Robot Vacuum Discussion

[jwslam]

Tell me about yours

I'm currently using one of these:
https://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/shark-i.../6000198117989

I like the remote.
The dust-bin design isn't great because it opens like a butterfly and stuff falls out if you're not careful.
Seems to pick up new stuff everyday. Works great on carpet.
Quiet compared to a roomba, especially on hard floors.

[Wormius]

They look interesting. How close to the baseboards can these things get? Would also be pretty cool if they could actually clean the dust from the tops of baseboards as they're going around.

[Cheese]

Ive had a Roomba 770 for about 6-7 years now. It does a great job with pet hair and thats why we love it, both on carpet and hardwood.
It certainly does not replace a premium vacuum but it certainly cuts down the times needed for one.

Have it scheduled to come on every day at 1pm and off it goes.

You have to be careful about leaving things on the floor that could jam it, a quick walk around before hand helps. You must also take good care of the brushes/rollers etc, and I take mine apart once a month for a good clean.
I also have electronic walls that can be placed in areas you dont want the Roomba to go.


The rotary brush gets right up against baseboards and for the most part does an excellent job.



Love it, would not hesitate to get another if needed, however the parts are easy to get and cheap on Amazon.

[Ace]

I've owned both roomba (7+ years ago, so it might be way better now) and neato. The neato blew the roomba away. It's laser guided and much more methodical, the roomba was more like a chicken with it's head cut off. The Roomba had greater tendency to mark my walls, where the neato found them and followed the path. The Roomba used to use "lighthouses" to mark out rooms that you want the thing to avoid, the neato used magnetic strips you could lay anywhere. The magnetic strips worked well for me beacuse if i found a specific spot that it would tend to get stuck, i'd just cut a bit of the magnet strip and lay it there so the unit would avoid the area. With the roomba design i'd need another set of "lighthouses" (but im sure this is likely outdated info by now).


One of our neato's screens died, and it's a difficult process to get it replaced (at my expense), so that's my only negative experience.

[jeffporfirio]

We have two Neato's, and they are great. We mostly use them when we are away, or gone for the weekend.

As mentioned they are very methodical, as it vacuums in a back-and-forth way, as you would in straight lines.
The only modifications I made, was that I taped felt on its side as it mas marking the baseboards, and I purchased greater mAh batteries from Amazon.
The downside is, that they are very loud, so can't run them in the middle of the night.

[Puppet Guy]

[GoinAllTheWay]

Originally Posted by Cheese

Love it, would not hesitate to get another if needed, however the parts are easy to get and cheap on Amazon.

That's slick. Being able to replace high wear parts would make stomaching the purchase price a bit easier.

[Northendzone]

my wife vacuums. parts for her are harder to find, but she is still strong on plow although her voice got deeper when she turned 17.....

[PsYcNeT]

I picked up a Roomba 860 refurbished off Amazon for ~half price about a year and a half ago.

I rebuilt my main floor when I reno'd to have a fully even planking across the entire floor so the Roomba can go everywhere.

As an allergy sufferer with cats (yes, I'm dumb), it has been a godsend and I would buy another in an instant if it died.

My sister has a 6xx series one, and I would recommend the 8xx/9xx or i series ones since the maintenance is waaaay easier on the day to day.

[jwslam]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

my wife vacuums. parts for her are harder to find, but she is still strong on plow although her voice got deeper when she turned 17.....

How often does that need to be plugged in?

[wireframe]

Has anyone used one of the cheaper robot vacuums? Eufy, Ecovacs, ilife, etc.?

I am thinking of buying a robo-vac and I want to know if the extra cost for a Roomba is actually worth it.

[Cheese]

Originally Posted by wireframe

Has anyone used one of the cheaper robot vacuums? Eufy, Ecovacs, ilife, etc.?

I am thinking of buying a robo-vac and I want to know if the extra cost for a Roomba is actually worth it.

tend to get what you paid for..so in this case Id be careful.


Knowing what I know now, Id buy a used Roomba on Kijiji, do a thorough clean and replace parts and it would be good as new.


Or look at this...tremendous deal
https://www.kijiji.ca/v-vacuum/calga...ationFlag=true

[Old Yeller]

We used to have a Neato which cleaned very well, but the first set of batteries died. I called in to complain as we hadn't even had the thing for a year and they sent me replacement batteries under warranty.

They also died within a year.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by wireframe

Has anyone used one of the cheaper robot vacuums? Eufy, Ecovacs, ilife, etc.?

I am thinking of buying a robo-vac and I want to know if the extra cost for a Roomba is actually worth it.

I have an iLife and I like it for basic upkeep in between major sweeps of my main floor. But it's older model/tech so it doesn't map rooms etc. and just does its thing until it randomly finishes the entire floor. Its ability to pic up micro dust on hardwood is great though. The hard wood floor looks almost polished after a sweep when there's no micro dust on it. We bought the Ecovac for my inlaws and it's essentially the same, but it can be controlled via wifi (a feature my iLife doesn't have).

These lower feature robots are essentially like an idiot machine that motors around semi aimlessly that will finally get your floors reasonably clean after around an hour or two. It's so stupid it gets tangled in cords/soft and long surfaces (certain rugs/blankets etc.) if you leave those open and about. It's pretty good about not falling off things though. Too good. Sometimes my iLife gets trapped on my thicker anti-fatigue mat because it thinks it will fall to its death into if it goes off the edge of the mat. Think... blindfolded guy on a log. It also seems to move aimlessly as mentioned before, kinda like watching those water bugs in lakes and ponds.

If you want something methodical and whatnot, I think the higher quality robots like Roomba etc. are much better for that. But I paid something like 1/3 the cost of a Roomba for mine, so I'm am aware of the issues and lack of features that come with it. As mentioned before, you get what you pay for. I don't mind the lesser features and I usually keep an eye on the unit initially to ensure I didn't miss any thing it could get tripped up on (which I usually just raise slightly off the floor and tangle avoided).

EDIT: I guess to mention, I don't know about the Roomba, but for the iLife and Ecovac, I usually have to clean out the filters every 5-6 hours of vacuuming or so. So much dust clogs up the filters that the suction is significantly affected if I don't do this. It's easy to do though. Just pop open the dustbin and use your hand to wipe the dust/hair off the air filter as if you were cleaning dryer lint before a load.

[jwslam]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

I have an iLife and I like it for basic upkeep in between major sweeps of my main floor. But it's older model/tech so it doesn't map rooms etc. and just does its thing until it randomly finishes the entire floor. Its ability to pic up micro dust on hardwood is great though. The hard wood floor looks almost polished after a sweep when there's no micro dust on it. We bought the Ecovac for my inlaws and it's essentially the same, but it can be controlled via wifi (a feature my iLife doesn't have).

Picked up an A4S about a week ago.
Considering returning it for the A7 since it's on sale now and I can google home it...

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by jwslam

Picked up an A4S about a week ago.
Considering returning it for the A7 since it's on sale now and I can google home it...

Nice. Congrats on the purchase. I have the iLife V8s which I assume is about on par with the A7. The mop function on the V8 seems really pointless and stupid though. I'd rather have the wifi function than mop function.

The wifi feature on the A7 is nice as you can turn it on while you go out to come home to a relatively cleaned home. Using the robot vacuum intermittently does make the home seem cleaner and the result is especially fantastic on hard wood floors. Like my V8s, the iLife A7 still doesn't look like a model that can methodically clean a floor in like 15-20 minutes even if you set it on path or edge mode. I'm pretty sure it'll frustrate or amuse you how often it hangs out in some areas and whether it even makes it to other areas 40 minutes later.

Even if it's not efficient, it still cleans more than I would normally clean my home, so this little guy does get used regularly. I do not regret my purchase decision.

[jwslam]

Yup the shark I own in the OP is also a drunken sailor type but it still always manages to dock with a full bin. Unfortunately has recently discovered how to find a crevice into the underside of my bed that it can't get out of... so it's been quite a PITA to dig it out since it's a lower bed frame.

[jwslam]

I ordered some filters from AliExpress but got the wrong size

These are 4 1/4 x 2 x 3/8 inches
Set of 5
Pick up for free if they fit your vacuum

[Robo]

I hate our vacuum it is the dumbest robot I have ever seen constantly gets stuck, it vacuums everywhere except the spot I really want it to, it slams into your toes super hard also my dogs are terrified of it because i think it tried to vacuum one of them up

[jwslam]

Originally Posted by Robo

I hate our vacuum it is the dumbest robot I have ever seen constantly gets stuck, it vacuums everywhere except the spot I really want it to, it slams into your toes super hard also my dogs are terrified of it because i think it tried to vacuum one of them up

Make and model would be helpful... thanks.