Irobot's Roomba! Consider Yourself At Home! Consider Yourself one of the family!
Written: Feb 27 '04 (Updated Sep 05 '05)
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Pros: Too many to mention!
Cons: Needs a silencer...needs a hepa filter
The Bottom Line: This will transform your family!
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| pantazis5's Full Review: iRobot Roomba 3000 Robotic Vacuum |
Presenting the Pantazis5:
Let me give you a picture of the family home. Three bedrooms upstairs, and a bathroom and hall. All with beige carpeting.
Downstairs is hardwood floors with area rugs. A living room, dining room kitchen that all open into each other. A small bathroom off the dining room, and a hall that goes into a small computer room and a music room. Then a finished basement with a tile floor.
Now that is the physical environment. Let me tell you about the inhabitants.
First we have the mother. A disorganized high school teacher presently attending graduate school. Then there is the husband, a sportswriter, sports junkie who resembles Oscar Madison from the famous Odd Couple. The daughter of the family has 11 hamsters, complete with shavings and itty bitty hamster poop! Then the nine year old son, who never remembers to hang up his coat, or to place his clothing in a hamper. He comes complete with mud on the bottom of both shoes as he tromps around the house. He is often seen holding a cookie in both hands as crumbs are spreading around the floor. Add to this family a five year old. This five year old leaves a wake as he walks. His wake consists of cookie crumbs, cracker crumbs, and any kind of cereal that has a box that his hand will fit into.
That is the human family. This family also has a barking pomeranian who eats everything in his path, leaving only black dog hairs as he wanders the home. There is a poodle, also black, who never eats his food alone. He carries small bits of kibble about the house, to eat in view of one of the human inhabitants. Add to this family a cat who appears at the door once or twice a day, only looking for a warm place to sleep and deposit her shedding coat, and another black and white tuxedo cat who sheds hair as he moves slinking about the house.
These are the inhabitants of this lively home.
As you can well imagine this family is extremely messy. The floors in this home are linty, crumby and not barefoot friendly. The activities that this family belong to keep them so busy that vacuuming has never been a priority. They need time to vacuum, and energy. At the end of their long days, the family is too tired to worry about the messy floors. It gets a lick and a promise and that is about it. However, even with the lick and the promise, the vacuum cleaners that have entered this home have been true duds. Never able to keep up with the demands of this messy family.
One day, this family went shopping at Target. It was then that they heard it. They heard it from afar chanting...roomba, roomba, roomba. The five year old heard it first. He was mesmerized by the sound and turned with glazed eyes into the direction of the chant. Each member of the family, in turn, headed toward the chant.
One by one they read the box. Roomba, Robotic Floor Vac. Powerful Cleaning in a Compact size. Cleans: Hardwood, Low-Pile Carpet Medium-pile carpet tile Linoleum Slate and Concrete. Designed to Clean into corners and under kitchen cabinets. Great on pet hairs and all kinds of debris. Then together this family read..VACUUMS FLOORS ALL BY ITSELF. JUST TURN IT ON AND WALK AWAY!
Could this be true. They did not believe their eyes. The nine year old was sure it was not going to work. The 11 year old hamster lover began to turn away with a scoff. But the mother was still thinking about the possibilities. Her mind flashed to herself, sitting on the sofa drinking a cup of coffee. Her beloved children silently coloring at her feet, and the little round disc roaming the house cleaning for her. She was drawn to the magic.
She was brought back to reality by the sound of the nine year old and the four year old fighting with each other over a Spiderman figure. She was quickly reminded of the box of cereal that had spilled all over the living room earlier that morning. Her image of the peaceful family destroyed. She looked back to the box with longing revisiting her fantasy. She began to scoff and walk away behind the hamster lover. But the chant was too loud. Roomba Roomba Roomba. It grew louder and louder and she could not avoid it. She quickly picked up the box and put it into the shopping cart. It was so light, she lifted it easily under her arm. She herded her family to the check out as quickly as she could, not stopping at the sounds of their pleading voices she they passed the video games.
At the register, she paid 199.00 for the dream machine. Then they headed home.
At home, they opened the box. It was difficult to open the box, and the mother got a large papercut on her finger. But she did not lose the focus of her wonderful dream. The nine year old pulled, and the mother pushed and the little grey and black disc was slowly revealed. They placed it in the middle of the floor. All eyes looked to it with wonder. The two dogs sniffed it, and gave it no more thought. The nine year old place two D batteries into the wall unit after unscrewing the back of it with a philips head screwdriver, and the mother placed the black battery pack into the machine. Using the 12-hour charger, the mother plugged it into the wall and then into the side of the little round disc. The green light came on indicating it was charging. The family went to bed. Planning to sleep through the 12 hours that was needed to charge the magic disc from irobot.
In the morning, the mother awoke with the excitement of Christmas morning. She went looking for the little robot. It was in the corner of the dining room, silent. The light not on anymore which meant it was fully charged.
She looked around her house and decided to use the small setting in her living room. She placed roomba in the middle of the area rug. And she took a deep breath and pushed the button. Nothing happened. Her nine year old came up behind her holding the instruction manual. "It says you have to choose S M or L Mom!" he said. She quickly pressed S. And it was then that the family transformed. The little disc began to spin and as the family watched it picked up cracker crumbs and cookie crumbs. It disappeared under couches and picked up missing checkers. It grabbed a hold of papers that had long since been forgotten and pushed them out from under the couch. "Mom look what Roomba Found!" were words that could be heard from the five year old. The once vacuuming cleaner barking pomeranian looked up as the roomba zoomed past him, he yawned and went back to sleep. Roomba roamed the house that day. Cleaning and dusting the wood floors. She miraculously cleaned out from under the dining room table and even pushed the chairs in when she was finished! The mother's dream became a reality. The family laughed when the virtual wall unit was able to keep roomba confined to the dining room. The nine year old was a disbeliever that roomba could see a beam that was invisible to the human eye. The mother made herself a cup of coffee and sat down to call a friend. While Roomba roamed throughout the house, the mother chatted confidently with her friend. For ninety minutes Roomba cleaned. She went from room to room, never failing to pick up the crumbs and the hamster shavings. She sucked in the dog kibbles and the hamster poop. The 11 year old stopped her easily by picking her up by the handle to empty the debris cup with a simple click to open it and slide it back it emptied. Roomba waited with her M button blinking to be set back to work. The five year old pushed the button and with a cheery little beep sequence, roomba went back to work. She traveled over the thresholds of every room, went into every corner and into ever crack of the hard wood floor. The five year old followed behind picking up pieces that were too large for roomba to handle. And the home became clean. When roomba grew tired her battery indicator light turned red and blinked, the family plugged her back in for a 12 hour sleep to recharge her battery.
While roomba slept, the mother read the instruction manual. She read about the virtual wall unit that would confine roomba to a room. She read about replacing the filters, and roomba came with two extras. The easy to read instruction manual was filled with information on how to care for roomba. How to clean her and protect her. She read how roomba had a sensor that would keep her from going down stairs and she dreamed of the moment when roomba would awaken and clean the upstairs hall.
The family was filled with the magic of roomba. The floors, once messy with the debris of active children, pets and disorganized adults, now glisten with the power of little roomba. Roomba does her morning job, she roams the entire downstairs of the little house every morning. She diligently picks up the dirt from the living room, to the kitchen. When she finishes with each room, she goes to the next. She travels under couches and chairs leaving not a trace of dust. Once in a while she has trouble getting to the dirt that is under the heat registers. But compared to the floors the way they used to be, roomba is keeping this family with barefoot friendly floors!
Roomba has truly found a home in this family. She is loved by all, and in the evening, the five year old exclaims "I love you roomba " as he falls asleep dreaming of cookies.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 199.00
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pantazis5
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Location: New Hampshire
Reviews written: 335
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Life is a banquet and most people are starving to death!
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