ROOOOOOOMBA! Who's got one? Who wants one? Should I get

[radwriter0555]

one?



http://roombavac.com/buyroomba/defaultB.asp


Roomba sweeps and vacuums just about any home floor surface, including; hardwood, laminate, linoleum, low-pile carpet, medium-pile carpet, tile, slate, and other hard surfaces.

Roomba's compact shape enables it to clean completely under beds, tables and other furniture, so Roomba can clean more, in more places than conventional vacuums. In fact. Roomba cleans better than uprights costing twice as much. *

Hmmmm. I love a good gadget!

[xultar]

1. Have you seen the new one that has a remote control override!

HEY SANTA! R U Listening! MAMA wants a ROOMBA VAC!

[radwriter0555]

5. Yeah like some big fat rich old white guy is going to bring ME something

this much fun.

Geesh.

[terrya]

2. I thought it was a portable CD player.

Whatever that gadget is, it sure looks like a CD player.

[meti57b]

3. Do cats object to it?

[radwriter0555]

7. I think it would be nice company for a cat...

chasing them around, sucking up their hairballs.

Think of it as a pre-emptive hairball preventor.

[supernova]

4. I want a Roomba!

:D

Brookestone has them. The one with the remote is $250. It works best on hardwood, linoleum, and short pile carpets. If you've got shag, forget it. But mine's all hardwood! Yay!

[radwriter0555]

6. Ooooh, I have hardwood floors and tile floors.

Hmmmmm.

And if you get that 20% off coupon from Linen's N Things. hey now....!

[Red State Rebel]

13. I have the same floors....it would be great to....

keep up with the dog hair. We have 2 golden retrievers and a flatcoat retriever mix. What a dream that would be!

[eyesroll]

8. I've heard from cleaning pros that Roomba is OK for basic residential use

If you have anything extreme (70s shag, 26 cats), or if your house is really huge or you're cleaning commerical space, this probably isn't the vacuum for you.

I believe HEPA filters aren't available, so if you've got severe allergies, you also might want something else.

I think, if I got a Roomba, one of my birds would either be scared to death of it or angry and yell at it, and the other would want to ride it. Could be interesting.

[RobertSeattle]

9. Wait a couple of years until they get better.smarter.

(I got one)

The only decent purpose of the Roomba is to get at places a normal vacuum cleaner won't get easily like under the bed. I think the collection holder is pretty small - mine fills up after doing a 15x15 room pretty quickly (we have dogs). I don't think it algorithm for entirely doing an area is that smart either (seems pretty random to me!). I believe future types of these may do areas "smarter" than a random walk.

But if you have $200 to spare and like to support new technology - go for it!

[Bozita]

10. A relative has one and loves it.

Biggest complaint is the small size of the dustcup.

[Bozita]

11. Roomba enthusiasts have a message board --- NYT

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/16/magazine/16ROBOT.html

Roomba

The first consumer product from iRobot, a company with 11 years of military research under its belt, the Roomba is a vacuum cleaner that cleans every inch of floor via a coverage algorithm similar to that used by military unmanned aerial vehicles. At $200 to $250, the Roomba is a robot enthusiast's ideal cheap mobility platform. On roombacommunity.com, owners swap tips for improving their Roombas and building robots atop them.

[supernova]

12. There's a Roomba Room

on the 'net? Go figure. :D

[MrBenchley]

14. Got one...

You have to run it frequently...too much dust and debris (or pet hair) will cause it to seize up. It also can get hung up on something and stall pretty easily.

Whatever you do don't watch it....it will drive you nuts.