Frisbee-looking Vacuum That Wanders the Floor

This sounds like you may be speaking of the Roomba vacuum. It is a robotic cleaner. Under normal operating conditions, it is able to navigate a living space and its obstacles while vacuuming the floor, though I have heard mixed reviews. I guess it depends on the model. Some years ago, a friend told me it was a huge waste of money, but now someone boasted about its virtues, so I assume the newer models are better equipped to do the cleaning, but at $350, I'd rather stick to the true and tried (and more economical!) method of the ol' broom and map. They say the Roomba is not as loud as a traditional vacuum cleaner and works on wood, vinyl, tile, and carpet. The Roomba does require maintenance after each cleaning cycle. This requires emptying the dust bin, removing the brushes and filter to clean and, sometimes, cleaing the sensors that may have dust buildup. If you don't mind this and the price tag, go for it.
You can read more on it, including reviews, here if you decide you may want to buy it, regardless of its huge price tag: http://www.amazon.com/iRobot-560-Roomba-Vacuuming-Silver/...

I have had a roomba in the past and as ling as you do 1 room at a time it does a great job, even goes underbeds. Itsnot terribly noisy either. Those who found it not doing a complete job probabally gave ita space too large. I loved it when I had it and miss itnow that I don't have it.
Why I don't have it: it only lasts about a year. Ibought 2 and each only lasted a year. Toomuch money to only last a year.

A vacuum for your birthday????? Girl, better ask for a mani-pedicure, makeup lessons, a beautiful outfit, fancy restaurant, night on the town. Never, ever ask for an appliance as a birthday gift!!! Happy birthday

The funny little vacuum you speak of is the Roomba. And I love love love my Roomba. I named mine Larry and he is my best friend. I have wood floors and carpet and it works great. I find that it works better on hard surface floors than carpet, but I have an old model. I imagine they are far better now. They transition from hard surface to carpet on their own and they really aren't that loud in comparison with a regular vacuum. If you have a lot of tile, you may want to look into the Scooba. It mops and vacuums (only works on hard surface floors though)!!!!! It's on my Christmas list this year.

I have one. It is called a Roomba, and I love it. It is a lot quieter than a regular vacuum cleaner. There are different models, and some may be better for tile. Mine would do both, but I used mine primarily for carpet. They have a model called a Scooba that sweeps and washes non-carpeted floors. My mom has that one. But I don't think that one does carpet.

One more thing: it is recommended that you limit the area it is working on to one room at a time. It definitely does a better job if you don't have it work on too big of an area (or the whole house) at once. If you have an open floor plan, mine came with "invisible walls" which shoot out some sort of laser light that tells the vacuum not to pass through it. However, I found that physical barriers work better. If I don't give it more than one room at a time, it does a fine job of covering the area. Also, my battery would run for over an hour.

I have the Roomba and the Scooba. I have tile floors and an area rug downstairs and carpet upstairs. It works good on the tile but doesn't transition well to the area rug. It also doesn't work on the carpet upstairs because the fibers are super tight and it just gets full of carpet fuzz. It is good for quick cleaning though, and if you just let it go when you leave the house your floors will pretty much be clean when you get back.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Scooba!!! It is the best thing ever for tile floors and it is very quiet. I use it after my kids are in bed and they can't hear it at all.

If you do decide to buy either one, get it at Bed Bath and Beyond, because they will take it back if it breaks, even if you don't have the receipt. They will even take it back if you just don't like it. (and no, I don't work there - lol!)

I bought one many, many years ago when they first came out and I wasn't impressed with it. Mostly because it sometimes got stuck in corners, and the little reservoir that stored the dirt that it picked up wasn't very big. I know they've come a long way since then though. My friend has one and thinks it's absolutely wonderful!

You don't want it. My neighbor has it. He said you spend more time cleaning it then you would to use a regular vacuum and do it yourself. I was over there and after about five minutes you have to take it all a part and clean it. Then restart it. It is very quiet, you don't even know it's there. You have to recharge it after fifteen minutes. And you have to change the settings on it to go from carpet to tile. It does not pick up anything in corners. He used his for about a month and I haven't seen it since. Both him and his wife said it is so not worth the money they paid for it. Do yourself a favor and don't buy one.

Hello B.,
It's called a Roomba Vac and yes I have one. Got it last Xmas, very pricey but in my opinion worth it. They have several different models so be sure you do your research. Mine can go from tile to carpet without having to change any settings whatsoever. Now, if you are looking for it to clean up heavy duty messes then this is not the Vac for you. This is meant more for "maintanence" as I call it. I'm a clean freak so I hate to see my floors dirty. The Vac is on the loud side so I but it on before I leave for work, by the time I come home - it's done it's job and has docked itself back at it's station and is re-charging. They have models you can program so it automatically cleans at certain times of the day. Mine came with these two minature tower looking things that represent an invisible wall in the event you don't want the Vac going into another room/area. My husband hates the Vac because of the noise but LOVES that I can now sit & watch TV with him at night instead of sweeping the house. Like everything it has it's Pro's & Con's - but personally I love mine.

It's called a roomba. we dont use ours often, but i know other who do and love it. Go to Roomba.com

I have the roomba and the scooba. Definitely think the roomba is more worthwhile. It does take some maintenance but is a great time saver. I can set it to vacuum in one room while I am cleaning another room. A couple of drawbacks are it does take longer than a traditional vacuum so if you are in a rush it is frustrating to watch it zigzag all over the place and not pick up the crumb you have been staring at for the lat 10 minutes. I find it is best to set it in a room you don't have to go into for a while or set it to go before you leave the house. Second drawback is that even though it goes straight from carpet to tile and vice versa, you still have to use a dustbuster to go around the perimeter of the carpet because as it goes up or down it doesn't have a close enough contact to sweep up well right on the border of the carpet. I would certainly ask for it for my birthday especially if it is going to save me hours and hours of work over the next few years. Good luck and definitely read reviews on amazon. That always helps me decide.

I think you are talking about the Roomba. My husband got me one shortly after our first child was born to help me out with housework. I feel it was a total waste of money. It is supposed to "map" the room so that it goes around and around in a spiral and gets all of the floor, but when it hits an obstacle, like a piece of furniture or a wall, it just goes off in a random direction. So what I've found is it does the same spots again and again and never gets to other spots. It does work on the places that it actually vacuums but my problem is that it doesn't vacuum everywhere. It goes from carpet to tile to wood no problem but it just doesn't do a thorough job. I never use mine anymore--I've given it a try on various occasions but I have never been happy with the results. Plus it is very loud and my kids (and dog) are terrified of it! I don't recommend it based on my experience.

Hi B..

I had a friend that wanted to sell me her Roomba and a Scooba to us. She loaned both to us for as long as we wanted. We had it for about a week before we promptly gave it back. We have hardwoods and carpet. It would go from hardwood to carpet but then was stuck. Also, it has to be in a contained area and not too large. It would get stuck around furniture and found itself repeating swipes over and over. I did not envision moving borders around the house between rooms. This rather defeats the purpose. I would not waste your money on it. Hopefully there will be something different coming out in the next year that will correct these issues. Good luck with your decision.

R.

DO NOT ASK FOR A VACUUM FOR YOUR BIRTHDAY!!!!
You deserve a beautiful bouquet of flowers and perhaps a piece of jewelry...
as for the vacuum, I think it's called the "butler"...a girlfriend has it, it is turned on and then bumps into walls or furniture before it turns around, much like a pool vacuum, which randomly scours the bottom of the pool.
It has no mind.
But that new ring will be so pretty...

I believe you are referring to a "Roomba" vacuum. I don't have one of these but I do have a "Scooba". I have alot of tile as well and washing it takes forever! The Scooba runs by itself and vacuums, washes and dries my tile. I LOVE it. It looks funny the way it wanders but I've watched it many times and it cleans the entire floor. You need to get one of these!

It does go from tile to carpet on its own. It gets tangled under chairs and tables. It gets lost from the base and doesn't recharge itself, you still need to vacuum with the big one, but this takes care of little crumbs. I'm glad we never paid full price, but even the forty dollars we paid seems a bit much.

Sounds like you are describing the Roomba. My sister has one. It is not noisy, and yes, it wanders around the house on her tile floors. When it "bumps" into something, it changes direction. My sister's Roomba, that I know of, doesn't do carpeting very well. I think it's for tile floor, but there may be different kinds of Roomba's to do versatile jobs. They are expensive, though. Look on Ebay for bargain prices. I think that is where she bought her Roomba.

I think it's great you want something useful. I asked for a Kitchen Aid mixer for my b-day about 5 years ago. I love it and that's what I wanted. Why is it so bad to ask for something that she wants for her b-day. Some of us don't care about pedi's or manicures. Flowers die in a matter of days or a week. Good luck finding your vacuum that you want. Happy Birthday!!!!

I loved my Roomba for carpet, but had a difficult time when it transitioned to the hard-wood floor. (We used it mainly for bird seed and it would all spill out once it hit the hard wood.) For tile, you might want a Scooba.

Be careful about buying from some stores though-
We had to return ours several times because they would re-package returned units and put them back on the shelves. We would open the box and see hair and dirt in the unit...or the battery wouldn't work, etc....

Also- if you have a lot of hair or pet hair you want cleaned, this sometimes can be more trouble than it's worth. (Hair gets wrapped around the bar and brushes and have to be cut away w/ a special tool that comes with it.) For once in a while this is alright, but if you have large dogs you will be doing this every day.

my sister in law has this they say it works great carpet, and floors.they turned it on while we were there, and it was kind of loud.yes it can go from carpet to floor on its own.