iRobot Robotic Vacuum Cleaner Roomba 680, Silver

It's great, I love it. Does a much more effective hoover than I expected, even gets hair off the carpet. Easy to empty.

This is my third Roomba - the first being purchased well over 10 years ago and I considered it a wonderful invention!The second didn't fair so well, the wires on the undercarriage broke and got stuck on rugs constantly, but I gave that one away (to someone without rugs) and it's still going strong! Despite that, I still gifted Roombas to both parents who absolutely love them, and three years on, they are still going strong and my parents wouldn't be without them.Given the constant bumping into things and the black lines on skirting boards, I figured I would try something new - and plumped for the Dyson Eye. I have a lovely large dog who isn't remotely shy about sharing her coat EVERYWHERE and with EVERYONE, and I have both a Dyson pet handheld (that I wouldn't be without) and a Dyson pet cylinder to keep on top of things. The Eye had some great reviews, and so I gave it a try, despite the cost.Initially, things seem to go ok with the Eye - but it's routine for hoovering and limited battery life (on full power) means it's coverage does not seem to be as good as a Roomba. (Though it does go back to recharge, it often starts again in the same place, and no longer returns to where it stopped - so it just vacuums the same area twice). Unfortunately, that's if it manages to return to the docking station, as it normally rambles around for ages and just runs out of juice in a different room.Secondly, it is a lot taller than a Roomba (about twice the height), and so despite putting furniture on blocks - it still gets stuck very frequently and doesn't make it under the support bar in the middle of the Ikea beds - which is really quite high (but not high enough). The result - it does half the bed, ambles around for a long time under the bed, and either runs out of juice or exits the room.Thirdly, the filters, roller bar and cyclone don't appear to wear as well as the Roomba - for the second time in less than a year I've splashed out £150+ on a new set, all of which are only available from Dyson.On the plus side, the suction does appear to be really good and possibly better than a Roomba - but then, if the robot can't get everywhere, what is more important? 50% of your room REALLY well vacuumed, or 100% of your room vacuumed as well as you need?My new Roomba (680) has been up and running for two days - I'm ashamed to say that the refuse compartment was full after both runs of about an hour. I am delighted to say that this model doesn't keep bumping into the skirting, and so hopefully no more black lines everywhere :)It gets under the sofas and chair (with blocks removed), under the bed (blocks removed) and under all other free standing units - which is probably one of the reasons for the full compartment. Now, before you start thinking "dirty bitch bet the house is minging" ...... no, the handheld and cylinder are both used on a regular basis, especially more just before the Roomba was set on it's journey as the Dyson was out of action due to "an air flow problem" (hence the order for a new set of everything).So, my review - DEFINITELY go for a Roomba. This unit was on offer from Amazon and I am delighted. Yes, I'm now stuck with a Dyson and [soon] a new set of replacement parts - but I'm aiming to sell it on to someone who has REALLY tall furniture legs and who doesn't mind coming home from work to play "hunt the stuck Dyson". I will be sticking with Roomba from now on (at least for my robot vacuum).If you are considering both options, as someone who has over a year's experience with an Eye, I would say definitely go for the Roomba.

I hate housework, particularly vacuum cleaning, so when I needed a new vacuum, one of these robotic things was a no-brainer. I chose roomba simply because of Which? Magazine recommendations and several friends have them. I'm sure other robot vacuums are also good but I haven't tried any.This arrived very well packaged (the box was in a box inside another box - oh joy to fill my week's recycling box so quickly!!). It's dead easy to use: just take it out of its many boxes, plug in the charger, set the vacuum on the charge and after a few hours press the 'clean' button at the centre and hey presto!I'm shocked with how much dirt it was picking up - in fact, was a little worried it would end up eating my entire carpet, but not so - so it's a really good machine. For reasons I don't understand, it doesn't hoover in a straight up-and-down pattern, but rolls randomly around the room and does the same bit over a few times which is silly, but it does eventually cover the entire space.Caveat: as it's doing the cleaning by itself, it's obviously going to be more effective in rooms where the floor is clear for access. If you've got a lot of stuff on the floor (toys, pets' things, piles of clutter) then it's not going to be able to do a great job. Also, like an unexpectedly helpful dalek, of course it can't climb stairs so you'll need to move it around manually if you've got rooms on different levels. That's still a lot easier than manual vacuuming though.The version I bought doesn't come with a remote but you can set it to schedule a clean - which it then remembers for ever more, frequently surprising me as it powers up because I can't for the life of me remember for when I'd originally scheduled it. If I read the instructions, I could easily find out how to delete scheduled sessions but I quite like the randomness of it.The battery seems to last for about an hour or so, which is plenty for my one-bed flat. It seems to stop after one of the following: it's out of battery; the dust bag is full; or it's had enough.It's very easy to empty the dust bag (and strangely satisfying too) and I love the way it just trundles back to its charging station when it's done.Adding to review after one year: it's still going strong. I would say that it's by far not the best vac out there in terms of picking up everything at once, but the joy of its being a robo vac means that this doesn't matter. You can set it to clean every day if you wanted, so that ultimately, after a week or so, it'll have done every area several times and picked up the bits it missed previously. For that reason, you don't need a super-vacuum cleaner that gets everything in one go.The only annoying thing is that it struggles on black and white areas. I've got a zebra-skin print rug and it just can't do it. I think it's because it's got an in-built sensor that relies on a sudden change in colour (from light to dark) to alert it that it may be about to fall down stairs and therefore must back off immediately. Unfortunately something like a zebra print will also trigger this response. It manages to get itself to more or less the middle of my rug, then starts to go back and forth, turning more and more frantically as it realises it's 'trapped' and then beeps for help and shuts down until I move it. I like to give it a pat and some friendly words of reassurance as it seems a little nervous now to go into the room with the rug in it.

I Fecking love this thing.