Robot vacuums worth the cost?

**kork13** · 04-25-2021, 08:12 AM

We do, and it's incredibly helpful. Yes, you'll spend minimum of $400 on a decent one. But we set it to vacuum every 2-3 days, and it saves alot of time, effort, and attention that we need spend elsewhere (kids, cooking, work, school). For us, it's absolutely worth it. We chose middle-of-the-road ($400-$500). Do your research though, because some are definitely better than others. Our first was a lower-end Shark that died after ~1.5 years. Current one is a Neato, same model that my BIL's family has had for 3+ years. Recommend getting something that maps your home to ensure it actually gets everywhere (vs. the random wandering). Otherwise, shop for quality over gadgetry.

**disneysteve** · 04-25-2021, 09:21 AM

How do these do with the transition between rooms if the floors aren't perfectly even? For example, our kitchen floor is a bit higher than our dining room and living room floors because the kitchen has ceramic tile. Would one of these be able to get between the rooms or does everything have to be perfectly flat?

**kork13** · 04-25-2021, 10:12 AM

Originally posted by disneysteve View Post

How do these do with the transition between rooms if the floors aren't perfectly even? For example, our kitchen floor is a bit higher than our dining room and living room floors because the kitchen has ceramic tile. Would one of these be able to get between the rooms or does everything have to be perfectly flat?

Decent ones should handle it just fine. I have a bunch of oriental rugs throughout our home (pile sits roughly 1/2"-3/4" high), and both of ours handled the transition just fine. In fact, our current one will even try to scale things multiple inches high that get left on the floor, propping itself up with some sort of lever to help the wheels find something to grab onto (entertaining to watch sometimes). Conversely, they all have fall sensors in the front that will back the robot away from crashing down a ledge or stairs. As long as the transition isn't severe enough that it'll hit the front bump sensors or trip the fall sensors, it'll be fine -- typically it would have to be at least 1" higher/lower than the floor in front of the transition to cause a problem.

**Jluke** · 04-25-2021, 10:14 AM

We have a roomba. Purchased Dec 2018.

our main floor is all hardwood with some tile areas.

we also have 3 large area rugs over the hardwood.

the roomba does not go up on the area rugs.

you may need to pick it up and move it to different flooring.

not perfect but it does pick up a lot of stuff.

if you have the app, sometimes it will say the roomba is stuck on a cliff.

**terri77** · 04-25-2021, 10:26 AM

I love mine. Worth every penny. It was my buy with the first stimulus.

**scfr** · 04-26-2021, 05:51 AM

This is a timely topic for me as I've been thinking about getting one or two (1 for each floor) for the house we're building. Thanks HundredK

Isn't this an item that is often promoted during the Black Friday / Cyber Monday holiday sales season? I'm starting a list of things to buy for the house and will probably be doing a fair bit of purchasing during holiday promos.

**bjl584** · 04-26-2021, 06:07 AM

I'm more interested in the robot that sweeps the swimming pool.
The rugs in the house don't take long or bother me all that much

**ua_guy** · 04-26-2021, 08:08 AM

Everyone i know who has one, likes it. They own the actual Roomba model but not sure beyond that. Mostly condos and one-level places.
I was thinking about one for our new place since about 75% of it is hardwoods, but the house came with a central vacuum. I thought that was kind of old-school, until I used it, and really liked it. Our floors are always needing cleaned - living in the woods, plus having a dog who tracks stuff in. I'm pleasantly surprised, so no Robot vacuum for me, at least for now!

**Fishindude77** · 04-26-2021, 11:00 AM

My spouse always jumps on gadgets like these. I think you can actually clean the floors quicker and better with an upright vacuum, but she likes it.
Ours gets hung up at floor threshold transitions, and occasionally hung in a corner, etc. Have also heard some real horror stories about these machines spreading dog poop all around.
Personally, I wouldn't buy one.

**LivingAlmostLarge** · 04-26-2021, 02:39 PM

So I bought it last Amazon Prime day 2020 October a roomba for $199. It's fine. It works. Does it stop me from vaccuming? Nope. Instead i run it daily 1-2x a day upstairs once and downstairs once. What it does is prevents me from vaccuming daily using my hand held which does a way better job. I still need to daily run my vaccum because otherwise the stairs in my house would never get done. I'd rather have a central vaccum. but I'm also pickier than most people and most of our friends/neighbors are not as OCD or can tell the dirt in their house. So they run the roomba and call it. They also don't bother to vaccuum more than that.

It gets caught on anything and everything. I don't let it do the kids rooms with wires. I have to pick up everything on the floor. This is painful. With the handheld dyson i can just push some stuff and do the area I want. I also need it for the stairs and entrance way. It doesn't handle transitions and it is so loud on our floor vents. It's okay. It might be easier when we get our garage fixed and the kids and DH stop bringing their crap upstairs. It might also help when we can run it during the day and we aren't home. Well see how it goes.

**JAbbot1985** · 05-14-2021, 04:11 PM

I would say that a robot vacuum cleaner is definitely worth the money if you have pets in your house such as shedding cats and shedding dogs, cause their hair end up to be stuck in the rug and in general all over the house/appartment! So a robot vacuum cleaner is my salvation)) But I also love to call cleaning service to make a fresh clean up in all the rooms. I live in north london so I call https://www.emop.co.uk/north-london-cleaner.

**TexasHusker** · 05-17-2021, 11:22 AM

We had a roomba. It vacummed nightly whilst we slept. Unfortunately, we had a bulldog who decided to go poo-poo in our study and the roomba didn't know what to do that, except run over it and try to vacuum it up.

Ahhh robots: it didn't work. The roomba proceeded to spread fresh dookie all over the house, and ruined itself in the process with dog excrement gumming the entire thing up. So we tossed the roomba and had to get the hardwood floors and rugs in the whole house cleaned.

**james.hendrickson** · 05-17-2021, 11:24 AM

Originally posted by TexasHusker View Post

We had a roomba. It vacummed nightly whilst we slept. Unfortunately, we had a bulldog who decided to go poo-poo in our study and the roomba didn't know what to do that, except run over it and try to vacuum it up.

Ahhh robots: it didn't work. The roomba proceeded to spread fresh dookie all over the house, and ruined itself in the process with dog excrement gumming the entire thing up. So we tossed the roomba and had to get the hardwood floors and rugs in the whole house cleaned.

This sounds absolutely disgusting.

**LivingAlmostLarge** · 05-17-2021, 12:56 PM

Originally posted by TexasHusker View Post

We had a roomba. It vacummed nightly whilst we slept. Unfortunately, we had a bulldog who decided to go poo-poo in our study and the roomba didn't know what to do that, except run over it and try to vacuum it up.

Ahhh robots: it didn't work. The roomba proceeded to spread fresh dookie all over the house, and ruined itself in the process with dog excrement gumming the entire thing up. So we tossed the roomba and had to get the hardwood floors and rugs in the whole house cleaned.

Usually people that happen to leave the house. That exact reason is why my DH did not want a roomba. So to compromise I only run it when I am home. We do not run it when sleeping it's loud and when not home.

Also like i said it doesn't do a perfect job it's good but not great.

Robot vacuums worth the cost?