Roombas and dogs: Do they get along?

I actually don’t have a Roomba. Just my central vac and a couple of Dysons - Animal and canister. My daughter insisted on an ultra plush shag rug for our family room and I can barely get any of the vacuums across it so I doubt the Roomba would have enough suction power to properly vacuum it. (Can’t wait to get rig of that rug- it’s the last time I’ll bring my daughter area rug shopping). I also have a cow hide rug in my formal living room which can only be brush swept. Plus there are the stairs to vacuum- so no Roomba for me. I just sweep daily and then a proper vacuum/mopping once a week. I do have a Hoover Floormate that I like. I just hate the amount of space they all take up.
 
Thanks for the videos. For the Roomba every model in the 900 series and i series has gotten better reviews than the series prior.

The Deebot has a mop function that caught my attention lol, but it only uses water, no soap allowed. Odd idea, but still intriguing as I hate to mop! @LifeofRubie does your model have it, if so, have you tried it?

We don't currently have that feature BUT I would be a huge advocate for trying it. Otherwise we use Bona hardwood floor cleaners that spruces them up pretty fast!

I am going to investigate this mopping deebot, though...

As others have said, Yes, the Deebot (that we have) is 'dumb.' It just bounces around until it runs out of juice and then is bounces around until it finds it's station. BUT, in all that chaos, over the course of a couple of days, it has hit every surface. Ours runs every day so everything get's Vacuumed twice a week at least, I would say.

And I've said it before: I did vacuum the downstairs once with my Shark when we had the Deebot running upstairs and it picked up just as much stuff the following day during it's scheduled run time so I don't even both anymore. It was cheap and I bought it with my credit card so had 60 day of 'price rewind' during which time if it went on sale, I got reimbursed. I ended up getting some money back for it so it was well under $200 which can't be beat.

@MyBuddy when Norris and I moved in together, we each had a vacuum so one went into an upstairs closet and the other into a downstairs closet. I never realized how spoiled I feel having a vacuum for EACH FLOOR instead of lugging it up and down. Now that we have the Deebot, though, any additional vacuuming is done with a hand vac BUT we'll finish the basement at some point at which time 1st Floor Vacuum will become Basement Vacuum.

Also, I LOVE cleaning my own house except that Moo splatters mud pretty much on every surface. Washing walls routinely is not something I can learn to love :facepalm:
 
As others have said, Yes, the Deebot (that we have) is 'dumb.' It just bounces around until it runs out of juice and then is bounces around until it finds it's station. BUT, in all that chaos, over the course of a couple of days, it has hit every surface. Ours runs every day so everything get's Vacuumed twice a week at least, I would say.

Thanks for chiming in!
From what I see on the Deebot, its 1. affordable, 2, quiet, 3, good on hardwood and tile floors 4. Run time is fairly long.

Cons for me was the brushes versus rollers. The bouncing versus pattern. Mainly good on hardwood floors or low-pile carpet. (My home has a lot of plush carpeting) Charging time was 4 hours and it doesn't go off again to finish vacuuming once that time is up.

@Kaiser2016 if you have a lot of tile and hardwood floors the deebot might be a good choice.

@LifeofRubie you have some carpeting in your home, correct? At least upstairs. Do you find that it does a good job on them? Does it have a shorter run time and the carpet?
 
I actually don’t have a Roomba.
My apologies! I got you mixed up with @My2Dobies ! I have to say, the heavy shag rug would probably be an 'issue' with any of the Roomba's! :rolleyes: Maybe my 980 could do it. It has 'carpet boost' which puts it into 'high gear'! It goes on anytime it goes over carpet and does a great job. I wonder how it would do on shag?? :) We have stairs too. Up to the upper level and down to the basement. My central Vac gets that. I imagine that most people who buy a robot already had another vacuum and keep it. I mean, I still use mine for the stairs and garage and....well, nothing else! :lmao: I got the first Roomba back in December of 2017 and found out I RARELY have to vacuum anymore. These get everything! And more often. Without me. :D
 
Thanks for chiming in!
From what I see on the Deebot, its 1. affordable, 2, quiet, 3, good on hardwood and tile floors 4. Run time is fairly long.

Cons for me was the brushes versus rollers. The bouncing versus pattern. Mainly good on hardwood floors or low-pile carpet. (My home has a lot of plush carpeting) Charging time was 4 hours and it doesn't go off again to finish vacuuming once that time is up.

@Kaiser2016 if you have a lot of tile and hardwood floors the deebot might be a good choice.

@LifeofRubie you have some carpeting in your home, correct? At least upstairs. Do you find that it does a good job on them? Does it have a shorter run time and the carpet?

Yes, so it starts at 7:30a and vacuums anywhere from 1-1.5hrs.

Our downstairs is all hardwood floors but we have 3 area rugs, 3 runners (runways for the dogs), 2 floor mats in the kitchen, and 3 door mats and it has no issues getting over them and cleaning them. Our carpet upstairs is much plusher but we don't use it up there very often but I would say the battery life is similar. We'll let it bounce around the bedrooms everyone once in a while to get under the beds (AMAZING!). The stuff it picks up in our bedroom is disgusting, truth be told hahahahaha. Those dang dogs!

The ONLY issue on the plusher carpets upstairs is the vents are kind of nestled DOWN into the carpet so it will get stuck on those pretty much 100% of the time. AND (this is very petty) the wheel marks on the upstairs carpet are an OCDs nightmare. :rofl: Maybe I'll run it up there tonight and get a picture for you!

I should mention, our 'dumb' vac does still have an edge cleaning feature, a room cleaning feature, etc., accessible via app.
 
The video with Moo looks about like my dogs. They don't even get up unless it's coming right at them. One time Kalli was in her bed and it was Edge cleaning around her bed and she stayed right there. Didn't even get up!
 
The Roomba I have is the 960. I specifically paid a bit more for the WiFi connectivity so that I could run it from the app and/or tell Alexa to run it. This was a great feature that again, I’m not really able to utilize at this time because of the gates we have up; it can only clean the small area where it’s base is located before hitting a gate. That said, it’s still nice for it to notify me via the app when the bin is full, or it’s finished a job. Also, if it for some reason it dies or gets stuck somewhere out of sight, you can use the app to make Roomba play a tune so you can locate it. I was laughing not too long ago when Roomba notified me via the app that it was stuck; it actually was tangled in a bath mat, but the notification said “Roomba is stuck on a cliff”! I was laughing so hard; very dramatic, Roomba!


The 960 uses the mapping feature so that if it does need to go back to base and charge before it finishes, it will charge itself and then return to where it left off to complete the job. The 960 has the much improved rubber “brushes” that resist tangling, and a great battery life. The only carpet we have left downstairs now is in our master closet, and it does clean that carpet (with the “carpet turbo boost” or whatever they call it) much better than the older one did. I love my Roomba so much that in the new house we are designing, we have included a “Roomba garage” with power (under a cabinet in the laundry room) for it.


The one I had previously was a dinosaur low-end 500 series, with the bristle brushes and the crazy navigation. It lasted a long time, probably close to ten years. It might could’ve even been repaired when it died; the gears were just worn out. But, I was ready by then to upgrade to a newer, much improved model. One thing I learned from it: it was amazing how much our Dobies actually do shed.


@MyBuddy blowing it out is a great idea. I know I used to have to take my old Roomba apart about once a quarter to clean out the dog hair and assorted other junk that ended up in some of the moving parts housings. I’ve had this new one for over a year, and have only needed to take it apart and clean parts of it once.


After the first 500 model died, I did a small amount of research in to other brands. I ultimately decided to stick to what was proven (to me) to be a great brand, and what I knew, and paid a bit more for the Roomba 960.
 
The Roomba I have is the 960
Great review on another model! I think the 900 series are really great! I didn't know the 960 had carpet boost! I thought that was only on the 980. It is a nice little feature.:)

Yes the blower works wonderfully with these vacuums! And don't forget that the front wheel pops out very easily to clean. No screwdriver. Just pull on it and it comes out.
I had forgotten about that for a while and pulled it out and found quite a bit of Doberman hair in there. :rolleyes: I'm sure if that is not cleaned out and left to accumulate, the restriction on that rolling wheel would use up battery life as it struggles along. Even the big side Wheels blow out so nicely. I turn it upside down, outside of course, ;) and press down on those Wheels with the blower going.

But the biggest satisfaction is blowing out that filter! LOL I'm always amazed how much blows out of there. I'm sure getting as much out of there as possible extends that filters life.

I love my Roomba so much that in the new house we are designing, we have included a “Roomba garage” with power (under a cabinet in the laundry room) for it.

I love it! :thumbsup:
 
I'm glad you asked this. Against my wishes, my wife had her parents buy "us" a Roomba for Christmas. I say I do not want to condition my Dobe to ignore noises inside the house at night.
So, do you care to chime in on what model you have? And if you have actually used it can you give us a review?
 
@MyBuddy you might be right; the 960 seems to clean the carpet so much better I just assumed it had the carpet-boost super charge turbo blaster feature. Lol
Hey, if it gets the carpet that clean, it's all good! ;)

When are you planning on building your new home?
 
@Kaiser2016 Maybe you should look into the 960. It's still the 900 series but yet down a couple of models which may make it a cheaper option.

Actually I'm just thinking about something. When I bought the 980, the i7 had not come out yet. When it did, I thought that perhaps I can get the 980 as my second robot and get it for a little cheaper than I bought the first one. I figured it would be like cell phones. When a new one comes out the old ones lose their value. But honestly I couldn't even find one. It's like they didn't sell the 980 anymore. Then I even looked into eBay and other used ones and I was surprised that they were holding their value. They haven't dropped that much in price. I wonder if Roomba stopped selling or making the 980.
 
@MyBuddy We bought some land in SE Oklahoma a few years ago on a river; been designing the dream house ever since. The plans are being engineered right now (since we have to build 6 feet up due to possible flooding). We hope to start building this summer.
 
@MyBuddy We bought some land in SE Oklahoma a few years ago on a river; been designing the dream house ever since. The plans are being engineered right now (since we have to build 6 feet up due to possible flooding). We hope to start building this summer.
Well, good for you!! It will be a fun summer! I hope you share some photos. Especially that Roomba garage! ;)

A few weeks ago we were under a tornado watch and then there was a warning not too far from us. I prepared, like I always do, taking certain things to the basement......

I seriously considered my Roomba's!! :love:
 
We haven't put it into use yet. :lolsign: I just went down to the basement to look at the box. It says Roomba 890.
Well, from your first post I can tell that you were not happy about it. :) Was it your wife that wanted it? I don't know too much about the 890. I'd have to look it up but I'm sure it's pretty good! You should try it! :D
 

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