iRobot 330 Scooba Floor-Washing Robot
by iRobot
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List Price: Our Price: $229.00 You Save: $170.99 (43%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Home See more product details |
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of iRobot 330 Scooba Floor-Washing Robot
Customer Review: Fantastic Help for a Boring Chore
Summary: 5 Stars
With the huge success of the Roomba, iRobot turned its mind to another task. How about washing kitchen and bathroom floors? Here's a chore that should be done weekly - but in many households it barely gets done once a month. What if a little Roomba like robot could handle floor washing chores?
The Scooba came out with great fanfare in 2006. We bought one quickly, as we are so fond of our Roomba units. It was hard waiting overnight for it to fully charge before we gave it a run through. We carefully filled it up with the right amount of cleaning solution and water, and hit the clean button. It said 'check tank'. We did this a few times, then started hunting on Google for "check tank scooba". Voila - this happens with ALL Scoobas, because you have to prime the tank. It's simple to do - but surely they should have explained this in the manual! Once we primed the tank, it worked PERFECTLY.
Roomba owners will find that the Scooba seems to move "slowly" - but there's a reason for this. In a single pass it has to lay out the cleaner, scrub, suck it back up again, and dry it a little. It's not like it does one pass to put out the cleaner and then another pass to clean it up. It's all done at one time, on one pass.
The Scooba uses the same random-movement technique to eventually hit all areas of the floor. The floor isn't 100% perfectly dry when it does a pass - but neither is your floor dry if you use regular mops. You have to wait for it to air dry. We found that this dried more quickly than when we do it by hand - when it finished with one area and moved on to another, the first section was dry in about 5 minutes, so before the Scooba had even finished its full run.
We were very impressed with how clean it got. My boyfriend walks around barefoot and could notice the difference immediately. It's a round unit, so it can't get into corners, and for a super-baked-on stain it didn't get it all up until a second pass. But heck, the purpose of this thing is to take care of the general cleaning of your floors. You're still going to do certain things manually, like pick up a soup bowl when it spills :) It's just like with the Roomba vaccuum - the fact that my Roomba goes around the carpet every day, picking up all the general stuff, means my carpets look great on a daily basis when I wake up with no work at all on my part. I still do steam clean them once a month or so, to get up the more ground in stuff. But that cuts my chore load WAY down, to have the daily work done.
Not that we're running the Scooba daily! Once a week seems plenty for a kitchen floor for me. If you're a clean freak and want to do it daily, have at it. We all have different levels of cleanliness we like to maintain.
The unit takes their cleaner or vinegar, so if you don't feel like buying their cleaner, you have an option. You can't dump just any cleaner into the unit, because most cleaners are meant to be rinsed out with water afterwards. This one is a one step process so it's different - the cleaner goes on and then is sucked up. There's no "rinse" stage. That seems reasonable to me, that you have to buy a cleaner meant to be used in that manner.
Downsides? Well, the not-get-into-square-corners issue, but to be honest I don't know how you could fix that. If you made a smaller Scooba it wouldn't be able to clean a large area. If you made a square Scooba it would get stuck in spots. I think they did the best they could, and humans still need to do a few detail items to help out. That seems like a fine situation to me, to have a Scooba do most of the work!
Highly recommended.
Customer Review: Wow, that floor is clean!
Summary: 5 Stars
Okay, so I bought an original Roomba back when they first came out (I'm an early adopter type) based on the ravings of a close friend of mine. He told me, "I've cleaned out it's dust bin and found it sucked up AA batteries!" So, I bought one and let it roam around the house...WOW was I impressed. AFTER I've already cleaned the hardwood floor by hand, swept, swiffered and spot wiped...the Roomba still comes back with a bin full of dust bunnies. So, I'm SOLD on the Roomba. But this isn't a review on the Roomba...it's on the Scooba.
All the while, I've had a kitchen floor that admittedly gets neglected. It's about 150 square feet of travertine tile with about 1/2" of grout between the one-foot squares. fortunately, its the type of tan stone tile that completely hides the dirt, so it was easy to let it go. I do a lot of cooking and it's intevitable that something minced always finds its way under foot. Looks arent everything. Even though I couldn't see the dirt, my white socks would get dirty on the bottom! I would get down on my hands and knees and scrunge some of the tiles with a sponge thingie, but would get pretty tired of that after abotu 1/2 an hour. Oh, well, maybe my socks are cleaning the floor enough?? At some point, I decided to try the Scooba. I bought the least expensive one...mostly because I didn't know there were other models. A lot of the difference is in how big a floor it will cover and since mine is small enough...this one would do.
I filled it up with cleaning solution and warm water and let it have its way with my dirty floor. As with the Roomba, you want to watch it for a while...then let it just do its thing as you go for a hike or some other activity that is more enjoyable than scrubbing your kitchen floor. When I got back, the little bugger was just sitting there with a "How'd I do?" look on its face. I emptied the "dirty" side of the tank and I was amazed at how black that water was! I'm really a pretty clean guy, but you've GOT to be kidding me! The Scooba did an AMAZING job!!!
Just as a test, I dampened a white paper towel slightly and hand scrubbed some of the typically worst tiles...about 6 feet of them. The paper towel came up as clean as new. There was NO dirt on the towel. I almost felt guilty throwing it away! The Scooba scrubbed the entire floor and sucked up all that dirty water into its tank. Sweet. I now run it about once a week when I'm about to head out for a mountain bike ride. It gives me a clean floor and I can get back to enjoying life.
Some additional info: The tiles are pretty bumpy and I wondered about that before I bought it. Y'know where the tile is kinda rounded on the edges, but higher than the grout? NOT a problem. The Scooba handles it perfectly.
The second best household product I've purchased...just slightly behind the original Roomba!
Customer Review: Have Many Pets- I Love It!
Summary: 5 Stars
I could not sleep early one Sat. morning and turned on the TV in the bedroom and there was an info-mercial on Comedy Central (about 5am). I had heard of Roomba and had also heard some time back they were coming out with a "mopping" version. I hate info-mercials but was very interested in Scooba for the below reasons:
I have several rescued pets. I removed all carpet when I bought my house 2 years ago and have wood floor in the living room and sheet vinyl everywhere else. I have a handicapped cat who has small wet "accidents" and I spend SO much time spot mopping, then 1x/week using one of those big and heavy Hoover carpet/bare floor cleaning machines.
Maybe they have worked out the system kinks, but my Scooba 380 worked immediately. I got the package deal that also included the charger, cleaner, 2 virtual walls, and suction bulb. I followed the quick setup guide and the thing took off and cleaned my entire master suite while I was in the kitchen.
After the initial cleaning, it takes me about 2 minutes to do the tank, brush, filter, and suction port cleaning. Today I did the bedroom, hallway, living room, and cat box room. Probably because my floors are completely smooth and flat (sheet vinyl) it did a great job and dried in no time. It even did well on the wood floor.
I do not have kids or anyone else in the house (1700 sq. ft.) so I can't comment on lots of people dirt, but I am totally satisfied with this product. Since I spent so much time vacuuming and mopping, I now set the Roomba loose, then the Scooba- it frees me up to do other household tasks that would typically get put off because after vac. and Hoover machining, I would be tired (I have back problems).
I would say that if you expecting a super fast "quick fix", this probably is not for you. But, if you have lots of bare floor and pets and spend too much time vac. and mopping, I highly recommend getting the deal I got with the free Roomba. I got it on the iRobot site- it was a GOOD deal of $ ($499) but considering ALL the time I spend doing these tasks, so far it is SO worth it to me! (I also used the Pay Later option with 6 months no interest!!)
UPDATE Aug. 28, 2007- about 1 month after my original post...just wanted to follow up after the "newness glow" has worn off. Both Scooba and Roomba are still working perfectly. Having spent so much $ on this, I decided that even though I'm pretty sure their statement about ONLY using the Clorox Scooba cleaner solution is part of their exclusive co-branding deal, I didn't want to risk it. I used the 15% off coupon that came with the original order and got a box of 9 big bottles- pretty good price. I am still figuring out the exact range of the virtual walls and have mainly used them to sub-divide the large living room and converted garage area. Overall, I am still 100% pleased with my purchase.
Customer Review: A great new robot
Summary: 5 Stars
My wife and I decided to name our little robot Lupe after the Seinfeld chambermaid. We bought the Scooba 330 because we live in Brazil where there's lots of dust due to open windows, and our apartment is all tile (i.e. we end up cleaning it about every other day). I did quite a bit of research before purchasing the 330 and debated between getting the higher model. However, due to cost we stayed with the 330. I come from a family where you swept a floor and then got on hands and knees to wash it. Now, I have not yet tried this in our apartment in Brazil, but I did give it a run in the States and was pleasantly surprised with the job that the Scooba did. If you're expecting it to be the same quality as handwashing, then you're in for a bit of a disappointment. However, it does a very good job.
We put the 330 to the test in a kitchen with a peninsula and an area rug under the table. There wasn't much room for Lupe to move, so I wasn't sure if she'd get the entire floor. To my surprise, she covered everything! Obviously, she's a circular robot, so she couldn't get into the corners completely, but she did a very good job. Her rubberized front gentle hits cupboards, walls, tables, chairs, etc. without damage to the furniture. It's truly amazing to watch.
I ran tests in two rooms. In one room I used a mix of water and vinegar, and in the other I used one of the sample solution packets that came with Lupe. Honestly, the vinegar smelled a little foul, but the odor dissipated fairly quickly after she was run. The other solution had an iodine smell, and I'm not sure that it did any better cleaning than the vinegar. For our purposes, I will use vinegar because it's WAY cheaper and does not void the warranty.
Make sure you read the instructions carefully because I didn't. I we plugged Lupe in to charge, and when she was raring to go, we set her aside for a few days unplugged. This was a BAD idea because her battery drained. We had to recharge her before we could use her. But on a full charge, we got two full cleanings. I almost tried a third, but we didn't have anything else that needed to be cleaned. The manual says that the 330 needs to remain plugged in when not in use or have the battery removed. I took the battery out so as not to waste electricity.
Following the cleaning, everything was pretty simple. I rinsed the robot out, cleaned out the filters and screens, and all was good. She sure picked up a lot of junk off of the floor!
Final Analysis:
This is a great little robot! Don't expect the 330 to do a deep cleaning on your floor, but expect a good job. It vacuums first and then leaves the floor pretty spotless. I have not had the robot long enough to say how the battery holds up over time, but I will post updates on that in the future.
Customer Review: My new best friend
Summary: 5 Stars
We hav owned Scooba for about 8 weeks. I purchased it after getting a green light from hubby to get it as an anniversary present. Who knew that the 8yr mark was the robot-mop anniversary? I was in shock at the sticker price, because we are more of the hearty handshake kind of gift-givers.
Upon arrival, it didn't work. I had read all the reviews and tried to prime it myself with a turkey baster. After a few failed attempts, I called Jennifer at IRobot customer service. She was awesome and dropped a nasal apsirator thing in the mail. But by the time I had hung up, I evidentally did something right with the turkey baster and scooba was working like a champ.
We have a VERY small kitchen. It is the thoroughfare to the garage and the backyard and we have two small children who run through the space approximately 875,000 times an hour. I could never keep the back and white checked vinyl flooring clean. Scooba was a last ditch effort to try before ripping out the floor for tile. But I still would have had to keep the tile clean...
anyhow, I have used her 4 times a week or so since arrival. It's amazing. I am very impressed and I'm a bit of a clean freak. She gets the floor cleaner than it has ever been. The only way previously the floor shone is if I scrubbed with a magic eraser every inch, then mopped, then mop and glowed. Now the floor gleams.
I have a confession though. I am not one for manufacturer's recommendations. I use Lysol, windex, comet, whatever on my floor even though scooba VERY clearly says not to and that it will void the warranty. I prefer to live life on the edge however. The little bottle of cleaner it came with lasted about a week, and I had tons of cleaning supplies in the house and didn't want to wait for new cleanser to arrive.
I actually think Lysol works the best, with a bit of comet sprinkled here and there if we have a particularly dirty section of the floor.
I clean the filter and the little tubey thing after each use and have cleaned out the brush twice since owning it (once a month.)
I am a happier person. My floors are happier. My kids are happier because I'm not freaking out about the dirty floor. I'll let them cook with me again and not lose it when an egg drops on the floor.
I have not tried it on our hardwood. It doesn't seem necessary to me so far, because it does such a good job in the kitchen and bathrooms.
I also want to add that we are landscaping right now so she has been used a lot this past week since there is a thin layer of brown dirt over everything.
she rocks. I'm okay never getting another anniversary gift again.