The rubber bands on my wheels broke in 3 weeks
Written: Dec 02 '03
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Pros: Looks good, worked well a few times
Cons: Breaks down easily, hopeless customer support
The Bottom Line: Don't buy it unless you want to waste $250.
Wait until they improve the reliability and customer support.
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| adam_davidson's Full Review: iRobot Pro Elite Bagless Robotic Vacuum |
Demo was Great
On a business trip to Portland, Oregon I wandered into a Brookstone store in the local mall. The moment I saw the Roomba in the window I had a feeling it was going to make a huge dent in my wallet. When I saw it action I was sold. I just had to work out a story to tell explain to my wife how this would enhance our lives even if it did make a huge dent in my wallet.
It Worked ... Once
After a 12 hours wait for it to charge the battery we were now eager to try out our new toy effort saving device. We set it off to do a Medium room clean while we watched mesmerized from the sofa with the remote control occasionally putting obstacles in its way and drop the odd bit of dirt for it to pick up to make sure it really was cleaning and not just wandering around like a lost BBC Buggy.
The result was pretty impressive although the particle tray isn't really big enough to do make it anything more than an oversized DustBuster. I measure it to be about 1"x3"x5.5". The manuals recommend doing a deep clean before running your Roomba for the first time, but who reads manuals and anyway we bought the Roomba to avoid doing any more vacuuming no matter how much fun the Dyson was when we first got it, it isn't any more.
The Second time we started the Roomba it ran for a while and then stopped. It kept doing this for the next few attempts and we suspected it had got stuck on something or run out of charge. The thing is you leave it going in a room and go out of the house hoping it's all done when you get back, only to find it's done very little.
Stuck Impeller
Going to the manuals I was amazed to discover a section that when I followed it's advice the Roomba started working again. It turns out some dust had got caught in the impeller wheel and when I spun this by hand it was initial stuck and then span freely and all was well. I was impressed with the manuals although it did hint that the problem would happen so often that they had to put a section in the standard manual about it.
Then Things Got Worse
All was well for the next two weeks but then as with all demos we were showing it off to some friends and it wouldn't perform. The Roomba just pivoted around the right hand wheel 45 degrees and then stopped and pivoted back around the stationary right hand wheel another 225 degrees and then stopped. It would do this every time I switched it on. I went back to the manual hoping it would again solve my problem but this time I had no such luck.
The Roomba web site mentioned a case that when "Roomba only rotates in circles around a single wheel every time it's turned on" then you need to contact their customer support team. I turned over the Roomba span one of the wheels that wasn't moving and found it offered little or no resistance as the web page suggested.
Customer Support Useless
I gave in and called the toll free support number 1-877-855-8593. I was placed in a queue with a message that sounded like they had quite a few customers to deal with. A few minutes later a rather disgruntled sounding guy arrived on the phone. I said I'd bought a Brookstone store in Portland 3 weeks ago and now have this problem. I asked him for some pointers but he said it would have to be returned to iRobot before they would look at it.
Broken Drive Belt
To open up a Roomba you need to remove 4 screws from around the battery housing which are in deep trenches and a further 4 screws from around the edge. Then the top can be gently eased away from the bottom bit of the case. It's still attached by ribbon cable though so can't be completely removed. To get access to the rubber band I then had to unscrew the 4 small screws holding the outer casing of the wheel in place.
The rubber band drive belt then dropped out and I found out it was split in half and had another small split waiting to happen. I've super glued this band back together but I don't hold out much hope it will stay together. I'm going to try to get a replacement but it may be tricky to fins an exact match.
Conclusion
It looked good and worked well about a dozen times but it seems so fragile that I can't ever see it really taking off in its current state. The iRobot customer support line is terrible and I'm guessing they're plagued with issues. When it works it doesn't collect much dust.
If I knew what I knew now I probably wouldn't have bought it. As with all these things though if I can get a replacement rubber band and it works without failure for the next year or so I'd up my rating to 3 stars (***). I couldn't go higher until they increase the size of the particle bin and improve their customer service.
Links
See this review in full with pictures http://www.adam-davidson.com/roomba_pro_elite_review__18nov.htm.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 250
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adam_davidson
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Reviews written: 1
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