bahamut2x9 wrote:Got mine yesterday!

It keeps going around in a small circle and then giving me a bumper stuck error though (9 beeps). Any one ever have this problem? Any suggestions on fixing it?

Bumper is not stuck in and appears fine, any way to open it up and check the sensors?

On the bright side, for the 1 minute intervals it works before giving the error, i do get a very clean square foot of carpet.

I have this problem too. I let it charge until the light turned green, held the dock+clean+spot buttons for a while to reset the software and it still does this.

benwtf wrote:I have this problem too. I let it charge until the light turned green, held the dock+clean+spot buttons for a while to reset the software and it still does this.

sadly, i am having the same problem. i'm calling customer care first thing in the morning, this is a terrible first impression.

UPDATE: spoke with roomba customer support - they are sending me a new unit, i don't even have to send back the old one. hopefully the replacement has no problems. here is their phone number: 877-855-8593

Received mine today and ran it through its first run from charge to clean to it putting itself away when it was done.

It ran good, and seemed to be pretty intelligent getting in and out of tight spaces. This little bot worked extremely well, better than I thought it would... impressive! It picked up all the dirt from dust to pet hair.

Definitely was a good deal on this. I hope it lasts long enough to get what was paid for out of it.

Thanks woot for a smooth first time wooter transaction!

We got ours Tuesday morning. Placed her in the charger and Lil Miss Roomba's light turned green in a short time. I took her for a test drive, cleaning the entrance, hall and small bathroom. She did a great job. She even pushed the bathroom door closed to get behind the door. Then I had to help her get unstuck from the bathroom. Once I finished clearing the clutter from the rest of the house, she can really let loose! Thanks woot!

Did you name her?

jonesygirl wrote:We got ours Tuesday morning. Placed her in the charger and Lil Miss Roomba's light turned green in a short time. I took her for a test drive, cleaning the entrance, hall and small bathroom. She did a great job. She even pushed the bathroom door closed to get behind the door. Then I had to help her get unstuck from the bathroom. Once I finished clearing the clutter from the rest of the house, she can really let loose! Thanks woot!

benwtf wrote:I have this problem too. I let it charge until the light turned green, held the dock+clean+spot buttons for a while to reset the software and it still does this.

To the others having the bumper stuck problem: I tried cleaning off the sensors with a q-tip. It actually helped a bit. I had him running for a good 40 minutes but then he went back to his old bumper stuck ways. Cleaning didn't work the second time around, but maybe it will work for you guys.

Mine arrived yesterday, so I charged it up and let it go. Seems to work great and I'm very happy with it.

So far I just call mine "Crashy"

dsharpie wrote:sadly, i am having the same problem. i'm calling customer care first thing in the morning, this is a terrible first impression.

UPDATE: spoke with roomba customer support - they are sending me a new unit, i don't even have to send back the old one. hopefully the replacement has no problems. here is their phone number: 877-855-8593

I called them as well after the online service was taking a while to get a response. It was a short call and they said a replacement would arrive in about 7 to 10 business days. I would recommend calling rather than going through the online information for service issues, but for simple trouble shooting the forums didn't seem too bad.

EDIT: For those that are having this problem or others, the warranty will give you a new unit core. You will need to hold onto all the other parts (battery, dustbin, filters, brushes, charger, virtual wall, etc.) as these will not be replaced.

I have two of the previous models from woot. This one is a lot better. Does not ram the walls, and does not get stuck on cords etc.

Much improved well worth the money.

bahamut2x9 wrote:I called them as well after the online service was taking a while to get a response. It was a short call and they said a replacement would arrive in about 7 to 10 business days. I would recommend calling rather than going through the online information for service issues, but for simple trouble shooting the forums didn't seem too bad.

EDIT: For those that are having this problem or others, the warranty will give you a new unit core. You will need to hold onto all the other parts (battery, dustbin, filters, brushes, charger, virtual wall, etc.) as these will not be replaced.

Thanks for the info. I was so excited to use it and was so disappointed when it wouldn't do its thing.

silversalute wrote:Well, that didn't take long. It pretty much comes ready to go.
...
My dogs took it in stride. Actually pretty quiet.

Very cool technology. Very cool price!

Nice pictures; mine looked exactly like that - different than the previous woot roomba 535, which came in more "new" packaging, but still well-enough protected in transit. Dropped it on the charger last night, ran it for 20m this morning, then ran it until it gave up this evening - I'll need to move some extension cords, and move one ikea table to a guest room or something, but otherwise it picked up a *lot* of detritus from a "clean" hardwood floor.

(ps. The 500-series is *very different* from the 400, I'd given up on using an earlier one on the hardwood floor because all it did was kick stuff around; the 530 is much more effective as a vacuum, doesn't hit things as hard, and seems to "get out of trouble" more effectively, plus it's significantly easier to clean the brushes.)

Slickpappy wrote:Did you name her?

Sure did. I call her Lil Miss Roomba!

Hi all,
I got my Roomba yesterday, and I have a couple issue with it.

1. I'm cleaning the whole unit every 8 minutes. Now, admittedly, my 90lb Akita is blowing his coat at the moment However, the amount of hair I take out of Roomba is really not that much.

2. I charged the thing when I got it for ~ 1hour. It lasted maybe 25 minutes before dying. Charged again til green --> another 10 mintues.
Charged overnight, and I just ran it, and it lasted 15 minutes before dying out. I didn't even get the "clean my brushes" thing before it pooped out.

Bad battery?

Cheers,

Kim

BTW, I have hardwood floors.

EDIT: I have reset the Roomba using the dock/spot buttons, and I am letting it charge until green. We'll see if this helps with it's "staying" power.
EDIT2: OK...it charged in 30 minutes, and I ran it in the bath room. It did it's thing for ~30 minutes, and shut off with the "done cleaning"doo-daa. Maybe it was tanking out in other areas of the house because of the dog hair? I'm running it in the bedroom currently on the same charge.

EDIT 9/8/09: Roomba has been working like a trooper. I think all that Akita hair had it being a little temperamental. But, I have ran it about 15 times, and it's keeping up with the fluff One thing, it needs to get it's belly rubbed while you are cleaning. What the hell...you're down there enough already.

problem with my roomba. the roomba works fine but does not charge once it finds the docking station. i can see it going to the docking station and twisting to start charging but it fails so it just decides to move around till it is completely discharged and dead.

I need to get the replacement of the docking station. what should i do? any comments

Roomba=awesome. It survived its first go through my house. It didn't get stuck once and it survived being "hunted" by my two cats. Very good unit so far. Very excited to let this little guy do his thing whilst I am at work!!

Bob and Madge, our Roombas, arrived a day earlier than anticipated. We have had no problems with them. Bob lives downstairs and has been happy clearing the kitchen and dining room of dirt, debris, and pet hair. Madge lives upstairs and seems to be unimpressed by the amount of pet and people hair on the carpet.

Bob's gotten stuck a few times - once on a piece of trim in the doorway between two rooms that's about 1/2 inch tall and 4-6 inches wide when he tried to turn sideways on it. The other times he's gotten stuck were when there was something on the floor that shouldn't have been there (ie clutter such as a plastic grocery bag, a receipt, or the lid off an ice cream container that the dog failed to put in the trash can when she was done with it) or on the too-long chair cover.

Madge hasn't gotten stuck at all, but she has to work ten times as hard as Bob thanks to the carpeting. The amount of hair and fur she picks up is amazing, but we do find that she needs her rollers cleaned after about 10 minutes or so of vacuuming.

We have a dog and two cats, (or three dogs if you ask the dog), and the two humans have very long hair. Neither of the Roombas is very loud, and my husband, who hates vacuum cleaners because of the noise, has been caught playing with them several times.

We are completely thrilled with Bob and Madge, and have found that they encourage us to pick up the clutter just so we can play with them more.

MIne broke after a week and didn't like my carpets since there are black stripes.

I got mine last Tuesday. It is the second 530 I have purchased from Woot this summer. I liked the first one so much I just had to have another for the upstairs. I'm sorry to hear that some of you guys have had problems. This happened with the last batch according to the posts. At least iRobot stands behind them. I tell you though, with both of mine all I have done is pull it out of the box, pull the yellow tab, and put it to work. Both of them cleaned for about an hour before finding the dock. So I am not thinking that you guys need to charge these before use. Have you ever heard of training a battery? You want a full charge (done at the factory), drain it, full charge, drain it, and maybe another cycle for good measure....then you are all set.

I noticed this one didn't come with an extra filter like the ones in June. Did anybody get a second filter with theirs? Also, this one had green brushes, where as my first one had red brushes. Did everybody else get green ones? I'm not sure what the difference is, but the greens ones seem like they would be more durable to me.

Ylandra wrote: We are completely thrilled with Bob and Madge, and have found that they encourage us to pick up the clutter just so we can play with them more.

I love that about Lil Miss Roomba. She glares at us with her little green eye, making sure we no longer place items on the floor that don't belong on the floor. She's very stern with us about keeping the clutter up. Our living room looks better than it has in months now that we have Lil Miss Roomba.

n44nc wrote:I got mine last Tuesday. It is the second 530 I have purchased from Woot this summer. I liked the first one so much I just had to have another for the upstairs. I'm sorry to hear that some of you guys have had problems. This happened with the last batch according to the posts. At least iRobot stands behind them. I tell you though, with both of mine all I have done is pull it out of the box, pull the yellow tab, and put it to work. Both of them cleaned for about an hour before finding the dock. So I am not thinking that you guys need to charge these before use. Have you ever heard of training a battery? You want a full charge (done at the factory), drain it, full charge, drain it, and maybe another cycle for good measure....then you are all set.

I noticed this one didn't come with an extra filter like the ones in June. Did anybody get a second filter with theirs? Also, this one had green brushes, where as my first one had red brushes. Did everybody else get green ones? I'm not sure what the difference is, but the greens ones seem like they would be more durable to me.

I got an extra filter. Not sure what you mean by brush color. I have red ends, with yellow caps on my brushes.

EDIT: Mine is red. On the Roomba accessories site the replacement are green. Hmm...maybe that was part of your Roomba's refurb?

I received my Roomba and at once opened it, read instructions and then docked to charge. It came without battery. After about 15 minutes or charging in the dock, I got the Error 5 Blinks. I did a reset to the unit and then it started charging again, but after approximately 15 minutes, same error (5 blinks) came on again. I decided to try it without the dock and plug it directly to the wall, tried it 3 times and it gave me the same error (5 blinks) over and over again. Any suggestions, advice or instructions on how to fix this????

Question about my Lil Miss Roomba: She's primarily used downstairs, that's where her charging base is located. If I carry her upstairs to do work, will she just run until the floors are clean and stop, or keep going and going until battery dies because she can't find the charging base? I'm hoping she would be smart enough to stop when the floors are clean, regardless of charging base.

boorah

just used mine for the first time

- everything seemed in order.
- charged in about 30 minutes. No need to discharge/charge etc.
- Clean the living room in about 45 minutes, quite effectively.

Love this thing

jonesygirl wrote:Question about my Lil Miss Roomba: She's primarily used downstairs, that's where her charging base is located. If I carry her upstairs to do work, will she just run until the floors are clean and stop, or keep going and going until battery dies because she can't find the charging base? I'm hoping she would be smart enough to stop when the floors are clean, regardless of charging base.

My experience is that it might do either. When I only had one, I would carry it upstairs and sometimes I would find it in the middle of the room. I pushed the button and it was red, thus out of juice. Then other times I would punch the button and it was green or yellow and it would start cleaning again. The reason for punching the button is to make sure there are no error messages like, "Please clean Roomba's brushes!" At that point Roomba stops regardless of whether it has juice or if the floors are still dirty.

n44nc wrote:My experience is that it might do either. When I only had one, I would carry it upstairs and sometimes I would find it in the middle of the room. I pushed the button and it was red, thus out of juice. Then other times I would punch the button and it was green or yellow and it would start cleaning again. The reason for punching the button is to make sure there are no error messages like, "Please clean Roomba's brushes!" At that point Roomba stops regardless of whether it has juice or if the floors are still dirty.

Thanks. I ended up moving the charging base upstairs while she cleaned and she went back to charger like normal. But I've now decided to only use her downstairs from now on, as she likes the wood floors better than the carpet.

wanpakumono wrote:Nope...500 series accessories are not compatible with 400 series.

wrong....i have this model and i recently got the 530, the remote and virtual walls for the 400 works with the 500, i havent tried out the 500's wall with the 400 though

i wooted the 530 and hve had nothing but problems....when i receivied it, it keep saying the right wheel needs cleaned. called the 800 number. they sent me a new wheel. i installed it and it worked for about 6 minutes and now it just flashes red and beeps 7 times and shuts off....

let it sit an hour and charged it again...

same thing.

not real happy with the IROOMBAs

bad luck?

ss511 wrote:i wooted the 530 and hve had nothing but problems....when i receivied it, it keep saying the right wheel needs cleaned. called the 800 number. they sent me a new wheel. i installed it and it worked for about 6 minutes and now it just flashes red and beeps 7 times and shuts off....

let it sit an hour and charged it again...

same thing.

not real happy with the IROOMBAs

uplateanyway wrote:iRobot Roomba 530 Robotic Vacuum with Virtual Wall
$129.99 + $5 shipping
Condition: Refurbished
Product: 1 iRobot Roomba 530 Robotic Vacuum with Virtual Wall and Self-Charging Home Base

I hzve used my roomba for 2 years and love it. I bought two more for my kids

Been using "Dusty Bottoms" for a few weeks now. Battery life sucked at first (20m) but used 2 solutions:

1) reset the unit and charged overnight...now it lasts for nearly 2hrs

2) during the overnight charging, instead of waiting to see if it was going to work, I emailed iRobot and they shipped me a new battery for free!

Works amazing. We have 2 cats and a rotti. It picks up all the hair from carpet/tile. Only gripe is that the brushes/rollers need cleaned about every 3rd run. Pre-cleaned with a Dyson and Dusty still picked up more afterwards!

Did anybody else's Roomba stop working?
I used mine on the first day and it recharged itself after it was out of battery. Yesterday when I tried it again, it stopped right after 10-15 minutes and did not go back to the charging unit. I charged it for a long time and again it stopped in about 10-12 minutes and did not go back to the charging unit.

Does any body have this issue... Did this come with a warranty? I'm completely upset that my first robot is screwed just after one use.

I bought a iroomba around a month and half ago. I started using it from last week. The problem with the roomba is each charge cycle last only 30-35 minutes maximum. It is not able to complete vaccuming a average room in one cycle. Just to clean a family room(12X12) and dining(10x10) in a apartment(it is carpeted and not hardwood) it took me 3 days(3 charge cycles). First time before I started using it I left it charging for the whole night. Surely looks like there is a problem with battery life time.How long does each charge cycle last on a carpet?

When it came, I just looked at it for two weeks afraid to open the box. It is just great!! Works wonderful, just as advertised. Found the perfect tool to help empty the "stuff" and clean the brushes is and old (or even new) toothbrush. That and a soft rag do a great job. I have had to empty and clean it out every time, even though I don't have pets or kids at home. Hope it lasts!!

Love this thing. So much in fact, I bought another one next time it was on Woot (as a gift).

I recommend it.

jonesygirl wrote:Sure did. I call her Lil Miss Roomba!

We call ours "Herbie"

cookiepie wrote:Does this have duel votage?

Only if you challenge it with a proper weapon.

My wife let me name ours "Fifi" - since I'm not likely to ever get my sleazy french maid.

Got it yesterday...it's already cleaned the entire upstairs. Had a few little issues but it's more a matter of me learning what Fifi can't deal with - and not leaving those challenges in place. A broomstick sized round metal bottom piece to some exercise equipment for example... she insists on going over it.. which she did numerous times before getting stuck.

Had fun "testing" her... crumbled up some potato chips and put them right against 1 wall, directly under 1 chair.... and completely around a 1" round table leg..(thought for sure that one would get 'er!). When she docked I found 1 small fragment left around the table leg (which she easily would have got next time) and 1 small bit about 4 inches from the wall that she obviously flung out there probably while moaning about the sodium content.

Things that impressed me the most:

This thing cleans.... GREAT. Even immediately following a vacuum with the big beast...Fifi finds plenty to pick up.
Light touch...doesn't even slosh water out of the dogs water bowl when she hits it.
Tight spaces... if she can possibly squeeze through...she's gonna clean it!
You do need to keep it clean.. and she'll stop and tell you so. That's not a negative - it's part of owning one so be prepared to clean it very very often. (Plus is...it's dead easy to clean and takes no time at all).
You can easily spend a Friday night watching this thing for an hour+ - so if it's you, the wife/hubbie, 2-3 kids... it's paid for itself with a nights entertainment for the family!

You CAN schedule it!


http://www.robotreviews.com/chat/viewtopic.php?t=9235

Negatives:

hmmm

Oh...OK, if I'm being picky --- would like to see a group of about 5-10 LED's that show the current battery charge. When the thing docks you don't know if it's done cleaning... or if it is going to recharge and then come out again. (Maybe there's a way to know that, but in just over 1 full days usage I've not discovered it...)

Bottom line. Love it.. would buy it again.. and the refurbed deal at Woot! is hands down the way to go because it solves the only big complaint I saw in 700+ reviews of this model...the side brush. The Woot! refurbed one comes with the "3 brush" side brush that doesn't break off.

p.s. I have rough Collie (Lassie's twin, but a girl (YES.... Lassie was a male really!)...
LOADS of dog hair --> Fifi deals with that fine. I do use a "comb" to clean the brush - makes it quick to get that extra dog hair out.

I bought two of these on woot, one works perfectly however having problems with the second one. After charging for a few hours the pulsing amber light changes to a blinking red light and the troubleshooting light comes on, anyone have any suggestions. Have tried reseting with the battery out and problem, still persisiting.

Woot sells remanufactured roombas.

purchased one where the description had no mentioned of remanufactured. Called iRobot, gave them my serial and they said it was remanufactured.