I've got the 530 and it works really well with pet hair. If your pet sheds a lot, you might need to clean the brushes mid-cycle though.

They're great...while they work. I've owned three, all different models. Every one has stopped working within a year or two. One stopped months after I bought it. Sent it to Roomba, for a fee, and they repaired it. It died within a year. They've had assorted issues...not just one thing. Batteries refused to charge any longer, would not move or just moved in circles, made horrible noises and no longer picked anything up. I hate that they don't last because I really like them (or the idea anyway). Although it's not quite the same as running the Dyson over the carpet, it's nice to be able to let it go and do other chores while it's working. Maybe Roomba will figure out how to make them durable one day.

I've got a 5-month-old baby (our first). I think that within a year, the floor will be partially covered with toys at all times. Parents: will I enjoy having the Roomba, or will I just end up deactivating it because of the toys?

I bought this model and have had nothing but problems. They have replaced it 3 times and still terrible. I would blame it on Roomba, but I have had other Roombas and have liked them very much. I think the problem may be my pet. I have a dog that is a shedder. If this were another model, I would buy it, but I will stay clear of this one.

stphnlee wrote:I have a beagle who sheds all the time, and after getting a Roomba, my floors have never been cleaner. It is great at picking up pet hair.

Key to a lesser shedding pet is a high quality food and regular grooming. This would make the Roomba's job much easier.

What's the deal with the virtual walls? They never seem to work. I picked this up last month or so when the same deal was on @woot. I think it does a good job, charging sometimes takes for ever, is noisy and quite bigger than I imagined it to be.

When I pick up the roomba, it actually feels like a little pet animal, the wheels relax like an animal's legs....

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my Roomba! Best thing I've ever bought off Woot. We have pets, many pets. This thing is awesome for the pet hair. Yesterday evening I was out mowing and my Roomba was vacuuming our enclosed porch. The very best thing though is it cleans under our king size bed.

Plus their customer service is better than any company I've ever dealt with. I dropped my Roomba after having it for only 3 days. They replaced the part immediately and for free!

I got one last time this guy was up and I love how clean my carpet is. I haven't done it in my bedroom in over a month.

Him at rest =)
http://imageshack.us/f/10/roombap.jpg/

aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!
I've done it! Finally, after years of waiting, I've achieved greatness. I AM NOW A ROOMBA OWNER.

Thank you, Woot. I'm considering this a wedding present for our new apartment. My wife-to-be thanks you as well.

I shall wait patiently for the arrival of our new bundle of joy and I shall name him Skynet.

I purchased my first little round friend last month. Woot Woot! There more tiday for family and friends!!! Mr roomba is a cleaning machine.

I have one just like this.

I love it, but more over my WIFE (primary cleaner in our household) loves it. Its all about time efficiency. We can start it sucking carpets while we do dishes, laundry, or ever just drink coffee in the AM.

Since we have two big dogs, we Roomba everyday when we wake up in the AM. It does a great job and when it finally dies... Ill buy two more.

angerbender wrote:But it won't vacuum...

It does a great job of vacuuming, especially hair-cat, dog, & daughter's... The Customer Service leaves a lot to be desired. Under warranty, they won't repair-just send a standard replacement model AND it will not be the quality of your purchase. We dumped'Dumbo'
and bought another 440 Woot. ($118 I would not get one that docks unless you have no 'stumbling blocks' for it to get hung-up on though!

Hi,
Does anyone actually own one of these? If so, please tell me if it actually works. Does it pick up dog hair? Does it go through batteries quickly?

-English Mastiff Owner

I love my Roomba. However, as some posters have said the Roomba is not a self contained unit. It does require some maintenance. The dirt and hair that it picks up must be cleaned from the Roomba after it has done it's cleaning.

The amazing thing about the Roomba is the amount of dirt that it picks up after you have already cleaned the floor. It may look clean, but the Roomba will amaze you with the dirt and hair that it picks up.

EasyGoinGal wrote:Can you tell me what you mean by charging the battery properly? I have a 530. I charged it right before I ran it, but one time I charged it and didn't run it, and it died. There must be a trick to getting it to last longer than mine did. Help. If I can figure it out I want to buy this one. The price is right

The secret to getting proper use & length of service from a Roomba battery is this: Whenever the Roomba is not in use, it should ALWAYS be on its charger. The battery will not last very long otherwise

Kstawicki wrote:I got one last time this guy was up and I love how clean my carpet is. I haven't done it in my bedroom in over a month.

Augh... Must. Not. Visualize.

what are virutal walls?

REWOOTED.

DE JA WOOT.

Just think... many of you spend as much time pondering this purchase as you would actually taking care of the floor.

=====

Dyson and Roomba are currently in court fighting over this trademarked slogan.

"It sucks but someone has to do it"

oh how silly. Push a damn vacuum cleaner.

New? NEW ?? I wanted a refurb!

I told myself if this item was put up here again I would have to tell EVERYBODY to not buy. Batteries will run out soon and not recharge ( I tried all solutions ) and hard to clean.

Customer service only wanted to SELL me a new battery pack. When I told them I used this mayby a few months, they told me to stick it where the sun dont shine. ( you get the point)

STAY AWAY FROM ROOMBA !!!! my opinion

I've been here since early 2006, and I finally bit the Roomba bullet.

I actually expect to be disappointed, so maybe I will be pleasantly surprised. (whoops, now I don't expect to be disappointed....)

bryane wrote:Augh... Must. Not. Visualize.

LOL

I have one of these. Never could get ito work well. Now it does not work at all. I guess I will throw it in he trash. Too bad, because it seems like a good idea. THe problem is that the engineering on these is not good.

givemethedeal wrote:I told myself if this item was put up here again I would have to tell EVERYBODY to not buy. Batteries will run out soon and not recharge ( I tried all solutions ) and hard to clean.

Customer service only wanted to SELL me a new battery pack. When I told them I used this mayby a few months, they told me to stick it where the sun dont shine. ( you get the point)

STAY AWAY FROM ROOMBA !!!! my opinion

I had the same experiance

englishmastiff wrote:Hi,
Does anyone actually own one of these? If so, please tell me if it actually works. Does it pick up dog hair? Does it go through batteries quickly?

-English Mastiff Owner

They last no time at all, the batteries fail promptly, even when kept charged and they dn't pick up well. Waste of money at 15$.. Butthey cost much more than that.

cornholiogringo wrote:add a mp3 player on top and dj roomba be tearin' it up!

Sounds kinda dumb to me to buy this only to tear it up.

kfede1 wrote:They last no time at all, the batteries fail promptly, even when kept charged and they dn't pick up well. Waste of money at 15$.. Butthey cost much more than that.

Okay, thanks. That was exactly the review I was looking for. My family and I won't be buying this.

-English Mastiff Owner

imadonut wrote:I love my ROOMBA/Jeeves. I do not give him the tending, loving care I need to. I dump the bin full of dust and dog hair in the trash, sort of scrape off the filter, that is it. Occasionally when something gets wound around the brush, I deal with it then. I found the key to the battery life is to always keep it charged, Don't just let it finish cleaning and not hooked to the charger. Come home, grab dog, set Jeeves lose, go for a walk, come back, floor is clean. Oh, did you see Jesse, on Breaking Bad has a Roomba? No, I do no work for irobot, I just love the thing. Donut

I think you're right about keeping it on the charger full time. We also let it 'do its thing' until the battery runs out (oh-oh), clean it out, then plug it right back in to use the next day. . Love it...

You would think after so many sales and being so long on the market with so many different versions that the price per unit would have gone down. I mean, it's not as if they're putting in new technology in each revision.

Like others have mentioned, the constant supervision kind of kills it for this sort of machine. You're better off just buying a Dyson or something if you're willing to spend this much on a vacuum.

Me? I just buy the $20 bag-less ones at big-box stores.

Toandfrogliders12 wrote:+I was having similar problems. I read all of the Quick Start Guide over and realized I was not cleaning the brush bearings. Because I had not, it was causing the brushes to not turn and it to stop. Once I cleaned them it ran for 45 more minutes without a problem. MIght want to try cleaning the bearings.

Turn the roomba upside down, remove the battery, then hold down the power button for 30 seconds. This resets the charging cycle. Put the battery back in and put roomba back on its charger.
Reminder, even if the light is green, the battery still charges. You should use roomba every day for best results.

englishmastiff wrote:Hi,
Does anyone actually own one of these? If so, please tell me if it actually works. Does it pick up dog hair? Does it go through batteries quickly?

-English Mastiff Owner

You won't believe how much dog hair it picks up! I have a Pom & run my 440 (Hazel) every day, but your Mastiffs might be a challenge. If Roomba sounds out its 'Oh, oh' before much run time, you should clean out the filter & bin, and start it again...

By the way, I have two roombas bought from woot several years ago. The first batteries weren't the best and I didn't know how to take care of them. Bought a replacement battery from amazon (batterygeek) and and happy with roomba once again.

I find Roombas are good for people who don’t mind getting their hands dirty with technology (cleaning sensors/filters/brushes). If you aren’t a hands on kind of person the Roomba is not for you. That being said, i love mine. I have an old 4210 Discovery series, and though the internal charger stopped working, i was able to get an external charger for $20 on eBay which is a decent work around. My Roomba has lasted about 2 years and I bought it used for about 40$ (battery was dead).

stepfischer wrote:Love my Roomba! I just picked up this one for my classroom. The price is half what I paid for my other Roomba. If you have ever thought about it... Now is the time!

You do have to dump the bin and remove hair and such from the brushes after every vacuum session. But no complaints here since it just vacuuumed my house and I didn't!

Two thumbs up! If you clean it out properly after every use, it takes about 10 minutes. I'll do that any day over lugging/pushing around a manual monster every day or so.

I own a Roomba AND a Scooba. They're both in the GARAGE. They should be in the GARBAGE. The Roomba "worked" for about a month. I quote "worked" because it picked up almost nothing, left the floor visibly dirty and then broke down. Even when it worked, it couldn't climb over the edge of an area rug, so it only traveled in a third of the room when it moved.

The Scooba worked a week longer I think. It cleaned about as much as the Roomba vacuumed and then decided to start cleaning without using any fluid. It took at least three times longer to prepare and clean up after than a bucket and mop. I bought 4 bottles of the fluid right after I got it, and I still have ALL FOUR. That's how long IT lasted! As with everything else, repair costs more than replacement, so they're both disposable.

Save the cost, irritation and clutter!
Vacuum your own floor!
Mop your own kitchen!

twigone wrote:You won't believe how much dog hair it picks up! I have a Pom & run my 440 (Hazel) every day, but your Mastiffs might be a challenge. If Roomba sounds out its 'Oh, oh' before much run time, you should clean out the filter & bin, and start it again...

I have this one and 2 560s. I bought the 440 and like it so well I went out and got 2 560s. I use the 440 on the hardwood floors and the 560s on the carpeted area. The 500 series has a upgrade to the dust bin that you can buy that makes a big difference in its operation.

Great Dane Owner

kfede1 wrote:I had the same experiance

So did I