Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

It is absolutely critical to wait for a few weeks before writing a review of a new product. The iRobot Roomba 880 is absolutely fascinating for the first three days - I estimate we saved 15 minutes of vacuuming over that time, but easily spent 3 hours watching the thing cruise around our house. My initial review would have read "This thing is a gift from the Almighty!". However, after 10 days we are sadly returning the little guy whence it came. A quick note on our environment: we bought the 880 as part of a remodel project - new hardwood floors in our living room and kitchen. We have 2 short hair labs, one short hair cat, two kids with hair of various lengths, two short hair parents, a guinnea pig, and a constant flow of messy friends and neighbors enjoying our living space. The day after our new floors were finished it became apparent that we would either need to sweep 2x a day or get a robot to do the job. We weren't expecting it to replace our need to vacuum, but were hoping it would be able to remove the majority of the pet hair, specifically. Before I slam this thing, let me tell you what I did like: Virtual Walls: the 880 comes with a pair of infrared beacons that can be used to create virtual walls, or 'halos' around places you don't want it to bother, like dog bowls. These were very effective / easy to set up. Scheduling: I really liked the ability to set a daily schedule. Great concept. The entire point of a robotic vacuum is to reduce your interaction with the act of vacuuming - setting your schedule and interacting only when it needs you to empty its dustbin is a critical requirement in my book. Design: I'm a sucker for good looking tech, and would describe the Roomba as a good looking piece of hardware. Dust Bin: I had to empty the dustbin after two cleanings or so, and it was always full of pet hair. I would prefer to empty once a week of course, but we have a zoo over here, so I thought it was fair. At least I didn't have to empty it multiple times per cleaning. What I did NOT like: Noise: know that this thing is loud, specifically on hardwood floors (much quieter on carpet). We have a TV in our kitchen, and we could not watch it while the little guy was running. Inefficient Cleaning Path: As I noted, I was fascinated watching this thing clean - I'd seriously crack a beer and just follow it around, trying to figure out its floor mapping algorithm. After literally hours of watching it go, I believe it is totally random. It would find and hug a wall, but then decide to veer off in a random direction. The random approach to cleaning meant it would re-clean the same spots often, and leave others untouched. I was hoping to see it learn over time, but it didn't - not over 10 days at least. The end result is that it would run around MUCH longer than it needed. Combine gripes one and two, and you had a noisy device running around your house for hours - and this meant scheduling became a challenge. I couldn't find 2 hours on any day that I could guarantee it wouldn't bother someone. Table and Chairs: The 880 was especially awful at figuring out our dining area - normal 4 legged table, 4 chairs and a bench. The robots sensor sees walls just fine, and slows down before impact - but not the case with skinny chair legs. The thing would head into our dining room with a head full of steam and smash full-on into our chairs, then proceed to bounce drunkenly around like a bull in a china shop - smashing into legs right and left. Yes, sometimes it pivots nicely around the leg - after its smashed into it full-speed in the first place. Random Stops: If we let the 880 run while we were gone, it seemed to invariably get stuck, stop, and ask for someone to move it - generally around our stairs. I suspect that it had vertigo and would freak out on occasion when it felt it was going to fall down the stairs. Overall, I didn't have pie-in-the-sky hopes for this thing - honestly, I was just excited to have a freaking robot vacuuming my freaking floors. That said, when I drop $700 large on a piece of tech, I expect the programming to have been a priority - and this is an area that needs improvement in my opinion. I believe, quite strongly, that you are paying a brand premium for this thing that isn't deserved - compare the feature set to the like-priced Deebot D77 and you realize that iRobot is playing the brand game without pushing the envelope on functionality. I'm waiting on my Deebot D77 (which is currently $70 off at Best Buy) to arrive and will update this post based on that experience. *****EDIT***** Well, our Deebot D77 showed up and we've used it religiously for about 2 weeks or so. All I can say is that Robots seem a lot smarter in the movies - I was expecting Wall E, and instead I got a couple Battle Droids from Star Wars Episode 1. Before I lament about my D77 experience, I'll just say that I do not believe either of these devices are worth their current price tags (~$700 USD as of this post). I think it's a toss-up between the two honestly - I'm planning to keep the D77 primarily because A) our dark wood floors require daily vacuuming/sweeping, and B) I don't have the stomach to try another brand right now. That said, what I like and what I don't: Likes: Base Canister: The D77's base vacuum canister is, hands down, the best feature this thing has - it's also the only feature I think it beats the Roomba 880. We'll need to empty it 1-2 times a week as a standard. This is much better than the every-couple-days-or-more bin emptying I was doing with the Roomba. I've also used the vacuum canister for our stairs a few times - while it's functional, it's not super convenient (why o why didn't they add a small battery so you don't need to plug in for short use????). Noise: I do believe the D77 is quieter on our hardwood floors. It's not super quiet, so don't think this is a dirt-whisperer.. just quieter than the Roomba. Cleaning Algorithm Options: the D77 has a number of additional cleaning options - you can tell it to hug the walls, go super-clean, or go normal - each altering the robot's cleaning path. Note that I was not impressed with ANY of these - but options are nice, I suppose. Double spinners: while the Roomba only has one dirt spinner, the Deebot has two - this makes 2x the sense of having 1. It did not result in a 2x better cleaning process, mind you. Dislikes: Inefficient Cleaning Path: I was seriously hoping this thing was smarter than it turned out to be. But, alas, it's as dumb, maybe dumber, than the Roomba. To be fair, the dirt sensor is a smart addition, and you can see it alter the D77's course when it encounters obvious dirt. But my gripes about the Roomba's inefficient, seemingly random cleaning pattern are the same with the Deebot. At $700, I expect these devices to have enough memory and processing power to A) do a great job at mapping their cleaning space, B) keeping track of where they are in that space, and C) figuring out what they have cleaned and what they haven't. Instead, both bounce around randomly until they don't have any more juice. This is about 2 hours for the D77. I'll add, while both robots run full-speed into chair legs, the Roomba does a better job at sensing when it's about to run into a wall and slows down accordingly. The Deebot, on the other hand, runs into walls full-speed consistently. Lack of scheduling options: the Deebot allows you to set a schedule, but only for the same time, every. stinking. day. That's not a typo. While the Roomba 880 lets you pick both day of the week AND specific time per day, the Deebot only allows you to select 1 time, and then runs every day. This sucks. Understand that setting your schedule means you will have a loud vacuum running for 16 hours of your week. Easily stuck: the Deebot needs to be freed regularly. It gets stuck on very low profile, low pile carpets, generally on the corner. The Roomba did not get stuck once in the same places. Design: my wife likes the way the Deebot's shell looks while I prefer the look of the Roomba. However, the digital interface is awful. Simply awful. So awful I needed to type this fact 3 times and am not done explaining how awful it is. In 1982, my 8 year old brother had a Pac Man watch. The digital display used a series of static images that it turned on and off to create the illusion of animation. Similar to the TI calculator I owned at the same time. This display reminds me exactly of that watch and that calculator. I'm still looking for a way to generate this number sequence on my D77: 55378008. Lack of Virtual Walls: my appreciation for the Roomba 880's virtual wall solution was reinforced after using the Deebot - I missed the ability to block off a room or ring-fence the dog bowls. I think these are the main +/-'s. The original Roomba was introduced in 2002, so I'm surprised at the lack of innovation over this time. The home automation industry is officially in full swing - my music system (Sonos), thermostat (Nest), lighting (Philips Hue) and doorbell (Skybell) are all connected to the Internets. Yet, my friggen robot vacuum is not. This is crazy to me - providing a wifi connection would remove the need for a direct interface (who wants to touch a dusty vacuum to program it?). An internet connection would let you download updates - maybe some day they create a better cleaning algorithm! I'd love to get a status from my vacuum when I'm away from home - although, in both cases, it would likely read 'I'm stuck/confused/not doing my job'. Hopefully Apple will join the fray soon, and provide an open robot-vacuum platform that allows other developers to create special cleaning apps - maybe theirs will be a drone that can also clean stairs. One can only hope.