My first Robot Vacuum- how was yours?

[mieles5380leo]

My first robot vacuum was an iRobot Roomba 440. I then had a Roomba 530, and after that a Neato Robotics XV Signature Pro. Currently I use a Roomba 790 on one side of the house, and a 801 on the other side (though it sees little use). The 790 has gotten daily use for the past 3 years. No major problems with Roombas until they get really old (5 years or so).

 

[dartman]

I got a n78, then a eufy 11+ with a actual floor brush that can handle low pile carpet. The first one worked ok on the vynil floors, not much on the carpet but better than nothing. The only 11+ actually does pretty well wandering around the area randomly. The carpet stays pretty clean now with no effort from us and I break out my Shark cordless duo clean or one of the big vacs to get the birds areas and whatever it missed. I'm happy, we have to rescue it many times but it just shuts off and waits and we start it again. I WANT a lidar version so it will follow straight paths, map the rooms, and have more power but for what I paid as refurbished for both I'm happy and main areas stay a lot cleaner having it run every day.

 

[niclonnic]

I used to own

A Eufy RoboVac 30C Wi-Fi connected robotic vacuum cleaner. It would've normally cost $250, but my dad got it for free to review from the Amazon Vine program.

Initially, we were amazed by it; it was mesmerizing to watch it in action, vacuuming the floor. But then, we discovered a dirty truth (pun intended): we couldn't use it if there was any kind of dog poop on the floor, as we would deal with the "pooptastrophe" that other robot vacuum owners would experience. As a result, we stopped using the vacuum after a week or two, and then I sold it on eBay.

Now we've moved into a bigger house in the same city, but in a different neighborhood, and the laminate flooring downstairs is a lot lighter than that of the old house. My dad now regrets selling the RoboVac, as a robot vacuum would make much more sense with this gigantic floor plan; in addition, the dogs don't poop inside as much anymore. He's waiting for another robot vacuum to pop up on Vine someday.

 

[gregvacs28]

I'm on the second day of experimenting with mine. I'm going to load some pics soon.

It actually works but it's certainly not the best.

 

[gregvacs28]

niclonic

um.

I'm glad "the dogs don't poop inside as much anymore."

lol. When we had a poodle, when I was growing up, she would do that sometimes.

I don't know why it sounds so funny though.

 

[niclonnic]

gregvacs28

What I said was a bit of a misnomer; I have 2 large rescue dogs, both girls, along with 2 little boy dogs. The girls always go outside, and the boys, while they usually go outside, sometimes do their business inside, but on a puppy pad. Just some clarification.

 

[gregvacs28]

Those pads are an excellent idea. I don't ever remember seeing those when we had a dog.
A dog is a living thing and sometimes has to go really bad and having a safe pad, inside the house, is a great idea for both them and the home owner.

Some of the new robots have programmed NO-GO zones or one can simply make a simple 2x4 frame around the pad so the vacuum can't get to it, but the pet can.

 

[subieguy]

Right now I have a Roomba i7+ with clean base downstairs and it's basically replaced my upright as it's a new house with only wood floors.

Upstairs I have the Roomba S9+ with clean base and it runs daily on our carpeted floors. I deep clean with my Shark Apex Zero-M every 2 weeks now.

The S9 series Roomba is unlike previous Roombas with a large brushroll and 22CFMs of suction. It's powerful enough to extend deep cleaning for a while.

 

[ocscott3085]

I've had two robotic vacuums in my adult life - a Roomba 530 back when I bought my first townhouse and now the Neato D7. The Roomba 530 was the epitome of a robotic carpet sweeper. I bought it when I got my first dog and needed something to run on my first floor to keep up with her shedding. It was fine for that and I knew I still had to vacuum with my Miele to actually clean any carpeting. When I built my current house I quickly found the Roomba to be inadequate for the space. The random bouncing off walls and furniture was useless in a large space. That being said I went a few years without a robotic vacuum. A couple years ago I splurged on the Neato D7 and it made up for all of Roomba's flaws. With it's "D" shape it actually got into corners, it cleaned in an actual pattern rather than zig zagging everywhere and best of all, there was actual suction on the unit. I really liked that it mapped out my house and I could draw "No Go" lines in rooms or areas where I didn't want it to go. It's louder than the Roomba but I'm okay with that because it picks up so much better than that old 530. My parents have a Roomba 880 (?) that they love for use in their kitchen and family room. It saves them time and back aches in their 70's. They still have to use their regular vacuums but not nearly as often.

 

[joshp83]

Samsung Powerbot 7040

Hi all,
I have a Samsung Powerbot; this is my experience:

Pros:
* The brush role is nearly the full width of the machine. (Many robotic vacuums have a narrow, tiny brush and therefore can't clean well near walls.)
* It modifies the power level between carpet and hard floors, which helps improve performance and save battery
* It is systematic in it's cleaning path and seems to clean everywhere
* It has great edge cleaning
* It's dust bin is large enough to clean up pet hair, although still too small to go several days between uses. (I have a border collie and she sheds a lot.)
* It doesn't get stuck very often and doesn't have problems finding it's way back to the charger.
* Features work as promised (app/Alexa commands, spot cleaning, etc.)

Cons:
* Like all bot vacs, it can't replace a regular vacuum.
* The filtering system is garbage: both the re-filtering process and the quality of the filter itself. (No HEPA, it's basically a kitchen sponge.) I vacuum it with my Rainbow every few uses.
* The machine's "cyclone", which is supposed to pre-filter the airflow entering the filter, is just for show. Dirt is not directed out of the air path on the way to the filter and tons of dirt and hair pass through to the main (only) filter. The "cyclone" area fills immediately with dirt and hair. There is no cyclonic action.

Overall, it's a solid machine for frequent use on low-pile rugs or carpet, and hard floor surfaces. I've used a Neato in the past and did find that to be a superior machine. I actually plan on selling this- although it's because I'm cluttery enough that I rarely run it and find myself pulling out my Rainbow or Dyson V8 and just vacuuming myself.

 

[gottahaveahoove]

I got a BRAND new, in box Hoover

UNDER $40.00!! I KNOW !!!!!!
It only came out of the box once, at a mini meet. I doubt I'll use it. IF I do, it will be after more construction/renovation is finished. I got it, just because..sometimes, you just "gottahaveahoover".

 

[gregvacs28]

23rd January update:


 


I'm still pleasantly surprised that it actually works.  


I literally thought I'd be  getting a piece of plastic with a light in it and ..... that would be it.


 


It actually works.  


 


Last night I washed the floor with a mild soap/bleach solution.  


This morning I set the bot out before I left thinking it would be doubtful it would find anything. 


I returned and was surprised there was actually stuff in the bin.  


 


"customization": I put some weather stripping on the bottom to help it channel the air into the suction port. 


I also cut a piece of filter material and wove it into the exhaust port to control release as it has no exhaust filter.


 


One complaint I've read about older bots is the two spinning brushes on the front on some models they spin too fast and actually fling dirt around making more of a mess.


 


On this one, they spin at a reasonable speed.


 


I plan to make some videos on this.

 

[gregvacs28]

The Samsung bots, when I first saw them it was the first flat front and it actually sounds like a typical upright with beater-bar-brush vacuum.


 


Some of the new floor mopping bots will spray a section while moving forward about a foot, then reverse back, then move forward, and repeat.  It actually looks like someone invisible is moving the bot.  That's how a human would work a mop- back and forth.


 


I wonder if the bot vacs would benefit from changing their pattern from almost always going forward to the typical pattern that a human would use.

 

[dartman]

If all you have is hard floors that will probably do a good enough job to get the dust bunnies and small grit off the floor. I got the Eufy 11+ because we have low pile carpet and it has a brush roll that works pretty good on our carpet. My first one was similar to yours and did great on the hard floors but not so good on carpet. If it runs long enough to get most of your main areas and works good on your particular floors it looks like you got a awesome deal for the money.

 

[gregvacs28]

This thing can't do any carpet. I put it on a low pile type commercial carpet and it just wimpered.
The tiny little wheels on the back are about the diameter of a quarter. the front ones slightly smaller.

This purchase was only meant to be my first experimental vacuum before deciding what others I would want to spend money on.  I'm in no hurry but I am impressed.


 


Vacwars just did a new video comparing the floor scrubber bots.  I really like their comparisons.


 


Now you can get vacuum bots that talk to the floor scrubber bots and both can dock so once the vacuum bot is done vacuuming the floor it will tell the scrubber bot to go out and clean.  It's impressive.

 

[electromatik]

I am more interested in the floor washer robots than the vacuum robots. I feel that a robot can theoretically handle floor washing better than vacuuming. Dirt is easier to remove from solid surfaces than from fiber carpeting.

My first robot purchase will probably be a floor washer. Until the robot vacuums get powerful enough to effectively handle all jobs I probably won't buy one of those.

 

[dandagreer]

Mixed Feelings

I acquired a Miele RX1 Scout on eBay for a reasonable price. It was in excellent condition. I like the Miele version because they said it would move in a systematic fashion, rather than a random pattern. I thought that would be more likely to clean better. And, while it did a sufficient job most of the time, I couldn't leave it unattended. I have very little clutter in my house, and it still would seem to struggle with getting stuck under my bed -- and I had hardwood in my bedroom at the time.

The real deal-breaker for me was, I have a large white shag rug in my living room and it simply could not traverse that without getting stuck. So, I would have to block off the living room to make sure it didn't get bogged down in the shag.

After a few weeks, I sold it. The prep for having an automatic vacuum run was too much for me. It was quicker for me to vacuum every other day or so, manually.

 

[gottahaveahoove]

We entered a Roomba in a "cleaning contest'

at a VCCC convention. Granted, the floor was loaded with stuff, but, it DIED. My niece had one, and has 2 dogs. hers died too.
I might keep my Hoover in the box.

 

[gregvacs28]

Cleaning floors isn't the only surface that bots are doing.


 


Windows and mirrors.  I'm not sure if they do walls, but I would suspect if it's flat (no texture) it would.


 


 


 

 

[gregvacs28]

Update on my $20 bot

Three days ago I was leaving to do errands and put the bot on the floor.  It was running but kind of sluggish.


 


I noticed one of the brushes wasn't turning .  It seemed jammed.  So I turned it over and gently pulled it out.  It came right out.  Without it in there the vac motor ran fine but without the brush.....


 


Then the other brush stopped turning.  When I lifted it up it just fell out.  And neither go back in.  You put them in the hole and there's nothing in there to hold them in.


 


So.....


 


I'm not going to try and fix it.  It was a fun $20 experiment. I'll probably gut the computer, battery, and motor. 


 


Since buying this I've found you can actually buy reliable (Roomba) used botvacs for affordable prices. 


That might be my next step.  it's all just fun.  I do like having the floor perfectly clean, though without having to do much for it....