So, anyone got an iRobot Roomba or other robot vacuum cleaner?

Soldato
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So, my Neato Signature Pro is currently wandering around the ground floor (laminated floors) doing it's business.

Initial thoughts are that is it quieter than I expected. We have a Dyson upright vacuum and it is definitely quieter than that. It seems efficient at planning its course through the rooms and seems to cover all areas. I hadn't picked up everything off the floor when I started the cleaning, so it did manage to swallow up a Nokia charger cable and some plastic gloves, but quickly stopped and alerted me to the fact that there was something stuck in the brush.

It didn't seem to recognise the doors and moved to other rooms without finishing the first one. However, I read online that it will come back and finish it off... which it eventually did.

The only disappointment was that it doesn't clean edges as well as I would have expected. It doesn't have side brushes like the Roomba, so this probably isn't a big surprise. At least I know that the Neato will do majority of the work and I just have to go round the edges with a small handheld every now and then.
 
Caporegime
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So, my Neato Signature Pro is currently wandering around the ground floor (laminated floors) doing it's business.

Initial thoughts are that is it quieter than I expected. We have a Dyson upright vacuum and it is definitely quieter than that. It seems efficient at planning its course through the rooms and seems to cover all areas. I hadn't picked up everything off the floor when I started the cleaning, so it did manage to swallow up a Nokia charger cable and some plastic gloves, but quickly stopped and alerted me to the fact that there was something stuck in the brush.

It didn't seem to recognise the doors and moved to other rooms without finishing the first one. However, I read online that it will come back and finish it off... which it eventually did.

The only disappointment was that it doesn't clean edges as well as I would have expected. It doesn't have side brushes like the Roomba, so this probably isn't a big surprise. At least I know that the Neato will do majority of the work and I just have to go round the edges with a small handheld every now and then.

Sorry, but as I said to my friend who bought a crappy Samsung Navibot (which moves around his apartment like an arthritic pensioner)... there is a good reason that iRobot are the market leaders with their Roomba series...
 
Caporegime
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I believe The roomba shave the best vacum part but the neato's algorithms are better for a consistent coverage. Roomba' sues a more stochastic random walk effect with some spiral and edge detection, Neato's do have a basic mapping algorithm that often works better but can make bigger mistakes. The roomba will always clean everywhere due to its random walk, but it might take significantly longer. The upshot is the roomba will cover the same areas multiple times improving the clean but taking longer to get the job done.


It is also possible to reprogram the roomba., which is why I got one. We used roombas for course work in some of the robotics classes I taught.
 
Caporegime
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I believe The roomba shave the best vacum part but the neato's algorithms are better for a consistent coverage. Roomba' sues a more stochastic random walk effect with some spiral and edge detection, Neato's do have a basic mapping algorithm that often works better but can make bigger mistakes. The roomba will always clean everywhere due to its random walk, but it might take significantly longer. The upshot is the roomba will cover the same areas multiple times improving the clean but taking longer to get the job done.


It is also possible to reprogram the roomba., which is why I got one. We used roombas for course work in some of the robotics classes I taught.

The Roomba is better overall... I'll take fuzzy logic that eventually goes everywhere yet provides greater cleaning and coverage any time of the week. Also the side brushes are an asset.
 
Associate
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I have both the Neato and the Roomba.
I think overall the Neato is the better unit. It has great suction, does a good methodical clean, will clean the entire floor in all rooms (returns to charge up and then go back and finish off), the only slight negative is the cleaning in corners, but this is improved with the update so it goes in and then backs out.

The Roomba, can do more passes based on the randomness, however this to me is also its downfall, unless you have a load of light houses to contain it, it wont always clean all the rooms, and it rarely makes it back to dock when doing a bigger clean, and then when it does dock thats it for the day.

If I had to buy only one, I would get the Neato.
 
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today a valuable lesson has been learned

If your dog does a small mistake while you are out.

Roomba will not go around said mistake.

messy

yuck !!!!!

I have a GSD, imagine the mess.

Still interested in getting one, we are totally wooden and tiled down stairs with no doors and forever getting cat and dog hairs all over the place.
 
Caporegime
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iRobot Braava 380 floor mopping robot...

Well, with my Roomba being such a big success I now want to try out a floor mopping solution to give my floors a good go-over... and due to the fact that I haven't mopped my apartment since I moved in. Over a year ago. Ahem. :o

I saw the iRobot Braava series gets good reviews, and I can get the 380 model for £205 where I live. Here's the info page http://store.irobot.com/product/index.jsp?productId=22181696#showReviews

Anyone else used one? :D
 
Soldato
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Well, with my Roomba being such a big success I now want to try out a floor mopping solution to give my floors a good go-over... and due to the fact that I haven't mopped my apartment since I moved in. Over a year ago. Ahem. :o

I saw the iRobot Braava series gets good reviews, and I can get the 380 model for £205 where I live. Here's the info page http://store.irobot.com/product/index.jsp?productId=22181696#showReviews

Anyone else used one? :D

I was looking at Robots for hard floors but was leaning towards the Scooba as it also scrubs.
We find at the moment we have to sweep the floor before we mop to do a full proper clean.
 
Caporegime
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I was looking at Robots for hard floors but was leaning towards the Scooba as it also scrubs.
We find at the moment we have to sweep the floor before we mop to do a full proper clean.

The Scooba is apparently not so great and needs a lot of maintenance compared to the amount of work it does. I'm definitely giving it a miss.
 
Soldato
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Had roomba some time now and I have not had to carry the hoover upstairs once, the place is always clean.

I did take him to bits at the weekend and give him a good clean in places obviously missed. Was worth doing.
 
Soldato
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3,072
A mate of mine's mum deals with returned domestic appliances and managed to snag me 4 Roombas.
One has the spinny brush missing, there's only one charger, they needed a good clean and one has a dodgy right bumper sensor, but now I command a small army of Roombas.

After using them for a couple of weeks I can categorically state that they are awesome.
We used to constantly clean the tile floor as we have a dog and live near the beach so sand and dog hair is always a problem but now every morning we come down to a spotless floor.
They also do a great job on carpets, if these stopped working tomorrow I wouldn't hesitate to go out and buy one.

Do I get them cleaning 4 rooms at once or set them off in one room and watch the battle commence? :)

IMG_20140722_142637.jpg
 
Caporegime
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I've already commented in this thread but thought I would update now I'm here.
we;ve had our roomba for 6 months and it has been amazing, pretty much never touch out regular vacuum cleaner and our house is cleaner than ever before.

if it breaks we would buy another in an instant.
 
Soldato
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So I have a flat and looking to get this. As a single man I cant be bothered to hoover more than twice a week with the dyson so hoping this will save me the effort. What seems to be the general consensus between these 2. I want it to do the kitchen (hard lino stuff) The rest is carpet and consists of the Living room with sofas it can go under and then the bedroom and hallway.

So iRobot Roomba 880 at £ 650 or the Neato botvac 85 at £450

So far im edging to roomba based on reviews but im not sure its £200 better.
 
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