Are robot vacuums safe?

[omegasena]

Are robot vacuums safe? I’m sure the salespeople will say it is but I am a bit worried because I have a toddler at home and a Chihuahua and I feel like if I don’t hold the vacuum, an accident might happen. Staring at it and making sure it’s doing its job is so inefficient and I’d rather get a stand vacuum cleaner instead. But it would be nice to try it because I swear, working a home-based job and caring for a toddler at the same time requires some R&R every once in a while!

So I saw the Neato Robotic XV here (http://www.smartvacuums.co.uk/best-robot-vacuum/) and it looks pretty promising. There are some neat-looking ones here (http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/appliances/vacuum-cleaner-reviews/g1573/best-robot-vacuums-2015/) as well. I don’t mind spending a bit more for it as long as it’s guaranteed safe and powerful at the same time.

Any suggestions aside from these ones?

 

[Impfac]

Neato's and Roomba's are awesome. I'd avoid ANY other brand at all; only get a Neato or a Roomba. I'd recommend Roomba.

My experience with the Neato was not great; they have a much much higher failure rate than the Roomba and don't get into the corners as well, although the 1 pass navigation is great. The Neato is dumb and gets stuck everywhere though; I'd never pay full price for one unless my house was much more tidy. Mine was always getting confused, running up onto ledges it couldn't get back off of, and getting hung up on the bottom of cat trees. It also pushed some stuff around. It was just not as good at obstacle navigation as the roomba, so if your house is cluttered and has a variety of surfaces like mine, don't get it.

I'd get the Roomba. You can get a used 500 series pretty cheap. The 800 series has tangle free brushes but the 600 and 700 perform great and much lower prices. Try to get one with the Aerovac bin as that picks up hair and dirt much better (I think Aerovac bin is standard on 600 series and up).

Roomba picks up really well and tends to go over areas repeatedly.

Roomba also uses virtual walls which act as a barrier; neato's use a magnetic tape you have to lay on the floor if you want to block it. The virtual wall is much easier.

Your Chihuahua will probably run away from any robot vacuum, and they won't hurt your toddler. I suppose he could stick his fingers in the Neato's front brush, but I don't THINK that would hurt him, if he could even manage it. They are not heavy enough to injure a child if they run over their fingers, but the front bumper would make it go around them anyway.

I don't see any way they'd be unsafe. I buy and sell Roombas so I usually have a couple around that work that I use off and on, and I like them.

 

[Impfac]

Looking at Amazon.uk, I'd go with one of those 600 series like the 620, unless you have money to burn and want to go for a 700 or even an 800.

I wouldn't bother with the Samsung or off brand ones ever though! iRobot supports their stuff for years and years, those other guys will probably be gone or stop making robots before your warranty is out!

Roomba has replaceable modules too; if your wheel, brushes, side brush, or vacuum breaks, you can pop a new one in. No other robot has that, and its a lifesaver when it gets older!

 

[countryguy]

One concern about robot vacuums is if you have pets and you let the vacuum do its thing when you aren't home. If your pet has an accident and the vacuum happens to go through that accident, then you are going to have quite a mess on the rest of your floors/carpeting!

 

[sebo4me]

Hmmmm I dunno. I think one day robots will take over the world!

 

[sptyks]

f you want to really clean your floors or carpet then you should know that there is no robotic vacuum that will clean your carpets and floors nearly as well as a good upright vacuum will.


 


Since you live in the UK, I would highly recommend the SEBO X Series of upright vacuum to supplement the robotic vacuum. A good upright vacuum will deep clean your carpet, where as the robotic vacs just skim over the top picking up only larger pieces of debris sitting on top of the carpet.

 

[sebo4me]

This is correct Spartacus

 

[fantomlightning]

I've...

Owned a wide range of Roomba's and both multiple Neato XV Series and BotVac machines. Don't even think about the XV series, they are my favorite when they work.... However, I had four XV21s (original purchase + 3 replacements) before Neato finally just said "We can't send you anymore machines, we'll just refund your money." Narrow it down to a 600 series Roomba (none of the others bring enough to the table to justify the price, and the 980 with the camera is too expensive), or a Neato Botvac. Botvac is a great machine that cleans incredibly well and I've found to be very reliable. 600 series Roomba doesn't clean as well on carpet, but is an endearing little machine that you'll probably name and treat as a pet. I wouldn't trade my 650 for anything, but it's the Botvac that I choose day to day for a whole home clean. Now the biggest thing, as many of the vacuum collecting naysayers will harp on about, it won't clean as well as a normal vacuum. However, in my experience, that's only on carpet, bare flooring it'll do as well/better. This won't replace your vacuum, and my method and suggestion is this.
1. Buy the robot and charge it fully.
2. Take a day to rip the house apart and clean thoroughly with your normal vacuum.
3. That same day run the machine around the house and watch it, look for areas it has difficulty with, or things it gets stuck on. Then if possible change or modify those trouble spots.
4. Set it to clean DAILY, this will give it the best chance of getting everything.
5. Again, it won't replace your vacuum, so clean with your regular vacuum once a week or once every two weeks depending on the traffic in your home.
Over all the robot will help a lot with keeping your home clean, and while I wouldn't recommend it, you may be able to go up to a month without truly needing to use your normal vacuum.

 

[henrydreyfuss]

Neato is the smartest, and has come a long way.

The only Roomba that even comes close to matching the Neato's performance and navigation is the the new 980 model, but that one is far more expensive than the Neato Botvac series. My first Botvac was very impressive, but had occasional hiccups hugging walls and getting into corners. Neato has sorted that out, and my current Botvac 65 edge cleans very well. Neato will take care of your house as well as you take care of it, so be prepared to clean the filter in the dust bin regularly, along with the brushroll.

I would no longer go without a robotic vacuum. It's wonderful. Today I came home from work, and my floor was freshly vacuumed. They've come a LONG way since they first came out 15 years ago, and most of the major improvements on them have just happened in the last 3 years. Happy cleaning!

 

[n0oxy]

robot vacuum

I have had my neato XV-12 now for about 3 years, still working as good as the day I got it. That was before the botvac series was introduced, I would suggest going with that. The neato robots are much smarter about navigating around and will clean much quicker than roomba while still doing a good job. Also, with the neato robots, you don't need to use light house boxes or any of that extra complication to set room boundaries, the neato robots figure that out themselves. Roomba cleans in a random pattern which is why it takes much longer to clean. There are other vacuum robots available but they are not as popular and do not have near as many users. I would suggest the neato botvac, when the time comes to replace my neato XV-12, that's what I will be getting.