iRobot Roomba 760 Vacuum

My husband and I work long hours and are busy people. I feel guilty when the house does not get cleaned and my last housekeeper was a waste of money in more ways than one. I have a dog and dog hair is a huge issue. I was skeptical of Roomba. Then someone told me about theirs and so the research began. I read reviews on Amazon, some of the department stores and I robot website. Consumer Report had no reviews but one of tech magazines did. The reviews were pretty favorable.... and if you read the people who put low ratings, some of them don't even own the Roomba or they are expecting it to pick up clutter too. So I bit the bullet and ordered the 760.I have had it less than a week and I want to address some of the negative reviews I read and hope this helps people considering the Roomba more favorably:Yes, a normal vacuum does clean deeper. But I don't have time to vacuum daily and sometimes weekly but Roomba keeps my carpets looking freshly vacuumed and definately helps with the dog hair. My dog hates my vacuum... she runs and hides when we turn it on. She sits and watches Roomba, she seems almost facinated by it and she won't move when it comes near her... Roomba has to change direction. It may not get lint or all the hair the first time it vacuums but if you use it daily it will have your floors immaculate in just a few days.At first it does take a long time to clean room but the more it is used the more efficient it gets. It seems to learn to recognize the furniture and program itself to navigate around it.I have had no issues with it vacuuing up area rugs and I have several diffent ones around the house but I have none with tassles.It has vacuumed up my housecoat belt and my husbands cell phone cord. It did what it was suppose to do... shut itself off with the belt and it did not harm the cord. I find it a positive factor that it is training us to keep things picked up. Today it stopped and I hit the "start" button and she told me that the brush needed clean. I found a bottle cap. I was very impressed!When it stops it makes different noises... one means it has completed it's job and the other means something is wrong and and the error indicator lights up. You just hit the "start" button and it tells you the problem.I use the virtual wall to keep it contained in or out of rooms and I take it to other levels of the house and let it clean. The noise does not bother me at all. I listen for it and sometimes cannot hear it when it is in another room.I bought the matt for $20 for my dog dish and water... works perfect... no mess there. I did try to lay a clear acrylic matt over it to keep it clean and Roomba ran the dog's food dish across the room, so don't cover the matt.In one review I read someone mentioned that they experienced their dog having an accident and Roomba spread it all over their house. This did concern me because even though our dog is housetrained she is old and accidents do happen. So we set ours for right when we leave in the morning so it is less likely to happen and I am considering setting for when we get up because she doesn't not bother us.Roomba gets to places I can't and cleans... under large dressers; a kitchen island, beds and those little brushes on the side don't seem like much but they sure flick out the dust bunnies and particles under base board heaters and toe kicks of cabinets.... I love that part best.... It seems to clean that one hair line area of carpet next to your wall. I love not having to move furniture.... she gets in there and does the job. Sometimes she seems like she is stuck but eventually gets out and then the next time she vacs she doesn't spend as much time in the area she was stuck in before.The first time I used Roomba I cleaned the canister after every room and checked the brushes. Now, when ran on a daily basis, the canister should only need emptied weekly. Big Deal! Even if it is a couple times a week, cleaning the brushes, the canister and the sensors is not a big deal and pretty easy and the areas needing attention have yellow tabs. The filters may be a little more time consuming to clean... right now I bang them onto a hard surface lined with a paper towel to get the dust out... and I plan to blow them out with an air compresser when needed. I seen someone said you could wash them but I am going to research that first.Sheduling is easy. I made an error when i did it though. Roomba woke us up at 2 a.m. cleaning. She had managed to vacuum most of our upstairs before she got to our bedroom.I have not figured out the remote yet. I tried it one day but nothing happened. I figure it is human error and haven't pulled out the DVD yet to see what the problem is. No owners manual is probably my biggest complaint. The price being 2nd, but I'm glad I bought it.I am so in love with Roomba that I plan to own the Scooba before summer and I can only hope the bring the Dirt Dog back on the market for my screen porch, patio and garage because my Roomba is too precious to use there!

I saved up and bought this Roomba for my enclosed patio when both of my Dirt Dogs passed away and IRobot stopped making them....sigh....I really miss being able to use the Dirt Dog to sweep outside and in the garage. The IRobot people said this unit would work just fine in those areas, but I'm not going to put something I spent this much money on to clean up dropped screws and leaves!That said, I like this Roomba very much in our enclosed patio. I LOVE the two HEPA filters, which are easily blown out with a can of air or compressor after a vacuuming sesson. They're picking up a lot of dust that my regular vacuum misses....Ok, that I miss when I'm using the regular vacuum, which also has a HEPA filter. They pick up feathers and seeds from the birds, and lots of hair from the cats and dog. Mission accomplished.It does a nice job of moving from hard surfaces (concrete, in this case) to rugs, and cleaning them all well. Technology is really improved in this unit. For one thing, it gently bounces off things, rather than whacking into them. I'll be a lot more comfortable using it in the house around my antique furniture. It docks itself when it's getting low on battery power, or you can push a button to have it dock manually. It can be programmed to run on specific days at specific times (very cool). It will also spot-clean a small area at the push of a button. That comes in really handy when a plant gets knocked over.With a lower profile, this unit doesn't get stuck under furniture as much as the Dirt Dog. It also seems "smarter". The other day it went under the center cutout in a cedar chest and I watched it maneuver. The Dirt Dog would have just banged its head until its battery ran out. This one continued to work on the problem until it found its way to the high spot and back out into the room again.The edge-cleaner capability isn't great. I find I have to go back with a DustBuster and clean edges. Small area rugs at doorways or up against the walls get cleaned much better if I move them to the center of the room.But those are fair tradeoff for not having to drag out the vacuum and spend the time to clean the patio myself!

For the amount this thing cost, a reasonable consumer would think it would do a better job. Even though this is simply a mechanical device, I am extremely disappointed. I recently purchased a similar product for the tile floor which works wet or dry... it methodically works the room and does an very fine job. This thing, which cost $300 more, simply bumps around the room randomly... hoping for (and rarely achieving) success... but more often than not, it fails to do even a "light cleaning" of the room. There are many spots/areas it doesn't even touch while others which are cleaned ad-nauseum.I live in a 5-room apartment. (about 1000 sq ft) Even though there is no clutter or extraneous stuff on the floor to get in the way, I have not been able to get the darned thing to address all 5-rooms in one session. It has frequently gotten "lost" along the way, it typically is not being able to find the "dock" and which drains the battery leaving the poor thing (dead) in the middle of the room like it is on a stranded island with no hope of rescue.Given the machine is only a few pounds, it does a light cleaning, which is exactly what one should expect from such a small mechanical device. Considering the size/weight, this little sweeper does a reasonable job. I really have no complaint on the cleaning this thing does, as I never expected it to replace a regular heavy-duty vacuuming job. Do not for a moment presume this will do a true cleaning of your carpets.This iRobot/Roomba was extremely overpriced for what it is capable of doing. My recommendation, if you happen to have a few hundred dollars of money you don't know what to do with and are considering this as a time saving alternative, call me and I'll do it for you for half the price.