Anyone have a Roomba?

[cristeen]

We visited my grandma yesterday and she was complaining about how she can't vacuum any more (she has a bad back), and she's been having trouble with the reliability of her cleaning lady. So we were thinking about getting her a Roomba, but really need some questions answered about it before spending all that money.

Specifically, how do you empty it? She doesn't have a whole lot of hand dexterity or strength, so a difficult mechanism for emptying it would make it pointless.

How well does it handle going from a hard floor to carpeting? Her house is split about 50/50 between hard floor and carpeting. Then there are several throw rugs on the hard floor.

Does yours have the virtual walls? How well do those work?

And then ultimately, how difficult is it to program? Since I'm going to have to be the one to set it up for her.

[LookMommy!]

Well I found it complicated (scooba) and it kept breaking, so we returned it. It was more work to move everything around and clean it out than just to mop.

I would use the money to find a reliable cleaner, personally. Less worries.

[lucyem]

You might want to see about a free trial and maybe ask the company if different models might have less to deal with for care. I have one of the more expensive programable ones which is sounds like you are looking for.

- Specifically, how do you empty it?
Mine has two areas to clean. One, the main dirt section you basically grab and pull off the front while pressing the big button on top. You dump it out and if you flip a tab on it you can open another smaller area. I would think she would be OK with the main section but not so sure about the smaller one. I am trying to picture it in my mind and hopefully someone else can be more specific. The second is when the bottom brushes get clogged with hair. Those you have to hit little tabs to flip up bars and then pull out the brushes and clean them out. That I would think would be harder to hit the tabs. I have long hair, 2 dogs, 2 cats and 2 kids. For me I have to clean out the brushes every time I use it. If I lost the kids, critters & got a hair cut I would probably not have to clean out the brushes much at all.


-How well does it handle going from a hard floor to carpeting? Her house is split about 50/50 between hard floor and carpeting. Then there are several throw rugs on the hard floor.
I have hardwood and a few throw rugs. The roomba has no problems going on and off the rugs.


-Does yours have the virtual walls? How well do those work?
And then ultimately, how difficult is it to program? Since I'm going to have to be the one to set it up for her.
To be honest I have never used the virtual walls or the programs. I have to hide it after use because of the kids. My goal in the next year is get it set up to work daily on a program. But I have to wait until my 3 yr old understands we do not try and ride the roomba. I do not see why the virtual walls would not work, they seem pretty straight forward.

We have had a roomba since they came out. Our original one died last year and our replacement is quite spiffy in comparison. I also invested in a scooba and love it as well.

[cristeen]

Anybody else??

[stik]

I have a roomba, and my MIL, who has some physical limitations that prevent her from vacuuming, has one as well.

My roomba would be more useful to me if we were better at keeping the house picked up. My MIL uses her roomba daily, and it works great. It handles the transition from carpet to wood without difficulty. If she doesn't own pets, she won't have to clean the brushes often, and someone who visits once a week or so could handle that for her. It keeps itself from going down stairs. Sometimes it gets stuck in odd corners. Roombas don't deal well with clutter.

You can see them at Sharper Image, so you could check out the opening mechanism and see if it would work for her.

[ChetMC]

DH's Uncle Has One

I haven't heard the specifics, all I know is that they really like it. I've thought about getting one for my parents. They have a dog and are constantly cleaning the floor.