IRobot vacuum? - Page 2

MN Renovator · 09-19-12, 10:27 AM

It's noisy because it's a vacuum cleaner, it's quieter than most vacuum cleaners though and since you don't need to attend to it, you can just go to a different room or vacuum the living room while you're making food in the kitchen. Then again I don't mind the noise but it saves me time and the carpet and hardwood areas end up clean and it always catches itself instead of falling down the stairs.

I wouldn't pay more than $100 for one since that's about what a normal vacuum cleaner costs but I got mine for $40.

Mine is one white one. I couldn't bother myself with digging it out of the closet to upload a picture so you get a picture of my robot and another robot. The yellow one is a Dirt Dog which doesn't have a vacuum, it's just a brush assembly and it actually works just fine and has a larger hopper for dirt and it is fairly quiet. Mine has the vacuum but it doesn't seem to really be any better as far as clean floors go, they are about the same.

I got mine off of Craigslist, the battery only runs for about 30 minutes which is enough to mostly finish my largest room and any missing spots get taken care of the next time it vacuums so I just run it once a week through the whole house if I want it to always be clean and it does the job. I don't do anything special with mine, I charge it after I use it and all I do is just put it in a room, turn it on, and walk away and it shuts off when the battery is empty.

I had to replace a gear assembly and a set of bearings which the price on those were about $20 shipped if I remember right when I bought them on ebay and the NiMh battery that it comes with was mostly shot when I bought it used but it appears to be a standard pack of SubC NiMh cells so I will probably just disassemble the pack and buy those and solder them in place in the normal pack. I've seen third party replacements as well.

So yes, it does need new parts but so have my conventional vacuum cleaners when they snap a belt or wear out their brushes. If you are willing to tinker with it and deal with some tiny screws I'm sure you could make one of these last forever.

If you don't mind replacing the battery and possibly a few parts, there are plenty Roomba vacuums for sale on Craigslist, usually you can get a working one for $50 or less if you wait around for a good deal. If you get a cheap broken one be sure the owner can describe the symptoms well to know if it's going to be a tough fix. I replaced the gearset in mine and it was 6 different sizes of screws and probably a total of 40 tiny screws.

I think these were both in the $100-150 range when they were new, lower end models. I often see Christmas sales and other opportunistic sales for $100 or so similar to the one Sirius found and I don't see any value in the more expensive ones.

S-F · 09-21-12, 09:43 PM

I have a Roomba on each floor. Every day I come home to a clean floor! Hooray for craigslist. $25 a pop plus the cost of a new battery from Amazon.

09-19-12, 10:27 AM	#11
MN Renovator Less usage=Cheaper bills Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Minneapolis, MN Posts: 940 Thanks: 41 Thanked 117 Times in 91 Posts	It's noisy because it's a vacuum cleaner, it's quieter than most vacuum cleaners though and since you don't need to attend to it, you can just go to a different room or vacuum the living room while you're making food in the kitchen. Then again I don't mind the noise but it saves me time and the carpet and hardwood areas end up clean and it always catches itself instead of falling down the stairs. I wouldn't pay more than $100 for one since that's about what a normal vacuum cleaner costs but I got mine for $40. Mine is one white one. I couldn't bother myself with digging it out of the closet to upload a picture so you get a picture of my robot and another robot. The yellow one is a Dirt Dog which doesn't have a vacuum, it's just a brush assembly and it actually works just fine and has a larger hopper for dirt and it is fairly quiet. Mine has the vacuum but it doesn't seem to really be any better as far as clean floors go, they are about the same. I got mine off of Craigslist, the battery only runs for about 30 minutes which is enough to mostly finish my largest room and any missing spots get taken care of the next time it vacuums so I just run it once a week through the whole house if I want it to always be clean and it does the job. I don't do anything special with mine, I charge it after I use it and all I do is just put it in a room, turn it on, and walk away and it shuts off when the battery is empty. I had to replace a gear assembly and a set of bearings which the price on those were about $20 shipped if I remember right when I bought them on ebay and the NiMh battery that it comes with was mostly shot when I bought it used but it appears to be a standard pack of SubC NiMh cells so I will probably just disassemble the pack and buy those and solder them in place in the normal pack. I've seen third party replacements as well. So yes, it does need new parts but so have my conventional vacuum cleaners when they snap a belt or wear out their brushes. If you are willing to tinker with it and deal with some tiny screws I'm sure you could make one of these last forever. If you don't mind replacing the battery and possibly a few parts, there are plenty Roomba vacuums for sale on Craigslist, usually you can get a working one for $50 or less if you wait around for a good deal. If you get a cheap broken one be sure the owner can describe the symptoms well to know if it's going to be a tough fix. I replaced the gearset in mine and it was 6 different sizes of screws and probably a total of 40 tiny screws. I think these were both in the $100-150 range when they were new, lower end models. I often see Christmas sales and other opportunistic sales for $100 or so similar to the one Sirius found and I don't see any value in the more expensive ones. Last edited by MN Renovator; 09-19-12 at 10:31 AM..