I've been curious lately,how well do these things actually work.
Anyone here have one?
Anyone here have one?
Robotic vacuums
- Thread starter GotBoost?!
- Start date
I have one in the garage. Keeps the floor clean in there.
I have a Rhoomba that was given to me when it died.
The batteries were shot so I rebuilt the battery pack.
It does pick up dust but nothing big like fries or bottle caps.
But it does an amazing job of scaring cats.
The model I have is a very early one. Maybe the latest models work better.
The batteries were shot so I rebuilt the battery pack.
It does pick up dust but nothing big like fries or bottle caps.
But it does an amazing job of scaring cats.
The model I have is a very early one. Maybe the latest models work better.
The main reason we want one is,we've got hard-wood floors and they get pretty dusty,etc even when they are cleaned weekly.
If your room (we have hardwood, too) is anything like ours, you're still going to have to dust under the furniture, behind any wall tables, etc. But it should keep the primary area clean. We have dark hardwood (installed last January) and I think we've had to dust it maybe three times. ?? Stays pretty clean.
Picked up the Roomba 650 a few weeks on sale and we love it. Vacuumed, ran the Roomba and was impressed with what it picked up.
Man, I sweep or vacuum my hardwood almost daily
My wife is bugging me to get one it's hard justify getting one when an industrial dust mop does a better job at a fraction of the price. Our entire house is hardwood and a few times a week I walk it with one of those wide pivoting dust mops. I can get the entire house in less than 60 seconds.
That's a simple cheap solution. I only like the one I have in the garage because it can get under the cars.
What did you have to do to fix the battery pack? Mine died from not using it for a couple years and the battery packs look like they cost almost as much as a new Roomba.
I split an old battery pack open and installed new cells. i forget their size, but they are pretty standard. You can order them online or buy them locally at a Batteries+ store.
I like the idea of having one in the garage. Does the oil and grease on the floors cause any problems? Not an issue with the V or Lexus but the Continental and kart leave a fair bit of grime.
Not sure. Nothing in my garage leaks.
Roombas can be fun to play hide and seek with too
Ive got a roomba dirt dog I dont really use, first time I used it I went out later to check on it and couldnt find it. knelt down and looked around once or twice, didnt see it anywhere...it got stuck under the front suspension tucked up against the back of the wheel and I was looking from the wrong angles.
The former roommate had one in the house, came home one day after I left it running, couldnt find it...I guess a bedroom door wasnt completely shut, it made it in there, bumped the door closed and then went and died under the bed. 15 minutes of my life I'll never get back
Yep, that's what I did. I used a sharp edged knife and a hammer to split the cases. Got the batteries online too. Just make sure you get plain old ni-cads, no NIMH. The nicads will last through a lot of charge/discharge cycles. Where the NIMH die really soon.
I did order the higher capacity ni-cads and got over an hour of cleaning off of each charge after they had been in use for over a year.
You can now get Li-Ion battery packs. Really expensive and I have no idea how long they will last before failing.
I was given a 650 irobot one. Love it, I clean and turn it on for a second cleaning when I leave the house.
They do like to play hide and seek for sure. Be amazed where they get stuck at sometimes.
They do like to play hide and seek for sure. Be amazed where they get stuck at sometimes.
My sister has one that she uses on her hardwood floors and the first year it did a good job, then it started getting stupid and wouldn't track the entire floor and lost power to make it over the splitters to the carpeted bed rooms. Overall, I would say its kind of a novelty and would just use a shark or something of that sort.
I dunno if they still do but Woot used to sell a lot of refurbished ones for cheap too
Had one that mopped the hardwood floors and that was much nicer having over the vacuum robots. Neither was really worth the price or effort though because a sensor or other internal part would go bad making it useless. Easier to do it yourself.
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