iRobot 110 Dirt Dog Workshop Robot
by iRobot
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List Price: Category: Home See more product details |
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of iRobot 110 Dirt Dog Workshop Robot
Customer Review: New dog needs a name!
Summary: 5 Stars
So far, this thing is fabulous!
It arrived late afternoon 12/17/2008. It didn't even need it's full 16 hours to charge up.
Let it go to town. Unbelievable!
I live in a house with pier and beam construction. I'm also in the process of removing all the carpet from my house, i.e. I'm living on plywood.
I used the shop vac, to vacuum the floors before I ever let the new dog loose. I've had to empty and clean the brushes 3 times. So much for the shop vacs' efficiency.
Loudness; in different areas in the house it does seem louder. Watching TV, I haven't had to mess with the volume. I haven't tried it, while using the phone. The cats aren't bothered by the noise. Shop vac and real vacuum cleaner; they (the cats) would be on top of the kitchen cabinets. The dogs hate it, so they are locked up when new dog is in use. Don't want the Rottweiler or the terrier to hurt it.
So far my only regret is I didn't purchase all 4 that were offered at $40 off retail with free shipping. I did get 2, but one is a Christmas present for a friend that has the same issues I have, too many animals & living in the country; which means constant dirt.
I do have news for my friend, if she doesn't like hers. It's coming back to me. My 50*30 garage needs a dog!
Update...
Customer service so far has been excellent.
Chomper and yet unnamed, were spitting out the small brushes. The brush guard wasn't seating correctly. The company was immediately willing to replace the brushes and the brush guard.
Turns out if you put it together correctly, it works correctly.
Mine are cleaning for 2 hours and only needing 3 hours for a recharge and that's without the new special battery.
Virtual walls, who needs them! If you have throw rugs, roll those up and pen the dog within the perimeters. YMMV, but so far I've used at least 8 times since it arrived. Both are working beyond my expectations.
The cleaning tool is small and definitely would get lost in my house. I bought some self adhesive Velcro. Works like a charm, the dogs' brush is attached to his back. Wish I could do that with the real dogs!
It does need compressed air to clean it. I'm beyond cheap, so if anyone with an air compressor has the PSI number I need to clean the sensors, it would be greatly appreciated.
What I'm really amazed with it is my Rotti and I are not coughing, hacking, congested and just in general big old nasty girls because we no longer feel like crap.
OH BTW, my friend said "best present ever!"; guess I'm not getting it back.
Customer Review: Great little sweeper
Summary: 4 Stars
I just got done with my first run with this little guy. It worked better than I thought it would to be quite honest. After reading a good number of reviews on this little guy, I took the steps needed to prep my place for the first run. It got stuck one time on my fluffy bathroom rugs, but didn't get stuck anywhere else. It was also quieter than anticipated as others said the noise was a factor. The total run time of the device was a hair under two hours.
I'm a 32 year old guy and live in a 1000 square foot apartment with another dude. We moved in a month ago and have yet to lay a broom down on the floors or vacuumed the rugs except one time after the move. The place is mainly hardwood floors and tile with rug in the bedrooms only. I was really impressed with the cleaning job this thing did since any bachelor pad I live in isn't known for being clean. The place looks great now and I won't be embarrassed to have some friends over this weekend.
I basically felt like I was on an infomercial this morning. I see the swivel sweeper on TV at times and this guy reminds me of that product. The concept is that it operates like one of those old school floor sweepers with a motor. I got what I expected as those are good for maintenance runs on hardwood and low carpet.
I think the best part of having this dirt dog is that it made cleaning fun. I work a ton and despise cleaning after working long hours... heck I hate cleaning even when I'm not working hard, who am I kidding? Add in some amusement to cleaning and my money is on my place never being as clean as it will be so long as this thing doesn't break. I am a bit worried about reports of these not lasting a long time, but I will heed the warnings of others and take good care to maintain the device.
I knocked it down a star because it has trouble getting into tight spaces and corners. I ended up doing a preemptive strike by going around the place with a broom to sweep from under nooks and crannies that the device was not getting to. I would honestly probably give it 4.5 stars, but that wasn't an option. I also didn't feel comfortable giving something five stars after only owning it for a day. Let's see the test of time before calling this thing perfect.
For the price you really can't go wrong. This is my first iRobot product and after seeing it in action... it will be the first iRobot product for my mother, sister and step mother as I bought them all one for Christmas. The shipment came within three days with free shipping through UPS... so that was a bonus as well.
Customer Review: Dirt Dog is woman's best friend.
Summary: 5 Stars
Dirt Dog is woman's best friend.
After reading all of the reviews on the Dirt Dog, I started to believe that I had came across a miracle cure for my 100-year-old dust ball ridden home. Trying not to get my hopes up too much, the perpetrators of the dust ball dilemma (2 cats) and I hit the purchase button and then, for the first time in years, I stopped sweeping.
The Dog arrived quickly and was packaged well. I plugged him in and then waited patiently for the solid green "GO!" light. 16 hours later landed me at 4:00 am, but I could have cared less. I set my alarm like a kid on Christmas Eve.
My house has no carpeting, so this sweeping-not-sucking-robot is ideal. I have allergies, and this Dog does not kick up dust. Normally I'd be sneezing like crazy, and after using up the battery and recharging it and pushing the clean button over, and over, and over, no sneezing. No itchy eyes. No runny nose. No sore back...
Dog's reviewers have stated that he is loud, but not as much as some have let on. He's definitely quieter then my "regular" vacuum and I can easily sleep upstairs while he works away on the downstairs level of the house and conversations about how amazing this robot is can easily be had in the room in which he works.
He picks it all up, even the very fine dust. I can run my hand over the floor after he's done and there is nothing left, floor is licked clean. I learned very early on that I would have to clean it's brushes frequently, which to me is a pleasure. They come out very easily and it just proves that it's doing the job. A member of our household has very long blond hair which gets in dog`s brushes, but taking 3 minutes to keep it clean and in turn, in fine working order, is nothing compared to the benefits. I assume after time the frequency of brush cleanings will lessen--I mean really, it's getting so clean around here I can't imagine much getting trapped in there from here on out.
Some have fussed about the short battery life, but as long as you know what to expect (blue battery will clean about 300 square feet of floor space in a battery charge--about an hour's time) then how can you complain? I have got what I paid for, and more. If time is money, then I have already saved up for a battery replacement, which, according to reviewers, will be next year--to which I say, "Bring It!"
irobot's customer support is wonderful. Online chat for immediate answers to user dilemmas, and then follow up emails to see how they could have improved. What more could I ask for?
Customer Review: If only they'd make one to clean the kitchen!
Summary: 4 Stars
Jumping on the bandwagon here, when I bought this I was still highly skeptical of it's practicality despite all the positive reviews. However, I'm extremely pleased with it's performance! Think about it- what's the one thing in your house that is CONSTANTLY getting dirty, all the time, no matter what? The floor! This little buddy will make your life so much easier. I have half hardwood, half carpet, and it performs brilliantly on both. I also have two cats in the house, and it is constantly filling up with cat hair- better in the bin than on the floor I suppose! I gave it four stars because there are a *few* things that I would change about it, but don't let that distract you from getting one yourself if you're thinking about it! It's totally worth it!
Oh and if you're worried about losing the included cleaning tool, glue a magnet on the back of it and keep it on the fridge!
To summarize:
PROS:
- Completely worth the money. $125 once so that you never have to sweep again? Worth every penny to me!
- Not as loud as I was led to believe. Sounds about like an electric can opener.
- Will get in every corner, under the sofa, under the cabinet overhangs, in a much more thorough way than I would if I was sweeping
- No more crumbs on the floor so I can walk barefoot again!
- Does a great job on carpet too. Gets all the visible dirt, which is what I care about the most.
- Easy to clean, easy to care for, not complicated at all.
- Gets everything (in my house at least) on one charge.
CONS:
- Sounds like a dozen drunken Lilliputians are crashing into your furniture at all times. If you don't like a long series of bumps, only run this when you're at work or running errands.
- Hair gets wrapped around the brushes, is easy to cut off with the included cleaner pick thing, but could be annoying if you lived with a houseful of women with long hair.
- Kinda stupid. I wish it would "learn" the layout of my house so that it would know what it had been over/ know where the most dirt is. No, that corner that no one goes into is not as dirty as right below the stove, you don't need to clean it ten times!
- Plug in charger falls out very, VERY easily. As in, plug it in then run away holding your breath kinda easy.
- You have to know C++ to program it. The whole reason I began to investigate buying one was so I could program it to make the toaster robot chirps from Star Wars. It would be so much more awesome if it was open source and easy to program.
- Doesn't do windows.
Customer Review: The best bargain of the iRobots
Summary: 5 Stars
I've had the iRobot Dirt Dog for a week. Since I have a full basement, two-car garage, and many hard-wood floored rooms I figured this would be worth the price. As for the other iRobots, for me they are too pricey for what they deliver, as there IS NO WAY, given the power differential in suction and agitation, a small device like this can clean a carpet as well as a traditional vacuum cleaner. So that brings me to the Dirt Dog. For hard floors, this won't clean as well as a real vacuum either (nor did I expect it to), but it does come close enough. Close because it will pick up the larger stuff, but it cannot get the small particles of dust (and of course microdist). The Dirt Dog uses two circular undercarriage brushes, and one spinning brush on the side of the unit to sweep stuff out from corners, to clean. There is no vacuum. I've used it twice now in the basement on two different rooms and it did a good job--took about 45 minutes each. I have a large window in one room and the light revealed how the Dirt Dog kicked up the fine dust as it roamed around; this is expected of course because again this is a sweeper unit and not a vacuum. So my point is this unit cleans pretty well but it's not a substitute for occasional vacuuming with a real traditional vacuum. I've used it on my patio and it did OK, but the patio bricks have beveled edges and of course the brushes cannot get into those crevasses. I have not used it on the hardwood flooring, but I know it will do a decent job with the caveat that this is not a substitute for occasional traditional vacuuming and wet mopping. The Dirt Dog needs to be cleaned (brushes removed, etc.) about every 3 time you use it so this is not a care-free device. Also keep in mind that the brushes wear out and the prices are NOT CHEAP--the company uses a traditional business model where they rake you over the coal on parts (like ink jet cartridges). For example, the cost is $40 to get a set of replacement brushes (4 rollers and 1 sweeper) and the battery is $50. In conclusion, the Dirt Dog like all the iRobots is a convenience item, not a replacement for traditional sweat equity cleaning if you like truly clean. But it will do the job between real cleanings and will free you up for other tasks.