Bottom line - does robot vacuum replace regular vacuum

carnation

Sun, Sep 13 2020, 10:36 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

I am in the market for a vacuum and I keep hearing about these robot vacuums. I am willing to spend the money I just want to know if I buy one will I also need to vacuum? Would love to get rid of the upright. I keep hearing conflicting reports. Can someone that has a high end robot vacuum opine?

I have one and am super happy with it. It's a robot and not human. It goes around the house but if let's say one area in the kitchen has a lot of crumbs on the floor than it will miss some of it.

When you want to vacuum inside a cabinet, the stairway, window treatments etc, the robot won't be able to do that. It can only vacuum floors, that's all.

Rappel

Sun, Sep 13 2020, 10:41 pm

I could never keep my house clean of pet hair and dust on my own. Sweep, mop, sweep, mop... All day, and still there was more. Now I still spot clean, and I sweep the full house once a day, but mopping I cut down to one every few days, and my floors are still cleaner than I've ever been able to make them. It makes my level of clean into Yemenite clean. Totally worth it.

PS - I got the Roborock S6. Yes, it cleans corners very well..

amother

Natural

Mon, Sep 14 2020, 2:34 am

amother [ Natural ] wrote:

It does not replace a regular vacuum, no.

It replaces middle-of-the-week housework/cleaning help that I used to do or hire. It cannot handle the more intense shabbos cleaning, and certainly not Pesach cleaning.

Some more details:

Pros:
The model I have learns the layout of the house, and creates a map. It can even set up separate maps for different floors. I can use the app to send it to a specific room or select a specific spot to clean, and create virtual walls where it avoids cleaning (like if the kids have a puzzle or art project somewhere on the floor). I love it for cleaning up a sand-art mess or crumbly kitchen floor.

It also has a mop feature which does a very superficial clean, but I've figured out ways to make it more useful (ie spray the floor with tile cleaner and soft scrub beforehand, make it repeat the same room three times, etc).

The model I have can be set to clean the whole house while I'm at work, and it goes back to the charger when it needs a recharge.

Cons:
It struggles getting in and out of the kitchen and one of the bathrooms due to the high threshold. I have figured out some solutions but it still get stuck sometimes and that's annoying.

The dustbin needs to be cleaned often, which becomes a chore.

Before I send it in to clean a room, I need to clear the floor of wires, cables, or any objects it might get stuck on. That could make me lazy to use it altogether.

It doesn't do stairs. It needs to be carried up to the second floor and I rarely do.

saw50st8

Mon, Sep 14 2020, 8:23 am

Our vacuum has basically replaced our regular vacuum. It may not do corners amazingly well (definitely passable), but it gets under our furniture and gets areas that I never really could. We also vacuum much more frequently now because it can just run.

We wipe down the stairs ourselves.

We also use it for mopping but it doesn't really mop, it's more of a wipe down so we steam mop to fill in.

We have an ecovacs 920. But there is a new model that comes with a scrubbing mop. It's very expensive but that may be a great option.

amother

Natural

Mon, Sep 14 2020, 8:31 am

One thing to keep in mind with the vacuum/mop combo device is that although it can be used at the same time, it is best to dry vacuum first, then empty the bin, and then run again in mop mode. I found that otherwise water seeps into the bin and makes it sticky and harder to clean.

small bean

Mon, Sep 14 2020, 9:14 am

I have both a robot vaccum and mop. 2 separate robots.

I have mostly hardwood floor and hardly sweep..my robot can be programmed to focus on corners. It has a remote also that I can sit on the couch and direct it if I need it in a specific place. (Or my kids do it as they think it's like a remote control car). We turn it on multiple times a day and I let it run around at night while we sleep. It's pretty quiet and was about $200.

The mop requires cleaning but I turn it on at night after everyone goes to sleep and we wake up to clean floors. It actually washes the floors but doesn't go under the cabinets etc. If I was very clean, I'd mop weekly but I'm lazy and basically spot clean as needed and rely on the robot to keep the house looking clean.

Now I'm looking for a robot that cleans toilets and showers. Then I'll take a window robot.

ra_mom

Mon, Sep 14 2020, 12:16 pm

yalixoxo wrote:

Hi,

Can u guys post links the ones u are happy with. Hard to know which u guys like and are good and the bad ones. In market for one too. Ty

https://www.amazon.com/iRobot-.....0cnVl
This is what I have. It's the inexpensive original iRobot model. It's just for vacuuming. It doesn't map out the house.
I keep it plugged in and I set the app up once so that it starts up on its own every morning. It returns to the base when the battery is low or else I send it back remotely from the app before 2 hours are up, so it doesn't run out of battery.
I open the little drawer on the robot when I get home, shake it into the garbage to empty, and then slip it back in.

amother

Dodgerblue

Mon, Sep 14 2020, 12:27 pm

I got a really cheap one and I'm in love! (I paid $100, I figured cheap enough that if I don't like the concept I don't feel too bad). I'm a total convert to the concept - and as I have a pretty big house and not enough cleaning help this is a real game changer for me.

This is the one I have, and it's on sale again for $100:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/prod.....psc=1

I don't have what to compare it to, but I've noticed that it runs out of battery after about an hour, and it doesn't map out the house so it's a random pattern. So for me, I do have to run it twice if I want the entire house to be vacuumed.

OTOH, I turn on the switch, make sure all large things are off the floor, and walk away. I come back to a freshly vacuumed floor - I can't praise the concept enough. I don't sweep anymore but let the robot do all the work. It does seem clean to me, and I'm not sure I would have done a better job in any case Wink

amother

Azure

Tue, Jan 05 2021, 7:54 am

small bean wrote:

Which ones do you have?