iRobot 530 Roomba Vacuuming Robot, White
by iRobot
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of iRobot 530 Roomba Vacuuming Robot, White
Customer Review: Very impressed.
Summary: 4 Stars
We have two dogs, a chow and rat terrier, cats, and a very messy bird who make a mess everywhere they go by shedding clumps/fine bits of hair, eating treats while walking, tossing seeds outside its' cage, or shoveling sand outside the litterbox. Every day, at least twice, I vacuumed up after them and it wouldn't be more than a few hours before you could see a clump of tumbleweed hair and what not back on the floor. Enter the Roomba.
I didn't buy the Roomba expecting it would be as effective as the Dyson but I was surprised that it does come pretty close if it runs a full cycle. Instead of spending two 45-minute periods sucking up stuff pets leave behind, I just press a button and the Roomba goes on a bumper-car journey that takes it all over the place.
The good:
- It picks up pet hair, seeds, sand, dust, crumbs, dirt, dry leaves/bits of crushed lava rock that get tracked inside, and tiny bits of fluff torn off of toys.
- It will maneuver itself into places upright vaccums can't without using the attachments I pretend don't exist.
- It will pay attention to the virtual wall things and not go places it isn't supposed to.
- It can get itself unstuck or traverse obstacles.
- It does a good job at handling carpet, linoleum, tile, and rugs with or without fringe.
- It finds dirty spots and spins in place to take care of it.
- It has a long battery life and pretty short charge interval.
- It manages to get along with the pets and our chow now just sits there and lets it run into him while the cats think it is their best friend.
The not-so-good but not a deal killer:
- It has managed to enter a death loop in tight spots (i.e. dining room table) but a tap of the bumper will get it to come out of it.
- It has run out of charge before getting back to the charging bay.
- It doesn't have much capacity and frequent brush cleanings are required but user-servicing is a well designed and easy aspect.
- It has problems with tiny pieces of paper for some reason.
- It has difficulties with rugs that aren't flat.
- It sometimes pulls out stuff that is plugged in if the cords get caught on the eye or brushes.
- The included comb thing does a pretty poor job of removing pet hair caught in the brush while removing hair by hand seems to cause the brushes to attract dust and fuzz.
I love the Roomba and while it costs just a little less than my Dyson it does a good enough job that I actually trust the little bot and appreciate how much time it saves me in keeping the floors clean. Highly recommend it and the only reason I gave it 4/5 stars is because the low capacity.
-update- If you have a Roomba 500 series it's important to make sure you periodically clean the rotating sweeper brush as it has a tendency to trap loose materials and wear on the motor. It's easy to do; just remove the single screw, lift up the brush, remove trapped lint or wound hair, put back the brush, and screw it back (not too tightly as you don't want to strip it).
I also came across a great guide to quickly maintain your Roomba on the iRobot forum as well as a lot of troubleshooting info for anyone who might be having a problem with the 500 series.
Customer Review: Please inspect and clean roomba's cliff sensors
Summary: 1 Stars
It takes more time managing this thing, the battery, cleaning the internal parts, setting up the cleaning boundaries, resetting it when it gets stuck and the cleaning and recleaning the horrific cliff sensors than just getting out the regular vacuum. It's a novelty item on part with a singing bass mounted to the wall.
It's fully automated in that you must pick it up from it's charging base and carry it to where you want a floor cleaned. Place obstacles and infrared beacons around the area you want cleaned since it can effectlivly clean only about 12 square feet on a charge. Remove all light weight items from the area that you don't want knocked over or bumped into. Flip the Roomba over and clean the cliff sensors. Turn the robot on and hope it actually starts. Flip the Roomba over again and clean the cliff sensors when it didn't start. Press the "hope it starts" button again. Watch it run for a few seconds until it stops and complains about the cliff sensors. Flip the Roomba over again and clean the cliff sensors one more time. Press the "hope it starts" button again. Watch is start and b-line to an area you know it will get stuck in. Watch it get stuck. Free it and press the "hope it starts" button again. Listen to the Roomba tell you to inspect and clean roomba's cliff sensors again. Throw the Roomba across the room. Replace all your furniture obstacles you spread around the floor to be cleaned. Throw the infrared beacon somewhere near the damned Roomba. Get out the regular vacuum cleaner and clean the floor. Then you're done; a fully automated process that only took about an hour: 55 minutes of of frustration and 5 minutes manually cleaning the floor with a regular vacuum cleaner.
To get this thing to work, you need to run it at night without any lights on or in a fully blacked out room. Even then the thing gets caught up in cables or stuck under furniture; especially under the bed where you can't reach it. It has no handles to help in grabbing it by the way. Running it anywhere near a light results in an annoying jingle and having the Roomba say, "Please inspect and clean roomba's cliff sensors." I've cleaned the sensors until they shined which resulted in "Please inspect and clean roomba's cliff sensors." I've tried covering them up with duct tape which resulted in "Please inspect and clean roomba's cliff sensors." I've tried covering them up with layers of clear cellophane tape which resulted in "Please inspect and clean roomba's cliff sensors." I've thrown the Roomba across the room, which resulted in "Please inspect and clean roomba's cliff sensors" That they placed phenomenally delicate sensors that are sensitive to the slightest amount of dust in a tool whose job it is to always be in dirty and dusty environments; no, whose job it is to kick up that very dirt and dust; is staggeringly stupid. The special kind of stupid, or maybe just callousness, you only find in U.S. Department of Defense contractors. Their customer support says that I need to inspect and clean roomba's cliff sensors: now why hadn't I thought of that?
This is a great gift for someone you hate.
Customer Review: A few flaws, but still such a time saver for me
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought this because I have 3 cats that live in my 1 bedroom apartment (two are mine, one is my boyfriend's but it frequently comes to visit) and two of the cats are white. Needless to say we have a severe fur problem since the cats shed non-stop. I was getting tired of vaccuming twice a week since I work fulltime and don't have time to housekeep everyday. I bought my roomba about a week ago and here are the pros/cons thus far:
Pros:
- Sweeps like a champ. It doesn't suck like a vaccum as much as it has rotating sweepers that pick up anything on top of the carpets/floors. I'd say it's more "sweeping" your carpet than vaccuming, but it picks up hair/dirt/other junk from my carpets just fine.
- Not too noisy. Kind of reminds me of a really quiet hand vaccum. I can watch TV just fine while it's running around.
- Easy to turn on/off. You push a button and away it goes! It returns to its docking station after it has completed its cleaning.
- It's really sensitive to hitting furniture. It decelerates as it approaches furniture so it doesn't scuff up things. It hit my foot a few times and doesn't hit hard.
- Plays some cute melodic music as it finishes its cleaning cycle. :)
- Cats think it is evil and needs to be destroyed! :)
Cons:
- It gets stuck in the most ridiculous places. My roomba tends to like to shove itself under my TV stand with minimal clearance and gets wedged under there before it cries for help. Not sure why it keeps thinking it can make it under there! I have to drag it out and it's in there pretty good! It also likes to go under my dining table and get tangled up in the chair legs and can't seem to find its way out (even though if it only turned 2 more inches to the left it could wander back out). It's hilarious, but still semi annoying. You'll have to roomba proof tight spots.
- The roomba gets staticy. Not sure if it's because it's still cold, but the roomba gets cat hairs stuck on it from static cling and then when it goes and hits cloth furniture (like couches) it deposits the fur on the side of the couch! I think this will improve in warmer months.
- If you have pet food/water bowls the roomba will make a mess of these. It hits the food bowls, but the bowls aren't heavy enough to set off its impact detector so it ends up pushing cat food bowls around the kitchen sloshing water everywhere. Better to keep it out of the kitchen or put up the invisible wall barriers so it doesn't go in in the first place.
- Its pathing is kind of weird. It sometimes super cleans an area, but misses other areas. Not sure if this is due to how it hits walls and "calculates" the size of the room or what, but it's been pretty random with how thorough it cleans.
- Doesn't always go back to the dock station. Sometimes it just turns itself off in weird spots. Not sure why.
Overall I like it. I'm going to tinker with the roomba and roomba proof my living room so it doesn't get wedged again. Otherwise it works well and keeps me from going nuts from all the cat fur. I'd buy it again!
Customer Review: A godsend for those with pet and dust allergies
Summary: 5 Stars
Two weeks into owning this thing, I can't stop raving about it. I'm pretty sure my girlfriend is tired of me doing so.
You see, I am allergic to pet dander, BIG TIME. Particularly cats. So much so that I have a supply of loratadine (aka Claritin) ready in every piece of luggage I own, in my glove box, and of course in my medicine cabinet. I also have sleep apnea, which is only worsened whenever my allergies are doing their thing.
My girlfriend and I decided to move in together, and unfortunately she rescued a cat while we were geographically separated! All of this being a gamble anyway, I decided to order this model of the Roomba. The first day together, we vacuumed normally in the house, and then set the Roomba about. I had to empty it out four times before it finished it's run of the living room, so keep that in mind if you end up purchasing it. Since then though, it does it's best Wall-E impression and dutifully and relatively quietly cleans the floors and carpet in our apartment. I haven't had to touch my allergy medication as a result!
There are things to keep in mind, though. You will have to make your environment Roomba friendly. I was prepared and not so annoyed with this, as I have had ferrets before, and you have to ferret-proof their environments (ferret owners will know what I'm saying). So, to make things Roomba friendly, I had to put some of that rubber cabinet liner stuff under the mats in the kitchen and the bathroom, so that the Roomba didn't push them around. I had to do the same for the cat's food and water bowls. We also had to ditch some black mats, because the Roomba went out of it's way to avoid them - I think the Roomba "thinks" the black mats are actually a stairwell abyss. And, we have a tall oscillating fan that has a base that sometimes acts like a ramp for the Roomba, which it occasionally gets stuck on. I have yet to figure out a way around that, other than to put the fan somewhere else.
These are what I consider minor "problems" - certainly understandable, considering what an engineering feat I think this product is. To complain about them would, to me, seem like complaining that it doesn't pick your dirty socks off of the floor and toss them into the hamper.
The fact of the matter is that the Roomba has enabled my girlfriend, her cat, and I to live together in peace, and that means a lot to me! I'd recommend it for someone finding themselves in similar circumstances, or someone who has my work ethic when it comes to vacuuming (read: none).
Back to my allergies, the first few days of use I did have to take my allergy medicine, but that was because the Roomba just had so much work to do. It seems my girlfriend wasn't a regular vacuumer, so it took about ten passes for the Roomba to get around to just picking up day-to-day stuff. Keep in mind that this thing is for day-to-day use, the reasonable limitations of it, and you'll be plenty happy with it.
Customer Review: Buy the model 410 instead
Summary: 2 Stars
I bought this model (530) because my aged Red Roomba (model 410) is starting to get a little flaky. It was a mistake.
The 530 has an internal battery. You have to remove five screws, a brush and a cover plate to get at it. No more quick change with a charged spare battery to finish doing a large area.
The filter and holder in the 530 is attached to the bin with a hinge and swings out rather than just pulling out as in the Red Roomba. Thus you can no longer firmly tap either the filter or the bin to release the caked dirt without risking damage to the plastic hinge. Of course when I cleaned it, there was no dirt in the filter anyway (see next item).
The 530 has teeth on the edge of the dust bin. These catch the hair from my German Shepherd, which blocks the bin and prevents it from filling any more. In addition, the dirt then gathers on the ridge of hair, and drops back out on the floor in clumps whenever the machine is jarred slightly by touching an obstacle. The Red Roomba did not do this.
The 530 catches LOTS of the dog hair on the brushes, transforming them into a solid hair mass very quickly. The Red Roomba did not do this.
The 530 catches the dog hair under the front wheel, which must be pulled out to remove the hair. The Red Roomba didn't do this, although to be fair the Red Roomba did have problems here with long Golden Retriever hair.
The 530 does have a "docking station" to which it is supposed to automatically return for recharging. Swell, if you happen to finish up in the room where the station is and don't mind the floor around and under the station not being cleaned. Besides, you have to pick the thing up to clean it after using it anyway, so what is the point? Besides, I would rather store it in a closet than have it out in constant view and susceptible to being stepped upon.
Another item discovered during the winter 2009/2010: this model produces static electricity as it runs. Despite having a humidifier running in the house, the robot ends up with the outside sides and even the top covered with clinging dog hair. Sometimes this hair is brushed off in clumps onto furniture as it cleans the room. This happens most on rugs, but also happens even on hardwood floors. The older model did not exhibit this effect.
This model has one rather nifty feature that the 410 did not. As it approaches an obstacle, it suddenly slows down. This was apparently designed to reduce possible damage to furniture. Unfortunately, depending on the angle it is moving, the machine often decides that the grooves between hardwood floor boards or the grout lines between tiles are obstacles. It thus often moves all the way across the floor in slow mode. This translates to less floor cleaned per battery charge.
The one thing it does better than the Red Roomba: it is much quieter.
-dan z-