Roomba style vacuum

[hollohas]

When will one of these companies make a full sized, R2D2 like robot vacuum that can actually handle the chore and get it done in a reasonable time? Powerful vacuum, larger bin, etc? That'd be sweet.

[Jer]

Ours is named "Sucky McSuckface" (of Boaty McBoatface fame... Google if you're not familiar) which is downright hilarious to hear Alexa pronounce whenever you use her to do something.

That said, I would NOT skimp on one of these devices. You will regret it sooner than later. I tried cheaper ones to include the Walmart lineup as well as many other relatively unknown Chinese brands that were famous for making "similar" to the well-known brands for less money and nothing came close to what we have. After (too) much research & more trial and error than I had wished I invested I ended up with a Neato D5 Botvac and we love it. The D5 is the sweet spot IMO for what you pay versus what you get in the Neato Botvac lineup. I've turned a few friends onto this make/model and they've echoed our praise with several having upgraded from these $150ish options people are asking about. They're better in just about every way that makes a robot vacuum work.

That said, this is a bit of a sales pitch as I have a vested interest so take everything I just said with a grain of salt and do your own research. The reason I've got some skin in the game so to speak is because I got a couple of them at a great price with the intention of having one on the ground floor and one in the basement (ranch style home) and we have since decided to focus our efforts on paying off the mortgage before we throw anymore money into finishing the basement. As a result, I've got a brand new D5 on Craigslist right now for $399 which is a solid $235 (before tax) less than what Walmart is selling them for right now. I think retail price on these when I bought them was like $649 or $699 so this is a pretty solid deal and puts it within range of these far lesser equipped robot vacuums. My intention wasn't to turn this post into a shameless sales plug but I realize I've basically done that after I started typing out my personal experience and opinion so...

[TV announcer voice] "We now return you to your robot vacuum discussion already in progress....[/TV announcer voice]

lulz

[Irving]

You didn't even cover why it's better. I can guess, but you have all the answers. Is it programmable?

[Jer]

You didn't even cover why it's better. I can guess, but you have all the answers. Is it programmable?

Your Google machine b0rk? I said it's better, isn't that good enough? lol

In a bit of a hurry so I'll just copy/paste the bullet points from Amazon since all of the claims are legitimate and the reason I chose this over the competition because they all work together to make for a far better user experience in just about every measurable way:

*LaserSmart technology intelligently navigates and maps your home, cleaning in straight lines instead of a random pattern.
*D-shape design, large core brush, and side brush finds pet hair and debris where they hide - in corners and along walls.
*The ultra performance filter captures up to 99% of tiny dust mites and allergens as small as 10 microns.
*Perfect for cleaning on any surface - hardwood, carpet or tile
*Get up to 90 minutes of battery life*, perfect for most homes.
*Auto charge & resume lets your robot return to base to power up and then go back out and pick up where it left off.
*Use the Neato app to schedule cleanings daily, every other day, or on a schedule that works for you.
*Easily control your robot from your phone, smartwatch, Amazon Echo, and Google Home.

[FoxtArt]

I'm waiting until they develop the models that can wear a french maid outfit.

And then I'll constantly watch it with suspicion....

...why is it staring at my silverware....

[bellavite1]

We tried one.
Not excited.
Is like a dishwasher: by the time you rinse the dishes, load it up, run it, unload it etc...you could have done the dishes by hand like 10 times over and invested the dishwasher money in ammo.
Then again I am a known Luddite...

[hollohas]

*D-shape design, large core brush, and side brush finds pet hair and debris where they hide - in corners and along walls.

I've always wondered why most are round...it's a VERY inefficient shape when trying to engineer parts/layouts, etc and certainly doesn't fit in 95% of homes which have all right angles.

[brutal]

I've always wondered why most are round...it's a VERY inefficient shape when trying to engineer parts/layouts, etc and certainly doesn't fit in 95% of homes which have all right angles.

Our Roomba is great at pushing crap into the corners and eating the corners of rugs.

Ours was a Secret Santa gift when we remodeled our kitchen and replaced the 1st floor hardwood floors.

[Jer]

We tried one.
Not excited.
Is like a dishwasher: by the time you rinse the dishes, load it up, run it, unload it etc...you could have done the dishes by hand like 10 times over and invested the dishwasher money in ammo.
Then again I am a known Luddite...

Not sure the math supports that. I haven't spent any time on vacuuming in years. Unless you can manually vacuum your whole house by hand in less than 0 seconds the math doesn't support that statement in this case.

Also, with dishwashers it's more about convenience and consumption as dishwashers use much less water, especially the high efficiency ones these days. We bought a Bosch a few years back that is incredible. They had to put a little red laser shining on the floor underneath it because otherwise you can't tell it's running it's so quite.