Stickman Say: Bestsellers The Professional Roomba on Sales
Great, but the cheaper models work just as well if not better., 2010-03-11
This review is for: Bestsellers The Professional Roomba on Sales
UPDATES: The bought another Rooomba, but this time we bought the 560 which was half the price of this 610. In addition, it runs for almost a full hour on the schedule, as compared to about 25-30 minutes for the 610.Also, we use the dog slicker brush to clean the brushes on the Roomba. It's much faster than the thing that come with it. The key problem with this and the 560 we just bought is that dog hair still gets wrapped around the AXLES of the beater and brush, and how you have to clean it. Still worth it, but there has to be a mod or something to keep that dog hair off the axles.----------------Original Review:We've had this little critter for about a week now and feel I can give it a pretty good review. We bought the 610 because it has a better warranty than the other models, (2 years vs 1 year), it has the larger capacity bin, has the Max function, and it looks nicer than the other models. This costs us about $250 over the next closest model. ($600 vs $349) Here is how it stacks up.Warranty: Only time will tell but 2 years is better than 1 year.Large Capacity Bin: So far, we've only used the standard bin and it's never even come close to being full. We have two dogs (Chows) and we keep a pretty clean house, so I'm not sure that the higher capacity bin will be a beneifit to us. If you have a dirty house, maybe it would. Note: the high capacity bin is really for pet hair and things like ceral, and larger things, not dirt. The filter in the standard bin has to be cleaned every use regardless. The large capacity bin has no filter. So for me, it's just a waste.Max mode cleaning. We have a fairly large house with a very open floor plan and lots of weird furniture. We hit the max button and it runs for about 1.5 hours non stop. It really does a good job. Way better than I expected. The only issue is our coffee table. It's weird and the little robot often gets stuck. I have to pull it out from under it about half the time. We have a solution for it, we just have to make an adjustment before we run it. Other than that, it does a great job. We use the virtual walls to help confine it somewhat so it doesn't go into the dining room or kitchen. And close all the other doors to the other rooms. Do that and it cleans a 40'x30' L shaped living room and 10'x10' sitting room no problem. We can also manually place it in the master bedroom and other rooms and it easily does the entire room.On carpet, it's great. But it's almost useless on tile or hardwood floors. All it really does is move the dust around. It does get the dog hair and that's great, but in the laundry room, it just blows the dust bunnies around, never picks them up. The same for the kitchen. Big stuff it gets, but small things it just pushes or blows around.Complaint: The Max mode can only be manually started. It has a scheduler, but on the scheduler it only runs about 30-45 minutes. And then back to the charging station. I really don't like that. I'm sure they have a reason why we can't run Max mode on the scheduler, but whatever it is, I disagree with it. In our house, we need the full 1.5 hours to clean the room.Clean up: I do not like it. No bag and the container has to be manually emptied and handled. The brush and beater also have to be cleaned after every run. It's not hard, in fact it's easy, but I just don't like handling the dirty parts. The dog hair wraps around the brush and it's just terrible. You have to pull off the ends and use the included cleaner to clean the brush. It does a fine job, but I just don't like handling it. For a $250 premium price, I would have expected something better in the cleaning department.Noise: NOT a problem! It's much quitier than our Oreck. Not even bothersome. I can even hear the TV by turning it up just a little more than normal when it's running. High praise for how quiet it is.Overall, it's fantastic. I would never want to be without it. Is it worth $250 more than the next closest model? For me, no. If the max function was on the scheduler, then I'd say maybe. And if they had a better way to clean it, yes for sure. You get one extra year of warranty, however, for the extra $250, you can almost buy a new one.If I were to do it over again, I would buy one of the cheaper models and save the $250. One thing for sure no matter which one you buy; it'll make you feel like George & Jane Jetson.

Richard A. Spencer "The family cook" Say: Bestsellers The Professional Roomba on Sales
Who is the robot?, 2010-10-26
This review is for: Bestsellers The Professional Roomba on Sales
First of all let's recognize that this is a wimpy vacuum. It rolls over and leaves dirt that would be easily sucked up by an "ordinary" vacuum. That being said, the Roomba does vacuum some dirt all by itself.Second of all, it's a very demanding servant. "Charge me. Clean me. Free me, I'm stuck." Jeez, maybe I will shelve the Roomba and roll out the Kirby.Third of all, I did not get any barriers with my 610. I put it in the living room to vacuum the rug, and in a few minutes it was in the kitchen, headed directly at my feet, while I'm trying to load the dishwasher. I hate to admit it, but I kicked the Roomba because it was so annoying. But you do not want to do that. The thing shuts off, and you got to figure out how to reassemble a very complicated machine. I suspect more positive reviews are written by people who run their Roombas while they are not home.Fourth, the manual claims that the Roomba has a plan to systematically vacuum an area. Forget it. The thing bumps into a object, rotates to travel a totally mystifying angle, and takes off, often to another room.Fifth, my Roomba is fascinated by hallways, which I don't need vacuumed, and doormats which it crawls over constantly, and removes very little soil. Oh, and now you need to re-charge your Roomba. Currently mine is laying on the floor complaining it needs to be cleaned and re-charged. Wow, it vacuumed stuff I did not need cleaned for a whole two hours!Sixth, the Roomba description does not mention that the "docking station" needs to located on a hard surface, not a carpet. Could be problematic in a lot of houses.

Tiger Say: Bestsellers The Professional Roomba on Sales
Fantastic!, 2010-08-03
This review is for: Bestsellers The Professional Roomba on Sales
I love this product! The Roomba is amazing...does a thorough job, easy to clean, and really amazing. We are no longer covered with pet hair! I wish I had purchased this product much sooner.