Robotic Vaccums....any good now?

[Julian]

I had one of the first Roombas and ended up giving it away as it would constantly:

1. Get stuck
2. Not go onto one of our rugs that has a black edge because it thought it was stairs
3. Miss areas entirely

@BigN8 I saw your post saying you love your latest one.....

Any opinions on the news ones vs the old ones? Was I too early an adopter? Should I try a new one?

 

[2kwik4u]

We have a second hand Roomba. It's hit and miss good. Mostly a hit, but we have to do a little prep for it to run. When it does run, and it doesn't get lost/trapped/dead it does a great job of reducing the the dog hair in the house. IF, and this is a big IF......we take up the rugs, close the doors, and let it just live in the living room/dining room/hallway area. AND it has a full charge. AND it's not a full moon. It does a great job.

Sometimes it gets caught on a rug, sometimes it gets stuck under a door, sometimes the battery dies and it a game of "WTF is it now" when we get home.

I had to replace a good number of parts when we got it. Filters, batters, wheels, little brushy thing. Was $50 or so from Amazon for a rebuild kit, and took less than an hour to fix it up. Our friends had it for a few years before us, I'm guessing it's a ~'16 model. We like it, but not enough to have paid the price for it new.

 

[BigN8]

So far I can't complain. It does exactly what it is advertised to do. It got stuck once yesterday, but that is because I had left a dryer sheet on the floor that got swept under the bed and it pulled that dryer sheet into it's wheel well. It is amazing to watch this thing navigate through the chairs around the kitchen table. The app is very good for scheduling, mapping the house, and just turning it on or off and looking at the status. We have thresholds between wood and tile floors. I was concerned about these thresholds, but it goes over them just fine. It says it will climb up to a 7/8" transition which I believe after watching it. Our wood thresholds are about 1/2" tall. For the money you just can't beat this thing. I emptied the base containment reservoir after 2 runs and was amazed at how much it picked up. Below is a video I watched to make my decision to go with the Shark. The reviewer seems knowledgable and genuine to me.

 

[tim h]

BEST Robot Vacuums 2020 Edition! - Vacuum Wars
BEST Robot Vacuums 2020 Edition! - Vacuum Wars

I watched this one earlier today thanks to the other thread...
Currently have a Roomba 675 waiting in my Amazon cart while I consider going ROBOT VACUUM.
I have no carpet, only tile and Laminate flooring.
No pets either, just my two girls..

 

[props2you]

We have the Ecovacs Deebot and it does well in general, but when there is a light obstruction the bumper doesn't sense it's running into anything and just pushes items around, versus the LIDAR's. Just ordered the WYZE robovac, we use Wyze cams/sensors and they just came out with the high-end vac with LIDAR versus the 'bump n go' plus many more app features and a super sucker: Wyze Robot Vacuum and it's vacuuming patterns are methodical and not bouncing all over.

I too was an early adopter with the roomba then the ecovac deebot and these vacs have come a LONG way since then.

Depending on what you're looking for with house integration as well, Amazon, Google etc. I think most new vacs have these controls integrated into the ecosystem compatibility now. Nice to use voice for starting, stopping, scheduling, detailing an area etc.

 

[Speedling]

So is there agreement on the shark?
I will probably get one for next Christmas. Currently installing 2000sqft of continuous vinyl plank flooring and this sounds like a dream come true!

 

[tim h]

Any updates on these vacuums ?

 

[Miitch]

I heard they can be a little dramatic...

 

[Julian]

I got a Shark and it sucks....really well. I was surprised by how much this thing picks up (we have cleaners every 2 weeks). The only challenge it has is one old soft rug we have (that we've been meaning to replace for a while) that rides up when the Shark drives into it. It was able to make it over it, then spent a while trying to get back from the corner it got into. I figured I would end up having to rescue it, but it "fought" its way out (the Shark - I assume others too - will get more and more aggressive in its attempts to get out of a problem).

My only issue is one of our dogs is terrified of it, so I've not put it on a schedule yet - waiting to see if she settles down or not. Having it on a schedule would be preferable.

It has completed its initial mapping of our house (which gets better over time), and shortly I will name areas and integrate it into Alexa. So then I can tell it to clean a room by voice.

 

[Julian]

This was in the Memes thread today....relevant....

 

[tim h]

That's exactly what prompted my post today

 

[Julian]

My experience so far is that the Shark is a major improvement over the early version of the Roomba we used to own and gave away as it was always getting stuck.

 

[BigN8]

My Shark "Grogu" is doing great! I finally have a good map of the house. I made it map the house about 4 times before I accepted a map. The first couple just didn't look right. It does a great job. Don't be mislead though, these do require a little prep and some maintenance. Prep, means close doors you don't want it going into (for me master closet, it seems to pull my long sleeve shirt sleeves which drape on the floor into it's wheels). Pick up dog toys. You need to clean the filter once a month at a minimum I think. The better the filter is maintained the more this thing picks up. Filter cleaning is easy.

 

[tim h]

Which shark do you guys have ?
Do you feel that self emptying worth the extra cost ?

 

[Julian]

I made it map the house about 4 times before I accepted a map. The first couple just didn't look right.

Agree. Each run the Shark makes, it improves the map definition and accuracy. The first map it showed me was not good, but each run it gets better and better.

 

[Julian]

Which shark do you guys have ?
Do you feel that self emptying worth the extra cost ?

I went with the self emptying
Shark IQ Robot™ XL Vacuum R101AEW with Self-Empty Base, Wi-Fi & Home Mapping

On sale now of course!

Shark AI Ultra™ 2-in-1 Robot Vacuum and Mop with XL HEPA Self-Empty Base Robot Vacuums - Shark

The Shark® AI Robot Self-Empty combines the latest innovations for a whole-home clean. Features include: Shark® suction power; AI Laser Navigation™ for precision cleaning; and a HEPA 60-day capacity base for collecting and trapping dust and allergens.

direct.sharkclean.com

 

[spatty99]

We've had a Neato Botvac for 5 plus years and it has worked extremely well. The battery capacity dropped after about 4 years, but that was an easy and cheap replacement. It does really well with obstacles, but you do need to remove things like throw rug end fringe. Sounds like the latest versions are even better and you can map out areas to avoid.

 

[Julian]

Sounds like the latest versions are even better and you can map out areas to avoid.

I've not found this as an option on the Shark (yet). It does map your house, and you can tell it manually to clean "the kitchen", but as of today, you cannot Schedule it to only clean the kitchen. I do expect this will be something they add to its capabilities - just can't do that today with a Shark. Can Roomba do this?

 

[mrcleanr6]

most of the newer vacuums that have been released in the last couple few years that have the mapping tech have an app where you can set up virtual barriers to make an area for the vacuum to stay out of or avoid. i thought that shark had that ability. it would be sort of odd for it not to.

 

[BigN8]

I think ours is the 1001AE or something like that. You can set it to clean whole house or just certain rooms. Also can draw no go areas in on the map which I have not done yet.