Roomba and Scooba

My philosophy has always been to have more leisure time and less work time. With that in mind - here is my review and opinion on the iRobot Roomba and Scooba.

Both are self contained robots that vacuum and mop, respectively. Googling will get you a picture, and I believe the iRobot site or youtube have several videos of them working. Until then, picture in your mind a hockey puck blown up to 18 inches across and three inches tall. Underneath are motorized wheels and a vacuum brush. (there is a corner brush that sticks out slightly, but I digress).

Both are "self-directed", meaning the computer on board creates a map in its CPU of the layout of whatever room it's in as it bumps into walls and changes directions. Both will zig-zag and look random, but in the end the entire room will be vacuumed. Both also come with "virtual walls" - which is a little laser beam or somesuch that the machines read as a wall and don't cross that barrier. Good for cutting off large rooms, or closing off sections of the house that don't have natural barriers.

With either the user basically presses a button and walks away. The idea is that they vacuum/mop in a self directed fashion and the user does not need to be in the house, much less in the room pushing them.

Roomba - this is the vacuum. I bought mine used for $50. They typically sell about $300, but that can vary depending on how tricked out you want one.

I was EXTREMELY pleased with ours. We owned a dog at the time, and I would turn on the roomba and walk away. An hour or so later the basement carpet would be vacuumed. I'd empty out the dirt container and easily a large handful of dog hair and debris would come out.

It also vacuums hard surfaces, so in the course of two days (accounting for recharging) I could have the whole house vacuumed with my only effort being the moving of the roomba from room to room between chargings and emptying the dirt canister. I would turn the roomba loose about once every two weeks, and I never felt that it was "behind" in picking up dog hair or dirt. Granted, I'm not exactly a neat freak, but both I and Mrs. On Purpose felt comfortable enough to let our infant have tummy time on the floor.

The roomba is currently suffering some sort of battery malady that I'm pretty sure I caused. In the midst of moving, it was left unplugged for a month or two. I can only guess this is the cause as we bought it used and she hadn't used it in a year or so (it freaked out her autistic son). So I imagine since I didn't drain the battery, it's now having some issue recharging/holding a charge.

Either way - totally worth it and I'm likely to get a new one soon (Sam's now carries them at about $250).

Negatives - well the current non-charging issue. Also you do have to straighten up a bit and pick up larger things like plant leaves. I have to clean the brush about every 5 uses (note to ladies with long hair), which is more often than a regular vacuum. While both will go under your couch and bed to clean, beware of couches that are just barely tall enough for the robot. In a tight spot, they turn off and beep a little "help me I'm stuck" cry.

Scooba - I don't have as much to say about this one as I just used it for the first time today. I'm not even sure I used it correctly, as there was no dirty water in the dirty water tank to empty. Heck, I didn't even vacuum first! That said, the floors do look a lot better, but after using the Hoover hardwood vacuum/mopper that sucks the dirty water back in, I was a little disappointed that the Scooba didn't. Again - I think this is a lack of knowledge on my part as the thing clearly has a dirty water tank. Moreover, not sucking up the water left my kitchen floor pretty wet for a couple hours. So I am actually convinced that it was me and my haste to try out my new gadget that left it lacking.

For what they are - time savers - both are 10s! But go in with the knowledge that neat freaks aren't going to be satisfied, it's not a personal maid scrubbing your floors with a toothbrush. Even for middle-of-the-clean-roaders like ourselves, Mrs. On Purpose will still do the old fashioned mop and scrub and vacuum once every 6 monthsish, or whenever her mom is coming to visit.

But for me - I just dumped two big chores off on a couple robots. Jetsons' got nothing on me!

Any questions? :)