iRobot 560 Roomba Vacuuming Robot, Black and Silver
by iRobot
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of iRobot 560 Roomba Vacuuming Robot, Black and Silver
Customer Review: Working review. Soo far soo Good!!
Summary: 5 Stars
Just got my roomba and set it all up and had it for about 3 weeks now.
First Thoughts.
I live in a 2 bedroom apartment highrise that has wood floors, tile, and carpet. I dont have any rugs, so thats not a problem but with some prep work, your roomba can work flawlessly! It's a great Vacuum so far.
First, I dont have kids or a pet, i got a roomba instead of a dog. I have a roomate and we hate to vacuum all the time, we have a huge window for the main room and with the Sun shining in, you can see when the floors are dirty very easy. This is the reason i wanted the roomba in the first place, so the floors are always looking spotless, and thats what I get soo far.
Yes, the dirtbin gets full at first fast, obviously that is going to happen after the first few times of vacumming, but once it grabs all the dirt your dirty self leaves, the bin I only empty once a week, and it takes 30 secs. Unfortunately my roomate and I both have Girlfriends that shed more than dogs it seems. I have long hair everywhere, kinda gross, anyway, when roomba does the bathrooms after the first few times, just suck it up, get in there and clean off those brushes. takes 2 min, dont be a wimp.
Pre-work... Sheduling is awesome, i have this thing run Mon, Wed and Fri at 11 am when I am at work. But start it up when you are at home and see what the little rascal is getting into, i noticed coming home some days and seeing the same chair it was being high centered on, I put 2 little carpet anti scrath wood cirlces on the bottom and now roomba hits it and carrys on... Hes very good at getting over bumps from hardwood to carpet if that is a worry for you.. It seems like roomba really hits the wall hard but I havent noticed any marks from its bumper on any of the white walls. Sorry, pre-work, like i was saying, just clean up the best you can, he will move stuff around, or if your room is covered in laundry, shut the door and later, clean it up and let roomba goto town in there later.
Self docking... awesome, i come home seeing roomba in his dock and its soo cool knowing why Im at work, he is cleaning away and then going back home to charge for the next cleaning. He is finding the dock just fine it seems, i have never come home to see that he isnt in his dock for any other reason then being stuck, which has only happened a few times. Be real careful on figuring out what he can and shouldnt be getting into, i was positive he wasnt able to get under my entertainment center where i have a bunch of cables and somehow one time he was under there and i watched him somehow get out. It was like a dog under a blanket trying to figure it out. I have two Virtual walls, but I don't have a use for them yet.
So, 3 weeks and I am definitely Satified with my purchase, Im still trying to come up with a good name for him. Sully maybe.. anyway... I would recommend this thing, but think of the common sense rules before buying..
Common Sense things to Rememeber.
Have long hair? Pets? or just plain out hair all over? Then you will have to clean the brushes often, meaning getting hair out of it!
Have Rugs, toys, crap around? The thing will get stuck on stuff, its not a person, its a robot, he gets stuck, the more things to get in its way, the higher the chance for it to get high centered and shut off.
Customer Review: Love it! LOVE IT! Might just buy another one!
Summary: 5 Stars
I love my new iRobot 560. I have had it about a week now and my house has never been cleaner - despite have a cleaning service that comes once a week! We have set it to vacuum every day - once a day - while we are at work - this might be over kill but I swear it is like coming home to a freshly cleaned house every day. The rugs look freshly vacuumed and the hardwood floors/tile floors are clean. I have a crazy little dog with a dog-door and I'm used to dirty paws, small leaves, etc. being tracked in on the floor - and this little machine has taken care of it. I set the iRobot loose upstairs and it did a great job navigating over/around power cords, under beds (which seems to get skipped over in the 1-week maid cleaning) and I swear I'm even breathing better. I'm amazed at what it is picking up.
I have had zero problems thus far with the side-brush breaking off as other reviews complained- and I watched it climb over power cords, dog toys, etc. get stuck, unstick instelf, etc. serveral times and it never snapped off. It seems pretty hardy to me. It is extreamly easy to clean the brushes and empty the dirty-bin. Everything is marked clearly and color coded. The thing will even talk to you and tell you what is wrong.
I think I might buy one for upstairs - and keep the other for downstairs. I also know why my new house warming gift to people will be! 5 stars!
---- UPDATE ----
It has now been a few weeks - everything is still working just great. I actually did go out and purchase another irobot for upstairs. I have had no side-brush issues, etc. I think from reading the side-brush issue complaints - this is happenning multiple times to the same people because the Irobot is hitting the same thing in their house over and over again that is catching the side-brush. My suggestion would be to "observe" the first few times the IRobot runs so you can see what, if anything, the robot might get caught on, and fix the issue as needed.
There is some maintenance involved in maintaining the unit (you didnt' think you would get off that easy did you?). You are probably going to have to replace the battery every 1-1.5 years (as it is a rechargable and that is their lifespan), the dirt container needs to be emptied every 1-2 runs (less often the more frequently you run it), the filter needs to be cleaned after every run (otherwise your motor is working overtime), and you need to clean the brushes and dirt/cliff sensors periodically. Now I think this is a piece of cake - and I don't mind buying a battery every year or so - but it is good information to know. This is not a machine that you do not have to take care of - it wont' last long if you dont' do the basic maintenance! If you have lots of pet hair in your home - your maintenance will be more frequent.
Would I buy it again? Yes. Would I buy two again? Yes. My house has never been cleaner, it does not bother my dogs (they just watch it), and the maintenance chores are minimal in comparison to the benefit the robot provides.
One warning - if you have dogs/cats that have frequent accidents - I suggest NOT running it unless you are home. The robot does not have a vomit or poop sensor and it will run right over and through it. ;o)
Customer Review: Works great for dog hair clean up! ****UPDATED 3/4/2011****
Summary: 5 Stars
****UPDATED**** After six months of running our Roomba 560 four to five times a week, it is still running strong and performing great. We still love it. I do empty the dust bin and clean the filter and other usual places a couple times a week. The emptying / cleanly process takes less than 5 minutes. It does very well picking up dog hair. Finer cat hair gets trapped in the ends of the brushes and front "steering" wheel, but the parts pop apart easily for cleaning - very well thought out for maintenance.****
Original Review:
I was not sure about ordering a Roomba and read lots of reviews here on Amazon and found several video reviews on YouTube. We have two Great Danes that generate lots of dog hair - which is very visible on our dark colored concrete floors - and had to do something. We finally took the plunge and ordered a Roomba Model 560. I didn't bother with the Pet Model 562, as the 560 came with more cleaning parts. We've had the Roomba for 6 weeks now and we run it about 6 times per week. We are AMAZED at how well the Roomba works! After it runs, the floor is really clean. It has not missed spots, and we run it on a hard floor through the kitchen, dining room and family area - a complex area with lots of obstacles.
Our Roomba is set to run automatically during the middle of the day on weekdays and we run it manually on weekends once or twice when we leave to run errands. We've found that the 560 does excellent in picking up the short, coarse hair of the Great Danes. Our cat's hair and human hair is finer and does wrap around the brushes and axles a bit more, but those are easy to clean. Everything disasembles easily. A routine emptying of the dirt collection box and filter cleaning takes 60 seconds. About once every 10 times it runs, I do a more through cleaning - pulling out the brushes and popping out the front black & white caster wheel. The more through cleaning takes 5 minutes.
We've run the Roomba about 40 times so far and it has got lost or stuck 3 or 4 times. Once when the homebase station indvertantly got unplugged - so the Roomba could not find it. Once we think the cat batted at the Roomba and touched the top button that shuts it off. A couple of times it got stuck on a cord or lamp base. If we take 2 or 3 minutes to make sure the room is picked up first, the Roomba will run fine and find its way back to homebase to recharge for its next mission.
The only hassle we had was registering with iRobot. The paperwork in the box said to use the number on the bottom of the Roomba. Their website did not accept this number or the number on the outside of the box. The link on their website labeled "need help finding the serial number" takes you to what looks like a general information page. Later I figured out if you scroll down the page you come to the serial number info - but that was off the screen at first. For my 500 series Roomba the serial number is hidden under the dust bin.
With the exception of the registration glitch, the Roomba is an excellent product. We love it!
Customer Review: Scratch Vacuuming Off Your List! (Almost)
Summary: 5 Stars
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 learn the robot's eccentricities and plan for them.
I also discovered that a cat landing on the Roomba in the middle of the night would start it going - so we woke up to clean floors.
Worth it?
You bet!
Five stars, and a big thanks!
UPDATE: October 4, 2007
My Roomba produced an error message that I was unable to clear. So I called (not emailed, but called) the support center. The Roomba needed to be reset, and, with the help of the support person, I accomplished this and we're back in action.
The support was superior, so if you have a problem, just give them a call. If your call is like mine, you'll find them highly responsive and eager to help solve your problem.
UPDATE: November 30, 2007
About four weeks after my initial review, the side brush fell off. The part that holds the brush screw was broken.
I called the company who said they'd send out another part in five days or so. That was followed by an email that said a month. Now it is six weeks later . . . still no replacement part.
While the vacuum still works, the baseboard cleaning is absent without the side brush. And I am in the dark as to when I will receive a replacement. This would cause me to reduce the number of stars I give the Roomba 560, if Amazon would allow me to do so.
I still think this is a good product. It still does an adequate job of cleaning up cat hair and other debris. But, I think the price is too high given the quality of that brush.
In my book, iRobot has some 'splaining, and apologizing, to do.
UPDATE: Augst 1, 2008
Now my roomba has developed horrible screaming noises that might be coming from the wheels, but who knows. And I now have the replacement gizmo for the side brush (after 9 months).
I am sorry that I cannot adjust the stars on this review. If I could I would now rate this product one star (can't give zero). I strongly recommend not buying a Roomba!
Customer Review: Now I don't have to do anything!
Summary: 5 Stars
I am a 30 year old male, so believe it or not, cleaning is not a practice that I hold dearly; as a matter of fact, I loathe cleaning. I made a deal with my, then girlfriend, now wife, that I would do the vacuuming, so long as I did not have to do much of anything else. Though running a vacuum was never too much of a hassle for me, it became even less of a problem about three years ago when we purchased our iRobot Roombaź 560 Vacuum Cleaning Robot. My simple life ... just got easier.
Though many of the reviews we read prior to purchase were not all positive, our assessment was (and still is) nothing but praise for this little life-easing tool that everyone should own. While a menial task such as vacuuming does not take up too much of your life, think about the other things you could be doing with your time.
If you don't already own a Roomba, what are you waiting for? Imagine walking up each morning to freshly cleaned floors that you did not have to do a thing for. Thanks to the "Schedule" feature on the Roomba, this is a possibility. Running our Roomba seven days a week while we are asleep in bed is an ideal way to keep the carpets clean, and it keeps me from having to do much of anything (cleaning-wise). Nightly, I empty the dust tray and clean the brushes (of cat and wife hair), but this small task takes only a few moments compared to the time that it normally takes to vacuum the floors that are now being taken care of while we are sleeping.
Not only does the Roomba 560 take the place of having to follow around a conventional vacuum around the room and unplugging and plugging it back in to reach the far corners of the next room, but it actually does the job. I was disgusted to see what my other vacuums (Electrolux and Hoover) had left behind. Not only that, but the fact that day after day it has dirt, dust, hair and other various forms of debris in its dustbin and brushes has made me realize our house is unable to stay clean for even 24 hours. That being said, how often do you run your vacuum? If you are not running it constantly, you may be mortified to see what you are walking on.
Not only is the product a great asset, the company, iRobot, stands behind it 100 percent. Sold with a one year warranty, we had a couple of small pieces and parts malfunction and all it took was one email to iRobot and replacement parts were shipped immediately. Sure, this shows that the product is not without its faults, but what product isn't? The important thing is that if something should go wrong, the manufacturer will be there to provide a quick and effective solution.
Perhaps it is the geek in me that has always wished for a robot, especially one that could do my bidding. Perhaps it was growing up watching the Jetsons on Saturday morning television, longing for a future where I owned a flying car (that transforms into a briefcase), a house in the clouds, working only three hours a day, three day a week and owning a robot to do my cleaning ... well, one out of four is a start. I would like the nine hour work week next please ...