Roomba - anyone have one? MEET BETSY! CATASTROPHY

We have 2 dogs. Plus a gravel driveway. I am amazed at how much dog hair and grit we clean everyday.

In an effort to reduce both the dirt and our workload I am considering a Roomba. We have a relatively open first floor woth hardwood floors
 I think this is an ideal situation for a Roomba.

They sell them at Walmart starting at $229. But there are lots of models to consider. Does anyone have experience they are willing to share?

Thanks.

i bought one for my wife and she "likes" it. It doesn't do a deep clean but they are good for a quick cleanup. And I probably shouldn't say "quick" because it will run for a good 20 minutes or so. But it picks up a lot of the dog hair and keeps the house relatively clean until time is available for a more thorough cleaning for the week. There will be times it gets stuck trying to go under the couch or coffee table but, other than that, it runs smoothly.

Thanks HoosierShave . I appreciate the input.

My wife picked one up last Thursday. She was at Walmart and the price was good.

I charged it up and downloaded the Roomba app. I had to supply a name. When I was a child my father named all of his cars Betsy. So Betsy it is.

This is Betsy at her docking station.




I have her programmed to run at 11 PM every night. I wanted her AI  to "learn" the floor plan quickly so I have run her 2 - 3 times a day. In 4 days she has cleaned 10 times.
She beeps like R2D2 when to announce the beginning of a run and when she docks. Cute.

She zips around at a good clip and is blurry in this pic because of that.


I use the phone app to control her. I simply hit a button and she will start roaming the house. I tested it while at work and she started. Not sure how that works. She is connected to wi-fi here at the house. But I have wi-fi off most of the time and she still works.

Her dust bin is not that large. We empty it every time Betsy finishes a job. You could not get two cleaning routines done due to the small basket.
That is an observation - not a criticism. I do pick up dog toys and dog bowls prior to running Betsy. Other than those two items there is nothing to do but let Betsy run.

She typically runs about 65 minutes though there is plenty of battery charge left.

My wife and I both love this thing. Our cleaning duties are already reduced. Have not had to Swifter in 4 days!

Betsy has been doing a great job for us. She runs every day and really keeps the floors clean. We rarely use the vacuum cleaner.

Yesterday I came down to quite a disgusting mess. One of the dogs went to the bathroom in the kitchen - pee and poop. Betsy smeared it all over. Yuck.
We had to hand clean and then mop the entire downstairs.

Betsy needed a major cleaning. But I got her clean. Here she is drying out after the cleaning.



Once she was completely dried I put her back together. She ran her auto routine flawlessly today. All is good in the PhilNH household.

As an aside we are keeping an eye on the dogs as this is completely out of character.

I hope the dog isn't sick.

Our home just isn't built for a Roomba, but even if it was I can see the male dog seeing it as his personal toy to destroy. He destroys all of his toys if they aren't built to take teeth and jaw strength. That pretty much means only nylabones survive for long.