Nuge's Full Review: iRobot 5900 Scooba Robotic Wet/Dry Vacuum
If you were fascinated to watch your Roomba prowl your floors, just wait until you see Scooba in action! After ten uses, I am still mesmerized by this robot! I bought the Scooba to save time on my floor scrubbing, but I am not sure how much time I am saving since I catch myself staring at it so often.
Thank you, fellow epionators. Your reviews were helpful in convincing me that I should take the plunge. I will try to touch on some points that may not have been covered in other reviews. In comparison to the Roomba, I have had less trouble with the Scooba and enjoy the Scooba experience more. You do not have to sweep or vacuum your (marble, tile, vinyl,linoleum, slate, stone, or sealed hardwood) floor prior to using the Scooba, it sweeps, vacuums and mops. Part of the reason that it is less hassle than the Roomba iprobably has to do with the nature of the floors it is covering. My hard surface floors do not have as many cords and furniture to get stuck in or caught up with. Also, cleaning the Roomba is an air-borne dust-ridden experience. Cleaning the Scooba filters, brush and other parts is much more pleasurable as they can be easily rinsed under water. The contents of the dirty water tank can simply be dumped down the sink.
The Scooba does a remarkably good job at getting floors clean. An average sized kitchen takes about half an hour and typical bathrooms take only about ten minutes. Scooba is capable of running for about 45 minutes on a single charge. Therefore, it is possible to do multiple areas on a single charge/tank.
One tip that I have found useful when filling the "clean" tank is to first fill with water, then let a little of the water out, then add the Clorox cleaning solution. I learned the hard way that if you add the cleaning solution first, it is possible that the water will overflow when filling, therefore losing some of the expensive cleaning solution. I try to always use very warm water, although it is acceptable to use room temperature water as well. The Clorox solution does not contain any bleach, and smells very good. I do not think that it would do any harm to run the machine on water only, although I have never tried this. As other reviewers have mentioned, users are strongly cautioned against using any other cleaning solution than the one specified by Irobot.
The unit is very good at avoiding areas where it does not belong. It pushes gently off of objects that it bumps into and does not go up on surfaces that are about a half an inch higher than the floor. Like the Roomba it senses cliffs and does not fall off. I got a bit spoiled and did not realize that I had one carpet that was flush with my hardwood floor, the unit inched onto the carpet and got stuck there, but did no damage to the carpet.
If you happened to have read my Roomba review, you know that I had an unfavorable experience with Irobot technical support. I had occasion to call them about my Scooba, but this time had a delightful experience. Perhaps they put their best resources on the Scooba team since it is a newer product, I do not know, but it was a good experience. Once I followed the prompts for Scooba help, the phone was answered on the second ring by an actual technician. I told him my problems. First, I had difficulty getting my lid to pop open. He suggested applying pressure to the opposite side of the lid, while pressing on the pop-up mechanism. This worked immediately. Second, my "check tank" light was on in yellow. This gave the technician enough information to ask if the filters were in. They were not. I had forgotten to replace them after a cleaning. After I replaced them, the machine returned to normal function.
I recommend the Scooba, if you are the type to like gadgets.
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