The Product: Small Robotic Vacuum

iRobot has unleashed a whole new category of home vacuums based on technology used in the military for unmanned robots. Using sophisticated sensors, these robots vacuums will work around furniture, stairs and other objects, all without any effort from their owners.

Recommendation: iRobot Roomba 4210 Discovery

I have had my Roomba for about a month now and I have really come to like it. I find it particularly useful on hardwood floors, which get dusty pretty quickly and aren’t as easily cleaned as carpeted rooms. Every few days, we unleash the Roomba on our downstairs and after about an hour, it has a full tray of dust and debris from both the carpeted and sold surface areas. It’s important to clear small objects out of the way first (especially toys) or else the Roomba can get tangled. Given its size, it doesn’t have a huge capacity, but it’s easy to empty (similar to a Dustbuster) and holds about twice as much as the first generation model.

Devil's Advocate:

The Roomba is pretty powerful, but don’t think of it as a replacement for a regular vacuum. If fact, if you want to clean a single room, a regular vacuum will probably do the work in about a 1/10 of the time. As I mentioned earlier, I actually found it much more useful for hardwood as there isn’t a good alternative for an quick clean besides sweeping or mopping. Your satisfaction with the Roomba will be largely based on your expectations. If you are hoping to never use a regular vacuum again, you will be disappointed. If you are looking for a great product to help you keep your house cleaner on a daily basis, then you will love the Roomba.