Robot vacuum cleaner for hardwood floor?

GKSD · Post by **GKSD** » Fri Oct 02, 2020 6:06 pm

Looking for recommendations for a robot vacuum cleaner for hardwood floors. DW has put down a robot vacuum cleaner on the wish list for black Friday.

We have hardwood floors throughout the house, both floors. Concern is if the robot uses a brush which may scratch the floor.

Roomba seems popular but there are multiple other cheaper options available on Amazon with 4+ rating.

mushripu · Post by **mushripu** » Fri Oct 02, 2020 6:19 pm

The roomba brushes are made from a softish silicone material. It is hard enough to collect dust and smallish rough aggregate if it is on the floor. It is soft enough not to scratch the floor. I have a roomba we run on hardwood and have never seen scratches.

nullisland · Post by **nullisland** » Fri Oct 02, 2020 6:32 pm

The roomba is great. Get the 614 model (the base model without WiFi or an app), it’s under $250 and will last for years. Don’t bother with the higher-end “smart” models, particularly for hardwood.

Longdog · Post by **Longdog** » Fri Oct 02, 2020 6:52 pm

I have a Eufy Robovac that I'm very happy with. Less expensive than the Roomba.

BV3273 · Post by **BV3273** » Fri Oct 02, 2020 7:18 pm

nullisland wrote: ↑Fri Oct 02, 2020 6:32 pm The roomba is great. Get the 614 model (the base model without WiFi or an app), it’s under $250 and will last for years. Don’t bother with the higher-end “smart” models, particularly for hardwood.

Question. How does it do going over saddles?

workingfornow · Post by **workingfornow** » Fri Oct 02, 2020 8:08 pm

Another vote for Eufy. Works great on hardwood and carpet. Best purchase of the pandemic.

SimplicityNow · Post by **SimplicityNow** » Fri Oct 02, 2020 8:19 pm

We purchased a Roomba 880 back in early 2015 and we have been very happy with it.

It does a great job both on hardwood and carpet and has no problems with door saddles. I've been amazed with the amount of dust and dog hair it picks up, even on a new vacuumed floor.

I was a little nervous the first few times when it went near the top of the staircase but it has never toppled.

The only part we have had to replace is the battery which we replaced late last year.

Artful Dodger · Post by **Artful Dodger** » Fri Oct 02, 2020 8:23 pm

We have one of the older Roomba models, maybe the 800 series. Works fine on hardwood.

nullisland · Post by **nullisland** » Fri Oct 02, 2020 11:51 pm

BV3273 wrote: ↑Fri Oct 02, 2020 7:18 pm
nullisland wrote: ↑Fri Oct 02, 2020 6:32 pm The roomba is great. Get the 614 model (the base model without WiFi or an app), it’s under $250 and will last for years. Don’t bother with the higher-end “smart” models, particularly for hardwood.
Question. How does it do going over saddles?

No problem with them, the wheels have a kind of spring mount and it rolls right over as long as it’s not too high.

This video shows what it looks like: https://youtu.be/jQCP1F7VHjM

Kelrex · Post by **Kelrex** » Sat Oct 03, 2020 5:56 am

I have an iLife, very inexpensive compared to Roomba, and at the time I bought it several years ago, it was quieter and had a longer battery life than Roomba as well.

It doesn't have the mapping ability that Roomba has, and that's often a big factor in the expense. Otherwise, the cost of Roomba is accounted for in its ability to vacuum carpet. My iLife would be hopeless on carpet, but since I don't have any, it doesn't matter.

It's very good at getting itself over and around obstacles and rarely gets stuck on anything.

Sweet Betsy · Post by **Sweet Betsy** » Sat Oct 03, 2020 6:01 am

Another vote for Eufy. We bought it several years ago specifically for our hard woods. No problems at all and cleans like a champ. There is no need to splurge on a Roomba.

HueyLD · Post by **HueyLD** » Sat Oct 03, 2020 6:10 am

iLife V3s Pro.

It has side brushes, but no roller brush. It is a vacuum, not a scrubber.

DoTheMath · Post by **DoTheMath** » Sat Oct 03, 2020 7:51 am

We've had Neato for years (two different models) and have been quite happy with them.

capsaicinguy · Post by **capsaicinguy** » Sat Oct 03, 2020 8:04 am

We have a eufy 30c max and it does a good job. Not too loud but you know it's running. Collects a lot of pet hair and dust. We got it on sale and I'd say it was worth it. With the app you can set a schedule for it to run while your not home, or do what we do and just hit the button before we leave.

dpt486 · Post by **dpt486** » Sat Oct 03, 2020 9:56 am

+1 for Eufy. We have had one for 3+ years. We moved into a 2 story house about a year ago and recently purchased a new one for downstairs. After 3+ years the upstairs one is still running strong! Does well on hardwood and carpet. Eufy is consumer reports top rated model, also one of the cheaper models they reviewed.

Ethelred · Post by **Ethelred** » Sat Oct 03, 2020 11:34 am

We just went through this. We read reviews, then I bought a Roomba 675, which was $250 at best buy two weeks ago. The iRobot Roombas seem to be most reliable and best supported of the different options. We liked the 675, but decided that our house is too big for a bump model (where the vacuum spends most of its time moving in a random direction until it hits something). Best buy have a 15-day return policy, so we took it back, then picked up the Roomba i8+ from Costco for $700. This is a mapping model that can remember multiple floors, and has better suction than the base models, plus it comes with a trash can in the base station so you don't have to empty the vacuum every day. It's equivalent to the i7+ model available elsewhere, but $100 cheaper and with extra supplies. We're very happy with it

mancich · Post by **mancich** » Sun Oct 04, 2020 5:01 am

We'd love to get a robotic vacuum but with two cats, who sometimes vomit, I'm afraid if what could happen

Kelrex · Post by **Kelrex** » Sun Oct 04, 2020 7:53 am

mancich wrote: ↑Sun Oct 04, 2020 5:01 am We'd love to get a robotic vacuum but with two cats, who sometimes vomit, I'm afraid if what could happen

I just don't run mine while I'm not home. It's really not a problem if you keep an eye on it.

egrets · Post by **egrets** » Sun Oct 04, 2020 8:39 am

What about for a mix of hardwood floors and rya (long shag) area rugs?

michaeljc70 · Post by **michaeljc70** » Sun Oct 04, 2020 9:05 am

Not to hijack the thread, but I also have hardwood floors (with a few area rugs). I tried a robot vacuum a few years ago and returned it (not sure of the model but it was a Roomba). There were two areas it had problems. One was on 2 coffee tables that had a bar/leg at the bottom. Pic below since it is hard to describe. The vacuum would get stuck on the bar/leg. The second problem was at the kitchen island with 7 stools. It did okay on the dining chairs where the legs are spread out further. I am not concerned if it cannot clean under these areas, I just don't want the vacuum to get stuck/waste all the battery in one area. Do you think some robot vacuums could handle this?

Dvorak212 · Post by **Dvorak212** » Sun Oct 04, 2020 10:00 am

I have one of the higher end Roomba models (i7) and it’s worth every penny. I had a lower end model that lasted almost 10 years, but wasn’t used as often. This model has smart mapping of the house so you can have it clean only specific areas. This helps direct the roomba more often to rooms or parts of the house that aren’t occupied. For example, cleaning master bedroom during the day when we’re all in kitchen or living room. We’re also able to set up some exclusion zones for areas that may have more toys on the floor or a sensitive rug in part of a room. One new feature that came out recently is to create favorite zones on top of your rooms. So we have a favorite for crumbs/after lunch and dinner where the roomba cleans a specific area of kitchen and dining room area. Since it’s a smaller area than whole kitchen and dining room combined we can have the area cleaned much faster, so it’s less likely to annoy or bump into us. Lastly, when we’re about to leave the house for a bit, give a quick glance to the living room, pick up anything that could be problematic(cords or toys in the way) and have roomba clean the common areas. This avoids the roomba from trying to clean the whole house and running into an issue in a random room causing the whole cleaning job to fail. Alexa integration is great and works well too. Just say “alexa start cleaning the dining room” and it’ll take care of it. Overall I love this thing.

CRJPylote · Post by **CRJPylote** » Sun Oct 04, 2020 7:43 pm

I have a Roborock E25($200). Has extremely good inertial navigation(Not random), and preforms well. Works upstairs in our house even if there is some mess in the hallway. Has a mop attachment but I don't use it.

Cons: The company is Chinese so data privacy or the Chinese government mapping your house.

dlrkw9mu · Post by **dlrkw9mu** » Sun Oct 04, 2020 8:42 pm

Roborock S4, S5, or S6.

We initially bought a Eufy 11S on prime day last year. It was OK - but it basically runs in random directions, turning a bit after it bumps into something. Additionally, it runs for about an hour and a half until the battery dies and then returns "home".

We then replaced it with a Roborock S5, which uses LIDAR to map the house. After using the roborock with the mapping function, we'll never buy another robotic vacuum without mapping. It runs in a defined pattern, and only needs about 40 minutes to get an entire floor of our house (each floor is roughly 800 sq ft). The time savings are nice because the vacuums are still a bit noisy. Additionally, you can create "no-go" zones in the app to avoid troublesome areas (shag rugs, areas when cords/cables routinely lie, etc)

We've since bought a second roborock S5, and moved the eufy to the basement.

These are actually great for hard floors from our experience. Neither sucks as well as our dyson vacuum, but they sweep hard floors very well.

The Vacuum Wars channel on youtube does comprehensive reviews of most robotic vacuum models. I'd recommend checking them out.

lessismore22 · Post by **lessismore22** » Sun Oct 04, 2020 10:10 pm

We have a Roomba. Never any scratches on the floor. Works well, but is loud compared to other brands. MIL has an off brand that you can barely hear running. Non issue if you plan to schedule its services when you're not home.

gd · Post by gd » Mon Nov 09, 2020 4:07 pm

Reading these comments, it's not clear to me how well the various designs deal with an older house with small rooms and furniture clutter. They're presented as being able to do entire floors with multiple rooms. Do the smart mapping ones (roomba, roborock, neato) remember different rooms and travel between them when one is done? Can they figure out alleys next to furniture near a corner, and under chairs? How can a random path model (eufy?) do an entire floor of small rooms, covering each room thoroughly before moving on to the next room- and how do they find all the rooms? Or does everyone with these things have newer houses with open floor plans and stylishly sparse or blocky furniture? I've been browsing reviews since seeing this thread, and can't really get a grasp of what to expect.

crazygrow · Post by **crazygrow** » Mon Nov 09, 2020 4:08 pm

We've heard horror stories of stuff getting stuck in Roomba's wheels and dragging across the wood floors and leaving scratches.

PicassoSparks · Post by **PicassoSparks** » Mon Nov 09, 2020 9:15 pm

Thanks for the Eufy suggestions in this thread. Picked one up a couple weeks ago and have been enjoying it since. It’s relatively quiet and though it’s not perfect, it sure picks up a lot of dust.

We have a single floor apartment with six small rooms and no hall. I’ve just been carrying it into a room, closing the door and letting it run. There’s always a bit of tidying to do to make sure chords are out of the way etc, so it seems easier to prepare a room briefly and let it go.

sleepysurf · Post by **sleepysurf** » Thu Nov 12, 2020 1:59 pm

dlrkw9mu wrote: ↑Sun Oct 04, 2020 8:42 pm Roborock S4, S5, or S6.

We initially bought a Eufy 11S on prime day last year. It was OK - but it basically runs in random directions, turning a bit after it bumps into something. Additionally, it runs for about an hour and a half until the battery dies and then returns "home".

We then replaced it with a Roborock S5, which uses LIDAR to map the house. After using the roborock with the mapping function, we'll never buy another robotic vacuum without mapping. It runs in a defined pattern, and only needs about 40 minutes to get an entire floor of our house (each floor is roughly 800 sq ft). The time savings are nice because the vacuums are still a bit noisy. Additionally, you can create "no-go" zones in the app to avoid troublesome areas (shag rugs, areas when cords/cables routinely lie, etc)

We've since bought a second roborock S5, and moved the eufy to the basement.

These are actually great for hard floors from our experience. Neither sucks as well as our dyson vacuum, but they sweep hard floors very well.

The Vacuum Wars channel on youtube does comprehensive reviews of most robotic vacuum models. I'd recommend checking them out.

FYI, Wyze is now taking pre-orders for their own LIDAR robot vac (a re-badged Xiaomi/Roborock 4, with Wyze firmware and app) for only $199... https://wyze.com/wyze-robot-vacuum.html

If you search the net, you can find the coupon code for an additional $20 off (if still valid).

barros · Post by **barros** » Thu Nov 12, 2020 2:40 pm

I just recently purchased the Ecovacs Deebot Ozmo t8+ And have been pretty happy with it. Has its quirks but overall it does a good job. It has Lidar and 3D view that helps it navigate and avoid objects, works really well. I got it from bestbuy for $450 (much cheaper than the Roombas and better reviews, best I can tell) a few weeks ago. I’m sure they are gonna run this real again soon for Black Friday (I’ve seen it a couple times in the past month).

As mentioned above, it’s also a Chinese company, if it makes a difference for you. Different than the t8 AIVI this one doesn’t have a camera (and apparently works better) so for me being Chinese wasn’t a deal breaker (I wouldn’t get the one with camera though, paranoia much?).

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/ecovacs-ro ... Id=6423195

BrightEyes · Post by **BrightEyes** » Thu Nov 12, 2020 6:30 pm

Another vote for Eufy Robovac--I got mine on sale ( about $186) at Amazon earlier this year after reading recommendations here-- in the "What Pandemic Buy are You Enjoying?" thread if I recall correctly.

It's been great--I still don't vacuum as often as I ought, but I do love the feeling of having "help" to deal with my least favorite chore! The Eufy does a great job on both hardwood and on my rugs--I have not tried it on deep pile or plush rugs, but it does fine on my oriental-style rugs. Gets up lots of cat hair better than I expected!

The Eufy beeps at me when it gets stuck ( usually the same places, not that often) or needs the little tray emptied and puts itself away when it gets too tired to clean any more. It's kind of adorable. Cats look at it with some suspicion-- especially the time they were playing around its little dock and somehow activated it! (I suspect one stepped on the remote.) But they don't bother it and it doesn't bother them. It can cross the thresholds that are an inch or so, but the ones that are about 2+ inched are a little too much, and it needs to be boosted into those rooms-- but can exit downhill with no trouble. I close doors or put a tub of cat litter or something like that in the doorways if I want it to focus on a room. I could probably program it instead, but it's so fast to just move the physical block!

My neglecting to learn how to fully utilize the technical capacities provesI bought the right one (Eufy 11S+) for me, since I would not bother to use an app on my phone or fancier programming options. The Eufy does run randomly, as others said, but I'm Ok with that, and as noted, it is not so hard to physically control where it can go if I want to limit that.

Hope this helps!

Bright Eyes

TravelGeek · Post by **TravelGeek** » Thu Nov 12, 2020 6:45 pm

sleepysurf wrote: ↑Thu Nov 12, 2020 1:59 pm FYI, Wyze is now taking pre-orders for their own LIDAR robot vac (a re-badged Xiaomi/Roborock 4, with Wyze firmware and app) for only $199... https://wyze.com/wyze-robot-vacuum.html

If you search the net, you can find the coupon code for an additional $20 off (if still valid).

The early adopter discount code expired last night midnight. $200 + shipping is still a pretty good deal for the specs. Of course, it comes with early adopter risk.

I ordered the Wyze bot with the code a couple of days ago. It should come with a free camera (or sensors or smart light bulb).

sleepysurf · Post by **sleepysurf** » Mon Jan 11, 2021 8:33 am

TravelGeek wrote: ↑Thu Nov 12, 2020 6:45 pm... Of course, it comes with early adopter risk...

My Wyze Robot Vac arrived last week. IMHO, it has potential, but the current software/AI is definitely "beta" grade. There are many complaints on the Wyze Community Forum about mapping, and other issues. That has been my experience as well. It comes with a 30 day return window, so I'll give Wyze a couple weeks to upgrade the device firmware, and improve the app interface. Otherwise, it's going back.

TravelGeek · Post by **TravelGeek** » Mon Jan 11, 2021 1:20 pm

sleepysurf wrote: ↑Mon Jan 11, 2021 8:33 am
TravelGeek wrote: ↑Thu Nov 12, 2020 6:45 pm... Of course, it comes with early adopter risk...
My Wyze Robot Vac arrived last week. IMHO, it has potential, but the current software/AI is definitely "beta" grade. There are many complaints on the Wyze Community Forum about mapping, and other issues. That has been my experience as well. It comes with a 30 day return window, so I'll give Wyze a couple weeks to upgrade the device firmware, and improve the app interface. Otherwise, it's going back.

I got mine a week ago. The initial setup was a bit tricky (long thread on the Wyze forums), but overall I am pretty happy with it. There are a few bugs that I think I have found, but overall it works great for us. Admittedly (and for background) my previous vacs were rather dumb Roombas. No doubt there are better devices, but do they cost $159-ish (early adopter pricing plus free Wyze Cam 3)?

dratkinson · Post by **dratkinson** » Mon Jan 11, 2021 4:14 pm

Bought a Shark IQ Robot with self-emptying docking station, last week from WalMart ($399). Could have bought it cheaper elsewhere, but wanted to quickly return it if I didn't like it. (90-day return policy with receipt.) I like it.

See: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Shark-IQ-Rob ... /297231827

Home is 1200 sqft ranch, wood floors and kitchen/bath tile.

I bought it for these features:
--I hate vacuuming.
--Room mapping (one floorplan only, but better than bump & run).
--Bagless, self-emptying docking station.
--Robot has Charge and Resume feature for larger floor plans, and Evacuate and Resume (30 min cycles) to deal with lots of pet hair.

It took a few runs to learn my floor plan. Then I moved its docking station to a new, more out of the way location, and it was again as dumb as dirt. But today after 3-4 runs from new location, it becomes more efficient about direction of travel. Today I watched it finish cleaning and then traver the entire house perimeter---into a room, around all walls, out of room, into next room---before returning to it's docking station. Sweet.

Robot is wifi-enabled, nice to have but not required. My home doesn't have wifi, so control it by the top push buttons: Clean and Dock.

If I had home wifi, it's claimed that I could...
--See a map of home floor plan, name rooms, and tell it to clean one room.
--Schedule run times.
The absence of these features has not been a deal breaker.

Tried to get it to accept wifi from my smartphone's hotspot. No joy. Called CSR and was told it will not work with hotspot.

While dumb and learning floor plan, it reentered the same room multiple times and recleaned. I've "coached" it by closing a room door after it cleaned and left a room, so it was forced to look for another room. Coaching seems to work as it found other rooms faster.

It's a visual robot with a top-mounted ceiling sensor and must have enough light to orient itself. Only seems to know to turn when it bumps into something, but I have seen it slow down when maneuvering around obstacles. May make a mess with pet poo. (Don't have pets, so not an issue.)

Have seen it miss heavy stuff: pea gravel, metal swarf,... Have seen small piece of paper (post it note) clog vacuum and it makes noise and calls for help. These infrequent misses are not a deal breaker.

If I take it downstairs to do the basement, it's be a few runs to learn the basement floorplan, then another few runs to relearn the main floorplan when I bring it back upstairs. (The need to relearn could be avoided if it stored multiple floorplans.)

It'd be nice to have a LIDAR robot vacuum that could work in the dark, and had a visual sensor to avoid obstacles, but I didn't want to spend more.

It'd be nice to be able to schedule runtimes, but home wifi would be >$50/mo, year-after-year, to scratch that itch and not worth it to me. (My home PC internet runs off smartphone hotspot.)

All in all, I'm pleased with Shark IQ robot and the dust bunnies are running scared.

fareastwarriors · Post by **fareastwarriors** » Mon Jan 11, 2021 5:02 pm

Got a Roomba over the holidays from Costco. It had a sale. We are using it now and love it!

I didn't do any research for comparisons though.

02nz · Post by **02nz** » Mon Jan 11, 2021 5:08 pm

I think for hardwood floors, a "mopping" robot works better than a vacuum. It can use a wet cloth (disposable or reusable). The most popular one is probably the iRobot Braava 380t: https://www.amazon.com/iRobot-Braava-38 ... B00DCCYD6U

hnd · Post by **hnd** » Tue Jan 12, 2021 9:53 am

We got a Roborock S6 for Christmas this year with a mopping feature. We have a 3000 sqr ft main level that is about 90% hardwood floor. It does fantastic job so far. i bought it for under $400.

Saving$ · Post by **Saving$** » Tue Jan 12, 2021 8:38 pm

So do the ones that do mapping send data over the web to some server, or are there any that are local? I'd prefer a mapping one, but don't see the point (and am averse to) sending my floorplan data to China or elsewhere.

Are the ones that just bump around totally local and don't send data anywhere?

helloeveryone · Post by **helloeveryone** » Tue Jan 12, 2021 9:23 pm

GKSD wrote: ↑Fri Oct 02, 2020 6:06 pm Looking for recommendations for a robot vacuum cleaner for hardwood floors. DW has put down a robot vacuum cleaner on the wish list for black Friday.

We have hardwood floors throughout the house, both floors. Concern is if the robot uses a brush which may scratch the floor.

Roomba seems popular but there are multiple other cheaper options available on Amazon with 4+ rating.

We boughts Roomba i7 from costco when it was on sale for $579. It’s been great. Our floors are vinyl plank. The brush doesn’t seem strong enough to harm wood floor.

TravelGeek · Post by **TravelGeek** » Tue Jan 12, 2021 9:53 pm

02nz wrote: ↑Mon Jan 11, 2021 5:08 pm I think for hardwood floors, a "mopping" robot works better than a vacuum. It can use a wet cloth (disposable or reusable). The most popular one is probably the iRobot Braava 380t: https://www.amazon.com/iRobot-Braava-38 ... B00DCCYD6U

I have one of those. It’s died after a year or so. I suspect it’s the battery, but the multi tone beep signal isn’t particular helpful and the manual/website just advises to call customer support). Even when it worked, it was a bit of a hassle to deal with the mop rags. My wife tested the wet mode in the tiled bathroom and wasn’t happy with how moist the ground was, so I was never allowed to run it in that mode on our hardwood floor.

It also isn’t a particularly smart model (no LIDAR, no app, no ability to target specific rooms or areas).

I am pretty happy so far with the Wyze model mentioned above. It deals with every surface we have (mostly hardwood, but also some tile and some area rugs). Obviously I have no long term experience with it yet, and I suspect eventually I might want to upgrade to one with a self-emptying mechanism to reduce my “work” even further.

Tamarind · Post by **Tamarind** » Tue Jan 12, 2021 10:20 pm

mancich wrote: ↑Sun Oct 04, 2020 5:01 am We'd love to get a robotic vacuum but with two cats, who sometimes vomit, I'm afraid if what could happen

This has happened to me a couple of times (elderly cat). Most parts of the Roomba can be hand wiped and sterilized easily. A few crevices require q-tips. The rollers can be removed and soaked. The only bit you're likely to have to replace in the event of a truly disgusting accident is the side brush, and replacements are not expensive.

For me the rare but gross deep cleaning of the Roomba is worth it because of the sheer volume of fur it keeps off of my floors.

GKSD · Post by **GKSD** » Wed Jan 13, 2021 12:24 am

We ended up buying Roborock S6 pure when it was on sale around Thanksgiving. This review video was quite helpful.

Thus far its doing great - the phone app is fairly intuitive, mapping is damn good, easy to setup no-go zones to avoid going over those thick pile rugs, cleaning is great. It has mopping function but it is very light.

Overall, very happy so far.

rascott · Post by **rascott** » Wed Jan 13, 2021 1:41 am

We've had a Eufy for about 4 years, for hardwood floors and a mega shredding Lab. The first one lasted about 2.5 years before it started going haywire. We replaced it with another and bought the 3 year warranty from Amazon.

It works much better than an older Roomba that we were given. It runs daily and takes a beating from the amount of pet hair. Have had a few instances where something would get caught/ drug and scratch the floor. But such is life, and with dog + kids scratches happen anyway.

dratkinson · Post by **dratkinson** » Wed Jan 13, 2021 2:08 am

Saving$ wrote: ↑Tue Jan 12, 2021 8:38 pm So do the ones that do mapping send data over the web to some server, or are there any that are local? I'd prefer a mapping one, but don't see the point (and am averse to) sending my floorplan data to China or elsewhere.

Are the ones that just bump around totally local and don't send data anywhere?

Don't know about others, but my Shark IQ robot is not connected to internet so must be storing its floorplan onboard.

mancich · Post by **mancich** » Wed Jan 13, 2021 5:29 am

Tamarind wrote: ↑Tue Jan 12, 2021 10:20 pm
mancich wrote: ↑Sun Oct 04, 2020 5:01 am We'd love to get a robotic vacuum but with two cats, who sometimes vomit, I'm afraid if what could happen
This has happened to me a couple of times (elderly cat). Most parts of the Roomba can be hand wiped and sterilized easily. A few crevices require q-tips. The rollers can be removed and soaked. The only bit you're likely to have to replace in the event of a truly disgusting accident is the side brush, and replacements are not expensive.

For me the rare but gross deep cleaning of the Roomba is worth it because of the sheer volume of fur it keeps off of my floors.

Yes, but does it get smeared across the floor? I can see this happening and a minor disaster happening especially on carpet or area rugs

Tamarind · Post by **Tamarind** » Wed Jan 13, 2021 6:11 am

mancich wrote: ↑Wed Jan 13, 2021 5:29 am
Tamarind wrote: ↑Tue Jan 12, 2021 10:20 pm
mancich wrote: ↑Sun Oct 04, 2020 5:01 am We'd love to get a robotic vacuum but with two cats, who sometimes vomit, I'm afraid if what could happen
This has happened to me a couple of times (elderly cat). Most parts of the Roomba can be hand wiped and sterilized easily. A few crevices require q-tips. The rollers can be removed and soaked. The only bit you're likely to have to replace in the event of a truly disgusting accident is the side brush, and replacements are not expensive.

For me the rare but gross deep cleaning of the Roomba is worth it because of the sheer volume of fur it keeps off of my floors.
Yes, but does it get smeared across the floor? I can see this happening and a minor disaster happening especially on carpet or area rugs

Potentially yes.

Depends on the viscosity of what it encounters and the angle of impact.

Thicker or chunky messes are worse because the vacuum doesn't actually ingest it but pushes it around. I don't have any carpet or area rugs so the worst was some smears on the baseboard and floor. Not as bad as I feared, tbh. Not a hardship given the many hours of vacuuming I didn't have to do the rest of the year. I swore at the cat, of course...

As mentioned above the best defense is to do a brief walkthrough before it runs.

dratkinson · Post by **dratkinson** » Wed Jan 13, 2021 10:56 am

^^^ Recall seeing Roborock vacuum is supposed to be able to detect/avoid pet poop.

Search: https://www.google.com/search?q=roborock+pet+poo