Okay, it’s almost been a month of owning Jason (the robot vacuum), here’s my review:
review (long, rambling)
Overall, I really like it, and find it extremely helpful! I haven’t vacuumed the rooms I allow Jason into (all except the bathroom and toilet room), because I think it does a fantastic job at them, and has an equal suction power to my cheap 40 dollar Kmart vacc. I do still vacuum the toilet and bathroom manually
For me, I think it fits in pretty well with my life. The biggest downfall of a robot vacuum for most people is that just about everything needs to be off the floor, including cables to TVs/extension cords, etc. it will either unplug, damage or get tangled in things that are on the floor. But that’s actually a big plus for me because it encourages me to fully clean areas, rather than just vacuuming up any visible bits. It also means stuff doesn’t end up under my bed, and I have to move my computer chair to let it under my desk (still a pro for me)
If I were to buy another one, I still wouldn’t buy a name brand Roomba, but I would go for a couple models up with the same brand. I don’t care for the automatic mopping stuff, I really just don’t trust it to not try and mop the carpet, plus it’s basically just dragging a wet rag over the floor. Seems pointless to me. But I’m biased because my house is about 90% carpet. Maybe if I didn’t have much carpet, I would be more interested in it
Obstacle avoidance is pretty cool - it drives around mapping everything with a LIDAR sensor then remembers it. Unfortunately, if it hasn’t previously mapped an obstacle, and it isn’t still mapping (you lock the map so that it won’t update because of temporary obstacles or people nearby), it will slam full steam ahead into them. It has a bumper on the front which pushes in to detect impacts and cushion it a little bit, but it does get pretty zippy at top speed, so I am worried in the long term it might loosen internal parts or damage things
The obstacle avoidance and detection is pretty good, but my bed legs/supports in the middle of my bed are very thin, so it doesn’t detect those as obstacles, and bumps into them. I’ve got a baseboard on one side of one room where I guess it’s shifted a bit, and the lidar sensor now sits slightly above the top of the baseboards, so it tries to vacuum them and gets confused about where it is when it bumps into them
Also, because of those floor to ceiling windows, it’s been able to see some of outside, which makes it try to vacuum the grass via the window. AFAIK this is an issue with all robot vacuums, and the recommendation is to temporarily place some cardboard on them for the first mapping session so it doesn’t try to break through them. Not much of an issue though, I just set a “virtual wall” just in front of the windows, so it doesn’t try to break out
Still, all in all, for $160 or however much it was, I think it was very very well worth it. If you can commit to picking things up before running it, I’d recommend it. I’m not too sure about hardwood floors though, for some reason I just feel like it’s not the most worth it if you don’t have a lot of carpet. No particular reason or science done there though, just subjective uninformed opinion
TL;DR: Fantastic for me, maybe not the best for you because of certain limitations and difficulties. Worthwhile purchase
Yeah that’s a good point. My house is all a single level so a non issue for me. For two or maybe 3 levels you can get away with carrying it up (it allows you to have multiple different maps and switch between them). Still a manual process though. The Richies solve that by buying multiple, but obviously impractical with multiple different uneven levels
Honestly I just deal with it. I need an extension cord to get to my desk cause they only put power points on one side of the room, but I hate shit on the floor so I ran them on command hook things across the window and then down to a power board on my desk. Ethernet will do the same, though has to come under the door
The cat bowls are a good thought, and something I hadn’t thought of! I’m thinking I might make a little cubby for them to make banishing Jason a bit easier
Okay, it’s almost been a month of owning Jason (the robot vacuum), here’s my review:
review (long, rambling)
Overall, I really like it, and find it extremely helpful! I haven’t vacuumed the rooms I allow Jason into (all except the bathroom and toilet room), because I think it does a fantastic job at them, and has an equal suction power to my cheap 40 dollar Kmart vacc. I do still vacuum the toilet and bathroom manually
For me, I think it fits in pretty well with my life. The biggest downfall of a robot vacuum for most people is that just about everything needs to be off the floor, including cables to TVs/extension cords, etc. it will either unplug, damage or get tangled in things that are on the floor. But that’s actually a big plus for me because it encourages me to fully clean areas, rather than just vacuuming up any visible bits. It also means stuff doesn’t end up under my bed, and I have to move my computer chair to let it under my desk (still a pro for me)
If I were to buy another one, I still wouldn’t buy a name brand Roomba, but I would go for a couple models up with the same brand. I don’t care for the automatic mopping stuff, I really just don’t trust it to not try and mop the carpet, plus it’s basically just dragging a wet rag over the floor. Seems pointless to me. But I’m biased because my house is about 90% carpet. Maybe if I didn’t have much carpet, I would be more interested in it
Obstacle avoidance is pretty cool - it drives around mapping everything with a LIDAR sensor then remembers it. Unfortunately, if it hasn’t previously mapped an obstacle, and it isn’t still mapping (you lock the map so that it won’t update because of temporary obstacles or people nearby), it will slam full steam ahead into them. It has a bumper on the front which pushes in to detect impacts and cushion it a little bit, but it does get pretty zippy at top speed, so I am worried in the long term it might loosen internal parts or damage things
The obstacle avoidance and detection is pretty good, but my bed legs/supports in the middle of my bed are very thin, so it doesn’t detect those as obstacles, and bumps into them. I’ve got a baseboard on one side of one room where I guess it’s shifted a bit, and the lidar sensor now sits slightly above the top of the baseboards, so it tries to vacuum them and gets confused about where it is when it bumps into them
Also, because of those floor to ceiling windows, it’s been able to see some of outside, which makes it try to vacuum the grass via the window. AFAIK this is an issue with all robot vacuums, and the recommendation is to temporarily place some cardboard on them for the first mapping session so it doesn’t try to break through them. Not much of an issue though, I just set a “virtual wall” just in front of the windows, so it doesn’t try to break out
Still, all in all, for $160 or however much it was, I think it was very very well worth it. If you can commit to picking things up before running it, I’d recommend it. I’m not too sure about hardwood floors though, for some reason I just feel like it’s not the most worth it if you don’t have a lot of carpet. No particular reason or science done there though, just subjective uninformed opinion
TL;DR: Fantastic for me, maybe not the best for you because of certain limitations and difficulties. Worthwhile purchase
I’d love a robot vacuum but the house has too many different floor levels due to random renovations 🤦🏼♀️
Yeah that’s a good point. My house is all a single level so a non issue for me. For two or maybe 3 levels you can get away with carrying it up (it allows you to have multiple different maps and switch between them). Still a manual process though. The Richies solve that by buying multiple, but obviously impractical with multiple different uneven levels
we dealt with the cable issue by blocking the roomba from our home offices and bedroom. Ok, the last was so the cats had at least one refuge.
we use a lighthouse to stop it raping the cat bowls and the bath mat.
Honestly I just deal with it. I need an extension cord to get to my desk cause they only put power points on one side of the room, but I hate shit on the floor so I ran them on command hook things across the window and then down to a power board on my desk. Ethernet will do the same, though has to come under the door
The cat bowls are a good thought, and something I hadn’t thought of! I’m thinking I might make a little cubby for them to make banishing Jason a bit easier