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I have the same experience. I bought the most expensive iRobot and that thing sucks. You can’t irobotitfy your house enough for it to just run. I bought a Robor

by nyjah 3y ago

I have the same experience. I bought the most expensive iRobot and that thing sucks. You can’t irobotitfy your house enough for it to just run. I bought a Roborock s6 and it’s amazing. Immediately got one for my mom and she’s been raving about it for years already.

prepend 3y ago
I did the same thing and it broke 1 month after the 1 year warranty expired. A cryptic error that means buying a new brain for it. Ridiculous that a $800 robot breaks. Bought two sharks for $300 each. Not quite as good, but so much cheaper. And doesn’t require bags.
blagie 3y ago
FYI: Cheap Roombas seem better than expensive ones. I have a random one which bangs around the house for a long time, and the house ends up clean. Push a button, come back an hour later, and you're done. I like the simplicity.
- nyjah 3y ago
  I agree with this that they are better, but actually before the expensive roomba I had a cheap roomba and it worked terribly. Insisted on shoving itself right under the perfect height furniture. My house is pretty basic. But my brother had similar roomba and I know he had better luck than me, but now has a shark.
- faeriechangling 3y ago
  I had one and it got trapped and strangled itself regularly and ran over things and was totally useless. I pretty much wouldn't recommend those basic robot vacuums.
  - blagie 3y ago
    The "run over things" is almost a feature for me. I run the Roomba a few times a week, and I need to tidy up before. Mess never builds up. It means I keep my floors clean! The "gets stuck under furniture" is a bug. However, I don't have much furniture at Roomba height. If I did, it'd make the device useless.
- Semaphor 3y ago
  I have a cheap (well, also old, there wasn’t too much else back then, it’s 10 years old) iRobot Roomba 620 and am very happy with it. Extremely repairable, which is not something I read about modern ones of any manufacturer.
  - blagie 3y ago
    I have a successor, almost identical, but perhaps two generations newer. Upgrades: - Bigger, better dust bin - Slightly less dust makes it into the HEPA filter - Slightly better / cheaper roller design ... and similar details. A friend gave me their smarter vacuum (which they didn't use), and I hated it: 1) It tried to overthink things and was pretty demanding. 2) It didn't clean as well. My Roomba has a pretty anaemic vacuum, but cleans very well by virtue of going over every place many times in random directions as it bumps along for 30+ minutes. The smart vacuum plotted a course which covered everything once, finished up in record time, and nothing was actually clean. What's odd is that even now, 2+ decades after launch, so little has improved. What I really want is "cyclone operation," as in any modern dumb vacuum, so most of the dust doesn't make it to the HEPA filter. The design is stupid simple: - Air comes into a circular container from a hole in the side, so the air spins. - Suction comes out a hole in the top at a half-way point in the radius of the dust container, while most of the dust wants to stay at the inside or outside - If you're even more clever, you put the suction at half height, because dust naturally goes to the bottom. The annoying thing is cleaning or replacing filters.
SoftTalker 3y ago
I think they are utterly ridiculous. Get a decent canister vacuum that plugs into the wall and you'll have clean floors in 15 minutes (or less if your house is small) with no frustration, no ugly charging station to trip over, no batteries to catch on fire or require hazmat disposal when they don't work anymore, no apps, no accounts, no spying.
- Auracle 3y ago
  Great. Ours vacuums and mops, and don't tell me you can do both in 15 minutes. There's nothing worth buying more than free time.
- throwaway2037 3y ago
  Why is this downvoted? Sure, a bit emotional, but the content still stands. There are so many places where Roomba and friends cannot reach. I still was a washer / dryer than can fold my clothes and change the sheets on my bed. That seems like an almost impossible task for a robot.
  - isbvhodnvemrwvn 3y ago
    It's not 'a bit emotional', it's a tantrum with as much logic as saying why have a washer/dryer when you still have to hand wash some stuff.
  - vidarh 3y ago
    Folding clothes, changing sheets, load/unload the dishwasher. Those are the things I'd pay good money to automate away. As much as I hate to vacuum, it's far down my list of the chores that annoy me most. Meanwhile, e.g. loading and unloading the dishwasher annoys me enough that I must admit I have considered replacing my dishwasher with two slimline or drawer ones so I can use stuff out of one while filling the other...
    - hmottestad 3y ago
      I know someone who has two regular sized dish washers. They are super happy about it.

by nyjah 3y ago

prepend 3y ago

I did the same thing and it broke 1 month after the 1 year warranty expired. A cryptic error that means buying a new brain for it. Ridiculous that a $800 robot breaks. Bought two sharks for $300 each. Not quite as good, but so much cheaper. And doesn’t require bags.

blagie 3y ago

FYI: Cheap Roombas seem better than expensive ones. I have a random one which bangs around the house for a long time, and the house ends up clean. Push a button, come back an hour later, and you're done. I like the simplicity.

nyjah 3y ago
I agree with this that they are better, but actually before the expensive roomba I had a cheap roomba and it worked terribly. Insisted on shoving itself right under the perfect height furniture. My house is pretty basic. But my brother had similar roomba and I know he had better luck than me, but now has a shark.
faeriechangling 3y ago
I had one and it got trapped and strangled itself regularly and ran over things and was totally useless. I pretty much wouldn't recommend those basic robot vacuums.
- blagie 3y ago
  The "run over things" is almost a feature for me. I run the Roomba a few times a week, and I need to tidy up before. Mess never builds up. It means I keep my floors clean! The "gets stuck under furniture" is a bug. However, I don't have much furniture at Roomba height. If I did, it'd make the device useless.
Semaphor 3y ago
I have a cheap (well, also old, there wasn’t too much else back then, it’s 10 years old) iRobot Roomba 620 and am very happy with it. Extremely repairable, which is not something I read about modern ones of any manufacturer.
- blagie 3y ago
  I have a successor, almost identical, but perhaps two generations newer. Upgrades: - Bigger, better dust bin - Slightly less dust makes it into the HEPA filter - Slightly better / cheaper roller design ... and similar details. A friend gave me their smarter vacuum (which they didn't use), and I hated it: 1) It tried to overthink things and was pretty demanding. 2) It didn't clean as well. My Roomba has a pretty anaemic vacuum, but cleans very well by virtue of going over every place many times in random directions as it bumps along for 30+ minutes. The smart vacuum plotted a course which covered everything once, finished up in record time, and nothing was actually clean. What's odd is that even now, 2+ decades after launch, so little has improved. What I really want is "cyclone operation," as in any modern dumb vacuum, so most of the dust doesn't make it to the HEPA filter. The design is stupid simple: - Air comes into a circular container from a hole in the side, so the air spins. - Suction comes out a hole in the top at a half-way point in the radius of the dust container, while most of the dust wants to stay at the inside or outside - If you're even more clever, you put the suction at half height, because dust naturally goes to the bottom. The annoying thing is cleaning or replacing filters.

SoftTalker 3y ago

I think they are utterly ridiculous. Get a decent canister vacuum that plugs into the wall and you'll have clean floors in 15 minutes (or less if your house is small) with no frustration, no ugly charging station to trip over, no batteries to catch on fire or require hazmat disposal when they don't work anymore, no apps, no accounts, no spying.

Auracle 3y ago
Great. Ours vacuums and mops, and don't tell me you can do both in 15 minutes. There's nothing worth buying more than free time.
throwaway2037 3y ago
Why is this downvoted? Sure, a bit emotional, but the content still stands. There are so many places where Roomba and friends cannot reach. I still was a washer / dryer than can fold my clothes and change the sheets on my bed. That seems like an almost impossible task for a robot.
- isbvhodnvemrwvn 3y ago
  It's not 'a bit emotional', it's a tantrum with as much logic as saying why have a washer/dryer when you still have to hand wash some stuff.
- vidarh 3y ago
  Folding clothes, changing sheets, load/unload the dishwasher. Those are the things I'd pay good money to automate away. As much as I hate to vacuum, it's far down my list of the chores that annoy me most. Meanwhile, e.g. loading and unloading the dishwasher annoys me enough that I must admit I have considered replacing my dishwasher with two slimline or drawer ones so I can use stuff out of one while filling the other...
  - hmottestad 3y ago
    I know someone who has two regular sized dish washers. They are super happy about it.