We interrupt our hiking for this brief product review

Three Tollers, one living room, & one doggy door vs one iRoomba 530.

It’s Friday, and I don’t have a half-inch of debris on the living room floor.  That’s a good thing.  Usually, by this time of the week things are getting pretty deep in my living room, thanks to three Tollers and a doggy door.  Lots of outdoor things get tracked in along with the inevitable dog hair which seems to be never ending though heavier at times during the semi-annual sheds.  I really don’t have the time or energy to vacuum every day, which is really what my living room needs. I give things a good going over on the weekends, but once a week just isn’t enough.

The iRoomba 530 is my new electronic maid.  I turn it loose every morning while I am making breakfast for myself and the dogs or in the evening while I’m making my dinner.  It caroms around the room, sweeping up the worst of the day’s accumulation, unsupervised, and for the most part unimpeded.  I like my little Roomba, especially since I got it for free.

So, what are the relevant details for the pet owner?  Well, for a vacuum, it’s more of a sweeper. In fact, that’s the category I would put it into.  If you are looking for the power of a full-size vacuum you are not going to get it here, but if you are able to live with something as powerful as a carpet sweeper, then you might like the Roomba.  iRoomba does make a model for people with pets, but I have not tried that one, so I can’t comment on its efficiency. 

Shortcomings of the iRoomba: One reason mine was free was because the running time of the machine was only 10 minutes or so, and it was more trouble than it was worth for the previous owner.   I was able to fix this by resetting the battery.  The rechargeable battery develops battery memory and like other appliances with rechargeable batteries, it needs to be completely drained once in a while, and if possible reset to get longer runtimes off of each charge.  My reset battery is now lasting about forty-five minutes to an hour.   I forsee more battery resets in the future.  I could also purchase a new battery for about $70 or so.

Another problem, as a pet owner that I have is that after about 5-10 minutes or so of working my Roomba asks me to “Please remove and clean Roomba’s brushes”.  This is due to dog hair gumming up the works.  I have to do this about 3 or 4 times in an hour of cleaning, and that cleaning is happening on a floor that is now getting Roombaed daily and vacuumed with the big vacuum once a week.  From what I’ve read this is not as big of a problem on the pet models, but the brushes still require cleaning and I’d just do it as a part of daily maintenance. This can be done whenever you empty the dust bin on the Roomba.  I find that the brushes need cleaning more often than the dust bin needs emptying, but my life is just that kind of messy.   The Roomba also takes longer to clean a room than a person pushing a normal vacuum would, but the whole point is that the person doesn't have to push the Roomba around the room.  It's slowly working while the person is doing something else. 

For what it is, I like my little Roomba, but I'm not giving up the Kirby.