Hacker News Reader

Comment by buboard | Hacker News Reader

And even roomba is very mediocre. I dont even use it and when i do i know its going to do a lousy job. It's still a demo.

View on HN

I didn't get the point until I picked up the high end model (980) with SLAM, allowing it to vacuum my whole apartment and re-dock itself without needing to worry about stupid infrared beacons to section off rooms.

It does a fantastic job, especially since I have a dog that sheds everywhere. I'd compare it to a dishwasher. There's some prep and its a luxury, but I can't see myself living without a robot vacuum in the future.

I run mine every day. I know it's not going to get 100% of the house clean on the first pass, but as long as the house doesn't get dirtier than the Roomba can clean in one day, we're good. If the Roomba gets 50% of the house clean every day and the house only gets 25% dirtied every day, then every day my house gets 25% cleaner. It's a life saver with two shaggy dogs and hardwood floors.

If you run it very infrequently, it'll never have a chance to catch up. You also need to replace the filters every so often in order to keep the proper amount of suction.

My wife and I have bought 5 or 6 roombas over the last several years. We have a 2000sf house, and run the roomba multiple times a day. We run each one so often, that we generally replace the batteries and other parts in it multiple times until the machine finally dies in some weird manner. Our last one "died" when one of the photodetector sensors went out on it. I looked into fixing it, but it was one of those jobs that required you to take nearly half of the robot apart (and the screws are not all the same, and there were something like 40+ screws to juggle) just to solder in a small phototransistor. Without that part, the roomba just goes in a circle and then stops. Instead, we bought another, and that roomba ended up in my junk pile with the others (I'm slowly building a (broken) roomba army to take over the world - don't tell anyone)...

Dogs seem to be a common factor. Personally I’m not too fussy and just let my housekeeper handle things every couple of weeks. But with dogs you really do need to keep up.

I don't have a roomba but some cheaper version. I let run every other day in 1BR apartment it picks up two fist sized chunks of dust each time. Seems useful for me to get that dust out that would otherwise float around or collect on surfaces, with few mins of work of emptying it.

Oh no it's not. I don't have a roomba, but I do have a Neato.

I know that that thing is not able to, nor it is supposed to, completely replace cleaning up the floors. But it helps immensely in reducing the amount of dirt that accumulates day to day. This problem is even worse as I own a dog.

If I do have a complaint, is that the navigation software is a blackbox that I can't tinker with. If I could upload floor plans, or otherwise program the thing, it could potentially do a much better (and faster job).

And boy does it get tangled in power cords, or even drier sheets. That's annoying.

I'm actually debating buying a second robot vacuum for the other floor.

I agree. The Neatos with their LIDAR are way better.

I actually hooked up an ESP12 to it to have internet access to the vacuum functionality, from starting a job, the raw lidar data, or manually moving it.

https://github.com/sstadlberger/botvac-wifi

I know a colleague who bought the Braava, the mopping robot made by also manufactured by iRobot (the Roomba's manufacturer) based on my guarded recommendation that it has limitations, but it is still pretty helpful. She came back and said that she was happy having a device that reduced the number of times she would have to do the mopping herself.

I agree that the marketing behind these devices over promises their real-world capabilities, but if compare this marketing to that of other kinds of appliances and household products, then it is pretty much the same. Maybe totally honest accounts of product performance don't sell well because potential customers have been conditioned by marketing that promises the world?

I loved the Braava when I had it. But it turns out that using harsh floor cleaners in the reservoir will destroy the machine.

I'll get the Scooba when I save a bit of money.

Almost all household devices are better than the manual thing. It's a bit frustrating that mopping is not.

My wife LOVES our Roomba. It's the only way the carpets vacuumed in our house. I bought it on a whim but if it breaks I'm sure we'd buy another one.

The things might do an average job of picking up the big dust but what about the really small particles that gets stuck in the HEPA filter of a good hoover? Does it just blow it up in the air so I have to breathe it in? This is where all the pollen and toxins from fabrics gets collected, nothing you want to get into the lungs.

The work a roomba would manage in our appartment I can do manually within 15 minutes so it feels like a waste of money and environment.

what about the really small particles that gets stuck in the HEPA filter of a good hoover?

Roombas have a HEPA filter.

You can have a HEPA filter, but it's not going to do jack if it doesn't have suction and vibration power.

Do you vacuum for 15 minutes every day? If so, it's a waste. A vacuum plugged into the power outlet drawing 10 amps will do a better job of course.

But if you don't do it every day, than having one on schedule every day can still be beneficial. Specially if air quality is your concern.

I thought the same until I realize my Eufy can vaccum under my bed, sofa and hard to reach places as long as your furniture is high enough. This becomes apparent when I clean the dust bin every fortnight by how much actually gets sucked up. I turn it on and it would automatically go back to recharge.

I would argue it's much more than a demo at this point.

I had a roomba and sold it because it kept cleaning the same spot.

Now I have a Neato D7 with a floor map and it does a great job.

It has its own issues but once it gets going it's better than roomba

Any issues with getting stuck on stuff laying around the ground? I have an older model which incredibly stupid at times.

There are half a dozen Roomba models, including ones with a floor map

I disagree. I have two dogs, so pet hair everywhere, and my little buddy roomba runs twice a day and I never have to manually vacuum.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com