Roomba – Is It Worth The Money?

What Is A Roomba?

The Roomba has been around for over a decade. Since the introduction by iRobot back in 2002 the Roomba has come a long way. For those of you who have been living under a rock the Roomba is a autonomous robotic vacuum cleaner. It uses sensors to detect dirt, change direction and prevent it from falling down steps. It has multiple spinning brushes and a side brush to pick up dirt. The all around bumpers protect your furniture from being scratched. It has two wheels with the ability to turn 360 degrees. The robot adapts itself to the landscape and space. The open source operating system includes patterns to make sure the floor is covered. The Roomba will run 60-90 minutes before it puts itself back to the charging station. Of course there are different models. The more you pay the more advanced features you get but they all include the basic features above. Here is the Roomba 600 series in action:

https://youtu.be/TsLh1JeF6yw

Why I Decided To Buy A Roomba

I had been hearing about the Roomba for years but I never really had a need for it. When my wife got pregnant I started thinking about it. After seeing how hard it became and how much time she spent sweeping the floor I knew it was time. I spent the next couple of days doing extensive research, watching review videos and reading about every single fact. I memorized all the models and all the features. Price jumps about $200 between models so that was something to consider. I finally ended up buying the Roomba 655 pet series from Costco for $350. With so many mixed reviews I did not feel comfortable spending anymore than I did. At the end of the day this was a new experience for us.

My Own Experience

After buying the Roomba I followed all the instructions and put it to charge overnight. The next day we reorganized the space to allow the Roomba to access every spot and ran it. My wife had just cleaned a couple of days prior . We could not believe how much dirt, dust and hair we found on the bin inside the Roomba. The first time I stayed watching the robot move across the whole floor plan for an hour and a half. I was making sure it hit every single spot and it did. It even went under all the furniture carefully and hit spots I thought it wouldn’t be able to reach. This robot is really an amazing product and it was worth every single cent to us. Now we leave it running right before we leave the house and come back to a vacuumed floor. You still need to mop but not nearly as often. Even my air conditioning filter has stayed clean longer collecting less dust.

Verdict

Now as far as the verdict and the main question, Is the Roomba worth the money? The answer is it depends. I am going to say it depends for this one because different factors do affect how effective the Roomba is. If your house is too cluttered the Roomba will not run well and end up constantly bouncing against objects. You also need to “stage” the room and possibly move furniture if you want it to access every spot. The size of the house also matters. You can always block off different rooms splitting the floor plan and running it multiple times. But the Roomba can only run for so long before the battery dies. So at the end it depends on lifestyle and where you live. To me the only regret I have is not having bought the more expensive model with the added features. If you are interested Amazon has it for a cheaper price than what I paid Here.