Roomba Discovery SE - Advice, comparisons, news, reviews and prices.

iRobot Roomba Discovery SE

Roomba Discovery SE
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Product discontinued.

Average Price: $280
Our rating: 44
14 out of 16 owners liked it!

Features

Advanced Power System
More below

Selected reviews

5If you clean like me...

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Aggregate Reviews

(Target) rating: 5
(Cnet) rating: 4.5
(amazon) rating: 4.0
(epinions) rating: 4.5

For owners only

Offers

Buy it for $279.00 at Amazon

Pros

It does do a great job: 4 bedrooms and 2 baths within 2 hours and doesn't miss much
More below

Cons

The big problem is keeping the robot clean, if you don't perform this cleaning and dehairing task then it will begin to have problems
More below

New version

Roomba 570Roomba 570

Comparisons

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Editor's Opinion

This Roomba has larger debris bin and longer battery life than its predecesors.

Description

This vacuum cleaner will adjust the cleaning time for a particular area, seek out dirt particles the size of finely ground pepper, plot the best cleaning pattern for a given room, vacuum carpet, wood and vinyl floors. It will clean up to 1000 square feet and then charge itself at a docking station.

The Roomba Discovery SE uses a more powerful vacuum engine then its predecessors. This and the extended battery life allows it to clean about three average size rooms on a single battery charge, which lasts about 120 minutes. It can navigate many of the boundaries between the floor types and only faulters if the edge is too high. The MAX cleaning cycle option allows Roomba to clean multiple rooms or extra large spaces. Using this mode Roomba will clean up to 1000 square feet, depending on battery power, floor surface and other conditions.

Another great feature is the 16-bit processor from Freescale Semiconductor. Thanks to it Roomba cleaning can be adjusted to the local room conditions like: room's size and layout, concentration of dust particles, furniture.

It also is equipped with tiny microphones on the product's base that instruct the Roomba to spend extra time cleaning a particular area when a high concentration of dust particles is detected by the noise they make as they pass under the cleaning brushes.

The other great thing is how the Roomba ventures under beds and gets into places that generally don't receive enough attention.

On hard floor surfaces and low/medium-pile carpet, Roomba cleans as well or better than standard upright vacuum cleaners. On medium-pile carpet it will do a great job of routine cleaning.

Remember to prepare your room for Roomba cleanup. You must pick up the usual clutter: rubber, newspapers, toys, cables etc.. This is rather important because Roomba lacks common sense and will attempt to vacuum anything in its reach.

Each prototype of roomba robots have a triple-redundant system to prevent them from falling down stairs and undergo severe quality control tests that include compression and drop tests.

Unfortunately you will make your hands dirty when emptying its debris bin, vacuum roller or replacing the filter (each 2-3 months). You will also need to cleanup the stairs yourself.

Comes with a 30-Day Money Back Guarantee.

Pros

  • It does do a great job: 4 bedrooms and 2 baths within 2 hours and doesn't miss much.
  • It did a good job of navigating in between chair legs and even the baby's high chair, which I thought was impressive.
  • Returns to docking station.
  • If it gets caught, it will stop itself before it does damage and beeps for help.
  • Good design.
  • Good mobility.

Cons

  • The big problem is keeping the robot clean, if you don't perform this cleaning and dehairing task then it will begin to have problems.
  • Often breaks after a couple of months.
  • No HEPA filter. If you are allergic to dust mites, this product may not help as it may be spitting the mites and their bi-products back into the air you breath.
  • The dog/human hair gets clog in the roller.
  • You have to replace the filter inside the dirt storage area, and it cost about 20 dollar for 3, and you are suppose to replace it every 2 months.
  • It doesn't deep-clean like a regular vacuum.
  • It doesn't do corners very well, and it doesn't do stairs.
  • It gets caught in carpet fringes.
  • The time it takes to set it up and then service it you can quickly run the vac over the two rooms.
  • Battery charging issues.
  • Noisy.
  • Brute force cleaning patterns i.e. rolling around until it runs out of juice.

Books

Hacking Roomba: ExtremeTech by Tod E. Kurt$17.00
with this book and the official ROI specification furnished by iRobot®, you can become the robotic engineer you dreamed of being when you were 10. Build a Bluetooth interface for your Roomba. Turn it into an artist. Install Linux on it and give it a new brain. Some hacks are functional, others are purely fun. All of them let you play with robotics, and not one will void your warranty. You could say it's a clean sweep.

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User Comments

Diane - October 11, 2006
I bought a roomba discovery a year ago and was so impressed that, within a month's time, ended up buying the scooba. They are little miracles. I hear they have a more rugged version for shop keeping and whatnot called the Dirt Dog. I am absolutely in love with the whole product line. It's amazing how effective and efficient they are.

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