[Teufelshund]

Originally Posted by Drop the hammer

Ok, so my wife loves the robot vacuums. We have 3 roombas one per floor. They do take maintenance, I have to do a complete clean out and brush maintenance about once a year. Our vacuums run twice a week and get emptied each time.
We had this little dog a while back, he has since passed, but he suffered from anxiety and if you left him home he’d have massive diarrhea attacks. Anyways, we managed by always having someone with him, or bringing him along or keeping him confined to a tiled room (mud room, with his bed and water and all that). Anyways one day we go out and he managed to open the lever door handle (I have this act of doggie ninjitsu on video).
He proceed led to let loose his anxiety attacks all over our upstairs carpets. And conveniently the roomba made its scheduled run shortly after the deed was done. It was a giant smeer fest when I got home. The smell was terrible but it was almost funny as the little vacuum blew itself up in mid smeering. But not before it painted poop on every base board (there’s a little brush that spins on the side) and the little wheels actually have a tread design. I now have proof that the algorithm for the vacuum pattern does in fact cover every inch of carpet!
Anyways doggie won that round. Cost one roomba and one rental steam cleaner and 3 hours of my time.

Can't help but wonder if the "giant smeer fest" is somehow related to "he has since passed."

[DETRoadster]

We have one and absolutely love it. At the time we bought it we had 2 dogs and a cat. Both dogs are short hair so it wasn't a huge challenge for the Roomba. I've heard with larger breeds with lots of shedding like huskies or German shepherds it can be a challenge.

We find the automatic scheduling of cleaning when you are gone to be all but worthless. We never use that function. The times we have, inevitably, it encounters something it can't deal with. A bath mat on the floor, a blanket one of the dogs had kicked off the sofa, a door half open (roomba finds its way into the room then bumps the half open door closed and traps itself in the room).

To avoid to poo smear horrors we simply spend 5 minutes and walk the house, picking up bath mats, blankets, opening doors, etc. Then we fire up roomba, grab the dogs, and head out for coffee and a walk. It's a weekend tradition. No poo smears when we get back because the dogs are with us and we walked the house before setting roomba loose.

We also make use of strategically placed baby gates to, for example, have the thing vacuum just the kitchen while we are in the living room watching TV.

As others have said you do have to maintain it. Hair gets wrapped around the drums and the spinning brush. The dirt chute gets clogged at times. About once a month I'll pop the rollers out, the spinning brush out, and vacuum the debris path and dust bin out with my shop vac. Then I wipe the optical sensors off with a damp rag. 5 minutes worth of work. No big deal but you do need to do it.

In summary, I absolutely love ours. We are 3 1/2 years into ownership and I'd go out today and buy a new one if ours died. Understand it's limitations and it won't disappoint.

[bimmette]

I have had my roomba for 5 years for light cleaning and also have had the dyson for tough jobs for 3 years. I love them both. Unfortunately both have died on me suddenly and won't hold a charge. So do keep in mind the batteries have to be replaced even though these machines cost hundreds of dollars.

[AlisoBob]

NEATO .... is far better than Roomba.

[Teufelshund]

Originally Posted by AlisoBob

NEATO .... is far better than Roomba.

Now that's crazy...
Wached video after video & read article after article. When the dust (and cat hair) settled, I went with a Neato Botvac Connected D4.
Creates a floorplan via laser which you can edit in an app by creating "no go" areas.
Uses systematic non-drunken-baby navigation.
Returns, recharges, and picks up where it left off.
Has largest dirt bin (2.5 cups).
Has highest volume suction (20cfm).
Came in at $423 (w/BB&B coupon).
Got it home, charged it, and set it up without issue. Picked up a couple pairs of shoes, tucked away a couple of lamp cords, shut 3 doors, and turned it loose.
It completed the dining room, den, foyer, and hallway before heading back to it's docking station.
I popped the bin out and was surprised to see it was packed full off cat hair. According to the app, it still had 56% charge left on the battery.
I'm going to run it again in an hour and see if it's any faster now that it has a floorplan.
Many thanks again for sharing your thoughts and experiences.

[shimmy23]

I wish this would work on our situation. Our lab sheds like mad! I don't see how a roomba would even have the capacity to store the amount of hair he sheds daily.

And if your animal is pooping inside you don't have it trained correctly. Nasty!

[lsturbointeg]

Originally Posted by AlisoBob

NEATO .... is far better than Roomba.

Originally Posted by Teufelshund

Now that's crazy...
Wached video after video & read article after article. When the dust (and cat hair) settled, I went with a Neato Botvac Connected D4.
Creates a floorplan via laser which you can edit in an app by creating "no go" areas.
Uses systematic non-drunken-baby navigation.
Returns, recharges, and picks up where it left off.
Has largest dirt bin (2.5 cups).
Has highest volume suction (20cfm).
Came in at $423 (w/BB&B coupon).
Got it home, charged it, and set it up without issue. Picked up a couple pairs of shoes, tucked away a couple of lamp cords, shut 3 doors, and turned it loose.
It completed the dining room, den, foyer, and hallway before heading back to it's docking station.
I popped the bin out and was surprised to see it was packed full off cat hair. According to the app, it still had 56% charge left on the battery.
I'm going to run it again in an hour and see if it's any faster now that it has a floorplan.
Many thanks again for sharing your thoughts and experiences.

This is good to know

[DETRoadster]

Originally Posted by Teufelshund

Now that's crazy...
Wached video after video & read article after article. When the dust (and cat hair) settled, I went with a Neato Botvac Connected D4.
Creates a floorplan via laser which you can edit in an app by creating "no go" areas.
Uses systematic non-drunken-baby navigation.
Returns, recharges, and picks up where it left off.
Has largest dirt bin (2.5 cups).
Has highest volume suction (20cfm).
Came in at $423 (w/BB&B coupon).
Got it home, charged it, and set it up without issue. Picked up a couple pairs of shoes, tucked away a couple of lamp cords, shut 3 doors, and turned it loose.
It completed the dining room, den, foyer, and hallway before heading back to it's docking station.
I popped the bin out and was surprised to see it was packed full off cat hair. According to the app, it still had 56% charge left on the battery.
I'm going to run it again in an hour and see if it's any faster now that it has a floorplan.
Many thanks again for sharing your thoughts and experiences.

Glad you took the plunge and are happy. The Neato vacs have come a long way. I feel like the iRobot Roombas are getting outpaced at every step. Once the industry leader they are now antiquated. The editable "keep out" zones are brilliant. You'll appreciate that come Christmas time if you have a tree up. Our Roomba knocked out tree over one year when it blew right past the stupid electric "gates" we set up to tell it to stay away.

If/when the Roomba dies I'll look at Neato for sure.

[Teufelshund]

Well that's a wrap - it's going back. And I gave it the ol' college effort. Seriously devoted way too much time to this thing. Partly due to the investment and partly because I just wanted it to work out so damn bad!
Anyways, the Neato is a vacuuming beast. Shocking to see what my upright leaves behind.
However, it looses itself halfway through the job. You can still use it in that state but it won't return to the charging dock or recognize any no-go lines.
I troubleshot the hell out of it. Changed docking location. Changed router location. Made so my bandwidth and PW were compatible with the Neato's software.
Actually, I don't think it's dropping WiFi anyway. More like losing connection with the Manufacturer? I suppose the floorplans are stored on a Neato server somewhere.
Wish so much I could endorse it and brag about how it changed my life by exceeding my modest expectations. You know like blooming my wife's flowers and whitening my teeth. Decreasing my X5's oil consumption and saving my brother's marriage. Just simple stuff!

[ShopVac]

Bought a Roomba for my wife in 2017. With 2 german shepherds...thing is unbelievable in how it works. Runs while we're at work...takes care of all the dog hair. Only issue is remembering to clean it daily...and finding it sometimes is a challenge.

Would buy again in a second..