TTMA Roombas

[rugger]

Who's got a Roomba? Are they awesome or a waste of money? Are there non-name-brand versions?

[brandiewine11]

We don't as it would not work in my house or with the type of dog hair here. But they are awesome.

Random fact. My husband designed the special wheels on the mopping version.

[critter015]

There are non name brand versions with great reviews on amazon. I had one on my wish list for a while. We got one several years back for DH's grandparents and they loved it, it was entertainment and cleaning for them at the same time. Unfortunately it had some sort of issue and they stuck it somewhere before we could look at it and now I can't find it! I'm sure the issue was something minor too.

[rugger]

May 8, 2017 7:12:22 GMT -5 brandiewine11 said:

We don't as it would not work in my house or with the type of dog hair here. But they are awesome.

Random fact. My husband designed the special wheels on the mopping version.

Ok, now talk to me about Roombas and dog hair. I assume the short pittie hair wouldn't be an issue, but we may get a German Shepherd in the next year (which sparked my interest in a Roomba). Will that hair be too long?

[kartish]

We have a roomba and I loved it. But once V got mobile he tried to sit on the thing and pick it up and otherwise try and break the thing. So it's been in the closest for a year. But we have two cats and a dog and it did fine with the hair when we used it everyday. It was a pet specific one though I believe.

[Stringy]

May 8, 2017 8:00:12 GMT -5 @musicboxdancr said:

Be warned lol
www.scarymommy.com/roomba-meets-pile-of-poop-jesse-newton/

This is al I think of when I think of these

[piccyami]

We have the braava (the mopping version). I rarely run it these days because our first dog was alternately terrified of it and incredibly interested in it. Before the puppy, we used to run it nearly every day while we were at work. It's great for all the fluffy cat hair.

And +1 to @musicboxdancr's warning. it doesn't know if it's in something, so I would never run it when I'm not home now with all the messes animals make.

[ovenrack]

I loved mine. About 9 months ago the motor on mine started acting up (it's 10+ years old) and I miss it so. I should see if I can fix it. Not for real cleaning, but daily touch ups? Yesssss.

[Crisco Salad]

I just looked up the price of the roomba

[sarenu]

May 8, 2017 10:18:18 GMT -5 Crisco Salad said:

I just looked up the price of the roomba

Same.  I bought one on clearance at Target.  I honestly did not use it and now it won't charge.  It's not a fancy one.  The things I didn't like, which they may have fixed:

1. The instruction manual says not to run it when you aren't home.  But yet they were advertising that you could run it while you are out.

2. It would get stuck under my dresser.

3. We have a laminated area in our living room that is framed with wood.  It can easily get stuck there.  Then it stops and yells at me.

4. we have a basement door that we now leave open so that are cats can go up and down the stairs.

[brandiewine11]

May 8, 2017 7:18:49 GMT -5 rugger said:

May 8, 2017 7:12:22 GMT -5 brandiewine11 said:

We don't as it would not work in my house or with the type of dog hair here. But they are awesome.

Random fact. My husband designed the special wheels on the mopping version.

Ok, now talk to me about Roombas and dog hair. I assume the short pittie hair wouldn't be an issue, but we may get a German Shepherd in the next year (which sparked my interest in a Roomba). Will that hair be too long?

It's probably fine for that. It will be better or worse depending on if you get a really long coated one or not, and how much grooming you do. We have friends with a wire haired griffon and it's good for him.

It would probably even help us most of the year in a different house but with a Newfie blowing her coat twice a year the Miele can just barely keep up for 3 months of the year. Running it daily. Add the main coon cat and we've got issues. It would just fill up too fast I think.

[ovenrack]

May 8, 2017 10:16:14 GMT -5 @milano said:

ovenrack was it you who had a closetful of roombas or something? I seem to remember that someone on this board had more than one and weren't using any of them.

I have two, my dad bought himself on and me one at the same time, and I inherited theirs.

I keep one upstairs and one downstairs, because I live a luxurious life.

One needs a motor fix, and the other needs a new battery.

Alas.

[SAK]

This post is so timely. I was at my neighbor's this weekend and saw hers and she showed it off to me. They have 3 kids and 2 labs and she said she'd never live without one again. It went straight to the top of my I-need-this-now list.

Question: she said hers was $2-300ish from target so I'm guessing hers is the 650 or older model. I've been looking at comparisons of the 4 different models on Amazon, but I can't tell what makes the $800 version that much better than the $300 version. Or any of the models in between

[rugger]

May 8, 2017 12:55:59 GMT -5 @charlotte said:

I want one for our main kitchen/living area so bad! Like SAK i am a bit confused by the different versions, because I'm not sure if the more expensive ones are worth the price difference or not.
We used to have a GSD and for our particular dog, I have a feeling the hair would have been too much to just let the Roomba run unless we ran it and emptied it multiple times a day. I vacuumed with our Shark vacuum every day and I would still have to stop halfway through every room to empty dog hair because the canister was full. The longer-haired shepherds don't have as much of a shedding under coat though, I think.

This pup wouldn't have super long hair.

[SAK]

And why are the refurbished ones only $10 less than buying brand new? Who would ever choose that?

[grumpycakes]

I didn't read the poop article, but I know a guy who owns a vacuum repair shop and he told me that several times a year, someone comes in with a Roomba that ran through poop.

[CurlieWhirlie]

@milano, what kind of distance can it cover? Like, if I have three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen and a living room on one floor, can it do that? Can you set it to have two different pathways? Like could I ask it to clean the living room/kitchen one day, and the bedrooms/bathrooms another day?

I want one of these so bad. Because full time working parents means we don't waste any time vacuuming. We were just laughing about how the kitchen counters are always clean but we never dust the skirting boards, because time.

I need the 900 series that works with Alexa, so I can order it to clean with my voice.

[dramaphile]

I have a roomba I picked up off a curb that I'm pretty sure just needs a battery. I should order one and actually try the thing out, it's been sitting in my closet for months.

[TJ]

You people with your closet roombas.

Fix them or toss them.

[rugger]

May 9, 2017 16:13:14 GMT -5 TJ said:

You people with your closet roombas.

Fix them or toss them.

Or send it to me!