Tell me about robot vacuum cleaners

V4NT0M · 12 May 2014 at 10:33

I'm tempted to get one, has anyone got one and can recommend a particular model or brand?

Are the cheaper ones any good?

deuse · 12 May 2014 at 10:36

The best one is called a wife. But they cost a fortune to run

Cosimo · 12 May 2014 at 10:40

deuse said:
The best one is called a wife. But they cost a fortune to run

They can get rather temperamental at times and you have to oblige.

porushinobu · 12 May 2014 at 10:41

Cosimo said:
They can get rather temperamental at times and you have to oblige.

You can always get the Dog model if the budget is tight

deuse · 12 May 2014 at 10:45

Cosimo said:
They can get rather temperamental at times and you have to oblige.

I've heard this as well. And the suction ant that great

pitchfork · 12 May 2014 at 10:53

Cheap ones are garbage, Roombas are good I hear.

Glaucus · 12 May 2014 at 10:54

There's a fairly big thread on them
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18522031

Mat · 12 May 2014 at 11:33

"...Foreign Contaminant"

The Dread Pirate · 12 May 2014 at 11:45

Roomba + Weaponry + Gaffer tape = Battlehoover!

Cosimo · 12 May 2014 at 11:46

The Dread Pirate said:
Roomba + Weaponry + Gaffer tape = Battlehoover!

You're ready to declare war on dust!

porushinobu · 12 May 2014 at 11:50

How about the "KRYTEN" Model

The Dread Pirate · 12 May 2014 at 11:50

Cosimo said:
You're ready to declare war on dust!

And other peoples ankles!

Mat · 12 May 2014 at 12:03

The Dread Pirate said:
Roomba + Weaponry + Gaffer tape = Battlehoover!

Cats will be ready...

LateX'Dog · 12 May 2014 at 12:46

Mat said:
"...Foreign Contaminant"

Vanilla · 12 May 2014 at 13:25

I love mine.

Have an iRobot Roomba....been going strong for years

bazzabear · 17 May 2014 at 18:25

Purely from the shape, I'd assume they struggle with the very edge of carpets against walls. Am I right?

fiveub · 17 May 2014 at 19:59

bazzabear said:
Purely from the shape, I'd assume they struggle with the very edge of carpets against walls. Am I right?

When I saw one, they had a brush/whip sort of thing that span around to get to the edges. I have no idea how affective that is.

They are designed to just automatically do a light hoover every day. Saves you hoovering once a week or whatever with the big one.

I have no idea if you could rely on just that iRobot though, I'd imagine you would need to do a proper hoover still once a month or something?

robgmun · 17 May 2014 at 20:02

Caged · 17 May 2014 at 20:06

I wouldn't get one for anything other then keeping hard floors crumb-free between mopping. They look utterly hopeless for carpet.

Energize · 17 May 2014 at 23:10

They are incredibly slow, god knows why the designers didn't allow you to just enter the room dimensions into it, it would be orders of magnitudes faster. My experience with Roombas is that they are so limited they don't tend to reduce the need to clean much, thus ultimately pointless, and very expensive.