iRobot Roomba 5th Generation Vacuum Cleaning Robot
- Automatically returns to its Home Base to recharge between cleanings.
- Virtual Wall Lighthouse keeps Roomba cleaning in one room, then guides it to the next
- Robot intelligence easily cleans hard to reach places, under beds and around furniture.
- Senses dirtier areas and cleans more thoroughly in those spots. Side brush reaches into corners and along edges to remove dust, dirt and debris.
- Self-adjusting cleaning head automatically adjusts to cleam carpets to hard floors.
Carpet/Floors….cleans routinely so you don’t have to.Specifications:Roomba efficiently cleans the whole floorUnder and around furniture and along walls Automatically adjusts to clean carpets and hard floors Roomba automatically senses and avoids stairs and other drop-offs Follows walls and reaches deep into corners to remove dustDirt and debris Roomba senses dirtier areas and cleans more thoroughly in those spots Roomba won’t get stuck on cordsCarpet fringe or tassels Just press the Clean button
List Price: $ 255.99
Price: $ 255.99
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Excellent Product,
I am delighted with my Roomba 540 for what I expected it to do– it’s actually a bit better than expected so far, though I have not yet owned it long enough to rate longevity/reliability. I have two small boys (7 and 5) and two cats (one long-haired) and I decided to use the Roomba upstairs rather than downstairs– it is easier to control the clutter upstairs in our house, and therefore more practical for our use to use it up there on a routine basis.
Roomba vacuumed under a challenging queen bed, navigating over some cords, between two underbed boxes and six box-spring support pillars, and still getting out to the edge of the baseboard under the head of the bed– great since I don’t exactly move an oak bed around very often. Roomba covered the floorplan of a fairly complicated floor layout completely in the MBR, found the MBath, and cleaned up the tile floor very well, navigated back out (not using the included lighthouse yet) and discovered the hallway and one of the kids rooms as well as the kids’ tile bathroom; it did a nice job on all. I did shut off the closet doors before starting Roomba. It navigated itself into and out of some pretty tight corners.
Roomba bumped into a balled up shirt on my son’s floor and navigated around it rather than trying to eat it, though I don’t recommend that approach routinely.
Roomba did have a couple of difficulties, which I found to be minor, compared to actually vacuuming:
*Now, I have not yet used the included lighthouse to mark off the rooms and help Roomba navigate– but Roomba has not yet managed to navigate itself back to its base for recharging– I have to go find it after it’s done and take it home.
*On the first pass under that bed (which was in dire need of a good vacuuming) Roomba’s brushes had a little more cat hair than it could handle and it spit out little hair balls here and there which I was able to pick up easily and discard– maybe half a dozen tops. However on the second and third runs, when that floor was much cleaner, this did not happen.
*The directions suggest emptying Roomba’s dustbin and cleaning its filter every three cleanings. OK, I’ve already indicted my dirty carptes here, but I’ve found it worth emptying/cleaning each use at least at first, but fortunately this is really simple to do– push a button, pop out the easy to handle bin, dump in the trash, clean the filter (same as a dryer lint filter in your clothes dryer) pop bin back into Roomba with a click. No big deal, no mess, at least IMO.
On the up-side, when cleaning for the first time and encountering a lot of cat hair, Roomba’s was stopped, and when I picked it up, a human sounding voice informed me that I needed to clean Roomba’s brushes. This was easy to do and Roomba was back on its way. My unit came with spare brushes and a spare filter, suggesting these parts will need periodic replacement.
But if vacuuming takes only pushing a button to start and putting it back with a stop past the trash can when it’s done later (or at your convenience) then I’m sold. And it seems to be doing a nice job with good coverage of the floor areas. I would give one to my mother.
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|It Sucks! (sorry, vacuum humor),
I did a lot of research on the Roomba 500 series here on Amazon, and was finally convinced this could be the solution to our huge pet fur problem. I ended up buying the Roomba 540 at Sam’s club instead of here on Amazon, but since it is the same model, I thought I’d offer my review. I’ve been using it daily for about a month now and here are my observations:
Pros:
Seems to do a really good job vacuuming our living room (carpet) and kitchen (hardwood) in one shot.
It almost always finds it’s charging station at the end, and even sings a little happy song when it does.
Has not once gotten tangled or hung up on anything
It’s low enough that it fits under all our furniture, including couches, which is nice.
The little spinning side brush really pulls in debris from the corners
It slows down before it bumps into stuff. Like when it approached the flap on the couch, it slows down and then tries to gently push through. If it encounters a leg or something, it turns around.
It’s fun to watch. Really, it’s pretty cool. I was surprised when it went under the couch the first time and I couldn’t hear it, then it popped out on the side.
Not too loud. Yeah it makes noise, but not keep you up at night kind of noise.
Pets seem OK with it. Our two dogs just get up and move when it comes near them. I was worried they would try to eat it, but so far, so good. Luckily there is not much sticking out they could actually get their mouths around.
Virtual wall works
Came with a sticker saying if I feel like getting my geek on and hacking the Roomba software, Go For It!! How cool! (more below)
Cons:
Brushes need to be cleaned after EVERY run (more on this below)
Bin capacity is pretty small. Only enough to hold one pass. They do make a larger bin you can buy though, but it sacrifices the dust filter functionality.
Dirt Detection is hit or miss. I would not pull this out for spot cleaning unless I was willing to wait for the entire room to be cleaned. They do make a remote control that can guide it though, so maybe that would fix this issue.
The 540 model cannot be scheduled to run at a certain time of day. You only get that with the 550 and up. You can buy an accessory for this though, so you’re not entirely out of luck.
The 540 model comes with a “Virtual Wall”, which is NOT the same as a “Virtual Lighthouse”. The former keeps Roomba in one area for good. The latter keeps Roomba in one room, then lets it into the next room, then guides it back to its original room when it’s all done and looking for its base. I believe higher models come with the lighthouse.
Thoughts:
On Cleaning: At least in our house, we have to empty the bin and use the brush cleaning tool after EVERY run, otherwise it will get about 10 minutes into the next run, stop, do the uh-oh sound, and tell you to clean the brushes. Then it just sits there until you do. Cleaning is not that hard, but you do need to take out the two brushes, take off the plastic spacers and bearing “cap”, pick out little bits of fur around the bearings, run the brush through the cleaning tool (which is actually pretty awesome)and put it all back together again. It takes me about 10 minutes, and I really wish it could go a couple times between cleanings. So far I don’t mind it but trust me, the novelty will soon wear off.
On effectiveness: It works. Way better than I (and more importantly my wife) expected. Our floors have never been so consistently fur-free.
On Fun: iRobot is the coolest company in the world. They actually encourage geeks like me to hack their software and give Roomba new functionality like playing music or drawing pictures. They provide a serial port on the Roomba itself for hooking it up to a laptop, and there’s loads of software and info out there on the internets. Best of all, it will still clean your floor and it won’t even void your warranty. Again, the folks at iRobot = awesome.
Final Thought: I’m still really glad I bought it. They do make a Roomba specifically for pet hair, which may alleviate my biggest con, I don’t know, but even with the daily cleanings, I still like the Roomba a lot. It’s just one of those things that make me feel it is so cool to be living in the future, and hey, clean floor.
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|Love it!,
Love it, Love it, Love it!
I read mixed reviews about the Roomba from several sites as well as love it/hate it stories from co-workers. Hence, I was skeptical about spending money on something that was either hated or loved by others. I took a leap of faith and bought it!
I’ve had it for 3 months now and use it about 3 X a week. I own 2 dogs, one of them sheds a lot! The roomba has been a blessing for me. Not only does it do the job of cleaning my tiled floors by itself, it actually does it better than I do.
My husband and I were amazed at how well it cleaned. I had my mother in law over for Thanksgiving and she was equally amazed at the job it did. I haven’t tried it on carpet. It might be a different experience all together and I’m guessing this is were the problem comes for dissatisfied customers.
In regard to other reviews, I don’t find any of the maintenance on this little vacuum an inconvenience. Yes, we have to empty the dirt from the storage compartment after each cleaning, but that’s something I would do with any other vacuum cleaner. A big bonus for me is that it gives me time to do other stuff, without having to pay someone else to clean my house.
I would highly recommend it to my dearest friends, provided they don’t expect the machine to empty the dirt in their garbage after cleaning.
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