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: I'm in love.
Summary: 5 Stars
I have 2 dogs (one is a puppy) and a cat, along with critters that come to visit with my daughter. So keeping my floors clean is a challenge. I have friends who bought the Roomba, and raved about them. So when I started looking, I checked out Consumer Reports. I bought the Roomba and the Scooba in spite of the CR reports, however.
I have to say I think CR got this one all wrong. CR did not give them high marks. I think the paradigm has shifted. They evaluated these robots based on the standards they applied to old fashioned vacuums, and so they totally missed the boat.
The Roomba first off is an excellent vacuum, and cleans my carpet, tile, and wood floors better than my upright. I thought my floors were already clean when I first used them, so was amazed how quickly the bins filled up. Added to that, it goes UNDER my furniture, so it cleans more of my floors. I set it to vacuum when I leave for work. It cleans my floors, then docks and recharges itself when it's done. So my floors get cleaned A LOT more frequently, thus preserving my carpeting. It's also much lighter in weight than my upright, so I can carry it around the house easily for spot cleaning. I'm not as young as I once was, so the ability to haul this puppy around is really important. Many times I left things unvaccumed because it was just too much trouble to haul the big cleaner around.
It's also very easy to clean itself. The first couple of times I used it, I had to empty it 2 - 3 times per room, but it only took a few seconds. The brushes pop out easily, and are also easy to clean. The engineering on that alone is AMAZING.
I know folks have mentioned docking problems, but mine has worked without problem. I know too folks have mentioned breakage on the brushes, but I've not had that problem either. Finally, folks have mentioned how frequently you have to empty the bins. The first time I use it in a room, the bins fill up very quickly. Now, I can do an entire floor of my house, and only clean the thing when it's done.
Likewise, the Scooba. I confess I vacuum first before I use the Scooba, even tho the Scooba does pick stuff up. It just does a much better job if I run the Roomba first. Again, because it's so easy, and the floors look and smell so nice, I'm doing this every couple days in my kitchen. I do use my wet swiffer to get the corners, and to speed up the air drying, if I'm at home.
To sum up: The are both extremely well engineered, make cleaning easy and convienent, and do more of the work for you. My floors are cleaner, my house smells better, and I just laugh when I'm doing other chores or playing on my computer while my robots are cleaning.
Customer Review: Best Improvement in my Life Since the iPhone
Summary: 5 Stars
I have a newer version (570) than many of the commenters here and it appears many previous issues are a thing of the past.
I got mine on Christmas, 2008 and have it auto-scheduled to clean my kitchen 4 days a week while I'm asleep plus 4 others rooms once a week. I have two cats and no children.
Over 200 cleans and not a single problem. My side brush hasn't lost a single whisker.
I empty the bin once per room but its never been more than a quarter filled.
Don't be fooled by it being overwhelmed the first time you use it. I think it cleaned so much better than my Hoover that initial cleaning are intensive.
Now, I empty the bin once a week for my kitchen.
It picks up hair better than my Hoover. Some gets stuck in the brush cover wires but I think this is a design feature. I pull out the brushes after a full cleaning day and clean it. Takes about 90 seconds. Then I wipe the cliff eyes, wheels, etc. Takes 30 seconds. Emptying the bin takes 10 seconds.
Battery still cleans two rooms at a time. I havent noticed any degradation in its systems. Mine came with batteries for the lighthouses and they are still good 10 months later. Although twice they 'acted' dead with the blinky light and everything. A tester showed they were still strong so I put them back in and they are still working.
All issues I've read about here are a thing of the past with my machine. I think you need to be a little vigilant with minor maintenance and you'll never have a problem.
I have one recommendation: My bedroom is think pile white carpet and it leaves one visible tire mark around the perimeter of everything. Its straight and even so its doesnt look bad but its always in the same spot unlike regular vacuums. But its a small price to pay for being lazy and cleaner than ever. I think a wider tire would help and spread the weight out.
Some have reported it 'wanders aimlessly' once in a while looking for its base. I've noticed this maybe 1-5% of the time. However, while indeed it can miss the docking 'eye', it only leaves the dock to come back for a better approach. But it always uses it's algorithm to navigate which make it seem lost. I think if you ask anyone, you'll find it Always finds its dock.
Also, the lighthouse works beautifully but it causes an 8" 'bubble' around it to remain uncleaned. But I can live with that. (the virtual wall too but if can stick it behind a door way like the instructions ask you to it avoids this issue wonderfully.)
Once you have a slave vacuuming your floor you'll never go back, I promise you that. I'm planning my scooba purchase next.
Customer Review: it's not perfect but it's very close!
Summary: 5 Stars
I've had two for about a month and my house has never been so clean! I love this vacuum. I started with one 560 and one 530 but I discovered the lighthouses were very helpful so I returned the 530 and got a second 560. We have an open floor plan and it seemed the roomba was having some trouble figuring out where to go and jumped from room to room. Now that I've learned to use the virtual walls and lighthouses I have much more control over it and it has been very effective doing what I want it to do. If you have a more normal room the roomba has no trouble navigating it and cleaning the whole thing - but our downstairs has few walls and is probably reading like one big room.
At first I had the issue of the bins getting full after each cleaning and needing to clean the brushes each time. This isn't a big deal and I don't mind dumping the bin and cleaning the brushes because I know the roomba is really working! It only takes a couple minutes and it is so worth it. The included brush cleaning tool is very helpful. I also had the dust bunnies that landed on the edge of the rug when it climbed from the hardwood floor to the rug. But I've found that once the roomba is in regular use it doesn't happen because the floors and carpets are much cleaner and it's not picking up so much stuff. So give it a few days to get your floors and carpets under control and it requires less maintenance. I was nervous about the amount of maintenance required to run the roomba but I have to say it's not a big deal and really isn't much effort. I wouldn't let this stop you if you're worried about having to dump the bin and clean the brushes. I hate cleaning (hence the roomba) and this hasn't been a problem at all.
I love the fact it cleans under our bed and that I can press clean - go downstairs -and know that the vacuuming is done. I think this is one of those items I will wonder how I ever lived without. It has outperformed my hoover windtunnel and I've retired the windtunnel. It does a great job of cleaning rugs (and hardwood floors). I'm really very impressed. We have a Beagle who sheds like crazy and it picks up the dog hair very well. I found some accessories on amazon like strips the roomba won't cross to have additional control and keep it out of my daughter's playroom. I'm sure I will have to replace the rechargeable battery at some point (just like any other device with a rechargeable battery). I don't have a problem with this - I'm not paying for vacuum bags and I will be very happy to keep taking care of the roomba since it has really made a big positive difference in our lives!
Customer Review: Roomba 560...Gotta Get It!!
Summary: 5 Stars
OK, at first I was skeptical. I have seen these things in commercials for years, but never thought they would work well. Last weekend, my son and I were watching a demo for the Roomba 560 on television and I thought...what the heck? It's worth a try! If I don't like it, I will just return it!! When it arrived 4 days later, I charged it and then put it to work. My kids were fascinated by it but I (along with my husband) were very skeptical. I kept telling the kids, "Let's just see what kind of job it does!" I totally expected it to miss areas and get stuck all the time OR just not have very good suction! Boy was I wrong! I started off by using the Virtual Wall function as I have a new, very open-concept house with barely any walls on the first floor. I knew that to really get an idea of its cleaning power, I would have to limit the cleaning area to normal room size measurements. I couldn't believe it! This thing cleaned where I couldn't even reach without a crevice tool or similar device. Because of it ability to move in circles, it can easily maneuver out of places that you would think it would get stuck. The side brushes are amazing...they DO actually reach into corners and crevices, pull the stuff into the vacuum to be collected. I also watched as it ran over my floor lamp cords...never got stuck there either. When I put it in my bedroom, it went under the bed and everything! Come on...how often do you actually vacuum UNDER your bed! The Roomba does it and more!!! When I put it in my kitchen with hardwoods AND area rugs, it adjusts and goes right over them. If a corner of a rug IS up and causes a little problem, it just reverses the spin, backs out and approaches from another direction. When it approaches my steps, it turns around. All I can say is, if you are thinking about getting this thing, try it! If you follow the directions, empty the dirt cup and keep the brushes clean, this thing is wonderful. It allows me to have clean floors (carpet and hardwoods) all the time while I am doing other chores...laundry, cooking and other cleaning. The best function of the Roomba is its ability to re-dock itself when the cleaning is done and/or the battery is getting low. This way, you don't have to come home to a dead battery and wait to charge it before you can use it again. Try it! It is a lifesaver! I am not sure if earlier generation Roombas had problems, but they have gotten all the kinks out of this model! Even my husband was fascinated by the job it did and when he heard about the scheduling function AND the way it docks itself, he just smiled and said, "That IS amazing!"Customer Review: Exceeded expectations in a BIG way!
Summary: 5 Stars
I'd been looking at Roombas at different times over the years, and with this newest (latest, greatest) version, I decided to give it a shot. Well, it performs much, much better than I could have imagined. I genuinely assumed it would miss areas and not be able to really get dirt out of corners (I mean, how could it really get to everything, right?), but I was wrong. It cleans my wooden floors so well that when I saw a spec on the ground after it was done (I can't help but inspect closely), I found the spec was actually a small paint splatter that dried to the floor long ago. It really, really gets everything! Then when it's done, emptying it and cleaning out its brushes are ridiculously easy -- and I'm obviously pretty lazy, since I bought a Roomba.
I've been using this 2-3 times a week in between when the person who cleans my house does the whole place. We have two cats, and my biggest concern is the high traffic areas of the living room, long (and relatively narrow) foyer, and the entrance to my dining room. Those three areas are connected, but of vastly different shapes and sizes. I didn't want to have to set them up to clean separately, so I decided to see if Roomba could manage the connected, but not traditionally "continuous" areas. It worked brilliantly right from the start. I keep expecting it to get lost when it is in the corner of my dining room or at the other end of the foyer, but it doesn't. It goes over and over every part of each room/section until all is clean.
I've never used a Roomba before, so I don't know how this new one compares to the older models, but I can say that one my concerns was about cords. I'd heard complaints with earlier models, but it was supposed to be improved with this one. Well, it's totally fine. I don't want to have to put cords up all over, and for the most part I don't. There is one very thin phone cord that I get nervous about so I put it up, but otherwise, it handles all the other cords without incident. It does not navigate small throw rugs as well as I'd hoped (they tend to get bunched up), so I move those out of the way. But it handles large area rugs well, cleaning both the carpet and the hardwood floors around it.
I see that another model comes with a remote control, but I have no idea why you'd need one. The whole point of the machine is to let it do its thing -- I don't want to move it around by remote control myself. And I have not once had the need to do so.
If you've been on the fence and can afford it, I'd go for it. I'm really-really happy that I did.