Gadget freak?

[Frank P. Martin]

Lynnvt:

How well does Roomba work? It's a somewhat difficult question to answer. There's a lot of variables. However, for our situation, needs (and floors), I think it works quite well. In this household there are only two adults and no pets (except on rare occasions when our son brings his two cats to visit), so our home requires a lot less vacuuming than a house with chiildren and/or pets.

I wouldn't recommend getting rid of your Hoover (or whatever brand of vacuum you currently use) as Roomba does have its limitations. For example, it can't do stairs. Nor does it have any attachments like your average vacuum has so you can't clean your furniture and drapes. It won't work on extremely thick or shag carpeting.

Roomba is more effective and efficient if you take out the easily removable pieces of furniture (i.e. piano benches, dining room chairs, newspaper stands, floor lamps, rocking chairs, etc.) first, before sending Roomba on a cleaning mission. Any rugs with fringes need to either be removed or have the fringe folded under the rug to prevent them from getting caught in Roomba's brush assembly. With a regular vacuum, you'd see these and avoid them but Roomba doesn't. So, in essence, you may have to "Roomba proof" the area that you want it to clean before using it.

We have the Discovery model which comes with two virtual walls. These work kind of like the Invisible Fence does for dogs... but for Roombas instead. You place them in doorways or other openings and they send out an infared beam that prevents Roomba from wandering into rooms or other places you don't want it to go.

When Roomba senses extra dirty areas, a blue indicator light comes on and it will turn in a tight circle to give "extra attention" to that area.

Roomba is nowhere near as fast as you can vacuum yourself. In fact, it can take an hour or more (the battery charge seems to last anywhere from 1.5 to 2 hours) to do a room depending on its size and complexity (by complexity I mean how much furniture you have in the room). But who cares? While Roomba's on its cleaning mission, you're free to do something else.

The Discovery model also comes with a "Home Base", a charging station that Roomba will attempt to find when it's finished cleaning (or the battery power is nearly depleted). When found, Roomba will automatically dock itself and recharge. According to the users' manual, sometimes Roomba won't find it, but ours always has; even when we let it loose to vacuum the family, living and dining rooms all in one cleaning mission.

The dust bin and filter, needs to be emptied after every cleaning mission. While this may seem to be a nuisance, keep in mind that a Roomba is miniscule as compared to a normal sized vacuum with its huge dust bag so it's all relative. Actually, I find emptying Roomba's dust bin a lot less hassle than when we owned a Rainbow vacuum and you had empty all that yucky water after each use.

Because it's only about 4" high, Roomba has the ability to vacuum under most beds, sofas & chairs, and along the kitchen baseboard where your cabinets overhang.

BTW- Chris named our Roomba "Rosie"; after the robot in The Jetson's.

[Lynnvt]

Art and Frank, thanks for the info. We have a central vac system so we probably won't get a Roomba, although I love the idea that it roams around by itself and cleans. George thought it would be great just to annoy the cats!
PS
Gadgets
Wireless internet
My Cell phone (Kyocera with pda)
Hubby's pda
Hubby's cell phone
Jukebox
2 people - 4 computers (2 laptops, 1 work laptop & 1 desktop)
2 sets of noise cancellation headphones

[Joe-K]

Frank,

The important question is.....

Are you going to bring "Rosie" camping with you?

I'm thinking you could loan her out at campouts and she could clean our rigs while we sit around the fire.

Joe

[NYMoose "Lenny"]

Boy my friends will say this is up my ally. I have Garmin Rino GPS radios, to keep track of the kids. XM radio, Wirless internet, IPAQ, Laptop, and future will be the car computer for the GPS and e-mail on the road!

[Frank P. Martin]

Sure, Joe.

There's a wall mount holder that I have no use for at home, being that we use the Home Base instead. I'm going to mount it somewhere in the TT so we can store Rosie there while we travel.

[Bushman512003]

That at Home Depote and other store's.I like the idea but the Ferret would go nut's and She is the Queen of our house and In control of the Vaccume the Wife uses now.LOL John

[Dragan]

GPS, yup
FRS/GPS, yup
DVD, yup
Roomba, yup
wifi, yup
LCD t.v., yup
laptop, yup
Segway, yup (two of em)
xm radio, yup (myfi, in the truck, in the TT, and on the Segway)

gadgets???????????Give me the SIMPLE life!
Wayne