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: Good product but you need to understand how it works.
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought the Roomba 560 in March and have been very pleased. However, I think you have to be realistic about what it's capabilities are and not buy one thinking you are getting a "perfect" machine. First off, the Roomba does an amazing job of picking up dirt and hair. We have two cats that live exclusively inside. The Roomba is scheduled to clean once a day while the family and I are away at school and work. I clean out the Roomba daily as it clearly states in all the literature. This takes approximately 3 minutes to do. I am still impressed with how much hair and dirt is in the machine each day.
Second, I have had to learn some of the quirks of the robot. One of the first was when the robot went into our laundry room, closed the door on himself and knocked the cat's food dish around. I learned that a virtual wall belongs next to the cat food dishes which (with my configuration) also keeps Robby (yes, I named him and I know it is not original but I like it) out of the laundry room and closing himself in. So I solved the first problem. Not a "problem" with the product but just a reality of life.
The next thing was to experiment with the placement of the base station in order that Robby can find his way home. It helps to have a (very) basic idea of light patterns. At first I had the base station where it looked like it was wide open to Robby finding his way back, but in reality, I had blocked off a great deal of the infrared signal. I repositioned the base station so as to have as large an infrared footprint as possible, and now Robby finds his way home to recharge.
Robby cleans my kitchen, breakfast area, dinning room, hallway and entryway every day and has plenty of battery life to spare. He could do my living room also but can not because I have a sunken living room (bummer). I do not let Robby into the bedrooms unless I am prepared to have him clean there because of the number of things that might be on the floor (i.e. - shoe laces, kids clothes, papers, etc.).
I have watched Robby clean several times and I have observed the cleaning pattern that it uses and it is just as iRobot shows on their demo video. The roomba cleans the floor very thoroughly.
I do not use my normal vacuum cleaner any more as it is not necessary. I will be buying two more lighthouse/virtual walls which should increase the efficiency. Right now I only use them in the virtual wall mode. With the addition of two more, I will have two in Virtual Wall mode and two in Lighthouse mode.
Again, the Roomba is not perfect (but there is no such thing as perfect anyway) but does perform as advertised. Robby has neglected to return to the base station on a couple of occasions but, with the exception of 2-3 times, I have been able to determine why he did not return and eliminate the problem.
I plan on buying another Roomba in the future to leave in the sunken living room and may purchase a Scooba next year for the hardwood floors.
Customer Review: made my life so much easier
Summary: 5 Stars
I have a pyranese, two lab mixes, and two cats. Was I concerned about the potential for spending several hundred dollars on something that couldn't handle that kind of hair? Yes. Was I frustrated when I would vacuum in the morning and the next day the fur balls would be lined up for roll call at the base of the stairs? Yes. Could I resist when my 530 series (has the base but not the scheduling feature) went on sale? No. There is maintenance involved. I empty the bin and clean the brushes before every use. I pick the up the cords and unplug the air purifier and the stray sock here and there before I push the start button. I find it a very fair trade for being able to walk on my floor without feeling the teeny bits on the floor on my feet. It moves from the area rug to the floor without problems. The rug which used to be covered with the long white hair from my pyranese, is now clean. It does better, like the manufacture recommends, when I run it every day. It has less work to do I suppose. The cleaning doesn't bother me either. I pull out the bin, tap it against the garbage and pull open the filter and give that a few taps with my fingers as well. That's done. The brushes are very easy to clean. I don't care for the brush tool, I do a better job just pulling the hair off. The design is easy to understand- anything yellow can come off. It takes me two minutes to clean and ten seconds to put it all back on. I find hair wrapped around the ends about every other clean, but again not a problem to pull it off; it isn't the vacuums issue, it is my pyranese with his long white hair. Again, this little bit of maintenance saves me so much time that I have zero complaints about that! I have had no issues with any brushes, including the infamous side brush I've read frequent reviews about. I use the lighthouses to clean one room better before moving on to the next room. It finds its docking station about 95% of the time. I don't know if this is a fault with it, or if the brushes needed to be cleaned and it just stopped in the middle of cleaning because I've started it when I've gone to run errands and come home to find it in the middle of the floor. When you press the start button it will tell you the problem, but I tend to just place it on its dock, satisfied with the cleaning. There are corners that it can't get to, and dirt will slowly build up there. I vacuumm that up with my regular vac about once every two weeks, sometimes longer because it isn't very much. I was pleasantly surprised at how well it got the walls and around table legs. I am now working on month 3 with my little vacuum and I don't want to be without it. It is less loud than an upright vacuum but does make noise, but cmon. It's vacuuming! For pet owners, I would avoid the scheduling roomba because you will have to clean the brushes frequently; you might as well save the money and just do it before you press the start button. I do love the docking station. Again, I highly recommend this little guy!
Customer Review: VRooooomba! VRooooomba! You should see this little guy go!
Summary: 5 Stars
VRooooooooomba! Seeing Roomba--the iRobot 560 vacuum cleaner--run around my daughter's house like "The Little Engine That Could" makes me smile. In fact, when they first got it, the whole family gathered around to watch it suck up the dirt and see what happened when it approached obstacles and how easily navigable it is. An added treat was watching their little black dachshund, Molly, chase it around as though it were her new playmate. What a riot! We laughed like crazy!
When Debbie first phoned to tell me she had bought an iRobot, I laughed out loud. I had seen the early versions of the robot vacuum and was not impressed. The suction wasn't that good and navigation almost nil. What did she want with something like that when she has a $1600 precision-made German model ... full size? Another toy? Just another "conversation piece," an item that would be fun but rather useless?
Deb has always liked gadgets, the newest playthings, and after the novelty wore off, I figured this latest one would be stuck in the closet along with other products she'd purchased from Sharper Images through the years. Oh, well, it's her money, and to each her own.
How wrong I was! She's very pleased with the dramatically improved navigation, cleaning coverage, particle filtration, and the amount of dirt and debris the Roomba 560 vacuuming robot sucks up--with a simple touch of a button. To hear her tell it, Roomba sucks up more dirt than an octopus sucks up sea water with all eight tentacles operating simultaneously.
Another feature she finds indispensable is the easy-to-empty bagless dustbin, always a popular feature in a vacuum. Roomba also returns to its self-charging home-base to dock and recharge between cleaning cycles or when the battery starts to run low. (No, it doesn't go there on its own, the owner has to place it there. It's smart, but not THAT smart. ... lol ...) Its home base is an advanced power system consisting of a fast-charging battery, a three-hour charger, and a power source that supercharges the unit for up to 120 minutes of continuous cleaning, covering about three to four average-size rooms on a single charge. And those are only a few of the Roomba 560's innovative features; for full features, please check under DESCRIPTION on the product page.
Debbie still uses her regular vacuum once weekly, but swears by Roomba for all clean-ups in between. She says she would feel safe in relying on her robot full-time, but in using both, she's adding to their life spans. That seems sensible to me.
The Roomba is quiet and programmable too, and once it learns the dimensions of a room, you should see this little guy go. It's just as determined to do its job as the little choo-choo in "The Little Engine That Could."
Reviewed by: Betty Dravis, 2008
author of: Millennium Babe: The Prophecy
Customer Review: The Roomba 560 is great.
Summary: 5 Stars
To put things in perspective, understand that we have nine cats. We first used the Roomba in our large ceramic tiled kitchen. We hadn't vacuumed for several days but the Roomba 560 picked up all of the dust bunnies and stray cat food.
When we used it in the carpeted family room it stopped twice and asked to be emptied. It was full of cat hairs. The Roomba likes to work under the sofas in that room. We seldom move the sofas to vacuum the carpeting under them. The Roomba glides under sofas and eventually comes back out. After four cleanings, it's still picking up hairs but is only about half full after finishing.
We purchased two lighthouses expecting to clean kitchen, family room, and foyer on a single charge. We tried that once and it didn't work very well because of size of the kitchen and the furniture in the family room. We prefer to do one room at a time.
We tried the docking unit once with marginal success. We don't like the idea of leaving Roomba on the floor to recharge because of the cats. They like to chew on things. We charge it on a table now dedicated to that use. BTW, the cats are curious but don't panic. Of course, they take off whenever Roomba heads their way.
In the ceramic tiled foyer, Roomba does a great job on the floor and on a throw rug. It will clean the attached small powder room without getting trapped inside.
The virtual walls work nicely but to get the doorways cleaned, we place them about a foot into the adjacent room.
We read the existing reviews before purchasing a Roomba. There were several reports of side brush legs breaking off and trouble ordering extra side brushes. We ordered extra brushes right after first using Roomba. There were 3 units left when we ordered. We also bought an extra brush kit which included one side brush. After 4 to 6 uses in the various rooms, no legs have broken off the side brush. We've removed it three times for washing. The leg tips become very black and stiff after a couple uses but they seem to be intact. We've noticed that the side brush stops rotating whenever it encounters an obstruction other than table legs or baseboards.
The Roomba seldome gets stuck but our family room is a real challenge for it. The open gap under our entertainment center is just high enough for Roomba to attempt to travel under it. It gets part way in and half of those times it can't get out and shuts down. We're very comfortable letting Roomba work unattended in the kitchen or foyer, but not in the family room. We do that room while reading or watching TV. The sound isn't disturbing, in fact, it's quite nice hearing how much work is being done with so little effort on our part.
In a nutshell, we're very pleased with the Roomba 560. We're thinking of Scooba next for the kitchen and foyer floors.
Customer Review: No need to ever vacuum again!
Summary: 5 Stars
We bought this because we have 3 large dogs and 2 cats, and their hair gets all over the place. We have wood laminate flooring throughout our home. We finally decided to pull the trigger and get this because my husband has several co-workers who have one and are satisfied. We bought a refurbished model to save money. The Roomba isn't perfect, but we knew it wouldn't be. It sometimes gets stuck on throw rugs, it sometimes misses sections of a room while over-vacuuming other parts, but overall, it is worth the money. If you don't plan on spending about 10 minutes emptying out the dirt after using it, then this wouldn't be a good investment for you. Cleaning it out isn't for the feint of heart. You have to remove the two bottom brushes, pull the hair out of them, take the end caps off and clean the hair off those, take off the wheel and clean the hair off of that, and empty the canister. But it is worth it to me because at least I don't have to vacuum! We programmed this to run every day at 10 a.m. in our great room, and it does a pretty good job. We've had it several weeks now. It only docks part of the time. The other times it seems to run out of battery (the battery seems to last an hour or more) or stops running and needs the brushes cleaned off. It will broadcast an error message "please clean Roomba's brushes" if the brushes need to be cleaned. This is a nice feature. I have been emptying it every day regardless just so it doesn't quit the next day because the brushes are dirty. The Roomba maneuvers nicely around furniture, but it does miss parts of a room sometimes. Our great room is around 20' x 24', and it sometimes will miss sections (like between the barstools, etc.), but then it may go over and over an area that it's already cleaned. The lighthouses are a nice feature in order to keep the Roomba in a certain room. But today something happened where it went right past the lighthouse into the other part of the home. Not sure why it did this, other than there could have possibly been a cat sitting in front of it so the lighthouse couldn't recognize the Roomba. This is the only time it's done this. The animals have adapted to the Roomba being in the home. They tend to keep up on the furniture when it's running. I try not to run it with the dogs in the home since they have to keep moving out of its way. We have named it Rosie the Roomba (after Rosie the Robot, the maid on the Jetsons). It really is a great invention. When it misses tufts of hair, I just pick them up and throw them out. I like how it can go under pieces of furniture that I can't get to with the regular vacuum (like our futon, beds, china hutch), where a lot of dirt and hair resides. Overall, I can't complain about this purchase and plan to own a Roomba for many years to come!