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iRobot Roomba Review
iRobot Roomba Vacuum 500 Series
Being the gadget freak that I am, my wife surprised me earlier this year and bought me an iRobot Roomba automatic vacuum cleaner. I had of course seen all of the various infomercials for this product in the past, but never gave it a second thought to purchase one of these vacuums because I wasn’t so sure it could actually clean as well as they showed. And at a price of just over $300, I didn’t want to risk spending that much money on a gadget that I was pretty sure wouldn’t be useful for anything much more than showing off to friendswhen they stopped by to visit. But since my wife bought it for me, I was happy to now own it and looked forward to seeing what all the “hype” about it was.
Ok, let’s get started with my iRobot Roomba Review:
The model package that my wife bought for me was the iRobot Roomba 500 series Vacuum Cleaning Robot. It consisted of an iRobot Roomba device, a self-charging “Home Base”, and a single “Virtual Wall”.
Basically, the way the Roomba works is it rolls along in a somewhat random pattern in each room and vacuums up any dirt in it’s path. As the Roomba “bumps” into different items, such as walls, appliances, chair legs, pets, etc., it then changes directions. Because of the randomness of the path that the Roomba travels, an average sized room (10′ x 12′) takes approximately 30-40 minutes to fully clean.
iRobot Virtual Wall
The way it only cleans one room at a time is by the use of a “Virtual Wall”. The virtual wall is a small device that sends out an infrared beam from itself to another location…in my case, it’s usually a wall. The infrared beam that is sent out blocks the Roomba from passing through the beam, thus acting as a wall. I can adjust how far out the beam is sent from a choice of 3 ranges which are 0-3 feet, 4-7 feet, and 8+ feet.
I have found that most of the time, the beam does a good job of preventing the Roomba from passing. There have, however, been some instances of the Roomba completely passing through the beam. This usually doesn’t cause a problem for me because I prefer to run the Roomba when I’m home and usually notice it has crossed the beam right away and can intervene. For those who run the Roomba while they are away from the home, I’d recommend they have certain safeguards in place to prevent the Roomba from traveling to areas you’d prefer it not go to. I have found that lining up a row of shoes or sneakers does a good job of stopping the Roomba from traveling through to the next room.
Roomba charging in the Home Base charging station
When the Roomba has either finished cleaning a room, or has almost depleted it’s battery, it automatically travels back to it’s “Home Base”, where it begins the recharging process. If the Roomba was not finished cleaning a room prior to recharging, it will back out of the Home Base once fully charged again and will continue cleaning the room where it left off at.
The first time I watched the Roomba travel back to it’s Home Base, I was really amazed. It’s pretty cool to see the Roomba find it’s way home and drive right into the exact spot needed in order to recharge. And as of yet, I have not had any occasions where my Roomba could not find the Base Station. (If the area you block with the Virtual Wall prevents the Roomba from traveling back to the Home Base, it simply turns off and waits for it’s owner to pick it up and place it in the Home Base charger.)
How good of a job does the iRobot Roomba do?
First of all, I must disclose that our family owns 4 cats (don’t ask). And although these are short-haired cats, they still shed a lot of hair. I also have 3 young daughters, who love eating snacks in all rooms of our house…especially popcorn, although I don’t think they actually put the popcorn into their mouths, but rather instead create some type of new modern art on our living room floor with it.
Accumulation of cat hair in the Roomba
The Roomba does an excellent job of keeping my ceramic-tiled kitchen floor clean. I used to have to sweep my kitchen floor almost daily in order to clean up cereal, toast crumbs, raisins, ramen noodles (after they’ve hardened of course), etc. I’ll usually run the Roomba 3-4 times per week in my kitchen. When the Roomba is finished with the kitchen, I’ll then empty it out and think to myself how gross our household is as I pour the Roomba’s vacuumed-up contents into my trash can. The amount of crap that accumulates on our kitchen floor is shocking to say the least.
After my Roomba has fully charged, I’ll then run it in my living room. I run it in the living room about once per week, although I should be running it at least 2-3 times per week. Because we own 4 loving, adorable, well-mannered cats that I love so much (again, don’t ask), if I only run it once per week, I usually end up having to clean out the Roomba’s brushes halfway during the cleaning process. (The Roomba detects the accumulation of hair and debris in the brushes and will stop and sound an audible alarm to indicate it needs cleaning.) The cleaning of the Roomba’s brushes is very simple and only takes about 2-3 minutes.
iRobot recently came out with “Pet Series” versions of the Roomba made especially for households with pets, although, I’m not sure if does a better job of preventing pet hair from getting stuck in the brushes or not. These models are named Roomba 532 Pet Series and Roomba 562 Pet Series.
Roomba Collection Tray - Contents from cleaning a single room
When the Roomba has finished cleaning my living room, I’ll empty out the contents it vacuumed up. Again, the amount of crap that I find in the collection tray is startling. I’ll find popcorn, popcorn kernels, Nerds candy pieces, sweet tarts, as well as a ton of cat hair. The Roomba leaves my living room floor looking freshly vacuumed with the appearance of vacuum-trails and a fluffed-up appearance.
Overall, I’d say the Roomba does a fantastic job of keeping hard-surfaced floors, such as ceramic tile and vinyl, clean. If you despise having to sweep your kitchen floor daily, I can’t say enough good things about the Roomba.
For carpet, I’d have to say that the Roomba does a pretty good job. I can’t say it does an excellent job because I’ve run my Roomba on my living room floor before and then immediately ran my regular upright vacuum and was still able to get a lot more cat hair up. However, I wouldn’t look at the Roomba as a replacement for your current vacuum. I would instead recommend you use the Roomba as a supplement to your regular vacuum cleaner, as it will do a great job of picking up most small particles that accumulate on your carpet each day.
Additional tidbits you might like to know:
- The Roomba 500 series has a built-in dirt sensor that causes the Roomba to circle around a continuous spot until it no longer senses any dirt in that area. If you have a rug in your foyer that you run the Roomba on, you’ll find that the dirt sensor indicator will illuminate often. I actually like it when I see that my Roomba senses the extra dirt.
- The Roomba has visual sensors on the front which cause it to slow down just before it “bumps” into walls, appliances, furniture legs, etc. to lower the possibility of scratching/damaging these items with continuous use. iRobot also recently modified the design of the Roomba’s front bumper by applying a soft, rubber strip across it which further helps lessen the possibility of damaging items it comes into contact with.
- There are fancier, more expensive, models of Roomba’s which come with additional features/accessories that make it even more impressive. For example, instead of a Virtual Wall, they have “Lighthouses”, which act just like a virtual wall while the Roomba cleans a single room. However, when the Roomba finishes with one room, it sends a signal to the Lighthouse indicating that it’s done. The Lighthouse then turns off the infrared beam and allows the Roomba to pass by it. Once the Roomba passes by it, it turns the beam back on and again blocks the Roomba from returning to the previous room it just finished cleaning. This allows the Roomba to then fully clean the next room. If you have more than 1 lighthouse, you can effectively set up your home so that the Roomba cleans every room…one-room-at-a-time. (Because the Roomba’s battery won’t last long enough to allow it to clean more than 1-2 rooms at a time, the Lighthouses are smart enough to let it back through so it can reach the Home Base, charge itself up again, and then return to finish cleaning where it left off at.
- The Roomba has built-in sensors that prevent it from falling down stairs. I have stairs in my house and have tested this. My findings are that the stair sensors do an excellent job at stopping the Roomba.
- I did have a charging problem with the initial Roomba unit that I received. Upon contacting iRobot, they sent me a new one. I did have to return the defective unit, however, I did NOT have to pay any shipping/handling charges.
- Since the Roomba unit itself is circular in shape, it’s not able to travel tightly into the corners of walls. To combat this issue, there is a rapidly spinning side-brush, which extends out past the Roomba unit and sweeps the dirt/debris out of the corners and into the path of the Roomba. Overall, these do a pretty good job of cleaning out the corners.
The side brushes that my Roomba model came with were easily damaged and often needed to be replaced. This was a known issue, which I believe has been corrected now with a new type of side-brush design. When I contacted iRobot about this, they shipped me out 3 additional side-brushes to help me get by until the newly designed side-brushes were available. They again paid all shipping and handling charges. (I have yet to receive the newer style side-brushes from them, so it’s just a matter of time before I need to contact them again.) - There is a handle that is built into the Roomba unit. Unfortunately for me, I just discovered this when putting this review together. Doh!
- I often catch myself staring at my Roomba while it’s cleaning a room. I’m not quite sure why, but there is something hypnotic about watching this gadget travel around a room by itself. After 10-15 minutes of staring, I’ll realize what I’m doing and will remind myself that by watching the Roomba vacuum, I’m defeating the whole purpose of owning it.
For more information on the iRobot Roomba, including videos that illustrate how the units work, you can visit the main IRobot website at www.iRobot.com. Or, if you’re like me and always like to find a good deal, then checkout the iRobot Clearance Center, where you can find the latest promotions and offers that iRobot is featuring.
16 Comments
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July 4th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
Excelent Review, im a college student and just got a first generation one. It was more for the novelty than because I really cared to have my room clean but i love it.
Maybe ill get a top model one later
July 4th, 2009 at 11:15 pm
I stumbled upon your review when I googled “roomba review” and I just wanted to say thank you. Your review was comprehensive and very descriptive. I also appreciate the links at the bottom. I’m about to check out the “outlet” and see if I can get my hands on a roomba.
Thanks again!
July 4th, 2009 at 6:59 am
I got my roomba 560 in October-09, it is set to do the living room (aprox 30 sq.m.) every day around 11 am, I have a lot of furniture and plants standing around, so it has to slalom its way around, It works perfectly. It doesn’t catch every thing but it, keeps down the worst, so during the weekend I can just do the corners and panels, the old fashioned way. I haven’t used my old vacuum cleaner since I got the Roomba.
It handles my carpets very well, it might move them a little around and once in a while it get it self into a trap between carpets and chairs so I have to rescue it, but surprisingly often it gets it self out of trouble. When I want it to do the “grand tour” I just put the chairs on the table and move big things away.
Just remember to clean it or it will stop doing a good job (average once a week in my case)!!
July 4th, 2009 at 5:22 pm
Thanks for the great review! This helped us decide to get a Roomba and now I too find myself watching the Roomba work for 15+ minutes at a time… who needs meditation when you have a Roomba to space out to?
July 4th, 2009 at 7:48 pm
Great review! I just bought a roomba today, so I have yet to use it b/c the first time use has to have a 16 hour charge. It might be silly to check the reviews after I have already bought one but I came up on a deal that I couldn’t pass up, retail price $379.99 my sale price $113! I thought it was so funny when you said you catch yourself watching the roomba, b/c Im sure I will be the exact same way. haha
Thanks!
-J.P.
July 4th, 2009 at 3:33 pm
excellent comprehensive review. Thanks!
July 4th, 2009 at 6:08 pm
Have they fixed the design flaw of all of the Roomba models, i.e. that the brush engages into a plastic drive piece that quickly rounds out and is not replaceable? I bought one of the early models, used it happily for 4 – 6 months and then began having problems with it not picking things up. As I maintained it religiously I was confused. Then I noticed that where the brushes engaged into the drive mechanism was all rounded out meaning that the drive motor could run all it wants but the brushes won’t spin. I called Roomba and they didn’t have a replacement part. I just recently called them again to see if the part was replaceable yet and they told me that my only option was to upgrade. Why would I upgrade after this experience?
So, I warn anyone that is considering a Roomba product. Turn the thing over and take the brush out as if you were going to clean it. Look to see if the point where the brush engages into the drive mechanism is plastic. If it is, box it up, send it back and tell Roomba you want a refund so that you do not end up like me, sitting with an expensive toy that doesn’t do what it was supposed to do.
Oh, and by the way, after voicing my complaint through their customer service (good luck understanding the accent!) I was forwarded up the tree to a supervisor who proceeded to place me on hold without saying a word. I promise you that I was voicing my complaint in a very civil tone and polite voice. She just hit the hold button in the middle of my sentence. I worked retail for 11 years…that is not what customer service is about.
July 4th, 2009 at 10:18 pm
Rich,
I never experienced the problem that you described. I did recently order a replacement brush mechanism, but that was because the one that came with my Roomba had become a lot louder after just over a year of use. The new one that arrived did look a bit different, but I think the portion of the brush that engages with the motor is still plastic.
I submitted a customer testimonial on the iRobot site applauding their product, but did also mention that I wish their replacement parts weren’t so darn expensive, as they do tend to wear out just like anything else.
July 4th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
I have a 550 with the old cleaning head module, I have a dog that sheds alot and while under warranty irobot replaced the module twice; however it was a design flaw so the replacements only worked a few months then failed. After my warranty ended I found out they had a redisgned cleaning head module and called them about it, at first they refused to send me one since I was out of warranty but when I pointed out to them that the problem was from a design flaw not just wear and tear, they did provide me one and it works much better. But, now I have a new problem. I had to get a new battery and it won’t charge. when I put it in the docking station it quickly changes from amber to flashing red…To be honest I am really getting sick of irobot products. If the newest problem is not a bad battery then I will have to change the units circuit board. I didn’t spend $250 in anticipation of having all these problems
July 4th, 2009 at 11:21 am
I bought one of the 400 series models then found a 500 series on sale and bought it with the idea of returning the first. I ended up keeping both – one for each floor. I am thrilled with my Roombas! My downstairs has three rooms with hardwood and one with carpet. I never worry about the invisible walls. I just turn them on when I leave in the morning then again in the evening. My house always looks clean. I have to admit that I do like the 500’s ability to self-dock and charge so it is ready to go again when I return home. They both do a great job of cleaning, though. I don’t have a single complaint.
July 4th, 2009 at 10:29 am
I’m very curious to know what your cats do when your run the thing? I have 6 of the fur-depositers scurrying around my house and am thinking that this gadget is pretty close to a dream come true… The cats are terrified of the regular vacum, but knowing these nuts I have, I can see them trying to ride the thing! LOL!
July 4th, 2009 at 7:57 am
Hi Stacey,
All 4 of our cats run and hide when I use our regular vacuum, but none of them seem to be bothered by the Roomba. In fact, they sometimes sit still and the Roomba bumps into them.
July 4th, 2009 at 8:20 pm
I just purchased my roomba and love it. But after talking to a coworker I’m considering returning it. She has 4 roombas all packed away. She told me that they work great when you first get them but when you need to replace parts it gets very expensive. She also told me that when she had to replace the batteries they did not last as long as the original batteries and cost around $100. I didn’t expect to have to keep paying for this over and over again. I’m not sure how long the replacement batteries last but I am considering returning my roomba.
July 4th, 2009 at 8:40 pm
Hi Kay,
It’s true that replacement parts are expensive, but you shouldn’t have to replace too many of them. I’ve now had my Roomba 530 series for over a year and I’m still using the same battery. I run my Roomba an average of 3 times per week in my kitchen and the battery still holds up just fine.
The replacement filters are $19.99 for 3 but I’m still using the filter that came with my Roomba. I just tap it clean every time I empty the canister and it still works great.
You can view the full list of accessories for the iRobot Roomba 500 series by clicking here. This page will also show you the prices for the accessories so you can make your own decision on whether or not they are within your budget should you need any of them. (Let’s hope you don’t!)
July 4th, 2009 at 7:22 pm
Great review, thank you very much for the information. I have a question regarding switching from one surface to another, particularly into a room like a bathroom. The transition from carpet to tile includes a little metal edge that is usually slightly downhill. Is the roomba able to move smoothly from the tile onto the carpet and vice versa, or will it’s edge sensors prevent it from crossing into the other room?
July 4th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
Hi Marian,
I don’t think the edge sensors will prevent the Roomba from the transition from carpet to tile. In my house, we have several areas with fluffy carpet that transitions to ceramic tile and it’s never been an issue. I should note though, that we recently purchased an area rug that is really fluffy and the Roomba’s edge sensor does in fact prevent it from making the transition to any other surface. Because the situation you asked about is how almost all homes are setup, I’m pretty sure you won’t have an issue with it.