Roomba/competitor?

[H_you]

Hi all. Does anybody have these? What do you think of them? I'm thinking to get one but not so sure yet. Looks cool but is it effective; as in could I just have that to replace my failing vacuum. If it helps I live in one bd apt no stairs roughly 700sq ft mostly carpeted

[Anonymous]

I have an Eufy that I bought on Amazon on a deal of the day a few months back. I like it but having said that, it's just me here and I have no pets and don't wear shoes unless I have too. It does take some time to complete the job but I can have it running while I'm sitting here reading the boards.

On a weekly basis, I close off the guest rooms and my bedroom and baths so it's only doing the living room, hall, kitchen and front entry. Once a month I do the whole house.

It occassionally gets stuck and beeps when it does so even if I'm outside, I can hear it beep. The two places it was getting stuck in my house were under the bookcases (solved it by blocking off access underneath) and in front of the barstools at the counter (it REALLY wants to clean the front of them).

I am happy with the unit because I have some back problems and vacuuming was one of those chores that agrevated it. For me it was worth the $149 I paid for it but at full price of $499 I would not have bought it.

If you decide to get one, wait until closer to Christmas when they all go on sale.

[DeeBee78]

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@H_you wrote:
Hi all. Does anybody have these? What do you think of them? I'm thinking to get one but not so sure yet. Looks cool but is it effective; as in could I just have that to replace my failing vacuum. If it helps I live in one bd apt no stairs roughly 700sq ft mostly carpeted

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Last year my partner got me a Neato Botvac for my birthday. I absolutely love it. It picks up way more than our upright vacuum does, and all on its own. We got his mom the updated wifi-capable version for her birthday this year, and she can't believe how much dog hair it picks up. She had four dogs right now and says she hasn't needed to swiffer the floors (floors are all tile and wood) in months.

[Anonymous]

Roomba 980 here -- bought it new at full retail when it was released and can't say enough good things about it.  Previously had some random Amazon cheaper robot vacs but all 3 of them were dead in 120 days or less.

I mostly live alone unless I'm hosting a guest for a weekend, and vacuuming skills are not my forte.  The 980 just works, and it works excellently.

While the price of it is significant, it does a superior job to even my (also expensive) Miele and mopping 90% of the time.  I still do a all-over vac twice a month and mop my floors about once a week or so, but the Rooma keeps everything so spotless it shocks me.

I also like that the 980 produces a nice overhead map of where it vacuumed so I can see if there's an area with heavy dirt or something in the way.

I don't have pets, carpet or kids so YMMV but as a guy living the bachelor life, I get compliments constantly from folks who say my floors are spotless, which is weird to me because I never notice.

Also one REALLY nice feature of the Roomba is that I absolutely positively can't just throw clothes on the floor, so I have to be a bit tidier than without one or the Roomba will shove them under the bed.

[H_you]

Ya..same here no pets or anything. I’m seeing wildly different pricing from differing manufacturers and even the differing models. It’s a little confusing with the differences between models truthfully. I’d just like to have something without needing a stand up vacuum as well. And as stated before, I worry about spending a few hundred and finding out it doesn’t work as well as hoped for

[Anonymous]

I went with the 980 because it had some features the rest just didn't.  For example, the 980 has a camera that faces the ceiling and it actually maps out your house and rooms really accurately.  The 980 also has one of the most powerful vacuums and it cuts down work significantly.  Mine runs 2x a week, 3x if I have my doors and windows open, on a schedule.  It handles my small 1000sqft house in under an hour every time, and the bin only fills up about 30% full.

The other units I had sometimes took 2-3 hours or more, especially if they didn't have a big and powerful battery.  One of the $150 imports I bought took 8 hours to vacuum -- it would vacuum for an hour, then go charge for an hour, then vacuum for an hour, etc.  The cheaper models aren't intelligent, they actually just bounce around and hopefully hit the entire house.  My 980 goes back and forth in a very planned way, covering the entire house in strips, and upon completion it goes around the entire boundary of the house and hits all the walls perfectly.

Also, my 980 has "invisible walls" you can set up.  It comes with 2 wall units (battery powered) and I set it up to block my walk-in closet and my master bathroom since I don't want those vacuumed usually.  

It's really tough to say what would work for you, but it doesn't hurt to try one of the $150 or $200 units if it has a good return policy.  I returned one $250 unit with a 20% restocking fee after 45 days -- spending $50 to see it wasn't for me was WORTH IT.  The $600 unit I tried had a 30 day full refund.  I returned it in 6 days because I knew it wasn't right for me.

Spending $900 on the 980 was a lot, but I was paying someone $25 twice a week to do spot vacuuming for me!  $200 a month is ridiculous when my $900 robot vac does a better job.  Also, that unit was as cheap as $699 on Amazon recently, plus 5% back with the Amazon prime cards, so it was a real steal.  No idea how much it is now, but that unit is amazing.  My floors are spotless, no grit or grime at all.  Under the bed is even perfect.  Goes over small floor rugs perfectly and if it detects a lot of dirt it powers up (louder) while getting the dirt.

[H_you]

Ah kk...thanks for the review. Just made my choices much easier. Iirc roomba was pretty much the first one into the market. I’ve seen the Neato Botvac but can’t find much in the way of reviews for them. And Roomba reviews that I’ve seen seem to be either hit or miss. I’m thinking I should up my spend threshold on it then

[Anonymous]

Roomba has got tons of competitors like Dyson/neato etc but I'd still go for  Roomba. I think its features are amazing but was hoping they get to improve the scheduling function. like being able to schedule twice a day. But overall though, I'd give it an 8/10

[DeeBee78]

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@H_you wrote:
Ah kk...thanks for the review. Just made my choices much easier. Iirc roomba was pretty much the first one into the market. I’ve seen the Neato Botvac but can’t find much in the way of reviews for them. And Roomba reviews that I’ve seen seem to be either hit or miss. I’m thinking I should up my spend threshold on it then

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One thing that the Neato has going for it is square edges. Roomba can't get into corners like it can  

[Anonymous]

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@DeeBee78 wrote:

One thing that the Neato has going for it is square edges. Roomba can't get into corners like it can  

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Roomba has a dedicated brush for getting into corners and honestly it does a better job than I do with my Miele!  Plus that brush likes to get rolypolies which seem to find their way in during the fall.  That dedicated 'corner" brush is amazing to watch, it even gets under the floor trim.

The Neato that I had was really "dumb" meaning it loved to bounce around in the same area for an hour and then return to base.  Really annoyed me. That new Neato Botvac Connected appears to have better intelligence, though, and I LOVE the look and design of the main brushes below so I'm curious if it's better than the one I had a yearish or so ago.