Robotic vaccuum cleaners

[thermidorthelobster]

Does anybody have one of these?  Roomba Discovery or similar is what I'm thinking of.

Always one for new technologies, I've been mulling over getting one.  Basically because we never get round to hoovering, and have a cat which drags much of the contents of the garden throughout the house.  Also we have wooden floors downstairs, which scratch as soon as you get any grit under a chair leg.  So having something which does the job for me sounds great.

I've heard mixed reviews - most people think they're the greatest thing ever, but some comment on reliability issues, particularly with the earlier ones - so if anybody has one, I'd be interested to know what you think.

David

[landyman Ash]

No, got myself one of those other things.....

Not very reliable but fairly uselful.... oh yeah, its called a girlfriend  :twisted:


If she reads this I think I;ll buy a robot and let you know....  :D

[Porny]

No, got myself one of those other things.....

Not very reliable but fairly uselful.... oh yeah, its called a girlfriend  


If she reads this I think I;ll buy a robot and let you know....

:lol:  :lol:  :lol:  :lol:

[V8MoneyPit]

No, got myself one of those other things.....

Not very reliable but fairly uselful.... oh yeah, its called a girlfriend  :twisted:


If she reads this I think I;ll buy a robot and let you know....  :D

WHAT???? Where did you get her from??? My wife doesn't know what a vacuum cleaner is!! Or a duster...... or washing up liquid....... or a lawn mower....... or a car cleaning sponge.......  :roll:

[thermidorthelobster]

That's why you need a robotic vaccuum cleaner, it will do all that for you!

Well, it won't wash up, mow the lawn or clean the car.  But it'll hoover the floor for you.

And you can get robotic lawnmowers too.

[V8MoneyPit]

:lol:  :lol:  :lol:

So then all I need is a £200 dishwasher and a £200,000 car wash and Im sorted!!

[landyman Ash]

:lol:  :lol:  :lol:

So then all I need is a £200 dishwasher and a £200,000 car wash and Im sorted!!

Oooooooo.  Imagine having your own car wash.....

Right, thats added to the "what I want for christmas"

No: 324 - A fully functional car wash.

Lovely!  :D

[Jake]

:lol:  :lol:  :lol:

So then all I need is a £200 dishwasher and a £200,000 car wash and Im sorted!!

It would be cheaper to hire a team of Kosovans car valeters to live in your shed and appear every time you get home  :lol:

[turtle]

Right, thats added to the "what I want for christmas"

You've done it now mentioning the C word so early in the year  :D

[Wanderer]

I thought the forum filtered out the C word between January and November...


Shocking it's only June  :lol:

Ed

[Manicminer]

a £200,000 car wash and Im sorted!!

Isn't that what a wife costs in her lifetime?

[Andy the Landy]

a £200,000 car wash and Im sorted!!

Isn't that what a wife costs in her lifetime?

Stick another couple of 00's on the end and thats more like it  :lol:

[V8MoneyPit]

a £200,000 car wash and Im sorted!!

Isn't that what a wife costs in her lifetime?

Yeah, but she's useless at washing cars  :lol:  :lol: What would you rather spend your money on?....... Actually, don't answer that question  8-[  :lol:

[thermidorthelobster]

Well, although I was tempted by an Electrolux Trilobite on eBay, I've just taken delivery of my Roomba Discovery (which is not so intelligent, but cleans edges better).

Unfortunately I'm going to have to wait for the batteries to charge properly, but it's most impressive - scuttled around my lounge for about 10 minutes and picked up an impressive amount of crud in its dust bag.

It did get stuck behind a chair at one point, but I've not yet done anything to "roomba-proof" the room, so I think that should be copeable-with.  (Or is that "copewithable"?)

This could be the way forward!  It's just a shame the battery manufacturers can't come up with batteries with 4x the capacity and half the charge time

I think the Dyson could be pensioned off to the airing cupboard.

[thermidorthelobster]

Anybody who hasn't got one of these can have no idea how exciting it is.

It's now got the downstairs wooden floors, tiles and rug covered, and is just charging up prior to having a go on the carpets upstairs.

Imagine a fully grown man crouching on the ground staring at a little discoid robot rumbling around the room - for 20 MINUTES.  It's just compelling.  Better than TV.

I'm not sure if it's going to be a timesaver though.  Instead of hoovering the floor manually in 10 minutes, I'm going to spend 20 minutes staring at the Roomba  :?

[V8MoneyPit]

Imagine a fully grown man crouching on the ground staring at a little discoid robot rumbling around the room - for 20 MINUTES.  It's just compelling.  Better than TV.

So? I can't see the problem! Don't all men do this sort of thing? My wife looks at me in disbelief when I say what an amazing invention the screw thread is! I try to explain how it has transformed the lives of the entire human race, but does she care????......  :roll: Tell me if you can resist twiddling a nut and bolt if it's handed to you !

So I can fully sympathise with AT LEAST 20 minutes of gazing in admiration at an autonomous (not sure about that spelling!) robot  :D

[thermidorthelobster]

After a couple of days to get used to this thing, I can highly recommend it, it's the mutt's nuts.

Press "Clean" and it undocks itself from its charger, and roams the room cleaning up.  Works just as well on carpet, rugs, wooden floors, tiles - cleans just as well as, if not better than, the Dyson (although it takes more time over it).  It's clever enough to clean perfectly round chair legs and other obstacles - they've put a lot of thought into the software.

You can put down "virtual walls" - infra-red beams which it won't cross - to corral it in a room without shutting the door (so the cat can still escape).  If it finds a step (such as the top of the stairs) it detects it and cleans right up to the edge without throwing itself to its doom.  If it finds a dirty patch (it can detect how much dirt it's sucking up) then it gives it a good going over to make sure it's clean.

When it's finished cleaning, it shuts down and goes to sleep, or if it's near its docking station, it will actually dock itself and put itself on charge!

You also get a remote control, so you can steer it round the house and back to its dock.

It's a great gadget, but the point is, it actually cleans very well indeed.  If anybody is thinking of buying an upmarket hoover, get one of these instead!  This really is the way forward, and I bet in ten years everybody will have one.

[muddyweb]

Wouldn't last 5 minutes in our house...   you've met our dog :-)

[thermidorthelobster]

you've met our dog :-)

That's true - I can't begin to imagine what weird and wonderful activities Katie would introduce it to, after she tied herself in knots around my rocksliders.

On the bright side, it's good on pet hair :)  Our cat is terrified of it, but they say most pets get along fine.