I bought one of these funny-looking things on a recommendation from a friend. As I was dubious, I got one second-hand, and I couldn't be more delighted with it. You can set it to vacuum while you are out or get on with other stuff while you leave it to it in any room, knowing that it won't get stuck on the rug or fall down the stairs. It even gets into the corners (which is what I was dubious about) as it's got brushes which stick out and swipe all of the dirt up. I do however have two gripes. Firstly, it won't work on thick pile carpet. I knew this before I bought it though (we've only got one carpeted room in our house) and secondly it doesn't have the capacity of a regular vacuum cleaner. The pros definitely outweigh the cons with the irobot, I would definitely recommend it.