Doug White wrote:
"Bill Noble" wrote in
:

OK, I've got a question for the Rhoomba owners. I think they are a neat
idea, but our house has hardwood floors with big pieces of area carpet
filling in most of the space in any given room. There's usually a 4" to
6" border of hardwood showing around the edges. The carpet is ~ 3/8" to
1/2" thick.

Am I correct in assuming that a Rhoomba can't handle the transitions from
carpet to hardwood very well?

The 530 does handle the transitions well for things like throw rugs.
Even rugs with tassels, (though it can hang up on very long tassels).

For small throw rugs, I found that I can get a better cleaning job
done faster. I just pick the rugs up and shake them onto
the hardwood. It takes a few seconds each. The Roomba cleans up
after me.

The 530 *does* vacuum, so you would probably be surprised how well it
handles the hardwood border around your area rugs. Try it, would
be my advice. If it doesn't work, you can always sell me your
530.

The unit was initially marketed as a way to lengthen the time
between manual cleanings. I find that I can take a quick swipe with a
moistened towel behind doors and in the odd corner to catch the few
places our 530 doesn't access and I'm good to go.

We gave our upright vacuum cleaner to charity a couple months ago.

I could unlease one is a room and move it
and the charging station to each room, but at that point I might as well
haul out the Sears-sucker canister vacuum.

We have 'sunken' rooms too.
I solved that problem by putting a 530 in both these rooms.
Occasionally I will lift one of these units 3" into the
main part of the house. It vacuums the kitchen, hallways,
bathrooms and offices and stops at the end of the job.

Then I trigger the 530 in the garage. SWMBO was extremely happy at
the lack of dirt tracked from garage to house! She mentioned that
several times with a kind of awestruck wonder.

I was retrieving a pen that had fallen under the bed soon after
getting the first 530. Glancing under the bed, I was pleasantly
shocked by the clean 'polished' appearance of the hardwood.
Before the Roomba, it *never* was that clean!

It is cool to have 3 robots cleaning the house while I go
off and do something more entertaining.

Here is the bad news:

SWMBO's office and the hall bath door don't latch open the
way my office door does. Our Roomba has a way of closing
the door behind it in these rooms. Luckily both doors
can be wedged open easily.

Vertical clearance *can* be an issue.
We have one chest in SWMBO's office that is exactly the
right height to trap the Roomba underneath. I expect
that I will offer SWMBO a hardwood box for storing stuff
under that chest to solve that problem.

Chairs can be an issue.
Our Roomba spends a lot of time in the dining room because
the chair legs comprise a real obstacle course.

I normally set up a 'lighthouse' to prevent it from going
into the dining room.

Otherwise, I am a *very* happy customer and only wish
that I bought them sooner.

--Winston