Home > Consumer Reviews > iRobot Roomba Pro Intelligent Floorvac Robotic Vacuum

I'll say it right now, I like the little booger. It has its flaws, but I like it, and so does everyone that has seen it so far.

If you like nice, straight vacuum lines after you clean the carpet, this bot isn't for you. If you don't mind, read on.

Anyways, what's the difference between the old Roomba, the "Pro" version, and the "Pro Elite"?

All Roomba versions start off in circles until it hits a wall, then follow the wall for a while, then turn away from the wall and drive straight until it smacks another wall... "criss-crossing" as iRobot describes it. After a while, it'll start its circular pattern up again. Lather, rinse, repeat. If it gets caught in a tricky part of the room where the furniture layout isn't so conventional, it may find its way out eventually, but not after going over the same portion of floor over and over... and sometimes over over over over. And over. But at least it won't run off the stairs. And it follows the room perimeter very, very nicely.

The original also comes with a "virtual wall unit", so you don't have to close the door or put a chair in the doorway so the robot doesn't wander out of the room you want cleaned - it's just a little gizmo that emits a beam that the Roomba won't cross. The Pro and Elite versions come with two virtual wall units.

The Pro and Elite versions add a "spot mode", where it goes in circles in a 3' diameter for a considerable amount of time. If you're too lazy to bring the big vac out, place the Roomba Pro on the mess and hit the big "spot" button on the top. If it smacks into something during the spot mode, Roomba is smart enough to concentrate back to where it's suppose to be vacuuming.

Also, you can use the "Roomba Remote" to control the Roomba Pro & Elite. Got a huge queen or king sized bed? A bed connected to a big headboard? Don't want move bed over just to vacuum? Then send the little Roomba in. If you have a big room it'll take forever for Roomba to wander under your bed and navigate between the bed legs and other supports that you may have under there. But if you have the remote and the new Roombas, just drive the robot in; make it do 360ºs in spots you think are super dirty. You'll be surprised how much dirt it gets out (I'm talking 2-3 bin fulls if it's really dirty.) The bin is easy to clean, and the filters you can wash with soap and water.

Also, there's a "MAX" button on the remote that you can press so that the Roomba Pro & Elite keeps on cleaning until it runs out of battery. On the Elite version, the MAX button is on the Roomba itself. Just charge the battery overnight and it'll be ready again the next day.

For the Roomba Pro Elite, the Roomba is red, the remote comes with, and it comes with a wall mount that you'll probably never use.

What do I use my Roomba for? I let it loose downstairs where there's a lot of tile and hardwood. I set it on MAX with the remote and then go back upstairs or leave. The Roomba is quieter than a standard vac, so I don't notice it when I'm upstairs.

If I want to clean under the beds, I drive the robot in with the remote. The robot is rather dumb when it comes to complex furniture arrangements (grand piano, diagonally placed tables, strangely sectioned off areas), but it gets everywhere if you give it enough time.

I throw the robot in the rooms once in a while, but with so many obstacles like rolling chairs, fan bases, radios, TV stands, thick carpet, it takes forever. Plus, I like those nice straight vacuum lines. =)

Word of advice. Don't put anything on the floor that it can knock over with a slight nudge. And watch out for rugs with fringes or tassels. Tuck them under, the Roomba might get snagged and get mad at you. But it can get over rugs, and if you make your furniture "Roomba friendly" by giving it 4" clearance underneath, it'll clean under there, too.

All in all, it's a cute little machine that does the job. Great Christmas present, easy to use, easy to clean. The remote is a must have for quick cleans under the beds.

Pros:
*Easy to use, very intuitive
*Cleans under the bed, get to places you wouldn't normally clean
*automated vacuuming
*kid/pet friendly
*won't mar walls
*designed to fit under kitchen kickboards
*great if you want to clean tiles/hardwood regularly

Cons:
*Pricey
*Takes roughly 5 times longer to vacuum than you do, slower on thick plush than hardwood/tile
*Long charging time

We bought my daughter and son-in-law an original Roomba for their wedding this summer. She's a little on the practical side, he's a little like me, likes gadgets. We thought this would be a perfect gift. They loved it! So much, that they were looking forward to bringing it back to our house to show us how great it was. If it passed their expectations, we had to have one ourselves. Low and behold...we found new models, the Pro & Pro Elite. After carefully searching the internet I found there are many different packages available. We ended up purchasing a Pro model package that included 2 extra filters, two virtual walls, and the remote that actually activates the same features the Pro Elite model provides.

There's Pro's & Con's depending on your expectations;

It can follow the outer wall perimeter of a room, work it's way around furniture and back to the wall. It has deliberation in it's pattern madness. It WILL cover the entire room. Unfortunately, the battery charge does not accomodate a very large room. We purchased a rapid charger (2.5 hrs.) and an extra battery to keep Roomba ready to go.

With minor room prepping to eliminate wires, "wedge" shaped areas under furniture, frayed area rugs, you can turn it loose and let it work while you're gone. It simply stops when the charge runs out. But you need to make sure the room is prepped as Roomba will cry for help if in a situation he can't get out of. I won't go into details but Roomba does have some personality.

The heavy elevated furniture (bed, couch, curio) that can't get moved weekly, can now be cleaned under weekly.

The only features that kept me from giving this 5 stars is: The catch bin is very small. The battery run time is around an hour, at best. The recharge time is around 12 hours. I had to buy more accessories to make Roomba fit my needs.

If you're looking for a hepa vacumn that will keep your home dust free, forget about the Roomba. If it requires too much work to pick up the clutter in your home to run Roomba, you need a bigger vac anyway. It's not a one shot house cleaning miracle.

If you want some low maintenance help in your busy life to keep your floors cleaner between regular vacumnings, Roomba will do that...in an entertaining fashion.

I love this thing! I bought one of these for my husband to give me for my birthday (yep..he's that kind of guy:-) I was a bit concerned as we have an open floor plan with lots of furniture about. I didn't need to worry. This thing goes (and goes, and goes). It has no trouble navigating around any of my furniture, heck it even circles my end table legs to clean under the table. It's also great for getting the kids to pick up their toys (okay guys, I'm setting out the roomba, toys up). If it helps, I've got 5 kids, 2 cats, and 1 dog. We have all laminate and tile flooring. I am NOT a neat freak, so there's definitely stuff for the roomba to pick up. Even the hubby was surprised at how well the roomba picks up.

Two points. It's definitely louder than I thought it would be (maybe a little quieter than a regular vacuum). No talking on the phone or watching TV while the Roomba goes about it's job. We use it at night downstairs, this way everyone's upstairs in bed and the noise is not a factor. It would also be fine if you are using it during the daytime - simply in another area of the house. Shop around for the best price. I was able to get the Roomba Pro with a remote (which makes it operate the same as the Elite model it just doesn't have the pretty useless wall hanger thing), from HSN.com for 149.50 including tax and shipping. The price was $199 - the entertainment coupon book (available nationwide) has a 25% off HSN.com coupon in it, which brought the price down to 149, and there was no tax or shipping. I would also suggest investing in either an additional battery or the rapid charger (an extra battery will be cheaper). I have been able to cover approximately 1000 sq ft on a single battery charge, but the 12 hour wait for charge time with one battery gets real old real fast. Also, don't expect this to take the place of your regular vacuum cleaner (or broom and dustpan). It's great for maintenance cleaning, and you won't have to vacuum nearly as often, but you will still have to vacuum really well every once in a while. I highly recommend the Roomba!

This poduct's customer service is as good as it gets. My son purchased this for me for Christmas and we used the heck out of it, but, it did develope a slight hiccup. We called customer service and they promptly, and I mean promptly, sent us a new battery and fast charge indicature at NO CHARGE to me. This however did not solve the problem of the Roomba doing some crazy dance, it was entertaining, but not very productive. We called back and they told us to pack up everything that came in the original box, and send it back to them for a complete replacement. NO QUESTIONS ASKED! NO RECIEPT NECESSARY AND NO ORIGINAL BOX! This is great customer service and a company that backs up it's product. I would buy from this manufacturer again and again just for the friendly service they provide.
Never have I had this type of service on any other purchases. I buy a lot of stuff, and I like to get my money's worth.
Oh ya! The roomba works great, Can't believe how much I missed using it.I have a very large home with almost all hard floors, can't hide the dust and dirt like on carpets, not to menetion the dog and cat hair. It never complained either, unlike the kids or maid (ME).

Thanks IROBOT for a good product!

I'm another fan: I love my Roomba. Five stars. Six, even.

That said, I thought I'd offer a couple of caveats and one response to the customers who've had trouble losing power.

1. Roomba isn't a panacea for those of us with extremely cluttered floors (i.e. those of us with small children and/or those of us who have a home office **without** a home secretary to put stuff away). You pretty much have to pick everything up off the floor before you unleash Roomba, which means if you're staring at a Lego- and/or paper-and-book-strewn floor covered with a visible layer of dog hair and food crumbs AND you're exhausted, you're probably not going to think to yourself, "Gee, once the entire family spends 45 minutes digging out, Roomba will make short work of this mess!" You're going to forget the whole thing, and the fact that Roomba is a robot will not have solved the problem.

I figured this out by reading dozens of glowing reviews of Roomba, all of which, I realized, had been written by childless pet owners. If I were a childless pet owner, I would never touch a normal vacuum cleaner again. Not that I touch my own normal vacuum cleaner much as it is.

That said, I still love the thing, and I've had it since it came out. I've ended up using it mostly for the kitchen and foyer, because those rooms are small and don't get insanely cluttered with toys or paper. It does a terrific job, certainly as good as anything I could accomplish with a broom and dustpan, and just about as good as anything I could accomplish with a real vacuum cleaner. And honest to God: you can be vacuuming the kitchen while you're off doing something completely different, like, say, the laundry. It really is a gas turning on your robot, leaving the room, and returning to find the floor swept and clean and Roomba waiting patiently to have its dust-catcher-thingy emptied (easy) and be plugged back into its charging station (also easy). Amazing.

Side note: technically Roomba is a carpet sweeper, not a true vacuum cleaner, so if I were a childless pet owner who was serious about housecleaning I would still own and, conceivably, use a real vacuum cleaner in addition to Roomba.

2. Power woes. My Roomba's power also began to ebb, with the charge giving out more and more quickly as one reviewer describes. I discovered that the problem had nothing to do with the battery or the charge. The problem was dog hair wrapped around the brush. You have to clean every tiny bit of dog hair (& anything else) off of the various mechanisms, because the Roomba's power is very limited. Any drag on the motor will slow it down and stop it.

Cleaning off the hairs was extremely simple, and restored the power completely.

On the other hand, my neighbor also bought the Roomba when it first came out, and hers simply does not seem to work as well as mine does. Neither of us has any idea why. We can put the two machines on the same carpet in her living room, and mine will pick everything up while hers does not. Again, I'm writing about the first iteration of Roomba, but still, whenever I need to replace the one I have I'll use the new one often enough up front to be able to exchange it if I think I've got a lemon. (I had the same story myself with the second wall unit I ordered, which did not work at all. The exchange unit was fine.)

3. Last but not least, my house has almost all hardwood floors, except for one oriental in the living room. The Roomba has trouble with the fringe on the oriental, and I'm not sure I'd find Roomba as brilliant with wall-to-wall carpeting, although I might. On hardwood it's a miracle.