Roombas and dogs: Do they get along?

[Oh Little Oji]

Without reading this whole thread, is there a recommendation for a good robot that's not as spendy as the Roomba? Entire house is tile with flat rugs. I'm about to look up the one @LifeofRubie is getting next. Sounds like the Deebot was short lived? I'm one of those people that would rather sweep a football field than vacuum a closet. Also: noise. Are these things fairly quiet or like a regular vacuum noise?

I don't know if anyone has talked about the noise of a Roomba, but I was quite surprised how noisy ours is. It's much noisier on the hardwoods than when it goes onto rugs. The other night, my wife had me set it going before I went to bed. From upstairs, I could hear the thing – not its running noise, but its thumping and banging.

Speaking of noise, I'm reminded of the key reason I did not want one: I don't want to desensitize my guard dog to random, unexplained noises – especially in the night as we are all sleeping.

 

[LifeofRubie]

@Ravenbird there are a lot of good, cost effective robovacs out there!

My Eufy 15C Max arrived yesterday and ran for the first time this morning. Setup was super simple, comes with a remote or an app. Opted for this one over the 11S because it has Wi-Fi capabilities (and was cheaper, somehow). It's noise but I wouldn't say it's offensive. It quieter than my hood fan in the kitchen.

The Deebot still runs and cleans, she is just loud about it and needs help docking. We did buy a new battery recently because she stopped running her full 1.5 hours. Otherwise, regular cleaning and some side brush replacing. She will be moved upstairs to vacuum bedrooms on occasion (easily gets under the beds and pulls GOBS of hair out of the carpets, even if I've recently vacuumed).

Both the Deebot and Eufy bots we have are "dumb." They just bounce around. I did notice the Eufy will slow and turn before it hits something but the (older) Deebot would literally hit everything. It has not left any marks on our white baseboards though.

We have low profile rugs on hardwood floors and neither seems to have an issue transitioning. Somehow we don't have any cables on the floor but that can be a hassle. They will get stuck on vents if the room carpet is very plush.

Edit to add: Deebot has been running 1.5 hours everyday for 2.5 years and I would say our downstairs is maybe 1400 square feet? It's alarming what it picks up everyday! We still wet clean the floors but hair and dust overall are very well managed

 

[Ravenbird]

Thanks all, & @LifeofRubie your review is what I was needing to hear! I can't & won't lay down a grand for a vacuum, but I hate to spend good money for something that won't last or is disappointing. That Deebot has put in lots of hours!!! Better machine than I thought (since you went with a different brand I thought you were disappointed in it). Living in the country, without a bit of concrete or pavement for 4 miles, and windows and doors open over half the year, 2 dogs & a cat, you can just imagine the dirt & dust & hair. Whole house has tile so what doesn't stick to a few rugs piles up in corners. Every.Single.Day. Off to ponder some more on this.

 

[Ravenbird]

Finally got a robot vacuum - pretty much a non-event. Reckless wanted to bite the "whiskers", cat just watched it, Asha followed it for a while. In 10 minutes everyone had lost interest. It's a cheaper model, but so far doing great. Named it Lurch.

Asha had to watch from outside while we introduced Reckless to it; You can barely see her outside the glass door.
Dutchie-shark - a quick "no" was all it took to get her to back off.
Asha Stalking
Ritzar watching

 

[MyBuddy]

Finally got a robot vacuum -

You will truly not be sorry. Love everyone's reactions!

 

[Kaiser2016]

Good pics of all the animals reacting to the newest 'pet' in the family

 

[jazzies mum]

Lurch..........!

 

[Ravenbird]

Lurch..........!

I couldn't help it, first butler that came to mind.

 

[MyBuddy]

Well, our trusty Deebot is getting replaced. It's developed a squeaky wheel that we cannot fix and it drives us CRAZY for the full hour and a half it runs each morning. Still picks up stuff just fine but also seems like it can't find it's charging station when it's done; it will just bounce area the docking station, running into it but never dock.

I had to go back and look what you said about your Deebot. I could have sworn you said that the battery was running low and you couldn't find a replacement. Funny how we remember things differently than how we read them.

In any event, I noticed my Deebot seemed to have a shorter cycle each time it clean. Because I have it in the basement I don't always catch when it returns to base or know how long it actually cleaned. But a few times I caught it back on base and then my phone said it was charged only a short time later. And I knew that couldn't be right because it took a longer time to charge than that. So I suspected it was probably cleaning for less time than it originally was and charging just as 'fast.' If that makes any sense LOL Well, I ended up buying a second Deebot to kind of be a companion to the other one in that it would take over where the other one fell short. And then one day I finally thought maybe I should actually look for a battery for that first Deebot. And I found one! Easy peasy, like $22 and it's perfect again! LOL I'm glad I took the initiative to actually go and look! So now they are both down there giving each other a high five as they pass. LOL They're perfect for our basement because they don't need light and they can bounce around as much as they want. Day or night.

 

[LifeofRubie]

Robovac Update:

Our Eufy, that I apparently bought in November 2020, JUST got replaced! Talk about a workhorse! We did replace the battery once (< $50, I think) and the one side brush hasn't worked in a looooong time but she, too, eventually got to the point where it just wasn't charging correctly or something and would attempt to run in the morning and immediately go NOPE. It also seemed like the area rugs were becoming a challenge for it to effectively clean.

After some research, we settled on the Eufy Auto Empty C10. Seems the cheaper versions have had some upgrades in the past 6.5 years. This one does have the emptying station AND it maps out the house. The two we've had before were 'dumb' ones that just kinda bounced around the house for an hour and half. This one appears to start with the perimeter of the house and then will go over every inch.

It will beeline back to the station once or twice to empty itself and then go back to where it left off to continue it's full coverage. I have noticed that after about that hour and a half or so, it will charge itself until about 11a and then kick-off to get the last few sq ft it missed with it's initial charge.

It's also a lot quieter. Although... it does announce itself which was a big alarming in the beginning. "Cleaning!" "Charging!" "Emptying!"

It says the emptying station only needs emptied every 60 days. I call BS on that but I'm used to emptying every day so even if it's once a week or every other, still fine!

We've had it a bit over a week and super pleased, so far.

here's the map it created and works through. The white lines are its path, today:

 

[Js4fn]

Zest the GSP is terrified of the Romba Eyes roll

All three of mine lay in front of the romba and it’s works around them like it’s furniture then I get dirty missed spots or the put a ball in front of it so it’s bounces over the ball

 

[Wrangler]

If I had one of those things Cai would destroy it as an invader to his domain