iRobot 530 Roomba Vacuuming Robot, White
by iRobot
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of iRobot 530 Roomba Vacuuming Robot, White
Customer Review: Could only be better if it would get me a beer...
Summary: 5 Stars
I've now had "Rosie" for 2 1/2 months, and couldn't be happier. As stated elsewhere, this product is for people that a) don't have a "real" maid, b) are at least somewhat lazy (my fiance and I *want* to clean more often), and c) are not my mother (obsessively clean, vacuuming daily anyway). It really works great. I'm amazed at how disgusting my apartment is with a dog and 2 cats. Every time we set Rosie loose she comes back with a bin full of dirt. Gross, but satisfying. I haven't had any problems with with the side brush disintegrating; perhaps irobot has fixed this issue. In addition, she gets EVERYWHERE. Places I wouldn't go. Under beds, couches, tables, etc. She gets the dust bunnies in the corners that a real vacuum misses unless you use a wand extension. The only problem with Rosie is when it tries to get up on our floppy area rug; unless it approaches at an angle, the rug bunches up and Rosie turns around. This is as much a problem with the rug, I think, since even when vacuuming with a real vacuum, the rug bunches up big time. In that case I'm forced to hold the rug taught on either side using my feet. Inconvenient. Anyway, Rosie doesn't have a problem with cords/fringes/etc. And yes, she's mesmerizing to watch, and watching the pets scatter is great.
EDIT: well, 4 days after i wrote this, one of the legs on the side brush broke off. i'm going to call to get it replaced, but it's unfortunate that irobot still hasn't fixed what is obviously a design flaw.
Customer Review: I love my Roomba
Summary: 5 Stars
As with most, I was skeptical as to how good of a job the Roomba could do. And just like everyone else, I've been converted. It does a good job of vacuuming my floors. And yes, it gets into the corners and most other difficult-to-reach areas (the brush at the front-right "corner" effectively pushes dirt and debris from corners in front of the Roomba's path). Okay okay, it probably doesn't do as good of a job as a standard vacuum; maybe 90% as thorough. But you have to keep in mind that you'll run it 3 or 4 times a week, meaning it does as good of a job as if you were vacuuming with a regular vacuum once a week (which I, lazy as i am, didn't even do). And it gets under couches and coffee tables and other areas where I would expect most wouldn't bother to move furniture to reach.
Negatives? The only one i can think of is if you have cables/cords on your floors. Yes, this series does have the anti-tangle feature, which does work most of the time. But i've noticed that if you have long cords with lots of slack (say underneath the bed, where I hide a lot of cords), it'll either pull the cords around or just give up. To remedy this, I've just pushed the cords and cables along the floor boards; not really a big deal.
In summary, I would imagine the Roomba is to our generation what the dishwasher was when it first was invented; a super useful appliance that can reduce a lot of manual work if you know its limitations and accommodate it a bit.
Customer Review: MAKES LIFE MUCH EASIER
Summary: 5 Stars
Bought a 530 six months ago at Big Lots for $199 (re-manufactured). This was $100 cheaper than a new one. My son has an earlier model and likes it, so thought what the heck we'll give it a try.
Mindful of the maintenance problems in the previous reviews I waited until now to write. I must say this little machine is an amazing piece of engineering, the only thing better would be an android, and that probably won't happen in my lifetime.
We've never had a single problem with this unit and we run it almost every day. Before the roomba, we were up to our necks in dog hair, everything our dog eats goes into manufacturing hair and it all winds up on our hard wood floors. Now, instead of dragging out the upright and all the attachments we just turn roomba loose and go do something else.
The battery life in this thing is amazing, it runs far longer than it takes to clean our 1700 sq ft home. Even after the docking light comes on it will run for a long time. Cleaning the roomba is easy and needs to be done after each use if you have pets if not you might get by with less frequent cleaning. You still need to use the old upright occasionally to get the places this won't. Nothing is perfect and it will get stuck once in awhile and I wish the docking station had more range, it needs to be within six or eight feet before it picks up the signal. All and all we are very happy with ours.
Customer Review: Best Christmas Present...EVER....
Summary: 5 Stars
Hubby got me the Roomba 530 for christmas this year. I'm thrilled. I have some pet birds, 2 dogs and both ceramic and carpeted floors. Wally (as he's affectionately known) runs around daily keeping the dust bunnies, feathers, wood chips (from our cockatoos constant chewing on toys), cage bedding and anything else that gets in his path off my floors. Vacuuming used to be a weekly job that took almost an hour and HAD to be done. Now Wally cleans every other day and my floors never look dirty!!!
Both my carpet and my tile are a dark grey color. He cleans them with no problems and I am just thrilled. His low profile allows him to get under furniture and fixtures (where no vacuum had been before...) and the things he pulled out were amazing!!! He cleans our downstairs restroom and even makes the transition from the tile to the bathroom rugs without any problem.
The noise can easily ignored while watching tv but might be found annoying while trying to carry on a conversation.
The layout of our house is ideal, aprox 1,000 square feet on the first floor with no steps or drop offs, low pile carpet and hard floors. Upstairs I have shag carpeting and he gets a little bogged down-- he does detect the stairs and does not fall down them (maybe next they'll come out with a little guy to vacuum the stairs... That would be great!). I would recommend him to anyone who could use daily help with their floors!!!
Customer Review: I Love This Thing...
Summary: 5 Stars
I thought that when my old Roomba got fried after our house got hit by lightning (no surge protector!), I wouldn't miss it so much. I had been languishing in the corner mainly because it would eat the fringe on my area rugs. But it had been kind of useful for wall to wall carpeting, so I got this model for Christmas
As others have said, this newer model is a huge improvement over the original one. It has a much better battery life, shorter charging time, is fairly quiet, has a larger and seemingly better cleaning capacity...and...it doesn't eat rug fringes!...though it did get tangled in a stray long fringe I had been too lazy to trim.
This model even tells you mid-cleaning if it gets full or the brushes need to be cleaned which is great if you're around - not so great if you left the house. But cleaning the brushes half way through makes for a better job, at least in my house which has lots of pet hairs that end up getting spread around rather than sucked up if the brushes are too "full."
No, the Roomba is not a substitute for the beater bar/major suction cleaning of a standard vacuum cleaner, but for surface cleaning and maintenance in-between, it's just great.
Two points other reviewers have brought up that I did not find to be the case for me - the old virtual walls work with this model and it scares my dog, though not as much as the "big" vacuum cleaner.