The new Roomba 880 looks pretty slick. Even the 3rd party reviews agree it pulls up around 50% more dust than before. Probably worth the upgrade. And definitely worth it if you don’t even own a single vacuum cleaning robot.
The choice seems to be:
- Waste your time vacuuming your own place every few days
- Let your place get dustier than is ideal for health/allergies
- Part with some of your money to conserve time and health
And if you’re content to not have the newest possible version, the previous model (Roomba 650) is probably the best overall value in terms of saving money while still not having to live in filth or vacuum your own place like a peasant.
11 Responses to “New Roomba 880 Recently Released”
March 21
Mike Corlissroombas are ok, but a neato is better. I’ve had both. Neato is much more advanced in terms of how it vacuums
March 21
Ryan ForsterPretty sure it would choke to death on dog hair in our house =)
March 21
Austin James ParishWell I don’t know whether to get a Roomba or a Neato. How do I escape this conundrum?
March 21
Michael WitbrockLet me know how well it works… I need a new roomba (#3 – they seem to have a limited life and no reasonable repair path), and it would be good to know if this one is good enough to justify the premium over cheaper ones (whom am I kidding – of course I’ll by the new fancy one:- ( )
March 21
Tobias SchmidbauerCan we expect the next model to be let’s say 10% better, at the same price, coming out in 12 months? Given that, would I save money overall if I paid someone to vacuum for me until I can buy that next model?
March 21
Misha GurevichWhat are the practical differences between a roomba and a neato?
March 21
Mike CorlissThe neato has a laser and maps out the room and entries to next room. Does perimeter then does lines to vacuum a room before moving to the next. Can go back, recharge and then finish. As opposed to roombas which have a random pattern. The neato also has a square front and will drive into the corner, back up, then turn. Roombas don’t get corner. The only knock I have on mine is no side beater brush that the roomba has, but the new neato model has that now. Also, If you like the look of vacuum carpet lines, the neato gives you them.
March 21
Steven GrimmI’ve sworn off Roombas. I went through three of them and all three broke down in various ways within two years of purchase (and yes, I was painstakingly untangling the long hairs from the brushes and so forth, which frankly wasted nearly as much effort as it would have taken to just vacuum the floor myself periodically).
And even when they work, they don’t do a great job. They leave ugly patterns on the carpet and deal horribly with oddly-shaped rooms or rooms with lots of furniture, frequently getting stuck in little sections of the room and running out of battery power before their random maneuvers happen to bring them back in range of the charging station. They “detect” walls by banging into them, so you end up with a Roomba-height line of dirt along all your baseboards, dust that has rubbed off from the front of the Roomba as it’s made contact repeatedly with the wall. The circular design means they can’t clean corners, so along with wiping down your baseboards you end up having to hand-vacuum anyway if you want your entire floor clean.
A corner-case failure mode that I have but most people wouldn’t: they don’t deal with carpeted stairs where the carpet on the top floor has a gentle curve rather than an abrupt drop at the edge of the top step. They fail to detect the drop until after they’re already stuck and unable to back off from the edge.
I want more robots in my life but the Roomba just doesn’t cut it for me: it doesn’t work all that well when it’s working at all, then breaks down. Might try a Neato at some point, though.
March 21
Steven GrimmI’ve sworn off Roombas. I went through three of them and all three broke down in various ways within two years of purchase (and yes, I was painstakingly untangling the long hairs from the brushes and so forth, which frankly wasted nearly as much effort as it would have taken to just vacuum the floor myself periodically).
And even when they work, they don’t do a great job. They leave ugly patterns on the carpet and deal horribly with oddly-shaped rooms or rooms with lots of furniture, frequently getting stuck in little sections of the room and running out of battery power before their random maneuvers happen to bring them back in range of the charging station. They “detect” walls by banging into them, so you end up with a Roomba-height line of dirt along all your baseboards, dust that has rubbed off from the front of the Roomba as it’s made contact repeatedly with the wall. The circular design means they can’t clean corners, so along with wiping down your baseboards you end up having to hand-vacuum anyway if you want your entire floor clean.
A corner-case failure mode that I have but most people wouldn’t: they don’t deal with carpeted stairs where the carpet on the top floor has a gentle curve rather than an abrupt drop at the edge of the top step. They fail to detect the drop until after they’re already stuck and unable to back off from the edge.
I want more robots in my life but the Roomba just doesn’t cut it for me: it doesn’t work all that well when it’s working at all, then breaks down. Might try a Neato at some point, though.
March 21
Paul CrowleyFor some reason we seem to be covering the living room floor with our crap a lot less than we used to, so a Roomba might actually not be a a bad idea…
March 22
Peter ScheyerSteven, that long hair removal thing sounds like a great market for a roomba peripheral.