We're Roomba-ing

We were strolling through the Westfield Mall in Sherman Oaks and happened to notice the iRobot Roomba on sale at a Brookstones. Not only did they have the Roomba, but also the Scooba which washes and dries hardwood and tile floors.

I've heard of the Roomba before but have been kind of skeptical. How good could it really be?

On our recent trip to Austria, one of the other people in our group had one and said it really does a great job. So we walked out of Brookstones with both the Roomba and the Scooba.

So far we've cleaned our bedroom and living room with the Roomba and kitchen with the Scooba.

Here's the verdict:

It's pretty smart. The robots follow a certain logic for covering areas, going around obstacles and following along walls. This seems to work most of the time, though I've noticed it getting stuck going back and forth in a small area before finally finding its way out. At least that spot will be clean then.

It has a sensor that detects dirt, and will circle around dirty areas. I'm not sure how this works, but I've seen it circle around spots that are already clean. Again, not really a bad thing.

Both robots come with virtual wall devices you can use to block off areas that you don't want cleaned and aren't behind a door.

And the Roomba goes back to its charging station when done. It turns around and docks with the station, so it'll be ready to head out again. How cool is that!?

The Roomba really does pick up dirt. But if you're like us and haven't been vacuuming often enough, it'll need more than one run on a room. The dirt container is easy to clean out, so you just dump the dirt, recharge, and send it off again.

Although it's round, Roomba gets to corners with a spinning brush on its side. It can avoid obstacles, but just like a real vacuum it can get caught on electrical cords or carpets with fringes. The instructions do warn about this. But that's a good excuse to clean up those wires you've left hanging around the computer and home theater anyway.

I thought our cat would freak out but she doesn't seem to mind.

The Scooba is pretty simple to operate. Fill it up with water and cleaner, then empty the tank when its done. During the first cleaning of our kitchen, it stopped before finishing and we had to empty dirty and wash the filter before it would continue. But when it was done, the floor definitely was cleaner.

The bottom line is that it's great to clean the floor without lifting a finger. The Roomba is wandering around our living room hunting for dirt right now as I write this. It's almost like the Jetsons. All I need now is a flying car.