We have a 2200 sq. Foot home....give or take a few hundred sq. feet. So we decided to get a second Roomba because we wanted one at both ends of the house AND we added a dog since our first Roomba purchase. We can’t do regular vacuuming with big vacs and these little guys do a WAY BETTER job. Yes, you read that right, the little guy does a better job!
Th Roomba is a powerhouse in a mini package! Now for a tip to all who want their purchase to last. We ALWAYS empty the filter and container about 45mins to an hour into her work. It keeps her cleaning at her best. Finally when she is done working we take her out to the garage and use the air compressor and blow her out. We do this EVERY time without fail. She goes to her charger clean and ready for next time.
Also, the most expensive unit is not always the best unit. Meaning our choices were made because we need the pet hair option. We feel the 650 and 614 models are the best ones for our home. There are many models with individual options and specialized cleaning functions. Be sure to look at all models of Roomba and decide what meets your house needs. Lastly, go with the or the iRobot brand name. You will not be disappointed.
After seeing the newer models that have come out of iRobot and other manufacturers I was uncertain how happy I would be the Rooba614. Being a bit of a cheapskate I tend to look at price more than I should, so I gave it a shot. I got this item from the Amazon Warehouse deals in “Like New” condition.
“Amazon Warehouse” packaged this horribly, but this tough little bot showed no signs of damage or wear from being bounced around by UPS for 2 days. Regardless, my rating is not based on the shipping but on the product.
For a $250 robot vacuum she cleans well. This may not be great for the OCD among us, like myself, but if you can keep the faith it will pick it up. Just don’t watch the vacuum work, you’ll keep trying to perform a “Jedi mind trick” to pick up the debris it keeps randomly passing by. ”The suction is equivalent of an old dust buster, but the brushes do most of the work.
I have 3 cats, 1 Labrador, 2 girls and one son at home… meaning this thing has seen glitter, mud, and fur, rarely leaving anything behind. It does not snag the edges of rugs or cords, it finds its way to the home charger 95+% of the time without assistance. It is very good on rugs, carpet and hard floors.
In my situation, the collection bin MUST be emptied every use and the instructions state the same. This model doesn’t have “scheduled” cleaning or WiFi, but for the savings, I’m more than happy to push the button and walk away!
Now if iRobot could make one of these that could do the stairs….
I have a dog and 2 women living with me. The hair this thing gets is crazy. It's a challenge to keep it happy with hair getting in the rollers, all rollers get jammed with hair. Other than that my allergies have been easier on me, and the dust is a lot less in the house. I am on single level 2000sqft. I run it most days daily dump the bin and every other week find some reason to clean out the hair. The first month was the worst with hair, after a couple months it's not too bad. I have had it going for 8 months now and will keep this updated if there is a problem.
My Roomba gave birth to a ferret!
I have been debating on getting a Roomba mostly to maintain the amazing work our cleaning lady does in between cleanings, which is every 2 weeks. We have a short haired dog who shreds quite a bit and a 1 year old who is all over, so we definitely were enticed by something that would help us keep the floors clean. We jumped on it when it was on sale for Prime Day.
Let me first say that this is our first and only Roomba and we haven't tried any competitive products yet. It was just delivered today and we couldn't wait to give it a whirl. We charged it as directed and let it go to work.
At first, the Roomba seemed to take a very haphazard approach, leaving areas completely untouched. Over time, it seemed to cover almost everything, and we were pleasantly surprised. It did seem like it slightly favored low pile area rugs over hard wood and laminate because it kept going over our rugs multiple times. We noticed that it was in one room for what seemed like forever, left and then came back to that same room even though it seemed clean already. Also, it moved some of our dining room chairs, which are pretty heavy. It also closed our bedroom door by itself which caused it to lock itself inside. I can see this being pretty annoying if we set it to clean while we're at work and it locks itself in one room instead of cleaning the whole house.
I would say the unit of fairly noisy. Not as noisy as a traditional vacuum, but more so than central air conditioning noise. We eventually tuned it out over time, but our son and dog definitely seemed to continue to notice it. Which brings me to my next point, my dog was fine with the unit (didn't try to attack it or anything), until it came very close to her. At that point, she ran away as quickly as she possibly could.
When we hit the dock button, we expected the unit to find its way back to the station within a minute or two, but it seemed to have gotten distracted along the way and spent another 30+ minutes before finally finding its way back to the dock. It makes me wonder if the Roomba's batteries could die before it gets back to charge.
*****And so here comes the most AMAZING part: *****
We only ran the unit for about an hour and a half. We just had the cleaning lady come YESTERDAY and our house seemed pretty spotless. We were shocked at how much the unit picked up in such a short amount of time when our house appeared so clean. OUR ROOMBA GAVE BIRTH TO WHAT LOOKS LIKE A FERRET!
I do think the canister is rather small and I worry that it will be full before it has the opportunity to clean the whole house. We will have to see how this works out when we use it for longer periods of time.
Lastly, I was pretty annoyed that the manual that came with the unit specifically states that you can schedule cleanings, but our unit does NOT have this feature. This unit can only clean and dock, which didn't seem abundantly clear when it was posted on Prime Day. Nevertheless, I think it did a great job cleaning and would recommend the product. I would mostly likely recommend an upgraded version instead of this one though.
I purchased the 614 because I do not need a remote control, scheduling capability or lighthouse. This is my first roomba and I love it. I have run it every day since I got it. At first it appeared to follow a random path but the manual says it seeks out the dirtiest places first and I can believe it. It runs for 60-70 minutes on one charge and returns to the dock. Every time I run it the dust bin has dirt and fuzz in it. It is very easy to empty the bin. The cliff sensor really works so it doesn’t fall down the stairs. It takes about 3 hrs to get s full charge. So I block off rooms and shut doors and do a room at a time. We have entryway-living room-kitchen-bathroom-2 bedrooms on the main floor and this model does inicely when I do the bedrooms and bath separately. It does indeed go under furniture that is 3-1/2 inches or more off the ground. It does corners nicely too. I was skeptical about a round device getting in corners but the long brush things do the trick. Suction seems adequate since the bin always has stuff in it when it returns to the dock. I am a big fan and my husband who thought this was a joke is also a convert now. A bonus is that it entertains the dog for an hour when I run it.
Feature Product
- 3-Stage Cleaning system loosens, lifts, and suctions dirt, dust, and hair from hard floors and carpet
- Dual Multi-Surface Brushes work together to grab dust, dirt, and large debris. The Auto-Adjust cleaning head automatically adapts its height to effectively clean both carpets and hard floors
- Patented Dirt Detect sensors alert Roomba to work harder on concentrated areas of dirt, such as high-traffic zones of your home
- Full suite of sensors intelligently navigate the robot under and around objects and under furniture to help thoroughly clean your floors
- Edge-Sweeping Brush is specially designed at a 27-degree angle to sweep debris away from edges and corners
- Runs for up to 90 minutes* before automatically docking and recharging. (*Tested on hard floors)
- Featuring Roomba Essentials- Smart Navigation, Auto-Adjust Cleaning Head, Works on Carpets and Hard Floors
- Box Content: 1 Roomba 614 Robot Vacuum, 1 Home Base Charging Station, 1 North American Line Cord, 1 Extra AeroVac Filter, 1 Brush Cleaning Tool, Owner's Guide, Documentation Package
- iRobot does not guarantee the quality or authenticity of products purchased from non-authorized resellers on Amazon, and they are not eligible for warranty or replacement from iRobot
Description
The Roomba 614 Vacuum Cleaning Robot provides a thorough clean, all at the push of a button. The patented, 3-Stage Cleaning System picks up dust, pet hair and large debris like cereal. The Lithium Ion battery helps your robot go the distance, providing up to 3x the battery cycle lifetime. Roomba works on all floor types, and at just 3.6 inch tall, is specifically designed to fit under most furniture, beds and kickboards.
Why are the vacuums named for women? Ever seen my husband vacuum? He's a pro, so we named our new Roomba "Chuck". He's a monster. We have a 2 tier house with steps and ledges. Chuck never nosedives off anything. He sucks up dirt and hair from our farm house with multiple dogs and cats and he does it with style. He never complains and his battery lasts a long time. He recharges quickly and is always ready to go. He might bump into obstacles but he does it lightly and doesn't make a mark or do any damage. I'm so happy with my Roomba. Chuck has changed my life!
This thing is amazing. We have spots in our house where the floors aren't the same height (about 1/2 difference as the floor type transitions) and this goes in between rooms like a champ, and was even able to clean along the transition strip. We have two dogs and three cats, so obviously lots of dust and dander - the Roomba 614 does a better job cleaning up than my upright vac. This came with two filters, so when one finally got too clogged up, we were able to rinse and dry it but still use the Roomba.
Because I'm still in the honeymoon phase with this device, I enjoy moving the couches and letting it clean the floor, and there's a big difference between where Roomba has been and where it hasn't. This gets under the sleigh bed to do the area rug (a chore that is semi-annual or annual, because it involves removing the mattress and box spring to get underneath) and goes right under the coffee table. It travels between wood, linoleum, and rug with no issues. The height is perfect for going underneath the edge of the cabinets in the kitchen as well. I got a good laugh today when the Roomba had shoved a laundry basket out of the way to get into a room, so make sure if you're trying to block it somewhere that you use heavy enough items.
A couple of minor down-sides that (for me) don't detract from the awesomeness: My device has some battle scars from attempting to go under (and escaping) furniture that isn't tall enough for it to get under, so it's smart but not QUITE that smart. Pick up cords, shoes with laces, and socks before running the Roomba. It will eventually shut off and give you an error code if it picks something like a cord (my phone charger), but if it picks up a sock it will just keep going and bang itself on the floor as it goes. There's no alarm or warning when the cup is full, so we just periodically check the cup and empty as needed. The little gizmo that is supposed to send a signal to the Roomba to keep it in or away from certain areas either doesn't work or it's more complicated than turning it on and setting it somewhere.
I had a Roomba 400 series machine for about 9 years, and finally wore it out.
After some research it seemed for my need the 614 as the more-or-less "entry level" model in the series now would suit my needs and not break the bank. I don't have pets, and I don't need scheduling.
With a small tear in my eye I sold my wounded 400 series on eBay, and pulled the trigger on the purchase of a 614.
In short I love it - it is much quieter than my 400, it is variable speed and moves more slowly while "defining" its vacuuming perimeter, and then while vacuuming slows down as it approaches a known wall or obstacle so it doesn't "crash" into things at full speed as did the 400. The filter has more surface area, and while the dust bin does not "dump" as easily as the 400 it's not much of a pain. The dock/docking station is a very nice feature, and the battery lasts much longer than my 400 battery did even when new. The drive system has been redesigned, the cliff sensors are now more resistant to dust, and I presume the wheel encoders are also more dust resistant (they look that way) that was a problem with my 400... Every month or so I had to blow the dust out of the wheel cavities to keep the encoders clean. The edge brush is an improved design, and overall the unit is more ruggedly built.
I've only had it about a week, but I'm delighted.
It's one of the cheapest versions on the market, but a great buy. It has minimal features and does not connect to your phone, nor can it be set to an automatic timer. However, I don't miss either of these things. I simply press a button to turn it on, it does it's thing, and eventually re-docks itself. It does occasionally get stuck, so you have to be vigilant about picking things up and blocking off areas where it will trap itself. It includes a "dock" button, if you want to send it back to it's charging station early, as well as a "spot clean" button - which I find particularly useful to clean the more heavily trafficked areas of my apartment. It's easy to clean and maintain but just like any vacuum, if you have long hair, you will need to use the included tool to cut the brushes free regularly. Overall, I adore this machine, and love coming home to freshly vacuumed floors!
Roomba is the essential home vacuum device. You can't call yourself a lazy millennial without a robot in your life, and this is a required purchase. You haven't quite lived until you're drunk enough to follow the Roomba all over your small studio apartment feeding it Cocoa Krispies and getting giddy when it finally cycles around to catch it.
Previous owner of the Roomba 540 and this is a distinct improvement. The bin is much larger and easier to empty. The dust filter has been redesigned and now you can really feel the strength of the suction from the air blowing distinctly around the rear of the unit. The nicer models feature a bin-emptying detector but you don't really need it if you can gauge the amount of airflow coming out the back (weak flow=empty me).
The brushes have been improved but most importantly the gear box is better. Before you could get a lot of dust through the holes and it would disrupt the gears catching and the power of your brush would be affected. They have also improved the plastic brush ends which lead to much less hair twisting than before. It's still an issue and you need to clean them every 5 cycles to keep everything running smoothly, but overall it's very much improved vs the 500 series.
My favorite improvement over the 5 series is the handle! How useful instead of me grabbing the sides like a caveman and getting my hands filthy with old dust that's been in the back of the closet for years.
The only negative I've found is that I miss the pulsating charging light. It used to blind orange until it was fully charged then hold the green. It charges fast enough to not care about this, but it was nice to see and I miss that.
I bought this item as a refurbished model off the amazon warehouse and it was a bargain!
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