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Comment by ghaff | Hacker News Reader

The obvious area in my house for an iRobot is the kitchen/dining room area which is what actually gets crumbs etc. on a pretty regular basis. I don't have pets/kids so the rest of the house doesn't actually need vacuuming all that often. (And normally I have a monthly housekeeper.)

But the kitchen/dining area also has cords, chairs, and (under normal circumstances) various things being packed/unpacked in various corners. My compromise a couple years ago was to get a Dyson which is super-quick to whip out and spend a few minutes doing a rough vacuum. MUCH easier than to haul out my old canister vac. And probably less effort than keeping things iRobot ready and emptying it.

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It sounds like you found a good solution for your situation.

I have both kids and a dog, so the daily cleaning my Roomba does is a game changer. No more piles of fur or crumbs accumulating in the corners. I have to empty the bin every other day, but it takes me less time to do that than it would to manually vacuum the main traffic areas in the house once or twice a week.

Personally, I like the fact that the Roomba forces me to keep wires and other stuff of the floor. I think it makes my house appear less cluttered overall, but it's a matter of opinion.

I actually have a cordless Dyson too, which I think complements the Roomba well. I use it to occasionally deep clean a couple of area rugs.

I can definitely see that a Roomba would be handy if I otherwise had to vacuum living areas every day or two. (And, under the circumstances of children or pets, I'd probably need to avoid having "packing piles" and wires laying around in any case.)

My flat is almost 100% hardwood flooring, and I just bought a 966 a couple of months ago. The roomba runs once per day, and when I'm cooking I use a broom to sweep any mess up into a shovel (I have one on sticks so I don't have to bend down.)

Since buying the roomba I've not used the real vacuum cleaner at all, although I still mop the floors once every 7-10 days which is mostly necessary because of the child we have running around the place.

We have an Ecovacs Deebot and it can get in amongst a mess of chair legs quite well, even when the gaps are barely wider than its body. Where it's trouble though, as you say, is having the kids keep the ground bot-ready - toys/crafts everywhere. Best combo is probably a bot and then a stick Dyson, I suspect.

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