iRobot Scooba experience

[Vachel Chan]

thanks all for the answer....now i guess i have a better understanding about the machines. Anybody tried using the remote control for the roomba? i tend to have some problems with it's sensitivity. It comes and goes.or am i using it wrongly also what does the button with the 3 dots stands for??

The 3 dots Stands for "Return to Dock" or same as pressing the dock button on the LCD touch panel of the Roomba 780. The Remote is by IR, distance or obstructions could play a factor in its sensitivity. The receiver is at the front of the Roomba, so direction the remote is aimed at may play a part too.

For videos and specifications on a range of Robotic Cleaners, Do checkout Autovacstore.com

 

[toblerone]

Hi Vachel

Saw the video clip that this square roboking can climb up steps. What about the older model VR6142?

You are still selling the 6142?

Yup. have the full range of the latest Squarish LG Roboking. Only the VR6270LVM ($988) is red in colour. The other models are VR6261LVM (Maroon, $858) and VR6260LVM (Black, $858)
Can checkout its irresistibly cute video here.
TagStory - [VPR]LG

"This is a beautiful, but sad story of the last dust in the dark corner..."
Video: LG Hom-Bot Square | Robot Buying Guide

For users of the older 2008 VR5902LVM, it makes a cameo appearance in the video too for comparison sake. Unique and interesting perceptive.

 

[bakasa2002]

Now that's called "After dinner Mint"!

Wah, cool name leh.l. U lots of idea leh...

 

[Vachel Chan]

Hi Vachel

Saw the video clip that this square roboking can climb up steps. What about the older model VR6142?

You are still selling the 6142?

Hi toblerone,
The older VR 6142 LVM ($799) would not be able to efficiently climb steps or rugs. More for use on flat surfaces. It does not fall over small edges too if that is your concern. Currently roboking 6142 LVM is limited, next batch coming. Anyway have dropped you a PM. Please PM purchase enquiries instead. Thanks.

For videos and specification of a range of Robotic Cleaners, Do checkout Autovacstore.com

 

[Xiaodingdang@Work]

hello, I am looking to buy a robot cleaner next March but am doing my research early because I am confused by the variety and have problems understanding technical specs

i need to mop my floor everyday as I have a dog at home and she somehow makes my floor quite sticky. the total floor area is 125 square metres, 3 bedrooms and 1 study.

Based on what i've found out so far, its either the Scooba or the Roboking. (Can't afford to buy two robots yet, mopping is the harder task, hence, I am looking to buy a robot to help with the mopping, and I will do the vacuuming/ MagicCleaning manually before the robot mops.)

i have a few questions which i am hoping to gain some enlightenment here...
1. can the robots deal with pebble flooring, rough tiles, and wooden flooring? most of my house is smooth tiled. but I have some pebble flooring and rough tiles in utility areas and corridors

2. if the robots can't do the rough flooring, is it ok to pick up the robot after it does one room and carry it into another? or will that somehow make the robot "loose its way"?

3. i read that the Scooba washes the floor very well and most of what I've read use the Scooba once or twice a week. Will it be an overkill to use it everyday? Will that affect its lifespan? actually, i don't need a robot that can mop VERY well everyday. it just needs to get rid of the sticky feeling daily, i can do a thorough manual mopping on weekends. we used to vacuum everyday, and mop once a week. but ever since the dog came, we've had to mop daily.


Thank you

 

[uno_bliss]

hello, I am looking to buy a robot cleaner next March but am doing my research early because I am confused by the variety and have problems understanding technical specs

i need to mop my floor everyday as I have a dog at home and she somehow makes my floor quite sticky. the total floor area is 125 square metres, 3 bedrooms and 1 study.

Based on what i've found out so far, its either the Scooba or the Roboking. (Can't afford to buy two robots yet, mopping is the harder task, hence, I am looking to buy a robot to help with the mopping, and I will do the vacuuming/ MagicCleaning manually before the robot mops.)

i have a few questions which i am hoping to gain some enlightenment here...
1. can the robots deal with pebble flooring, rough tiles, and wooden flooring? most of my house is smooth tiled. but I have some pebble flooring and rough tiles in utility areas and corridors

2. if the robots can't do the rough flooring, is it ok to pick up the robot after it does one room and carry it into another? or will that somehow make the robot "loose its way"?

3. i read that the Scooba washes the floor very well and most of what I've read use the Scooba once or twice a week. Will it be an overkill to use it everyday? Will that affect its lifespan? actually, i don't need a robot that can mop VERY well everyday. it just needs to get rid of the sticky feeling daily, i can do a thorough manual mopping on weekends. we used to vacuum everyday, and mop once a week. but ever since the dog came, we've had to mop daily.


Thank you

A very handful of Qs from a cartoon character...

Roboking's "mopping" is no different from Magiclean micro fibre broom. Or 3M scotch brite micro fibre mop. Except, the Roboking's micro fibre cloth is crescent shape & about 1/3 surface area compared to 3M mop.

iRobot Scooba is a different league & no contenders in same category until today. It uses fresh water, gently scrubs floor by high speed spinning brush & collect dirty water into separate compartment. It can pass the mucus test, the other "mopping" robots will just spread the mucus.
http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/57889311-post8337.html
I've been selling iRobot products full-time on eBay since Aug 2008.
For local ready for delivery items & local round the clock tech support from me, pls visit my eBay iRobot store:*uno bliss | eBay
Queries pls email me unobliss@yahoo.com

 

[Vachel Chan]

hello, I am looking to buy a robot cleaner next March but am doing my research early because I am confused by the variety and have problems understanding technical specs

i need to mop my floor everyday as I have a dog at home and she somehow makes my floor quite sticky. the total floor area is 125 square metres, 3 bedrooms and 1 study.

Based on what i've found out so far, its either the Scooba or the Roboking. (Can't afford to buy two robots yet, mopping is the harder task, hence, I am looking to buy a robot to help with the mopping, and I will do the vacuuming/ MagicCleaning manually before the robot mops.)

i have a few questions which i am hoping to gain some enlightenment here...
1. can the robots deal with pebble flooring, rough tiles, and wooden flooring? most of my house is smooth tiled. but I have some pebble flooring and rough tiles in utility areas and corridors

2. if the robots can't do the rough flooring, is it ok to pick up the robot after it does one room and carry it into another? or will that somehow make the robot "loose its way"?

3. i read that the Scooba washes the floor very well and most of what I've read use the Scooba once or twice a week. Will it be an overkill to use it everyday? Will that affect its lifespan? actually, i don't need a robot that can mop VERY well everyday. it just needs to get rid of the sticky feeling daily, i can do a thorough manual mopping on weekends. we used to vacuum everyday, and mop once a week. but ever since the dog came, we've had to mop daily.


Thank you

Hi,
Have considered your Scenario and situation, you did like to Mop your floor on the daily basis and are considering either the Scooba or the Roboking.
Firstly the Roboking does not mop the floor, the Microfiber attachment only wipes after it has vacuums.
The scooba would be able to a better job in removing the stickly feeling on your flooring. But as the Scooba does not pick up Pet fur very well and the filter compartments would properly be full rather quickly. You MUST ensure you had vaccum the floor thoroughly before use. Or you can use a robot Vaccum like a Roomba, Neato or Rokoking to Vaccum before using the Scooba for mopping.
The Scooba would be able to clean your smooth tiled area, but cannot be used on pebble surface. For wooden flooring, you have to see if you can tolerate the wetness of the Scooba. For laminated flooring, do not recommend.

You can carry the Scooba from area to area for cleaning during use or confine it to clean an area with virtual walls or obstacles to limit it. As its pretty random, it would not "lose its way" as it would start off in a same spiral pattern every time you pause and clean again.

You can use the iRobot Scooba on the daily basis. Batteries would probably require 4-5hrs of charging can you can run it for around 2hrs. A fully charged battery would clean around 850sqft. Lifespan of Scooba should not be affected, just only probably need to replace the Scooba Battery ($120) sooner.

For videos and specifications on a range of Robotic Cleaners, Do Checkout Autovacstore.com

 

[Jubooo]

hello, I am looking to buy a robot cleaner next March but am doing my research early because I am confused by the variety and have problems understanding technical specs

i need to mop my floor everyday as I have a dog at home and she somehow makes my floor quite sticky. the total floor area is 125 square metres, 3 bedrooms and 1 study.

...................but ever since the dog came, we've had to mop daily.


Thank you

Your senario is exactly the same as me I got started with all these robovac because of my 3 JRTs that shed daily and makes the floor unbearably sticky. I ended up with a roomba & scooba after trying out many different types of robotic cleaner and now I'm selling them.

Scooba will throw down a small amount of liquid and uneven floor surfaces like the pebble flooring might cause water to seep in. You could simply use the virtual wall to block off this area.

Why are you waiting till march? That's a long way to bear with those daily mopping.

Feel free to visit my site Robovac iRobot Store for the widest range of iRobot products.

 

[mosmos]

 

[uno_bliss]

http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/69809588-post9472.html

Dunno why the Woot photo don't show that the brush is half bristle & half flaps, instead, they just show the usual beater brush (ie. the crazy noise maker).

Only the description states "A new combination bristle and blade brush...", but no mention of difference to the noise level. Obviously Neato won't say, "with the beater brush, it makes heck of a noise, but now... (FILL IN THE BLANKS)".

 

[Jubooo]

The pet & allergy brush is installed on neato and that hell noise maker is an extra accessory. Just like the new filter is also not shown as it is installed in neato too.

 

[uno_bliss]

The pet & allergy brush is installed on neato and that hell noise maker is an extra accessory. Just like the new filter is also not shown as it is installed in neato too.

Normally, Woot take photo of left side, right side, up size, down side, inside & outside.
Yet this time they lazy. So non-Neato followers, won't know the diff of XV21 vs previous XV11 & XV12 except the obvious colour.

I think my self-mod brush more quiet (I imagine due to bloated ego), since my mod brush is only bristles & no rubber blades.

 

[Zanter]

Normally, Woot take photo of left side, right side, up size, down side, inside & outside.
Yet this time they lazy. So non-Neato followers, won't know the diff of XV21 vs previous XV11 & XV12 except the obvious colour.

I think my self-mod brush more quiet (I imagine due to bloated ego), since my mod brush is only bristles & no rubber blades.

Is the XV21 better than the Roomba in your opinion? Seems that its noisier but needs less untangling of hairs in brushes?

 

[uno_bliss]

Is the XV21 better than the Roomba in your opinion? Seems that its noisier but needs less untangling of hairs in brushes?

Neato has its pros & cons.

I wrote before quite a bit on HWZ:
http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/59817047-post8545.html
My Neato brush mod for XV11:*http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/65557529-post9104.html
http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/68451362-post9331.html

 

[wongkc]

Looking for a combo...

Whats the difference between scooba 380,385 and 390? My place is homogeneous tiles in the living room and parquet in the bedrooms... total area around 1200ft...

Lazy to check out the features... but i want something that i can program to clean at a specific time... and if i get the combo, do i let both run at the same time or which one do i start first and in what interval?

Thanks.

 

[kun1he2]

Personally, the greatest pro for Neato against Roomba is the ease of maintenance.

With Roomba, cleaning the brush is a weekly chore.
With Neato, no brush to clean (mine is the old beater "brush").

In fact, I realized that I haven't even flipped over my Neato till about two weeks ago - that's like running on alternate days for more than half a year with simply emptying the bin when it asks you to. And removing half a year's worth of hair "rings" was surprisingly very easy.

As for the beater noise, I believe it depends on the flooring type. For my hard floor, I never really thought the beater was loud compared to the Neato's vacuum itself.

So, if you're the lazy sort - Neato FTW...

 

[uno_bliss]

Personally, the greatest pro for Neato against Roomba is the ease of maintenance.

With Roomba, cleaning the brush is a weekly chore.
With Neato, no brush to clean (mine is the old beater "brush").

In fact, I realized that I haven't even flipped over my Neato till about two weeks ago - that's like running on alternate days for more than half a year with simply emptying the bin when it asks you to. And removing half a year's worth of hair "rings" was surprisingly very easy.

As for the beater noise, I believe it depends on the flooring type. For my hard floor, I never really thought the beater was loud compared to the Neato's vacuum itself.

So, if you're the lazy sort - Neato FTW...

Roomba with Aerovac bin will significantly reduce long hair on brush.
Neato with bristle brush will also catch long hair, Neato with rubber beater brush will catch very little hair, but the trade-off is noisier & less clean.

How could u say Neato with rubber beater brush isn't noisy?! Almost the whole world of Neato users describe it as sounding like a tank or lawn mower: http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/58010208-post8375.html

The vacuum motor on the other hand isn't that noisy, just emits high pitch sound like any high speed spinning fan (eg. holding a handheld fan close to ear). U can experiment by removing the rubber beater brush, or just slide out all the rubber blades from the brush shaft. The blades are the culprit for the noise since they whack against floor repeatedly.

Overall, I do rate Neato pretty high on cleaning power.
The limitations of the cleaning are:
a) leaves wall & furniture edges untouched (~4.5 cm): http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/57921142-post8361.html
b) limited size of objects it can pick up: Neato XV 11 VS Roomba 563 Pet - YouTube

Limitation (b) I can accept since I normally pick up huge things from floor when I see them, but not for some of my customers whose Roomba bin have kids magnetic alphabet & a whole packet of Pizza chilli flakes (these 2 cases are most recent), last time just have customer throw raisins to test Roomba, or kids Art & Craft pieces ~10 cts coin size.

Limitation (a) I totally cannot accept, cos it's ridiculous to see a strip of dust 4.5 cm wide around my whole house, and for a visual understanding, here's a video (not filmed by me): Roomba vs Neato edge cleaning - YouTube

 

[Xiaodingdang@Work]

Thank you very much for clarifying. I am glad I asked, as I see I was mistaken about how the Roboking mops. (really have a problem understanding the specs and descriptions). Juboo, I gotta wait because of my project-based work, I am waiting to be paid at the end of the year at least.

 

[uno_bliss]

Looking for a combo...

Whats the difference between scooba 380,385 and 390? My place is homogeneous tiles in the living room and parquet in the bedrooms... total area around 1200ft...

Lazy to check out the features... but i want something that i can program to clean at a specific time... and if i get the combo, do i let both run at the same time or which one do i start first and in what interval?

Thanks.

Q1. Whats the difference between scooba 380,385 and 390?
A1. 385 = Europe model (S'pore agent selling this due to voltage similarity)
380 & 390 = USA model (voltage of charger is USA 120V, requires Voltage Convertor or charger modification)

380: Version 7 software (found on S/N) if made after Sep 2011, Version 7 gives 30% longer battery runtime by virtue of power tweak
Version 7 Scooba 380 also have the orange colour code for all the things to rinse after use, the Water Tank handle got slightly different design (dunno if it helps prevent handle breakage, a common thing)
390: Version 7 software, orange colour code, whole robot change colour to Dark Grey, iRobot excluded 3 accessories found in Scooba 380: 2nd virtual wall, External Battery cradle & Waterproof resting mat
385: probably version 6 software, just like Scooba 390, doesn't come with 3 accessories found in Scooba 380: 2nd virtual wall, External Battery cradle & Waterproof resting mat

Although I'm still using my faithful old version 6 Scooba 380, my customers who're using Version 7 Scooba 380 reported that Scooba clocked ~130 mins total runtime, very inline with iRobot's claim of 30% increase.
I need to clarify though, to accurately compare, we need a standard environment (ie. floor friction, amount of furniture, amount of water filled).
Meaning, if u test in ur home, results may differ slightly vs testing in my home. Cos a slippery floor makes Scooba do the "Turbo Boost" to free itself, lotsa furniture means constant changing of direction & loss of momentum, water filled is essentially weight that Scooba needs to carry.
Since day 1, I fill less water for small room, cos for Scooba to piggyback extra water which won't be used until next room, is a waste of stored battery power.

Q2. My place is homogeneous tiles in the living room and parquet in the bedrooms... total area around 1200ft.
A2. Roomba & Scooba will work fine on homogeneous tiles & parquet (assuming has Polyurethane coating).
1200 sq ft is big, but in reality, that includes many areas that u won't let the robots go anyway.

Q3. Lazy to check out the features...
A3. Welcome to Lazy Club, come'on... stop kidding urself, all robot users are lazy.

Q4. but i want something that i can program to clean at a specific time...
A4. Only Roomba can be programmed for auto-start

Q5. and if i get the combo, do i let both run at the same time or which one do i start first and in what interval?
A5. Just don't let Roomba & Scooba cross territory, Roomba tires will leave tire tracks on moist floor & u won't want the brushes to sweep water cos it's messy.
Always Roomba first (ie. sweep), then Scooba (mop). Logically, u won't mop first then sweep right?

 

[uno_bliss]

Thank you very much for clarifying. I am glad I asked, as I see I was mistaken about how the Roboking mops. (really have a problem understanding the specs and descriptions). Juboo, I gotta wait because of my project-based work, I am waiting to be paid at the end of the year at least.

U're not the only one fooled by the so-called "mop" feature of Roboking, iClebo, even some dumb China no-brands (eg. my V-bot from ancient history): http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/55066329-post8009.html

No doubt having micro fibre paper or cloth to complement after the sweep/vacuum is a good thing, but to omit sweep/vacuum & expect micro fibre paper or cloth to do miracles...sorry dude, not gonna happen. Anyone who used before Magiclean broom will know.