I give up on Roomba

I’m on my second Roomba. The Discovery SE fell down the stairs, had to be repaired. Was noisy, needed daily cleaning.

The Costco 535 is a year old. We had not used it since June. The side brush no longer spins. I took it off, cleaned the hair out from underneath. Worked a little better, then the brush came off and it vacuumed the screw. If I tighten it (I was very careful to not strip) too much, it does not spin. If I loosen it a smidge, the screw spins and falls off. Crappy workmanship and design.

The gears have hair in them; Can see the hair poking out from the spindle for the brush, coming from inside.

I have one fiancé and one cat, not too much to ask for.

These are overpriced for the quality of their build. Even iRobot knows they are going to fail a lot, hence the new, modular design to replace components easier.

After each run, the vacuum requires 10 minutes of Awl work to pick out the hair wrapped around the ends of the brushes and the tiny thin channels.

I spend less time with the Electrolux than I do cleaning the roomba. The roomba is good for under the bed and couch, but that is about it.

I love the concept and some of the design, but man, for the money, the roomba is a gadget. It is not build for running 2-3x a week.

This is the ideal concept for my parents, but there is no way I would put them through the maintenance hell of a Roomba. That is a classic sign of Fail in my book, when you won’t even buy your own Mother one.

I’m not bitter about the money; I wanted it to work and will let it continue to putt around upstairs, but in reality, I can no longer recommend these products to my friends.

I’d rather pay $1000 for a well designed, sturdy, non-hair trapping machine. We’re in a economic crisis, it is time to start building better American products that last and people can stand behind proudly.

I just bought a Rock Pedal from a nice guy in Florida. He emails people quickly. He posts videos on how to adjust the pedal. The price is steep ($75) but it is all steel, no foam, no junk. It just works. People abuse the thing, it just works. If a well built, performing pedal with excellent support is $75, how can a robot that cleans be $250?

It can’t.

Time to wake up and save my money, while I wait for something I can get behind.

Steve