Tuesday, February 25, 2014

We bought a robot

We should probably change our names to the Jetsons now, because as you can see, we purchased a robot.

This is the Roomba 770, and this sucker aint cheap, but we hope the investment will pay off.

This purchase is a bit of a splurge. We have only been talking about getting one for a few weeks, and we did a little research, but still wanted to go to a store and see the size in person, and get a feel for how sturdy this little machine was. We purchased this little jewel from Best Buy on Sunday, and we have 30 days to decide if we want to keep it.

This was purchased for 2 reasons. Reason one--dog hair. One of our dog's shed really badly. (Not to call any dogs out, but its the white one. He sheds so much, it basically looks like its snowing when he shakes.)

The 2nd reason, and most important--allergies. While I am not allergic to the dogs, I am highly allergic to dust, dust mites, and some tree pollens. These past few weeks, I have been miserable. I am congested, watery eyed, and all nasal passages are blocked. Plus, I have developed a concerning cough that comes out at night. The allergist has prescribed me some meds, which are helping a bit. She also suggested I buy specialty pillows, a certain mattress cover, and even said a Roomba may be a good idea for us.

After talking with the sales rep, watching the videos, and using our machine, we really like it. The Roomba is not meant to replace a regular vacuum, it is meant for daily maintenance. Each week, when we do our deep clean, we currently use two vacuums...a back pack vac with a long arm and HEPA filter to get the hardwood floors and under furniture where those dust bunnies hide, and a normal vacuum for all the rugs in the house. So our hope is that our little friend will run during the week.

The set up of the Roomba was really easy. We just charged it, and turned it on. We programmed it to run every morning at 6:00 AM for about 2 hours. We can adjust the run time, where it should go, and the frequency. The filter box that holds dust and debris is a bit small, so we have found that for our size home and circumstance, we have to empty it about once an hour, which takes less than a minute to do.

My review after living with this robot for less that 48 hours---I like it! I hope that it will be effective enough to provide a bit of relief for my allergies.

Anyone have a Roomba? Do you like it? Let me know.

5 comments:

Brooke said...

if they are indoor/outdoor dogs, its very likely they are getting the outside allergens on their fur and bringing it in the house. hope this helps!!

Denise said...

me too! also, lots of dog hair on the floors here too - you are not alone!

Unknown said...

Good for you, I've always wanted one. For many of the same reasons. I feel like my floors are NEVER clean. What do your dogs think of it? I have a feeling mine would chase it all over the house. haha

Live Simply- Live Well said...

They just ignore it, which is really surprising since they are border collies and heard everything!

Holly @ Run With Holly said...

I can actually see this is a pretty good use of a Roomba - someone with pets could definitely benefit from it.

I married into a Roomba, and honestly (without dogs) I find it pesky. I spend so much time preparing the apartment for it (moving chairs so it doesn't get stuck under the table, picking up an area rug, closing bedroom doors) that it doesn't save me much time or energy. Also, it fools my husband into think that the 'regular' vaccuming doesn't need to be done, since "Roomba did it". Grrr.....