iRobot 560 Roomba Vacuuming Robot, Black and Silver

Great but not perfect ***Downgraded Star Rating***
My wife and I decided to get one of these because our 8 month old son is about to start crawling. While we try and keep our floors clean, our beagle has other thoughts as she sheds all over the place. We went with the latest 560 model as it has just about everything we would want with a product like this. It works as advertised and we will definitley keep it but there are some areas that need improvement. Here is a quick breakdown of the pros and cons

Pros

1. Quieter than a standard vaccuum

2. Seems to learn the room dimensions quickly. The virtual walls and lighthouse feature are very nice.

3. Is "smart" enough to avoid getting tangled in our area rugs

4. Obviously easy to use as it is just a push of a button (or even better when you program it)

5. Can use everyday to keep the floors spotless

6. Have successfully used it on hard wood, vinyl, carpet and (accidently) concrete

7. Cleans...

A Worthy Successor to the Roomba Line
We have two Roombas plus a Scooba in our house. When one of the batteries on one of our Roombas finally reached the end of its life cycle, we decided to donate that Roomba to a friend and to get ourselves the new top of the line - the Roomba 560. We got this right when it first came out, but we waited several months before posting a review. It's pretty much impossible to review one of these Roombas after only a few days! It takes weeks if not months to start to see how well they last over time, and what breaks down. Believe me - been there, done that.

So now it's many months later, and I have to say, we are quite pleased with the improvements of this Roomba over the previous generations of Roombas. So first, for those who don't even have ANY Roomba yet (hard to believe!). Roombas are awesome. We have cats, and we work from home so we're home all day. It is AMAZING how much dirt and dust and junk collects in the carpet every single day. Who really has time to vacuum their...

Scratch Vacuuming Off Your List! (Almost)
Did you ever just fall in love . . . with a piece of well-designed technology? I sure fell for this one. How lovely to have something else take care of one of my least favorite chores!

Why I love this gizmo:

(1) Goes about cleaning the floors quietly (forget the noise of a conventional vacuum cleaner);

(2) Does a better job than I ever could because it can get under the beds fully to get out all the nasty little dust bunnies, and it crawls along the baseboard to pick up the bits that hide on the edges of the room;

(3) Cleans for a predetermined amount of time, and then puts itself to bed (while it recharges itself);

(4) Can be scheduled to run whenever you choose; and,

(5) Does a great job of picking up cat hair (my old vacuum did not).

Problems?

Yes, but mostly they were just getting used to its operation. I had to learn to pick up throw rugs and clear the area of cords. I had to...

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