A robot hoover - the stuff of dreams! (iRobot Roomba 560)

Member Name: partyoffive

Product:	iRobot Roomba 560
Date:	18/04/09 (224 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Keeps dust and fluff down in between thorough cleaning

Disadvantages: Mine has broken down twice in a year

I was so in love with this little machine when I saw it at the Ideal Home Show and it only took the discounted show price to make me bring it home. I seem to spend an inordinate amount of time vacuuming up dog hair and so it seemed just perfect.

You just plug it in to let it charge and then press the clean button and off it goes around the room and gives it all a spruce up. When it is done, it returns to its dock and recharges itself (obviously this doesn't work if you've moved it to a different room to clean - in which case, it just seems to keep going until it runs out of battery).

On the whole, as long as you have removed anything it can get stuck on (I have a candlestick that it always gets wedged on if I don't move it) or suck up (it has been victim to a discarded sock on occasion), it goes around the room and picks up dust and hair well.

It is recommended that you empty the bin and clean the brushes every third use but I don't find this is enough and I do mine everytime but it pops back together very easily so this doesn't take much time.

If it has a problem, it plays an alert sound and stops then when you press the button, it will tell you clean the brushes/empty the bin etc. The only time that I've found this to be inaccurate is that it always fails on my navy blue spare room carpet and tells me to clean the cliff sensors (the bits that stop it tumbling down the stairs). We have mostly wood/tiled floor which I think it is more successful on than carpet as I guess the fluff is easier to pick up.

However, whilst being wonderful in theory, I got through three units in one year with the brush motors failing after getting clogged up. The last unit that I have, which is working wonderfullly well now, has a redesigned brush motor which doesn't have a gap, preventing fluff and hair from getting jammed behind it and ultimately failing the motor. Problem solved maybe?

Everytime it has failed, Domotec customer service have been fantastic and it has been collected and returned to me in a number of days.

I think perhaps if you restrict it to light duties, it operates better and we do have two long haired dogs which much be a Herculean task for the little robot.

All the time that it is working - I love it! Saves me hours and much lugging around of the hoover. I'd recommend it particularly if you don't have a lot of carpet and you want something to keep the wolf from the door in between thorough vacuums.

Summary: We call ours Robert - he's one of the family!

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