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: Updated information
Summary: 5 Stars
When I read the old reviews, I was a little afraid to buy a Roomba 560 because of reliability, battery and service comments.
It cleans real well, but don't expect a perfectly clean carpet the first day. Like any vacuum cleaner, it will miss spots. But after a few days, the carpet looks much better than it did before. It does a great job of doing near the edges and around chair legs.
I did have a problem with the brush motor going out after a month. But, in my opinion, someone will have the bad luck to have something go wrong with their machine. My bad luck. However, I called Irobot directly and they had the part to me in 3 days at no cost and with no hassle.
If you get one, register it immediately at the IRobot site and it will likely make things easier.
The battery, brushes and all parts are under complete warranty for a year.
It takes about an hour and a half to do my downstairs which is about 1,500 sq. feet or so. I don't use the light houses. It just wanders around and does its thing. Most of the time it finds its way home. It does this on one charge.
I look at it this way. I'd gladly pay someone a dollar a day to vacuum the carpets every day for a year. If the Roomba 560 wears out in a year, it will be worth it. If it wears out before a year, it's still under warranty.
But all the moving parts are modular construction. (I'm not sure about the main drive motor.) They can be replaced as they break and taking it apart is pretty easy for those who aren't afraid to do this sort of thing.
Cleaning it is easier than cleaning my old bagless vacuum cleaner which was a pain in the neck. The bin slides out easily. The brushes come out easily also. A couple minutes is all it takes to do a good job cleaning.
I'm very happy I bought the Roomba 560 instead of a conventional vacuum cleaner and I'd do it again.
Added on 11/20/2010.
I still love the Roomba. I'd just add one recommendation. After using it, take a second to wipe the dust off the outside or it will eventually start to leave dust on fabric furniture. Cleaning the Roomba after each use doesn't take as long as it sounds. It's easier than emptying one of those bagless vacuum cleaners.
Customer Review: Works better than we expected!
Summary: 5 Stars
Got our 560 about 4 days ago after checking reviews for about as long as Roombas have been out, and finally deciding to pull the trigger after reading alot of good reviews about the 560 and checking out the iRobot website. This thing is just AMAZING!! I had vacuumed the floors myself two days before it arrived but on it's first voyage it picked up an amazing amount of pet hair, dander, dust, and general dirt. We have mostly hard wood floors except for the carpet in the bedrooms (where the cat and dog aren't allowed), and linoleum in the bathrooms. I was ashamed at what I had apparently missed in my vacuuming (I do move all the furniture I can't get under) even after what I thought was a good job of vacuuming. My wife even gave me a dirty look when she saw what was in the Roomba's dust bin, after being initially skeptical and thinking this was nothing more than a useless gadget. It navigated around everything and I was particularly impressed with the little dance it did when up against the walls and in corners to get those areas clean. When cleaning under the dining room table and around the chairs, it actually would nudge the chairs just a little so it could clean where the legs had been. I know this would not happen on carpet and is just the result of moving up against them before turning, but it is neat just the same. We have run it three times so far through most of the house and it keeps picking up unbelievable amounts of dirt, and my wife and I are both "clean freaks"! It doesn't get hung up on any of our throw rugs or cords. The only minor problem so far is that when starting it's third cleaning, it dragged the charging dock with it before shaking it off and going on it's way. I found that one of the screws had started to back out of the underside, causing it to hang up on the dock, so I would suggest doing a quick check of all the screws on the bottom for tightness before running it for the first time. Emptying the dust bin is a 30 second job, and removing the brushes for periodic cleaning is about a 5 minute job from start to finish. Have had no other problems and I just can't help staring at the thing in amazement while it is cleaning. What a load off!! Right now I can't say enough good about it and think it was a good investment.Customer Review: Great buy as long as you have proper expectations
Summary: 5 Stars
We bought the Roomba 560 after spending several thousand dollars on new hardwood flooring in our house. Dirt and rocks are the enemy of hardwood finishes, and with a 2yr old we felt we were sweeping almost daily to keep the floor free from food crumbs and dirt. The $$$ for Roomba I felt would be cheap insurance for the floor, and save us sweeping time.
Overall, the 560 is *fantastic*. It picks up 90% of the debris on the floor, which is what it is there for. The 5th generation is fairly smart, as it slows down before hitting walls, won't go off stairs, can be scheduled, etc. Bottom line, for routine sweeping, it works. We don't sweep daily anymore. We run Roomba 4-5 times a week, and only occasionally break out the broom.
To set your expectations properly, here's what you should know:
1) It still isn't terribly smart. It's random paths means it'll sweep some areas multiple times and others not at all. This means it'll miss some crumbs/dirt. Over the course of the week it'll pick up most everything, but don't expect it to be perfect. This also means that it'll occasionally not make it back to the base station. it gets lost or stuck someplace and you'll find it sitting there out of power.
2) It is loud. (it is a vacuum after all). I had plans to run it at 2 or 3 am, but I'm certain it'll wake us or our daughter up. So I'm running it during the day. A bit annoying as I work from home.
3) it has left some black marks on our white baseboard. i'm going to look into putting some felt or teflon tape on the sides to stop this. not sure what i can do yet as i need advice from irobot... i don't want to mess with the sensors.
4) You need to have your floor *totally* picked up (no toys, newspapers, socks/shoes, wires, or lose area rugs). It will get stuck on these things. It navigates rugs ok, but it has gotten stuck on our back door entry rug several times. I'll probably just tape the rug down or something.
That's it. with proper expectations, the 560 is fantastic. It works, and we are very happy with the purchase. I would recommend getting the scheduler for sure. As soon as they come out with a dirt dog with a scheduler, I'm going to buy one for my garage.
Customer Review: I LOVE LOVE LOVE The Latest Version Of Roomba!
Summary: 5 Stars
I've owned a few of the previous Roomba incarnations, and ended up returning all of them, sometimes multiple times per model, because of this problem or that problem. So far (and granted, I've only owned this one for about a week), iRobot really seems to have ironed out all of the difficulties this Roomba's older siblings have had.
No more unexplained 'robot-fear' of my dark-brown-and-black-colored FLOR carpet tiles - previous models would approach them and back away, no kidding. I suspect Roomba was interpreting them as drop-offs to avoid - pitfalls, in essence. Kind of funny, when you think about it, but it was irritating to have Roomba vacuum all my other FLOR carpet tiles but those ones.
No more strange erratic behavior and insistence I "Please inspect and clean Roomba's brushes" when I had just inspected and cleaned them prior to deploying Roomba for a job. I learned by reading many other reviews before purchasing this current version that problem with older models was due to dust getting into the CHM (Cleaning Head Module) and messing up the circuitry. Ummm... seems like that should never have happened, no? To prevent that problem, this model has a sealed CHM. Glad the design team over at iRobot cottoned on to the necessity of that design change!
The 560 also has a hugely improved dustbin with AeroVac technology (which really makes a big difference in its cleaning power), overall better programming, component design, and intelligence. It even has a better battery life and cleaning capacity on a single charge than previous versions. The scheduling component makes keeping my kitchen floors spotless a breeze as Roomba happily tackles this mundane chore for me every day after the kitchen is no longer in use.
I'm thrilled, because I always wanted to love my other Roombas but their wacky behavior, unreliability over time, and somewhat flimsy component design made it difficult especially when I considered the price point of the unit. So far, so good - this version of Roomba far superior in so many ways, and it's even faster and quieter than previous models! I'm confident this version of the Roomba will be a happy helper in my household for quite some time!
Customer Review: Hurray...My hardwood floors are always clean!
Summary: 5 Stars
I received the Roomba 560 for my birthday. I'm a goofy guy, so having the Roomba (name: "Dusty") totally fits my personality.
I live in a Manhattan apartment with hardwood floors. I mention Manhattan because if you open a window and leave it open for a while, you find your window sill and floor covered in a light layer of "city dust". After a while, this can turn into dust bunnies and it tends to gather together in a community of dust bunnies under hard-to-reach places, such as my platform bed. But now that I have a Roomba, there isn't 1 single dust bunny to be found!
Every weekend I wake up Dusty to start cleaning (every other week I empty the dust bin and tap the filter clean). While the Roomba vacuums, I can simultaneously clean the bathroom and dust. By the time I'm done cleaning, the floors are clean. Very nice!
Overall, I'm very happy with my Roomba. It has a few very minor quirks, but I would totally buy this if it hadn't been gifted to me.
Pros:
* cleans under hard-to-reach places, like under the bed.
* charges itself when it's finished
* seeing it makes you smile, and it will make your friends laugh
* perfect for tiled and hardwood floors
* does a surprisingly decent job getting into corners
* can be scheduled to clean automatically
* comes with 2 "lighthouses" that act as virtual walls
* cleans carpet/rugs as well
* comes with 1 spare filter and brush
* very easy to empty and maintain
* bumps into furniture softly
* does a decent job avoiding getting caught on cables/wiring (see Con #1)
Cons (minor):
* gets tangled once in a while: I once left my Roomba alone in my bedroom and left for work. When I got home, the Roomba had gotten caught on a thick power strip cable and couldn't get out, so I found it stuck there, waiting to be recharged.
* can trap itself in a room: the Roomba once closed a bedroom door and couldn't escape (the charging base was in another room)
- If you decide to get one, and you have several electrical cords where Roomba might get stuck, buy some cable hoses or zip-tie the wires together.