drbillchu wrote:The 530 has a charging base the it will return to when done and recharge itself. Also, the 530 has sensors along the front so it will slow down before running into something. The 440 will just bump into things and then turn. This is fine as long as there's nothing that can be knock over easily. The 440 should still be able to get the job done, though. Hope that helps!

Thanks a ton. I'm going to see if I can pick a used one (with home base) up on craigslist today. Otherwise, I'm in for this.

The Roomba placed 98th out of 101 in the Popular Mechanics "101 Gadgets That Changed The World." They finished ahead of duct tape, the fiberglass fishing rod, and the stapler.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/reviews/101-gadgets-that-changed-the-world-roomba

unksol wrote:Woots change at midnight central time. As woot is in Texas. And changing at midnight for each timezone would be silly. And unfair. And impractical

Actually, it'd easy to do. Staples did it for their sales and rebates, and may still do it today. All you have to do is tie the sale to the customer's IP address, which would indicate his/her location. Or simply tie it to his/her zipcode. After all, they already do so for sales tax.

As for fairness, that's debatable. Everyone still gets 24 hrs to buy although it's true that the East coast will have first dibs. So if it's a really hot product, things may sell out before the West coast gets to even see the day's Woot.

Here is the manual for the 400 series.

As well as some battery maintenance tips which I highly recommend you follow to prevent premature battery failure.

Like many have said, hold out for the 530. Let's say you leave your Roomba cleaning while you run out to the store. With the 530 you can come back home to a happily charging Roomba. Give it a couple of hours and it's ready to go in your next room. With this model you'll come home to a dead Roomba.

sdc100 wrote:Actually, it'd easy to do. Staples did it for their sales and rebates, and may still do it today. All you have to do is tie the sale to the customer's IP address, which would indicate his/her location. Or simply tie it to his/her zipcode. After all, they already do so for sales tax.

As for fairness, that's debatable. Everyone still gets 24 hrs to buy although it's true that the East coast will have first dibs. So if it's a really hot product, things may sell out before the West coast gets to even see the day's Woot.

Sales tax is done off shipping address. The ads for staples are local or regional, and stores are local. No one wants to enter their zip just to see the main webpage for woot. And this is woot impractical. Woot is all about simple. Yes you could look up every ip address but it'd be wasted system resources , and its hardly accurate. Mine thinks I'm a few states away on occasion

And it would be extremely unfair for wootoffs as those have to list at the same time, which means 3 out of 4 time zones would be screwed when one started, since they would be planning on checking at midnight their local time, instead of all checking at the same time

TiHara wrote:Yes I could. :-)

This gives you the tech details, but in a nutshell, the 530 (or any 500 series) has better motor,battery, brushes, filters, u name it. It will come up on Woot sometime.
http://store.irobot.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3881234&cp=2804605.2501652&ab=CMS_IRBT_Storefront_062209_iwantroomba&s=D-StorePrice-IRBT&parentPage=family#specifications

jeanerz13 wrote:I tend to shed my long hair that I often have to cut out of my current vacuum when it gets wrapped around the roller...how does the roomba do with this kind of thing? Would I have to spend a lot of time digging the hairballs out with this as well?

Lassie....what are you doing on the computer, with poor Timmy waiting patiently down that cold, dark well for you to come to his rescue?!

^^X^^

theguruguys wrote:They seem to last forever though, Ive had the same batteries in my virtual wall over a year now and they were only one step above dollar store brand.

I use NiMH rechargeables and charge them 3 or 4 times a year. I bought AAs with adapters on eBay very cheaply.

eric29609 wrote:This thing is like a bad penny.

No joke. It's like Woot is the only seller of Roombas out there.

1) No, they do not have powerful suction that will replace your regular vacuum.

2) They are excellent at cleaning up pet hair.

3) If you take it off the charger and store it for a week, you will have to spend $40 or more on a new battery because the "reset instructions" from Roomba don't work.

4) So there. Nyah.

markneuhausen wrote:I use NiMH rechargeables and charge them 3 or 4 times a year. I bought AAs with adapters on eBay very cheaply.

Usually in a device like this is is best to use the 'Hybrid' or 'low self dischage' type recharbales. Normal NiMH rechargeables will loose their charge just by sitting dormant over time (even upwards of 40% in a month just by sitting unused). In a device like these virtual walls, which are off most of the time, as well as remote controls, computer mice, keyboards, etc normal NiMH may not be the best.

Its a testimant to the fact that these don't use much juice that you only need to recharge them a few times a year.

I didn't know they had different batterys. How do you know this one is not as good?

One thing about irobot is they have the best customer service, I know, I have about 20 of these, and have probably bought 7 over the years. They will replace them if they are broken and still under warrenty. Sadly though mine have not lasted much past a year. I wear the little suckers out though.

I bought the dirt dog last time, not thru woot but hammerslammacher however you say it. Already on the 2nd one and this one is about to die.... but I love them!!

gtiger wrote:This gives you the tech details, but in a nutshell, the 530 (or any 500 series) has better motor,battery, brushes, filters, u name it. It will come up on Woot sometime.
http://store.irobot.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3881234&cp=2804605.2501652&ab=CMS_IRBT_Storefront_062209_iwantroomba&s=D-StorePrice-IRBT&parentPage=family#specifications

Well what's better a real vacuum (vacuuming sucks) or a roomba? I need one or the other since I destroyed my last one trying to suck a dead bird out of my AC unit. (Please don't ask)

What are the odds that Woot! is a subsidiary of Roomba?

Ha, that was my first thought!

prateeko wrote:How hard would it be to transform this into a DJ Roomba?

I bought one and it does not work.

hustlertwo wrote:4 C batteries for the Virtual Wall? With the amount it would cost to power those, seems like it'd be a better bet to just throw up something more tangible, like a pet barrier.

Call me old-fashioned, but I just use a box (or whatever is currently lying around the house). Works fine.

turf12 wrote:The Roomba placed 98th out of 101 in the Popular Mechanics "101 Gadgets That Changed The World." They finished ahead of duct tape, the fiberglass fishing rod, and the stapler.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/reviews/101-gadgets-that-changed-the-world-roomba

Absolutely ridiculous!

dimend wrote:I didn't know they had different batterys. How do you know this one is not as good?

One thing about irobot is they have the best customer service, I know, I have about 20 of these, and have probably bought 7 over the years. They will replace them if they are broken and still under warrenty. Sadly though mine have not lasted much past a year. I wear the little suckers out though.

I bought the dirt dog last time, not thru woot but hammerslammacher however you say it. Already on the 2nd one and this one is about to die.... but I love them!!

I've bought one Dyson, and it still works.

I have 3 of these. they all work great for 3-6 months, then they get sick and slowly die. they hit the wall moulding as it navigates around and after a while a black mark builds up along the circumfrance of the room on the moulding. they dont do corners, under raditers, and get stuck a lot. all in all i love the idea, it's fun at first, but after the novilty wears off, they suck. customer service is friendly but nothing is free, and they break, shipping is expensive, parts are expensive. i probally could have gotten 1 good dyson which would still be working today. so at the end of the day i bought 3 roombas which are now broken and in the closet never to be any good again and then i still had to buy a new vacume anyhow. there is no escaping manually vacuming unless you pay someone to do it for you.

how many roomba's can you sell? good god every week there are roomba's.. come on diversify already!

glazedfaith wrote:Ok, this is the sale I've been waiting for. Can someone quickly, and concisely tell me if there is any advantage to the 530 over this 440 if I only plan on using it in one room at a time?

I think the 530 has a bigger bin,and another sweeping brush.I have three of the older model I bought here three years ago,and they are all working.The only bad thing is battery life,about a year,and sometimes longer.I do like my Roomba's.

Hmm, why not go to nobetterdeal.com for a better deal???

Don't Buy! I bought a roomba and loved it until it started spinning in circles in response to a broken bumper sensor just after my one year waranty. It would have not been such a big deal if the bumper could be replaced at low cost. However I called their customer service and they said I had to buy a new sripped down version at something like 100 dollars!

theguruguys wrote:Here is the manual for the 400 series.

As well as some battery maintenance tips which I highly recommend you follow to prevent premature battery failure.

Thank you a ton! I was unaware of the battery discharge method for upkeep. You may very well have saved my 530 (Robbie) from a premature demise!

NB: their most recent models (700 series) have obsoleted the 500 series with better cleaning abilities and dust filtration. So rather than going for the "old, broken" 400 series, I'd wait for more "aging, creaky" 500 series to come on sale here as they clean out their increasingly stale inventory.

(I have two 500 series machines, one bought here a couple years ago, which needed to be repaired by iRobot when the bump sensors stopped working- they replaced it with a better machine under warranty, so hats off to iRobot for solid coverage and I would not hesitate to buy another Roomba in the future).

ThePerson98 wrote:We've got 5 dogs, one of them being a long haired German Shepherd and then another is a Pomeranian. My Roomba picks their hair up no problem. It actually will sometimes pick hair up that my normal vacuum cannot. It won't replace your vacuum, but if you run it in one or two rooms a day it's an absolute godsend.

I agree that it picks up pet/human hair with ease. However, I have to give a warning: if you happen to own any birds, this thing is wholly inadequate. Due to the light and fluffy nature of feathers, my Roomba often kicks them out or never picks them up in the first place. I have to play a game called "Re-feed the Roomba" by collecting feathers and crushing them together and throwing them in front of its path. This kinda (not physically) sucks.

Also, if you are not the kind of person that likes to empty the dirt catchers and clean the roll brushes after every use, you might want to reconsider the purchase.

or... you could just have your woman vacuum. don't be so lazy guys!

A word of warning on the Roombas. I bought a 400 series (Sage) several years ago here on woot and I love the thing. However, the batteries on these things are known to only last a year or so and then it will cost you $50-$70 for a replacement. I loved the thing when the battery worked, but now that it is dead, I am not sure I am going to replace the battery in it, as it seems to be a known problem. They have changed the battery in the newer models, so what does that tell you? Great little cleaning robot when it has a battery that will hold a charge.

EDIT: I did follow the battery maintenance tips referenced in an earlier post and perhaps that is why it lasted several years for me.

We bought a low end Roomba (model 400) last Christmas and have been thrilled with it for use on bare floors to collect pet hair. We are always amazed at how much it picks up, even after we have used a person-operated vacuum.

It is somewhat noisy and the battery only will do one (large) room at a time. We have never found this to be a problem, as we usually start it running on leaving the house to run errands.

I got this for my wife and she says it is one of the best items I ever got for her (it sees more use than the iPod)! The high end units may have additional features, but this one cleans well and we've never been sorry about buying it.

mastrbob wrote:i thought it changed over at 12midnight pacific time? what the heck... i was about to get those cameras surveillance, no joke... what gives?

Woot has always had the change over at midnight central time. I live in the Eastern time zone and have always had to wait til 1:00am for the change over. Don't know what you folks in the P-zone are complaining about. I wish I only had to look for the new item at 10:00pm. I misses many a Big o' Cosmos or other hot item because of the late hour. Some of us have to get up for work in the morning

wordygrrl wrote:No joke. It's like Woot is the only seller of Roombas out there.

1) No, they do not have powerful suction that will replace your regular vacuum.

2) They are excellent at cleaning up pet hair.

3) If you take it off the charger and store it for a week, you will have to spend $40 or more on a new battery because the "reset instructions" from Roomba don't work.

4) So there. Nyah.

5) But you have to vacuum less often because it works for you. Who needs daily physical activity...psha

ThePerson98 wrote:We've got 5 dogs, one of them being a long haired German Shepherd and then another is a Pomeranian. My Roomba picks their hair up no problem. It actually will sometimes pick hair up that my normal vacuum cannot. It won't replace your vacuum, but if you run it in one or two rooms a day it's an absolute godsend.

Mine was too (A single Labrador Retriever) until the hairs destroyed several Roombas. I ended up taking one apart to see if I could replace just the part since I was accumulating a collection of deceased Roombas. They seem to be really proprietary in that you can't really expect to use an old one for parts unless it is the same exact model.

I gotta tell ya I miss having them cleaning my house and I used to justify the cost that way. An illegal spanish lady comes by now to clean on the cheap but I make sure to keep an eye on her (wish she was better looking but she has a hottie daughter), Ay, Carumba.

Damn I wish I had a 'time masheen' to go back to high school and give myself a swat to the head when I asked "Why the hell do we need to learn Spanish?"

Pet Roomba probably is better but then I would have to let Maria (and her cute daughter) go

$159 on Amazon and has mostly good reviews
http://www.amazon.com/iRobot-44001-Roomba-Vacuum-Cleaning-Robot/product-reviews/B002MSO9OQ/ref=cm_cr_dp_all_summary?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending

theguruguys wrote:Usually in a device like this is is best to use the 'Hybrid' or 'low self dischage' type recharbales. Normal NiMH rechargeables will loose their charge just by sitting dormant over time (even upwards of 40% in a month just by sitting unused). In a device like these virtual walls, which are off most of the time, as well as remote controls, computer mice, keyboards, etc normal NiMH may not be the best.

Its a testimant to the fact that these don't use much juice that you only need to recharge them a few times a year.

Hybrids are just a marketing term, they are NiMH and precharged to be ready to go just like alkalines but can be recharged over and over, so they market them hybrid by being of both benefits. That's a stretch of a definition but they must hold charge okay if you can buy them off the shelf fully charged. People are also confused by NiMH retention and don't compare them to alkaline correctly. Normal battery is rated 1.5 volts and NiMH are at 1.2 volts so the little needle on the tester won't be the same. Some of the trouble is that some devices detect low battery by voltage and will turn themselves off at low voltages rather than just operate until the juice is gone. NiMH will hold on quite a bit at a lower voltage but then just drop off vs an alkaline slope towards dead. Our little devices often have their own Li-Ion in there so you don't see folks cursing at their digital cameras over batteries anymore.

I have had two of these. BOTH have failed right after the one year mark. You know what that means - no warranty. And no,I don't have pets, the electronics failed.

Anybody know why roomba.woot.com redirects to this site? It seems like every good streak of roombas here gets interrupted by some under-powered refurb PC or archaic bluetooth headset!! I want 24/7 roombas!!

Addendum: In all seriousness, I will buy a roomba when they ditch the batteries and develop the on-board pet hair incinerator power system.

roadhunter wrote:I've bought one Dyson, and it still works.

i've wooted a roomba and dyson, both great for year 1...but man they both need alot of preventative maintenance (cleaning, etc). my old kenmore canister vac from '90 still working as good as new and all i do is plug it in.

ThePerson98 AKA ADMIRAL PIETT wrote:It's an older Roomba model.

But it checks out. I was about to purchase it. Shall I hold off?

VADER: No, leave it to me. I will deal with Woot myself.

hustlertwo wrote:4 C batteries for the Virtual Wall? With the amount it would cost to power those, seems like it'd be a better bet to just throw up something more tangible, like a pet barrier.

Thing is, those batteries in the virtual wall last forever. I've been using mine for over a year.