iRobot 530 Roomba Vacuuming Robot, White
by iRobot
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List Price: Our Price: $287.99 You Save: $12.00 (4%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $177.98 (click here) Category: Home See more product details |
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of iRobot 530 Roomba Vacuuming Robot, White
Customer Review: Roomba saves TIME
Summary: 4 Stars
Ok, so my wife had been telling me for years about this little gadget, how it saves time and money, so on and so on. As your typical husband I listen but don't actually HEAR my wife right, lol. Well Christmas time was approaching and I am desperately trying to find what the love of my life needs for Christmas. In pops this little snippet of lecture from my wife into my brain, if I had a Roomba I wouldn't have to vacuum every day and the floor would be cleaner. So off I go to the wide world of searching for a Roomba. I actively read the review which are so important when spending more than a quarter on a product. I like all other intelligent men cannot see how someone would spend several hundred dollars on a vacuum cleaner. I thought I won this battle four year ago when I bought this $500 vacuum for my wife, well unbeknowst to me, that takes a human to operate, a human needs motivation to vacuum. I can't purchase motivation therefore I am reading reviews for an additional $300-$400 vacuum cleaner.
So I take the dive and purchase this little white guy called the Roomba 530, of course being cheap I had to get a used one. The transaction goes perfect, the wife loves the little guy but I (being the one who spent the money) am not yet convinced this is a smart investment. So I turn the little guy on and follow him around the house, even still to this day I am in utter amazement by the knowledge this little guy has. My entire living room, dining room, hallway and kitchen are tile. I have a dog and two children, the dust and dog hair are overwhelming. Since having our Roomba; whom we have named Clank, I love walking through our home barefooted. I am honestly in sheer amazement. When I want the house vacuumed it requires two things, I walk over and turn on the geofence, then walk over to Clank, press his Clean button and disappear. Voila, everything is done and not just done but done extremely well. The only issue I have had with my Clank is that he sometimes runs under the computer desk and disappears into a maze of cords with never a way of returning to the world of light. I have since learned how to "block" or geofence that area. Smooth sailing from there. I can honestly say that this is by far the best investment I have made in years. I would not be writing such a lengthy review if I didn't recommend this guy. If you are/were in my boat and didn't believe this things works, I can promise you will not be dissatisfied if your circumstances are the same as mine. If you are dirty, leave junk lying around your home obviously you will not like the Roomba, if you have tile and keep a relatively clean home and just hate dirt on the floor, you will enjoy this as much as my family has. Good Luck and don't steal the name of my Clank!!
Customer Review: Love it, though you do need to pick up your things
Summary: 4 Stars
We love our Roomba. It's smart about stairs, smart about going from hard flooring to even very thick rugs, it vacuums much better than our standard vacuum (which was top of the line just 5 years ago), and we love that it can get itself out of corners and untangle itself from most wires. As long as you make a bit of effort to clean up after yourself before setting it into motion, you'll find it a huge time-saver and it does a terrific job!
However there are a few things we don't like, all of which are minor to us despite the length of the list:
* Took it to my mom's house; she had a "ponytail plant" on the ground. Hard to describe the plant, but the important part is that the thin leaves got wound around its rotating dusting arm and nearly pulled the plant over. Fortunately, I was watching and caught it before that happened.
* Sometimes the cords from blinds get wrapped around that rotating arm too. Best to get your cords up off the ground.
* Though it's smart about standard AC extension cords and audio/video cord that are sufficiently thick, it sometimes tries to inhale very thin low-voltage DC wiring, such as you might use with the charger for a cordless phone or a baby monitor. Sometimes it actually pulls the plug out of the wall. ...but that didn't stop it, it apparently figured it out and continued on, pushing the wire aside for me to deal with later.
* Pet hair and my daughter's long hair gets wrapped around the ends of the brushes and is hard to clean. First time it managed to pop up the ending of one of the brushes, couldn't make it fit back in the unit and didn't understand why. Forced it in and the brush became bowed until they worked themselves loose. I didn't even realize the little yellow knobs at the end of the removable brush and sweeper units were removable until I checked the manual. Once removed, I saw a thick ring of hair neatly wrapped under the yellow spoke caps that I cleaned.
* Terribly inefficient. The same battery could last 5 rooms easily (instead of 3) if its "pong"-like or billiard ball like motion of bouncing off the walls took into account places in the room where it has already been and avoided repeating work. ...but like I say, it seems to be sucking up a lot that our other vacuum never touched, so maybe passing over the same spot 10-12 times is really necessary. Time-wise that's okay; it eventually hits every part of the room at least once and it's still a time-saver not to have to operate an upright vacuum cleaner.
Again, still a great product that we love, a huge time saver, and amusing for the kids to watch. Just have to make sure to check the room a bit before we let it loose.
Customer Review: Better than the previous Discovery version
Summary: 4 Stars
The 530 is my third Roomba - I had the original and the Discovery before that. I can say they do keep getting better. I live in a one bedroom apartment and all my Roombas have been used in this same place.
I don't use the Virtual Walls - too much bother in such a small space.
I haven't used this product long term yet but compared to the Discovery I can say that the 530 is better made and worth the upgrade.
The 530 stands out right away as easier to clean - the pull out dirt bin has the filter in a permanently attached swing out door - it just empties out more thoroughly - the Discovery left dirt that I had to pick at from within the unit side itself which doesn't seem to be occuring on the 530. The brush is better also - rather than seem like a hairbrush, the 530 has single rows of straight up bristles so there's less entrapment of dirt and wound up human hair - the rubbery brush just seems nicer as well - both pop out with less effort and fuss - the door over both is now attached so there's no effort like having to realign it to reassemble it to the unit.
The whirly brush that helps get into corners as it travels around is longer and sturdier. It is now replaceable in that it can be unscrewed. So far mine doesn't seem like it is about to fall off or fail. It is more effective than the ones on my previous units.
The 530 vacuuming sound is quieter than the previous models. It's beeps are less loud as well - so much so that if it dies while in another room, I can't hear it's beeps any more to let me know it needs to be retrieved.
Except for lino/tiling in the kitchen and bathroom, my apt has wall to wall carpeting. I do have some small rugs over certain areas as well - bathroom rugs and a Chinese rug with fringes. The 530 can vacuum over these better than the Discovery did and I don't find the 530 is getting tangled up or stuck on any of these.
It still vacuums around in odd patterns that never made any sense to me.
Sometimes the 530 goes until it has run out of gas and needs to dock and sometimes it decides it has cleaned enough and docks itself early.
One thing I'm not thinking I like is that the battery has to have a door unscrewed before I can get to it rather than just be a pop out like in the Discovery.
I do still love the product and have never regretted buying any of them. You do still need a regular vacuum in that there is no hose attachment possible on Roombas.
Customer Review: Immaculate Floors and even fun to watch
Summary: 5 Stars
My parents were early adopters of the Roomba a few years back and back then the Roomba had vacuuming abilities of a low end cheap vacuum. I was still convinced of the technology and decided to buy one for my apartment as a first "real" vacuum. My wife was skeptical and I didn't have very high expectations at first. After about 2 days of it running, 4 months of dirty floors became absolutely immaculate. Our soot and dirt filled white carpet turned back to pearly white again. Granted it did take about 2 days of it running to get to this stage, but still, that's the point, YOU don't have to clean, it does! (Plus once it's clean you can just run Roomba once every 2-3 days)
A few things to note:
1. Check the waste bin and air filter before every cleaning. It takes 30 seconds tops to open, empty, tap clean, and re-insert
2. Check and clean the brushes often, this really does help to make sure it gets more dirt up
3. Don't get entranced! Me and my wife easily sat for almost 45 minutes one time just watching it clean the house, so fascinating. Just let it do it's thing and it'll charge itself, easy.
I was worried that it wouldn't have the sense to return to it's base all the way on the other side of the apartment when it was done, but I was wrong. It gives itself PLENTY of wiggle room with it's battery charge in order to make sure it can make it back to it's base. Essentially it just runs until it get's down to about an hour of remaining battery and then goes into "dock" mode where it just continues to clean and wander about the house. If you've done due diligence in making sure the base is pointed at a large swath of open space in your living room it'll simply clean till it notices the invisible IR beam shooting out of the charging base and it will hone in on the signal and dock itself.
I would recommend (after the initial 16 hour "refresh" charge) simply setting the Roomba down and watching it clean. See where it likes to go most and try to place the base station there. Make sure that you give it a good 4-6 feet clearance in front of the station so it has plenty of room to notice and hone in on it's signal. I placed it at the end of the hallway leading from my front door to my kitchen, this way if it's in either room moving between them, it's going to notice the charging base signal. Just be smart about it, think like a robot.
All in all, superb vacuum. Me and my wife have no real desire to buy a "real" vacuum anytime soon and were very happy that I bit the bullet and got a Roomba instead of a pain-in-the-butt-upright.
Customer Review: Works fine for what it is
Summary: 5 Stars
Own 535 model for about a week. Use it every day. Works great so far.
I currently live in a carpeted 3br alone, being out to work 12 hours a day, so this thing is absolutely invaluable for me. I've read all the negative reviews, then bought it. $212.42 at hsn.com, + $34.95 2yr warranty (I guess you'd want it too). No illusions, prepared to spend some money for spare parts in (near?) future. Reviews are discrepant about the iRobot customer service, from "excellent" to "it sucks". I somehow more inclined to believe in the latter, but we'll see.
The thing is FUN to watch (and show to a guest ;o), but it does really good job too, judging from the amount of dust it gathers every time. Of course, have to spend 2 minutes cleaning it after every 2-hour working cycle, which is fair enough, if you ask me. Cut hair from the brushes with scissors. Remove all chairs, shoes, etc, from the room, place the base there, shut the door, then leave for a day. At night, find the room (supposedly) clean, and Roomba charging itself at the base. Cool!
Had to adjust the height of a sofa to let it under. 10 minutes of hard work, but I am a man in the house, am I not? (Remember, no illusions! It's NOT your regular vacuum..).
Have not used the lighthouse yet, the instruction is a mess, bought D-size batteries, but they do not fit, need C-size. But (!!) I found that closed doors work perfectly as well! Otherwise, it works too, but sometimes has trouble returning to the base from another room. Not really a problem, just works till the battery dies, then has to be charged for a few extra hours.
One of my rooms is a loft, and the robot feels pretty comfortable there, has not fallen from the stairs so far. Runs at full speed towards the abyss, then somehow manages to stop on the brink every time. Could not believe it at first, stayed "on belay" for a half an hour, but now feel comfortable leaving it working upstairs unattended (we'll see ;).
For a computer guy, it is really interesting to guess its algorithm from its behavior. My best guess it is completely randomized, with ~60% chance to go at a sharp (~15-20 degrees) angle after hitting an obstacle, and the rest is showing a "smart" behavior following a wall. Resulting in some room areas covered obviously better than others. iRobot says everybody's welcome to play with its programming through some open (?) API, but I did not investigate it yet. Depending on its computational power, it might be possible to apply some state-of-the-art AI algorithms to improve it. At least, make it remember the room configuration...