iRobot Roomba Vacuum Cleaner

We hadn’t intended to buy a robot vacuum cleaner. Our Bosch Arriva cylinder vacuum cleaner was working perfectly well. Vacuuming is probably my least favourite part of housework, and I limited it to once a week, but then we only have one rug, in our living room. The rest of our floors are bare tiles, which I mostly swept with a broom and mopped a couple of times a week.

But we were in a local shop that sells electrical goods, and I noticed that there was a robot vacuum cleaner being promoted at half price. It was something like 150 euros, which is no more than the price of a regular vacuum cleaner. We had been given some unexpected money and I felt quite enticed by the thought of having a robot trundling about the house and cleaning the floors.

RESEARCHING THE OPTIONS

When we first heard of robot vacuum cleaners, they were very expensive - at least ten times the amount of the special offer we saw. So although one or two online friends had recommended them, it had never occurred to us to consider one. That meant that we had little idea of their capabilities, nor which were likely to meet our needs.

Since there were still dozens of the special offer robots available, and others in the shop that weren’t too expensive, we went home and did some online research. Were they reliable? Did they actually do a good job? Could they be left unsupervised? What happened when they ran upstairs - did one have to instal a safety gate at the top? And could they ‘learn’ the layout of more than one floor of the house? I particularly liked the idea of something that could easily vacuum under the bed, to reduce the incidence of dust and dust mites.

The special offer robot didn’t seem to be too highly rated, and was a brand we hadn’t heard of. A couple of the available robots had mopping options as well, but it sounded complex to change from dry to wet; a quick mop with a wet swiffer isn’t difficult, and would be so much easier if the floors were clean. And we have a carpet shampoo machine, if we need to wash the rug.

All the evidence pointed to the iRobot Roomba e5 as being the one to best meet our needs. It was 275 euros, more than we had planned to pay but there didn’t seem much point spending less for something that wasn’t going to do what we wanted. And by this stage we were enthusiastic about buying one.

TRYING OUT THE ROOMBA

The instruction guide is fairly brief, with a few diagrams, and explanations about how to clean it and when to replace parts. It came with one spare filter, something which we were told to replace every two months. We hoped the local shop stocked spares and that it wasn’t going to prove too expensive or onerous to keep replacing parts.

We learned that the dust container needed to be emptied after each time the robot ran, that several parts needed to be cleaned weekly, and that we might need to move small rugs out of the way. We were told, too, to make sure it didn’t run over water, which would invalidate the warranty. It all seemed a little scary…

So my husband installed the charging station under a convenient window, and after a few hours of charging we set the robot off. We watched it as it moved around the room in apparently random directions, gently bumping off walls and furniture as it navigated its way around. It was quite noisy; we weren’t sure if we would be able to do anything else while it was running, but we did like seeing it picking up crumbs and cat hairs, every so often pausing to turn in a circle with its light flashing, in what is called a ‘dirt event’.

There is an iRobot app which my husband installed on his phone, enabling him to start or stop the Roomba remotely, and giving updates each time it runs, telling us how long it worked and how many dirt events it experienced.

EMPTYING THE ROOMBA

After about an hour and a half, the Roomba’s ‘home’ light started flashing, and it set off towards the charging station. It wasn’t very good at that - it kept stopping to do more cleaning - but eventually it reached home, and started charging again. According to the app, it had done 39 dust events.

When we pushed the button to release the dirt container, we were shocked to find it completely full. It was spring, and the cats were moulting excessively, but even so it seemed like a huge amount of dirt from floors that really didn’t look dirty. 

ADJUSTING TO THE ROOMBA

We decided to run the Roomba daily, at first, to see if the amount of dust collected would reduce. Upstairs, we run it just twice a week, as the cats don’t go there so much, there’s minimal dirt from outside, and of course no kitchen or eating area. And we had to adjust a few things: moving cables and wires out of the way, for instance, or placing them neatly in trunking. The Roomba seems to have a natural affinity for wires and we didn’t want them eaten.

We have to make sure there are no papers or small items anywhere on the floor, and we move shoes in the bedroom onto a box. We have a couple of lightweight rugs which it tends to ruckle up rather than cleaning, so I pick those up and give them a shake before draping them over a chair while the Roomba runs.  Once a week I pick up all the dining room chairs and put them upside down on the table, so the Roomba can vacuum underneath, and I then mop the area.

As for upstairs, the Roomba will stop and send an SOS message to the phone app if it finds itself about to topple downstairs. But we don’t like to risk it falling. So I move the cat litter box to the top of the stairs and sweep up any stray cat litter before running the robot.

It felt like a lot of extra effort accommodating this little device, but it soon became routine. It’s definitely worth the extra effort. Not having to vacuum makes such a difference to my energy levels, and the house is cleaner than it’s ever been. The rug in the living room looks pristine - considerably better than it did with the other vacuum cleaner. We’re sneezing less, and snoring less too.

I don’t know that it’s really learned the floor plans; when we set it off each morning it seems to focus on a different room, sometimes missing one area altogether, although it then makes up for it a day or two later. But it has no problem working upstairs as well as on the main floor.

REPLACING PARTS

We replaced the filter after a couple of months; I have to bang it against the side of the kitchen bin when I empty the Roomba, as it gets quite clogged, but eventually it did need changing. We enquired at the shop where we bought it whether they had the parts, and they said they could order them, at some rather extortionate price. So we ordered cloned parts from Amazon UK, brought out by a visitor, and they work perfectly well. Replacing the green rollers underneath and the white brush were not difficult at all.

MINOR ISSUES

Although we have sometimes gone out before the Roomba has finished, we don't usually run it when we're out, nor do we set it on a daily schedule although the app would allow that to happen. That's because occasionally there are minor issues: a piece of paper that's somehow fallen on the floor, or some other small object. A change in the sound of the Roomba alerts me to a possible problem and I can quickly stop the robot, turn it over, and check to see what it might have discovered.

Another minor issue is that it sometimes gets stuck under the edge of a bookcase or cupboard door, or when trying to get on the carpet. I have no idea why it sometimes negotiates these potential hazards with ease, and sometimes not; possibly it happens when one of the little viewing windows gets a bit dusty and needs to be wiped. Or maybe it's just chance. When it gets stuck, the Roomba flashes a red light and sends a message to the app. If we don't notice that, I'll find it somewhere, unable to move. A little electronic voice will sometimes tell me to clean a wheel, or move it to a new location.

CONCLUSION

I am very glad we bought the robot vacuum cleaner, and love the cleaner, less dusty house. I'm aware that it's still considered a luxury 'first world' appliance, but prices are compatible with ordinary vacuum cleaners nowadays, whether you opt for a mid-range one like ours, or one of the pricier ones.

According to the app, it has run for more than 300 hours in the six or seven months since we bought it, and dealt with more than a thousand dirt events.& So from a financial point of view, that’s less than one euro per hour. Since its warranty lasts two years, we should expect it to work out at about 25 cents per hour even if it doesn’t last more than two years.

I hope it will be with us for many more years, but when it gives up, if it’s not possible to repair, it will be a priority to buy a new one.

Bosch Vacuum Cleaner

Living in Cyprus, we don’t have any carpets. Our floors are tiled, and although the first house we lived in had carpets in the bedrooms, the one we bought nine years ago does not have any. So most of our floor cleaning happens with a broom or a mop.

However, we have a biggish rug in our living room which helps the acoustics if we want to watch a DVD or listen to music. And rugs need vacuuming, particularly when the household consists not just of humans but contains three cats, who moult extensively at this time of year. I usually vacuum our soft furniture too, and sometimes, if there are a lot of crumbs on the dining room floor, I might run the vacuum over that - if it’s out - to save an extra brushing.

We had an elderly bag-free cylinder vacuum cleaner, bought when we first moved to Cyprus. It did its job, but I always loathed emptying it as dust would fly everywhere. And it wasn’t all that powerful, either; it would get extremely hot at times. It had an attachment for carpets, but no rigid extending pieces, so it was always a bit awkward to vacuum a carpet.

So when our son moved out and ‘borrowed’ it, we decided to make it a gift to him, and invest in a new vacuum cleaner ourselves. So, nearly seven months ago, we went out on a date to the large local supermarket which has a good selection of appliances upstairs, and were immediately overwhelmed by the possibilities.

OUR REQUIREMENTS

We knew that we wanted another cylinder vacuum cleaner. We have a large drawer in the kitchen where a cylinder cleaner fits nicely, but have nowhere to store anything bigger. Besides, we knew it would only be used for vacuuming furniture and one rug, but I wanted to take it upstairs sometimes and upright vacuum cleaners are usually quite heavy.

We had also decided in advance that we wanted to spend under a hundred euros. That turned out to be easy since the majority of the cylinder style vacuum cleaners in the store were around the seventy euro mark. We had chosen a bagless machine last time because it was so difficult to find replacement bags in Cyprus, but there were plenty of options in the shop this time, and a quick browse of Amazon on my husband’s phone assured us that we could get inexpensive clone bags for any of the available options from the UK.

I vetoed an orange monstrosity, and my husband ruled out a couple of brands he had not heard of. After much discussion we decided to opt for the Bosch BSN1900, which was also called Arriva. The brand is one we trust, and it was quite powerful for its size at 1900 watts, whereas many of the others were 1600 or less. We also felt it was good value since the €70 was, for the week, a discount on the usual €100 which would have put it at the limit of our budget.

There was a standard two-year guarantee which seemed reasonable.

UNPACKING AND PUTTING TOGETHER

We arrived home with the box, which the cats evidently thought was for their benefit. The Bosch Arriva is black: not my favourite colour, but it’s not as if it’s on display. Putting it together was straightforward, and we checked that everything worked. The suction was excellent, but it was not as noisy as our previous vacuum cleaner, and the included bag seemed strong and sturdy.

There are two basic attachments: there’s one for carpets and rugs, with two extendable rigid metal parts so that it can be easily adjusted for people of different heights. They can be pulled apart easily, and fold into smallish pieces that fit tidily into our allocated drawer. There’s also a smaller piece which is for use on furniture, and it’s reversible: the other end of this little piece is a more pointed nozzle for getting into awkward corners.

After trying it out, we checked the instruction manual which is in twenty different languages, thankfully including English. The safety instructions were brief, warning us, among other things, not to allow children to use it unsupervised, not to immerse in water, and not to vacuum animals. We were also warned not to use it to vacuum up rubble on a construction site. Not something it would have occurred to us to do!

The rest of the instructions let us know that we’d put it together correctly, and gave us the correct names for all the parts, should we wish to know what they were (perhaps useful if we need to replace any of them). It also told us how to change the bag, and informed us about the microfilter, something we might not have known about (but have ignored).

THE BOSCH ARRIVA IN USE

Since our purchase, I’ve used this little machine once a week to vacuum the furniture and the rug. I find it much easier to use than our previous one; it’s slightly heavier, but not significantly, and the rigid telescopic pipes (I just checked what they’re called) enable me to grip it at a comfortable height, rather than having to lean over.

The flex is quite long; I usually plug it into an extension cable in any case so that I can use the vacuum cleaner in any of our rooms on one floor without having to re-plug it. It has an automatic re-winder which is activated by giving a slight pull to the wire. The on-off switch is a knob on the top which can be use by hand or by foot, and the suction can be adjusted, although I usually keep it on full power.

Cat hair is easily vacuumed up - from the sofas and rug, not from the cats - and although our rug doesn’t get particularly dirty, it always looks a lot cleaner and brighter after I’ve finished. Perhaps I should vacuum more often to keep it pristine. But I don’t, unless we have mid-week guests of the kind who would notice.

CHANGING THE BAG

It was after I’d been using this machine for about six months that I realised the suction wasn’t as good as it should have been. There’s supposed to be a filter change display which tells me when to change the bag, but I never understand those, so I opened the back and felt the bag. It was, indeed, quite full.

My husband had ordered some ‘K type’ bags from Amazon, which claimed to fit our particular machine, and, indeed, they were a perfect fit. I was pleased to find that on releasing the bag from the vacuum cleaner, it sealed itself so there was no cloud of dust, and I was easily able to dispose of it. Fitting a new bag was a slight fiddle, but then I’m not particularly good with this kind of thing. However, I managed it in the end, without assistance, so I suspect for someone more three-dimensionally aware than I am, it would be easy.

2022 UPDATE

This vacuum cleaner has continued to work well, and has been used (for instance) to vacuum the car, on the stairs, and in awkward corners where brooms don't easily reach, as well as on our rug. We replace the bag about once every six months, which has been adequate, but haven't done anything about the micro-filter. it's now eight years old, which is about the life one expects of an appliance like this nowadays.

However... in the past six or seven months it's had very little use, because earlier in the year we decided to buy a Roomba Robot vacuum cleaner which we run daily. The amount of dirt it lifts, even when the cats are not moulting, is, at times, shocking. The rug looks much cleaner and brighter than it ever did when vacuumed with our Bosch Arriva; perhaps I should have done it daily, but I suspect that the suction just isn't good enough for embedded dirt and cat hairs.

So while I'd still recommend the Bosch (or its update equivalent) for.a budget, small vacuum cleaner that's reliable and easy to use, the Roomba now gets my vote, particularly in a household where there are cats.

Bissell Big Green Cleaning Machine

We weren't intending to buy the 'Big green clean machine', but our local hypermarket had sent out flyers advertising a better-known carpet cleaning machine at half price, a few. months ago, and our carpets were looking pretty disgusting. So we went to have a look, only to find - surprise, surprise! - that the special offer had sold out. But... lurking in a corner we spotted another special offer - slight cosmetic damage and a significant discount to a machine that looked a great deal stronger than the one we had intended to buy.

It was rather more than we had intended to pay - nearly £100 - but it was half its original price. There did not appear to be anything wrong with it, and we were assured that if it didn't work, we could bring it back for a full refund. So we decided to buy it.

WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE?

Well... it's green! Definitely a bonus there, as I like green much better than orange, the colour of the other machine we were considering. It was rather a bright green when new, although it's a bit grubby now, three years later. It's a short tubby little thing, about 50cm high; rather cute in a way. As cute as a cleaning machine can be, anyway. It reminded me a little of R2D2, that friendly robot from the original 'Star Wars'.

It came with a huge sheet of instructions with little diagrams, and a large array of parts. There's a dust-bag for dry cleaning, and various hoses and attachments to do this; then for wet-cleaning there is a different set of hoses and nozzles, and a soft plastic tube which takes the cleaning fluid, and which attaches to the main hose by little clips. The instructions refer to the machine as the 'BGCM', so that's what we call it. 

HOW EASY TO ASSEMBLE? 

In a household with three males, I wasn't given much chance at first. They put it together in various ways, mostly by guesswork, while I was still struggling with the instruction sheet and trying to work out which piece of plastic corresponded to each diagram. It all seemed horrendously complicated; however later on when I had to put it together quickly, it wasn't all that difficult. The instructions did make sense, when I worked out which section was relevant to what I wanted. 

It came with a special Bissell deep cleaning shampoo, which is what we used at first. However we were then unable to find any more when we needed it, so bought instead some 1001 shampoo which said it was suitable for this kind of machine. It worked just as well, so this is what we normally use. There are some shampoos which say in small print, 'Do not use in a deep cleaning machine' - so be warned. We bought one of those by mistake (it was even a Bissell brand), not realising until we got home. If you use one of the wrong sort, it can apparently damage the machine. 

HOW EASY TO USE AS A VACUUM CLEANER? 

It's not bad as a dry vacuum cleaner, though it's a bit unwieldy having this machine follow you about the house. I wouldn't want to get it out every time I needed to vacuum, as it does take a few minutes to put it all together, and it's pretty heavy. The dust bag is also a bit of a nuisance to empty, and then really needs washing. However for a vacuum prior to a shampoo, it's pretty effective. Never do it the other way around (not that it would make sense to do so) since dust in a damp machine would turn to mud rather quickly. 

HOW EASY TO USE AS A SHAMPOOER? 

This was, after all, the reason we bought it. And here is where the BGCM stars! The fluid is diluted, and poured into one compartment; the dirty water coming back out of the carpets go into another compartment, at the base of the machine. There are two large switches: one controls the suction, the other the cleaning fluid. There is rather a lot of noise when the machine is operating, but it is very effective.

There is a further control for the fluid tube, enabling the operator to spray fluid on the floor alone, or to spray while sucking out the dirt at the same time. We found the best way to clean a moderately dirty carpet was to spray an area of about a square metre with fluid, then wait a few minutes. By that time the fluid would have worked its way into the pile of the carpet, and we could then suck out the dirt, while continuing to spray lightly with more cleaning fluid.

Sucking out the dirt is very satisfying, since the hose is made of clear plastic, and you see dirty water being sucked out of the carpet and into the machine! However as you repeatedly spray and suck out the water, it gradually becomes much cleaner, and you can then move to the next patch.

WHAT ABOUT FURNITURE?

The BGCM comes with a biggish suction thing for the floors, and a smaller nozzle for furniture. It works much the same for both, but with a finer spray and narrower area for cleaning. It's a bit hit-and-miss with the cracks and crevices of sofas and armchairs, but a satisfying amount of dirty water is sucked out, so we assume it's at least somewhat effective.

HOW TIRING? 

It's quite hard work doing the shampooing, since the nozzle has to stay in firm contact with the floor, so you have to push it gently downwards while pulling the whole thing gently towards you. However it can be done in stages; we find it best to allocate a whole day for carpet cleaning - or more, depending on how many carpets you have. Ideally all furniture should be moved out of a room before shampooing, although it's possible to clean around it. Probably the hardest part is emptying the machine, unless you're reasonably strong. It has to be switched off, obviously, and the lid and hoses removed. The entire thing then needs to be tipped down the drain or into the loo. Someone suffering back problems would need to wait for a strong man (!) or else empty it when only partially full, since it's fairly heavy when full of dirty water. 

HOW EASY TO STORE?

At first we put it all away in the box each time, which was rather a nuisance. However we eventually got rid of the box, since the main body of the machine fits neatly on some shelving, and the various attachments can be hung up with a rack that's provided with it. It does take up a fair amount of space.

HOW OFTEN SHOULD IT BE USED? 

This depends on how dirty your carpets are! Probably twice a year would be ideal, but we generally do it about once a year, unless there's an unexpected spill or extremely dirty carpet. 

CAN IT BE USED FOR ANYTHING ELSE? 

It's excellent for getting rid of any kind of water on the floor. We had a problem with a leaking roof for a while. Before we had the BGCM it would take hours of mopping and drying to clean up after a heavy rainstorm. With the BGCM it took about ten minutes. I gather it can be used to unblock drains, although we've never tried this. And it could probably be used to spray wallpaper-remover onto high walls, although again we haven't tried it. 

ANY WARNINGS? 

It's important to listen to the machine while it's sucking up water. As I mentioned, it's rather noisy - a droning sort of sound, while operating. When the dirty water compartment is full, the note changes. This isn't all that obvious, so you have listen out for it. As soon as the note changes, it's important to switch off, and empty it, otherwise the water could overflow and cause damage. 

IS IT GOOD VALUE FOR MONEY? 

The BGCM is not cheap, but it's well-made and should last for many years. We hope so, anyway! We would not have paid full price for it at the time we bought it, but then again, over the years, it would more than save the cost of renting a good carpet shampooer once or twice a year. Shampooing carpets regularly is a good way to prolong carpet life, so that in itself is a long-term financial benefit from having a machine like this.

2022 UPDATE

Unfortunately the furniture nozzle - which we didn't use much - started leaking after a couple of years, although it was still possible to use the main floor nozzle to clean sofas and chairs. The BGCM itself lasted us nearly ten years. It might have lasted longer, but the heat in Cyprus meant that the hose started to deteriorate badly. I think we had our money's worth out of it, and were able to lend it to several people, including regular cleaning of rugs belonging to our church, used for the toddler group.

As well as cleaning carpets, it was effective for cleaning any kind of flood, such as when a washing machine leaked badly, as well as keeping carpets in reasonable condition. I would still recommend it, or the modern equivalent, if you have a lot of carpets, particularly if any of the household have allergies as it keeps down dust and (if relevant) pet hair. But we replaced ours in 2014 with the smaller equivalent, and have been very pleased with it.