iRobot Roomba Cleaning Robot for Pets and Allergies Review

Roomba770The idea of having a robot do anything in my home is instantly appealing thanks to the many robots who have appeared on my television and given me a grand dream of what robots might someday become. Is the Roomba an evolutionary step toward Rosie from The Jetsons?

The Roomba roaming around seemingly randomly through my house is officially the iRobot Roomba 770 Vacuum Cleaning Robot for Pets and Allergies. We have one large dog and primarily hard wood floors, with rugs in the master bedroom and livingroom. Roomba (iRobot likes to drop any ‘a’ or ‘the’ when referring to Roomba so as to make it more personal) took very little setup before being operational. Just some un-boxing and removing of packing material from the innards of the robot.

The vacuum is made up of a few main parts.

  • Brushes – Two rotating and one spinning
  • Wheels – Two drive and one pivoting
  • Dust bin with air filters
  • Control buttons
  • Motors

Users do not interact with the motors but the other parts do require periodic cleaning, mostly the dust bin. As a house that seems to be nestled firmly within a dust generation area and a dog who leaves fur literally everywhere, the dust bin always has a lot to pickup. The robot will happily continue cleaning when the dust bin is full, the only notification is a blinking amber light on top. To empty is you just tap the clean button and eject the bin. Then empty what seems like not very much debris out of the bin. Perhaps I’m just used to the amount that my Dyson DC33 will pick up before needing to be emptied (you may now notice that I have sort of a thing for vacuum cleaners).

The brushes themselves are easily cleaned with the included brush cleaners. My wife has long hair which tends to be picked up and trapped by all vacuum cleaner brushes. The Roomba cleaners work more effectively than any I have seen before, and most vacuums leave it up to the user to figure out how to clean the brushes.

For air filters Roomba includes small yellow HEPA filters that fill up with dust more quickly than I might like. When emptying the dust bin you have to snap out the filters and tap them to clear the dust. It seems that clearing them each time the bin is emptied works best to keep them free of fine dust.

For the most part Roomba remains untangled from items laying around my house with the exception of electrical cords that are within Roomba’s reach and drapes that hang a bit lower than they probably should.

One pleasant surprise is Roomba’s ability to clean the rug in the master bedroom that the bed sits atop. Getting under there with a vacuum has previously required huge amounts of labor to move the bed, but Roomba has a fairly low profile and can just scoot under there and do its job. It emerges now and again and I trap it to clean its bin.

When it’s time to send Roomba home it needs to have line of site to its base station so I bring it into the office where it lives and tap the dock button. It then wiggles its way onto the dock.

I should not that the dog is scared to death of Roomba and immediately goes outside and stares at the door wondering if and when Roomba will ever be quiet again.

Overall, Roomba has been great at keeping the dust and hair in the house to a minimum, but I do still need to vacuum with the regular upright to get the rugs more thoroughly cleaned and to get the corners and other places Roomba can’t go.

You can pick yourself up a Roomba to meet your needs according to Roomba’s handy chart. I should note that for me the virtual walls and remote aren’t useful, but if you have stairs or other areas you want to keep Roomba out of the virtual walls are handy. The remote seems to be only good for party tricks.

Roomba 630
Roomba 650
Roomba 760
Roomba 770
Roomba 780
   Features
Cleaning System
A Spinning Side Brush Cleans Edges, Counter-Rotating Brushes Act Like Dustpan & Broom, And AeroVac Vacuum Pulls Debris Into Bin
3-Stage with AeroVac Advanced Cleaning Head
3-Stage with AeroVac Advanced Cleaning Head
3-Stage with AeroVac Series 2 Advanced Cleaning Head
3-Stage with AeroVac Series 2 Advanced Cleaning Head
3-Stage with AeroVac Series 2 Advanced Cleaning Head
Filtration –
Filters Trap Dust, Particles and Allergens Leaving Behind Fresher Air
AeroVac Filter
AeroVac Filter
HEPA Filter
HEPA Filter
HEPA Filter
iAdapt Responsive Cleaning Technology – iRobot’s Advanced System of Software and Sensors Actively Engages with the Environment for the Most Thorough Cleaning
Dirt Detect – Uses Sensors to Find Dirt and Debris and Perform Concentrated Cleaning
Series I (Acoustic)
Series I (Acoustic)
Series II (Optical & Acoustic)
Series II (Optical & Acoustic)
Series II (Optical & Acoustic)
Persistent Pass – A Back-and-Forth Cleaning Pattern Applies Elbow Grease in Areas with Excessive Dirt
Scheduling – Schedule to Clean Up to 7 Times Per Week
Full Bin Indicator – Lets You Know When Bin Needs To Be Emptied
Containment – Keeps Roomba Cleaning Where You Need It
1 Virtual Wall
1 Virtual Wall
2 Virtual Walls
2 Virtual Walls
2 Virtual Wall Lighthouses
Extra Brushes
1 Extra Set
Extra Filters
1 Extra AeroVac
1 Extra AeroVac
1 Extra Set of 2 HEPA
1 Extra Set of 2 HEPA
1 Extra Set of 2 HEPA
Cleaning Tools
Flat
Flat
Round and Flat
Round and Flat
Round and Flat
Remote

Images from Amazon.com – Crasstalk is an Amazon.com affiliate partner.

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