filters, etc.

Does anyone actually get the square trade warranty on this? Seems like from a lot of the reviews I've read that Roomba has minor breakdowns (i.e. sidebrush, led, etc). A friend of mine got one from Woot! and has nothing but praises about it. Although he did say it loves to eat wires. If someone can reply would make my pulling the trigger easier! Thanks!

CowboyDann wrote:If you have a lot of pet hair, stay away from this model.

From the reviews I've read, you also have the option to "upgrade" any Roomba 500-series model using the "Aerovac" kit available on iRobot's site, which in theory offers better suction to address large amounts of pet hair and a filter that is less inclined toward clogging...

ibyankeefan wrote:Does anyone actually get the square trade warranty on this? Seems like from a lot of the reviews I've read that Roomba has minor breakdowns (i.e. sidebrush, led, etc). A friend of mine got one from Woot! and has nothing but praises about it. Although he did say it loves to eat wires. If someone can reply would make my pulling the trigger easier! Thanks!

I did, couldn't be happier with it. I had this same model for 4-5 years and the brush deck broke down once, long after it was out of warranty from iRobot. I contacted Square Trade and within a couple days they had a prepaid packing box delivered to my house, I packed up the Roomba, UPS picked it up, and a few days after that a different one of the same model arrived (replaced with another refurb rather than repaired). I've had no further problems.

I also upgraded with the Aero bin and definitely recommend it. I have two dogs of a breed that is legendary for shedding; Roomba never clogs, and the brushes need minimal cleaning.

I love this Roomba! I got him last year from Woot! as a refurb. I turn him on when I'm leaving for work and he neatens up the place for me. That's a lot more than can be said for the other members of my family! I have a very sheddy dog, so I clean the beaters often. Seriously, it takes 2 seconds to pop the beaters out and pull the dog hair off it. Still a lot less effort than pulling out the Rainbow and vacuuming.

Roomba does a fabulous job on tile and hardwood. A decent job on the surface of carpet if you just need a between-vacuuming touch up.

We've purchased teo Roombas in the last four years. We live in a small (1200sf) condo and used the roomba once a week. They both died after about 18 months and it was less expencive to replace them than repair them.
Untill the quality improves, I COULD NOT recomend them. Save your money.
It's a great idea. It just doesn't work.

as a true nerd, i asked for one of these for christmas in 2009. i received this exact model and it was a refurb. do not hesitate to click that button! these little things are fantastic, and actually DO clean. (also, its fun to harass pets and small children with) mine is still running strong

YOU DO NEED TO clean it out between uses. If you are buying this because you are too lazy to get off of your couch, just...leave now. This is a machine and it does require maintenance

All these years I've seen these things as woot killers. So much so, I didn't see the usefulness of them until a friend said, "you should get a Roomba for these hardwood floors that you clearly never clean". The light went off and I've had my face planted here waiting for one to show up. I'll be geeking out on it in no time and will report back to my fellow wooters...

OT. Just got my Daily Woot Digest email telling me what yesterday's deals were,great information.

Swapping out the vacuum bin for the AeroVac works very well; they're plug compatible so it's just a matter of taking off the stock one and putting the AeroVac on. Greatly improves performance in high pet-hair environments, and the coupon-code trick described is a great way to do this.

I have a love/hate thing with Roomba. I have never bought one brand new, but have owned a couple of refurbs and several off of Ebay, from the 530 back to the original.

The biggest con is that they are not very reliable. Get ready to replace a $50 battery every year or so, and do serious troubleshooting on sensors and the like. You have to REALLY want a robot to put up with the maintenance these things require.

Two minor drawbacks are that it does miss a few things, as others have noted, and is just the right height to get stuck under the cabinet and dishwasher overhangs.

However, if you're good at prepping a room and don't mind the maintenance, they're awesome. It's no thing to vacuum daily. Especially if the home base is in the room you are vacuuming. I leave mine in the kitchen, and it's super easy to set up the virtual walls and push start and go off to do what I want while it vacuums.

It's also great for the bedroom. I have allergies, and Roomba always vacuums under the bed when it does the floor.

Kismet!

I think that when 2001 started (or at least 2012), we should all have been handed a Roomba, along with space ice cream, and a Jetsons' car (with appropriate Jetsons' sound effects). I could go either way on getting my free clone and Saturn rings around all my clothing, but the rest should have been staples...just sayin'.

For the record, I DESPERATELY want one!

When I bought my Roomba, it died within a few months. Customer service ran me around unmercilessly and then finally said the only warranty on Refurbished Roombas is 30 days. I was not happy.

I was so close. But this is a really old
Model and doesn't do scheduling

Additionally given how fast roombas kill batteries it's probably worth buying at a warehouse store which doubles the new year warranty.

I like my scheduler, but it's hardly been trouble free and absolutely requires good regular cleaning (I use a small compressed air)

I don't know if we've gotten really lucky, or if maybe people are exaggerating, but I have nothing but praises for this little guy.

We got a refurb of the same model off a past Woot and I love it. I have 3 cats and a CatGenie (so little plastic pellets make it to my floor with regular frequency) and this Roomba has done a fabulous job keeping my floors clean. Picks up all the hair and pellets with no trouble.

I'm really convinced a lot of bad reviews are people who expect robots to do EVERYTHING. Yes, you still have to empty the bin every time, like you would a "real" vacuum. Yeah, the brushes got clogged once and we had to clean them, but about 20 minutes later it was running perfect again. I don't think that warrants giving it a negative review considering ALL the time I've saved by not having to run my "real" vacuum on a daily basis.

Also, I LOVE the little fanfare at the end of the cleaning cycle.

GregoryOR wrote:I have a love/hate thing with Roomba. I have never bought one brand new, but have owned a couple of refurbs and several off of Ebay, from the 530 back to the original.

The biggest con is that they are not very reliable. Get ready to replace a $50 battery every year or so, and do serious troubleshooting on sensors and the like. You have to REALLY want a robot to put up with the maintenance these things require.

Two minor drawbacks are that it does miss a few things, as others have noted, and is just the right height to get stuck under the cabinet and dishwasher overhangs.

However, if you're good at prepping a room and don't mind the maintenance, they're awesome. It's no thing to vacuum daily. Especially if the home base is in the room you are vacuuming. I leave mine in the kitchen, and it's super easy to set up the virtual walls and push start and go off to do what I want while it vacuums.

It's also great for the bedroom. I have allergies, and Roomba always vacuums under the bed when it does the floor.

You can get a battery for $30 on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Tenergy-Replacement-Battery-iRobot®-14-4V/dp/B003MXMWQ2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1338047457&sr=8-1

Headline: Google Buys iRobot, renames the product "Goomba."

I bought a different Roomba from woot a while ago. It NEVER worked right and the company support was NON EXISTENT.

I would NOT purchase one of these!

Save your money and buy the Neato Robot.

Love my Roombas. Got one for upstairs and one for downstairs. Even took the plunge and ordered the Scooba to mop the kitchen and bathroom floors.

Have 2 roomba 500 series dating back to mid 2008. Both still running and they average 6 days a week. I use the cheap replacement batteries of amazon or ebay, about $30, good for maybe 8 months. It gets to a point the run time really falls off, you accept this for a while then spend the money.

However they need dog hair cut out after every run. Neither has the original "cleaning head module". Every 6 - 8 months or so I have to dissemble said module and clean hair out of the gears, relub, reassemble. Design flaw allows the hairs and dirt into the gearbox and they still make them this way. After a few cleanings it still won't work so a new one is like $60 or $70. If you mention you did this to irobot, with a warranty unit - bye bye warranty, they will not even discuss anything with you. The 'soft touch' feature stops working, to fix you have to remove the front part and clean all the sensors. Time consuming.

Got a Neato in Feb. Neato maintenance and cleaning, etc consists of dumping the bin. Period.

Roomba vs Neato is like hot dog vs filet. Never again will I buy a Roomba, for any price. I don't think I've seen a single Neato owner, formerly running a Roomba, say they wanted to go back to roomba. There is just no comparison.

I bought two of these 3 1/2 years ago from Woot. They arrived brand new. I love them, they work so good. Recently though, they stopped working well, and the battery stopped holding a charge, so I got on Ebay and bought a couple of new batteries for $30 a piece and am now back in business. They work like they are brand new again. I use them on carpet and hard floors. I clean them frequently to keep them working at top notch performance level. I love my little minions!

Loved this so much that I bought two more for Christmas gifts for my daughters, and they loved them also. Eventually I had to retire mine because the Siamese cat kept turning it on and following it around, which was not good for its battery that needs charging on a periodic basis.

I have owned two of these things. You have to babysite them because they get stuck on anything and everything and both of mine broke down just after the warranty expired. Replacement batteries cost a fortune.

I want a Scooba! please?

I bought one of these from Costco and returned it. Total piece of junk in my opinion. Tangled in lamp cords and couldn't handle complex turns in my kitchen.

I have a 560 that I bought a few years ago. It's on it's second battery and the LEDs in the bumper have finally failed. $6 in parts from Digikey and I hope to have it up and running again.

I have nothing but praise for it. I've been running it 3 times a week for years and it cleans the place very well. Keeps dust down in areas that uprights can't get to (e.g. under the bed.)

I can't compare it to the Neato but I'm buying a second Roomba because I've had such a good experience with it and I'm going to leave one downstairs and another upstairs.

docjroberts wrote:Ah, well their troubleshooting steps didn't work so I'll be calling them back tomorrow. Hopefully they'll send me a new battery.

Good luck with that. I have been thru four. All purchased new not refurbished. I am DONE. They work good for about 8 months then the base goes, the battery goes, the brushes stop working. But when they are work they are great!

Could someone provide a link to the robotic vacuum offered here a couple of weeks ago? Was that a Dyson or the Neato? - http://www.woot.com/blog/viewentry.aspx?id=23501

The description says it works for pet hair yet there is a version just for people with pets. I have hardwood floors. I wonder if it will work for me? (2 cats / 2 dogs)

Don't bother!

Bought one of these things and it died after
13 months of very light use. Out of warranty, so now it's a boat anchor.

Google "error 9"... you'll find that it's a HUGE problem with these things...