pt reviews the roomba

[Janak Parekh]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.insomedia.com/roomba/' target='_blank'>http://www.insomedia.com/roomba/</a><br /><br /></div>the <a href="http://www.roombavac.com/">roomba</a>, a robotic automatic vacuum cleaner, has been a very popular seller this holiday. pt gives it a spin and gives us a review, complete with pictures, links to other reviews, and even a video of the little guy running. check it out, with the time you might save you can spend even <i>more</i> time with your ppc's... and, on this site, of course. ;)

[wjsteele]

I love it... I actually bought one for my Daughter so that she didn't have to sweep every other day. (Is that bad?) Anyway, it does a great job.

I do have to say that I am jealous... in the video on his site, the Roomba cleans under a Segway!!! Why does he get one and I don't???

Cheers,

Bill

[mel]

pt or wjsteele: Does it say anything about working on hard-wood floors? I'd like to get this if it doesn't scratch or damage hard wood.

[wjsteele]

It hasn't harmed any of the surfaces in my house. I have Hard Wood, Tile, Slate, Carpet as well as Vinal Flooring. It even handles the transisitions between them just fine.

[dangerwit]

I gave my wife the Roomba for Christmas. We were sick of picking up the dog hair in the front hall (ceramic tile) and off the medium-pile carpet everywhere.

It works VERY well, if you consider what it does. It does NOT do the deep cleaning a regular vacuum provides, but it makes a room "livable". :)

We love the thing, it works great, SUPER easy to use (a power switch and pressing one of three buttons), and it does a decent job picking stuff up. It is a tremendous time-saver since you can run it while tending to other chores.

It hasn't marked any of our walls, no harm to the floors as wjsteele mentioned, it's just damn nifty.

*Phil

[pt]

pt or wjsteele: Does it say anything about working on hard-wood floors? I'd like to get this if it doesn't scratch or damage hard wood.

we only use ours on hardwood floors- it doesn't scratch, mar or damage the floors at all.

you can read about it all here:
http://www.roombavac.com/

cheers,
pt

[JonnoB]

we only use ours on hardwood floors- it doesn't scratch, mar or damage the floors at all.

you can read about it all here:
http://www.roombavac.com/

cheers,
pt

This all about keeping your new bride happy, right?

[T-Will]

Thanks for the tip on the Roomba! I hadn't even heard of it before today and already I bought one for my mom's birthday coming up in early January.

[Carlos]

A friend just got one and we've been playing with it. So far it hasn't saved any time because we just sit around watching it work... 8)

It does a nice surface cleaning, as dangerwit said. Particularly useful on her tile floors since there are always a few dogs in the house leaving hair and dirt all over. And it even picked up a wadded $1 bill, paying 1% of it's price so far...

[Fzara]

WOW. $199!?!?!? I can clearly give up my wifi router, PCMIA card, and CF Wireless wifi card instantly!

It doesnt justify the price, unfortunately.

[pt]

let's say i make $8 per hour and each week i spend 30 minutes vacuuming the room -i used- to vacuum prior to getting the roomba. in one month that's 2 hours. in one year that's 24 hours. 24 hours x $8 per hour = $192 dollars.

so here are my choices, i can spend $199 and get the 24 hours back, or lose the 24 hours and save my $199.

to add a reality lense to this, i make more than $8 per hour, and with that 24 extra hours i'd much rather write software, ebooks, books, articles, work and / or spend time with the family. all those are more important to me than vacuuming. lastly, it's really cool-- and since one of my hobbies is robotics, bonus!

so while it "doesnt justify the price, unfortunately" it does for me and many other people.

cheers,
pt

[Daniel]

I agree with pt on this one, I don't like vacuuming and would much prefer to spend the time with my wife and/or friends or a whole lot of other things that would take to long to list here.

We have been waiting for one of these to come out. We didn't know about this one but there is a Dyson (DC06) that has been "around" for a while (although I'm not sure if it's on sale yet. Dyson make the vacuums with no bag in them which is great too. The link is here:
http://www.dyson.co.uk/range/feature_frame.asp?model=DC06

Hey pt, you should get one of these too and do a comparison test!

Daniel

[pt]

i'll say this now...anything that dyson makes is the best, i'm a big fan of theirs:

http://www.dyson.co.uk/range/model_print.asp?model=DC06

if i can get one i totally will.

cheers,
pt


I agree with pt on this one, I don't like vacuuming and would much prefer to spend the time with my wife and/or friends or a whole lot of other things that would take to long to list here.

We have been waiting for one of these to come out. We didn't know about this one but there is a Dyson (DC06) that has been "around" for a while (although I'm not sure if it's on sale yet. Dyson make the vacuums with no bag in them which is great too. The link is here:
http://www.dyson.co.uk/range/feature_frame.asp?model=DC06

Hey pt, you should get one of these too and do a comparison test!

Daniel

[T-Will]

Cool! I wonder how much that will cost when it comes out.

[Daniel]

My wife and I both love Dyson stuff too, we used to have a Dyson vacuum in AU before we moved. It was great, didn't have to buy a bag or anything, it was excellent. Easy to clean and ran really well. I'd be great if the released this soon!

Dyson stuff is not cheap but it's worth the extra cost IMHO.

Daniel

[chrisloker]

Ordered from Sharper Image yesterday. With 15% discount they are offering - brought it to $169.15.

[T-Will]

How'd you get the 15% discount?

[chrisloker]

Here is the link I used -

http://www.sharperimage.com/lsfirstreg/index.jhtml;sessionid=PZN0SP2YFOK51QFIA2TCHPQ?siteid=FZOkC4w7rNM-Un11zC7S6grAi7M/2zjV6A&Lsource=10716&_requestid=23165

[rocky_raher]

We love the Roomba! I bought one two days after I read about it here. The "geek factor" alone almost sold me. Seriously, though, my wife has problems with dust allergies, so anything that keeps the house cleaner is a worthwhile investment. Our rooms will get vacuumed more often, just because it is so effortless.

It also has great entertainment value. We brought it to my father-in-law's birthday party, and the family got a big kick just watching it scurry about the house. It's also amusing to watch our cat's reaction to the new "pet."

[T-Will]

Here's my Roomba update: This past Friday was my mom's birthday so we went out to a restaurant along with some relatives who chipped in for the Roomba. My dad and I rigged a radio control car to tow the wrapped Roomba into the room and to my mom. She opened it and was really surprised because she hadn't seen this before.

Then we took the Roomba home to try it out and ran it in our living room and it worked great. Somehow we came up with a game where each person writes their name on a little piece of napkin then strategically places it where we think the Roomba will go over last (you couldn't put the paper in an area that the Roomba can't get to). The last person with a piece of paper still on the floor wins. Kinda nerdy, but everyone was saying it's the funnest birthday party game they'd ever played. :D

So thanks for posting the news item on the Roomba!