We bought a robot vacuum cleaner
Dec. 30th, 2022 12:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alias_sqbrAnd we're very happy with it! I didn't have a strong sense of what they're like to own before buying it, so will go into some detail under the cut.
We bought a DEEBOT N8+ from Ecovacs.
We got it on sale for $700AU instead of the usual $1100AU, which is still a lot! But having clean floors is GREAT. We do not have the energy for much housework so the floors got really gross, and we both have allergies.
We haven't noticed any significant positive health effects from the cleaner house, but the skin of my feet is a little less irritated without the constant dust exposure, and it's very nice psychologically to look around and see clean floors instead of clumps of dust and fur everywhere.
The reviews said the mop function was useless and they were right, we tried it once and never again. It literally just wipes a wet cloth over the floor, making no noticeable difference to the level of cleanliness, and the water is a hassle to deal with.
The feature that makes it expensive is the auto-emptying and it is absolutely worth it. We do still have to clear out the brushes etc sometimes when they get tangled with hair or clogged with tissues or other large rubbish, but that doesn't happen too often now the floors have been cleaned a few times. So mostly we just let the robot do it's thing and ignore it. Bags cost extra, but are supposed to last up to 30 days, and we still haven't filled our first one after...a couple of weeks? You can empty it manually if you run out of bags.
We did do a general rough vacuum of the whole house before using it for the first time so it didn't immediately fill up, but forgot a few super dusty spots like under the bed and it handled them ok asides from needing us to remove empty chip packets etc when they blocked the suction.
I've heard these kinds of robots can cause trouble with loose cables, but we haven't had too much trouble. We don't have a lot of cables lying around in open spaces though.
And it can only clean open spaces, so dust and fur still build up anywhere the robot can't get to. But not as fast as it used to, since the bulk is being cleaned up. And for a lot of spaces we can make them temporarily accessible every now and then by rearranging things, so they still get cleaned often enough not to get too grody. Also, its reach extends a little past it's circumference, since it has little brushes that extend out and brush things inwards, so it clears out corners and edges of things reasonably well.
We live in a small, single floor, all hard floor unit, so haven't had to worry about carpets, different maps, forbidden areas etc, but it theoretically has those features. It does a slightly randomised zig-zag through the house, covering each room twice. This sometimes still leaves a few little random spots uncleaned, but they will generally be gotten to next time.
It routes around obstacles and adapts to changed layouts pretty well. The only part of the house where it's ever gotten stuck is one spot where the floor is really uneven due to a cable being duct-taped down, and Cam must have taped it down more securely because it only happened the once.
For now we're running it on an automated once a day schedule while the cats are getting used to it and it's still sometimes encountering new dusty areas as we rearrange furniture etc. The cats were a bit freaked out at first, but at this point Bing just sits somewhere high and vaguely watches it, Darcy's still a bit more nervy but not horribly scared.
It's not super loud while running, but talks in a loud, cheery female robot voice when saying "Starting cleaning" "Cleaning paused" etc, and is typical vacuum cleaner loud for a few seconds at the end while emptying into the bag.
It's controlled by a phone app and since Cam was the first to register it we have not figured out how to get it to recognise my authority too. So I have to get Cam to do everything. Which hasn't caused us any trouble so far, but could conceivably be a problem if I need to change something while Cam's out.
We bought a DEEBOT N8+ from Ecovacs.
We got it on sale for $700AU instead of the usual $1100AU, which is still a lot! But having clean floors is GREAT. We do not have the energy for much housework so the floors got really gross, and we both have allergies.
We haven't noticed any significant positive health effects from the cleaner house, but the skin of my feet is a little less irritated without the constant dust exposure, and it's very nice psychologically to look around and see clean floors instead of clumps of dust and fur everywhere.
The reviews said the mop function was useless and they were right, we tried it once and never again. It literally just wipes a wet cloth over the floor, making no noticeable difference to the level of cleanliness, and the water is a hassle to deal with.
The feature that makes it expensive is the auto-emptying and it is absolutely worth it. We do still have to clear out the brushes etc sometimes when they get tangled with hair or clogged with tissues or other large rubbish, but that doesn't happen too often now the floors have been cleaned a few times. So mostly we just let the robot do it's thing and ignore it. Bags cost extra, but are supposed to last up to 30 days, and we still haven't filled our first one after...a couple of weeks? You can empty it manually if you run out of bags.
We did do a general rough vacuum of the whole house before using it for the first time so it didn't immediately fill up, but forgot a few super dusty spots like under the bed and it handled them ok asides from needing us to remove empty chip packets etc when they blocked the suction.
I've heard these kinds of robots can cause trouble with loose cables, but we haven't had too much trouble. We don't have a lot of cables lying around in open spaces though.
And it can only clean open spaces, so dust and fur still build up anywhere the robot can't get to. But not as fast as it used to, since the bulk is being cleaned up. And for a lot of spaces we can make them temporarily accessible every now and then by rearranging things, so they still get cleaned often enough not to get too grody. Also, its reach extends a little past it's circumference, since it has little brushes that extend out and brush things inwards, so it clears out corners and edges of things reasonably well.
We live in a small, single floor, all hard floor unit, so haven't had to worry about carpets, different maps, forbidden areas etc, but it theoretically has those features. It does a slightly randomised zig-zag through the house, covering each room twice. This sometimes still leaves a few little random spots uncleaned, but they will generally be gotten to next time.
It routes around obstacles and adapts to changed layouts pretty well. The only part of the house where it's ever gotten stuck is one spot where the floor is really uneven due to a cable being duct-taped down, and Cam must have taped it down more securely because it only happened the once.
For now we're running it on an automated once a day schedule while the cats are getting used to it and it's still sometimes encountering new dusty areas as we rearrange furniture etc. The cats were a bit freaked out at first, but at this point Bing just sits somewhere high and vaguely watches it, Darcy's still a bit more nervy but not horribly scared.
It's not super loud while running, but talks in a loud, cheery female robot voice when saying "Starting cleaning" "Cleaning paused" etc, and is typical vacuum cleaner loud for a few seconds at the end while emptying into the bag.
It's controlled by a phone app and since Cam was the first to register it we have not figured out how to get it to recognise my authority too. So I have to get Cam to do everything. Which hasn't caused us any trouble so far, but could conceivably be a problem if I need to change something while Cam's out.
