iRobot 560 Roomba Vacuuming Robot, Black and Silver
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of iRobot 560 Roomba Vacuuming Robot, Black and Silver
Customer Review: Surprisingly powerful!
Summary: 5 Stars
SO I tend to be an 'early adopter' of technology and if I end up really using 10% of the things I buy it'd be a 'good' month... However I stayed clear of the Roomba's for years which is surprising considering how much I despise vacuuming. I mean really, I had an apartment with wall to wall carpet for almost 5 years... I used my full sized vacuum cleaner 7 times... that's right, 7 times over 4.8 years - I guess I'm just not that dirty of a person... after I bought my house I ended up vacuuming a lot more often but probably should still do more.
When I looked at this a couple years back there were some horror stories about having to wait months for replacement parts so I didn't buy. About 2 months ago though my Mother told me should bought a less expensive model then this and was very happy with it- so I figured it was time to take the plunge.
I've had it almost a month now and have been extremely happy with it - if you're not sure it's doing anything all you have to do is empty the 'dust-bin' and you'll see all the dirt that used to be on your floor. Make no mistake about it, this vacuum is NOT efficient, but it doesn't need to be- it make make it over the same spot on the carpet 10 times and make it someplace else only once, but so what- it does its job and you shouldn't be watching it you should be going about your day doing something else- although it's hard not to watch the first few times.
I use it in a large combined 'living room / kitchen / dining room' scenario with lots of furniture and chairs and whatnot- I run it about about 3 or 4 days before I leave for work and clean & empty it when I get home, it hasn't gotten stuck and it always finds its way back to the charger.
A couple of times I've just dropped it in my bedrooms and basement and let it go about its business- always with excellent results. It gets under beds, behind furniture, between the legs of chairs- if there's even 1 extra inch it will 'fit' through it at some point.
It has a variety of sensors on it, a 'touch' sensor if it runs into something going forward, a 'cliff' sensor so it won't roll itself down stairs accidentally, and some sort of IR sensor to slow down before hitting into things at full speed. In practice it would do well with some sort of sensor on the top so it can detect when it might get trapped- the only place I've seen it stuck is occasionally under my bedroom dressers- they have an 'arch' shape on bottom and it can fit under it from the center but not from the ends, however it also doesn't bump into it so it kind of gets pushed down into the carpet as it moves under the arch and can't back itself out. It's not a big deal but a top sensor would probably fix that.
The biggest 'con' of this item is having to clean it fairly frequently- and since it's going under beds and whatnot it will come out very dusty- especially the first few times you use it. The dust pan and air filter must be emptied after each use and the rollers should be cleaned every handful of times to keep it running right- when you're running off a battery a few long strings caught in the rollers can really affect performance where it might not even be noticeable on a model you were pushing yourself.
It may freak out your pets but they should get used to it eventually.
It's not very loud, less then most other vacuums so you can let it do its thing and watch TV or even sleep in another room down the hall without hearing it.
It's a pricey tool but it does what it says... You can clean this in 4 or 5 minutes which is probably saving you at least 10 to 15 minutes if you break out your regular vacuum. I don't know that I would replace your upright but it supplements it very well. It takes about 35 minutes to do a 30ft x 25ft area with lots of obstacles... the less obstacles and the smaller the room the faster it would be- the manual says you should estimate about 25 minutes per average sized room.
This model comes with 2 'towers' that you can set each to be either a virtual 'wall' or a 'lighthouse' - as a 'wall' you put the tower down (each tower takes 2 C batteries) in or across a doorway/hallway/opening and the robot won't cross 'the line.' This worked well for me. You can also set the tower (1 or both) to be a 'lighthouse' - a lighthouse acts like a wall telling the robot that it's the end of the room, but instead of never crossing the line of the 'lighthouse' it will finish the room it's working on first, then cross the line and begin working on the second room- (and if you setup the second tower as a 'lighthouse' it will do a 3rd room) and finally it will find it's way back from lighthouse to lighthouse to the base station to charge.
You can buy additional walls, lighthouses, and a remote control (this model does NOT have a remote included but it will work if you buy one) from the company.
The manual doesn't promise how long the battery will last aside from 'at least 1 average sized room per charge' and it strongly recommends charging for 24 hours before the first use. I can say I've had it clean the whole house (main floor and basement) without recharging but I don't know if it will keep that performance up as it gets older. It re-charges to full after doing 1 room in less then an hour.
Customer Review: TERRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE STAY AWAY!!!1
Summary: 1 Stars
My Roomba broke after 1 1/2 yrs. I called Customer Service and the only offer they gave me was to purchase a strip down version of a 580 for #120.00. Stripped down means no battery, lighthouses or charging base. Thats a joke! Stay away from the IRobot Company!!!!Customer Review: Terrible after a few months
Summary: 1 Stars
After the third one in no more than a year and a half we gave up.
The first few weeks of having a roomba are awesome. The novelty of having a little robot do the cleaning for you is great. We have ALL hardwood floors with no rugs or carpets. When it cleans it does an OK job. It's basically the equivalent of vacuuming your place with a Dustbuster. It has about that much dust-holding ability too.
This is why I hate the thing:
We've gone through three of them...
#1
After three months it started going in circles. I thoroughly cleaned it but that did not fix the problem. I ordered new wheel assemblies for it. Still didn't fix it. It went into the garage. We ordered a new one.
#2
This one lasted a while ONLY because we cannibalized the parts from the OLD one when it broke. THe last straw was when it decided to just not work...at all. We replaced the battery...nothing.
#3
Don't ask why we were so stupid. We REALLY wanted it to work out I guess. Now this new one, after about four months, will go about three feet and give the depressing tone..then die. The battery is brand new.
Here are the weaknesses that ALL THREE had:
- The little brushes are so brittle that the arms break off in a matter of weeks.
- They eat EVERYTHING. It's like having a puppy. You'll come home to find that it's pulled the curtains down, smashed a lamp, and eaten all your food (kidding of course)
- They only get stuck in the worst places where it's impossible to get to them without the use of a broom.
- The front bumper will get so scraped up that it, in effect, blinds the roomba. If the units ever lasted more than three months I'd say you'd have to replace the bumper. Luckily they break before you have to.
I'm done with these things. Don't waste your money. Do what we did...teach your kid to vacuum ;) KIDDING!
Customer Review: Terrible parts and service
Summary: 1 Stars
I recently bought a new 500 series Roomba vacuum cleaner and the front brush literally broke into parts within two weeks of owning it - makes me worried about craftsmanship.
I ordered replacement parts and over three weeks later, they have still not shipped! When I contact customer service, they ignore my emails and do not respond. This has been some of the worst customer service I have ever encountered. I am stuck with a useless vacuum because they don't keep basic replacement parts in stock and they are not avaiaable from any of the larger chain stores that carry other vacuums.
Overall, a bad experience. I do not recommend.
Customer Review: The Roomba 560 is great.
Summary: 5 Stars
To put things in perspective, understand that we have nine cats. We first used the Roomba in our large ceramic tiled kitchen. We hadn't vacuumed for several days but the Roomba 560 picked up all of the dust bunnies and stray cat food.
When we used it in the carpeted family room it stopped twice and asked to be emptied. It was full of cat hairs. The Roomba likes to work under the sofas in that room. We seldom move the sofas to vacuum the carpeting under them. The Roomba glides under sofas and eventually comes back out. After four cleanings, it's still picking up hairs but is only about half full after finishing.
We purchased two lighthouses expecting to clean kitchen, family room, and foyer on a single charge. We tried that once and it didn't work very well because of size of the kitchen and the furniture in the family room. We prefer to do one room at a time.
We tried the docking unit once with marginal success. We don't like the idea of leaving Roomba on the floor to recharge because of the cats. They like to chew on things. We charge it on a table now dedicated to that use. BTW, the cats are curious but don't panic. Of course, they take off whenever Roomba heads their way.
In the ceramic tiled foyer, Roomba does a great job on the floor and on a throw rug. It will clean the attached small powder room without getting trapped inside.
The virtual walls work nicely but to get the doorways cleaned, we place them about a foot into the adjacent room.
We read the existing reviews before purchasing a Roomba. There were several reports of side brush legs breaking off and trouble ordering extra side brushes. We ordered extra brushes right after first using Roomba. There were 3 units left when we ordered. We also bought an extra brush kit which included one side brush. After 4 to 6 uses in the various rooms, no legs have broken off the side brush. We've removed it three times for washing. The leg tips become very black and stiff after a couple uses but they seem to be intact. We've noticed that the side brush stops rotating whenever it encounters an obstruction other than table legs or baseboards.
The Roomba seldome gets stuck but our family room is a real challenge for it. The open gap under our entertainment center is just high enough for Roomba to attempt to travel under it. It gets part way in and half of those times it can't get out and shuts down. We're very comfortable letting Roomba work unattended in the kitchen or foyer, but not in the family room. We do that room while reading or watching TV. The sound isn't disturbing, in fact, it's quite nice hearing how much work is being done with so little effort on our part.
In a nutshell, we're very pleased with the Roomba 560. We're thinking of Scooba next for the kitchen and foyer floors.