I hate to vacuum. Hate. It.
And my hatred grew after having Henry. I didn’t want to “waste” my time vacuuming the house, but as Henry got bigger and mobile, it was necessary to vacuum nearly every day. Otherwise, Henry would be always wearing a pug fur coat. It’s very stylish.
It probably didn’t help that I got very spoiled when my mom watched Henry when I returned to work. She vacuumed every day. Yeah. Our floors probably didn’t know what hit them.
Anyhoo, when my mom stopped watching Henry, our floors grew a winter coat. So, for Christmas, I asked for a Roomba. I have several friends who recommended it (including my blog buddy Cindy), and because I’m incredibly spoiled, I opened up the Roomba 650 from Santa. Actually, it was better than Santa. I received the Roomba from my in-laws.
I may have danced a jig. A “I’m never going to vacuum again” jig. Because – be honest – everyone wants her own robot.
So, we’ve had the Roomba hooked up since Dec. 26, and several of you have asked how we like it. So here’s my two (or ten) cents.
The Roomba is AWESOME.
The bottom line. The Roomba is pretty awesome. We have it set up to vacuum our downstairs (living room, dining room and kitchen) every morning.
We have hardwoods throughout our main level and large rugs. The Roomba takes care of all of it beautifully and goes from one flooring to another with ease. It also does a great job on corners and tight spaces, which is something I wondered about. It even goes under the coffee table and dining chairs. Since running it daily, I haven’t been plagued by dog hair in corners. And we’re on the floor constantly with Henry and we aren’t covered in dog hair. (That’s a small miracle.)
The truth is, this little robot does a better job than I do. Because I wasn’t consistent about vacuuming every day. But it is.
When it’s done vacuuming the first level, it (usually) finds its way back to its docking station to clean my floors the next day. Then it charges back up,
The Roomba requires a little maintenance.
I’m not a clean freak, but I do like things picked up. This is the perfect attitude if you have a Roomba. To do its job, your house must be picked up. That means no “junk” on the floor. I usually do this before going to bed – put away toys and pick up throw pillows and move cords. (It will free itself of cords, but I usually try to pick up computer cables and cords if I can.)
The positive of this – picking up as you go means your house is already a little more presentable anyhow. Go, Roomba.
In addition to picking up, you’ll need to clean out the canister on a regular basis. We try to empty it daily. (And it actually fills up almost every day. Which is insane.) It doesn’t need bags, but does take a filter, which can be washed periodically and reused. (I think there were extras to use when you rinse it, but I haven’t dealt with that.) It also comes with a comb to use on the brush. It’s recommended to use it regularly.
The Roomba is not perfect.
The Roomba isn’t right for everyone. It’s not cheap. But I figure that most nice vacuums are several hundred dollars. And they don’t do the vacuuming for me.
Our Roomba also has a tendency to get stuck, especially under the couch. It bothers me very little because it does a good job and it’s cleaning every day and it’s better than me having to vacuum. If I notice it’s not on the dock when we get home, we play a game called “Find the Roomba.”
The Roomba also needs a place to dock. If you have a small home with little space, this could be an issue. Our Roomba lives in the dining room next to the hutch. It’s not HUGE, but it’s big enough to steal some extra floor space.
The Roomba is also sort of silly. It takes a lot longer for the robot to clean my floors than it would for me to clean my floors. (Albeit probably not as well.) It bounces around and runs into things and redirects and runs into more things. I would say it runs for an hour or so every day for three rooms. But, I think that even though it looks inefficient, it’s covering more area (and better) than I would have. The full canister everyday proves it.
The Roomba doesn’t completely replace your vacuum.
This is pretty obvious, but the Roomba doesn’t do everything a vacuum would do. It doesn’t do stairs. It doesn’t do furniture. And we don’t use it upstairs. So, we still have our other vacuum for those uses. However, we spend the vast majority of our time downstairs and our dogs are downstairs 99.9 percent of the time. So, this is where the heavy vacuuming is needed.
The skinny on the Roomba
All in all, I’d definitely recommend the Roomba to you if you are someone who hates vacuuming but wants clean rugs and floors. I think it’s particularly great for homes with little ones, where they are down on the floor often. I also think it’s great for home with pets. It really takes care of dog hair.
Something to keep in mind – not all Roombas are created equal. Those with the lowest price tags often don’t have a scheduling option. For me, this was something I really wanted. I love that it automatically runs every day, even when I’d forget. I think that’s worth the extra money for a more expensive option.
If you are interested, keep your eyes open for coupons. They are sold at Bed Bath and Beyond (and we all love those 20 percent coupons), and I often see them in the sales ads around the holidays.
And that, my friends, is my unbiased Roomba review. I have not been compensated to tell you about it. But, if iRobot wants to send me another Roomba for upstairs, I’d be more than happy to accept. I mean, it would be hard for me, but since it would be for research purposes.
Seriously. I could use another one upstairs. And also a robot to do my stairs and my furniture. And possibly my cooking. Any takers?
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Mandi McClure says
I am so behind with my blog reading and commenting. I am so glad that you wrote this review. And I am so glad that you love the Roomba. I’ve been wanting one, but the people I knew that had one, didn’t have a pug. I knew they loved their Roomba, but let’s be honest, I was skeptical because I figured their floors were clean since there was a lack of pet hair. I am sold. Now, if Bed, Bath and Beyond would hurry up with a new coupon.
Lyndsey says
I was actually thinking of getting a Roomba once our new floors are in. I hate to vacuum and my dog likes to be vacuumed…yeah he’s a weirdo like that, it makes actually vacuuming very very difficult.
Justine says
Jealous! This seems like it would be a gimmick, but it’s good to know it’s not, so I’m super jealous. I am not a very good housekeeper, so this would be perfect, since Henry is all over the place, on the floor, all day. And he finds anything that is not picked up. It would also keep my husband happier (but hey, he can turn on the vacuum too, right??). Maybe some day!
Emily says
I love my roomba! We got ours from Costco because they have an amazing return policy (and roombas have a habit of dying), we’re on our second one but I still would recommend it to anyone. Norman (our pug) doesn’t care at all.
Ashley@AttemptsAtDomestication says
Thanks for this! I’ve always wondered about the Roomba, and I’ve been wondering even more lately because I have to vacuum almost daily this winter because of the dirt we bring in with the fire wood. Does it work well on large things like leaves and splinters of wood?
Erin says
LOVE this review! Pet related question…. does it pick up any leftover pieces of dog food too? We have 2 cats who love to spill pieces of kibble all over the floor (& are too picky to eat it once it’s fallen out of the bowl & is on the floor instead) & now that kate’s starting to become mobile I know I need to step up my floor cleaning/vacuuming game!!!
casacaudill says
I am terrible about vacuuming and with a long-haired cat that sheds every single day of her life, I really need to get better. We’ve considered the Roomba, but I am worried about how the cat will react to it and how loud it is. Compared to the regular vacuum, what’s it sound like?
Erin @ Domestic Adventure says
Wow, I am so impressed that it actually works! I am wondering if it could really handle our abundance of Frankie dog hair (I swear I sweep up a whole dog’s worth of hair from just our kitchen linoleum each week). It makes sense that you have to empty it almost daily…dog hair takes up a lot of space! Hmmm…maybe this needs to go on my wishlist.
Leigh Powell Hines @Hinessightblog says
HI
This was so interesting. Great job. I owe you an e-mail back. I got sidetracked. What’s new there?
Amy @ My Front Porch says
Sitting here trying not to be jealous of your Roomba…*sigh* I would love to have one of these bad boys and set it to vacuum under the dining room table after every meal!
One thing I’ve always been curious about…it’s a circle. So how does it get in the corners? Also, if anyone from the iRobot company is reading this, you should totally invent a product that will vacuum stairs. I’d be all over that.
Thanks for the unbiased review 🙂
Sarah says
Hey Kim! Talking about your Roomba recently inspired me to get new batteries for my old worn out Roombas. I used them this weekend on my second floor which I hate to deal with cleaning the floors. Not only did it force me to pick up, but my floors are now clean and the corners and edges of the rooms are now dog hair free (not to mention the dust bunnies disappeared from under the bed)!
Emily says
Soooooo I know you just switched to wordpress- this blog post didn’t show up in my feed for some reason. I stumbled upon it via Pinterest. Just thought you might want to know- sometimes my feed is slow to update but usually not much more than 30min after a post goes up. This one hasn’t shown up all day.
That being said- I’m totally jealous of your roomba!! I want one so bad. I’m afraid the amounts of dog fur in our house might break it though- but maybe if it were to run daily there wouldn’t be so much fur. Is yours the pet variety? Sigh- jealous 🙂
Kelly @ Corner of Main says
How loud is it? Kevin is so scared of the vacuum I can never run it. We are living with balls of Stewie fur all over. It’s an absolute mess.
Jordan@the2seasons says
I have always wondered about this so thank you for the honest review. Now I think I will look into it knowing it is not a bad product. I don’t even have a little ones but with a dog I think I am vacuuming all the time. I try to do every other day but I would love every day.
michelle@decorandthedog says
I don’t want the roomba to take over my role in life…vacuumer . Okay, that’s a lie. They seem pretty sweet!
Chelsea @ two twenty one says
Thanks for this review. I want a Roomba but I don’t think I’m responsible enough because I’m terrible at picking up after myself. I’m basically a 10 year old child. Maybe when I grow up someday I’ll be able to have a Roomba like other responsible adults.
Laura Meckley says
I’m so glad you wrote this!! I’ve been eyeing different vacuuming robots and wondered how well they work. Any way I can squeeze a few more minutes out of the day I’m all for it. And I bet the Roomba does a better job than I would, too!
Tracy says
I had a Roomba before I had two wonderful Puggles (it was the earliest model they made and has since broke). I was wondering how the Roomba affects your Pugs. Do they bark at it? My dogs have a tendency to bark at the vacuum and I know the Roomba doesn’t sound like a vacuum, but I don’t want them to be barking for an hour while I’m not home.
Kim@NewlyWoodwards says
They actually don’t bark at all. And that’s huge because Franco is deathly afraid of the real vacuum and Lola barks at the real vacuum. They don’t even seem to notice the Roomba.
Kellie says
I’m so jealous!!!! Putting this on my wish list!